Today’s New Covenant nugget is from John 10:27
My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me.
One of the greatest challenges that believers have, is knowing whether something is of God or not… “is this You Jesus?” Many books have been written on how to be led by the Spirit and how to hear the voice of God, but in spite of all of the teaching, even ministers with huge prophetic ministries seem to miss God on a regular basis.
Many, almost flippantly say, “God told me this, or, the Lord told me that…” and when it is clear that the Lord in fact did not tell them what they said He did… they do not even acknowledge their error and just continue to wrongly attribute whatever they feel to God speaking.
The two primary ways that the Lord speaks is through His Word and through the Holy Spirit to our spirits. One of the greatest reasons that many believers are not able to hear God is that, if you look at them in the realm of the spirit… their ‘Word’ fuel tanks are empty and their ‘spirits’ are in starvation mode… at the same time their ‘world’ fuel tanks are overflowing and their ‘flesh’ are huge giants. How can an anemic, starving, weak spirit being, empty of the Word contend with a huge, strong, well fed flesh giant? The answer is that it cannot… strong flesh will overcome a weak spirit every time and that weak spirit that is empty of the Word will really battle to hear God.
Let me say this another way, believers who continually feed their flesh and who do not spend quality, focused isolated time in the Word and in the realm of the Holy Spirit worshipping and praying are at a huge disadvantage when it comes to hearing God.
Sadly, even ministers that lead huge ministries can end up spiritually anemic and starving when it comes to the Word. Many are running so hard with their projects that they do not make the time for the Lord… and one thing with the Lord, you cannot squeeze Him into your hectic schedule… He requires set aside, quality, focused, dedicated, deep fellowship. Having an ‘on the run’ relationship with the Lord can work AFTER spending quality time in the spirit and in the Word on a daily basis… an ‘on the run’ relationship cannot substitute intimate, set aside quality time.
The first step in hearing the voice of God and being Spirit led is taking the time to spend time in His presence and in His Word… anything else that I teach can ONLY be applied to that foundational truth. In the next few devotionals we will build upon this foundation.
In His amazing love, Nick
