Cultivating a Relationship with the Holy Spirit Part 2 [hearing His voice]

Messages for November 2015: Our Month of the Holy Spirit

 John 14:18, 26; John 16:13; 1Cor.12:7

Message for Sunday 15^th November, 2015

Theme: Understanding the Gift and Ministry of the Holy Spirit.

Topic: Cultivating a Relationship with the Holy Spirit Part 2 [hearing His voice]

Introduction: Last week we established that God already knows us through and through but because of sin, we lost living contact with God and that Jesus Christ came to restore that living contact with us through His sacrifice on the Cross which enabled the Holy Spirit to come and live in us. We also saw that for us to enjoy His ministry to us, we must cultivate a relationship with Him. The reason being that all we can know of God is purely by His revelation to us and this revelation is only accessible to the believer. We saw three demands placed on us to enable us cultivate this great relationship. The first was new birth, the second was communicating with God His way and relating with Him on the platform of His word – The Bible. When this is in place, we become spiritual enough to start hearing Him and being led by His Spirit because God is a Spirit and can only relate with our spirits as spirits talk to spirits. See John 4:23-24 and 1Cor.2:14.

Hearing the voice of God: To hear the voice of God, we must first understand the following:

1.     The answer to the question whether God speaks is positive and this is what distinguishes him from idols which others call god [see Ps.94:9] because He is the prototype of the man He made. He has eyes and sees and ears and hears. Whereas some idols are masterminded by evil spirits to speak, it is evident that they cannot legally speak to man and any man who goes to them for help is seeking help where there is no help. David compares them aptly with helpless beings who have eyes but cannot see; ears but cannot hear and hands and feet but cannot handle or move on their own and concludes that all who make them would be like them. See Psalm 115:5; 135:16. The help the evil spirits offer through them serve to steal from you, kill and then destroy you [John 10:10]. This is why it is so vital to cultivate the divine skills of hearing God directly so as to avoid going to idols as we used to do when we did not know Him. Apostle Paul makes us understand in 1Cor.12:1-2 that this is why we need to learn about the gift of the Holy Spirit.

2.     Secondly, the answer to the question whether God wants to speak to us is also positive because this is why He made us in the first place. He wanted to have children like Him who would communicate with Him on the same level. See Gen.1:26. It is also interesting to note that God speaks to all of His creation for example, He authorized Jeremiah to speak to the earth in Jer.22:29 and Ezekiel to speak to hopeless dried up skeletal bones of men and cause them to come back to life. We can go on and on but let us just understand that God speaks to all and expects us to do likewise because it is the means by which He demonstrates His creativity and we have His DNA to do likewise. See Ps.33:6, 9. Gen.1:1-3, John 1:1-3.

How God speaks and Guides

From the word of God, we understand that God speaks by the following means among others:

1.     Through the audible voice: see 1Sam.3:1-10 and Acts 9:1-7

2.     The inward witness or inner perception [we shall be looking at this in greater details in future by God’s grace]: Rom.8:14, 16; Acts 16:6-7; 27:10-11, 14-20.

3.     Through dreams and visions of the night: Dan.2:19; Job 33:14-16; Matthew 1: 18-21 and Acts 16:9-10.

4.     Through trance: This is the temporary suspension of our senses to enable us become more aware of the events taking place in the spirit realm which God wants to show us. See the example of Cornelius and Peter in Acts 10:1-20 and the example of Balaam in Numbers 24:4, 16.

5.     Through Spiritual and open visions: Spiritual visions happen as a flash of pictures in our minds which we cannot shake off easily. I believe this was how Joseph was able to interpret Pharaoh’s dream on the spot in Gen.41:14-38. Another example is Elisha getting to know of Gehazi’s treachery in 2Kings 5:20-27. The open vision however happens when we see events as though they are playing out right in front of us like a television screen. See the example of Jesus and Nathaniel in John 1:48 and the visions of John in the entire book of Revelation.

We shall stop here today. Next week we will continue looking at the different ways God speaks and subsequently, we will focus on how to hear God through the inward perception as it is the most important way God wants to speak to us all through our lives and when confirmed by the bible principles and the Spirit, it is the most authentic means by which we can be led by the Holy Spirit because only the Spirit of God resides in the spirit of the new creation.

However, this blessing is meant for those who have entered into the covenant relationship of the New Birth with the Lord. The bible says that Christ in you is the hope of glory and this mystery was hidden from the foundation of the world for our glory. They are not hidden from us but for us to be able to discover them. If you desire this new birth experience so as to take advantage of what God has given us, you can do so right away by saying the following prayer out loud in faith and you will be saved and granted access to the mysteries of God that would enable you manifest His glory on earth. When Jesus was about to round off His mission on earth, he said he had brought glory to God by fulfilling His purpose. See John 17:4. If you want to be able to say the same thing when the time comes, please say the following prayer out loud and God would honor your faith:

Heavenly Father,

Have mercy on me a sinner. Today, I believe that Jesus died for me and you raised Him from the dead for my Justification. I therefore declare that Jesus Christ is my Saviour and Lord and from today, I renounce the fatherhood of Satan and embrace Jesus Christ as my Saviour and Lord. Thank you for this father in Jesus’ name!

Amen.

Congratulations! For more information and resources that would help you grow in this new life, please visit our website at www.kingdomheirsministries.org and our blogs at www.flourishinggirl.blogspot.com and follow us on twitter at alero_nanna and on face book on www.facebook.com/flourishinggirl www.facebook.com/khmii2015; www.facebook.com/thewellbeingcenter. Or www.facebook.com/kingdomjointheirsfamily email:  jointheirsfamily@gmail.com.   

Remain on top of your challenges in Jesus’ name!