Hearing from God
Romans 8:14 For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.
God leads His sons. The Greek is huios – meaning mature sons. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are the mature sons of God.
We are sons of God, so we should expect to be led by the Spirit of God. Don’t ever say “God doesn’t speak to me, I never hear from Him”. Did you know your brain is wired to do what comes out of your mouth? Medical research has discovered how the speech center actually has control over your body (look up Dr. Caroline Leaf, a spirit filled scientist who has done ground breaking research in this area. She’s written books on the subject, and done a number of sessions on Kenneth Copeland’s BVOV broadcast where she explains it.). Medical science is actually proving out what James says:
James 3:2 For we all stumble in many things. If anyone does not stumble in word, he is a perfect man, able also to bridle the whole body.
When you say something, your brain immediately goes to try to bring to pass what you said. You say “I don’t hear from God”, and your brain will clap its hands over its ears and say “Laa laaa laa”. It will grow dull.
So, if you are wondering why you don’t hear from God better, stop saying “It’s hard for me to hear from God”. Instead say, “Shut up head! I’m being led!”
John 10:4-5 4 And when he brings out his own sheep, he goes before them; and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice.
5 Yet they will by no means follow a stranger, but will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers.”
I am His sheep. Baaaa! And because I am His sheep, I know and recognize the voice of my Shepherd. I don’t follow a stranger, because I recognize that they are not the voice of my Shepherd.
1 Corinthians 14:10 KJV There are, it may be, so many kinds of voices in the world, and none of them is without signification.
We are constantly being bombarded by voices – from friends and family, what you read in the news or watch on the TV or social media, what you read in the Word or hear at church, the voice of the devil, the voice of your conscience, and the voice of the Holy Spirit. A cacophony of voices!
Has this ever happened to you? You are in a crowded room, lots of people are talking, and halfway across the room someone mentions your name, not louder than anybody else is talking – and your head immediately turns in that direction? Or the mother that hears the soft whimper of her child, even when other noises are louder?
Our ears hear everything around us, they take in all the sound. Our brain has a subconscious filter that processes that sound, and decides whether we need to pay attention to it. If so, it is brought to the forefront – “Hey, you need to listen to this!” It all happens subconsciously.
Autism is a disorder where that internal filter is broken. They actually suffer from too much input – every sensory input equally clamoring for their attention.
Tune In
God is always broadcasting, but it is on a particular “channel”. You have to use the right equipment, and tune in to the particular frequency He is broadcasting on.
God is a spirit (John 4:24). We are created in God’s image, so we are also a spirit (1 Thess 5:23). When God communicates with us, it will be through our spirits. That is the “channel”. See more about spirit, soul, and body in my article Man in 3D.
We have to realize that there is another Person living inside of us, that wants to talk to us. But He is not intrusive. He doesn’t “yell in your ear” spiritually speaking. He will speak to us when we give Him our attention, when we listen to Him.
The Word
The first thing we have to establish is that any leading we have will always begin with and be in line with the written word of God. God will never contradict His word.
Very early on the Lord spoke to Rev. Keith Moore and told him “Find out what I already said in the Book. If I need to tell you something else, I will”.
People who don’t know what the Book says will be much more susceptible to deception than those that do.
Galatians 1:8-9 8 But even if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed.
9 As we have said before, so now I say again, if anyone preaches any other gospel to you than what you have received, let him be accursed.
I can think of two major religions that were begun because of an “angelic” visitation: Islam, and Mormonism.
Just because something is spiritual, doesn’t mean it is from God.
It is dangerous to take the Spirit without the Word. But it is also wrong to have the Word without the Spirit.
A danger on the other end of the spectrum is to think God can’t do anything new because there is not a direct example of it in the written word of God.
Isaiah 43:18-19 18 “Do not remember the former things, Nor consider the things of old.
19 Behold, I will do a new thing, Now it shall spring forth; Shall you not know it? I will even make a road in the wilderness And rivers in the desert.
1 Corinthians 2:9 But as it is written: “Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, Nor have entered into the heart of man The things which God has prepared for those who love Him.” (quote from Isa 64:4)
My wife and I are followers of Bethel Church in Redding, CA – it is our church away from home (we have property in Redding). A number of years ago, they began having unusual manifestations. One was feathers falling from the ceiling. They thought perhaps birds had gotten into the ducting, until it started happening in elevators, and even cars.
Another manifestation was what they called a “glory cloud” – a swirling cloud seen up near the ceiling during their services, with bright glittery specks. Sometimes it left glitter behind. It happened 26 different times over a period of months. There is even a YouTube video of one of those services.
Bethel received a lot of criticism over this. Some accused them of faking it, some said they were lying, some said it was not of God because it wasn’t in the Bible (glory clouds are definitely in the Bible). Some said that Bethel was seeking manifestations and that it was wrong.
