I am not a very “touchy, feely” type of person. I pride myself on being a thinker who depends on his brain more than his heart. No one would consider me overly emotional, and some might think me cold at times. So when I was first encouraged to be led by the Holy Spirit, I was understandably skeptical. It sounded like a person searching their deep emotions and making decisions that were counterintuitive and illogical.

After years of following Jesus and careful study of the scriptures, I discovered that following the Spirit primarily consisted of listening to the instruction of the scriptures, God’s word is the sword of the Spirit, and it gives us meaningful instructions for life.

Another tool I used in following the Spirit was the people of God. I would pray about an issue, then seek the wise counsel of mature Christians to help guide my decisions. Often, their advice pointed me toward God’s desire for my life.

Finally, I have become a student of situations. Often God will open a door of opportunity or close one to guide me in the right direction. If I prayed, seeking his will, the circumstances that followed would be the Spirit pointing me in the right direction once again.

Lately, I have been trying to listen to the Spirit’s inner voice in new ways. I have been attempting to dial into my emotions and feel my way along this journey. I do not mean I am following the selfish desires of my flesh. I mean, I will feel like I need to do something. Then I will pray about it and do it. Sometimes that has meant sending a random text of encouragement. Other times, that has meant going out of my way to visit someone. In my life, there are now these little gestures of love and encouragement sprinkled throughout my day and week.

Most of the time, I do not hear of anything amazing that God has done through these moments of yielding to the Spirit, but I know he is working. Even if it is not dramatically touching the other person’s life, it is shaping me. It is making me more positive and forcing me to spend more time encouraging others than wallowing in self-pity.

I know the Spirit will never lead me outside of God’s will found in his word, but sometimes he will work on our emotions to prompt us to do random acts of kindness. These small encounters are moments of grace. This is typically not within my nature to do these things, so I am sure it is God at work in the deepest recesses of my heart.