Tag Archives: voice of the Holy Spirit

Listening to God’s voice –Barrier #5 – Reasoning (Part 1)

04 Monday Nov 2013

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 Logical or worldly reasoning

John 6:7-9 Philip answered Him, “Two hundred denarii worth of bread is not sufficient for them, that every one of them may have a little.” 8 One of His disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, said to Him, 9 “There is a lad here who has five barley loaves and two small fish, but what are they among so many?”

Numbers 11:22, 22 And Moses said, “The people whom I am among are six hundred thousand men on foot; yet You have said, ‘I will give them meat, that they may eat for a whole month.’ 22 Shall flocks and herds be slaughtered for them, to provide enough for them? Or shall all the fish of the sea be gathered together for them, to provide enough for them?” 23 And the LORD said to Moses, “Has the LORD’s arm been shortened? Now you shall see whether what I say will happen to you or not.”

When our Lord spoke to His disciple about the leaven of the Pharisees, they were reasoning among themselves about the bread that they left ashore. We saw before that reasoning was the biggest hindrance in listing to God ‘s voice. There are many types of reasoning one can have, which may hinder in listening to the Holy Spirit. First, Logical or worldly reasoning: In this incident mentioned in the above verses, we can see how the mind of the disciples worked. Philip reasoned according to the regular reasoning of the world, saying two hundred denarii worth of bread will not be sufficient for this crowd. One more example of this type of reasoning is from the great man of God. He also tends to reason in a logical way. He could have acquired this skills based on his education in Egypt. Moses reasoned with God, whether all the fish in the sea would be enough to feed this whole congregation. Like Moses and the disciple of our Lord, we also have this tendency of reasoning. Whether we are great or small, whether we are matured or starting to grow in the Lord, this reasoning will hit every one’s mind when it comes to know the will of God or the providence of God. This logical reasoning will hinder your ability to listen to what God is trying to speak to you. Your reasoning would drag you one way and God is trying to tell you something that is great and mighty things, which you do not know (Jer 33:3). We can not eliminate this reasoning, but we can ignore them and park them aside and make way for God’s awesome power to display in our life. Whenever the logical reasoning tend to overcome us, you suppress it or rebuke it in the name of Lord Jesus Christ and then open your mind or free up your mind to receive the ever flowing living word of God. To avoid this barrier, practice this, by placing trust in Him, and it would greatly benefit in hearing the voice of the Lord.

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Listening to God’s voice –Barrier #4 –Approach (Part 5)

03 Sunday Nov 2013

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                            Come to Him with a thirst

Isa 55:1-3 “Ho! Everyone who thirsts, Come to the waters; and you who have no money, Come, buy and eat. Yes, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. 2 Why do you spend money for what is not bread, and your wages for what does not satisfy? Listen carefully to Me, and eat what is good, And let your soul delight itself in abundance. 3 Incline your ear, and come to Me. Hear, and your soul shall live; And I will make an everlasting covenant with you—The sure mercies of David.”

John 7: 37 “On the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink.”

A man was travelling through a wilderness and when the water that he carried was empty, he was very much thirsty. Now he came across an Oasis and he was very happy and went to the waterfront as thirsty as he could be. A great disappointment was waiting for him. That waterfront was dry with no water. He was searching for water and found none. Likewise, many of us search to hear God’s word with a real thirst. Many go to different places in search of His word and disappointed because their thirst is not quenched. For those who are thirsty, God says to them ‘Come to Me’. He will give you the living water and quench your thirst and He promises that once you drank from the living water, you will never thirst. That is His great promise. He asks in Isaiah 55, “Why do you spend money for what is not bread, And your wages for what does not satisfy?” Come to Him first to quench your thirst, and then you will have the discernment of hearing the word of God from others.  Do not spend your money on materials that profits someone else appetite. Those materials and messages, which cost you money, can not teach you anything, if you have not first approached Him to listen His words.  If you go to the Living Water first and spend time with Him, then you may not need those materials and messages that cost something. Go near to Him to listen with a thirst; in Him there are words of eternity, which will quench your thirst, edify your soul and teach the word for the season.

