Hearing God is what happens to our spirit when God speaks. Gods speakings can be audible to the physical ear but it’s important to approach anything divine from the spiritual first, because if there is any error in that perspective then the physical experience is void.
Let's navigate the contents of this powerful book that lays out the leadings and the guidance of God in practical ways, backed by Scripture and proven by the experiences of many believers - including my own. Perhaps you will find yourself in them too, but it is guaranteed that you will never see the subject of hearing God in the same way by the end of this article.
The Tripartite Nature of Man
Man is a spirit inside a body, that has a soul. We are primarily spirit just like our Heavenly Father. Since God is spirit, his speakings are in the spirit (and also are spirit, and life - John 6:63). Many people believe that God only speaks to specific people, prophets perhaps, and as a result they run around seeking those people to communicate to them exactly what God is saying. Even some who are led by the Word of God, which is the authoritative speaking of God, still desire guidance from external sources especially in difficult times. Not so. We all have access to the leadings of God as he promised:
“My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.” John 10:27
Job discerned this challenge of present day believers, speaking by the Spirit:
“For God speaks in one way, and in two, though man does not perceive it.” Job 33:14
Note the use of the term “perceive” here. The leadings of God are sometimes inaccurately called “feelings” and even treated as such. Often times we wait until we “feel” something physically or emotionally to discern what God is saying - or that he is speaking. Not so.
"Sirs, I perceive that the voyage will be with injury and much loss, not only of the cargo and the ship, but also of our lives." Acts 27:10
Paul understood the leadings of God, and the term perceived is intentional to that end. But to perceive accurately, our Tripartite nature must be in the right order: the body must be subject to the spirit, and the soul (the mind, the will and emotions) must operate to that effect.
Presenting the Body & Saving the Soul
A chapter in our May book is dedicated to the Salvation of the Soul. I wrote on this topic a few weeks ago, but it is the crux of our entire being on earth - working the salvation of our spirit into the faculties of our soul - and certainly bears mentioning given the opportunity.
The soul is made up of the mind and the heart. Sometimes the Bible will refer to the spirit as “the heart”. This is intentional: the heart is a portal. It translates the signals in our spirit into our natural experience - making them available to our mind and body. But the heart can also translate signals of the flesh to our minds and body, producing an emotional response.
By the flesh I do not mean the body alone - the flesh is a manifestation of the limitations of our body nature, the nature of sin. The nature of sin is different from the act of sin. The nature of sin is the nature Jesus came to save us from, in favor of the Nature of God. Do saved believers still have the nature of sin? - yes. We still have the urges we always had; we are not translated into angels. If we didn’t, the salvation of the soul would not be necessary. At salvation, our spirit is reborn and given a new nature, but then the work begins to translate that gift to a transformed life.
In our May book, the author writes:
“a man's spirit, the innermost man, the real man, receives eternal life and is born again. But his intellect and emotions—which comprise his soul—still have to be dealt with.” - Kenneth Hagin (KH)
The salvation of the soul is vital to receiving the right messages through our hearts, from our spirit which carries the Spirit of God. Otherwise, we can be misled by emotional responses from a mind that is corrupted by the world, or the longings of our flesh. Luckily for us, according to James, the engraftment of the word of God in study and practice saves our soul and renews our mind:
“Wherefore lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness, and receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save your souls.” James 1:21
But due to the Tripartite nature of man, an unpresented body is a great risk to the salvation of the soul. Speaking of overcoming his flesh, a whole Apostle Paul wrote:
“But I batter my [body] and bring it into servitude, lest having preached to others, I myself might be disqualified.” 1 Corinthians 9:27
He didn't mean he beats himself up, he means he controls the unruly nature of the desires of his body-nature (the flesh).
“Therefore I urge you, brothers, on account of God’s mercy, to present your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God..Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what is the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God.” Romans 12:1-2
“When our minds become renewed with the Word of God, then we think in line with what God's Word says. We are able to know and prove the permissive and the perfect will of God” But first, according to Paul, we must submit our bodies to the intent of God.” - KH
When we present our body we present our ways as a great sacrifice, the type asked of Abraham. It does not mean be perfect or be condemned, no - our righteousness is in Christ. But we come to him daily in repentance and brokenness, with a heart that is true. It is God who justifies (Romans 8:33). But we cannot come to God boldly if we have no intention to try live his way. Presenting our bodies is in our capacity, neither God nor angels can do it for us.
