 I can't tell you how many times I asked, is this the Holy Spirit or is this just me? That's a difficult thing to discern. You know what the Bible says in Hebrews chapter four, verse 12, for the word of God is alive and powerful. It is sharper than the sharpest two-edged sword. Watch this now. Cutting between soul and spirit. Between joint and marrow. It exposes our innermost thoughts and intents. So how can you tell between your emotions, which is soul, your mind, which is soul, your intellect, which is soul, your preferences, which are of the soul? How can you tell between the soul and the spirit? Well, the word tells us. The Scripture says that the word divides clearly between soul and spirit. But you know, there was a season in my life where everything I did was out of legalism. It got so bad that I would open my closet and I would go to pick a shirt. And then just for a split second, I would wonder, maybe I should wear that one. And I would stand there filled with guilt, frustration, torment, saying, Holy Spirit, I don't want to miss you. I don't want to miss you. I don't want to miss you. I don't want to miss you. I don't want to miss you. I would be with my friends and I would feel I need to go read my Bible right now. I have to go read my Bible right now. I can't be sitting here with people even in church. I can't, I can't be sitting here listening to a man of God preach. Powerful man of God told me the Holy Spirit will not interrupt himself. But I would go and I'd have to read and then I wouldn't feel free from that guilt until I read at least 40 chapters. Because oh, I'm walking in the Spirit. No, I wasn't religion. That becomes tormenting. That becomes affliction. That becomes bondage really. That becomes a bondage in your life. Constantly second guessing every little move you make. The good news is that the Holy Spirit can work through these minor issues that we may think we have. So I used to torment myself thinking I was hearing the voice of the Holy Spirit and I wasn't. I can't tell you how many times I've sat across from men and women of God who felt God was calling them to do something only later to find he was not. Or people who get a different calling from God every other week. This week God called me to be evangelist. The next week, well, I'm going to do food distribution. The next week I'm going to start an orphanage and the next week now I'm a prophet. God does not change his mind so easily. God is not going in heaven. Okay, this week you're an evangelist and this week you're a prophet. Next week we'll see. Maybe we'll put you on the worship team. But people become tormented by these things. Restless even. You know why you're restless? You know why you're tormented? Because you're relying on your ability to hear the Holy Spirit rather than the Holy Spirit's ability to speak to you. You're trying to do it in your own strength and it's religion. So understanding how the Holy Spirit speaks is the crucial key to true discernment. Otherwise, you're going to go with what you want. You're going to go with your preferences. You're going to go with what you've always been taught. And you're going to say that's the leading of the Holy Spirit. And then you're going to double down on that. And then you're going to be stuck in the bondage of deception because it's easier to fool someone than it is to convince them that they've been fooled. So how does the Holy Spirit speak? Number one is the word. Second Timothy chapter 3 verse 16 through 17. All Scripture. All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right. God uses it to prepare and equip his people to do every good work. So it guides us in the way and also tells us what is not the way. That's two folds. You want a word from God? Open your Bible. You want sharper discernment? Open your Bible. You want to experience the glory? Open your Bible. The word is the key. If you're serious about hearing the voice of the Holy Spirit, you'll be serious about reading the Bible. Now the Bible, the word, is the most clear way the Holy Spirit will speak. It is the more sure word of prophecy. The word of God is the most accurate most reliable way to hear the voice of the Holy Spirit. You start there. The problem is that people want to start with other things. They want to hear God through dreams before they hear him in the Word. They want to hear God through prophecy before they hear him in the Word. They want to hear God whisper to their heart before they hear him in the Word. The problem is if you start with your heart, you will be in error. That's why you have to start with the Word. So you begin in the Word. That is the primary way the Holy Spirit speaks. The second way the Holy Spirit speaks is through wisdom. This inner guiding, this inner pool that comes, the Word strengthens you in wisdom and wisdom helps you to navigate day-to-day operations of your life. In your marriage with your children on the job. In your business, in your school. If you lack the Word, you will lack wisdom. If your life is rooted on the Word, wisdom will follow. I don't wake up every morning and have the Holy Spirit speak specifically everything I'm going to do that day. When I go into a board meeting with ministry board members, when I'm meeting with the television team, when I'm meeting with the worship team, when I'm meeting with the finance, whoever I'm meeting with, it doesn't matter. It's the wisdom of the Spirit. I don't stop the board meeting and say, let's sit here for an hour till the Holy Spirit whispers directly to my heart about every decision. You know, nothing would ever get done. Nothing would ever get done if you were constantly waiting for that very specific clear instruction from the Holy Spirit on everything. I'm going to talk about that in a moment. But you