Hearing From God Week 1
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Importance of Hearing The Voice of God
Now the just shall live by faith: but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him.
And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.
So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.
Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.
Not seen But heard
For good news came to us just as to them, but the message they heard did not benefit them, because they were not united by faith with those who listened.
But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.
Are you on a Hey, It’s Me! basis with the Father?
We consider spiritual maturity what we should have all learned as babies
Newborn Milestone: Baby can recognize your voice around 1 to 3 weeks.
Since much time had passed, and the voyage was now dangerous because even the Fast was already over, Paul advised them, saying, “Sirs, I perceive that the voyage will be with injury and much loss, not only of the cargo and the ship, but also of our lives.” But the centurion paid more attention to the pilot and to the owner of the ship than to what Paul said. And because the harbor was not suitable to spend the winter in, the majority decided to put out to sea from there, on the chance that somehow they could reach Phoenix, a harbor of Crete, facing both southwest and northwest, and spend the winter there.
Now when the south wind blew gently, supposing that they had obtained their purpose, they weighed anchor and sailed along Crete, close to the shore. But soon a tempestuous wind, called the northeaster, struck down from the land. And when the ship was caught and could not face the wind, we gave way to it and were driven along. Running under the lee of a small island called Cauda, we managed with difficulty to secure the ship’s boat. After hoisting it up, they used supports to undergird the ship. Then, fearing that they would run aground on the Syrtis, they lowered the gear, and thus they were driven along. Since we were violently storm-tossed, they began the next day to jettison the cargo. And on the third day they threw the ship’s tackle overboard with their own hands. When neither sun nor stars appeared for many days, and no small tempest lay on us, all hope of our being saved was at last abandoned.
Since they had been without food for a long time, Paul stood up among them and said, “Men, you should have listened to me and not have set sail from Crete and incurred this injury and loss. Yet now I urge you to take heart, for there will be no loss of life among you, but only of the ship. For this very night there stood before me an angel of the God to whom I belong and whom I worship, and he said, ‘Do not be afraid, Paul; you must stand before Caesar. And behold, God has granted you all those who sail with you.’ So take heart, men, for I have faith in God that it will be exactly as I have been told. But we must run aground on some island.”
When the fourteenth night had come, as we were being driven across the Adriatic Sea, about midnight the sailors suspected that they were nearing land. So they took a sounding and found twenty fathoms. A little farther on they took a sounding again and found fifteen fathoms. And fearing that we might run on the rocks, they let down four anchors from the stern and prayed for day to come. And as the sailors were seeking to escape from the ship, and had lowered the ship’s boat into the sea under pretense of laying out anchors from the bow, Paul said to the centurion and the soldiers, “Unless these men stay in the ship, you cannot be saved.” Then the soldiers cut away the ropes of the ship’s boat and let it go.
As day was about to dawn, Paul urged them all to take some food, saying, “Today is the fourteenth day that you have continued in suspense and without food, having taken nothing. Therefore I urge you to take some food. For it will give you strength, for not a hair is to perish from the head of any of you.” And when he had said these things, he took bread, and giving thanks to God in the presence of all he broke it and began to eat. Then they all were encouraged and ate some food themselves. (We were in all 276 persons in the ship.) And when they had eaten enough, they lightened the ship, throwing out the wheat into the sea.
Now when it was day, they did not recognize the land, but they noticed a bay with a beach, on which they planned if possible to run the ship ashore. So they cast off the anchors and left them in the sea, at the same time loosening the ropes that tied the rudders. Then hoisting the foresail to the wind they made for the beach. But striking a reef, they ran the vessel aground. The bow stuck and remained immovable, and the stern was being broken up by the surf. The soldiers’ plan was to kill the prisoners, lest any should swim away and escape. But the centurion, wishing to save Paul, kept them from carrying out their plan. He ordered those who could swim to jump overboard first and make for the land, and the rest on planks or on pieces of the ship. And so it was that all were brought safely to land.
From How You Can Be Lead By The Spirit of God
I knew a man down in Texas. He had never worn a pair of shoes until he was 12 years old. He only had a fifth grade education. But way back when money was money, he was a millionaire. Two different people, one from California and the other from Minnesota who had been frequent house guests in his home, told me that this man told each of them the same thing. He said to them both, "In all these years and in all these investments [that's how he made his money], I have never lost a dime." That beats my record. How about yours? "Everything I have ever invested in, has made money," Number One: The Inward Witness 33 he told each of them on different occasions. Then he told them how he did it. "I always do this. When someone comes along with an idea, wanting me to invest in something, my first reaction is mental. Now I know when Jesus said, 'When you pray, enter into your closet,' that He didn't necessarily mean you have to get into a closet to pray. I know He meant for us to shut things out. But I have a large closet in my bedroom where I go to pray. I pray about it. I wait long enough— until I hear what my spirit says. Sometimes I wait three days. Now I don't mean that I stay in there 24 hours a day. I might come out and eat one meal. Usually I miss a few. I come out and sleep a little bit. But the majority of the time I am waiting, just by myself, until I know inside by an inward witness what I am to do. "Sometimes my head says, 'Boy, you would be a fool to put your money in that. You'll lose your shirt.' But my heart says, 'Go ahead and invest in it.' So I do. And in all these years, I have never lost a dime. "Then again, someone comes along with a deal and my head says, 'Boy, you had better get in on that one.' But I don't pay any attention to my head. I get in that closet and wait. Sometimes all night long I wait. I'll pray and read my Bible, but a lot of the time I just wait. I just get quiet until I can hear inside what my heart says. When my heart says, 'No, don't do it,' and my head says, 'Yes, you'd better get in on it,' I don't do it." What had this man done? He had learned to follow the inward witness and God had guided him in his business, until in the late 1930's and the early 1940's he was already worth two million dollars. That doesn't sound big now, but it was big then.
Ministry of The Holy Spirit
And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.
“I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.
In that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you. Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him.”
“I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come.
What About Fleeces?
There he came to a cave and lodged in it. And behold, the word of the Lord came to him, and he said to him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” He said, “I have been very jealous for the Lord, the God of hosts. For the people of Israel have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword, and I, even I only, am left, and they seek my life, to take it away.” And he said, “Go out and stand on the mount before the Lord.” And behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind tore the mountains and broke in pieces the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. And after the wind an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. And after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire the sound of a low whisper. And when Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his cloak and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave. And behold, there came a voice to him and said, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”
From Kenneth Hagin:
I really knew better. But at the time it seemed as if it would save me a lot of the trouble of praying, and getting alone and waiting on God, and maybe some fasting—just to put out a fleece. In putting out a fleece, one prays something like this: "Lord, if you want me to do this—then You do that." Or, "God, if you want me to do this, then have that happen." Or, "Lord, shut that door, and open this door."
But I will stay in Ephesus until Pentecost, for a wide door for effective work has opened to me, and there are many adversaries.
That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.
So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day.
The spirit of man is the lamp of the Lord,
searching all his innermost parts.
On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’ ” Now this he said about the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were to receive, for as yet the Spirit had not been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.
Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you?
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 that I have said to you.
these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God.
Whoever believes in the Son of God has the testimony in himself. Whoever does not believe God has made him a liar, because he has not believed in the testimony that God has borne concerning his Son.
And the Spirit said to Philip, “Go over and join this chariot.”
And while Peter was pondering the vision, the Spirit said to him, “Behold, three men are looking for you.
But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.
And Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness
I am speaking the truth in Christ—I am not lying; my conscience bears me witness in the Holy Spirit—
But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”
POWER TO WITNESS
Acts 4:13 Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated, common men, they were astonished. And they recognized that they had been with Jesus.