The Leadings of the Spirit of God
Depending on who and where you are, you may or may not be familiar with the role(s) of the Holy Spirit. But let's all call to mind what Jesus said of the Spirit of God:
“But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name (representing Me), will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have told you.” Acts 14:26
And again:
“I still have much to tell you, but you cannot yet bear to hear it. However, when the Spirit of truth comes, He will guide you into all truth. For He will not speak on His own, but He will speak what He hears, and He will declare to you what is to come. He will glorify Me by taking from what is Mine and disclosing it to you. Everything that belongs to the Father is Mine.” John 16:12-15
The Holy Spirit communicates to us only what He hears from the Father and the Son, through our spirit. We present the body and work to renew the soul because only then can we be confident that the leadings we perceive are from our reborn spirit and not from the flesh.
The Leadings of God are channeled through the Spirit of God in 3 ways:
Leading #1 - The Inward Witness
Under the Old Covenant, people sought guidance from Prophets because they (along with Kings and Priests) were the only ones anointed with the Spirit of God. But in the new covenant, we not only have the Spirit of God upon us—we have Him in us! What a gift!
"For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God'" Romans 8:14
The first way that the Spirit of God communicates with us is by the Inward Witness.
"The Spirit [Himself] bears witness with our spirit that we are the sons of God..." - Romans 8:16
The inward witness is the primary signal in the spirit of every believer, and like every other leading, it is strengthened in our walk with God - but it is always there. Sometimes we ignore this leading, and miss the mark. It is normal, especially as spiritual babies growing up in Christ.
Once I ignored the inward witness telling me with heavy signals in my spirit, not to travel with a girl I had known for 15 years. Her ways and mine had diverged, and so while on the trip I didn’t want to do the unsaved things she wanted to engage in. For this reason she canceled the joint hotel booking at our next destination without my knowledge. I was almost stranded in the streets of France at midnight, in a packed city in Summertime with no open rooms. I knew I missed the leading but God was faithful to provide me a room unexpectedly. It is ok to get it wrong, as long as we learn to recognize the witness, and commit to getting it right.
“The inward witness is just as supernatural as guidance through visions and so on; it is just not as spectacular. Many people are looking for the spectacular and missing the supernatural that is right there all the time” - KH
The book also covers a very common dangerous practice, called “fleecing”:
In putting out a fleece, one prays something like this: "Lord, if you want me to do this—then You do that." Or, "God, if you want me to do this, then have that happen." Or, "Lord, shut that door, and open this door." Some of those doors the devil might shut, and some of them the devil might open. They are in his territory. The Bible calls him the god of this world (2 Corinthians 4:4).
Leading #2 - The Inward Voice
Our spirit has a voice just like our body. In fact, whatever senses we possess physically, we have a spiritual form. Which is why physical deactivation of our senses can sometimes imply spiritual things. But I digress..
The Inward Voice is also called the voice of our conscience or the still small voice. This small voice is the voice of our spirit picking up what the Holy Spirit in us is saying. It is not the voice of the Holy Spirit, which is more authoritative (next point). All of us will have heard this voice of our spirit speaking inside us, and if you your spirit is reborn this voice is now led by the spirit of God and consistent with who God is.
But if we don’t know our God, and are still subject to the flesh, we can fall prey to the wrong voice. The flesh happily harbors the voices of our past, guilt, the opinions of men and even that show you know you should not have watched last night - and these voices also speak. But by the fruits (of the voice) you will know, if a leading is indeed from the Spirit of God. We must shut down other voices from time to time, when they pop up with anything contrary to the nature of the Spirit of God.
“Is your conscience a safe guide? Yes, if your spirit has become a new man in Christ, it is, because your conscience is the voice of your spirit.” - KH
Again a life of sacrifice of self, and a renewed mind by the Word of God is key. Without this process, other voices can be louder than that of the conscience of the new creature, of our spirit which has been reborn at salvation.
Leading #3 - The Voice of the Holy Spirit
There is a difference between the inward voice of the Holy Spirit speaking to our spirits, and that still small voice which is the voice of our own spirit speaking to us. When the Holy Spirit within you speaks, it is more authoritative. - KH
Sometimes this Voice is so real it almost seems to be an audible voice; you may even look around to see who said it. It may seem so audible that you think someone behind you said something. But then you realize it was in you:
Remember in the Old Testament how a young Samuel heard a voice call his name, "Samuel, Samuel" and thought Eli was calling him? He jumped up and ran to Eli to find out what he wanted. But Eli said, "No, I didn't call you" and Samuel went back to bed. This happened 3 times until Eli realized Samuel was hearing the authoritative Voice of the Holy Spirit - and he told him to answer.
