When you put the Holy Spirit first
What This Teaching Is About
Every believer must learn to recognize what is leading their thoughts, decisions, reactions, and responses.
We can be led by fear, past experiences, pressure, our own understanding, the opinions of others, or patterns of thinking that have developed over time. But the believer has been given the Holy Spirit, who teaches, guides, reminds us of the words of Christ, and leads us according to the truth of God.
When You Put the Holy Spirit First is a practical study of what it looks like to stop allowing the flesh, fear, overthinking, and self-direction to govern our lives and instead learn to yield to the Holy Spirit.
Through 18 connected teachings, this study examines the mind, surrender, waiting, spiritual warfare, identity, prayer, decision-making, obedience, and the importance of allowing the Holy Spirit to lead before we react.
The central question throughout the study is simple:
Who am I allowing to lead me?
What to Expect
This study is both instructional and reflective. Rather than speaking about the Holy Spirit only in general terms, it examines what His leading can look like in the practical areas of everyday life.
You will consider:
how fear and overthinking can compete with trust in God;
what it means to bring your thoughts under the truth of God’s Word;
how past hurts can begin making present decisions for you;
why surrender is necessary for Spirit-led living;
how to respond to pressure without immediately reacting from the flesh;
what Scripture teaches about a mind governed by the Spirit;
how waiting, stillness, and obedience work together;
how the mind becomes part of spiritual warfare;
the relationship between your identity in Christ and the way you think;
how to recognize when fear, pressure, or self-direction is attempting to take the lead;
how the Holy Spirit helps believers in prayer and intercession;
what biblical spiritual authority looks like; and
what it means to live as someone who is indwelt by the Holy Spirit.
Throughout the study, you will also find Scripture study, comprehension questions, personal examination, and journaling prompts designed to help you move beyond simply reading the teaching and begin examining how these truths apply to your own life.
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Why This Teaching Is Important
It is possible to belong to Christ and still discover areas of our thinking where we have become accustomed to responding according to fear, habit, past experiences, or our own understanding.
Scripture gives us a very different pattern.
Romans 8:5–6 KJV
“For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit.
For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.”
The Christian life is not simply about changing outward behavior. God also deals with the mind, the heart, our responses, our desires, and what we allow to govern us internally.
This is why learning to recognize what is leading us matters.
Putting the Holy Spirit first does not mean abandoning wisdom, careful thought, or biblical discernment. It means that our own thoughts are no longer our final authority. God is.
We learn to bring our thoughts beneath His truth, our decisions beneath His direction, our reactions beneath His government, and our lives into greater submission to His Word.
The goal is not to become more confident in our own spiritual instincts.
The goal is to become more yielded to God, more grounded in His Word, and more responsive to the Holy Spirit who leads His people in truth.
Scriptures Referenced
The teaching draws from Scripture throughout to examine the Holy Spirit’s leading, the renewed mind, surrender, spiritual warfare, waiting, identity, intercession, and obedience.
Primary passages include: John 14:26; Galatians 5:16–25; Proverbs 3:5–6; Romans 12:2; Isaiah 55:8–9; Philippians 3:13–14; Romans 8:5–6; Philippians 4:8; 2 Corinthians 10:5; Romans 8:15–16; Galatians 5:25; 1 Kings 19:11–12; Psalm 27:14; Ephesians 6:12; Luke 10:19–20; Romans 8:26–27; Joshua 24:15; 1 Corinthians 6:19–20; and Acts 2:3–4.
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