The Sound of Heaven
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Let’s start by reviewing some facts this morning.
If you are born again, the Bible says that you are “born of the Spirit.” It says that the Spirit of God, the Holy Spirit, abides, dwells or “lives” inside you.
You are now able to connect with God, hear from God, and be led by God through His Holy Spirit that He has placed within you.
For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.
The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ...”
You and I have the exact same Holy Spirit that Jesus does. One and the same.
There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling; One Lord, one faith, one baptism, One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.
So the same Holy Spirit that led Jesus into the wilderness, showed Him where to go and when to go there, performed miracles through His hands, and made Him to be “without spot” and blameless before God, is in YOU.
I wanted to recall these facts before we went any further, because I believe it is only by the Spirit of God inside you that you are going to be able to receive the fulness and encouragement of the rest of the message.
But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God. For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God. Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God.
I want you to notice something in that first part of that passage we just read...
“Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. But God has revealed them unto us by His Spirit...”
“Eye has not seen, nor ear heard...” “...but God HAS revealed them unto us by His Spirit...”
Let me say that another way. The things God has in store for you HAVE BEEN REVEALED to your eyes and your ears, in and by the Holy Spirit of God.
We know that as believers that “we walk by faith and not by sight.” Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of thigs not seen.
If you can’t see it, how can you still know that it is still coming to pass? Because of your faith, you can see it manifesting.
By faith you “hear” God. Now I could talk to 100 Christians and ask them whether they have heard the audible voice of God, and very, very few would confidently say that they have.
But if you SEE things by faith, it would make sense that you also HEAR the things of God by faith too.
I was asked recently how I know what to preach every week. I told them that I hear in my spirit, sometimes a word, sometimes a passage or a theme or whatever and then I pray about it before I sit down and jot some notes down about it.
That got me thinking about hearing from God, hearing in the Spirit, hearing the sounds of heaven.
Put on your spiritual ears and follow me with this...
If you can see in the Spirit, and see things developing or see what direction things are going to go, it makes sense that you can also hear in the Spirit. You can hear what God is saying about something or someone.
You can hear about things before they actually happen, like a rumor from the heavenly realm, only it’s not a rumor. It is what is coming your way.
We are reminded in the New Testament of a situation in the Old Testament when someone heard very clearly in the Spirit what was going to happen.
It’s when Elijah was praying for rain.
This is where the title for today’s message came from, because it’s as if Elijah heard “the sound of heaven.” He heard what was coming before it manifested in the natural, physical realm.
...The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. Elias was a man subject to like passions as we are, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain: and it rained not on the earth by the space of three years and six months. And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth brought forth her fruit.
I love how James reminds us first that Elijah was a man “subject to like passions as we are.”
The word “passions” in the Greek is “homoiopathēs,” and it means: “Like feelings, similar experiences, same human nature, or subject to the same emotions and limitations.”
In other words, he had the same capacity to get caught up in doubt, fear or be persuaded to not believe, as any one of us.
Yet, he was able to push past all that and pray a prayer of faith that could not be stopped from coming to pass.
Why? What was it that gave him this innate confidence that what he prayed for would happen?
It’s because He “heard” it in the Spirit first, so he KNEW it was going to come to fruition.
First, God spoke to Elijah that a drought was coming on the land, because King Ahab and Jezabel had done evil in the sight of the Lord.
And Elijah the Tishbite, who was of the inhabitants of Gilead, said unto Ahab, As the Lord God of Israel liveth, before whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years, but according to my word.
Then when the time was right, God spoke to the ear of Elijah that it was time for the drought to be over and to pray for it to come to pass.
And it came to pass after many days, that the word of the Lord came to Elijah in the third year, saying, Go, shew thyself unto Ahab; and I will send rain upon the earth.
Before Elijah declares that the rain is coming, he first demonstrates his unwavering faith in the Almighty God and calls fire down from heaven to consume a sacrifice which the false prophets of Baal that Ahab and Jezabel had employed, were not able to do.
In other words, Elijah knew that he knew, that God was real, and powerful, and alive and well. He recognized the power in his prayers and his ability to hear from the Lord.
Then we’re told this...
And Elijah said unto Ahab, Get thee up, eat and drink; for there is a sound of abundance of rain.
It had not started to rain yet. It didn’t even remotely look like rain yet.
This is where Elijah heard it in his spirit that the rain was coming. He boldly tells Ahab, no need to conserve your food and water anymore, the rain is on the way.
He heard it in the Spirit first.
He then goes up on the top of Mount Carmel and starts to pray. He sends his servant to go look over the horizon for the storm clouds, and after having him do it 7 times, the servant comes back and says, “There’s a little tiny cloud, the size of a man’s hand forming over the sea.”
Then Elijah knew it was time. He tells his servant to go tell Ahab to get down off the mountain quickly because a massive rain was coming. And heavens opened up, the clouds turned black and it began pouring rain. The drought was over.
Some of you have heard in your spirit what is coming. You heard the answer to your prayer before you even prayed it.
You have heard the abundance of rain. You’ve heard the thundering of the outpouring of heaven. You haven’t seen it with your eyes yet, but in your spirit, you know it is coming.
My message to you is to not give up. Don’t stop praying, even though you’ve already prayed for it 6 times. Don’t get discouraged. It is on the way. What you heard is true and accurate.
Elijah had heard the abundance of rain, so when his servant came back and said, “I don’t see anything,” he just prayed some more and sent his servant to look again.
7 times is the number of perfection. That means that when the time was right, when it was the perfect time for the drought to be over, the abundance of rain that Elijah had heard began pouring down.
Think about how Jesus taught us to pray...
And he said unto them, When ye pray, say, Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, as in heaven, so in earth.
“Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, as in heaven so be it on the earth.”
Some of you have heard some things in your spirit. That means that you have heard what is happening in heaven. That is why we pray for what is going on in heaven to happen on the earth.
Do not give up. Continue to persevere. Press toward the mark.
Hold fast to the plans of God. What you have heard in the spirit is as real as the chair your sitting on.
Begin declaring that it is here.
Elijah confidently told Ahab, “Get up, go eat and drink, for I have heard the abundance of rain.” That was a declaration that the time was very soon.
Begin to speak out what you have heard in Spirit. Declare that wayward child is on their way back to the Kingdom of God.
Speak to your body that the pain or sickness is going away. Declare that your mind is sound and healthy and your emotions are filled with the joy you once had.
We walk by faith and not by sight. It is by faith that you have heard the plans of God. What is happening in the heavenly realm has been revealed to you.
Let your faith rise up and keep pressing in. Don't let go until you not only hear it with your spiritual ears, but you see it with your physical eyes.
