 The revelation you're about to receive will help you to draw closer to the person of the Holy Spirit. I want to show you how to discern the difference between the voice of the Holy Spirit and your own thoughts and emotions. If you're like me, then there have been times in your life where you wonder, is this just my emotion? Is this just my thought? Or is this the instruction of the Holy Spirit? And in fact, many believers get stuck in what I call religious OCD. I'm not poking fun at that syndrome. I'm actually using it as an analogy because it works just the same where you become obsessed compulsively with certain thoughts that come through your mind and it could be almost tormenting. Where you're giving yourself thoughts, you're telling yourself to do things or to not do things and you get stuck in this cycle of wondering, is this just me or is this the Holy Spirit? And there's this pressure, there's this pressing, there's this urgency, there's this tension that you can't quite overcome. On one hand, you don't want to ignore the voice of the Holy Spirit. On the other hand, you don't want to get stuck in doing things that he's not instructing you to do. So it creates, again, this tension in your spiritual life. So I want to show you how to discern between the voice of the Holy Spirit and the voice of the flesh. Now this is very important that you hear this. You will notice that as you're listening to this message that your flesh will want to pull away possibly for something more entertaining. Remember, the flesh seeks entertainment. The flesh seeks distraction. The flesh wants to have a busy mind so that it doesn't have to face the Spirit. And so you need to make sure that you're making a commitment to say no to the flesh and yes to the Spirit. Don't miss this revelation. Don't miss the truths of Scripture just because something distracting or entertaining comes before you. I'm not here to entertain you. I'm here to edify you and to give you the truth and to help you grow spiritually. So make that commitment now to say no to the flesh. Resist that pool to do something else, to listen to something else, to go for something entertaining or distracting. And make the commitment to say yes to the Spirit that you might receive this revelation, which I believe, as I said at the beginning, will help you to draw closer to the person of the Holy Spirit. Let's start here. John 3. I'm going to begin at verse number 5. Jesus replied, I assure you, no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and the Spirit. Humans can reproduce only human life, but the Holy Spirit gives birth to spiritual life. So don't be surprised when I say you must be born again. The wind blows wherever it wants just as you can hear the wind, but can't tell where it comes from or where it is going. So you can't explain how people are born of the Spirit. Here, Jesus is talking about being born again. Remember this, hearing the voice of the Holy Spirit is not a skill to be acquired. It's a sense to be sharpened. When you were born, you were born, if you were born perfectly healthy, you were born hearing and you were born seeing. You were born with those senses. You did not have to be taught to see. You did not have to be taught to hear. You did have to be taught to pay attention, to listen closely, to observe. You had to be taught to make use of those senses, but you couldn't be taught how to have those senses. You were just born with them in the same way. You are born again of the Spirit. It's the new life now. You are born again of the Spirit with the ability to hear the Holy Spirit. You were born again with the ability to see in the Spirit. Well, that's just the truth of the matter. When you were born of the Spirit, all of the spiritual senses came with it. So I'm not here to teach you how to gain spiritual hearing. Jesus said, my sheep hear my voice. If you belong to Him, you can hear the Holy Spirit. So rather what I want to help you to do is to discern what you are hearing. Now, it's at this point that I have to make sure that you understand I'm not going to be giving you detailed descriptions based upon personal experience. Now, if you have personal experiences with hearing the voice of God, like for example, I heard the audible voice of God when I was seven years old, and he spoke very firmly. There was a masculine tone to his voice. There was a peace-giving attribute to his voice, and that's the way I describe it. But the problem is, if I'm just describing to you from my personal experience, then you might go superimposing my experience on your own thoughts and therefore just be just as confused. For example, sometimes people will say, well, the voice of God sounds like many waters. That's biblical. But that doesn't mean that if there's a voice in your head that sounds like many waters, that it's always God. In fact, you, using your own thoughts, can possibly produce that effect on the voice. And you also see in Scripture that the voice of God is still and small. But this doesn't mean that God doesn't ever speak firmly to us. Sometimes when he corrects us and rebukes us, it doesn't sound so still and small. It sounds big and booming and sometimes a little bit intimidating. So rather than give you very specific what I want to call natural descriptions, I want to show you from Scripture biblical principles that will help you to discern the voice for yourself. Like, for example, if you're a regular listener to this ministry, then you recognize my voice, even if you hear it in just audio form. You don't have to see me on the screen. We're together often enough to where you go, oh, that's David. Okay. So you know my voice. Think about the voice of your spouse or the voice of your children. Now, if I were to ask you, what is the voice of your child sound like? Or what does the voice of your spouse sound like? Or what does the voice of your friend or your parents sound like? You would give me certain descriptions. Perhaps maybe you could describe your wife's voice as soft and monotone. Or perhaps you can describe your husband's voice as strong and masculine. Maybe you can describe your child's voice as small and, you know, adorable, however you want to put it. But even if you give me those descriptions, I wouldn't be able to pick their voice out of a crowd of people talking. I wouldn't be able to listen just based upon your descriptions alone and successfully