Teach Me How To Hear God

Many of us are not of the sort who seek selfish agendas. We seek the will of God. Thus, we should be able to walk in confidence that whatsoever we ask, we shall receive.

Nevertheless, there have been times in our walk that we have asked and feared. This fear did not always arise because we were in sin. Instead, we had the question, “Will God do it for me?” Ask any son of God and they will tell you confidently God is a healer, a miracle worker, and He can do all things. However, fear comes into the picture when His working depends on His response to your prayer.

Now the question is, “Why would those who walk in holiness fear that they will not receive their requests?

Fear is an emotion that stems from doubt. It is anxiety that second guesses the validity of the scriptures regarding your relationship with God, or that which you know God has said to you. “Can I really trust that He will perform whatsoever

I ask?” “What if it was not God’s will?” “What if I am not holy enough yet?” These are questions that generate doubt in the heart.

One day the Lord caused me to experience this very thing in a situation I was going through. He had freed me to go forward with something I had asked about. However, as I attempted to do it, suddenly, multiple roadblocks arose out of nowhere and they all seemed so final. What seemed to be smooth sailing at first became a period of wonder for me. I became anxious and confused.

Having been in the service of the Lord over 50 years, I know His voice. I also know He gave me a green light to proceed with the thing I asked Him for. But now there were more than hindrances and delays. The thing had come to a complete impossibility. This is why confusion sets in. Though the devil tried to make me believe otherwise, I knew what God had said to me. I knew He wanted me to move forward on the matter. But there was no way to move forward anymore.

I was confused because He had never dealt with me in this manner. When He told me something, I was always poised to do it, and I could always see Him clearing the path for me to do it. However, this particular time was different. He allowed the situation to come to a deadend.

Those around me who witnessed the situation began to attempt to console me. But what I needed was not consolation, I needed an answer from my God. I went back to the Lord, and I poured out my heart to Him. I said, “Lord, I do not know you like this, in fact, you are not like this. Search my heart, Lord, and you know there is no other agenda in me but to do your will. You know me inside out. I am living holy and upright before you. Please tell me what is happening here? Lord, I don’t know you like this. You are not like this; and you don’t deal like this.” I went on to say, “Lord, it is not even about the matter at hand, it is about our relationship. I thought I knew you and your voice. You cannot lie, or do contrary to that which you have spoken, so what is this all about?”

It wasn’t long before I heard the Holy Ghost say, “I have not given you a spirit of fear. If you know that you are holy, then trust it. You can trust righteousness, you can trust holiness, you can trust your holiness. So just say thank you.”

When the Lord said He had not given me a spirit of fear, that simple truth became a tremendous landmark in my faith. I had no other agendas, I truly wanted to please the Lord. My heart was pure towards my fellowman. Therefore, I could indeed approach the Lord with a pure heart. So then, why was anxiety allowed to set in?

Now let’s be clear on this matter. Anxiety is a feeling of worry, nervousness, or unrest, typically about something with an uncertain outcome. In essence, it is doubt.

STARTING WITH IMPOSSIBILITY

Let me try to explain something here. In my walk with the Lord, there have been many times when the Lord has instructed me to do something that just didn’t seem to make any earthly logical sense, and in some cases, seemed impossible to do. That never phased me. If I knew He told me to do it, then that was all I needed. This was true even if those close to me advised otherwise. In all such cases, I have seen things come to fruition, just as the Lord had spoken. So, starting with opposition and impossibility, was no issue for me. I was going to obey God, and nothing was going to stop me from accomplishing His will.

OPPOSITION ALONG THE WAY

Now let’s go a little further. If the Lord instructed me to do something that seemed illogical, and during the course of the venture, there were hindrances or oppositions, I was always able to keep my face set like a flint on the expected outcome. Hindrances and oppositions were never a faith shattering issue for me. I believed God. And I believed if God said it, then, there is nothing that can change it.

So then, if I had all this steadfast faith in the midst of impossibility and opposition, then what happened in the scenario above, that caused doubt and fear? This is the question I asked the Lord. The first thing He said was: “I have not given you a spirit of fear.” You and I have probably quoted this passage for many years. But when the Lord spoke it to me as a response to my prayer, I really saw the severity of what it truly meant. This was the Lord saying, “The Spirit I gave you is the Holy Ghost. In Him is no worry, unrest, nervousness, or doubt regarding anything I have said. He is the Comforter, who came to testify of the things He has heard.” (Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come. John 16:13).

This is so powerful, saints. We have been joined to the Holy Ghost. We are one with the Spirit of God, who knows the heart and mind of the Father. It is impossible for Him to experience, doubt, unrest, worry or fear. He knows the will of the Father at all times. (And he that searcheth the

hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God. Romans 8:27).

This simple truth forced me to see how I had made my faith vulnerable to a foreign emotion. Suddenly I was questioning my spiritual disposition. Though I knew I was not walking in opposition to the will of God in my life, I began to question whether I was holy enough forGod to respond to me favorably.

