[x_custom_headline type=”left” level=”h4″ looks_like=”h4″]All three of my sons were baseball players growing up. We have spent many hours on the baseball field for games and practices. Every Saturday, there were dozens and dozens of boys in every age group on the five or six baseball diamonds at our city’s baseball park. And with all of those boys on the various teams throwing and hitting all of those hard balls around, there were plenty of opportunities to duck, jump or dive for cover as the balls inevitably went flying wildly towards someone.[/x_custom_headline]
One of the ways we would warn the unsuspecting players, coaches or fans of a baseball heading their way was to holler, “Heads up!” Heads up simply meant that there was a fast-moving baseball sailing right towards you, so get out of the way.
I have learned through the Word of God, as well as my own personal experiences, that the Holy Spirit has a “heads up” warning system as well. If we will learn to listen to the voice of the Holy Spirit, he will warn us of schemes and snares the enemy is preparing for us and we can then avoid them. Take a look at this verse below, and you will see what I mean.
[x_blockquote cite=”John 16:13 KJV” type=”left”]“Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come.”[/x_blockquote]
I am convinced that Christians are supposed to be led by the Spirit of the Lord. And if we are led by the Spirit of God, He will provide us with a heads up to avoid a lot of pain and agony. I am further convinced that in every case in your life and mine where we didn’t miss the hard place or even a catastrophe, the Holy Spirit had been warning us all along, we just didn’t listen.
[x_blockquote cite=”Romans 8:14 KJV” type=”left”]“For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.”[/x_blockquote]
Perhaps you know what I mean. I am certain that when something awful occurred in your life you have looked back and maybe even admitted to others that you were pre-warned. You just knew on the inside that you shouldn’t do this or that, but you did it anyway. You may not have realized that this was the voice of the Holy Spirit warning you, but it was. And sadly, there are Christian people who ignore the warnings of the Holy Spirit every single day, some knowingly, and others ignorantly. But either way the outcome remains the same.
[x_blockquote cite=”Proverbs 1:25 NLT” type=”left”]“You ignored my advice and rejected the correction I offered.”[/x_blockquote]
How many times have you and I ignored the direction of the Lord because we just thought what we were hearing was just us? It can be costly, even deadly, to ignore the leading of the Holy Spirit.
In 1999 my family and I were living in the Fort Worth, Texas area. On Monday May 3rd of that year, we were scheduled to travel up to Oklahoma City for a graduation and engagement gathering for one of our relatives that evening. I had just flown in from Illinois where I had been ministering over the weekend. To make the trip to Oklahoma on time for the event, our family would need to leave Fort Worth not long after my plane landed.
I can’t explain why exactly, at least not as far as any natural circumstances I was aware of at the time in Fort Worth, but on the inside I just knew that we were not to make the trip. I just sensed on the inside that we were not to go. Now to be honest with you, I felt as though I needed a more valid excuse to provide our family for not going, so I blamed it on the fact that I was a bit tired after just returning from Illinois. But in my spirit, I knew that it was much, much more than that.
As the afternoon moved along, a major storm began moving through northern Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas. I had not made my decision based upon the weather channel, or even the clouds in the sky. One problem with being from southern California, is that weather is very rarely a consideration when making any type of travel plans at all. So, having already formed that habit, (which is a terrible habit to have if you live or travel in the Midwest), I never even considered the weather as a valid reason to not make the trip. I simply believed that the Lord had warned me not to go, and I chose not to ignore His warning.
Around three in the afternoon, multiple supercell thunderstorms began to form over that region of the country. On that evening, if you are interested in looking up the historical records for that day, 66 tornadoes broke out in Oklahoma and Kansas. The most significant tornado, an F5, the most severe tornado measurable on the Fujita scale, tore through the very area of Oklahoma where we would have been going for the gathering. In fact, the tornado struck the area at the same time we would have been coming through on the freeway.
Nearly 40 people were killed in that area due to that single F5 twister, and nearly 700 were injured. There were 1,780 homes, 85 businesses, 3 churches, 2 schools and scores of other public buildings which were completely destroyed by this tornado, causing $1.2 billion in damages. This one tornado was the single costliest tornado in U.S. history up to that time.
But my family and I missed the whole thing! We were at home safe and sound because we simply obeyed the heads-up warning from the Holy Ghost. There is a very high cost to ignoring the Holy Spirit, so choose to be sensitive to His voice and in tune with His promptings. Who knows? Your very life may depend on it.