Hunger/Desire
Jack Deere – Surprised by the Voice of God: How God Speaks Today Through Prophecies, Dreams, and Visions
“If we are not willing to do the will of God, we can’t hear His voice clearly.”
“. . . spiritual discernment is based on our willingness to do the will of God. . . In other words, God speaks to those who are willing to do whatever he says to them.”
If you are hungry to be used for God, He will use you. Very little happens in the life of a believer until that person becomes hungry for it. We serve a God who is all powerful, but He will not violate your humanity. If you do not want Him to move in your life He will honor your desire. However, if you desire Him to direct you, He will. You have to be hungry for His leading. You have to desire to flow in the Spirit. Hunger is one of the chief ingredients to spiritual growth. The Proverbs say that, “to a famished man any bitter thing is sweet” (Prov. 27:7).
Learn to follow in the day-to-day, small things
Learn to “listen” to your heart. The heart is the key to the Christian life. That’s why the Proverbs tell us to “Watch over your heart with all diligence, For from it flow the springs of life” (4:23). We need to guard against heart damage. Things that damage your heart include sin, unforgiveness, unbelief, wrong words, etc. The heart is the basis for your conscience. Kenneth Hagin said, “If you persist in violating your conscience, you will make your conscience calloused to the Holy Spirit’s promptings.” You can learn to follow the Spirit’s direction even in the small things. You can have His help with things around the house, on the job, and in our independent Bible study.
When we establish our hearts in the righteousness of God we have confidence in the Lord. When we do things that we know displease Him we do damage to our hearts. Learn to be sensitive to your heart. What are you feeling in certain situations? When you are around certain people what is your heart sensing? What is your heart telling you to do?
If you are born-again you have flowed with the Holy Ghost at least once! Build on this . . .
We shouldn’t think that flowing in the Holy Spirit is only for the experts. All of us who are born-again have the ability to be led by the Spirit. This is the key to flowing. When you were born-again you had to have listened to and obeyed the Spirit of God. So, at least once before in your life you have followed supernatural guidance. The Holy Spirit will communicate with you on the same channel. This time it may not come with the same feelings but it is there. When you accepted Jesus it was the Holy Spirit that spoke to you about the condition of your heart.
Even if someone witnessed to you or you read a tract, it was the Spirit that spoke to you. You heard Him and responded. It is no different today. Flowing in the Spirit requires that you listen to Him on that same level – in that same place in your heart and that you respond. If you did that before, you can do it again and again.
Strong Word foundation
The Holy Spirit will draw from your knowledge of Scripture in order to speak to you most of the time. It is in the Word that we learn the language that will help us give expression to His impressions. He doesn’t always speak in words many times it is a knowing that we experience. We just know what we are supposed to do. He doesn’t argue or reason with us in the sense of talking us into something.
There are many times that He speaks to us directly through the Word of God. A passage will stand out to us and we understand something about our situation. He has given us a particular application of the principles we find in the Word. The passage will give us words to describe the impressions that we are receiving. The voice or direction of the Holy Spirit will never contradict the written Word. No direction of the Spirit will supersede the written Word either.
Kenneth Hagin – Following God’s Plan for Your Life
“You see, the voice that speaks to you in the Word is the same voice that leads you by your spirit. So being in the Word sharpens your spiritual perception and ability to hear God’s voice in your own spirit.”
“God’s voice always agrees with the Scriptures.”
Having a strong foundation of biblical knowledge will keep you out of the ditch. You will not be prone to error or extreme if you stick with what the Word says. When you know the Word you will know the language of the Spirit. This is what the Spirit sounds like. God doesn’t lead through guilt and condemnation. He doesn’t condemn us, His Word doesn’t condemn us, and the Spirit will not condemn us either. The enemy will try to move us to do things through guilt, accusation, and condemnation. He will make you feel that you are not doing your part or that you should be doing more. He may attempt to keep you from doing things that you should be doing through rationalism. The enemy may try to convince you through thoughts that you are already doing so much or that you gave too much in the last offering.
The Holy Spirit is not going to argue with you. He will prompt you but He doesn’t beg us to follow. We need to put ourselves in a position to obey the voice of the Holy Spirit promptly. We need to position our hearts to be sensitive to His initial promptings. I like to say that the greatest power is available in the initial prompting.
These things are cumulative; you don’t get there over night. Start where you are and grow.
Those that are the sons of God are led by the Spirit, this is your nature as a born-again person. Don’t compare yourself with others that may have been serving God longer than yourself. Don’t compare yourself with people that you think are particularly gifted. Be encouraged that if God can use them that He can use you too. Remember that they didn’t start out where they are today. We all have to learn and grow. Part of that means making some mistakes along the way.
Have patience, but get started. Start right where you are with what you have. Ask God for His guidance and help with everything that you have to do. Where you are right now will be the training ground for what God has for you. Be faithful in your present circumstance. Trust God and watch how you grow! Get started today. Make flowing with the Holy Spirit a part of your prayer life. There is probably no better place to learn how to flow with the Holy Spirit than in prayer. As you do this the effects will begin to add up. You won’t get everything in one session but the effects will begin to accumulate over time. Each time you are successful in hearing and obeying it will open the door to great things in God.
Madame Gunyon
“This ‘activity’ of being led will always surround you with peace. When you interrupt the Spirit’s leading, you will always sense it because you will feel either forced or constrained. But when your actions are under the influence of the Spirit of grace, they will be free, easy, and so natural that it will almost seem as if you have not acted at all.”
Step out in faith
You can’t learn to swim without getting wet and you can’t learn how to flow in the Holy Ghost without stepping out. You have to try in order to learn. If you think that learning to flow will be perfect you are mistaken. Learning how to flow will be a process – the process of trial and error. You may miss it sometimes but don’t quit. You will never learn until you try.
It will always require risk to walk in the Spirit. The risk will be to your flesh and to your pride. Your flesh will be afraid to look foolish. That will be the best thing for the flesh. Your flesh may be uncomfortable but your spirit will be right at home in the flow of the Spirit. Your flesh needs to be embarrassed sometimes. The flesh is opposed to the flow of the Spirit. Just keep putting yourself in the presence of God and obeying what you believe to be His voice. Your flesh will soon learn that it is not in charge and will hush up and let your spirit be in control.
