Nine keys for getting help to hear from the Holy Spirit.
By R.A. Weigel
This is the first article in a series of articles about Getting help from the Holy Spirit.
One of the most important and perhaps “the” most important factor that sets Christian coaching apart from secular coaching is that the Christian coach has the benefit of receiving help from the Holy Spirit while coaching. The Holy Spirit can reveal things to a Christian coach that are key for helping the people they coach. The secular coach has nothing like it.
- 1 Corinthians 2:10 (NLT) – But it was to us that God revealed these things by his Spirit. For his Spirit searches out everything and shows us God’s deep secrets.
God gave Christians, the followers of Christ, the gift of the Holy Spirit for a reason. It’s for their benefit – to advantage their life with a helper, advocate, counselor, intercessor, and paraclete. As a Christian coach, YOU have the Holy Spirit’s advantage. Your clients also get the advantage because you listen to the Holy Spirit giving you insight on how best to help your client gain the perspectives, strategies, support, encouragement, and details they need.
- John 16:7 (NKJV) – 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.
Ignoring or refusing to learn the advantages that are possible with the help of the Holy Spirit is like going through life with blinders on your eyes, dampeners on your ears, an inability to feel, a loss of taste in your mouth, and wearing a nose plug – all at the same time. You should NOT refuse to use or operate the gift that was so graciously given to you for your benefit and the benefit of helping others through the love of Christ living in you as a Christian coach.
- Hebrews 10:24-25 (NLT) – Let us think of ways to motivate one another to acts of love and good works. And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another, especially now that the day of his return is drawing near.
“God’s dreams, plans, and purposes are not only for us but also for every environment and industry: science, government, healthcare, and so on. His dreams are also for things we don’t even know are coming. Not only are we wired to hear His voice and know His heart for our own life, but He also wants to take our ability to hear His voice to another level so that we can grow and expand our positions in the marketplace. When we don’t expect God’s voice in the midst of our daily lives or careers, then we become task driven and try to do things for Him rather than partnering with Him. If we don’t expect to hear God’s voice, it can violate the people we are called to serve. The goal of hearing God in our everyday lives is not to evangelize every moment but to walk with God in connection. As we do, we begin to see God’s grace and influence in everything. This, in turn, creates a demonstration of His love to the world around us.” (Wired to Hear: Connecting God’s Voice to Your Life, Influence, and Career by Shawn Bolz, Bob Hasson)
Let’s Get Practical About Getting Help From the Holy Spirit While Coaching.
As Christian coaches we NEED help from the Holy Spirit to help us coach well. It’s not about hearing from the Holy Spirit only for what happens in your own life, but for the benefit of others. It’s not about telling others what to do, but with the insights from the Holy Spirit, to ask the right question at the right time and in the right way, that opens understanding, provides the insight, or brings light to a plan. As a Christian coach you begin by praying for help from the Holy Spirit before you begin a coaching session, making it clear that your intent is to help your coaching clients.
- 1 Corinthians 112:7 (TLB) – The Holy Spirit displays God’s power through each of us as a means of helping the entire church.
Key #1: It’s A Thought Faster Than Your Own Thoughts.
1 Corinthians 6:19 (NLT) – Don’t you realize that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and was given to you by God?
The Holy Spirit is in every part of you. It’s in your flesh, bones, and tissue. It’s between the molecules, atoms, and subatomic particles of your human body. It’s such an integral part of who you are that it cannot be discerned with any instrument of man’s invention, but it can be discerned by the Holy Spirit that is living within other Believers.
Consider how your brain registers your thoughts. Your brain functions by way of electrochemical communication between the neurons. Neurons have electrical charges called ions and every thought originates from your nervous system as an electrical impulse that travels through those nerves until reaching some part of your brain where it finds some concept of meaning from past experiences. However, the Holy Spirit that God created in you provides input to your brain faster than any electrical impulse that you get from your nervous system. In other words, when the Holy Spirit communicates to you, the information moves through your brain – faster than the electrical circuits of your own nervous system. Another way to think about it… the thoughts of the Holy Spirit happen faster than your own thoughts. It’s like metacognition on steroids.
- Galatians 5:25 (NLT) – Since we are living by the Spirit, let us follow the Spirit’s leading in every part of our lives.
It may take some time and practice to recognize the difference between your own thoughts and a thought originating from the Holy Spirit – happening faster than your own thoughts, but that too is an understanding that the Holy Spirit can help you recognize.
In just 600 milliseconds, the human brain can think of a word, apply the rules of grammar to it and send it to the mouth to be spoken. The speed of the human brain is based on the electrical connection between neurons, called synapses. Neurons run on electricity and as a signal is passed down an axon, it’s tip releases chemicals called neurotransmitters into the synapse. These neurotransmitters tell the receiver cell to either activate its own electrical charge, which sends the signal to the next neuron in the chain or tells the receiver cell to stay quiet. The basic speed of electrical connectivity in the brain is about 10 centimeters per second.
Light, on the other hand, travels much faster than electricity. The speed of light is 29,979,245,800 centimeters per second or 299,792,458 per millisecond. That is the equivalent to 186 miles per millisecond. In other words, light travels approximately 1 foot per nanosecond or 670,616,629 mph.
- 1 John 1:5 – This is the message we have heard from Him and announce to you, that God is Light, and in Him there is no darkness at all.
According to the theory of special relativity, nothing in the universe can travel faster than light. Light travels at about 670 million miles per hour in a vacuum, which is considered by science to be the ultimate cosmic speed limit. As an object approaches the speed of light, its mass becomes infinite and so does the energy required to make it move, which, (according to science), is impossible.
The only thing capable of traveling faster than light is light itself –
and that explains the speed of the Holy Spirit’s thoughts in your mind.
Conclusion
The Lord God will reveal things to you through the Holy Spirit. He will reveal things that will help you to help others – and as a Christian coach who is committed to helping others through the art of the coaching process, that makes sense. The Holy Spirit’s guidance is not for you to tell others what to do, but surely the Lord wants to work with you to help others to discover His prompting and guidance for their life. There are many things that only God knows and many of them are things He wants you to know in order to help others. Bottom line, that should be the reason you became a Christian coach.
RICH WEIGEL HAS SERVED AS PRESIDENT OF CHRISTIAN COACHES NETWORK INTERNATIONAL SINCE 2020 – IS A CERTIFIED LEADERSHIP AND VISIONEERING COACH, (CPCC, CPLC, CPVC) – AUTHOR OF ENGAGING CHRISTIAN LEADERS: A TALENT-BASED COACHING WORKBOOK – CEO OF PROEDCOACH: LEADING A TEAM OF EDUCATORS TO PROVIDE A NEW MODEL OF EDUCATION FOR CHRISTIAN SCHOOLS – VICE PRESIDENT OF REGION LEADERS – AND OVER 20 YEARS LEADING SCHOOL DISTRICTS. YOU CAN REACH OUT TO DR. WEIGEL AT PROEDCOACH@GMAIL.COM.
