“But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, Whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.” John 14:26 ESV
The sooner we learn to befriend the Spirit of God within us, the greater our walk will be for the Kingdom.
There is no greater entity than God’s Holy Spirit. There is nothing wiser, magnificent, or more comforting than the Spirit of the One Who created all things. When we become born again believers through the profession of Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, we receive the Holy Spirit. It is from there when the Holy Spirit continues to give us the strength to live out a repentant faith before God Almighty. The sooner we learn to befriend the Spirit of God within us, the greater our walk will be for the Kingdom.
Many Christians today do not know Who the Holy Spirit is. Yes, they know that the Holy Spirit is One of the Three in the Trinity. They know that He dwells within those who are truly born again, yet, that is the equivalent of what most people know. It never goes further than head knowledge. It never goes deeper and sinks into heart knowledge. It is easy to accept something with a mental ascent, but it is altogether another thing to make it one with a person’s lifestyle.
The Holy Spirit is gentle both in presence and persona.
It is a tragedy that many know that the Holy Spirit is God, but they do not live like He is within us. Not only is the Holy Spirit God, but He is also our friend. He is gentle both in presence and persona. His presence is what gives us supernatural peace, and His persona is such that He will not force His will to work within us. He is a gentleman. This is where the freedom of man to seek God or live selfishly and sinfully rests within us. We can either seek to hear the voice of the Holy Spirit or we can squelch it by our carnality and ignorance.
We must recognize that all that is physical is temporal and all that is spiritual is eternal.
It is a wonder why we don’t seek to build our relationship with the Holy Ghost more. Maybe we have never been taught. Maybe it is because we are too lazy. Maybe it’s because we have not yet understood what it means to put on the spiritual eyes and look past the material. We must be willing to recognize that all that is physical is temporal and all that is spiritual is eternal. If we do not learn this fundamental truth we will constantly be missing out on God’s eternal mission for our lives and chasing after the wrong things.
How do we hear the voice of the Holy Spirit? I believe it comes down to Six S’s:
Seek
Surrender
Submit
Silence
Solitude
Song
1. SEEK
“But from there you will seek the Lord your God and you will find Him, if you search after Him with all your heart and with all your soul.” Deuteronomy 4:29 ESV
In order to hear the voice of the Holy Spirit, both our heart and soul must be inclined to seek Truth.
In order to hear the voice of the Holy Spirit, both our heart and soul must be inclined to seek Truth. Our soul is the primary component of our being that seeks God. The heart is flesh and weak left on its own, but the soul is what thirsts after the deeper truths. It is our soul that freely choose whether or not to believe that there are deeper spiritual truths to be known. Since God is Truth, and the Holy Spirit is God, the Holy Spirit draws us to Truth based upon our soul’s seeking. ““And when He comes, He will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment”” (John 16:8 ESV).
So long as we desire to seek Truth, we will come to terms with knowing Truth; if, and only if, we seek Truth with all our heart and soul.
It is the Holy Spirit’s job to convict all men and women of sin, righteousness, and judgment. Each and every man and woman on this earth knows that there is something beyond this life. Those who claim they are atheists and humanists reveal that God is real based upon their anger. Who can spend years angry at something that “does not exist?” It is therefore made known that the Holy Spirit convicts all men and women of Truth. We must first seek Truth based upon the Holy Spirit’s conviction. So long as we desire to seek Truth, we will come to terms with knowing Truth; if, and only if, we seek Truth with all our heart and soul.
““When the Spirit of truth comes, He will guide you into all the truth”” (John 16:13 ESV). Once the Spirit comes and dwells within us, we will be guided by His still, small voice saying, “This is the way, walk in it” (Isaiah 30:21 ESV).
2. SURRENDER
“Commit your way to the Lord; trust in Him, and He will act” Psalm 37:5 ESV
Without a surrender of self, we will never receive the entirety of the Holy Spirit's help.
Once we possess the Holy Spirit, our goal is to be possessed by Him. In order to do this we must surrender our plans and our ways to Him. Without a surrender of self, we will never receive the entirety of His help. If we desire to do the right thing with the right motive, we must be willing to give ourselves entirely over to Him. When we do this, there are many times where what we give will be returned.
There are many times when the Lord already has us on the right road, yet, He wants to reveal to us that our identity is not in what we do. He tests us by requesting we give up what we enjoy and love, in order to see whether we are completely sold out for Him. The irony in doing this is that what we give up many times ends up being returned; not just returned how it is, but multiplied.
Other times, He may reroute our path due to getting us away from what was outside His will. Regardless, if we are willing to surrender our plans and trust that His are greater, we will be able to hear the voice of the Holy Spirit. God will guide us through His Holy Spirit and we will be drawn towards that which is in His will.
Once we surrender, we are then able to submit.
3. SUBMIT
“Commit your work to the Lord, and your plans will be established.” Proverbs 16:3 ESV
Submitting to the Lord’s will can only be proceeded after we surrender our will and our way. When we choose to deny ourselves of what we believe is best, then we are able to submit to the Lord’s will with honesty. As we surrender our way, we are able to then commit our work to the Lord. So long as our way remains, we cannot fully give the Lord our work. So long as we cannot give God our work, His plans in our life will not be established.
We can only hear the Holy Spirit's voice so long as we become deaf to our own.
Many times Christians say the right lingo without understanding the pattern towards hearing the voice of the Holy Spirit. They may speak what has been said by the Holy Spirit, but they deceive themselves by not walking in what they know. When we put self to death, we are better able to hear the Holy Spirit. As we humble ourselves, we reveal to God that He is in authority. When we choose to follow God, no matter the cost, we then allow the Holy Ghost’s current to flow. Christ said, ““If anyone would come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me”” (Matthew 16:24 ESV). We can only follow God so long as we disallow ourselves to follow our own inclinations and passions. We can only hear His voice so long as we become deaf to our own.