identify their voice among many other voices. You could pick their voice out of a crowd, but the person that you gave those descriptions to couldn't pick their voices out of those crowds based upon your descriptions alone. So in the same way, you can't explain sight to someone born blind. You can't explain hearing to someone born deaf. You cannot explain the voice of God to someone who doesn't know him. These things are of the spirit. So again, giving you detailed natural explanations like masculine or strong or smooth and steel or like many waters. These descriptions are helpful when we tell stories of our experiences with God. Sure. But in terms of serving as a principled foundation around which everyone can build their understanding of the voice of God, they just don't really serve that purpose because unless they've heard his voice for themselves, those descriptions alone will not do well in helping them to identify his voice. Instead, we look to scripture to give us biblical principles. So number one, God's voice is stable and consistent. Your voice is inconsistent. Why? The Bible says in Isaiah chapter 40 verse 8, the grass withers and the flowers fade, but the word of our God stands forever. In other words, there's a consistency to the way he speaks. God will never say one thing and then speak another thing to contradict that. Now I'm going to cover that again in my third point when I talk about the word of God. But for now, I just want to talk about the consistent nature of his voice. The scripture asks, is the spirit of God straightened? In other words, can you get him to change what he said? Can you get him to change his mind? Can you bend him to your will? No. So when God speaks, there's a consistency to his voice. There's a constant stability. Now, when you and I have our thoughts and emotions flowing through us, well, now we're all over the place. On some days we're up, on other days we're down, on some days we're focused, other days we're distracted. So when it's your own voice, it's going to tell you many different things and it will often contradict itself because your moods will contradict itself. Your moods will contradict moods and how you feel one day will contradict how you feel another day. So God's voice will be stable and consistent. Your voice is inconsistent. I think about many who've come to me with ministry ideas and on Monday they say they're called to be an apostle. On Tuesday they're called to be a prophet. On Wednesday they're called to start an orphanage. On Thursday they're called to start a church. On Friday they're called to start a podcast. On Saturday God tells them to write a book. On Sunday God tells them actually don't write that book after all because I changed my mind and I was just testing you and I think, wow, God sure does change his mind quite often, at least according to some. So when you follow after your own ways, you're double-minded, you're unstable, constantly shifting, there's no focus, there's no momentum, there's no stability. Conversely, when you follow the voice of the Holy Spirit, there's a great foundation upon which you can build your spiritual life. There's a clear direction, there's a path forward that's made very plain to you. I trust not in my ability to hear the Holy Spirit. I trust in his ability to communicate to me. God can do anything. So of course you'll be able to clearly communicate to me and I simply have to listen for that instruction. So that's number one, God's voice is stable and consistent, your voice is inconsistent. Number two, God's voice guides, your voice pushes. Now I have to give you a caveat here and explain that sometimes God does speak with urgency. Like there are some exceptions to this and I'm giving you a generalization, a principle which is a generalization. There are some exceptions to this. Like if you're in immediate danger, for example, I was driving my car home one time, I was coming back late from having preached, and the Holy Spirit like a shout within my spirit, stop your car. And of course there was a stop sign, but like in other words, stay here. That's how I interpreted that, but stop, stop. Like I heard those words very urgently. So I stop at the stop sign and the Holy Spirit says, stop, don't go. And I stop and I'm thinking, okay, well, why did he tell me to stop? And this car that didn't have its headlights on ran the stop sign at a high speed. And had I not listened to that voice or the Holy Spirit not spoken to me urgently, I would have been in an accident. I don't know if I would have been killed or seriously injured or just in convenience, but either way, the Holy Spirit prevented me from being harmed physically. And that's an example of him speaking with a sense of urgency. So if there's danger, he'll speak with urgency. If you're in sin, there's going to be a very weighty quality to his voice. The Psalmist wrote, your hand weighed heavily upon me, like my strength evaporated. And you know, if you're living in sin or compromising, that the Holy Spirit will make you quite miserable in your sin. So sin and conviction, obviously he pushes you toward repentance and then timely actions. Like if the Holy Spirit needs you to do something immediately, there'll be a sense of urgency to that. So keeping those exceptions in mind, danger, immediate danger, sin and compromise, and some timely actions that you may need to take, keeping those exceptions in mind, we apply the general principle that God's voice guides your voice pushes. Psalm 23.2 He lets me rest in green meadows. He leads me beside peaceful streams. Well, that's what he does. He leads. He doesn't force. He guides. He doesn't push. The devil, generally speaking, again, these are generalizations. The devil pushes. The flesh pushes. Holy Spirit guides. Sure, he's firm. Sure, he's stable. Sure, he's persistent, but he is not pushing. And there's a difference. Persistence is consistency. So he'll consistently speak on something. But pushiness is a fear-based, impulsive way of speaking. And the Holy Spirit doesn't speak impulsively. In fact, you can tell what Spirit is guiding your life by whether or not you're always wrapped up in some tense emotion. Like for example, if you hear preaching and teaching or read a book or watch a video or watch or listen to some old classic sermon, it doesn't matter. You have to discern based upon the word. So there have been times when I've