Listening to God’s voice –Barrier #4 –Approach (Part 4)

02 Saturday Nov 2013

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                          Come to Him with humbleness

Dan 10:12 Then he said to me, “Do not fear, Daniel, for from the first day that you set your heart to understand, and to humble yourself before your God, your words were heard; and I have come because of your words

Ps 10:17 Lord, You have heard the desire of the humble; You will prepare their heart; You will cause Your ear to hear,

James 4:9-10 Lament and mourn and weep! Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. 10 Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up.

When we humble ourselves before God, He listens to you. That is why it is the effective way of praying to God. Your prayers will be answered because God listens to your worship and supplication.  We can see this directly in Ezra’s life and in Daniel’s life. When Ezra and those with him humbled themselves with fasting, God answered their prayers. When Daniel set his heart for earnest intercession for the children of Israel, God sent His angel to reply him. Paul says to the Corinthians that God will humble him in order for him to intercede for those who went astray from the Lord (2 Cor 12:21).

Today God seeks such kind of a worshiper. Lord God is looking for a man or woman who can mourn, weep, and humble themselves before God to intercede for many who are becoming thorn to the body of Christ and to the souls that are going astray. Mighty revivals came upon this earth by men and woman who submitted themselves humbly before the Lord God and praying all the time for the betterment of His kingdom. Those who are doing this, your reward is coming with Lord Jesus Christ. He will give you the strength like a wild ox to shatter the fortress of the enemy. You will fly as a swift eagle above all the distractions and He will give you feet as that of a deer and make you rest in the higher ground. Let the fire that is kindled in your heart be burning much more and let it not die down. Be a warrior in prayer; stand your post and fight the good fight. God will bless you from His holy habitation. Peace be unto you.

Listening to God’s voice –Barrier #4 –Approach (Part 3)

01 Friday Nov 2013

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                         Come to Him with humbleness

Ezra 8:21-23 21 Then I proclaimed a fast there at the river of Ahava, that we might humble ourselves before our God, to seek from Him the right way for us and our little ones and all our possessions. 22 For I was ashamed to request of the king an escort of soldiers and horsemen to help us against the enemy on the road, because we had spoken to the king, saying, “The hand of our God is upon all those for good who seek Him, but His power and His wrath are against all those who forsake Him.” 23 So we fasted and entreated our God for this, and He answered our prayer.

Ezra, when returning to Jerusalem with some of the children of Israel, called for a fasting and prayer before the Living God Almighty. While returning on the way, they humbled themselves to know the way that God wants to lead them and protect them from the enemy, their life and their belongings. Going near Him with humbleness is the effective way to get more clarity in listening to God’s voice. To the humble, He gives more grace. To the haughty, He shuts His face and allows him to fall in his folly.

Let us look into the following:

What is humbling? If we look at 2 Sam 6:22, humbling is bringing down one’s dignity to the lowest value. King David brought himself down before the Lord to worship the God of all flesh. He did not consider himself as a king and pride fully sat on a chariot and returned with the Ark of the Covenant. But, he humbled himself and walked before the Lord God and worshiped with other fellow Israelites.  When we humble ourselves, our spirit will get clarity and the truthfulness of our spiritual life will come out and stand before us. When we are in this state, we can worship the Lord God with truth and spirit by cleansing any impurities with the blood of the Holy Lamb of God.

Contd…

Listening to God’s voice –Barrier #4 –Approach (Part 2)

31 Thursday Oct 2013

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Come to Him with submission

James 4:7, 8  Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. 8 Draw near to God and He will draw near to you.

Luke 10:39 And she had a sister called Mary, who also sat at Jesus feet and heard His word. 

