Hearing the Spirit

Thank you for coming to ‘hearthenspeak’ to read the Word of God today! Our topic is an important and necessary one. We must learn to recognize and hear the voice of the Holy Spirit. Ask the Lord to give you His revelation and understanding. Let’s dig in! Eric

Following the creation of man, the Lord God planted a garden and placed the man (Adam) in it. Then the Lord said, “It is not good for man to be alone, I will make a helper for him.” After creating the animals, the Lord made Eve, as a suitable helper for Adam.

We realize from reading Genesis 3:8 that Adam and Eve were accustomed to walking and communing with God in the garden. They recognized the sound of His voice and He knew where to find them when He was walking there in the cool of the day.

In Genesis 5:22, we encounter Enoch, who ‘walked’ with God and experienced close communion with Him. It is also recorded in Hebrews 11:5 that Enoch was ‘well pleasing’ to the Lord.

We find that Noah also ‘walked’ with God. The phrase ‘walked with’ in the Hebrew gives us a picture of two persons walking side by side in close relationship.

From seeing how God communed and fellowshipped with His creation, and looking at how Adam, Eve, Enoch, and Noah interacted with God and He with them, we know that the Lord desires to have fellowship with man and that man was not created to walk alone.

Look at what the prophet Jeremiah wrote in Jeremiah 10:23, “O Lord, I know the way of man is not in himself; It is not in man who walks to direct his own steps.” ‘Way,’ derek in the Hebrew means: course of life, action, and undertakings. The prophet recognized that left alone, man is lacking and needs help in charting his course of life.

Then, just as we saw the Lord being active in the lives of His creation, we also read, “The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord, And He delights in his way.” (Psalm 37:23). I would like us to read how this verse could be written with the Hebrew meanings inserted. ‘The course of the life of a man are directed, prepared, and established by the Lord, and the Lord is well pleased or delights in that man’s journey, course of life, action, or undertakings.’ Adding to what we learned about man earlier concerning his not being created to walk alone, we see that he was also not expected to find his own way or direct his own path. Man’s course of life is to be directed by the Lord.

In communing with God and being in His presence, we primarily know and experience it today through our relationship with the Holy Spirit. In John 14:26, Jesus, speaking to the disciples said, “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 things that I said to you.” Here, we see that man was created to commune with and to be guided continually by the Lord through the Holy Spirit. Remember, the Holy Spirit is the third person of the Godhead and He lives inside us. (“God in Three Persons” posted on 2/7/24)

If we put our trust and confidence in the Lord with all of our heart, soul, mind, and affections rather than in our own knowledge, wisdom, intelligence, or insight; as we acknowledge Him, He will make our path, way, or the course of our life straightforward and upright! (Proverbs 3:5 and 6 expanded with Greek meanings.)

It is prudent and beneficial for us to put our trust and confidence in Him. Why? We read in Proverbs 2:6, “For the Lord gives wisdom; from His mouth comes knowledge and understanding.” Looking at the Hebrew meanings of the words wisdom, knowledge, and understanding gives a really rich and much deeper understanding of what the Lord gives us! Are you ready? The Lord gives us intelligence, understanding, wisdom, discretion, reason, and skillfulness!

Job 28:13 and 28 takes us one step further regarding finding wisdom and gaining understanding. These are wonderful Scriptures: Verse 13, “But where can wisdom be found? And where is the place of understanding?” Verse 28, “And to man, He said, “Behold, the fear (reverence) of the Lord is wisdom and to depart from evil is understanding.” So, if you find yourself in a place where you need wisdom and understand, revering God and departing from evil is a good place to start.

Jesus, when He chose to leave His glory and come to earth, to be born of a woman, and live in a physical body, provided us with a perfect example of what the course of life, as the Son of man should look like. Jesus was the Son of God also, however, the life He lived here on the planet and how He identified Himself here was as the ‘Son of man.’ The works that He did accomplish, He accomplished as a man, filled with the power of the Holy Spirit.

What did Jesus teach us and what example did He set for us in regard to following God?