listened to a sermon or read a book or listened to preaching or heard someone say something, joined in a conversation. We're hearing these people speak about Scripture or the things of God, agitated my spirit. Like it created this tension, this angst. And again, this is generally speaking. If you're just always amped up and just fidgety and I'm talking about in the spirit, not just in the physical realm. These are spiritual matters I'm talking about. That angst, that urgency, that sense of paranoia, that's not God. Those who are led by the Spirit have a stability to them. Those who are led by the Holy Spirit have a calm confidence. We see in Scripture that Jesus fled. Jesus taught. Jesus ate. Jesus wept. Jesus walked. But we never saw that Jesus ran. And Jesus never ran because Jesus was never late. He walked in the perfect timing of God. There was a calm to him, a peace. And I'm not just talking about personality. Because there are some people with personalities that are, you know, pretty out there and that's perfectly fine. I'm not talking about personality. I'm talking about the Spirit. I'm talking about a confidence. I'm talking about a stability. Even I sometimes can get, my team tells me all the time, you're very dramatic, even especially when I preach. There's a very, there's a dramatic tone to the way I preach. And I just embrace that as a part of who I am. But in my spirit, there's a confidence, calm, collected. So God's voice guides you, but the enemy and your own voice push you, push you, push you. And many believers get stuck there. You might be stuck there now to where you're constantly feeling this pressure, this angst, this paranoia, this fear. That's not of God. Number three, God's voice will always align with his word. Your voice will sometimes contradict his word. Numbers chapter 23, verse 19 says, God is not a man, so he does not lie. He is not human, so he does not change his mind. He has, has he ever spoken and failed to act? That's a rhetorical question. Has he ever promised and not carried it through his words and his actions aligned? His words and his instructions aligned. Always. When you look to the word, you see the baseline for hearing the voice of the Holy Spirit. He will never speak against his word ever. And if you're hearing an instruction that contradicts a clear teaching of Scripture, that's either your flesh or a demon. And it's not the voice of the Holy Spirit. God will not have you contradict his word to test you. God will not have you contradict his word to see if you're obedient to his voice. God would never speak in a manner that contradicts his word. So in fact, you want to be familiar with the voice of God. If you're serious about becoming discerning when it comes to the difference between your voice and the Holy Spirit's voice, your thoughts, your emotions, and the Holy Spirit's instructions, then you will become serious about getting into the word. You want to know his voice, then know his word. That's where it begins. My friend, I've seen so many different believers come through life, come through my life. I've been in church since I was born. I'm a fourth generation Christian, third generation preacher. I'm not saying that to brag. I just want to give you my perspective on this. And I've seen many people come and many people go. I've seen many ministries rise like a shooting star and then fizzle. I've seen people who remain faithful. I've seen people come into the church and leave. I've seen the revolving door that is sometimes the church. And when people leave the safety of the word, please hear me now, people of God. My goodness, I pray if you hear anything I say that you hear this. When you leave the safety of his word, you're in danger. When you leave the safety of his word, you're in danger. If you have to question the clear teachings of Scripture to make your opinions more palatable, if you have to bend the teachings of Scripture, the clear foundational truths to make yourself more comfortable in your opinion, you're in danger because then it's not God you trust, it's yourself. And this is why I tell believers all the time, you have to interpret your life experiences and even your spiritual encounters through the lens of the word and not the other way around. Many believers want to live from the place of experience. And I'll be covering more of this in a moment because the second half of this lesson, I'm going to show you how to sharpen that spiritual sense because it's not a skill to be acquired, it's a sense to be sharpened, as I said at the beginning. So I'm going to cover more of this, but it also goes with this point too. You see, you leave that foundation and then you start endangering your soul. I've seen pastors, ministers, evangelists, I've seen them all come and go. People of God, I've seen them all come and go. The ones who remain faithful, the ones who God continues to use, the ones who keep the favor of God, who keep the influence, who keep their positions in ministry are the ones who commit to the word and correct themselves according to the word. Here's a hint, if you have to start changing foundational teachings of Scripture to accommodate your opinion or even question them, you have to start changing words. You have to start shifting definitions. God doesn't change words and definitions because the Holy Spirit inspired the word. That's what the devil does. The devil got Eve to give into temptation. How? First, he questioned the word and then he contradicted it. The moment you begin to question the word, you are just about to cross that line into contradicting it. Different message for a different time in terms of questioning than contradicting, but we will cover this point again in the second half of this lesson. So God's voice will always align with this word. Sometimes your voice will contradict the word. You know why? Because we're not perfect. We are works in progress. We're undergoing the process of sanctification. We are cooperating with the Holy Spirit in becoming more like Jesus. And so in this process, you'll begin to learn. There are some things you believe about yourself, about God, about the world, about sin, about anything, really. You will find those beliefs often contradict the word of God. And as you become familiar with the word, you begin to recognize, oh, I missed that one. Oh, that one wasn't correct. Oh, that probably should go. And that's