HEARING GOD
If we are not listening to God, we will only be doing what He wants by accident. We will never become obsolete if we are doing what God is telling us to do. Do we pay more attention to the things that annoy us than we do to God? I have learned, in part, how God speaks to me from my recollection of times in the past when I realize He had spoken to me from the consequences of obeying Him. If we are not hearing God's voice, we are surely hearing the devil's. Our pain can be a growing pain, if we are listening for what He would have us learn in the process. To not take time to listen to God is, in effect, to not hear Him. To not hear Him is, in effect, to not obey Him. To not obey Him is, in effect, to close the door to the Kingdom of Heaven. We would be surprised how often God would speak to us if we were listening. Then in doing what He told us would surprise us even more. How often does God, when He wants to reach out and touch us, get a recording that says, "I cannot come to the phone right now, but leave your message at the sound of the beep and I will get back to you?" A God of love --as some define Him -- would never say anything they do not want to hear. Having placed that limitation on Him, is it any wonder there are so few who hear Him regularly? Being obedient to what God says to us will remove the ear wax from our spiritual ears. Whenever God seems to speak to us in a particularly meaningful way -- however He does it -- He may not speak to others in the same way. This shows us that God may speak to us in a unique and personal way that is not intended for anyone else. There are times when God's revelation is tailor-made. Calling the voice of God a hunch or intuition shouldn't keep us for thanking God anyhow, since He gave us those gifts also. If we are frustrated in our attempts to hear God, we may not be allowing Him to choose how He wants to speak to us. Since Scripture is clear that we should be hearing God speak to us, we should be continuously expecting it. The perplexities that many Christians face in their daily walk attests to how poor their communication with God is. Thus, establishing and maintaining an ongoing conversation with Him should be their number-one priority. They should stay tuned. The height of presumption for those who are not listening to God is to assume He is not speaking to them. Should not they wonder why not? Our relationship with others depends on allowing them at least equal time to have their say. What kind of relationship can we expect to have with our Heavenly Father if we do all the talking? If we are not doing anything for God, we are not listening to Him. If we are doing something for God, but not what He prefers, we are not listening to Him. To be approaching the end of this age without good communication with God is like entering a battle without good communication with our Commanding Officer. If we want to hear from God more often, we must stay tuned to His frequency. We are eager to hear the latest news from men. Why would we not want to hear the latest from God? We are better at studying God's history than listening to God's news. We say our children are not listening to us if they do not obey. Can't God say the same thing? If we keep up to date on what God is saying to us, often we will discover that the ball is in our court, when we thought it was in His. Often the experience of hearing God comes during times of physical pain, anguish, doubt, fear, worry, or panic attacks from the enemy. That is, the answer is supplied when it is needed. But if that is the only time we listed to Him, we encourage Him to allow us to experience these things more often. Focusing on hearing God is the key that opens the door through which God can speak to us most clearly. The spiritual gifts of the Holy Spirit, speaking in tongues, interpretation of tongues, prophesy, the word of knowledge, the word of wisdom, and the discerning of spirits, are all ways that God speaks to us. As we listen to others, we also should keep the voice of God tuned in. Then our response will be the Holy Spirit's response. We can listen to the world with one ear while keeping the other ear inclined toward God. One way of knowing someone is listening to us is to stop talking and see if they notice it. Another way is to see if they stop what they are doing. If we want to hear from God we should allow Him to interrupt us. He is not blessed by our divided attention or distracting activities. There is nothing that will make us feel closer to God than to hear His voice. It seems that it is when I am looking for an opportunity to serve God that I can expect to hear from Him. If God always spoke to us audibly, would we then pay attention when He whispered? Would He then always have to shout to get our attention? Aren't we more inclined to listen to a whisper? If we are not hearing the voice of God, we need to find out why He may not be speaking to us. It seems that what I am hearing from God is more informative than directive. There may be more for me to learn before I can be of more service. Scripture records that Paul prayed for the spirit of wisdom and revelation to be given to the Ephesian church. Could these become operational if they did not hear the voice of God? Revelation without wisdom could be like a loose cannon on a rocking ship. When we say we are