How You Can Be Led by the Spirit
of God
Based
on the book entitled “How You Can Be Led
by the Spirit of God”, by Kenneth E. Hagin, Sr., the three primary ways in
which God speaks to us and leads us is by:
1.
The inward witness.
2.
The still small voice of our conscience.
3.
The authoritative voice of the Holy Spirit.
And,
of course, God speaks to us through His Word. If we know the will of God in a
certain matter, such as for healing, then we can have faith, confidence and
boldness to receive it. The Word of God is the perfect will of God.
Mark
11:22-24 says, So Jesus answered and said to them, “Have faith in God. For
assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be removed and be cast
into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things
he says will be done, he will have whatever he says. Therefore, I say to you,
whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you
will have them.” NKJV
Proverbs
20:27 tells us: “The spirit of man is the candle of the Lord, searching all the
inward parts of the belly.”
In
Scripture the belly speaks of a person’s innermost being, the spirit, the gut,
the deepest part of man.
We
are spirit beings, and have a soul (mind, will and emotions), and live in a
physical body (1 Thessalonians 5:23).
God
speaks to our spirit. He gives wisdom, revelation, light and guidance to our
spirit man. We are led by God through our spirit, not by our emotions, feelings,
intellect or mentality.
Upon
conversion, the spirit is instantly born again and becomes a new creature in
Christ Jesus, but the soul is saved over a process of time, as it comes into
the conformity of Jesus Christ and His Word. The mind can be in enmity with
God, but listening to our spirit is a safe guide.
The number one way God
leads all of His children is through the inward witness. If you wait on the Lord
long enough, you will hear God speak to you.
To
hear the Lord through the inward witness is to receive premonitions, intuition,
promptings, leadings, guidance, a check in your spirit, a green/yellow/red
light, a knowing about something even if you can’t explain it or don’t know all
the details, peace in your spirit, a rhema Scripture that almost leaps off the
page and speaks to your situation, things that are quickened to you (street
sign, number, slogan, something preached in a sermon, etc.). On the inside, you
will know what to do or what decision to make.
Kenneth
Hagin gave the example of when he wanted to confirm a date to preach at a
pastor’s church. He had half the letter written, then tore it up and threw it
away in the wastebasket. The second day, the same thing happened. The third
day, the same thing happened.
Jesus
spoke to him in an open vision about that matter and told Kenneth Hagin that he
was being led of the Spirit, because he would keep feeling a check in his
spirit.
A
voice did not tell him to not go to that church. He didn’t receive a prophetic
word about it. It was just a check on the inside that something was not right. That’s
why he would only get half of the letter written, and then tear it up and throw
it away.
Jesus
told him to not go to that church, because the pastor there would not have
accepted the way Kenneth Hagin ministers.
Then
Jesus reminded Kenneth Hagin of an invitation he had received from a small
church to come and hold some meetings. The more Kenneth Hagin thought about it
and prayed about it, the more of a velvety-peaceful feeling he felt in his
heart. Jesus told him to go to that church and speak, as he would be welcomed
there.
Then
there is a chapter in Kenneth Hagin’s book about putting out fleeces. It may
have worked for Gideon, but that was in the Old Covenant, and we are now living
in the New Covenant.
The
Holy Spirit was only poured out to those in three offices back in the Old
Testament (kings, priests and prophets). However, in the New Testament, ever
since the Day of Pentecost, we can all be filled with the Holy Spirit and hear
the Lord for ourselves, and receive guidance from the Spirit of God.
Kenneth
Hagin shared about his experience in putting out a fleece, and if he got his
fleece then he would assume it was the will of God. The fleece was that he
would get 100% of the votes to be elected as pastor of a church in Texas. He
got every vote! However, he was out of the will of God and the church that
elected him was out of the will of God. He got fleeced, and the church got
fleeced.
Putting
out a fleece is a hit-or-miss method. The Bible says that God will lead us by
His Spirit. Nowhere does it say that God will lead us through fleeces.
After
that experience, Kenneth Hagin learned how to follow the Spirit of God, and
hear God’s voice with clarity.
The
more you develop your spirit-man, the easier it will be to hear the Holy Spirit
speak to you.
The number 2 way that God
speaks to us is through the still small voice of our own conscience.
The
voice of the Holy Spirit is more authoritative, and almost audible at times.
The still small voice of your conscience is more quiet.
When
you do wrong, it is your own conscience that condemns you. Jesus condemns no
one, although He convicts people of their sin. Our own conscience lets us know
when we have missed the mark.
If
our conscience has not been seared over, then it is a safe guide.
