1 Corinthians 2:12 (NKJV) Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God.
When Dorcas was first baptized in the Holy Spirit, she thought the only reason the Holy Spirit was given to her was for her to speak in tongues, and because of this, she was only conscious of the Holy Spirit whenever she felt she needed to speak in tongues. She had a very limited Spiritual experience.
Unfortunately, many Christians have unconsciously become like Dorcas. They think that all the Holy Spirit was given for was for us to walk in spiritual gifts.
But we see in today’s Bible text that the Holy Spirit was given that we might know the things freely given to us. What we know influences what we believe, and what we believe influences our eternal destinies. The Holy Spirit is our teacher, he guides us into all truth (see John 16:13).
One reason why it appears that many Christians do not hear the Holy Spirit teaching and leading them is because they do not have enough of the word of God in their hearts. Many times, the Holy Spirit leads us by activating truths of God’s word that we have previously received in our hearts. The written word is the vocabulary of the Spirit.
For a person who only knows very few words in English, communicating with him in English will be very difficult because you will be constrained to very few words that may not be able to express what you want to say. Many Christians do not hear much from the Spirit because they have a very limited Spiritual vocabulary. The more of God’s truth you know, the more spiritual vocabulary you have, and the more easily you will be led by the Spirit.
Go into today determined to build your spiritual vocabulary by feasting on God’s word daily. Ask the Holy Spirit to guide you into all truth.