We are told throughout the New Testament that the alternative to walking in sinful ways and in the same old errors of the world is to be led by the Holy Spirit. But amid all the noise of everyday life, how do we listen to the Spirit’s guidance? In a previous article, I described five ways to listen to the Holy Spirit (click here). Continuing our list, here are five more ways.
6. Pursue a deep, personal devotional life where you regularly walk in step with the Holy Spirit’s voice.
In Luke 11, Jesus himself told us that as his disciples, we must be a people who seek the Holy Spirit’s direction. The disciples asked Jesus about prayer; they wanted him to teach them how to pray, as John the Baptist had taught his disciples to pray (11:1). In response, Jesus taught them the Lord’s prayer as a model prayer, and then he emphasized the importance of personal prayer and the pursuit of intimacy with the Spirit.
Carefully read Jesus’ words in verses 9-13, remembering that they are focused on seeking the Holy Spirit’s presence (not our own personal desires). Note how Jesus sees the Spirit’s presence as even better than physical things that a good father would give (e.g., fish, eggs, etc.):
“So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened. Which of you fathers, if your son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead? Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!” (Luke 11:9-13, NIV)
In the New Testament, the practice of developing a life in step with the Spirit is compared to developing physical training habits. Paul put it this way in 1 Timothy 4:8 (NIV): “For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come.”
“Jesus himself told us that as his disciples, we must be a people who seek the Holy Spirit’s direction.”
In Romans, Paul made it very clear that this kind of personal devotional life was at the center of living in the kingdom of God. Christ’s kingdom reign is made real in our lives through attentiveness to the Holy Spirit’s presence. Romans 14:17-18 (NIV) describes it clearly:
“For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit, because anyone who serves Christ in this way is pleasing to God and receives human approval.”
Again, in Galatians, the apostle Paul strongly tells us to have a lifestyle where we walk by the Spirit.
“So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. . . . Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.” (Galatians 5:16-17, 24-25, NIV)
The practice of spiritual habits (often called spiritual “disciplines”) is an important way we develop our relationship with God. We proactively come under the direct influence of the Holy Spirit through earnest times of prayer, Bible study, and personal communion with God. These spiritual habits have been used by God’s people throughout history, especially by men and women God has used in significant ways.[1]
“The apostle Paul strongly tells us to have a lifestyle where we walk by the Spirit.”
These habits include contemplative Bible study, fasting, meditation, persistent prayer, solitude, and the like (see Acts 13:2-3; Matthew 6:5-18). Every Christian will greatly benefit from learning these habits and getting this kind of help to be more in tune with the Spirit.[2]
Although there is strong biblical emphasis on a personal life engaged at a deep level with the Holy Spirit, it is not just something we do personally. We also are to seek the Spirit publicly. In Ephesians, the apostle Paul commands disciples of Jesus to be filled with the Spirit—and the context is a gathering of the church. We are not to drink wine, and be influenced by alcohol, but to be led by something else:
“Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit.” (Ephesians 5:18, NIV)
How are we to be filled with the Spirit? By giving our inner beings over to the Spirit,
“speaking to one another with psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit. Sing and make music from your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.” (Ephesians 5:19-20, NIV)
Being filled with the Spirit, as a corporate people, is the duty and obligation of every Christian. John Stott puts it this way:
“Be filled is not a tentative suggestion, a mild recommendation, a polite piece of advice. It is a command which comes to us from Christ with all the authority of one of his chosen apostles.”[3]
“Being filled with the Spirit, as a corporate people, is the duty and obligation of every Christian.”
To be filled is to be so empty of self (our selfish goals, attitudes and motives), and so surrendered to God, that we become “filled up” with the things of God. It takes effort and requires practice, but it leads to joy, peace, and righteousness (Romans 14:17). When this happens, God’s presence can be very strong in both our personal and corporate lives.
Because we have freedom to neglect personally relating to God in these ways, biblical writers are careful to warn against “quenching” (1 Thessalonians 5:19) and “grieving” the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 4:30). Being led by the Spirit requires responsiveness. It is one thing for you to have God’s Spirit, and another for God’s Spirit to have you.
