The Holy Spirit (16) –Depths of Hearing the Voice of the Holy Spirit The (2)
In order to hear the voice of the Holy Spirit, first, we have to replace the untruths in our heart with the truth, namely the word of God. To do this, above all, it is important to cut off the lust of the eyes, namely, not to see, hear, or think anything evil with your effort.
Also, through fervent prayers, you should bring down the grace and strength of God, and the help of the Holy Spirit. Another important thing is that you should find out your fleshly thoughts and cast them off. If you have fleshly thoughts, you cannot obey the voice of the Holy Spirit, and even if you hear it, you cannot obey it.
Even though God tells you what to do, and tells you that you can do it with faith and to obey, you cannot obey it if you have fleshly thoughts and if it seems impossible in reality. To the extent that you break your fleshly thoughts and obey, you can experience the power of God who is living and almighty, and you can be guided to the way of prosperity and blessings.
On the contrary, those who use their fleshly thoughts to stand against God cannot hear the voice or receive the guidance of the Holy Spirit. They will follow the works of Satan and finally go the way of destruction. The reason why many people profess their faith but cannot experience God’s power, being bound to the limits of flesh, is because they cannot demolish their fleshly thoughts. The almighty power of God can be manifested through those who obey without using their own thoughts, but if we have fleshly thoughts, we cannot believe it, and because we cannot believe it, we cannot obey it.
1. Checking the Minutest Thoughts
You must have heard many things about fleshly thoughts, and you must have been trying to find and demolish your fleshly thoughts. But until you go into the spirit
completely, you cannot be considered to have cast off all fleshly thoughts.
There are so many occasions in which we use our fleshly thoughts in our daily lives. To find out these thoughts, we have to constantly look back on ourselves and pray to gain understanding from the Holy Spirit.
For example, one may think he has certainly made a report to me about something, but I say I did not receive the report. Then, he would probably think, “I have certainly reported to him, but he is so busy that he must have forgotten.”
But if this happens not only a couple of times but many times, isn’t something strange?
It is not that I forget all the time, but there is a reason for me to say it.
When the workers make reports to me, there is an official document format to make reports, and there are things that I would like to know through the reports. But this man does not use the format and does not include what I want to know but just writes down something as he likes and gives to me. Therefore, as for me, it is no different than having received no reports.
Because this is not corrected even after I tell him many times, I just say I did not receive the report. If he truly trusts a servant of God, he should look back thinking, “Why is he saying so?” and seek the voice of the Holy Spirit. If he keeps on thinking that I forgot, he will have no improvement.
2. Clearly Hearing the Voice – David
But those who constantly check and change themselves will hear the Holy Spirit’s voice more clearly. One day, when I was talking to a certain person in my office, I used a piece of tissue paper. Then I just kept it near my seat without throwing it away in the dust bin. After the conversation, when she was going out, she wanted to take the tissue and put it in the dust bin.
I told her to leave it, but she said, “I will throw it away,” and put it in the dust bin. The reason why I did not put it in the dust bin is not because I was lazy or felt burdensome to do it. If I throw just a piece of tissue paper in the just-emptied dust bin, the one who cleans it must work once again to empty the bin again. So, I wanted to take it with me later.
But she acted according to her thought in an attempt to help me. Of course, because I
understand her heart, I just let her do what she wanted to do. But some time later, while she was praying, she received some understanding through the voice of the Holy Spirit.
She came to me and repented, “Senior pastor, if you told me to just leave it, there must be a reason, but I disobeyed you in my thought.”
She used her thoughts for a moment, but because she has the willingness to obey in her heart, she received the understanding of the Holy Spirit later. The incident itself was a small thing and she did not do anything evil, but how precious it is to have the willingness to find out her fleshly thoughts and change herself in every matter?
If she has this willingness, she will try not to make the same mistake again, and she will grow in spirit quickly.
All believers can hear the voice of the Holy Spirit, but the depths and levels are all different. We can see these differences in the examples of the Bible, too. In case of David, he always asked God for His will and received His guidance. When he fought against the enemy’s army, he asked whether he should fight or not, and how to fight, and then went to the battles. Also, when Saul was chasing him, he first asked what to do before making decisions. Every time, David could escape from dangers by the guidance of God, and he could also win the battles.
3. Relying on God in All Things – Joshua’s Mistake
On the contrary, in Joshua chapter 9, we can see Joshua making a mistake because he did not ask God’s will. God commanded Joshua not to make peace with the people of Canaan but destroy them all while conquering the Canaan land. But one day, some messengers came to Joshua and asked him to make peace with them. They said because they were living in a distant country, their bread was dry and had become crumbled, and their wineskins were torn, and clothes and sandals were worn out now.