doing our best to do God's will, we are also saying we are not sure we know what God's will is. If we listen to God, he will tell us specifically what He wants us to do. He also will provide us with everything we need to succeed. And there will be no question that we are doing His will. To claim our efforts are equivalent to action is to claim that pushing is equivalent to moving something. If God tells us to move something, He will help us push. The self-effort of pushing -- apart from God -- will never move anything to where it belongs. And unless God wants it moved, it is where it belongs already. God will not reward self-effort, no matter how hard we push. Even if we succeed in moving something, we shouldn't be surprised if He tells us to put it back where we found it! One reason God may not be speaking to us is that He knows we are not listening. He may be concentrating on getting our attention. If things are not going well, we should ask ourselves how much listening we have been doing lately. The fact that God will listen to us does not mean He is seeking our advice. He is hoping we will be seeking His. Perhaps we may feel we are being presumptuous in saying we hear God's voice. But in time -- through experience -- we can come to know we truly do hear His voice. However, we must still be selective in sharing what we hear with others. To know something does not mean we are to automatically share it. The more important our actions, the more vital it is to know who is behind our actions. That is why God first teaches us to know His voice before He gives us our marching orders. The devil is also attempting to do his work through the thoughts he drops in our mind. Even Christians can be deceived if they have not first learned to recognize the voice of God and the voice of the enemy. I am discovering that, by my own initiative, I am unable to come up with a thought from God. But I am also discovering, if I take the initiative to spend time listening, God will speak. Our inability always to relate cause and effect makes it necessary to get God's advice on what we should and shouldn't do. It will keep us from making irreversible mistakes. We can be hearing the devil and acting on his works without realizing it. Therefore, we need to be able to distinguish between them. Otherwise, we will become double-minded.

HOLINESS
Holiness must be an attainable condition for a Christian, since God says, "Be ye holy as I am holy." If we are admonished to be holy, then it is an attainable state. God would have us be holy as He is holy. We know we are not perfect, but we are perfectible if we will allow His perfect will to be done in us. Listening only to preaching and teaching that makes us comfortable, will make us spiritually complacent. Teaching that convicts us will lead to holiness.

THE HOLY SPIRIT
By diligent Bible study we can intellectually espouse why we believe we are saved. Nevertheless, it takes the heartfelt experience of the Holy Spirit's indwelling presence that enables us to say that we know that we know that we know. One satisfies our mind. The other satisfies our spirit. Can we come to Christ on our own initiative by mouthing certain words, or is that merely giving lip-service? Will the Holy Spirit remain on stand-by if He is continuously being rebuffed? If we keep slamming the door in the Holy Spirit's face, do we not risk grieving Him to the point where He will lock it from His side? If you want to do God's business the way He wants it done, let the Holy Spirit be the manager. Jesus sent the Holy Spirit to empower the early church and then commanded them to carry out the Great Commission. Today, there is much exhortation to the church to evangelize, which does not include first seeking the power of the Holy Spirit baptism to do so. Why do those who say they could always use more money -- and are spending most of their time seeking it -- rarely say they could use more of the Holy Spirit? Children may have questions but they have few, if any, presuppositions. This is the childlike faith that Jesus commended. I have found that those who have the greatest difficulty receiving the power of the Holy Spirit have the strongest presuppositions. Our presuppositions make us old wine skins. The power of the Holy Spirit is new wine that needs new wine skins. Scripture says that those who are thirsty and come to Jesus and drink will receive an outflowing of rivers of living water -- the power of the Holy Spirit by faith. And the faith spoken of does not listen to traditions, preconceptions, doubts, fears, or gainsaying. We need to ask ourselves only three questions: Is it of God? Does He want us to have it? And do I trust God? To be born again is to be a vessel that the Maker has broken to smithereens, and then transformed into a new vessel that becomes the temple of the Holy Spirit. To be empowered by that indwelling Holy Spirit is to be filled until there is an overflow. The new patch of Pentecost will tear the old garment of man's traditions and prejudices. Therefore, the new garment of the righteousness of Christ must first replace the old one. The new wine of the baptism in the Holy Spirit will burst the old wineskin of our theological preconceptions. The power of the Holy Spirit is in direct proportion to the amount needed. The amount needed is what it takes to do what