7. Learn to delineate the Spirit’s voice from other voices.
Dallas Willard describes the reality of seeking to listen for the Spirit’s voice:
“Infallibility, and especially infallibility in discerning the mind of God, simply does not fit the human condition. It should not be desired, much less expected, from our relationship with God.”[4]
This is why the New Testament God teaches us to test the “spirits,” and we need help discerning the voice of God. When it comes to things of the Spirit, 1 Thessalonians 5:21 (NIV) tells us to “test them all; hold on to what is good.” 1 John 4:1 (NIV) says, “Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.”
It is important to develop skill in this area because in our inner being, there can be different voices: my voice (prompted by my fears, anxieties, etc.), my flesh (sinful, selfish), demons, and the Holy Spirit’s voice. In 2 Corinthians 11:14 (NIV), Paul warns that “Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light.”
“Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God.”
For centuries, wise, Christian spiritual directors point to three key tests that have proven to be helpful guardrails in determining the voice of God’s Spirit.
- Scripture
- The “right voice”
- Providence
Scripture
First, Scripture: is the voice in step with God’s written word? This is a very important point of guidance and guardrail against error. Consider these wise words:
“In order to qualify as the voice of God, a thought, perception or other experience must conform to the principles—the fundamental truths—of Scripture. It is the principles, not the incidentals, of Scripture that count here.”[5]
Let us also give a word of warning: some people proceed into the spiritual realm in dangerous ways. Without discernment, they open themselves up to Satanic and demonic influences. Psychics, palm readers, mediums, and the like are all explicitly condemned in Scripture. Disciples of Jesus will steer clear of anything that comes close to these practices (Deuteronomy 18:9-13; Acts 19:13-20). The Christian is to trust in God alone and use the Bible to test all spiritual claims.
“The Christian is to trust in God alone and use the Bible to test all spiritual claims.”
Various passages such as 2 Timothy 3:16-4:2 state the clear importance of Scripture in determining God’s voice:
“All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work. . . . Preach the word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction. . . . For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear.” (2 Timothy 3:16-4:3, NIV)
I personally have experienced God’s voice time after time in Scripture, more than any other way. Dallas Willard describes it this way:
“Personally, I find great comfort and encouragement in the face of my fallibility by maintaining a close relationship with the Bible. In this book I have repeatedly emphasized the centrality of the written Word in hearing God’s voice. It cannot be stressed too much that the permanent address at which the word of God may be found is the Bible. More of God’s speaking to me has come in conjunction with study and teaching of the Bible than with anything else.”[6]
“I personally have experienced God’s voice time after time in Scripture, more than any other way.”
And again, our pursuit of corroboration with Scripture is not just a personal matter. God teaches us to participate in a church community where we collectively check out the voices that we hear by comparing them to God’s Word. We are to be like the Bereans in Acts 17:11:
“Now the Berean Jews were of more noble character than those in Thessalonica, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true.” (Acts 17:11, NIV)
The “right voice”
Second, the “right voice”: is it the kind of voice consistent with God? The Spirit who testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children (Romans 8:16) has a certain kind of voice. The more we walk with him, the more we recognize his voice. I like the way that E. Stanley Jones, a longtime missionary, describes the difference between the voice of your own subconscious and the voice of the Spirit.
“Perhaps the rough distinction is this: The voice of the subconscious argues with you, tries to convince you; but the inner voice of God does not argue, does not try to convince you. It just speaks, and it is self-authenticating. It has the feel of the voice of God within it.”[7]
Again, Dallas Willard is helpful on this point in terms of the multiple passages in Scripture on the Spirit (for example, see Romans 14:17), his own experience with the Spirit, and the similar experience of the wise Christian spiritual teachers in history:
“The voice of God speaking in our souls also bears within itself a characteristic spirit. It is a spirit of exalted peacefulness and confidence, of joy, of sweet reasonableness and of goodwill. His voice is not the voice of a bully. It will not run over you and your will.”[8]
Not only is there a kind of voice we can learn to look for with the Spirit, but it has a corroboration with wisdom.
“The more we walk with him, the more we recognize his voice.”
