 You can begin to hear the voice of the Holy Spirit with confidence and clarity. We've bought into this myth that the voice of the Holy Spirit is supposed to be difficult to hear. Believers often comment on how it's difficult for them to know the will of God for their life or know what ministry choices they should make. This is not the case biblically speaking. You can hear the voice of the Holy Spirit with confidence and clarity and it is my prayer, it is my belief that by the end of this teaching you will hear the voice of the Holy Spirit with clarity. You will hear the voice of the Holy Spirit with confidence. You as a believer can hear the Holy Spirit. There's this great lie that we've bought into that it's difficult to hear the voice of the Holy Spirit or that the voice of the Holy Spirit is only for the spiritually elite. Let me tell you something. There's no such thing as the spiritually elite. We are all children of God if we've received Christ as Savior and Lord. All of us who put our faith in Jesus can hear the voice of the Holy Spirit. That includes you. So whether you've tried before and failed or whether this is a new concept for you or whether sometimes you struggle to hear him and there's this inner chaos and this inner turmoil and this back and forth in your mind wondering is this me? Are these my thoughts? Is that just my emotional response to the situation? You, as I said, can begin to hear the voice of the Holy Spirit with confidence and clarity. That is biblical, that is true and that is what I pray you experience as you hear these truths. So if you're ready I want you to comment right now whether you're watching live or on the replay. Type these simple words, Lord I'm listening. I want you to say that and this is your public declaration. This is a declaration of faith. This is you putting it out there and saying Lord I'm going to trust in what your word says. Comment those simple words Lord I'm listening. Now before I give you these three simple keys I have to lay a foundation. I know sometimes when we watch these videos we want them just to start. You're like just start with key number one and I get that and we're going to get there as quickly as possible. But first I have to lay this very short foundation and I promise you that if you understand this simple foundational truth that the next three keys I'm going to give you are going to make more sense than they ever have before. But first you have to understand this simple truth. There's a difference between hearing the Holy Spirit and recognizing the Holy Spirit. The greatest truth that I could ever share with you concerning the voice of the Holy Spirit is this. You are already hearing the Holy Spirit. Now I know I may not feel like that. I know at times you may struggle to understand what are your thoughts, your emotions, what's God's voice. I know that sometimes you may not be very confident in hearing the voice of the Holy Spirit but I'm telling you this. You are already hearing Him speak. I promise you that if you are a born-again believer, if Jesus is your Savior and your Lord, then you are hearing the voice of the Holy Spirit. The key then is not necessarily learning to hear the voice of the Holy Spirit but in learning to recognize the voice of the Holy Spirit. I'll prove it to you in Scripture. First Samuel chapter 3, I'm going to read verses 1 through 10. Meanwhile, the boy Samuel served the Lord by assisting Eli. Now in those days messages from the Lord were very rare and visions were quite uncommon. One night Eli who was almost blind by now had gone to bed and I believe that that physical blindness was a message that the Lord was sending concerning his spiritual blindness. He was not receiving visions from the Lord at this time. Eli wasn't. The lamp of God had not yet gone out and Samuel was sleeping in the tabernacle near the Ark of God. Suddenly the Lord called out Samuel. Yes, Samuel replied. What is it? He got up and ran to Eli. Here I am. Did you call me? I didn't call you Eli replied. Go back to bed. So he did. Then the Lord called out again Samuel. Again Samuel got up and went to Eli. Here I am. Did you call me? I didn't call you my son Eli said. Go back to bed. Verse 7. Samuel did not yet know the Lord because he had never had a message from the Lord before. So the Lord called a third time and once more Samuel got up and went to Eli. Here I am. Did you call me? Then Eli realized it was the Lord who was calling the boy. Verse 9. So he said to Samuel go and lie down again. And if someone calls again say speak Lord your servant is listening. So Samuel went back to bed and the Lord came and called as before Samuel. Samuel replied speak your servant is listening. So here we see a biblical example of someone who was hearing the voice of the Holy Spirit but was not recognizing the voice of the Holy Spirit. And this could very well be the case with you. In fact if you believe that you're struggling to hear the Holy Spirit I believe this is the case for you especially and only if you're a believer. The Holy Spirit is speaking. Look at what John 10 27 says. My sheep hear my voice and I know them and they follow me. So the question is not can I hear the voice of the Holy Spirit? The question is are you a sheep? Do you belong to him? Are you the Lord's? And if you are his and if you do belong to him then the scripture makes it clear that you hear his voice. So hearing the voice of the Holy Spirit is not a skill to be sharpened. It's a sense to be recognized. Sometimes we hear these teachings on the voice of the Holy Spirit as if I could teach you how to hear. I cannot nor can anyone. And if anyone claims to teach you how to hear it's just not possible but we can teach you as men of God as women of God who share the word. We leaders in the church can teach people how to recognize but we cannot teach you how to hear. You don't teach a newborn how to see. You don't teach a newborn how to