Jim Elliff has written a small booklet entitled Led By the Spirit. The book is a well-written and well-argued study of how the Holy Spirit guides the believer. Elliff speaks to the neo-mystical ideas that are taking hold among many evangelical Christians. Belief that God often gives subjective, almost verbal impressions to His people about particular circumstances in their lives is quite common among Christians today. It is taught in the popular study Experiencing God by Henry Blackaby and also in the numerous books by Jennifer Kennedy Dean. Elliff doesn’t discount these ideas entirely; it would be difficult to do so, since the Bible so clearly presents God as doing just that. What he does, though, is raise some cautions about relying too much on direct communication from God. “Direct communication by God for personal guidance is not commanded by Scripture nor is there any implication that it is part and parcel of what is the normal Christian life—on the other hand, such guidance is not ruled out,” he says, (p.25). Perhaps most pointedly, he points out that there is no way to determine whether an impression of this kind is really from God or not.

Many horrible and ridiculous things have been done on the authority that “I have a word from God.” Christians, Elliff rightly points out, should be exceedingly careful about ordering their lives on subjective impressions. Instead of saying, “God told me,” Elliff writes that a Christian should humbly say, “I believe that God is speaking to me in a special inner way about all of this, but I must test this carefully by other means to know for sure.” Elliff also makes the helpful point that one cannot use the Scriptures to find a “word” from God. One cannot read the Scriptures and say, “This is what this verse means to me.” The Scriptures have a definite meaning that is unchanging and unchanged since thousands of years ago when it was first written. To claim a verse as a special word from God for oneself, disregarding its meaning in its original context, is to open up a whole new realm of revelation that God never intended for His Word.

This is a wonderfully helpful book for any church whose people have been taught to believe that subjective, particular, personal revelation from God is normative in the Christian life. It is not simply a polemic against that kind of teaching, either. It is also a short, though accurate, study on what the Holy Spirit does in fact do in the life of the believer. He regenerates, leads into knowledge, and sanctifies the life and mind of the believer. Elliff’s book will help to teach Christians that those works are what they should really look for and treasure in their own lives.

"This little book is an excellent tool for objectively rather than subjectively discerning the will of God as you make decisions in your everyday life."
Soulcare Family Ministries

Led By The Spirit by Jim Elliff is a short, but well-argued, satisfying and scriptural examination of how a believer can know and understand the will of God. It is also practical, having been based on the author's own experience in being what he refers to as an illuminist - a person who, when confronted by difficult decisions in life, seeks guidance from God by getting a series of impressions which he believes come as God directly impacts the spirit. This belief is taught by most evangelical leaders today, though perhaps the most notable of these is Richard Blackaby in his book Experiencing God. While Elliff does not rule out such forms of communication altogether, he does teach that there is no reason to believe that such means of communication are normative for Christians today. These types of communication are inherently subjective, meaning that there can always be an element of doubt in the recipients mind about whether he really heard God's voice or merely his own mind. A quote from George Whitefield is helpful to understand this: "God may use the sincere individual who gets his guidance the illuminist's way. He may bless him. He may honour his faith more than his method. I am quite sure that God always condescends to our imperfections. And if there is immaturity, we must realize that God will often use in our zealous immaturity what he disallows in our maturity...The Great Awakening preacher, George Whitefield (1714-1770), who had such tendencies in his earlier days, later commented, "I am a man of like passions with others, and consequently may have sometimes mistaken nature for grace, imagination for revelation." He put away his illuministic patterns as he grew in Christ. Yet, it is important to note that he was used in those earlier days just as dramatically as in later life." (page 35)

The author concludes that we are to submit any impressions we may have to Scripture which is the only infallible guide we have been given by God. Scripture contains all we need to make decisions in life and to know what God's will is for us. The most important concept in the book "sanctified reasoning" which is where we, as increasingly sanctified followers of Christ, make decisions based on the Word of God. The Holy Spirit who indwells us and is continually renewing our will, helps us make decisions that honor and glorify God. Rather than trust in impressions and voices, we are to trust the Spirit's work in the mind and will.

The book is only 46 pages long and is written at a level that even young people and new believers will be comfortable with. I highly recommend it. In the same vein I also recommend Decisions, Decisions by Dave Swavely and Guidance And The Voice of God by Jensen and Payne.

Tim Challies, Callies.com
http://www.challies.com/archives/000709.php

Do we really need another book about knowing or finding the will of God? Jim Eliff thinks so and I think he is right. In a deeply personal look at his own spiritual journey Elliff seeks to help us know what is the normative way that God works in leading His children.

Led by the Spirit seeks to explain that tension in the believers life between the rational knowledge of God's Word and the mystical movement of the Holy Spirit. Eliff admits there was a time in his own life when he consitently sought for special illuminations from God. At times that involved searching the Scriptures for a "word" often disregarding the context and content of that Scripture. Eliff does not deny the supernatural leading of the Holy Spirit. On the contrary, he points out that God is not bound in any way when it comes to revealing Himself to man.

Christians who have not had out of the ordinary leadings from God should not feel second-rate. In fact, we need to be very cautious of those who seem to constantly be claiming to have extra-Scriptural leadings from God. Eliff quotes from Muller and Whitefiled to illustrate how they settled on following Scripture in context in their own lives.

This is a small book that can be read in just a few minutes but may take a lifetime to master. In our day of televangelists claiming to have all kinds of special annointings this is a most needed book. This is one book that you just need to read and then practice.

The Baptist Page
http://www.siteone.com/religion/baptist/baptistpage/Reading/reviews/eliff.htm?linkid=154958