The voice of the Spirit of God does not lead us to be foolish and unwise. Daring, yes; but foolish, no. At the same time, as we have seen, the Spirit of God is not condemning or hateful or cruel. And the Spirit of God is different from the voices of schizophrenia and mental illness, etc.
It is important that we not only look for a quality and fruit from the prompting and the right kind of voice, but that we also confirm those leadings of the Spirit with other wise, godly Christian leaders. Those church leaders who have experience with the Spirit over many years can provide helpful guidance; indeed, Scripture assumes we will call upon them for insight. I like the way Martin Wells Knapp says it: “God has given us reasoning powers for a purpose, and he respects them, appeals to them, and all of his leadings are in unison with them.”[9]
Providence
Third, providence. Do we find that the Spirit’s guidance leads to providential results?
Frederick B. Myer was a widely respected Christian leader and writer in the 1800s. He describes how we can know that God was truly guiding us, when it matches God’s voice, God’s Word, and then it is providentially confirmed:
“God’s impressions within and his word without are always corroborated by his providence around, and we should quietly wait until those three focus into one point. . . . If you do not know what you ought to do, stand still until you do. And when the time comes for action, circumstances, like glowworms, will sparkle along your path; and you will become so sure that you are right, when God’s three witnesses concur, that you could not be surer though an angel beckoned you on.”[10]
In my own life, I have found that God’s voice works this way in how he guides me. When it is really God, that which I have been prompted to do works out, as circumstances amazingly come together. Again, Myer has some other helpful words on this point:
“The circumstances of our daily life are to us an infallible indication of God’s will, when they concur with the inward promptings of the spirit and with the Word of God. So long as they are stationary, wait. When you must act, they will open, and a way will be made through oceans and rivers, wastes and rocks.”[11]
“When it is really God, that which I have been prompted to do works out, as circumstances amazingly come together.”
Some of these points may lead you to ask questions about whether we should seek the miraculous gifts of the Spirit. This can be a distraction because it can take people away from pursuing the more normal means of being led by the Spirit that I am describing. Questions about the miraculous are not unimportant, but please do not get sidetracked. Our daily lives in the Spirit need to remain the primary focus for Christians.
In a previous article, I recommended the specific approach we take at the church where I serve regarding the question of miraculous gifts. We call it the “seeking, but discerning approach.” For more on the “seeking, but discerning” approach in regard to tongues, prophecy, healing and the like, click here to read an article.
8. Ask the Spirit to enlighten your inner person to the depth of Jesus and his love.
Jesus Christ and his gospel are at the center of Scripture. God wants our focus to be on him through focusing on Jesus, his life, love, and teachings. The Holy Spirit helps us to be Jesus-centered because God’s full impact through him cannot be grasped by simply knowing objective, external facts.
Two times the apostle Paul prayed that the Spirit of God would give this kind of faith and insight to the Christians in Ephesus:
“I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people, and his incomparably great power for us who believe.” (Ephesians 1:17-19a, NIV)
“I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.” (Ephesians 3:16-19, NIV)
The Spirit provides this faith and wisdom so that we can attain understanding about things which “surpass knowledge,” such as the extent of God’s great love for us.
“I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being.”
I am not very musical by nature. Truth be told, I have trouble keeping a beat, singing in tune, or dancing. Yet this has never stopped me. When I was growing up, my sisters made fun of me when I would try these things, and now that I am an adult, even my children make fun of me. But I will not be thwarted: I continue to tap to the beat, sing with the songs, and dance with my wife (she smiles at my ineptitude). Let me relate music with the Spirit and developing a natural affection for Jesus Christ.
The writer Max Lucado tells a story about a man who was like me when it comes to music in his book A Gentle Thunder.[12]
“Let’s imagine that you want to learn to dance. Being the rational, cerebral person you are, you go to a bookstore and buy a book on dancing. After all, a book helped you learn to program a computer, and a book taught you accounting—surely a book can teach you how to shuffle your feet. You take the book home and get to work.
You do everything it says. The book says sway; you sway. The book says shuffle; you shuffle. The book says spin; you spin. You even cut out paper shoe patterns and place them around the living-room floor, so you’ll know where to step. Finally, you think you’ve got it, and you invite your wife to come in and watch.
