Ways He Speaks #1

Ways He Speaks #1

Hi all,
The number 1 desire people ask me about (outside of 'what is the Father telling you of what's going on) is to hear the Lord's voice. So from time to time I like to share what the Lord taught me.

First things first
In John 16:13 Jesus said "However when he, the Spirit of Truth has come, he will guide you into all truth for he will not speak of himself, but whatever he hears, that will he speak, and he will show you things to come."

The Holy Spirit doesn't communicate of his own accord, only what he receives from the Father and Jesus. In I Cor 2:9-16 Paul enlarges upon Jesus' teaching, saying that neither eye, nor ear, nor imagination can know what God has prepared for those who love him, but the Father HAS revealed these things to us by the Holy Spirit, for the Holy Spirit searches the deep things of the Father God to see what he has prepared for us.

He goes on to say we have received the Holy Spirit "so that we might know the things that are freely given to us by God", and that they must be spiritually discerned rather than through the eyes, ears, and mind.

In other words, because we have the Holy Spirit inside us, long gone are the days of casting lots, putting out fleeces, or "if circumstances do this then this is God's will", and other 'external' ways of discerning God's will - we have the Spirit Himself within us!

I distinctly remember the day I made the decision to stop putting external signs out there to the Father to determine his will: "If a skunk crosses in front of me on the way home from prayer meeting I'll know "it" (whatever I was asking him about at the time) is your will. It was the summer I graduated from high school - The decision to look to the Holy Spirit in my spirit rather than through the eye, ear, and mind-gate changed me life and I haven't looked back since.

Non-verbal; a revelation
That's why Jesus emphasized the "Spirit of Truth" in John 16:13 rather than Comforter as he did in John 14; the Holy Spirit accurately and precisely communicates what he hears. You can trust that every inflection, every tone, every bit of information, is the Truth. (There is a difference in the sound of voice between the Father, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit directly, but that will be shared in a week or two.)

Notice in this verse Jesus says the Holy Spirit also "guides" and "shows". These 3 ways; guide, speak, and show, are the main ways the Holy Spirit relays to us what the Father and Jesus are saying. Even the gifts of the Spirit fall under these categories. But notice that only 1 of the 3 is verbal.

In Luke 2:26-27 it says an old man by the name of Simeon was waiting for the Messiah. Verse 26 says: "And it was revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not die until he had seen the Lord's Christ."

"Revealed to him", means the Holy Spirit "showed" him a thing to come. Simeon didn't hear a voice, he had a revelation down inside, a knowing that he would not die until he had seen the Messiah.

This is a VERY common way the Father communicates to us. It can be as simple as knowing if you drive around the block one more time a parking space will open just where you need it, to knowing your sister is the one calling before you pick up the phone (or see the caller ID), to knowing you are supposed to stay home and hang around the house because someone's going to call that needs your help, and beyond.

What the world calls premonition or 'hunch' is the Holy Spirit communicating, or trying to communicate to usually rather dull of hearing people, what the Father is trying to do. (Yes, he reveals things to the unsaved because he loves them - he always tries to do the most good- in the hopes they will come to him)

Any non-verbal revelation like that is the Father "talking" to you in non-verbal means. A revelation is something dropped into your spirit outside of any head knowledge. The key then, is for your mind to perceive what is revealed to you, think on it, process on it, and here is the scary part, act on it. Acting on what you have revealed, what you perceive in your spirit, is faith.

Deer me!
I was leading a group of 11 to Mexico from our church in southern Colorado in 2 vans driving south through Texas. Before the trip I spread out a map and prayed as I traced the route in my mind, and when I got to the hill country of west Texas I felt a heaviness in my spirit (a revelation), so I lingered over that part of the map.

Suddenly I saw what I call a "mini-vision" in my spirit of us driving in the dark, coming around a sharp right turn to find a herd of deer in the middle of the road. Jesus had a mini-vision in John 1:47-48 where he saw Nathanael sitting under a fig tree before Philip had invited him. In that revelation he not only saw him under the tree, but his basic character was revealed to him; "Behold and Israelite in whom there is no deceit!"

A 'mini-vision' is a non-verbal revelation, a guide/show, not the Father talking - but that's what the Spirit saw in the Father so that's what and how he communicates it to us, in picture form. In Acts 1: 30-31 Peter said King David (1000 BC) saw the resurrection of Christ, meaning the Father showed him the resurrection through the Holy Spirit in a vision.