what you have to do in order to hear that voice. But God's voice, remember this, will always align with his word. Always, always, always. Number four, God's voice speaks from the place of peace. Your thoughts and your emotions can speak from the place of fear and anxiety. Now, let me explain this. The conviction of the Holy Spirit is not a pleasant feeling. And there are examples in Scripture where God will tell someone something and it doesn't produce only the sense of peace. Sometimes when God would send a messenger, an angel, the people would become afraid. Think about Abraham when God gave him that nightmare. A great darkness, a great dread fell over him when he began to recognize the faith of his people. He recognized, he saw prophetically Israel going into slavery. And so, obviously, that revelation from God produced this burden. And so, you'll hear the cliche often, well, you know it's the Holy Spirit speaking when you feel nothing but peace. Well, that's true in a sense. But I don't want us to get this mixed up. Yes, when the Holy Spirit speaks, at the core of who you are, there will be peace. In the core being, the innermost being in your spirit, you will sense a peace, a stable peace. But that doesn't mean you won't experience negative emotions when God speaks. I know this is not popular to say, but it's the truth. Well, how many of us feel good when God corrects us? How many of us feel good when God humbles us? I mean, the Bible says that that correction doesn't feel good in the moment, but God corrects those whom he loves. So what happens when God speaks correction? It's not going to feel very good. Listen, I've been rebuked by my spiritual fathers before. It doesn't feel very good. I've had to correct many different things in my life and ministry. And that correction is painful. Your ego takes a hit. Your pride takes a hit. Your emotions are deflated. You feel like you've just been, you feel like you've just been defeated. But even in that humility, there comes good fruit. So not always when God speaks, do you have nothing but good emotions, but in the spirit, you will have peace. So yes, it's true that when the Holy Spirit speaks, you will have peace. But that doesn't mean that you won't experience negative emotions when God communicates a reality. Like, for example, I'm just going to, I'll just be blunt with you. There are, there are certain times when the Holy Spirit has revealed to me certain things about men and women of God who I love and honor. And it hurts. And the Holy Spirit doesn't reveal those things to me so that I can get on this live stream and blast it out. No, the Holy Spirit reveals those things to me so that I can lovingly, compassionately and fervently intercede for my brothers and sisters that they might, you know, experience breakthrough in certain areas. But it's not a very pleasant sense when the Holy Spirit speaks to me about certain individuals that I need to pray for. Sometimes he reveals things and I don't like what I see. And many of you who discern the voice of the Holy Spirit, you know what I'm talking about. You will see things in people and there's just this, this, this brokenness, this burden. Your heart is filled with this godly sorrow. And you just can't break that emotion, but deep down there's peace. So yes, God's voice speaks from the place of peace. That means foundationally you will experience the peace, but that does not mean that you won't experience negative emotions in the outer shells of who you are. First, John 4, 18, such love has no fear because perfect love expels all fear. If we are afraid, it is for fear of punishment. And this shows that we have not fully experienced this perfect love. So the presence of fear is evidence of the absence of the receiving of love fully. Fear is the lack, the absence of love. That's where it comes from. There's no security. There's no safety net. But when you are secure in God's love, fear is completely eliminated. So God speaks from the place of peace. God speaks from the place of perfect peace, peace of mind, peace in your soul, peace in who you are at the core of your being. But again, you can still experience some negative emotions. God may say, Hey, I've called you. I want you to preach. Now, in your spirit, there's peace, but in your emotions, you may feel a little nervous. I don't know how this is going to all work. Is this actually going to work? Am I the right one for the job? I mean, look at what happened when God called Moses. He couldn't believe that God was calling him. Think about the many encounters. Isaiah chapter 6, he became filled with dread when God began to speak to him. But deep in the core, there will always be peace. So God's voice speaks from peace. Your thoughts can speak from fear and anxiety. So whenever you hear a thought, whenever you feel an emotion, whenever a message comes to you, ask yourself, yes, I may be feeling some negative emotions around this message, but deep down, what am I sensing? Is there peace? Then that's when it's the Lord in most cases. Number five, God's voice affirms your identity. Your voice questions it. You know, there's an identity crisis in our culture today. And you may say, well, Brother David, I agree, but I'm not talking about what you might be thinking I'm talking about. Yes, obviously the world, the secular world is experiencing an identity crisis. People don't know who they are. People don't know who God created them to be. The scripture is quite clear that God created male and female, but there's confusion around even that for some reason. Bible's clear. Male, female, that's who God created. And so yes, the world is confused about their identity. Yes, they are having an identity crisis. But you know, the church has identity crisis too. Born again believers who don't recognize the power that's in them. Born again believers who don't realize that the light of the Holy Spirit's presence dwells in them, that God is covering them, that they stand firm in the righteousness that Christ imputed to them because of his sacrifice. They don't recognize that they stand in forgiveness. They stand in justification. They stand in the redemptive work of Christ himself. And they begin to question who they are. They begin to question if they belong to God. They begin to question if they're loved. Well, isn't that what the devil does? Questions that when he tempted the Lord Jesus or