This begins a new category, called Hearing God’s Voice. I’d like to share some things I’ve learned through almost 30 years of personal experience as well as some things from others, so all of us can be better hearers of God, the Holy Spirit—so we can be ONE with each other in Christ!!! (John 17)
And please feel free to leave comments about your personal experiences or whatever. And I found out recently that you not only don’t need to use a real name in order to leave comments, but you don’t need to register a real email address either, if you prefer not to, for WordPress doesn’t check them. And I don’t care, myself. The main thing is to get the dialog going.
Even though Jesus said: “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me,” it’s surprising how few Christians really do hear God’s voice on a regular basis and follow Christ in this way.
Jesus told his disciples in John 14 that it’s better that He leaves them, because “the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things, and will remind you of all that I said to you.”
John wrote in 2 John: “As for you, the anointing which you received from him remains in you, and you don’t need for anyone to teach you. But as his anointing teaches you concerning all things, and is true, and is no lie, and even as it taught you, you will remain in him.”
One of the main reasons that people have trouble hearing God’s voice is that there is more than one voice speaking to the person. I’ll get into this more, later, but it’s crucial that we have no willful, obvious sins in our lives which gives the Devil a place, or more specifically: demons a right to be in our bodies speaking to us or giving us dreams. “Submit to God; resist the Devil and he’ll flee,” James says.
There should be only one voice besides our own thoughts that we actively originate.
Having said that, in addition to the other ways that God speaks to us verbally and visually, one thing I’ve noticed increasingly happening to me especially in the last few years is hearing short phrases that repeat themselves every so often—usually days apart. The wording is usually identical each time.
I think this is probably one aspect of the word of knowledge that Paul speaks of in 1 Cor. 12, for these words of knowledge are repeated over time. And they can also include names of people God wants us to pray for — which happens to me a lot — a subject I’ll have to discuss another time. It’s possible that my situation is unique, so I’m hearing these repeat, short phrases more than what is the norm, but I’m not sure. It would be interesting to hear from others their experiences.
Right now, in our community, it seems that the Devil has succeeded in dividing up the body of Christ pretty thoroughly. Jesus prayer that we would be ONE isn’t happening yet. And during this dry time, I think the Holy Spirit is trying to orchestrate unity by telling us specific things that will help point us in the right directions or even just encourage us in some specific ways, telling us some things that are happening.
And by the way, I’m more of an audio learner than a visual learner, so I hear God a lot more than I get pictures from Him. But others seem to see pictures more than they hear. We’re all diverse, and God is very creative in how He treats us all uniquely. But I suspect that many are experiencing what I am. And many are probably hearing these phrases but don’t recognize them as being from God, so hopefully this will help you.
Recently, I started writing down some of these phrases that I’m hearing more than even just a few times. So far, I’ve written down more than a dozen. And for me, these phrases are very short and to the point, varying from just two words (a verb and a noun) to about six words. And sometimes one phrase is directly followed by another, which seem to be related.
Now, what’s really cool about this way of God speaking is that I know I’m not making these phrases up. For I usually just hear them out of the blue, when I’m not thinking about this person or this subject that this phrase is addressing.
And when I hear this same exact phrase many times, the consistency factor leads me to believe that I can trust what I’m hearing—even if it’s a subject that I’m emotionally biased towards hearing a certain answer. For when we hear the same thing a number of times said the same way when we weren’t even thinking about this thing or this person, this is pretty good confirmation that we can count on what we’re hearing.
So this is a particularly helpful way to hear God’s perspective on for example a person or people we care about; though, communication has broken down for some reason. When God tells us the same things over and over over a long period of time, and they’re consistent with one another, this is solid guidance that we can count on, especially if it lines up with dreams we’ve had, and with longer, but unique words from God, and etc..
Does this make sense? Are some of you experiencing this too? If you have been hearing this kind of thing but didn’t know it was the Holy Spirit speaking, it may be helpful to write them down and keep track of them over time.
Also, a big key is to always sleep in total quiet if possible. I know of people who sleep with the radio or TV on, for example, which makes it a lot harder to hear God when we’re in this half-awake-half-sleeping state. This is often a great time to hear God’s voice, especially when you know you weren’t thinking about really anything, and all of a sudden you hear: “Psalm 20,” which I’ve heard many, many times, myself.
I forgot to say that God may give us the chapter or chapter and verse of scripture that are important for us to understand for whatever we’re going through, or whatever. If you hear a scripture reference that you know you weren’t thinking about on your own, please look it up, for God, the Holy Spirit, the maker of heaven and earth wants you to read this for some important reason.
And if we’re only perhaps half awake, it’s easy to think: “I’ll look it up later, after I fully wake up.” Or “I’ll write down what I believe God just told me later.” But it’s usually gone from our memory then. Jesus isn’t pushy; He speaks in a still, small voice. If we don’t want to pay attention to what He’s saying, it’s easy not to. Most don’t, but: “you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart.” (Jer. 19:13)
Just by doing simple things like sleeping without audio distractions, we can create an environment where we can more easily hear God when He does speak.
And by the way, I think this kind of hearing from God may be useful if we ever totally lose our rights in this country, which may happen sooner than we think. I’ve heard how some house churches in communist China don’t even announce meetings. The Holy Spirit tells each of them when the meetings will be, and then they show up, together. Cool! God is good!
I hope what I’ve written makes sense to you, and if you have any questions, suggestions, corrections or whatever—even criticisms, please comment below.
May we be ONE with each other in Christ!
We need each other to be the fully functioning body of Christ for we all have unique gifts – 1 Cor. 12. None of us are complete in ourselves. We need each other, y’all—hearing and obeying!
Thank you, and God bless you!
Jeff Fenske : )
Related:
There Should Only Be One Voice (prophecy)
Can a Christian Have a Demon? Absolutely! Most Have Many!
(prophesy) A Gift that Will Set Many Free! (A Death Warrant is Out for Your Souls) — “I’ve given you the gift of tongues from My heart to you”
I’ve finally shared much of what I know about and what can be done through the TREMENDOUS and mostly misunderstood and underused gift of tongues.
God’s 4-word perspective on Hollywood: “Garbage In, Garbage Out” — I was discussing Hollywood with some ‘Christians’ on Facebook who love watching movies… | Hearing God during the brief “in-between sleep and awake stage”
Are we supposed to be led by the Holy Spirit in our decisions?
The CHIEF PILLAR of Eternal Security (OSAS) Toppled – John 10:27-29! — “Only those who are hearing and following Christ right now are his sheep”
Forgiving-Others, Freedom Prayer!
Jesus’ Heart-Cry: “Let Us Be ONE” (a prophesy)
A Call to Intimacy: The Holy Spirit in John’s Gospel & Epistles, by Jeff Fenske
