3rd Spirit, Soul, Body (13)
2005-02-27 | Pastor Dr. Jaerock Lee | 1 John 2:24-25, Romans 8:14
Today, I would like to testify about how to receive the voice of the Holy Spirit and guidance, how to distinguish between the voice of the Holy Spirit and one’s thoughts, and what to remember when listening to the voice of the Holy Spirit and trying to be guided.
1. In order to break the thoughts of the flesh and receive the voice and guidance of the Holy Spirit
God gives the Holy Spirit as a gift to all children who have received the Lord through faith. Romans 8:14 says, “All those who are led by the Spirit of God are the sons of God.” If you are a child of God, you must be guided by the Spirit of God, which means that you must be guided by the Holy Spirit. However, just because you have received the Holy Spirit does not mean that you can clearly hear the voice of the Holy Spirit and receive guidance from the beginning. In order for us to hear the voice of the Holy Spirit and be guided, the most important thing is to break the thoughts of the flesh.
Then, what should we do to break the fleshly thoughts and receive the voice and guidance of the Holy Spirit?
1) You must cast off the untruth in your heart, that is, your body.
The voice of the Holy Spirit is not something you hear with your ears, but it is a voice that comes from your heart and is heard through the truth in your heart. However, if there is untruth, the thoughts of the flesh will come to mind first before you hear the voice of the Holy Spirit in your heart. First, we must listen to the voice of the Holy Spirit with the heart of truth and obey the voice to think of the Spirit, but the thoughts of the flesh take precedence and block the voice of the Holy Spirit. Therefore, in order to break these carnal thoughts, you must first cast off the untruths of your heart, and to that extent you can clearly hear the voice of the Holy Spirit.
2) When you hear even the faint voice of the Holy Spirit, you must obey it.
They said that if there is untruth in your heart, the thoughts of the flesh will block the voice of the Holy Spirit. However, even if untruth remains in our hearts, as long as there is truth, the voice of the Holy Spirit is heard on the other hand. If your heart is made up of a lot of truth, you can hear the voice of the Holy Spirit more clearly. However, even when it sounds faint like this, if you diligently obey what you hear, your heart will be filled with the truth more and more, and you will be able to hear the voice of the Holy Spirit more clearly.
For example, if someone has done evil to you, two thoughts come to mind at the same time if you are not completely sanctified. The voice of the Holy Spirit says, “Be gentle and love even your enemies” through your heart, but at the same time, the thought of your flesh that says “I am upset and hate you” comes to mind. As there are many untruths in our hearts such as anger and hatred, the voice of the Holy Spirit is weak, but those who have learned the truth and prayed for sanctification will still hear the voice of the Holy Spirit.
At that time, if you can resolutely obey the voice of the Holy Spirit, the evil in your heart can be cast away and you can hear the voice of the Holy Spirit more and more clearly.
3) You must pray fiery
When you have two radios playing different stations, if you turn up the volume on one side, you can hear the station better. When you receive the filling of the Holy Spirit through fiery prayer like this, you can hear the voice of the Holy Spirit more clearly as if you turn up the volume of the radio.
When visiting, we should not visit in our minds, but pray and visit with the Word of God. If a new believer with little faith misses the Sunday, the first thing that comes to mind is that if the person visiting mobilizes their thoughts, it is enough to testify to the word ‘Keep the Sabbath day holy’. Just because you mobilize your thoughts and testify to the words, ‘Keep the Sunday, if you don’t keep the Sunday, you will go to hell’, it cannot be a complete spiritual room. In order to become a spiritual chamber, you must first release your soul and pray fully to hear the voice of the Holy Spirit.
Then the Holy Spirit will tell you about the fundamental problem of breaking the Sunday. It is to let you know what the reason is, such as getting in trouble with someone in the church or feeling discouraged because of a difficult problem at work. Or even if you don’t know the specific problem, he will remind you of the appropriate verses of God’s Word. You just need to spread the word. When that happens, the Holy Spirit opens the heart of the other person so that they can receive grace and solve their problems.
When you visit like this, you have to pray in advance and listen to the voice, but there are times when you cannot accumulate a lot of prayers in advance. However, if you are constantly praying and being filled with the Holy Spirit, you can easily hear the voice of the Holy Spirit even if you pray for a while about any problem.
2. To distinguish the voice of the Holy Spirit from one’s thoughts
If you listen to the voice of the Holy Spirit, you can clearly discern the will of God and dwell fully in the truth. When there are obstacles in the way, the voice of the Holy Spirit informs them, and in some cases, He guides the way to receive blessings. They may reveal secrets of the spiritual realm or inform you of future events.