attempted to tempt the Lord Jesus, what did he say? Matthew 4, if you are the Son of God, deception begins with the questioning of identity. And so the Bible says in Romans chapter 8 verses 15 and 16, so you have not received a spirit that makes you fearful slaves. Instead, you received God's spirit. When he adopted you as his own children, now we call him Abba Father. For his spirit, I love this. His spirit joins with our spirit to affirm that we are God's children. You're a child of God. You belong to him. The Holy Spirit dwells in you. It's the same. Listen to me now. It's the same demonic attack. The same demonic attack against the world, getting them to question the very basic makeup of who they are and who God created them to be. That same attack is coming against the church, but in a different form. You may not question how you were created, but you may question where you stand with Christ. You may question the power of the Holy Spirit within you. I pray that the church gets a revelation of the true power of the Holy Ghost. If you only knew who you were in Christ, who you are in Christ, and the Bible says that the Holy Spirit affirms this, so that constant questioning of who you are, that's not the Holy Spirit. That constant second guessing about the love of God toward you, that is not the Holy Spirit. That constant bewilderment, the confusion of where do I stand with God? How does this all work? You must know that the voice of the Holy Spirit speaks with certainty, stability, consistency, conviction, passion that you belong to Jesus. Period. You're a child of God. You're a carrier of the glory. The presence dwells in you. Well, the church has an identity crisis. They don't know who they are. They're afraid of the work of man, or what if they cancel us? What if they come against us? What will they think? Do you know who you are? Many believers exaggerate demonic power. They think that demons can become a threat if they're walking with the Holy Spirit. Some of them still think, well, maybe that demon could be a threat. Do you know who you are? Do you know who is living in you? What's with this fear of man? What's with this fear of hell? What's with this fear of culture? Confusion, speaking against you, wondering this and that. It's a confusion of identity, and it's not the voice of the Holy Ghost. The voice of the Holy Ghost speaks with conviction and certainty. You belong to Jesus. You are filled with the Holy Spirit of God. Yes, we should respect people. We should love people, but we don't fear them. Yes, we understand. We're engaged in spiritual warfare, and we should be aware of the tactics of the enemy. We don't want to be ignorant of the devil's ways, but neither do we want to be paranoid about them. When you understand the voice of the Holy Ghost, you understand that he is constantly affirming your identity. If there's a constant questioning of your identity in Christ, if there's a constant questioning of where you stand with God, either you're not living right, please hear me now. Either you're not living right, or that's not the Holy Ghost speaking to you. You say, well, how do I know if I'm living right? The word. The word, the word, and if you're not living in a way that contradicts the word, then that's not the voice of the Holy Spirit speaking to you. It's quite simple. If you are constantly questioning your identity in Christ, either you are not living right or you are not hearing the voice of the Holy Spirit, period. I know some of you don't like that. I know I'm stepping on some toes. I'm not here just to step on toes. I'm here to break your legs because we got to make sure we get this mindset. We got to break old mindsets. We got to break through religious thinking. We got to push beyond that natural mind. Rise above these mindsets and live in the mindset of the Spirit, which only comes by recognizing his voice and his voice is constantly affirming who you are. Here's what the Bible says, for his spirit joins with our spirit to affirm that we are God's children. So again, if you are constantly questioning where you stand with Jesus, either you're not living right and you'll know that by the word very clearly, or you're not hearing from the Holy Spirit and you can dismiss that voice. It's a voice of condemnation. It's either conviction or condemnation. You're living according to Scripture. Okay, then it's a voice of condemnation. You're living according to compromise. Okay, then that's the voice of the Holy Spirit. But it's very simple. We complicate it. God's voice affirms your identity. Your voice questions it constantly. Now, how do we discern between? So I showed you some of the attributes of God's voice as compared to your voice. And I contrasted these two and hopefully brought some clarity between these two. Actually, before I get into this next point, let me just double down on another point I want to make. That's this idea of religious OCD. And I'll cover that a little bit more here too. There are many believers who are living in torment because they're living in a performance based workspace view of salvation. Now, we live holy, yes. Every believer should live holy. Every believer should live right. All of us should desire to be more like Jesus and all of us should be rid of all sinful compromise. But you do realize that the Holy Spirit is working with you and not against you, right? I say this to encourage you. He's not working against you. He loves you. He's faithfully abiding, saying, let's get this right. And if you live from that place of fear, then you're constantly going to be having this barrage of thoughts. And sometimes the thoughts get a little strange. Yes, the Holy Spirit gives a strange instruction sometimes. But then sometimes we find ourselves just living in this very hellish existence, this torment, this torment that we can't be free of. I know this because I used to experience this. You know, many of you know my testimony. The Lord delivered me from anxiety. But you know, living in that anxiety, I often confused my anxious thoughts for the voice of the Holy Spirit. And I thought the Holy Spirit would tell me things like go to that gas station, stand on the corner, pick up that can that you see on the floor and just hold it and stand there. Things like that. Or wear that color shirt, not that color shirt. Then I would say, well, was that the Lord or which one? How do I know that's me