“The book says sway; you sway. The book says shuffle; you shuffle.”
You hold the book open and follow the instructions step by step. You even read the words aloud, so she’ll know that you’ve done your homework. ‘Lean with your right shoulder,’ and so you lean. ‘Now step with your right foot,’ and so you step. ‘Turn slowly to the left,’ and so you do. You continue to read, then dance, read, then dance, until the dance is completed. You plop exhausted on the couch, look at your wife, and proclaim, ‘I executed it perfectly.’
‘You executed it, all right,’ she sighs. ‘You killed it.’
‘What?’
‘You forgot the most important part. Where is the music?’ Music? You never thought about music. You remembered the book. You learned the rules. You laid out the pattern. But you forgot the music.
‘Do it again,’ she says, putting in a CD. ‘This time don’t worry about the steps, just follow the music.’ She extends her hand, and the music begins. The next thing you know, you are dancing—and you don’t even have the book.”
What a difference it makes when you can hear the music and keep the beat. Did you know that many people are like that when it comes to their focus on Jesus and affection for him? People are frightened off because they think they cannot follow him. They look at devout Christians as highly moral, committed people who live a life that is outside their ability. “I respect them for how the live,” they say. “But we can’t see ourselves focused like that.”
“What a difference it makes when you can hear the music and keep the beat.”
The non-Spirit filled person must realize that this perspective on Jesus is like those who try to dance without hearing the music. If you know the “music” of the Spirit, it will lead you to an intimate relationship with Jesus and a focus on him. Maybe you wonder at this difficulty too? Many people ask the question of themselves: “Do I have the ability to focus on Jesus and walk faithfully with him?”
The answer to this question is always the same: No, in your flesh, you do not. You do not have the strength or the ability—in yourself. But that is not the right perspective or what the Bible teaches. Seek the Holy Spirit. Ask for his help to focus on Jesus and trust and follow him. God promises to give you the strength and ability by his Spirit. God will enable you to do it.
9. Walk with the Holy Spirit and he will form your heart/mind to walk with God.
In the Old Testament, God promised that one day he would do a new thing, and in so doing, he would change people’s hearts. The prophets Jeremiah and Ezekiel, which wrote many hundreds of years before Jesus, describe what God would do within those who received the Holy Spirit. The Old Testament law was often written on stone, but not in the hearts of the people. In the future, God said in Jeremiah 31:33-34, his law would be written on the hearts of people in the New Covenant:
“This is the covenant I will make with the people of Israel after that time,” declares the Lord. “I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. No longer will they teach their neighbor, or say to one another, ‘Know the Lord,’ because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest,” declares the Lord. “For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.” (Jeremiah 31:33-34, NIV)
Ezekiel 36:26-27 also presents the vision of God’s Spirit transforming people, as their hearts of stone are removed, and the Spirit moves them from within to follow God’s decrees and obey his laws:[13]
“I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh and I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws.” (Ezekiel 36:26-27, NIV)
“I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws.”
To live as a disciple of Jesus is not simply to live according to a set of rules, but rather to let the Spirit of God take the truths of God into the deepest parts of our beings. The result is that our whole mindset of thoughts, goals, attitudes, and motives becomes transformed. The Spirit of God leads us into developing a Christ-like mind, which leads to Christ-like behavior:
“The mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace. The mind governed by the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so. Those who are in the realm of the flesh cannot please God. You, however, are not in the realm of the flesh but are in the realm of the Spirit.” (Romans 8:7-9a, NIV)
As disciples of Jesus, we have direct and objective revelation about right and wrong in God’s Word, but more importantly for our fight against sin, we have God’s Spirit within us, so that we do not follow this revelation coldly or externally. We follow God from within, with a desire that comes from the heart.
10. Pursue the Holy Spirit to produce the fruit of Christ-likeness in your character.
Over time, as the Spirit fills and leads us and as we experience life, the character of Christ emerges in our lives. We become more and more like Jesus. Scripture calls this the “fruit of the Spirit” in Galatians 5:22-24:
“The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.” (Galatians 5:22-24, NIV)
As we learn to follow his voice, the Spirit slowly but surely changes us. As Paul told the church in Corinth, “And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit” (2 Corinthians 3:18, NIV, emphasis mine).