As such, when the children of God begin to hear the voice of the Holy Spirit, they may not be able to distinguish whether this is their own thoughts or the voice of the Holy Spirit. Of course, when it is clearly divided into truth and non-truth, it is easy to discern which one is the voice of the Holy Spirit. In light of the Bible, if it is truth, it is the voice of the Holy Spirit, and if it is untruth, it is the mind of the flesh. However, sometimes both are not untruth, but in some cases, it is not possible to accurately discern which is the voice of the Holy Spirit.
So, in order to clearly discern it, a training process is required. First, when you receive the filling of the Holy Spirit through earnest prayer over the content you want to discern, you will hear the voice of the Holy Spirit more clearly. Also, through the results of obedience, you can check whether it is the voice of the Holy Spirit or not. If it is truly the voice of the Holy Spirit and God is in control, God’s work will be revealed when we obey it.
For example, joy and thanksgiving from above and the filling of the Holy Spirit may be evidence of that. Or, in some cases, we can confirm the voice of the Holy Spirit through another person’s mouth or by reaping the visible fruits of blessing through obedience.
Since I had no one to teach me how to listen to the voice of the Holy Spirit, God provided me with training from the time I was a beginner. One day, during the worship service, a certain evangelist suddenly felt the need to donate 30,000 won, which was a large amount at the time. However, on the way home from the service, I thought about various things, and in the end, I thought, “It must have been my thoughts,” and I did not give any relief. But the next day, the preacher’s wife gave birth to a child the night before, and I was told that the family had to work all night to get 30,000 won for hospital bills. That was the voice of the Holy Spirit, and through this process, I was trained to distinguish the voice of the Holy Spirit from my thoughts.
3. Points to remember when listening to the voice of the Holy Spirit and seeking guidance
When you first hear the voice of the Holy Spirit, it is easy to hear the voice mainly during the time of being filled with the Holy Spirit, especially during the prayer time. However, as you gradually learn to discern and become sanctified and fill your heart with the truth, you will hear the voice of the Holy Spirit and receive control. However, there are a few things to remember when you want to hear the voice of the Holy Spirit like this.
1) You must have an attitude to truly discern God’s will
It means that you should not put your thoughts and will first, or think first about your situation or realistic conditions. When there is selfishness that “I prefer this one” or having a preconceived notion that “that is difficult in reality,” it is first acted on the mind of the flesh, so it is difficult to hear the correct voice of the Holy Spirit. If it is only God’s will, we must pray with a heart to obey unconditionally and with the belief that if we obey even the seemingly impossible task, God will accomplish it.
2) We must not mistake the mind of the flesh for the voice of the Holy Spirit.
They create their own frame in the truth, and because of that, they cannot hear the voice of the Holy Spirit. For example, let’s say that a person with strong self-righteousness from the beginning made a statement saying, “It is the truth not to compromise” while listening to Daniel’s words about the hard cut. However, when doing God’s work, we must not insist on only one argument. If it is not untruth, we should be able to adjust it according to each person’s faith and circumstances. However, a person with strong self-righteousness breaks the peace by insisting on what he believes to be the truth even in such a situation.
Even though these people seem to be working hard in their faith life, they do not break through a certain limit, so even after many years, they cannot enter the spirit and are stagnant. So, no matter what kind of voice you think you have heard, you should always check and illuminate whether it is truly the voice of the Holy Spirit and whether you are following God’s will in holiness and peace.
3) If you do not obey the voice of the Holy Spirit, you cannot receive the guidance of the Holy Spirit.
Moreover, if we do not continue to obey the voice of the Holy Spirit, we cannot experience the work of God and we cannot even hear the voice of the Holy Spirit. If you keep disobeying the voice of the Holy Spirit and you can’t hear the voice of the Holy Spirit at all, it will eventually be related to the problem of salvation.
For example, when a person commits a crime in the flesh, he hears the voice of the Holy Spirit groaning deeply, and his heart becomes fearful and trembling. However, if you ignore that voice and commit a crime once or twice, your heart will become dull and your fear will disappear.
Also, even if you hear the voice of the Holy Spirit and receive guidance, you cannot be said to be guided if you do not obey. Even if someone tells you there is a treasure in the east, if you just stay in the west, you won’t have it. No matter how small it is, I hope that when we hear the voice of the Holy Spirit, we can be guided clearly by obedience.
Dear saints,
1 Thessalonians 5:23 says, “May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.” When you achieve the whole spirit, your soul and body will also be transformed into the soul and body that belong to the spirit, and you will be able to welcome us in a flawless state when the Lord comes. However, the soul that belongs to the spirit casts off the thoughts of the flesh and follows the truth and only thinks of the spirit. Also, since we do not have the mind of the flesh, we can hear the voice of the Holy Spirit and know the will of God, and we can experience the work of God by obeying the voice of the Holy Spirit.
Therefore, I pray in the name of the Lord that you will promptly cast off all untruths, listen to the voice of the Holy Spirit clearly, and be guided on the path of abundant blessings by only thinking of the Spirit.