Bethel wasn’t asking for these things, but they were praying for His presence to fall. They were immersed in the worship of God, and He decided to show up and show off.
The Inward Witness
Romans 8:14-16 14 For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.
15 For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, “Abba, Father.”
16 The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God,
We are mainly to be led inwardly, not externally. “Lord, if you want me to do that, just open the door”.
An open door – an opportunity – is not an indication that it is God’s will for you to go through that door. Neither is a closed door an indication that it is not God’s will for you to do something. A lot of times God can speak to you about doing something long before you see any way of doing it. The idea is to start praying about it, and He can open doors. But He has already been talking to you about it before you try to go through the door.
Don’t go after fleeces (reference to Gideon in Judges 6:36-40). To prove he was hearing from God, Gideon put out a fleece at night, and asked that it be wet with dew in the morning, but nowhere else. The next day he put it out again, and asked that the fleece would be dry but everywhere else be wet with dew. So the term putting out a fleece means to ask God to do something in the natural to confirm what He has said.
But Gideon wasn’t born again. He did not have the Holy Spirit inside of Him. So he looked externally for guidance.
The problem with external guidance is that it can be counterfeited.
The Holy Spirit bears witness with our spirit.
Strongs: to testify jointly, to corroborate by concurrent evidence.
It is a co-witnessing; witnessing with.
Romans 9:1 I tell the truth in Christ, I am not lying, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Spirit,
The inward witness is the main way that God will lead us. It doesn’t necessarily even come in words – it can be just a sense on the inside, a “yes” or “no” as you are considering something. An impression.
It doesn’t come loud and strong. And you can ignore it. The Holy Spirit will let you do what you want to do if you bypass His input – even if it’s not His will. That is because He respects your will.
Examples:
We were going to go to Muir Woods, at the request of my stepmother who was with us. She had been under a lot of stress because my Dad had developed dementia, and she finally had to put him in a home. This was a chance to get away and do something pleasant and peaceful.
We drove over to Marin, and as we were looking for a parking space, we saw it was very crowded. The lots were full, and cars were parked along the street for a couple of miles (this was before they had the parking reservation system they have now).
We knew that you could park in Mill Valley and take a shuttle back up to the woods, so we thought we would have to do that. I made a U turn, and as we were coming back to the Muir Woods entrance, I had the distinct impression to turn into that first parking lot. It wasn’t audible, just an impression. So I did, and there was a couple just getting into their car. They saw us and pointed to their spot. So when they were gone, we pulled in – only 50 feet from the park entrance.
Another time, I did not listen to what the Lord said. We were going to Yosemite with my wife, my son and a couple of his friends. We had the big Aerostar van my Dad had given us, since it was too big for him to drive any more. We were going to take since it would hold everybody. I heard the Holy Spirit say “don’t take the van” (well, afterwards I realized it was the Holy Spirit). If we didn’t take the van, we would have to take two cars. But instead, I prayed for the van to work fine.
When the Holy Spirit warns you not to do something, praying that nothing goes wrong won’t work. Everything was fine until we started climbing over the mountain, then the van started overheating and white smoke came out of the exhaust. We had to pull over and let the car cool down several times. We did finally make it and had a great time, and chose a different road that didn’t go over as many hills. We did have to pull over twice, but we made it home.
The van was never the same after that. It was OK for shorter distances only.
I realized why I was willing to listen to the first direction but not the second. It was no real trouble pulling into the parking lot at Muir Woods, worst that would happen was I would make the loop seeing no empty spaces, and head on out to Mill Valley which is what we were going to do anyway. But taking two cars on the Yosemite trip would have been more of an inconvenience.
Lesson learned.
Waiting on Him
Proverbs 20:27 The spirit of a man is the lamp of the Lord, Searching all the inner depths of his heart. (the innermost parts of his being)
1 Corinthians 2:11 11 For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God.
1 John 2:20 But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and you know all things.
God’s answers and the witness of the Spirit don’t always come immediately like fast food.
Get separated, quiet, and wait on Him. You have to tune out things that will distract you. You have to get quiet enough to hear what your spirit is saying instead of what your head is shouting. Still the voices!
There are many times where it says Jesus went apart to pray – he separated Himself so He could talk alone to Father. If it were necessary for Him to do this, it certainly is going to be necessary for us.
Practice the presence of God. The more you do it, getting quiet in His presence, until you hear, the more accustomed you will become to hearing and recognizing His voice. And then you will begin to hear even when it’s not so quiet.
The Mind – Spirit connection
There is a connection between your mind and your spirit – the heart, the interface/boundary of soul and spirit (see Heb 4:12). Your heart is not in what your mind is not on.
Romans 8:5-6 5 For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit.
6 For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.
Notice that – minding the things of the spirit. If your minding is wandering all over the place, you are not minding the things of the spirit.
