Ways God Speaks To Us

Checks In Our Spirit

Sometimes the Lord gives us a check in our spirit. It is as if our internal alarms have gone off and we suddenly feel leery or cautious about something. We don't have any reason in the natural to feel this way, but we feel this way nonetheless. It may be in regard to an activity; don't do it because it is not safe. It may be in regard to a person; this person's motives are not what they seem. It may be in regard to a teaching; it simply does not feel right though you can't put your finger on why.

When we get a check in our spirit, we tend to slow down, look into things more carefully and pray more for God's direction and a revelation of His will. A check in the spirit may cause us to delay making a decision. Or it may drive us to search the scriptures regarding something or even to fast and pray for clarity and God's direction. Sometimes the Lord will give us a check in our spirit to keep us from being mislead or taken advantage of. Sometimes the checks in our spirit are for our protection, to keep us from physical danger.

A check in the spirit does not mean that we will necessarily avoid the person or situation we feel the check about. Rather, it may cause us to move more slowly, to pray and research and check things out. One time I was working with a travel agent to buy some airline tickets. The agent seemed nice enough, and the deal sounded good. But I got a check in my spirit about it. So I delayed buying the tickets for a day. The next day they went on sale for another 35 percent off the purchase price. The Lord had given me a check about the situation and it caused me to slow down. Once I slowed down, I ended up being able to take advantage of a very good deal that was not available when I originally planned to buy the tickets.

Here is another example. One day a man showed up at my ministry and very much wanted to help me as a volunteer. He seemed outgoing, pleasant and extremely likable. He wanted to help with any tasks I needed assistance with, but he particularly desired to do tasks that put him in the spotlight. I needed the help desperately. In fact, I had been praying for the Lord to send me some volunteers. I had a bit of a check in my spirit about this man. There was nothing about him that should have caused this check. But because of it, I decided to investigate his references. And his references did not give good reports about him. It turned out that he had a history of being self-promoting, dishonest and of causing division. So I was careful not to put him into any sort of leadership role. I gave him only tasks that he could do behind the scenes, totally on his own. As it turns out, he was given two assignments and never completed either of them. The check in my spirit was the Holy Spirit's way of warning me to go slow and carefully with this eager volunteer. It this case, it turns out that the caution was merited.

Likewise, the Lord may give you a check about a person who wants to do a seeming favor for you. Or He may give you a check about an activity you want to become involved in. Or perhaps you are driving down the freeway, going precisely the speed limit, and suddenly you feel a check in your spirit and slow down. Then you round a bend in the road and see that traffic is at a complete standstill. If you had not slowed down, then you would have piled into the stopped cars.

Checks in our spirit are one of God's ways of protecting us. The main purpose is to cause us to slow down and be more cautious and to proactively seek His will in a given situation or interaction.

Sometimes we have checks in our spirit and disregard them because they seem "counter-intuitive." Later on when we look back, we find ourselves saying "I had a bad feeling about that. I should have listened to it."

Conviction Of The Holy Spirit

If you are a child of the King, there are times when the Holy Spirit convicts you. Conviction is part of the Holy Spirit's job description. Jesus said this about the Holy Spirit in John 16:7-9: "Nevertheless I tell you the truth. It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you. And when He has come, He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: of sin, because they do not believe in Me; of righteousness, because I go to My Father and you see Me no more; of judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged." Part of the Holy Spirit's job is to convict us of sin so that we will repent and get right with God.

If you are God's child and if the Holy Spirit lives inside of you, then He will convict you if you are wandering outside of God's will into sin. Conviction goes with the territory. I am sure you have experienced it. Perhaps you were involved in an activity or action and the Lord let you know it displeased Him. Suddenly you had a strong sense that is was wrong and that the Lord would not approve. Or perhaps you felt dirty and knew that the Holy Spirit was convicting you. Or perhaps you sensed the Lord's sadness at your behavior.

Sometimes conviction works in the other direction. Maybe you are resisting something God wants you to do, and the Holy Spirit begins to convict your spirit about it. Perhaps you brushed off a beggar who asked for money and then you suddenly remember the verse that says, "Give to those who ask you." And you had a strong sense that you should have given him something. You think to yourself, "Next time I will give." Or you wonder if you should go back to find that person and hand him some money. Or perhaps God is convicting you to spend some time with a lonely person because they badly need to be loved. You do not particularly like this person. You resist doing it because it is not a pleasant task, but the conviction of the Lord begins to come on you to do it. It just comes up over and over, making you uncomfortable and also making you aware that you are resisting God.

Perhaps you are hardening your heart in some area and the Holy Spirit is speaking to you about it. Perhaps He is asking you to give money for missions and you prefer to spend it on something you want. Then you feel uncomfortable about it the next several days, because God is dealing with your heart, and of how He wants to be Lord of your finances.

These are all examples of the conviction of the Holy Spirit. There are many ways that the Holy Spirit convicts those who belong to Jesus. He does this to help us get right with God, not to make us feel bad. There is an important distinction between conviction and condemnation. Conviction is designed to move us toward God, to get us doing it His way so that we can be in right relationship with Him. Condemnation is designed to push us away from God, to separate us from Him. The Holy Spirit convicts us, to draw us back to right relationship with God. But He does not condemn us. We know this from Romans 8:1, which says, "There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus" (NKJV).