God tells us to do. Those who say the power of Pentecost is not for today obviously have not received it. They can prove they do not have it, but they can never prove no one else has it. Not to have it is not to want it. An amazing fact is that those who teach that it is not for today never seem to want it nor express any regret that -- in their belief -- it is not available. And most amazing of all is their ability to ignore all the evidence that contradicts what they teach. There is one way we can know how large a measure of the Holy Spirit we have received. It is to examine how much of the work of God we are doing. Getting daily direction from God will take a lot less time than finding out what we should be doing by trial and error. If we do not have time to do it right the first time, where will we find time to do it over? I hear so much sermonizing and exhorting for us to do what we cannot do without the indwelling power of the Holy Spirit. Why then do we not hear more on how to have that power? Is it because there is a presumption that every Christian -- despite evidence to the contrary -- already has it? The disciples were commanded to wait for the empowering of the Holy Spirit that would enable them to become witnesses and carry out the Great Commission. Witnessing to what we have seen and heard -- our experiences -- is how we make disciples. Being empowered by the Holy Spirit gives us something to talk about. Perhaps there is not more witnessing because there is nothing worth talking about. The Scriptural references to being filled with the Holy Spirit have led to much debate. Whether it is a single event, a process, or a recurring series of events is part of the argument. Still, it should be experiential, be evident to others, and bear spiritual fruit. It should never be elitist, a basis for pride, for showmanship, or for financial gain. It was what established the early church. Without it the Great Commission would have been pointless. Revival has always come because of it, and the church would have ceased to exist without it. Scripture says the Holy Spirit was sent to indwell the believer forever. Thus, it must be vital for all eternity. Why then it there so little taught about it in most churches? If we find we are beginning to become particularly annoyed by a fault in someone else, it may be the Holy Spirit is using this indirect approach to convict us of the same fault in ourselves. Once we have been made aware of the fault in another and have judged it, we shouldn't look away when the Holy Spirit holds up the mirror. One reason the Holy Spirit was sent, was to convict the world of sin. Until that happens, there is no repentance. If there is no repentance, there is no forgiveness, and if there is no forgiveness, there is no salvation. Thus, rejecting the work of the Holy Spirit is an unforgivable sin. It becomes the unforgivable sin since it blocks the means by which sin is forgiven. Most believers know deep in their soul that their first calling is to lead others to Christ. Being unable to do so, they appease their nagging conscience with the devil's busywork. Not having been empowered by the Holy Spirit, they lack the prerequisites. The Pentecostal gifts were given to the early church to equip it to carry out the Great Commission. How can any church hope to be an instrument of God that either denies this power, or fails to appropriate it? This both pleases the devil and earns the praises of men. Those who claim they are filled with the Holy Spirit, but are experiencing none of the power, may be right. But, like a hydroelectric dam, it is the overflow, not the filling, which generates the power. The filling provides the potential, but opening the floodgates of our will is what makes the difference. God's empowering depends on the size of the channel that we open to Him. He can only use as much of us as we will allow. Still, if we want to be used more by God, He will help us in progressively yielding more and more of our will to His will. Do not be surprised if His help comes as a thorn in the flesh. Broadly stated, there are two measures of the infilling of the Holy Spirit. One is the salvation measure or the pre-Pentecost filling. The other is the post-Pentecost measure, or overflowing. One is the "Well of living water"; The other is the "Rivers of living water." One is a salvation measure; The other is the Great Commission measure. Those who do not seek the second because they are satisfied with the first, are those who are settling for salvation, but are without the power and the boldness to witness. Thus, they do not have anything to witness to. If the Holy Spirit convicts us of our self-effort, He does not intend for us to intensify it. He wants us to examine it in the light of His purpose. Since God is wanting to pour out the Holy Spirit on all flesh, why do so many Christians hold their hand over their cup? If you want Jesus to baptize [immerse] you in the Holy Spirit until your cup runs over, do not say "when." Do not say that you do not want to be able to speak in tongues. Those who disparage the supernatural gifts of the Holy Spirit seldom, if ever, say they have experienced them. They judge based on traditional preconceptions, and personal fear and bias. There is no risk in listening to teaching that contains error if we are empowered by the Holy