“But I can pray in tongues and my mind wanders”. That is true. You are talking to God. But you are not listening to Him. You need to focus.
In Acts 10, Peter went up on the housetop to pray (Acts 10:9). It was mealtime, and he was getting hungry. They are fixing lunch, and he falls into a trance, and has a vision of creatures let down in a sheet that were unclean by Levitical law. “Rise, Peter, kill and eat”. Peter answered that he had never eaten such forbidden creatures. “What God has cleansed you must not call common”. It happened three times.
And Peter had no idea what it meant.
Acts 10:19-20 AMP 19 And while Peter was earnestly revolving the vision in his mind and meditating on it, the [Holy] Spirit said to him, Behold, three men are looking for you!
20 Get up and go below and accompany them without any doubt [about its legality] or any discrimination or hesitation, for I have sent them.
So we see the sequence. Peter went up for the purpose of prayer. While he is there, his flesh is trying to distract him – he gets very hungry. But God gives him a vision, which was related to his hunger (maybe it was a supernatural hunger?).
So Peter got something from God, and had no idea what to do with it. But while he pondered and thought and meditated on it, the Holy Spirit spoke to him. Notice the mind – spirit connection.
If you need guidance on something, pray about the situation – make your request for wisdom known – and ask God for guidance. Then think about the situation (but don’t start worrying about it), and ask God about what you should do. Get quiet and eliminate distractions. You may need to do this for an extended time before you get an answer, but you will get one.
It Seemed Good
Kenneth Hagin used to say that a lot of people are looking for the spectacular and miss the supernatural. God’s leading and guidance is not always spectacular like Peter’s vision. In fact, most of the time it won’t be. If you look in the book of Acts, you might think people were having visions left and right, but the fact is that a person might have a handful of them in their lifetime.
Luke 1:1-4 1 Inasmuch as many have taken in hand to set in order a narrative of those things which have been fulfilled among us,
2 just as those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and ministers of the word delivered them to us,
3 it seemed good to me also, having had perfect understanding of all things from the very first, to write to you an orderly account, most excellent Theophilus,
4 that you may know the certainty of those things in which you were instructed.
It “seemed good” to Luke to write his gospel. You’d have to add to the scripture to say that he had a strong leading to do it. It just seemed like the right thing to do, in his heart. So he did. Aren’t you glad he did!
Now Luke was definitely inspired in his writing, it is definitely something God wanted him to do. But he started the project just because it seemed like a good idea. I’m sure he received the witness of the Spirit along the way about what he was doing, but the beginning of it did not have a strong leading.
You will get things in your heart to do. Pray about it, but start moving in a direction. Too many people sit around waiting for God to drop something on them in a strong supernatural leading before they will do anything.
Proverbs 3:5-6 5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding;
6 In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct your paths.
Psalms 37:23 The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord, And He delights in his way.
Your steps and paths – you have to be moving.
In Acts 14 and 15, some former Jews turned Christians came up to Antioch where the Gentile revival was, and started telling them they had to be circumcised and keep the law of Moses. This caused a great contention, and they decided to send a delegation to Jerusalem to the apostles and discuss it.
Paul and Barnabas went. They told the story of the revival among the Gentiles, and about the Jewish Christians coming up saying they had to obey the Mosaic Law. The apostles said that they didn’t send them and tell them they did not have to obey the Law.
Acts 15:28-29 28 For it seemed good to the Holy Spirit, and to us, to lay upon you no greater burden than these necessary things:
29 that you abstain from things offered to idols, from blood, from things strangled, and from sexual immorality. If you keep yourselves from these, you will do well. Farewell.
This was a monumental decision that was being made that would affect whether Christianity was relegated to an offshoot of Judaism. And they did what seemed good to them – and they had the witness of the Holy Spirit with it.
They sent Paul and Barnabas back with a letter, and two other Christians from Jerusalem, Judas and Silas, accompanied them.
Acts 15:32-34 32 Now Judas and Silas, themselves being prophets also, exhorted and strengthened the brethren with many words.
33 And after they had stayed there for a time, they were sent back with greetings from the brethren to the apostles.
34 However, it seemed good to Silas to remain there.
Judas went back to Jerusalem, but Silas decided to stick around. It seemed good to him.
Right after this, Paul says to Barnabas that they should go back to the churches they had founded on their first missionary journey. Barnabas wants to take John Mark (author of the gospel of Mark, at a later time). But on the last trip, John Mark had gotten homesick and left them, and Paul didn’t want to take the “deserter”. They had a big argument over it. So big, that Barnabas decides to go off by himself and take John Mark.
Paul needs someone to go with, and guess who happens to be in town still? Silas. Why was he in town? Because it seemed good for him to stick around. And now he becomes a partner with Paul on his second missionary journey.