From that story and many others, we know God will speak and wait for us to hear and respond, before He speaks further. I have found that if I do not act on the leadings or the guidance of God, He will wait for me. He is patient; I on the other hand may not have much time to waste in disobedience.
Other means of Gods Guidance
“We have made a mistake in thinking that. We are in the same age they were in—the Church Age. We are in the same Church. We have the same Holy Spirit. It has seemed to us, however, that they had a whole lot we don't have. Not so. "For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God" (Rom 8:14). There are sons of God today. And the Spirit of God is still leading sons of God. - KH
Apart from - and yet, intertwined with - the leadings of God, is the guidance of God by The Word, Dreams, Visions and Prophecy. All the leadings and the guidance of God exist in harmony, and can even occur in partnership. I’ll explain:
Dreams and Visions
Dreams and visions from God are consistent with (and best translated through) the Word of God, and they can include the audible voice of the Holy Spirit.
“The next day at about the sixth hour, as the men were approaching the city on their journey, Peter went up on the roof to pray. He became hungry and wanted something to eat, but while the meal was being prepared, he fell into a trance.. As Peter continued to reflect on the vision, the Spirit said to him, “Behold, three men are looking for you.” Acts 10: 9-10 & 19
Peter, in a trance, heard the Voice of the Spirit of God. I had a dream last year: I saw scrolls of books of the Bible being opened up, and as I woke up I heard a loud voice thunder out “Hear the Word of the Lord: For in [a specific named month] I will bring to pass that which I have done”. I still remember that day, I woke up stunned, eyes wide like who said that and gave me a date as such? Then I knew and believed - and that Word has come to pass this year in that very month. It must have been important to God to get through to me that way.
The book goes deep into the three types of visions: spiritual visions, open visions and trances. Here’s a quick differentiation:
• Spiritual visions are experienced with the eye of the spirit, and inaccessible even to the physical eyes of the recipient. In these, physical senses are not suspended and you are aware of your surroundings. An example is Paul’s vision on the way to Damascus:
"And Saul arose from the earth; and when his eyes were opened, he saw no man: but they led him by the hand, and brought him into Damascus." Acts 9:8
When the Lord spoke to Saul, his eyes were shut. So whatever it was that Paul saw, he did not see with his physical eyes. We know this because the Bible says “when his eyes WERE OPENED, he was blind”.
• In a Trance, physical senses are suspended, and the recipient is unaware of their physical environment but very much aware of the spirit realm. This is what happened to Peter in Acts 10:10. I believe God uses trances when there is to be a great shift, just like with Peter and bringing the Gentiles into the fellowship of the Spirit.
My first and only trance so far, was intense. I had just laid down around 6am after praying all night, when suddenly I was in front of a door. I knew I was in some type of a dream but this was strange because I was so aware only of the realm I was in, and I said to myself “I am in a dream”. I was determined not to startle myself out of the encounter. Then the door opens and I knew why I was there - there was an oppressive power I had to defeat. The opposing spirit seemed unaware at first that I was alert, approaching me with a smile. The smile turned sinister with the realization that I was very much awake in the spirit, because of the words I said - and we began to war. I won, ensured his complete defeat and ran for it. As I ran through the building doors I was transported to another location - a great green field with beautiful rolling hills, where the ordeal was finished. I didn’t need an audible Voice to translate this one, it was clear to me.
• Open visions are powerful supernatural experiences, but we should never seek supernatural experiences - we don’t need them. We have everything we need inside us. In an open vision the recipient sees something spiritual, physically. No physical senses are suspended: they could be walking down the street, standing in a crowd or laying in bed.
A dear teacher of mine experienced his first open vision at a crusade with Evangelist Reinhard Bonnke. He saw a gigantic silver eagle flying overhead and turned to those around asking if they could see it too. They could not, because the opening of the physical eyes to the vision is reserved for the recipient.
Open visions are also a manifestation of the prophets ministry - the discernment of spirits, being able to see into the spirit realm.
Prophecy
There are 2 judgements of a prophetic word: it must agree with 1) the inward witness or leadings of the receiver, and 2) the more sure word of prophecy, that is the Word of God.
