Garden of the Heart Ministires

*Teachings*

Teachings on Time Management Hearing God The Baptism of the Holy Spirit Praying your Prodigals Back Home The Master Gardener Jesus in the Garden Take Possession Cultivating Hearts and Planting Seed Waiting for Your Inheritance? View the Archive for PDF files	HEARING GOD The God of the universe wants to speak to you. Are you listening? Hearing God will determine whether you live in victory or defeat. “But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come.” (John 16:1) The major key to knowing His voice is developing an intimate relationship with Him. There is no substitute! Your number one priority is to keep yourself in a position to hear from God. He wants to lead you and guide you. He is not holding back. We take ourselves out of the position to hear from God. Below are several things you can do to keep yourself in a position to hear from God. We cannot stress enough how vital it is that you position yourself to hear Him. Hearing God can be the difference between life and death for you and your loved ones. 1) You must be born again - The first requirement is to know Him personally, because Jesus said, “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me” (John 10:27 KJV). If you do not know Him personally, then today is the day of salvation. He desires you to know Him intimately. Jesus Christ died for your sin, rose again and is seated at the right hand of the Father. If you believe that, confess your sin to Him and ask Him to come into your life, and you will be saved. 2) Obedience - “The person who has My commandments and keeps them is the one who really loves Me; and whoever really loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I too will love him and will show, reveal, manifest Myself to him. I will let Myself be clearly seen by him and make Myself real to Him” (John 14:21 AMP). 3) Clean heart - If you regard iniquity in your heart he will not hear you (Psalm 66:18). Sin blocks our communication with God therefore it is important to keep your heart clean. 4) Read God’s word - The more you fill your heart with God’s word and meditate on it, the more sensitive you will become to God’s voice. ““Consider carefully what you hear,” he continued. “With the measure you use, it will be measured to you-- and even more. Whoever has will be given more; whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him.”” (Mark 4:24-25 NIV) 5) Worship - “God doesn't listen to evil men, but he has open ears to those who worship him and do his will” (John 9:31 TLB). 6) Do not grieve the Holy Spirit – “And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption” (Ephesians 4:30 NIV). He is the One who leads you, guides you, counsels you, and warns you. God desires to baptize you with His Spirit. 7) Journaling – When it comes to hearing God’s voice journaling is invaluable, because it slows you down long enough to hear from Him and it invites Him to respond. “I will stand on my guard post and station myself on the rampart; and I will keep watch to see what He will speak to me, and how I may reply when I am reproved. Then the LORD answered me and said, "Record the vision and inscribe {it} on tablets” (Habakkuk 2:1-2a NASB). How God Speaks Still small voice - God may speak to us in a spectacular way, but usually He speaks to us in His still small voice in order to draw us near to Him in an intimate relationship. “I will instruct you and teach you in the way which you should go; I will counsel you with My eye upon you.” (Psalm 32:8 NASB) This may be a scripture floating through your mind, a thought impressed upon your mind, or someone’s name coming to your heart. Or you may sense conviction in your conscience. This is God speaking to you. Written Word & Rhema (the spoken word) – "the sword of the Spirit, which is the word* of God" (Eph. 6:17)* The Greek word for word used in this verse Greek is *Rhema. The Vine’s Dictionary says that Rhema* is an individual scripture, which the Holy Spirit brings to our remembrance for use in time of need. This may come through His still small voice or through scripture. The Holy Spirit illuminates the word, opening your eyes to understand its meaning so that it is applicable to you. At other times, a scripture floats through your mind at an unexpected time. When God gives you Rhema it comes filled with His power just waiting to be released. Circumstances - God opened and closed doors for Paul and Silas, they sensed a stop in their Spirit and said that the Holy Spirit forbid them to go into some areas (Acts 16:6-9). God may speak to you through opening and closing doors; but do not seek God’s will through open and closed doors alone. Seek Him and He will reveal His plan to you. If you try to get direction from your circumstances apart from your relationship with God, they will not make sense. People - Many times God will speak through words that people speak to you, but they must confirm what God is already speaking to your heart. If someone says that they have a word from the Lord for you, it should always confirm what the Lord has already spoken to your heart, or it may confirm what He will be speaking to you in the future. Burdens - A burden is heaviness or an apprehension in your spirit; when you sense this, go at once to the Lord to pray to see if He is calling you. Peace or unrest in your spirit – “Let the peace of God rule in your heart” (Col 3:15). The Amplified Bible says to let peace “act as an umpire”. The peace of God will GUARD your heart and mind in Christ Jesus (Philippians 4:7). God’s peace will literally act like an umpire to reveal God’s will. If you have unrest about something, God is warning you. Wait until you have God’s peace. Dreams and Visions - In the last days God says, “I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams” (Acts 2:17 NIV). Not all dreams are from God, but when they are there usually is clarity and they never go against God’s word. There is a sense in your spirit that it was from God. It would be dangerous to base your life on dreams or visions, but that does not negate the fact that God speaks to His children through dreams. He has in the past and He does today. God has given dreams of warning to reveal the enemy’s plans ahead of time so that we can pray and thwart those plans. These are dreams given for the purpose of intercession. Should God use you in this capacity, take these dreams and visions very seriously and pray until the answer comes. You may want to keep your journal or a dictaphone near your bed. Otherwise by morning you may have forgotten what He spoke to your heart. Print Page