Spirit. He will show us what the errors are. A word of knowledge, a word of wisdom, and the discerning of spirits, are gifts given for this purpose. Although we now see through a glass darkly, being able to see at all is by the revelation of the Holy Spirit. Just as apart from Jesus, we can do nothing, apart from the Holy Spirit, we can understand nothing. Why is it that many of those who have not accepted God's spiritual gifts either disparage them, discount their value, or put down those who exercise them? Without the revelation of the Holy Spirit, what the Bible teaches becomes a matter of personal opinion and subject to personal prejudice. Understandably, many have been turned off by those who have used their prayer language [tongues] in an inappropriate way. Which of us can say we have never used our native language in an equally inappropriate way? Would we then want to be mutes? There is a teaching that we should first find out what our spiritual gifts are, and then establish a ministry to employ them. May I suggest that we first find out what God wants us to do? We can then expect He will give us whatever spiritual gifts we need if we obey Him. We shouldn't follow gifts, but if we follow God, the gifts will follow us. While we are attempting to control the incidental, the Holy Spirit is patiently waiting for us to allow Him to control the consequential. The Holy Spirit allows us to learn from the wrong decisions we make in the inconsequential [temporal] so we will learn how to make the right decisions in the consequential [eternal]. Jesus said to the disciples that having the Holy Spirit within them was better than he being with them. Then shouldn't they expect to hear God -- through the Holy Spirit -- more clearly than they heard Jesus? shouldn't we? How can there be any reality to the Holy Spirit dwelling within us, if we do not hear Him speak? I believe God speaks to us through the Holy Spirit by bringing to our remembrance things we have said in the past. These things may be something we did not recognize as being from God when we first filed them away. If we were to think of ourselves as a computer and the salvation measure of the Holy Spirit as a divine software program, we can think of the Pentecostal measure of the Holy Spirit as a high speed modem that connects us to the throne-room of God. If we say we want the baptism in the Holy Spirit, but not the gift of tongues, we may not get anything. If we say we want everything God has for us, we can receive both. God will not force His gifts on us, but He does want us to trust Him. Appropriate insights often come at the time they are needed. It is as if the Holy Spirit is standing by like a nurse, handing us the instruments that we need for the operation. Baptism in the Holy Spirit may be a total drenching -- complete immersion -- or a wetting of the bottom of our feet. It all depends on how far we are willing to wade into God's river of submission. Christianity flourishes in a climate where the Holy Spirit is allowed to make it experiential; It languishes in a climate where it is only allowed to be intellectual. Scripture sometimes shows us just the tip of the iceberg. We need the Holy Spirit to reveal what has otherwise been hidden from those who are perishing. Without the Holy Spirit we are none of His. Is the reason that more do not seek the baptism in the Holy Spirit is because they do not want to hear from God? The gift of the word of knowledge, the word of wisdom, the discerning of spirits, tongues, and interpretation of tongues, all involve hearing God. If we do not want to hear God -- whether we admit it or not -- we do not want the gifts! For some, truth is what they have decided to believe and does not admit to correction or revision -- even by God. In the natural, we judge the merits of a practice by whether it works or not. But in the realm of the supernatural that cannot be the criteria, since Satan can counterfeit the works of God. The gift of the discerning of spirits would not have been made available if it was not needed. It is the gift that enables us to know the source. It well may be that the nominal Christian's ignorance of what he is in Christ is only exceeded by his ignorance of what his potential is through the power of the Holy Spirit. One role of the Holy Spirit is to advise and guide us. If we do not hear Him and then take His advice, are we not quenching Him? We shouldn't then be surprised when He gives us the silent treatment. I am learning to approach each day with an attitude of expectancy. Whether it will be a day of learning, a day of training, a day of rest and recuperation, or a day of trials and spiritual warfare, it is up to the Holy Spirit. Intimacy with Christ is impossible except through His Receptionist, the Holy Spirit. The genuine great-to-be-alive feeling comes when we are spiritually alive in Christ and He is alive in us through the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit. It is interesting me to note that those who claim to be desperately seeking God seldom, if ever, mention having been baptized in the Holy Spirit. We may be unable to control our moods directly, but we can control our thoughts. It is our thoughts that decide our moods. The right thoughts come from listening to the Holy Spirit.

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