or what if I picked the wrong shirt? Is God going to condemn me? Or the Holy Spirit, I thought would tell me, stop the car, get out of the car, go into that gas station, go up to that woman and tell her this. And then I would go get out of the car, go to the gas station, go up to that woman, tell her this. And she goes, does that sound like the Lord? She'd go, no, that doesn't sound like anything that makes any sense to me. And I'd leave there. And you know, of course, I would try to confirmation bias would tell me, well, you know, one day it'll make sense to her. And I, or maybe God was just testing me. And then we live in this constant cycle of, is this God? Is this God? Is this God? And if you're constantly cluttering your mind with your own thoughts, you're never going to be able to hear those specific instructions of the Holy Spirit. So let me show you how now, how to discern it. Now that I've given you some descriptions of what the voice of the Holy Spirit sounds like in comparison to your own voice, let me show you how to discern. First of all, and I used to say there were three, but I think it helps to add a fourth. There are the voices of self, Satan, secular and spirit, self, Satan, secular and spirit. Well, secular is the voices of culture, people, family members, anyone who speaks just according to the thinking of the world. Satan, obviously we know, questions the word and contradicts the word constantly. We know that sometimes self couldn't speak to us things that are random and sometimes seemingly benign. Like there's nothing to it either way. You can have a thought that's just kind of a neutral thought. That's understandable. We all have those. And then there's the spirit. This is the speaking of truth. Now how do you discern? Because all of these voices are constantly coming at you. So the key to clearly hearing God isn't in getting God to speak to you because God already speaks to you. Remember what I mentioned at the beginning of this message that you were born again with a new set of senses. So hearing in the spirit is not a skill to be acquired. It's a sense to be sharpened. You already have the sense. You are already hearing God. The Holy Spirit is already speaking to you right here, right now. He's saying something to you. And so the key is not in getting the Holy Spirit to speak to you. The key is in silencing the satanic, the secular and self. And you do that, all that's left is the spirit and you hear them loud and clear. So how do we do this? Number one, the word. The word, the word, the word. Please hear me now. Insisting upon adherence to the word, insisting upon biblical accuracy is not religious. And I think we have to get that out of our heads. This idea that, oh, you know, you're going to the word, that's head knowledge. That's philosophy. That's just the wisdom of man. No, my friend, the word was inspired by God. 2 Timothy 3, 16 and 17. All scripture is inspired by God and is useful to what? 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 you felt that correction before I'm sure. And teaches us to do what is right. God uses it to prepare and equip his people to do every good work. So we understand the Bible, the word of God, is inspired by the Holy Spirit. Every word, this is why be very careful of anyone who questions foundational teachings of the word. Be careful of yourself even. Watch out for your own reasoning when you have to bend things in scripture to fit your opinion. Well, I don't know. Let me, let me, let me just kind of shift that meaning there, just a tad, not, not completely. Or you know what? Let me, let me question that word there. Let me, let me just kind of shift the definition of that word. So it seems a little more consistent. You do that. You're going to end up in confusion and torment of the mind. So the word must be the foundation. Get it out of your head that the word is religious. Get it out of your head that the word contradicts the Holy Spirit. You want real power. You want to walk in the presence of the Holy Spirit in such a way that your life will mark the nations and get in the word. The word is the foundation of our understanding of the voice of the Holy Spirit. That is the safety net. You want a word from God? I got a secret for you. You want a word from God? Open your Bible. If you're serious about hearing the voice of the Holy Spirit, you'll get serious about reading the word. Don't tell me you want to hear the Holy Spirit and you're not even opening your Bible. Don't tell me you want a word from God and you won't open your Bible. You want to be spoon fed maybe by others. Just speak specifically to my situation so that I don't have to go digging through the word to find the truth, finding the truth that applies to my specific situation. You just give it to me in bite-sized pieces. Know, my friend, we must dive into the word. We must receive the word. We must have a rich knowledge of the word and that knowledge is set on fire by the Holy Ghost. Revelation is knowledge set on fire by the Holy Ghost. Look at the Scripture. Read of all the different people that God used. They had sharp intellectual minds that the Holy Ghost set on fire. They had an ability to reason according to the Scriptures and the Holy Spirit gave them boldness and authority and clarity and peace because of that adherence to the word of God itself. So if you're serious about hearing God, you got to get serious about the word. Now, as I said, the word is the foundation. I'm going to give you four keys here. The word is the foundation to knowing the voice of the Holy Spirit. Why? Because the Holy Spirit will never contradict the word. That written word is there for your guidance. And so you have this foundation now. Here's the word and that serves as my grounding. That serves as my stability. Well, Jesus said you build your house upon the sand. That's like building on your own understanding or without his words. You build your house upon the rock. That's like building on his word. So that when the storms come, by the way, he did not say if the storms come. He said, when the storms come, you'll be standing. Why? Because you built on a solid foundation, the word. And so we build our lives upon the words of Christ. That's not a contradiction to the spirit. The spirit works with the word. It's not religious to study the word. It's not real. And anyone who thinks that is going to get stuck in