Listen Carefully...

Good morning family!  I hope everyone is having a wonderful week so far!  And if not, well.... some weeks are like that.  Hang in there, I'll pray for you (seriously). 

I have been writing for about a month now, and I need to make a clarification before I go much longer.  I speak a lot of the Holy Spirit.  I believe that the Holy Spirit is the third member of the Holy Trinity and is God in spirit form.  I believe, as the bible says, that Jesus died so that the Holy Spirit could come to each of us, and this happens when we are saved and baptized in the name of Jesus Christ (John 16:7). 

When I mention the Holy Spirit speaking to me, I do not necessarily mean in an audible voice.  I do know that some people are blessed to hear the Spirit audibly, but that is not the only way He speaks.  The Holy Spirit also speaks through dreams, visions, situations, other people, and our own feelings and desires.  With so many avenues of communication, many people get discouraged and want to know how exactly we are supposed to filter the voice of the Spirit from the other noise in our lives.  There are two things that I have found to work best for me personally:

1.  Make sure the message lines up with the Word of God
 God is immutable, which means He doesn't change.  He did not suddenly start advocating sex and abortion because you find yourself in tempting situations.  He certainly didn't yield to peer pressure and give his vote of approval to drunken tantrums or homosexuality.  We have to quit trying to make our situations and our desires sound like God's will.  His Will is laid out in the 66 books of the Holy Bible and that's it.  So you can be sure if your dreams, visions, or inner voice of reason do not line up with the Word of God, they are of the flesh and not of the Spirit. 

2.  Ask for confirmation
If you are like me and you are a loud thinker, this will probably be a great tool to help you discern God's voice.  If you are praying for guidance about a certain matter and you think God is leading you in a certain direction, it may be a good idea to ask God in prayer to send you confirmation about the decision.  Usually what happens to me when I ask for confirmation is I will start seeing my decision or situation pop up everywhere.  Music, sitcoms, sermons, testimonies, everything will seem to be speaking to me.  But many times we look over these things if we're not careful.  We have to remember what we ask God for, and then keep our eyes and ears open for the response. 

I encourage you to continue to listen for the Holy Spirit in your life and, just as with anything else, it gets easier with practice.  However, I warn you, the Holy Spirit doesn't only tell us what we should do but also what we shouldn't do.  John 16:13 calls Him the Spirit of Truth.  The Spirit will convict us if we are not walking the path of righteousness, but this conviction refines us so that we come out purer and stronger on the other side.

Names for the Holy Spirit
Helper
Counselor
Comforter
Spirit of Truth
Living Water