Good evening and welcome back to our continuing discussion on the special subject of how believers can get the most out of living life under the New Covenant. According to the Word of God, the New Covenant is an EVERLASTING agreement (Genesis 17:7, Galatians 3:29). It's everlasting because the two parties to it are the Father and the Son and neither party will ever break it. Indeed, the past covenants with God have always been broken by people whenever we were the party of the second part. But this New Covenant can be EVERLASTING because Jesus now represents the second part on our behalf and made it possible for us to share in the benefits of the agreement simply by faith in Him. It's not possible for people to ever nullify this covenant so we don't ever have to worry about its future: it has ALREADY been set in stone!

 

In last week's article I introduced the subject of the role of the Holy Spirit in the life of the New Covenant believer. The Holy Spirit as the third member of the Godhead has been on the earth since the beginning (Genesis 1:2) and has interacted with various people down through the covenants that existed before the New Covenant. In one of His more extensive manifestations back then, the Holy Spirit led the people of Israel through the wilderness, after they departed from Egypt, as a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night (Exodus 13:21) and in doing that He established that one of His key roles on the earth is to lead believers into the plans and purposes of God.

 

In the New Covenant your Bible says that the Holy Spirit actually "resides" now WITHIN each Christian believer (1 Corinthians 3:16, 6:19). Living WITHIN believers is about as close as we can get to Him and He's in there so that in addition to being a TEACHER and COMFORTER and REMINDER (John 14:16, 26), He can also be the ultimate LEADER, an internal compass and source of direction. Indeed, the Bible establishes that the sons of God ARE being led by the Spirit of God in order to help us live by the Spirit instead of according to the flesh and to VERIFY that along with Christ we are God's children and heirs (Romans 8:13-17). Once we know that, an important question is likely to follow: how does the Holy Spirit actually DO all His leading?

 

 

A majority of current-day Christians would answer that question by saying that the He LEADS by "allowing" negative circumstances and trials and tribulations and problems and crises and sicknesses and diseases and the deaths of loved ones and other terrible things from the Curse (Deuteronomy 28:15-63) to come into our lives to get our attention and make us move in the directions He prefers. Really? Is it plausible to you that the Holy Spirit who IS LOVE (1 John 4:8) would need the CURSE of the LAW that Jesus ALREADY fulfilled and paid for with His life, and that we've ALREADY been redeemed from (Galatians 3:13), in order to be an effective LEADER and TEACHER? Friend, that idea comes from a RELIGIOUS Old Testament mentality and one of the consequences of not separating from the LAW once we become believers is that we inadvertently connect ourselves back to the Curse in our thinking.

 

The correct answer to the question is that the Holy Spirit leads believers by SPEAKING to us. He's ALWAYS been a Speaking Spirit so why would He need to resort to the Curse, which came because of sin, for dealing with believers under the New Covenant where sins are no longer being imputed (2 Corinthians 5:19, Romans 5:13)? He created the earth and the universe by speaking creation into existence, He spoke to all the patriarchs and to the Israelites, He initiated the coming of Messiah by speaking to and through the Prophets, He spoke to the Apostles and first century Christian believers under the New Covenant from His new temple within them, and He's is still speaking to lead and to teach current-day believers with His spoken WORD which is the most powerful FORCE in creation. The Holy Spirit is SPEAKING direction to us and He doesn't need the Curse that Jesus ALREADY took care of. Among other things, He's SPEAKING warnings to us to avoid all those negative situations, He's SPEAKING encouragement to us for facing those circumstances in faith after we didn't hear His warnings, and He's SPEAKING empowerment (GRACE) for us to overcome every trial after we're having to deal with them. The problem is: most of us seem to be very HARD OF HEARING.

 

Some Christians believe that the Holy Spirit stopped speaking to folks when the written New Testament came into existence. If that were true it would be the first time in eternity that God, a speaking Spirit has ever stopped speaking. And, it would have happened more 1,300 years BEFORE the printing press was invented. Does anybody out there have a date or any Bible verse to confirm when He stopped speaking? In any event, the written Word is handy for teaching and for learning if believers will take the time to do their homework. But the way I see it, the Holy Spirit has always been speaking to us on a direct and personal level 24/7 and those who have ears to hear ARE able to hear Him. I know this to be true because the Word of God says so and because I have personally heard Him speaking many, many times.

 

 

I'm persuaded by unscientific but persistent observation that most professing Christians have rarely if ever "heard" the Holy Spirit speaking to them. They may "pray" TO Him frequently but they don't HEAR any speaking coming back. They see results manifesting in the natural from time-to-time in answer to their prayers, but they don't HEAR anybody speaking. And yet the Bible says that the sons of God are to be led by the Holy Spirit who is by definition and historical affirmation a speaking Spirit. Indeed, God IS the WORD (John 1:1) which is the body of all TRUTH that God has SPOKEN. In sum, it's intended that a significant part of New Covenant life be involved in HEARING from the Holy Spirit so we can be properly led to do the will of God.