Mary, who was the sister of Martha, shows us the posture and the attitude to listen to the words of our Lord. She sat at His feet and heard His word. Submission is a necessity when we are trying to listen to God’s voice. Many of us always have a busy schedule and there is no time to meditate on the word. Some use books like ‘our daily bread’ for 2 minutes and then pray for 2 min’s then go to work. If we have this kind of lifestyle, we should not complain that God is not talking to me or I am not able to hear His voice. First, we have to submit ourselves before God in our heart, mind, spirit and in our attitude. Without this, we may not hear His voice and His direction. When we control our whole body using the ‘self control’, which is one of the fruits of the Holy Spirit, then our feelings, wants and needs will be under submission before God. We will find time to get up soon from the bed and allocate time for meditating the word of God and to hear what He has to say to us in our prayer time. We have to sit at His feet everyday to listen to Him. His words will strengthen us, guide us and comfort us. When we have this kind of submission and time with the Lord, then we will know His voice at anytime, and anywhere. We will be ready to listen even when we are working or in a midst of some other chores.  Come near to Him in submission; submit your time, entertainment, sleep, weakness or anything that hinders you from not able to sit at the Lord’s feet and hear Him.

Listening to God’s voice –Barrier #4 –Approach

30 Wednesday Oct 2013

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Maintaining a distance from the Lord:

Isa 34:1 Come near, you nations, to hear; And heed, you people! Let the earth hear, and all that is in it, The world and all things that come forth from it.

Maintaining a distance is the next barrier that we are going to see in detail. Many do not hear the voice of God because they do not come near to Him. They wanted to hear what He has to say to them but from a distance. If someone speaks from a distance, you may not hear him, to understand what that person is saying. You know that he is saying something, but may not understand what he is trying to tell you. If you want to understand what he is saying, either you or the other person should come close. Likewise, if we stand from far from the Lord and trying to listen to what God says to us, then it is not going to benefit us. We may not understand what He says. Sometimes God come near to us out of His great mercy and longsuffering when we want to run away from Him or when we are in a position that we can not go to Him (The sick man near the pool is an example). We should not wait for God to come to us because the scripture clearly says in James 4:8, “Draw near to God and He will draw near to you”. We have to go near to Him first. The manner we approach God, to listen to what He says does come into play in understanding what He has to say to us. Let us go near to God without maintaining a distance, because we can approach God the Father through our Mediator that is our Lord Jesus Christ. This is our inheritance in the Lord Jesus Christ and we can boldly draw near to God’s presence through His Son Jesus Christ. If God willing, let us meditate on how to approach God to listen to Him in the coming days.

Listening to God’s voice –Barrier #3 – Pleasing men rather God

29 Tuesday Oct 2013

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I Sam 15:22-25 So Samuel said: “Has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, As in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, And to heed than the fat of rams. 23 For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, And stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the Lord, He also has rejected you from being king.” 24 Then Saul said to Samuel, “I have sinned, for I have transgressed the commandment of the Lord and your words, because I feared the people and obeyed their voice. 25 Now therefore, please pardon my sin, and return with me, that I may worship the Lord.”

Saul was the first king of Israel. He heard from God through Samuel to completely destroy the Amalekites and their belongings. ‘Nothing should be spared’, this is the command from the Lord. Saul obeyed to the command and went to fight against Amelakites. He obeyed the command of the Lord, so what is the problem. The problem is he did not completely obey what he heard from the Lord. This is the next barrier. In the same chapter, verse 9 says, “…and were unwilling to destroy them”. He was unwilling to destroy the best things. He reserved those fatlings for the sacrifice of the Lord. How did he come to that conclusion? He did that to please his men and not wanting to get bad name from them. As a king, he feared the people more than he feared God (Verse 24).  Because of this partial disobedience, he was not able to receive the word of God anymore.  The Spirit of God departed from him (I Sam 16:14) and the Lord did not answered him when he inquired through prophets, dreams or by Urim (I Sam 28:6). He was not able to hear the voice of the Lord anymore. Like Saul many today does the spiritual things not according to the ‘exact’ will of God that was given to them. This is because they either want to please their surroundings (family, friends, fellow believers etc) or fear of traditions. Many obey other’s voice more than the voice of God and trying to find a way to satisfy both God and men. This trying will make us error and that becomes a barrier in receiving the word of God in our life. When we remove this veil from our midst, then we can clearly hear Him what He says regarding to our spiritual and everyday living.  Let us ask for repentance if we have disobeyed the voice of God to please other men and turn back to Him. He is willing to forgive us through His abundant grace, and then again, we can start walking with the Lord.