must understand that first the Holy Spirit speaks to the Word and then He guides your life through wisdom. You will have this inner knowing. It won't be that clear sentence from the Holy Spirit. He's not going to speak actual words to you. There will just be this knowing, this guiding that comes from wisdom. James 1.5 says, If you need wisdom, ask our generous God and He will give it to you. He will not rebuke you for asking. After the Word, wisdom is the most reliable means by which God speaks. Think of Solomon. Think of how the Scripture says that wisdom cryeth. It's not so much a sentence spoken as it is a sense felt. We wait for those specific sentences whispered to our heart. And because of that, we get stuck or we get caught up in legalism. What jacket is the Holy Spirit going to tell me to wear? What car should I buy Holy Spirit? Which apartment should I live in Holy Spirit? That can become tormenting because if you miss it and you think that missing those details completely derails the call of God. Well, guess what? You're eventually going to derail the entire call of God if that's how you see it. Because who among us is perfect enough to get it every single time like that? And if we do get it every single time, it's because we took really, really, really long to hear it. Nothing would ever get done. No ministry would ever grow. You would never advance in your walk with God. You would be stuck waiting for every single move. Know the word. Please hear me if I say it once. I'll say it a thousand more times. The word, the word, the word. After the word comes wisdom. Wisdom is not as reliable as the word. But it's still more reliable than number three, the whisper. So first he speaks to the word. Then he'll speak through wisdom. And number three, he'll speak through the whisper. Now this one is difficult to navigate because this is the means that the Holy Spirit speaks that is interfered by your emotions and your own thoughts. Your emotions will interfere with your thoughts. Your emotions will interfere with the whisper. How you're feeling that day will interfere with the whisper. The whisper now is that specific instruction. And I've received those specific instructions. When Jess and I first got married, we had a discussion about a particular issue. It was nothing major. You know, when you get married, you start to learn each other's flow in life. And we were just starting to learn about her schedule, my schedule, her routine, my routine, and making those one. So we had this discussion and I didn't think anything of it. I left the conversation. You know, sometimes we're a little clueless. We husbands, I left the conversation thinking, okay, it's fixed now. We're good. We fixed the issue. Boy, did I lack wisdom. I thought, okay, I solved it. You know, I did it like one, two, three intellectually. Okay, if this then that, okay, we solved it, we're done. And you know, I went on with my day. I'm praying, but I'm just feeling this like disruption. You know, husbands are the ones that scripture describes as having their prayers interrupted if there's an issue with the wife. God doesn't put that on the wife though. It's the husbands whose prayers are interrupted. That's what the Bible says. And so I'm trying to pray and I just can't find, I'm like, what is going on Lord? And then the Holy Spirit varies specifically. Not the word, because mine and Jess's discussion is not in the Bible. Not wisdom, because it's not something you would necessarily know right off the bat. But a specific whisper to my heart, the Holy Spirit said to me, do you remember that conversation you had with your wife yesterday? I said, yes. The Holy Spirit said, you hurt her feelings. And I'm trying to think how you know how we are. Scratch my head. I'm going through it. I couldn't even place it. And the Holy Spirit just said it was very just, not personal, not just very technical. Like I'm very robotic with those things. And so I went to Jessica. I said, Jess, about the conversation we had yesterday, were your feelings hurt? And she said, yes, I was a little bothered with that. And I said, I apologize. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to come across that way. I'll work on that. She told me when we got married, she says, you're like a robot and I'm teaching you to love. And so I apologize. And she says, you know, it's funny. I didn't want to nag you about that. I didn't want to throw it in your face. She said, so I just went and talked to God about it. She said, I told him, he told you, and now you're apologizing to me. That is the whisper. That's the whisper. So there are those who say, if the Bible says it, we don't need it spoken to our hearts. And if the Bible doesn't say it, then it shouldn't be spoken to our hearts. And I understand that logic. The problem is it doesn't take into account the specific instructions that we need from the Holy Spirit. Day to day living. And I'm not talking about what color jacket you choose to wear that day. I'm talking about very specific instructions from the Holy Spirit that matter. And that he's actually speaking to you. That comes through the whisper. So the word is your foundation. Wisdom is the secondary way you hear and discern the Holy Spirit. And third is the whisper. That's the specific instruction to your life. Now, if you try to reverse that, and you try to live by the whisper, you're going to end up in legalism and confusion and mental anguish. I promise you. This is why you have to primarily be guided by the word, fundamentally be guided by the word, and superficially guided by the whisper. Number four, the Holy Spirit speaks through wonders, prophets, visions, dreams, miracles, signs. But first the word. of the Holy Spirit. 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