Hearing God’s voice is something that every growing Christian longs for…
Deep calls to deep… Psalm 42:7
But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things… When he comes, he will guide you into all truth… John 14:26 & 16:13
As we continue looking at different ways we can hear God’s voice and receive his revelation, in this blog we’re moving beyond ‘seeing’ and ‘hearing’ to explore the somewhat less tangible idea of ‘sensing’ or prophetic instinct.
Sometimes we just know something because we know something. Which shouldn’t surprise us, because the Holy Spirit is residing within us, connecting us to the Father, and committed to leading us into all truth. That’s good news! And if we’re pursuing an increasingly close walk with the Spirit we can expect God-given revelation to come to us in the form of gut-feelings, impressions and intuition: that ‘just-knowing’ awareness that defies logic.
Another way to describe this is as a Spirit-to-spirit connection: deep calling to deep.
This is challenging for those of us who prefer a logical and rational approach to life, and it’s easy to look at our more intuitive friends and misunderstand or dismiss their instincts and perceptions as lacking in substance. But regardless of our personalities I believe that we all need to learn to connect with the ‘just-knowing’ part of walking with the Spirit.
We can describe this type of revelation as ‘sensing’ and it’s a really valid way of hearing God’s voice; in fact, for many prophetic people it’s their primary way of receiving revelation. However it’s quite hard to pin down and describe, so sometimes we’re in danger of not paying as much attention to those Holy Spirit ‘vibes’ as we do to more concrete things like words and pictures.
A great first step in hearing God’s voice is to learn to monitor our internal sense of peace. Paul’s advice to us in Colossians 3:15 is to let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts (literally ‘be an umpire’) and it’s by paying close attention to the peace of Christ that we take important steps toward a prophetic lifestyle. This first of all means learning to recognize the peace, and then monitoring it regularly: In every decision we make and path we take we ask ourselves where the peace of Christ is leading us. And if we find we’ve lost the peace then we stop and pray and ask the Lord to re-set our steps.
As I’ve allowed the peace of Christ to be an umpire in my life it means that from time to time I get a sense of warning or an ‘unsettled’ feeling in my spirit, and I’m then prompted to listen carefully to God for how to respond. Sometimes he tells me to pray protection over a particular friend or family member; sometimes it’s because I’m about to do something I shouldn’t. Yes, sometimes it seems easier to ignore these little prompts, but more and more I’m taking them seriously and acting on them straight away. And the more I practice responding to them the more I learn how to weigh them (because, as with all prophetic experiences, they need to be tested!).
When I’m trying to make a decision about something—those times when there are two options in front of me, and I have to choose one of them—I try to spend at least a few moments stepping back into my spirit and sensing which one comes with a deep sense of peace and a feeling of ‘right-ness.’ This is one practical outworking of a commitment to keep in step with the Spirit (Galatians 5:25) on a daily basis.
Whenever we have the opportunity to pray and minister to people we should be paying attention to Holy Spirit prompts and impressions. We may experience physical sensations or emotions that point our ministry in the right direction. Perhaps the Lord allows us to feel what he is feeling for that person, or we get insight into their pain or brokenness. With each piece of revelation we get it’s important to keep an ongoing dialogue with the Holy Spirit so that he can lead us step by step. As with all forms of revelation we need to be disciplined in asking God for the interpretation and application.
For a lot of people ‘sensing’ is the form of revelation they receive in the busyness of daily life, when there is little practical time to find a quiet room and wait for the word of the Lord. But those little impressions and prompts are God’s grace at work in the activity of our lives, and we can wait on God for them on the busiest of days. A God-conscious lifestyle is one that delights in the smallest of touches or impressions.
Why don’t you stop right now and become consciously aware of the presence of God. Give thanks that he’s right here with you, that his Spirit is connected to your spirit. Have a go at tuning in to his quiet nudges and prompts. Where is his peace leading you?
This article about hearing God’s voice originally appeared here.