However, the Holy Ghost is the Spirit of Truth, and this fear was not of the Spirit. Therefore, it is not true. It is a lying emotion, seeking to sabotage my faith in my relationship with God. The moment I began to doubt as to whether God was going to do the thing I had asked, I abandoned all the truth I knew about my relationship with the Father.

At some point you are going to have to believe that walking in the Spirit is real. I understand how essential it is to believe that the ‘old man’ is dead, and we have put on the ‘new man’, who is renewed in righteousness and true holiness. But the exciting thing about all of this, is we are one with Him; “as he is, so are we, now in this world.”

To walk in the Spirit is to do away with any and all darkness or selfishness. It is to want nothing, saving to please the Father. Walking in the Spirit means we have His emotions, desires, and purpose. It is impossible to walk in the Spirit, and not have the emotions of the Spirit. Therefore, “as he is, so are we.”

This also means that His will is our will, His thoughts are our thoughts, His emotions are our emotions. Oh, my friends, this is the most powerful thing you will ever learn about your salvation. When you walk in holiness, your thoughts are His thoughts. What you feel about a situation, is what He feels about it. The two have become one.

Likewise, you walk in the faith of Jesus Christ. He is confident that the Father does always hear Him. Thus, the Father will always hear you. For the Father to hear is for Him to perform or grant the petition set before Him. If not, He will say so. Otherwise you are to believe that you have received what you asked for. This is the power and privilege of the sons. We have power with God.

Let me try to make this as simple as the Lord made it for me. When you are faced with situations in which you need the knowledge or direction of God; you have it. Trust the righteousness and purity of heart you walk in. Listen to the voice of your innerman. He is one with God.

Let us go a little bit deeper into hearing and following God. To do so, we will go to the testimony of our Father regarding this matter.

2 Corinthians 6:16

And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.

We are the temple of our God. Each of us has become the dwelling place of the Father. If we love the Father, we will keep His commandments. And if we keep His commandments, He will manifest Himself in and through. When we present our bodies, holy before the Lord, then He will indeed walk in us; to perform those things we ask of Him. Your thoughts are as holy as your walk. Your desires are as pure as your heart. Your path or direction is as single as your eye. When all the above is true, then your thoughts are His thoughts. Your emotions are His emotions. Your direction is His direction. He is leading you and speaking to you by the Spirit. Because you do not hear an outside audible voice, you think this is just your own thinking. That is what the devil wants you to believe. Otherwise, the scales would fall from your eyes and you would begin to see that you indeed, are fearfully and wonderfully made.

In holiness the union between the Holy Ghost and the soul of the believer is pure and without a shadow of turning. This is what it means to be one with the Father and the Son.

YOU CAN TRUST HOLINESS

The next thing the Father said to me was: If you know that you are holy, then trust it. You can trust

righteousness, you can trust holiness, you can trust your holiness.

I will say it again, “If you do not intend to live holy and sinless before God, then none of the principles of faith apply to you. Hearing and knowing the will of God, depends on your fellowship with the Father. And we know God has no fellowship with darkness. But if we walk in the light, then it is manifest that we are pleasing to the Father. But more than this, it is manifest we love the Father, because we keep His commandments.

The Lord wanted me to know that I could trust the righteousness I walked in. I could trust it to keep me in fellowship with the Father. I could trust that whatsoever I asked, I did receive. Now another very important thing the Father said to me was…

You doubted my commitment to you.

In all the years you have served me, you came to a place of obedience to do whatever I instructed. Your faith in what I commanded was strong. You were faithful to defy all other voices and to remain steadfast on the course I set for you. In these things you learned the power of obedience and the sound of my voice, whether audible or by function.

Nevertheless, your faith was in the things I instructed you to do. But you doubted when it came to the things you asked me to do. Even when your examination of yourself could find no fault in your walk before Me, you doubted whether I would grant your request. I never said that I would not, and even when I said that I would, when oppositions led to seemingly a dead end, your soul was not at peace and you came to Me with a troubled heart. Why should you making a request of Me, be any different from me instructing you to do that which in the natural world seems impossible? True fellowship demands loyalty from both parties. I am your God, your Father, and your Friend. You can trust Me to respond to the righteousness you walk in before Me. You can trust holiness.

The last thing the Lord said to me was:

“Just say thank you”

As you can imagine, I began to praise the Lord. Despite the stumbling blocks in the path, all I needed to say was thank you to the Lord. It was already done. It wasn’t long before all the roadblocks were cleared in miraculous ways; to the point where the people involved were in awe.

The Father later explained to me that He allowed me to go through that situation so I could experience what many experience when they try to follow the voice of God. They are confident in the beginning, but as things begin to look bleak, they begin to doubt; questioning whether God answered. However, note what the Lord said to me. You can trust your righteousness.

When you live by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God, and render a pure heart to your Father, He will lead you, and will not allow you to go astray.

Romans 8:28

And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.

If we love Him, we will keep His commandments and we will do all things according to His purpose.

If this is our testimony, we know that all things work together for our good. Whether it be stumbling blocks, delays, or situations they all will work together for the purpose of us being revealed as the manifested sons of God.