Are you Listening?

Are you listening to the Holy Spirit?

How often have you heard that God has a wonderful plan for your life, and when you become a Christian everything will be right and good, and life will be just dandy?!  Yeah, right!   That might be the case if we walked in perfect harmony with God, but our fallen nature makes this a challenge.  It's not God's part that fails (in fact that's not even possible), but us.  Me.  What to do?

Ray Comfort even wrote a whole book on that very concept and called it, "God has a Wonderful Plan for Your Life" which is an interesting read.  But this blog is not about Ray's book, and it's not a book review today.  So here's a link if you want to read it (I'd recommend it)*:   http://store.livingwaters.com/god-has-a-wonderful-plan-for-your-life-free.html

As individual Christian believers, we each wonder how to discern the Holy Spirit in our lives, and this is a healthy question to ask, not once, not occasionally, but continually throughout our lives.

It's also a fact that we are weak in our spirits, except for the power of God which makes us strong and steadfast, so our nearness to the Holy Spirit fluctuates from time to time.   How can we focus on making those peaks and troughs in our spiritual lives more level?  I've been thinking about this, and the following 5 aspects of relating to the Holy Spirit have helped me to solve this problem.  Maybe it will help you too.  (I'm not saying that I've got it all perfect and I don't fluctuate in my relationship with the Holy Spirit - far from it; but this at least helps me to focus on it!)

It is a sound biblical principle that we must rely on God's power:

But He said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness. " Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me.  That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.   2 Corinthians 12:9-10 NIV

1. Listen for Him

There are even 3 ways to read this sentence.  Watch the emphasis which I have capitalised: 
LISTEN for Him - the emphasis is on listening.  (That is, your activity.)
Listen FOR Him - with the emphasis on for.  (The focus is on what you're doing it for).
Listen for HIM - emphasising on whom you are focused (ie. the Holy Spirit).

We live in a noisy world.  There are many competing voices which we need to filter!   Some of these are natural sounds (like birdsongs, the breeze in the trees, footsteps, breathing, and heartbeats), man-made sounds (like traffic, appliances, activities, television, mobile phones and industry).   Then there's marketing!   How many times do you need to be told that the "Burgers are better at "..., or "... because you're worth it" (seriously??) But there are also spiritual voices competing with the Holy Spirit. 

Active listening is a good skill to apply here, but how do you apply active listening to the Holy Spirit's voice?   Remembering that conversing with God is somewhat similar to conversing with each other, so it's a two-way conversation. Check back with God with questions like, "Is this your voice, Lord?", or "Am I hearing you speaking to me in this?" or, "Am I being distracted?"  But we are jumping ahead.  For starters, have a listening attitude.



2. Hear His voice

You will only hear the Holy Spirit consistent with His Word, the Bible.  So develop a good bible-reading and prayer habit.

Only once you are reading the bible expectantly, and listening for Him are you likely to hear His voice.  But hearing isn't listening!

3. Recognise His voice

You've been listening for Him, and you've heard Him, now to recognise Him!

You will recognise His voice because the Holy Spirit's voice will always align with scripture.   There is no extrabiblical revelation these days, so anything that is contrary to, conflicting with or extraneous to biblical teaching is not the Holy Spirit!

In the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his son..."  Heb. 1:1-2a

4. Listen to Him

Listening to someone is different to listening for someone.    Listening to someone is also different to simply hearing them.

Listening to the Holy Spirit means listening to what He says, absorbing it, remembering it, and meditating on it.   This should be a fundamental part of a daily quiet time - praying, reading the bible, listening and meditating on what has been read and heard.


5. Obey Him

The Holy Spirit indwells all believers, so it is important to obey Him and live as God demands.  Failing to obey has consequences - not losing God's indwelling presence, but grieving Him. 

And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.  Ephesians 4:30

fulfilled in Acts 2 before the church was scattered to reach the whole world with the Good News of Jesus.

It's not like in Old Testament days when the Holy Spirit temporarily visited and empowered or inspired people.   Even David, a very Godly man and God's chosen leader of Israel, recognised the fact that he was not permanently indwelt by the Holy Spirit when he prayed after grieving God through his personal sin,

Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me.

So there's an act of obedience required from each believer after listening for the Holy Spirit's voice, hearing His voice, recognising His voice, and listening to what He says!

...but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; 
and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth. 
Acts 1:8

Notes:
* Sorry about the lowercase G for God - it's the actual address set by the publisher, so if I change it the link won't work
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