 

I remember being a new Christian and wondering why I wasn't able to hear God speaking to me when the Pastor of the church I was attending said He heard from the Holy Spirit on a regular basis. I really did want to hear from God and I suppose that other Christians have the same desire unless tradition and religion have brought them to the conclusion that the Holy Spirit doesn't speak anymore. But He is speaking to every single believer all the time and fortunately I was able to take course during the first year of my walk with Christ where I learned a few key principles about prayer and hearing from God that I would like to share with you tonight. I hope you find them useful:

 

* In general, the Holy Spirit doesn't speak to believers in an audible voice. Rather, the believer senses a series of spontaneous thoughts that seem to come from an outside source. Those thoughts will ALWAYS line up perfectly with the written Word and will never be negative, accusatory, threatening or condemning. They will often involve WISDOM you hadn't considered before. Once you have tested those thoughts against the Word and have verified that they have come from the Holy Spirit, it's paramount as a next step that you release your faith over what you believe you have heard and act on it as soon as you can.

 

* Secondly, I can tell you from experience that one of the most important requirements for "hearing" from God is that you find a quiet place and make time available where you can meditate on the things of God. And, you need to do this as often as possible. I've found that it's a good practice to start by devoting some time to music and praise followed by a time of putting my eyes on the written Word for a while. Then I'm ready by a quiet time of speaking to God and patiently LISTENING for His reply. Most Christians think that PRAYER is about speaking a list of petitions TO Him and then going on about their business hoping impatiently that He will eventually give them what they asked for. But bible-based prayer is a two-way exercise, a conversation between a Father and His child that develops over time into an intimate relationship. The Holy Spirit has much to tell us but we have to value what He has to say above the time we will need to invest to "hear" what He has to say.

 

* Another thing to consider is that Jesus said He never did anything that He hadn't seen the Father doing. How did He do that? Yes, Jesus is the Son of God but when He was on the earth, He was subject to human abilities and limitations. So, I submit for your consideration tonight that what He did was to fix His "eyes" on the Father by FAITH, using His God-given "mind's eye" to see what the Father was doing. We can do the same thing by fixing our eyes on Jesus (Hebrews 12:2) and asking Him to help us "see" by FAITH what the Holy Spirit has for us to learn.

 

* Finally, I have found that writing down both my prayers and the answers I hear back has helped me develop a stronger prayer life than would have otherwise happened. The fact is I have been writing down my prayers in detail for more than 30 years and I know that it works. I still have all my journals and can look back on things He told me decades ago. And the truth is over the years I have heard words of knowledge, prophetic words and many words of encouragement and direction on those occasions when I took the time to wait until I had sharpened my hearing enough to perceive what He had to say.

 

 

Being led by the Holy Spirit is supposed to be a vital part of New Testament life. Unfortunately, it's precisely that area of our Christian walk where the Body of Christ probably falls the farthest short of where we ought to be. Instead of being led by the Holy Spirit most of us are IGNORING Him most of the time because we're really, really busy with all our little petty priorities. And, the Church has really, really LOST the vision for the person of the Holy Spirit and how He wants to interact in the lives of believers. For those reasons, I am going to write a few more articles about Him as the Lord leads and I hope that you'll get something helpful to chew on. The New Testament is full of information about the Holy Spirit but for various reasons many of our churches shy away from teaching it which is why we have to dig it out for ourselves. I hope these articles will inspire you to expand your personal pursuit of direction and validation that can only come from the Holy Spirit.

 

Thanks for joining our discussion tonight. We'll be looking for you again NEXT Sunday night on February 7. In the meantime may the Lord bless you with every spiritual blessing (Ephesians 1:3), pushing you to VICTORY in every area of life!

 

 

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If you've never invited Jesus to be your Lord, you can do so today by believing and saying out loud the following simple prayer:

 

 

If you were sincere as you prayed, God has already come into your life and you're a new creation, a totally new species recreated in His image. Now ask the Lord to lead you to a good faith-based, bible-teaching church where you can be equipped to fulfill your potential in the Kingdom of God.

 

When you get a moment have someone help you look up the following scriptures because they confirm what you've done by saying this prayer and believing what you said:

 

 

 

If you have a Prayer Request, please connect to the Link below and follow the promptings. The PLN staff members pray over Prayer Requests every Tuesday morning at 10:00 AM central time. Agree with us for God to answer your petitions.