In His own words:

“Then Jesus answered and said to them, "Most assuredly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do; for whatever He does, the Son also does in like manner. ... 30 "I can of Myself do nothing. As I hear, I judge; and My judgment is righteous, because I do not seek My own will but the will of the Father who sent Me.” Jesus said He did only what He saw or heard from the Father. (John 5:19 and 30)

"For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me.” Jesus only and totally sought to do the Father’s will. (John 6:38)

“Then Jesus said to His disciples, "If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.” Jesus taught that those who follow Him are to deny themselves, take up their own cross and follow Him. ‘Deny’ in the Greek means: forget oneself, lose sight of one-self and one’s own interests. The New Living Translation renders ‘deny’ as “must turn from your selfish ways.” This part of Jesus’ instruction is difficult for a lot of people. Sadly, most of us are pretty self-centered. The phrase ‘take up your cross’ is a proverbial expression which is usually used by those who on behalf of God’s cause, do not hesitate to cheerfully and manfully bear the persecutions, troubles, and distresses that will come - thus recalling the fate of Christ and the spirit in which he encountered it. (Another hard lesson for those of us, in the Western world, who have, to date, been fortunate to live under the blessings of God, as a nation). (Matthew 16:24)

"He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me.” Jesus also taught that if we love God, we will obey Him. The word ‘has,’ echo in the Greek means to hold fast. ‘Keep,’ tereo means to observe. It is quite plain - if we love Him, we will obey His commandments. (John 14:21a)

Right now, I need to pause and interject this question and ‘word’ for you. Do you realize that all of these ‘teachings’ that Jesus gave to the disciples and us are the will of God? We have just now read, a number of times, that Jesus came not fulfill His own will, but to do the will of the Father. The Word of God is the will of God! The Lord created us with a purpose and has a plan for each of us. Included in that plan is that we do the will of God, just as Jesus, our perfect example did! Let’s continue on…

You see, in Genesis we saw that man was created in the “image of God according to Our likeness.” (A quote of the Father). ‘Image’ (selem) means likeness or resemblance. ‘Likeness’ means similitude or something that appears like. When we speak of God’s ‘image,’ we are not simply talking about one who looks like another in appearance. We are also talking about someone who is alike in character. We really need to grasp this truth. We are to be one with God, which includes being of one mind, one will, one nature, one temperament, one charisma and one psyche. Are you getting it? Boggles the mind a bit doesn’t it?

2 Corinthians 3:18 reveals, “But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.” We read in the textual notes in the New Spirit Filled Life Bible, “Beholding as in a mirror connotes ‘reflecting’ as well as “looking into.” As we behold the glory of the Lord, we are continually transformed into the same image by the Spirit of the Lord. We not only will be conformed to His image, we will reflect His image to all of those we encounter! (That is certainly one of my goals in life!).

The textual notes we saw in the New Spirit Filled Life Bible concerning the “oneness” that Jesus prayed for us in John 17 is between the the Father, Himself, and us with fellow believers. “That oneness is not an organizational but a spiritual unity, which will be visibly manifested in the life of the church.”

Then, in Kingdom Dynamics in the New Spirit Filled Life Bible for John 17, we read, “Unity is Christ’s miracle of oneness. Jesus prayed for the same oneness for His disciples that He has with the Father. He and the Father share the same purpose, plan, and power.”

We just read Mark 14:36 where Jesus stated He came to do the Father’s will and, not His own.

Our ‘unity’ is dependent on sharing the priority of seeking and doing the Lord’s will.

How can we possibly do this? There is only one way - through the revelation and power of the Holy Spirit in us. John 16:13 reads, “When the Spirit of truth has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come.” Sounds perfect doesn’t it? However, the only way we can receive His guidance is to ‘hear His voice!’

Our next post will be Part 2 of “Hearing the Spirit.” We will continue to share a few of Jesus’ words, then spend the remaining part of the post delving into “How we know when the Spirit is speaking to us;” “How we learn to recognize His voice.” Then, we will share the various ways the Holy Spirit speaks to us.

Make more time to walk and talk with God.

Give Him opportunity to direct your paths.

Your trust in Him will never be in vain. He will give you wisdom, knowledge, and understanding.

When you reverence the Lord, as He deserves, that, is wisdom and when you depart from evil, that, is understanding.

Are you reflecting Him to those around you?

Looking forward to having you join us again next week!

All Scripture is taken from the New King James Version.