immature Christianity, you're going to be, you're going to be a baby Christian all your life. And I'm not saying this to be condescending. I'm saying this because we need to wake up. I'm not saying this to tear you down. I'm saying this to wake you up. I want to help you grow past certain things. And if you're intimidated by the word, that's okay. So was I. If you're nervous about, well, maybe, maybe I won't get anything really out of it. And it kind of intimidates me. I don't really understand all that. Just start reading it. I was at a place in my life where I didn't know anything about the scripture. And I had to really dig in and discipline and make use of what God had put before me. And that begins with simple obedience. So the word now watch this serves as a foundation, serves as a foundation. And the number two is wisdom. Please hear what I'm about to say. But before you do, I want you to write in the comment section. If you'll commit to the word, just type it in the comment section, just put the word exclamation point and people who read those comments and wonder what that's about, they'll see this as they watch this, just write the word. That's the foundation. Just write it. The word exclamation point. Put that in the comment section whether you're watching live or on the replay. Okay. So the word becomes the foundation now. And then what begins to happen when you read the word? I'm taking in the scripture. Well, Jesus said that the word is spirit in life. So you begin to take in spirit in life. You're not just reading scripture. You're taking on the nature of Jesus. You're not just reading scripture. You're being conformed into the sun's image. You're not becoming the sun, but you're being conformed into his image. You're becoming like him in nature, in the fruits of the spirit and in humility and so forth. And so now I'm reading the scripture. I'm being conformed into that image. Something's changing in me. Now watch this. When I begin to know the word, suddenly there's this, there's this, what do I want to call it? There's this this root of wisdom that begins to take hold in my life. I read the word. My mind's being washed. My mind's being renewed. I'm beginning to think like God thinks. I'm beginning to understand his nature. I'm beginning to understand his ways. Now watch this. Once I know the word now, then wisdom begins to naturally follow. Now wisdom is how the Holy Spirit speaks to your spirit. So the word, that's just the Holy Spirit speaking directly to you through the word. But wisdom is the Holy Spirit speaking to your spirit. Romans chapter 12 verse 2 says, do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God. This is so powerful. What is good and acceptable and perfect? Well, how do I discern the will of God? How do I discern what he's saying? I do so by renewing my mind. How do I, how do I renew the mind? My friend, it's the word. As you read his word, the mind is being renewed. James 1-5, if you need wisdom, ask our generous God and he will give it to you. He will not rebuke you for asking him. So the word becomes the foundation. And as you become a person of the word, wisdom naturally results. Why? Because that word is getting into your spirit. And when the word gets into your spirit, suddenly you begin to think like God thinks. Suddenly you begin to reason like God reasons. Suddenly you begin to think and reason and believe and behave according to the Holy Spirit's guidance because your mind is being renewed by the word. So the word is that foundation and now wisdom acts as the structure. Okay. So you have, you have the foundation of the word and then wisdom becomes the beginning stages of that structure. And that structure goes into place based on the word. So wisdom is the Holy Spirit speaking directly to your spirit. It is this, this pure overflow of the directions of God. It is a purposeful pool on your life. You just kind of have this natural inclination in understanding what God wants you to do in any given situation. Why? Because you become familiar with his nature. When you know the word of God, you understand his will. And as you begin to become more familiar with his will, now you begin to become more familiar with his ways. The word shows you his will and that begins to develop wisdom in you. Wisdom shows you his ways. Notice here that I've not mentioned yet the Holy Spirit speaking directly to you because that's the third. So the word is the most reliable way that you can discern the voice of the Holy Spirit. Period. The word is the foundation. And then you have wisdom. That's like the structure coming into place now. Now watch this. Watch this. First the word, foundation, then the structure, wisdom, then there's the whisper. And this is the Holy Spirit speaking to your mind, the natural mind, where you hear that instruction. Like for example, when I was driving my car and the Holy Spirit told me, stop. Now, where can I go through Scripture and find that in the Bible? Can I find in the Bible when you come to a stop sign, stop for longer than you're legally obligated to stop? No, just in that moment the Holy Spirit spoke specifically to me. Now some have said, well, you know, if it's written in the word, then the Holy Spirit doesn't need to say it because it's already in the word. And if it's not written in the word, then the Holy Spirit wouldn't speak it because it's not written in the word. But this fails to take into account this type of reasoning, this thinking fails to take into account that often we need instructions for the very specific details of our lives. Not always are you going to find chapter and verse, chapter and verse, what you should do specifically in every situation. Of course, you have the word to understand the general will of God. Then you have wisdom, which helps to teach you his ways. But then what do you do after that? When you need an ultra specific instruction from the Lord in order to make sure that you're on the right path. That's when the whisper comes in. But don't try, please hear me now. Do not try to hear the whisper if you are not a person of the word. And that's going to make some of you mad. John 14, 26, but it's not my goal to make you mad. I love you. And I want to just tell you the truth. John 14, 26, but the helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to remembrance all that I have said to you. So the Holy Spirit reminds and he reveals. He