“As we learn to follow his voice, the Spirit slowly but surely changes us.”
True spirituality is shown more by the fruit of the Spirit among Christians than anything else. It is important to emphasize, however, that like all fruit, the fruit of the Spirit takes time to reach maturity. Anthony Hoekema clarifies how this happens:
“Spiritual maturity is not primarily a matter of practicing now this virtue and then that one in piecemeal fashion. . . . Spiritual growth is rather a matter of yielding ourselves habitually and totally to the Holy Spirit, of being led by the Spirit, of walking in the Spirit day by day hour by hour. . . . The fact that it is called fruit suggests the thought of growth. When fruit first appears on a fruit tree, it is quite small; it takes a full season to bring fruit to its mature size and flavor. Following this analogy, we may say that producing the fruit of the Spirit is a matter of lifelong growth.”[14]
Thus, we can recognize mature Christians by the fruit of their character. This is how God works among us, seeking us and then transforming us into the image of his Son.
Summary
These two articles have been a long journey, but in reality, they are just an introduction to the biblical teaching on how to hear the voice of the Holy Spirit. We want to encourage everyone to develop the kind of intimacy with God through his Spirit that we have described. By way of review, here are ten key ways by which you can hear the voice of the Holy Spirit.
- If you are a non-believer, don’t resist the inner conviction the Spirit gives you about sin, righteousness, judgment, and Jesus.
- If you are a non-believer, let the Spirit reveal a personal understanding of the core truths about Jesus.
- Christian, claim the reality that you are baptized in, indwelt, and sealed by the Spirit in baptism.
- Accept the Spirit’s inner testimony that you are truly God’s child.
- Learn to seek, to listen to, and surrender to the Spirit’s voice in your inner being.
- Pursue a deep, personal devotional life where you regularly walk in step with the Holy Spirit’s voice.
- Learn to delineate the Spirit’s voice from other voices.
- Ask the Spirit to enlighten your inner person to the depth of Jesus and his love.
- Walk with the Holy Spirit and he will form our hearts/minds to walk with God.
- Pursue the Holy Spirit to produce the fruit of Christ-likeness in your character.
[1] See Dallas Willard, The Spirit of the Disciplines: How God Changes Lives (San Francisco: Harper and Row, 1988).
[2] For more on spiritual disciplines, see Richard Foster, The Celebration of Discipline: The Path to Spiritual Growth, revised edition (New York: Harper and Row, 1988) or Prayer: Finding the Heart’s True Home (San Francisco: Harper SanFrancisco, 1992).
[3] John R. Stott, Baptism and Fullness: The Work of the Holy Spirit Today (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 1975), 60.
[4] Dallas Willard. Hearing God (The IVP Signature Collection, 2012 ), p. 237, Kindle Edition.
[5] Dallas Willard. Hearing God (The IVP Signature Collection, 2012 ), p. 237, Kindle Edition.
[6] Dallas Willard. Hearing God (The IVP Signature Collection, 2012 ), p. 237-38, Kindle Edition.
[7] Dallas Willard. Hearing God (The IVP Signature Collection, 2012 ), pp. 228-229, Kindle Edition.
[8] Dallas Willard. Hearing God (The IVP Signature Collection, 2012 ), p. 230, Kindle Edition.
[9] Martin Wells Knapp, Impressions (Kansas City: Nazarene Publishing House, 1892), 60.
[10] Frederick B. Meyer, The Secret of Guidance (Chicago: Moody Press, 1997), p. 18.
[11] Ibid.
[12] Max Lucado, A Gentle Thunder (Dallas, Texas: Word Publishing, 1995).
[13] It should be clear from the foregoing that the Bible teaches that the Spirit of God operates today by using the Word, but the Spirit personally indwells the Christian and does not just work through the “Word only.” See Patrick Leon Brooks, Lockean Epistemology and the Indwelling Spirit in the Restoration Movement (M.A. Thesis: Abilene Christian University, 1977).
[14] Anthony A. Hoekema, Holy Spirit Baptism (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans, l972), 73.