Back to the trip: So I asked the Father that no harm would come to us or the deer, angels to be sent, and told the devil he was not allowed in this situation, and that was that. Around midnight it was Jenny's turn to drive, and I told her and everyone what the Father had showed me, pinpointed the area within a 20 mile stretch of road, and warned them about coming around a sharp right turn to find a herd of deer.

With that I crawled in the very back of the mini-van, where there was enough space behind the last seat to curl up, and went to sleep. Sometime later I was jolted awake at the sound of screeching tires and a sideways skid of the van. Sure enough, it played out just as the Holy Spirit had revealed to me. Jenny had let her speed get up and had not been as alert, but the Father spared both us and several deer from harm.

In Mark 2:1-12 Jesus is sitting in a house (hey, house church) when the roof opens up and a crippled man is lowered before him. He tells the man his sins are forgiven, which sets off the religious leaders who are thinking that no one can forgive sins but God.

Verse 8 says "And immediately when Jesus perceived in his spirit that they so reasoned within themselves..."

Notice the Father didn't talk to him - he received a revelation that he perceived in his spirit. He didn't read their minds, the Holy Spirit from the Father's unlimited knowledge, revealed to Jesus what the men were thinking. His job was to perceive the revelation the Father gave.

God didn't tell you, don't add to it
Jesus didn't say "The Father told me", because he didn't. He perceived in his spirit what they were thinking.

The trouble with revelation in our spirits is that our minds grab hold of it and we often do 2 things: The first is we think in our minds how God will make it come to pass, then pin our hopes on this "word" from God that has become a mix of 1 part True revelation and 9 parts how we think it will happen, then when it doesn't happen we are mad at God or think we are the worst person in the world and wonder how we missed it.

What if old man Simeon, upon receiving the revelation that he was going to see the Messiah before he died, had added his ideas and started telling everyone he was going to see the Messiah kick the Romans out of Jerusalem because "God told me I'd see the Messiah before I die!"

Good that he didn't add to it, because what he saw was 6 week old baby Jesus. When you receive a revelation, restrain your imagination from thinking how it will happen. Just stick to the word and let it come to pass, don't try to help the Father along.

The reason we find ourselves adding our ideas to revelations from the Father is that they are so vague. The Father didn't tell Simeon what age the Messiah would be, Jesus perceived the basic thoughts of the men but didn't read their minds, and I had an idea of the area we would be in and how we'd come upon the deer, but the exact turn was not revealed.

I rebuke you....who?
The 2nd thing is we think because it is a 'bad' thing being shown to us it is the devil and we rebuke what we think is the devil but it's actually the Holy Spirit. Then after it happens it dawns on us that was God trying to warn us. Can I have a show of hands of those who have rebuked the Holy Spirit because what was being shown was a 'negative'? OK, we've all done that.

Paul however, did not. Paul was a prisoner of Rome about to be sent there by ship, but in Acts 27:10 he says "Sirs, I perceive that this voyage will be with much hurt and damage, not only to the ship and cargo, but also to our lives!" He didn't rebuke the Holy Spirit because it was a negative.

What we find in cases like this is that the Father gives us a revelation of what the devil's plan is and what will happen if nothing changes - it's an opportunity for us to intercede and ask the Father to change things!

My brother is a logger in Washington State. One day I saw a mini-vision of him in a large machine and a bunch of logs from above come rolling down the hill, crushing him in the machine. I thanked the Father for showing me that, rebuked the devil, asked the Father to spare my brother, send angels, do whatever he had to do. About a week later my brother and I were talking and I asked him about the situation, describing it as I had seen it, and he replied that it happened exactly like that, only he saw it out of the corner of his eye at the last second and jumped out of his cab before the logs crushed the machine.

Here is a key: When the Father reveals a negative by the Spirit, peace will accompany it. When it's the devil showing you an imagination of evil, fear accompanies it.

Paul had the revelation from the Father their lives were in danger, but being a prisoner, no one paid attention to him. It wasn't until verse 21, after many days of being tossed about in a storm, Paul gets in his "I told you so". Verses 22-26, 31 relate that an angel appeared to Paul and told him the Father had spared their lives, but they would lose the ship and cargo, that they would be shipwrecked on an island, and when the ship started breaking up all were to stay on board until the last minute.

How wonderful the Holy Spirit is searching the deep things of the Father to see what he has prepared for us!
Stop looking for the verbal, and instead listen for a 'witness', 'revelation', or lightness or heaviness in your spirit - look for peace in your spirit too, for that is the Father's "all clear" for us.

Next week I'll share when the Holy Spirit does speak.

Some thoughts today,
Blessings,
John Fenn
www.iFaithhome.org