reminds you of what has been said, but he also reveals what God is saying. Let me say that again. He reminds you of what has been said, but he also reveals what God is saying. Now, some might ask, does this mean that what he speaks is on the same level of authority in terms of the scripture? No, because he's speaking very specifically for very specific situations and instances in your lives, in your life. And therefore that wouldn't be something that could apply to everybody all the time. These instructions don't have universal application and for all time when it's the whisper as I'm describing it here. So he whispers to your heart, but don't try to live your life by the whisper. And this is what some Christians do, thinking they're spiritual. They think they're spiritual because they kind of say, oh, you know, I just kind of like the wind. I go, I call them hippy Christians. They just, oh, wherever the Holy Spirit takes me, I'm like the wind and, and there's no discipline. There's no foundation. There's no grounding. Everything's based off of their experience, their encounters. They're never interpreting their encounters to the word. They're only interpreting the word through their encounters. Well, this is what it means to me. This is what I feel it's speaking. And that's all I'm telling it. It just means it's a lack of maturity in the faith, period. And so we need to come to the place where the word is first and then the wisdom and then the whisper. If you're a person of the word and you're walking in the Holy Spirit's wisdom, those are your safety nets for when he begins to speak with the whisper. And many believers have this reversed and then number four. So first it's the word, then it's wisdom, then number three, the whisper and then number four, wonders. Now this is where you'll see prophecy, visions, dreams, miracles. Guys, we believe in this. These have not ceased. The gifts have not ceased. Prophecy is for today. The spiritual gifts are for today. Miracles are for today. Deliverance is for today. Healing is for today. Dreams are for today. Visions are for today. Supernatural encounters are for today. We can't dismiss this. Why? Because the word tells us so. And so the problem arises, though, when you try to live your life by the wonders instead of by the word. Many believers have this reversed. So the word is the foundation. Wisdom is that structure. The whisper of the Holy Spirit is like the drywall and some of the materials that get added onto that. And the wonders, that's like the nice decorations for your house, the furniture, the extra pieces, if you will. But if you live your life only with the extra pieces, just the wonders, my goodness, you're never going to have a solid foundation. Some believers, they just live by their experience. And then the word is an afterthought. And that right there is going to end you up. That's going to cause you to end up with all kinds of confusion, strange doctrines, confusion, tension, bondage, isolation. It leads to all sorts of problems, anxiety. That's why you start with the word, then the word produces wisdom. Wisdom causes you to be mature enough to be able to distinguish between the whisper and your own thoughts. And then the whisper helps you to understand and navigate the world of wonders. So the word is first. Don't try to live your life by wonders and the whisper. Start with the word. Build it as your foundation. Then you'll have the wisdom. Then you'll hear the whispers. And then you can have the discernment that's necessary to receive only what are godly wonders. Father, I pray in the name of Jesus that you would begin to cause your people to desire your word. Lord, we repent of any neglect of your word. Help us to recommit to being people of Scripture. Holy Spirit, we surrender to the way that you desire to speak. Help us to not box you in to just what our experiences tell us. Help us, Lord, I pray to go to higher places by living according to your word. And Father, I pray also for healing, deliverance, a fresh touch of your power. Come on, let's believe for God to touch you right now. I'm telling you whether you're watching live or on the replay, the anointing of the Holy Spirit is flowing. Jesus, I thank you for that river of power that's flowing now. Lord, let your power flow out of my hands right through that camera and right to wherever they're watching. I join my faith with that one believing now. And I pray, Lord, that your healing virtue would flow. We thank you, Jesus. Somebody watching right now believing for healing of asthma, I rebuke it in Jesus' name. Digestive issues. A woman with digestive issues watching, I rebuke it in the name of Jesus. A shoulder injury, I rebuke that now, be healed in the name of the one whom I serve. Someone being delivered from an addiction. Someone is being delivered from an addiction right now. You don't need to beg. You don't need to plead. There's nothing you need to do but receive by faith. God does not hide your freedom behind ancient mysteries. It's as simple as asking, receive that now. That's the power of the Holy Ghost. I rebuke that now. Be delivered in the name of the one whom I serve. Alcohol addiction. I break that power in the name of Jesus. Drug addiction. We break it. There's a woman watching me now. Your heart is breaking for your son. You're believing he's going to come back to the faith. I agree with you now in the name of Jesus. Church, just begin to receive. That's the power of the Holy Ghost flowing. Write your prayer requests in the comment section now. We'll all agree together. Thank you, Lord. Jesus, I give you the honor. Wow, there's power flowing. Such power. Holy Spirit, let them sense your presence in the room with them now. But your presence and power are abiding in that place. Let them sense the manifested touch of your power. We give you the glory and the honor. Wow, I want you to say it because you believe it. Say amen. Well, if you enjoyed this teaching and you think others need to hear it, do me a favor, leave a like on the video that helps more than you know. 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So go right now and name it one more time, davidhernandezministries.com slash partner to become a monthly supporter, davidhernandezministries.com slash donate to give a single gift. And if you enjoy this teaching, then you will love five ways to sharpen your spiritual hearing.