My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me (John 10:27).
There are those who don’t believe God still talks to people today like He did in Bible days. So, when they hear someone say, “God talked to me,” it beats their imagination. “Will God leave all the busy things He has to do, running all the planetary systems and so on, to talk to you?” they wonder. Well, the truth is God loves to talk to His children. He’s a master communicator who thinks you’re important enough for Him to talk to.
If you’ve never heard Him, maybe you’ve not been listening. It’s also possible that God could have been talking to you, and you didn’t know it was Him. Remember the story of the little boy, Samuel. God called him three times, but he thought it was Eli the priest (1 Samuel 3:4-10). Why? Because you see, when God talks, He talks with the voice of a man, and a lot of times, He uses a familiar voice.
When Jesus spoke out of heaven Saul of Tarsus (who later became Paul), He called him by name and said “Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? And he (Saul) said, Who art thou, Lord?” And the Lord said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest…” (Acts 9:4-5). Jesus had a dialogue with Paul in the Hebrew tongue (Acts 26:14), a language that Paul understood.
God still talks to us today; in fact, He does every day! He can talk to you in a familiar voice, and in a language you understand. Start training yourself to recognize His voice. The more you study and familiarize yourself with God’s Word, the easier it is for you to recognize and respond when He speaks to you.
One question many Christians have sought answer for is: “How do I know when the Holy Spirit is talking to me?” The first and most important thing is to receive the Holy Spirit into your heart. When this happens, the Holy Spirit comes to dwell within you and mingles with your spirit. The Bible says, “he that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit…” -(1 Corinthians 6:17), thus you become one with Him. Soon, you’ll hear His voice talking to you from your spirit. Romans 8:16 says the Spirit, “beareth witness with our spirit”; so, you’ll have the witness in your spirit that He’s the one talking to you. He is the best One to teach you how to know His voice, so first you receive Him, then He’ll be the One to talk to you and teach you to recognize His voice.
Another important thing to do in knowing the voice of the Spirit is to learn the Word of God, for His voice bears witness with the Word. He never says anything outside the Word. Whatever He tells you is always in sync with the written Word, and consistent with God’s will for your life. John 16:13 says, “Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come.” If you’re acquainted with the Word, you’ll know whenever the Holy Spirit talks to you, for He always bears witness with the Word, and the Word will always bear witness with Him. His voice and the Scriptures are one.
The Holy Spirit is the Master Communicator and knows the best way to get your attention and talk to you when He needs to. The bible tells us for instance how He set a bush on fire to get Moses’ attention. The bush was burning all right, but it wasn’t consumed. When Moses moved closer to see the strange sight, the Lord spoke out of the bush but said nothing about the fire. All He needed was Moses’ attention, and He got it. From then on, Moses never needed another burning bush to know when God was talking, for the Lord himself had taught him to discern His voice. He will do the same for you.
Oftentimes, when we say God spoke to us, there’re those who wonder, “What language does He speak?”
They want to know how they too can hear God. God is a Spirit, and He speaks to your spirit. What you have to learn is to listen to Him with your heart—your spirit.
Being born again, and having received the Holy Spirit, you’re one with the Lord. He’s come to dwell within you and has mingled with your spirit. The Bible says, “But he that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit” (1 Corinthians 6:17). Thus, His voice in your spirit will be unmistakable. All you have to do is listen from within. He knows every language. He can talk to you in any language.
The most important thing about God speaking to you isn’t the language He spoke; it’s whether your spirit received the words. He speaks to you in “spirit language,” because He talks to your spirit. Your mind is what relates to language.
Language is created with sound for your intellect. But God isn’t a mind, neither does He appeal to your mind. He doesn’t need your reasoning faculties to communicate with you. As a result, He doesn’t need to put His message in a language for your intellect.
When He speaks to you in any human language, if you don’t receive the message from your spirit, it may have no impact or meaning. It has to get to your spirit. If you only got the words in your mind, you may even forget what He said, but your spirit can remember.
Moreover, when God speaks to you, your spirit will at once light up and bear witness that He’s the One talking to you. It’s like what Jesus said in our opening verse, “My sheep hear my voice….”
Train your spirit to be a sure-guide and a dependable receptacle of God’s words and signals. Activate your spirit by speaking in tongues frequently. Also, it’s very important that you learn the Word of God because He never says anything outside His Word. Praise God!
How Do I separate the Word of God from my thoughts or Imagination?
Now, there are several ways that the Bible shows us that we can do that. The first one is that that voice, that thought, [or] that idea – whatever it is – must line up with the Word of God; that means, with the will and purpose of God that’s already written for us in scripture. In other words, the voice of God to you in your heart will never contradict what God says – it’ll never contradict the scriptures [what is clear to us from the scriptures]. So that’s the number one way you compare what you are having in your heart to what God tells us.
When you are angry, the voice of God is not the one in your head telling you to fight and kill and destroy. That thought does not align with the scriptures. The scriptures say blessed are the peacemakers, so the voice that prompts you to make peace despite all the provocations is the voice of God
Secondly, whatever that thing is…because sometimes, you may not have a definite scripture for that voice or the message that is coming into your heart. For example, if it has to do with…you want a particular – maybe a job, maybe a project, you know, something like that that may not be expressly written in the scripture; how can you then compare it? So, if you can’t find it definitely in the Word of God, the next thing is it must glorify Jesus. The voice of the Holy Spirit will always glorify Jesus. Now, in St. John’s gospel Chapter 16, when you read from verse 13 [Jesus said these words]:”Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come.” In the 14th verse, He says: “He shall glorify me, for he shall receive of mine and shall shew it unto you. [John 16:13-14]” So, when the Holy Spirit receives from Jesus – when he receives from Jesus – He shows it unto us. So, he can show us the will and purpose of the Father for our lives. But that means, whatever it is that He’s bringing to us will surely glorify Jesus. So, does that message glorify Jesus? Does that idea glorify Jesus? So, it’s got to glorify Jesus.
Now, the other thing is, it must be in love – the motive must be in love, that message must be in love. In other words, what that message or that word is causing you to do must be in love – the love of God. See, faith is ministered to us through the Word of God. The Bible says “…faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” [Romans 10:17] Now, when we hear that Word of God and faith is imparted unto us, the Bible says “…faith works by love.” [Galatians 5:6] See? The faith that comes to us through the Word of God is propelled by love; love makes it work. And so, when the Word that’s coming to our heart is subjected to the scrutiny of love, we can tell whether or not it is from God. It’s got to be in Love.
Then, lastly, the timing: timing also matters because sometimes something is right in itself, but the timing may be wrong. And so, you can know about the will and purpose of God with reference to timing as well. Now, how can you know that? Well, timing means that we’re going to have certain confirmations in our spirits. There are certain confirmations that God will give to us. Sometimes, that confirmation is given as an inspiration that comes to you when you are listening to God’s word being preached, or taught, or when you’re studying, or a counsel – the counsel of a Pastor. You see, the pastoral leadership helps us also to gain the knowledge of accurate timing in the things of God.
Now, these several ways can help you know whether or not the message that you’re getting, the idea that you’re getting, the voice that you’re hearing is from God, or your perception or your own imagination.
PS: PSSBC school 25 is now open, this will be my first official invitation to you to join our free classes for the next few days so you can decide if the school is for you or not.
https://chat.whatsapp.com/FAZNXNSOKruJ5LYVqXRcQi
–GSW–