4. SILENCE
“For God alone, O my soul, wait in silence, for my hope is from Him.” Psalm 62:5 ESV
We exhaust more energy trying to divert from distractions than to indulge in them.
The day in which we live makes it very difficult to be silent. We continually have noise and advertisements blasted in our face. It has come to a point where we exhaust more energy trying to divert from distractions than to indulge in them. Rather than silencing our lives, we choose to simply go with the tide. We deceive ourselves that we cannot do anything. We believe that “this is the way it is”. Those who believe such notions will never hear the voice of God. O yes, there are born again believers who have heard the voice of the Holy Spirit, but they have ceased from hearing. At some point in their finite past they allowed distraction to prevail. No longer is their soul’s burning passion to hear the counsel of God. Rather, they maintain the thought that as long as there is noise, they are hearing what must be heard. Eventually, this notion becomes a lifestyle that turns into an addiction. Few there be who can live without noise in this generation.
It is only when we desire to silence our predispositions and thoughts that we will hear the voice of the Holy Spirit speak.
It is only when we desire to silence our predispositions and thoughts that we will hear the voice of the Holy Spirit speak. Without doing so, it will be impossible for the Holy Spirit to make headway. We must have a burning desire to hear Him speak over our own opinions and beliefs. We must continually silence ourselves so that we may hear His voice. Without doing so, we simply possess Perfect Wisdom within without hearing His Perfect Insight.
In order to find silence, we must slip away. We must find a place where there are no distractions and no noise. We must dedicate that place towards hearing the voice of God. We must find our “prayer closet” as David Wilkerson would say and allow that place to be our time of dedicated and disciplined desire to seek, listen, and give praise to God. This place is what leads us into solitude from all material distractions.
5. SOLITUDE
“The Lord is good to those who wait for Him, to the soul who seeks Him. It is good that one should wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord.” Lamentations 3:25-26 ESV
Only in solitude can we can get away from all that interrupts and diverts and solely reflect on God.
In this hurried life, we feel we must always be busy. “If we are not moving, we are not doing”. It is with this preconceived notion that we miss out on not only hearing the voice of the Holy Spirit, but finding perfect rest and peace in Him. It is only in solitude when we can get away from all that interrupts and diverts and solely reflect on God.
““Be still, and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!”” (Psalm 46:10 ESV). In order to hear the Holy Spirit, we must be willing to be still. How can we be still? By dwelling in God’s presence. How can we dwell in His presence? By finding a place of solitude.
It is in the blessed state of just us and God that we are able to love, honor, and revere our Heavenly Father. Though our minds may wander in our quiet time with the Lord, we will not succumb to exterior disturbances. That is why it is important to find a place where there is no noise, no technology, no people, and no light. When it is simply us in the dark with God, His voice of Light shines directly upon our soul. It is not an audible voice, nor is it immediate. Sometimes we may be with our Heavenly Father in solitude for weeks without hearing His voice with perfect understanding. This does not mean, however, that He has not spoken to the depths of our soul and guided us throughout those weeks.
The Holy Spirit’s voice is not loud and boisterous, but rather gentle and guiding.
Many times we operate throughout life not knowing that even when it seems we “haven’t heard from God” after doing all the right things; we in fact have. The Holy Spirit’s voice is not loud and boisterous, but rather gentle and guiding. Our soul could have heard and acted upon His speaking, without us knowing that He had spoken in the first place. Whatever moves us in the right direction and guides us towards saying and doing the right thing without a disguised self, that is the Holy Spirit speaking and moving within us.
6. SONG
“Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts.” Colossians 3:16 NIV
Lastly, we can best hear the voice of the Holy Spirit through our songs and praise. When we lift up our voices internally or externally, we honor our Father in Heaven and give Him all the glory. When He sees that our hearts give Him all the praise, we delude ourselves from taking credit for anything good that has been done to us or through us. We solely give God all the praise and glory.
The more we praise God, the more we hear from God. As we praise and give God the glory through our soul’s quiet or audible speaking, we allow more of the Holy Spirit to engulf us. As the Holy Spirit immerses us through our praising, we are able to hear His voice and give God all the more praise. The Holy Spirit will reveal to us deeper truths of the Scriptures. He will give us a new song to sing within our hearts. The love of God will not only be felt but heard as our soul’s sing aloud of His kindness, goodness, and faithfulness.
We cannot be wise or truly love without the Holy Spirit’s speaking.
When we choose to use our time to sing about God, we open ourselves to the flooding of wisdom and love. We cannot be wise or truly love without the Holy Spirit’s speaking. It is our song that opens the gateway to the Holy Spirit’s voice. When we hear from Him, we are able to become more like Him. Genuine songs sung towards God opens ourselves to all of Him and deflect anything of a hidden self. When we sing songs of praise no barriers of demonic oppression, exterior afflictions, or inward carnality can conquer the flow of the Holy Ghost.
Let us therefore speak “to one another with psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit. Sing and make music from your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ” (Ephesians 5:19-20 NIV).
PRAYER
Heavenly Father, we desire to hear from You. You alone, O Lord, are worthy of all the praise and glory. Lord, give us the strength to deny ourselves. Draw us to the place of complete surrender and submission. We desire nothing more than to honor You. Lord, open our spiritual ears to hear what the Spirit is saying. May we not suppress Him, Lord. Rather, may He be seen and expressed through the surrender of our will. As we die to self, may He raise up. Guide and speak to us, O Holy Spirit. May we follow You and take the time to be silent. As we sit in solitude, make Your voice concise and clear. Give us eyes to see and ears to hear, O Lord. May You be glorified through our lives, forever and always. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Lance VanTine