“If you do not have something in your own spirit, do not accept a personal prophecy. Many of us have fallen into error disobeying one or more of these judgments. In the Book of Acts when The Holy Ghost said, "Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them" (Acts 13:2). He had already called them. This was just a confirmation of it. "If the prophecy confirms what you already have, accept it. If it does not, don't accept it." - KH
Our book dives into the difference between the gift of prophecy and the ministry of the Prophet, in the clearest way I have encountered. I’ll share a quick differentiation:
• The gift of prophecy is speaking unto men to edification and exhortation and comfort (1 Cor. 14:3). It is available to all of us because of the Spirit of God has been poured out upon us (Joel 2:28-32, Acts 2:17)
• For one to be a Prophet, he stands in that office and uses that ministry. Other spiritual gifts besides prophecy must operate in his ministry. A prophet has the revelation gifts (the word of wisdom, the word of knowledge, and/or the discerning of spirits) in operation along with prophecy.
In the simple gift of prophecy there is no foretelling—no prediction whatsoever. But in the ministry of the prophet there is foretelling and prediction.
The Guidance of the Word of God
God’s Word is the believer’s guidebook. It is a lamp to our feet, and a light to our path (Psalm 119:105). Every guidance and leading of God by the Spirit submits to his Word. If it’s clearly in the Word, go ahead and do that. God will never guide us outside his Word. His Word is complete, and he made sure of it.
“Too many times while God is trying to bear witness with our spirit, trying to guide us the way He said He would in His Word, we do not listen because we want something such as a vision or an angel to appear. We have no right to seek a vision. We have no right to ask for an angel. There are no scriptures which say that we should. We do have a right to claim what the Bible promises.” - KH
Too often I encounter people who tell me they are waiting to hear from God, meanwhile the subject matter is most surely and clearly counter to what God wants for any believer - according to His Word. God does not speak just because we would like to hear, his speakings are power and life. He will not waste them on a stubborn or unteachable heart.
How to Train our Spirit
God wants to be with us, and speak with us, and lead us. 2 Corinthians 6:16 confirms that:
We are the temple of the living God. As God has said: “I will live with them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be my people.”
The barrier to the fullness of this experience is in the extent of our spirit consciousness. Too often, we mirror the church in Corinth who Paul wrote to saying:
“And I, brethren, could not speak to you as to spiritual people but as to carnal, as to babes in Christ. for you are still carnal.. and behaving like mere men" I Corinthians 3:1, 3
We are not mere men, or worldly men. Our spirit has been reborn, and must be trained up. Anything that has life (our spirits have eternal life) and stops growing, begins to die. We cannot remain babies in Christ - we must grow up by training, or risk the suffocation and deformity of our spirits. In practical terms, this is the difference between someone who is regularly fed of witchcraft in their dreams (because although saved their spirit is weak and helpless) and the one who yanks off the heads of their enemies in the superior reality of the spirit realm.
“Your spirit can be educated just as your mind can be educated. Your spirit can be built up in strength and trained just as your body can be built and trained.” - KH
Here are four rules by which we can train and develop our spirits:
1. By meditation in the Word
“This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success.” Joshua 1:8
2. By practicing the Word
“But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only....” James 1:22
3. By giving the Word first place in every area of our lives
“My son, attend to my words; incline thine ear unto my sayings. Let them not depart from thine eyes; keep them in the midst of thine heart. For they are life unto those that find them, and health to all their flesh.” Proverbs 4:20-22
4. By instantly obeying the voice of your spirit
“The spirit of man is the candle of the Lord...." Proverbs 20:27
“Greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world" 1 John 4:4
Final Thoughts
The truth is this: to experience the fullness of the great gifts given to us in God through Christ, there must be a pressing in. Paul said, after 30 years in ministry:
“I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 3:14
A relationship with God is not cheap, it is much more priceless than the most precious things. And only those who hunger and thirst for it will be satisfied. The author of the May book, Kenneth Hagin, shared this analogy:
• Years ago, in the western part of the United States, they had what we call "the gold rush." People rushed out West. They were going to get rich in a hurry. Most panned a little gold out of creeks. Some found a few nuggets lying on the ground. But if you really wanted to strike it rich, you had to dig for it..
The same is true in spiritual matters: You can skim along on the surface of the Bible and pan out a little gold here and there—and even find a nugget occasionally. But if you really want to strike it rich, you have to dig down deep into the Word of God.
I am committed to putting these points into practice all of the month of May. I hope that you will join me. If so, it is guaranteed that your experience with God and with men will never remain the same.
Grace-Grace.
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