The Bible has much to say about
our conscience. The Word of God addresses the various conditions of the human
conscience:
Positive
A
good conscience towards God – Acts 23:1
A
conscience void of offense towards God and man – Acts 24:16
A
good conscience, a pure heart, and sincere faith – 1 Timothy 1:5,19
A
good conscience, in all things willing to live honestly – Hebrews 13:18
A
good conscience, that if anyone speaks evil of you, they may be ashamed that
falsely accuse your good conversation in Christ – 1 Peter 3:16
Our
conscience bearing witness between right and wrong – Romans 2:15
Our
conscience bearing witness in the Holy Ghost – Romans 9:1
Keeping
hold of the deep truths of the faith with a clear conscience – 1 Timothy 3:9
Keeping
a clean conscience by obeying the law and doing what is right – Romans 13:5
Having
a tender conscience in regards to personal convictions – 1 Corinthians 8:7-12;
1 Corinthians 10:25-29
Having
a clean conscience because of knowing that you conducted yourself in sincerity,
purity of heart, motives and deeds – 2 Corinthians 1:12
Pure
conscience – 2 Timothy 1:3
Water
Baptism that depicts that you are turning to Christ and asking Him to cleanse
your conscience from sin – 1 Peter 3:21
Negative
Evil
conscience – Hebrews 10:22 (KJV, NKJV, AMP, NASB)
Guilty
conscience – Hebrews 10:22 (AMP, NIV, NLT)
Defiled
conscience – Titus 1:15 (KJV, NKJV, AMP, NASB)
Corrupted
conscience – Titus 1:15 (NIV, NLT)
Polluted
conscience – Titus 1:15 (AMP)
Conscience
filled with dead works – Hebrews 9:14 (KJV, NKJV, AMP, NASB)
Conscience
filled with sinful deeds – Hebrews 9:14 (NLT)
Seared
over conscience. The picture here is of a hot iron that sears over and hardens,
cauterizes, seals shut, deadens or permanently imprints something (like cattle
that are branded) – 1 Timothy 4:2. When a person has a seared over conscience,
that usually means that they have violated and overridden their conscience so
many times that after a while their conscience is no longer a safe guide. They
no longer feel remorse for their actions. They don’t care anymore between what
is right and what is wrong. Things they do that are wrong do not bother them
anymore.
The Blood of Jesus has the power
to break open a seared over conscience, and cause the conscience to become
tender and sensitive again.
A Conscience Filled With Dead Works
This is mentioned in Hebrews
9:14. Dead works refer to things that are:
·
Unprofitable
·
Unfruitful
·
Have no life
·
Acts that lead to death
·
Do not add anything beneficial to your life but instead only serves to
drain the life out of you
·
Actions that cause damage (such as abuse)
·
Attitudes that are toxic (such as unforgiveness, hatred, bitterness,
unresolved anger, pride)
·
Crooked and criminal deeds
·
Iniquity
·
Wickedness
·
Craving the praise of man and doing things to make yourself look good
·
Any kind of deeds in which God is not impressed (even if man is)
·
Selfish motivation and ambition
·
Any works you do in which you will receive no reward in Heaven
Works
of the flesh, such as those things listed in Galations 5:15-21. These include:
biting and devouring one another, adultery, fornication, uncleanness,
lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath,
strife, seditions, heresies, envy, murder, drunkenness, reveling, desirous of
vain glory, provoking one another, and such things.
If
the blood of animals (which was imperfect) could remove sin temporarily, and
the sprinkling of blood by an heifer bring purification, then HOW MUCH MORE
shall the Blood of Jesus (which is perfect) cleanse our conscience from guilt,
defilement and dead works.
Other Things About the Conscience
We
are convicted by our own conscience (if our conscience is not seared over and
is a safe guide where we bear witness on the inside between right and wrong) –
John 8:9
The
Old Testament gifts and sacrifices offered were not able to perfectly
(completely, fully) make clear the worshipper’s conscience. Only the Blood of
Jesus can perfectly (completely, fully) clear our conscience – Hebrews 9:9;
Hebrews 10:1-10
The Blood of Jesus:
Purges
the conscience – Hebrews 9:14 (KJV)
Purifies
the conscience – Hebrews 9:14 (AMP, NLT)
Cleanses
the conscience – Hebrews 9:14 (NKJV, NIV, NASB)
Jesus’
Blood sprinkles our heart from an evil or guilty conscience – Hebrews 10:22.
The sprinkling of blood in the
Old Testament was for the purpose of purification. The priests themselves, and
their clothing, was sprinkled with blood, the altar was sprinkled with blood,
the Mercy Seat was sprinkled with blood, the utensils were sprinkled with
blood. Almost everything was sprinkled with blood for purging and purification.
Hebrews 9:22 says, “And almost
all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is
no remission.”
Our
conscience resides in the spirit part of us, and so it is vitally important to
keep a tender conscience so we can hear the Holy Spirit speak to us.
In Kenneth Hagin’s book, the
number 3 way that God speaks to us is through the authoritative voice of the
Holy Spirit.
Sometimes
when God speaks in this way, it is almost audible. I’ve experienced this at
times, but in my case it was “internal audible”, where on the inside I heard
God speak to me (not in my thoughts, but in my spirit). Your spirit has ears
and can hear. And your spirit can speak.
In
looking back, I went through a short season of hearing God speak in this way.
Then I came to the realization that God controls the volume of how loud He
speaks. It’s as if He has a dial, and can control how loud or soft He speaks.
After
a few instances of hearing God speak clearly internal audible, then it was as
if He began turning the volume down little by little.
Now
I hear God through the inward witness and through the still small voice most of
the time. Once in a great while, I may hear a word or phrase in my spirit.
For
example, a few months ago I was praying about a matter in my family. Then I
heard God say to me internal audibly “Walk it out.” That was the answer He was
giving me and I knew what He meant.
Just
because God chooses to speak audibly on some occasions, do not be desirous to
hear “voices”, because the devil will accommodate you.
If
it happens and you hear God audibly in your spirit, that is one thing. But do
not seek after it, as the enemy can deceive people by mimicking even God’s
voice.
Hearing God Through
Prophecy and Other Gifts of the Spirit
Sometimes
the Lord speaks to us through the prophetic or words of knowledge. However, the
Prophet of the New Testament does not hold the same status as the Old Testament
prophets.
A
prophetic word in the New Testament should only confirm what you already know
in your heart, and bear witness with your spirit.
