Sermon Central
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How To Hear From God
Contributed by Jennifer Casto on Jun 1, 2006 (message contributor)
Summary: Ways to hear from God and develop relationship and effectual communication with Him.
HOW TO HEAR FROM GOD
INTRODUCTION:
Is the voice I am hearing God’s – “But God speaks again and again, though people do not recognize it.”
Commonly Asked Questions (new and old converts) in the church are ---“How Can I Discover God’s Guidance?” "How do I hear from God?" "How do I know if it is HIS Will or if it is my own?"
I WOULD LIKE TO SPEAK WITH YOU THIS EVENING ABOUT HEARING FROM GOD. HEARING HIS VOICE. HOW TO KNOW IT IS GOD AND HOW TO ANSWER HIS CALL OR APPLY HIS WORD TO YOUR LIFE (RHEMA-REVELATION, FRESH WORD THRU MEDITATION ON HIS WORD WHICH IS THE WRITTEN WORDS OF GOD OR THEOS (GREEK)
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aren’t you glad we have the word of God....knowing the perspective is in God’s Word as to what we are to do in life.. what our standard should be...this Holy Manual....
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There are 3 sources of spiritual guidance.
God is not the only one who provides spiritual impressions.
Three questions we need to ask are:
1. Is the voice I am hearing Satan’s – “Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light. (2 Cor 11:14)
2. Is the voice I am hearing my own? – “There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death.” (Prov 14:12)
3. Is the voice I am hearing God’s – “But God speaks again and again, though people do not recognize it.”
Seven questions we need to ask to test a spiritual impression:
1. Does it agree with God’s Word (Bible)? - “Heaven and earth will pass away but my words will never pass away.”
2. Does it make me more like Christ ? – “Your attitude should be the same that Jesus Christ had…” (Phil 2:5)
3. Does my church family or Christian friends confirm it? – “The wisdom of the righteous can save you.” (Prov 11:9)
4. Is it consistent with how God has shaped me? God- Given abilities and gifts? – “God has given each of us the ability to do certain things well…” (Romans 12:6)
5. Does it concern me and is it my responsibility? “We will all be judged one day, not by each other’s standards, or even our own, but by the judgment of God…it is to God alone that we shall have to answer for our actions.” (Rom 14:10,13)
6. Is it convicting me rather than condemning me? – “If we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us and to cleanse us from every wrong.” (1 John 1:9)
7. Do I sense God’s peace where it is concerned? –
“God is not the author of confusion.” (1 Cor 14:33)
Jesus can open your heart to understand the scriptures. "Then opened he their understanding, that they might understand the scriptures," (Luke 24:45) God can and will speak to us. Pray and ask Him to open the scriptures. He has given us the Holy Spirit, but we must live a holy separated life. A life not caught up in the things of the world.
UNRELIABLE SOURCES OF GUIDANCE
Happy are those who do not follow the advice of the wicked, or take the path that sinners tread, or sit in the seat of scoffers.” Psalm 1:1 (NRSV)
“Do not rely on your own understanding.” Proverbs 3:5 (NLT)
“Why are you trying to find out the future by consulting mediums and psychics? Do not listen to their whisperings and mutterings. Can the living find out the future from the dead? Why not ask your God?” Isaiah 8:19 (NLT)
“Let your astrologers come forward and save you—those people who study the stars, who map out the zones of the heavens and tell you from month to month what is going to happen to you…. They will not even be able to save themselves…. That is all the good they will do you—those astrologers you’ve consulted all your life. They all will leave you and go their own way, and none will be left to save you.” Isaiah 47:13-15 (TEV)
“There is a way that seems right to a person, but its end is the way to death.” Proverbs 14:12 (NRSV)
IE: Satan will take the idea out of God’s Word and distort it and change it ---then you are doing the will of the flesh/or Satan....just as satan used God’s words in the Garden of Eden but changed them around to trick them into doing his will and not GOD’s Will!
WISDOM COMES FROM GOD
·“Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding. Seek his will in all you do, and he will direct your paths." Proverbs 3:5-6 (NLT)
· When the Holy Spirit teaches you it will be His Wisdom and not man’s wisdom.