He will not lead you by your feelings. He's not going to lead us like that, by emotional feelings, or by circumstances. A lot of people look good, so that must be God. No, it can look really bad, and it's still God. It's nothing to do with circumstances. The Holy Spirit primarily does not lead us from outside us. In the old Testament, Gideon put out a fleece; so you hear this expression: put out a fleece. He wasn't sure; he didn't had the spirit of God dwelling in him. He wasn't confident, he was fearful; and so he asked the Lord to give him an external sign, but that's not how we're meant to live. That's the Old Testament - when you don't have the Holy Spirit within you. Don't go doing that now, like you're still living in the Old Testament. It doesn't mean that.
What it does mean, is that you engage in a personal, intimate relationship with the Holy Spirit. How can you be led by someone you're not listening to? He is dwelling within you, therefore, everything going on within you is affecting that relationship. You develop sensitivity, you become sensitive to when He's moving.
Over time, you get to recognize like a mother. If you've ever been in a room of crying babies, and one mother will say: that's my baby crying. How the hell can you know that's your baby crying? There's heaps of the babies crying! No, I know the sound, I recognize the voice. Or, if you've ever had anyone tried to prank you, and they ring up, and they speak to you over the phone, and try and pull a stunt on you, pretending to be someone else? Oh, no, I recognize that voice. You know the sound of the voice. Jesus said: my sheep will know my voice. I was in America, and someone rang me up, and said: this is Sean Connery here. I said, Sean Connery? What is he doing ringing me? But it wasn't him, it was someone imitating him - Pastor Jurgen! He does lots of imitations like that, especially on the phone.
What it means is, you can't be led if you're not willing to follow. I want you to understand it, and it's not weird; it's not way out there. It's not some kind of thing where you lose responsibility, or don't think, or don't engage; being led by the spirit is something very practical. It requires that you build an intimate relationship with Him, and maintain the relationship, and guard it. It means that you develop sensitivity, so you become aware when He's prompting you, speaking you, or guiding you, warning you. It means you learn to surrender, and yield willingly as an act of trust.
Being led by the spirit is a voluntary surrender, to trust Him, because He loves you. The core of it is trust. You can't be led anywhere you're not willing to go. It's as simple as that. Don't make your own decisions, and then blame it on the Holy Ghost afterward, and say: He led me there. No, He didn't. It was your decision; and now you're blaming someone else, like Adam did. The Holy Spirit therefore will lead you, and direct you, but He won't control you; that the decision is always left up to you.
His nature is gentle; so he's not going to control you, pressure you, or force you. When you are led by the spirit, you are voluntarily submitting to His authority - that He knows bigger and better than you do. He knows more than you do; and by following his leading, you're submitting to him. You're submitting to his leadership.
When you're controlled by someone, you're obliged to do something, you've got little free will in it. If you're led by the spirit, you're voluntarily yielding control to him; but if you're controlled by someone, then you, you feel obliged, or pressured, I had to do it. A lot of people live their life with ought to, must dos, have tos - all of that is not being led by the spirit. That's being led by something else, probably by legalism.
The Holy Spirit requires that we be responsible, sensitive, and learn to trust him, and flow with his leading. The Holy Spirit leads; but demons drive people. If you're driven, it's not the Holy Spirit - anything that's got that drivenness in it, not the Holy Spirit - it's demons, or the flesh, or both.