Lisa: Preach thirty. Or give pause for the Holy Spirit in the middle of your message. Give room for the Holy Spirit to actually have His way. Sometimes ministers are busy trying to cover so much area that they forget to let it be saturated by the Spirit.

Lisa: You have shared a lot about what it means when the Holy Spirit “fills us,” but what about when He forbids us? What does that look like?

John: The book of Colossians instructs us, “Let the peace of Christ rule in your heart” (see Colossians 3:15). Then Romans chapter eight says, “For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God” (verse 14). The word sons in that verse—which refers to both sons and daughters—is the Greek word huios, which means “mature sons.”1 Not every Christian is led by the Spirit. Many are led by their emotions, their intellect, or by situations or circumstances. God was saying that mature sons and daughters are led by the Spirit. How does the Spirit lead us? He bears witness in our spirits (verse 16). So in other words, let’s say I want to go to a particular city, and I feel a gnawing, itching—almost irritating—scratching in my spirit—

Lisa: Has that ever happened, that you have actually gone somewhere you shouldn’t have?

John: Yes.

Lisa: What was the fruit of that?

John: The fruit of it was that I said, “I will not do that again”! It was a disaster. I’ve learned that if I get that kind of a check, I need to stop.

Now, I have been in a situation where I agreed to go to a meeting and afterward felt like the Lord didn’t want me to go, but I had given my word. I said, “God, Your Word says that I’m to be a man who swears to my own hurt and changes not. I have to go to this meeting. I need You to protect me.” He didn’t rebuke me for that. The trip wasn’t great, but I could sense His protection.

But it is better for me to first recognize that check: Don’t do it. You don’t want to go there. It is really amazing—you can recognize it. It is so prevalent. And the longer you walk with Him, the more sensitive you are to it.

Lisa: You talked about Dr. Cho and the amazing things he has done, how he has filled himself up by praying in the Holy Spirit. I also know one of the keys that a lot of people don’t understand is that Dr. Cho says “no” to a lot of things so that he can guard that time with the Spirit. The Holy Spirit will tell us “no” to some possible things so that He can do an impossible thing in our lives.