Listening to God’s voice –Barrier #2 – SIN

28 Monday Oct 2013

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Gen 3:8-10 “And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. 9 Then the Lord God called to Adam and said to him, “Where are you?” 10 So he said, “I heard Your voice in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; and I hid myself.””

When the voice of God was heard in the Garden of Eden, Adam was hiding from His presence even though he heard His voice. Why? because of his sin. Death and life can not be at the same place, that is in our mind; darkness and light cannot coexist in our mind through which we are trying to concentrate or listen to His voice. Sin or any uncleanliness should be repented and cleared out of our way before even we try to listen to God’s voice.

Sin is like the depth of the sea where temptations are like the roaring waves that hits the shore repeatedly without tiring. If a man stands on the shore, waves will constantly hit him. If the man loses his ground then he will be dragged into the depths of the sea. Likewise, when the devil, like a roaring lion comes against us as the waves of the sea again and again, we have to stand firm on the Rock of Salvation.  If we know, doing some tasks will bring temptations, then we need to avoid those tasks if it is possible (Ps 1:1). Also, when we stand near the shore the noise of the waves are too loud especially when it was very rough. Likewise, the noise of the temptation will be too high when it comes to hear the voice of the Holy Spirit. So stay away from the noise of the temptations when it is in your power to avoid it. When you have less time to fight the temptation, you will have more time to listen to God with much less noise around you. Move to the higher ground. Therefore, sin and noise of the temptations are a hindrance in listening to God’s voice.

Listening to God’s voice –Barrier #1 -Carnal Mind

27 Sunday Oct 2013

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Rom 8:12-14 Therefore, brethren, we are debtors—not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. 13 For if you live according to the flesh you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. 14 For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.

Why God has to speak to you about carnal things when He already provided the brain, mind and intelligence to do that task? He does not have to right. Then why God’s people always sought what God has to say about an issue, a need, or a situation, which is worldly in deed?

We are in this earth in flesh and we do the deeds of the flesh to live in this world like others. We do the things like others do, but what is the difference. The Light is the difference. Meaning we do the works in the light rather in the darkness. We work the carnal things based on the spiritual need. That is the difference. We work, eat, fellowship, distribute offerings to the saints and the needy. All things we do according to the worldly things, but with a spiritual mind. That is why God’s people are seeking to the carnal things according to the spiritual agenda. If we are carnal in our thoughts, then God cannot guide us or we may not be able to listen to God.

The above is the basic barrier or one layer of veil, which needs to be removed from our mind to hear God’s voice.

Voice of God: He is longing for us to trust His presence

23 Wednesday Oct 2013

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Luke 9:41 – O faithless and perverse generation how long shall I be with you and bear with you?

If we are not able to hear Him because of our sin or our laziness or our fatness in our heart, then this will be His longingness towards the children of God. How long shall I be with you and bear with you? Without hearing, we cannot build our faith. One of the works of the Holy Spirit is to remind us what our Lord Jesus Christ spoke. He will bring to our remembrance what He spoke to His disciples and to this world. If we don’t hear it, then our faith that began in us will die or will not grow more than that. Without faith, we could go into complaining mode like the children of Israel (Num 14:27). He longs for us to have trust in Him and not to complain by comparing the world (faithless). It is impossible to please God without faith (Heb 11:6). He will be displeased with us, if we are not executing our faith. We should not compare with others; if we do, then our hearts will be weighed down with the complaints and we may not allow Him to explain His purpose for our life through His voice. He wants us all to execute our faith in boldness without comparing or complaining under the authority of the name Jesus Christ. His name is powerful and we need to trust in Him.