They were saying that, because they were not people of neighboring country but of a distant country, they wanted to have peace with Joshua. Seeing the evidence of crumbled bread and worn out clothes and sandals, Joshua made peace with them and made a covenant with them.
But this was a mistake. If Joshua had not made the decision immediately but asked God for His will, he would have soon realized that these people were not from a distant country but they were people of Gibeon and that they were trying to deceive him to avoid war.
When Joshua came to realize this fact later, they could not destroy them since he had already made the vow before God. This was a blemish in the conquering of Canaan land, disobeying the word of God to destroy all its people.
Of course, this incident was a big lesson for Joshua and he would not have made the same mistake again. Remembering that such a person as Joshua, who stopped the Jordan River flowing and destroyed the city of Jericho only with obedience, made this kind of mistake, we should humble ourselves in all things and ask for God’s will.
We should not insist on our thoughts with haste but being calm, we should listen to the voice of the Holy Spirit so that we will be guided to the way that is guaranteed by God.
4. Different Depths in Hearing the Voice
People hear the voice of the Holy Spirit in different depths. To the extent that they fill their heart with truth, they can cast off fleshly thoughts and to the extent that they obey, they can hear the voice more clearly and more deeply.
For example, in Acts chapter 21, before Paul was moved in his heart to go to Jerusalem, many other people also knew what would happen to Paul in the future and talked to him.
Acts 21:4 tells us that the disciples in Tyre told Paul not to go to Jerusalem. When the apostle Paul reached a region called Caesarea, one prophet came to him, took Paul’s belt and bound his own feet and hands, and said, “This is what the Holy Spirit says: ‘In this way the Jews at Jerusalem will bind the man who owns this belt and deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles.’” Those who heard this prophecy were surprised and they asked
Paul not to go to Jerusalem.
The content, which is that Paul would be arrested and handed over to the hands of the Gentile if he went to Jerusalem, was certainly revealed by the Holy Spirit. But if they heard the voice of the Holy Spirit more deeply, they would not have urged Paul not to go to Jerusalem.
The will of God for the apostle Paul was to preach the gospel even if there were persecutions and hardships. That way, the gospel would be spread up to Rome and God’s glory would be revealed more through Paul.
Unlike other people, the apostle Paul, who clearly heard the voice of the Holy Spirit and knew the will of God correctly, did not listen to their urge. Furthermore, Acts 20:22-24 tells us that Paul foreknew his way was a way of sufferings even before the prophets told him.
So, the apostle Paul said, “For I am ready not only to be bound, but even to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.”
They heard the same voice of the Holy Spirit, but those who added their fleshly thoughts on to the voice of the Holy Spirit they heard spoke against the will of God. Although they said it with the love for Paul’s life, this was fleshly thought that was hostile to God.
But the apostle Paul, who did not use fleshly thoughts, could discern the will of God clearly since he heard the voice more clearly and more deeply. Romans 8:17 explains about those who are led by the Spirit of God, saying, “If children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified with Him.”
As said, because the apostle Paul could obey the will of God even if it was to receive sufferings, he could go into the glorious position through obedience of sacrificing his life.
I have also experienced these things many times. For example, since 1998 there are many more members whose spiritual eyes have been opened, and I proclaimed the words of the spiritual realm more on the altar. Because of this, there were many works of Satan against it.
At that time, among church leaders, there were some people who advised me not to
talk about those spiritual things because they also anticipated the persecutions.
They were saying, “You do not have to include those things in your sermons. Why do you cause difficulties to yourself?” Of course, I also knew what kind of persecutions would come when I testified to spiritual things. Also, God let me know a long time ago that many members would not be able to keep their faith and leave the church in the persecutions.
But the will of God was not to keep quiet because of persecutions. But rather, it was to raise our voice and proclaim the messages about the spiritual realm. So, I proclaimed on the altar the spiritual things that God revealed to me, and we had to face difficulties for some time, but later, I could more clearly realize the will of God contained in it.
To the extent that our members understood and longed for the spiritual realm, their faith increased so much. A faith that is not even comparable to the faith they had before, and through this faith, God widely opened the way to the secrets of the spiritual realm. Also, God gave us the deep things on the book of Genesis along with the evidences so that we could see them with our own eyes.
There are many more people who confessed that they believed we would accomplish the Grand Sanctuary and world evangelism, but now they believe it with much greater certainty. Suppose that when I hear the voice of the Holy Spirit telling me that I will face persecutions if I preach about spiritual realm, and if I kept quiet using my fleshly thoughts, how could we have received these spiritual blessings? Rather, it would have disappointed God because it is an act without faith.
So, even if we hear the voice of the Holy Spirit, we should long to hear it more deeply and correctly so that we will be able to obey God’s will completely.