hear. When a baby is born if the baby is healthy the baby is born hearing. When a baby is born if the baby is born healthy it's born seeing. You don't have to teach it to hear. You don't have to teach it to see. Now as the child grows you have to teach them to listen and use their hearing. You have to teach them to observe and use their sight. But that which they've received at birth was not a skill to be sharpened. It was simply a sense that was present the moment that they were born in the same way. The sense of hearing the Holy Spirit is something that was given to you the moment you were born again by the Holy Ghost. So the moment you receive Christ as your Savior and Lord is the moment that the Holy Spirit became yours. And the moment that the Holy Spirit became yours you began to hear him. But maybe you haven't learned to recognize him. So he is speaking. It's not like you have to do some ritual or beg him or plead with him to get him to start talking to you and instructing you. It's not as if he's gone silent on you and wants to communicate nothing. It's not as if he's withholding truth and messages. No on the contrary the Holy Spirit is speaking to you. He could be speaking to you right now. In fact I believe he is speaking to you right now. The question is what is he saying and how do you recognize what he sounds like. And that really is the primary question. I think people complicate this. You know in life there are really only three categories of voices that you will hear. You will hear the satanic. You will hear the secular and you will hear the spirit. The satanic is easy. It is what contradicts the word. The secular contradicts God's nature. But the spirit aligns with both God's word and God's nature. So it's learning to distinguish between these three. The key then is to silence the other voices. The Holy Spirit speaks. It is what it is. People say how do I get to hear the voice of the Holy Spirit? Either you hear or you don't. Either he's speaking or he isn't. And if you are a born again believer that he is speaking to you. So how then do you get rid of the other voices? How then do you filter so to speak the voice of the Holy Spirit out of all these other things that clamor for your attention? Key number one. You want to hear the voice of the Holy Spirit with confidence and clarity. Key number one is silence and stillness. Now I can't tell you how many times I've had someone come up to me and they're almost in a panic. Brother David I can't hear God. I can't feel God. Please help me. And they're so wrapped up in the emotional distress of not being able to hear the voice of the Holy Spirit. They're so wrapped up in the experience of their situation that they're filled with fear. There's chaos about them. There's this tension to their spirituality and all too often I think we imagine that that tension and that desperation is somehow a virtue when in fact that tension and that desperation is actually something that prevents you from surrendering and flowing with the Holy Spirit. People freaked out wondering so many questions and they want God to answer all their questions before they can listen for his voice. They want God to answer all of their theological conundrums before they can listen for his voice. They want God to solve all their problems, to fix all their situations, to better their circumstances before they can relax and hear his voice. Oh the devil's attacking me. Is the devil attacking you or is life just happening? Oh there's so much spiritual warfare. Is there spiritual warfare or are you just getting worked up over things that don't really matter if you were to just focus on Jesus? So people so desperate to hear God that they themselves become entangled in their emotions and their own thoughts and their own questions and their own doubts and their fears and that in and of itself prevents them from being able to listen carefully for the voice of the Holy Spirit. They're too worked up to hear God. I imagine the conversation sometimes goes like this, God do you hear me? He says very politely, yes I hear you. And we cry out, God please don't ignore me and God very calmly assures us I'm not ignoring you. God please don't be far from me. God says I'm right here. God please don't reject me. I haven't rejected you. Yet this conversation continues and we hear our complaints. We hear our questions as we say them but we're too loud emotionally and mentally to be able to be silent for long enough to just hear the assurance that he's given us and it's from this state that you can never recognize the voice of the Holy Spirit. So if you're in a panic the most spiritual thing I can tell you to do right now is calm down. Relax. Stop freaking out just because you can't feel something. Stop waiting for your emotions and your experience to confirm what you should already believe by faith. Stop waiting for some exterior circumstance to confirm what you should already know based on the scripture. You hear him. He speaks. He hasn't abandoned you. He hasn't cut you off. He's not a million miles away. He lives in you. So the greatest example of faith in action in terms of this topic is to just relax. Sometimes relaxing is the most spiritual thing you can do. Just relax. Now silence and stillness is a wonderful practice that you can begin to apply to your daily life because it really does cause you to come to the place where you can now hear the voice of the Holy Spirit. Remember this satanic is speaking against the word of God and the satanic can speak through music, through movies, through people around you. So be careful with who you allow to influence your life. This secular can work through your flesh and make small suggestions. I'll give you one example. The satanic would straight up tell you you don't need church because everyone there is a bunch of hypocrites and you shouldn't attend church and you should stay isolated. Well that's the satanic. How do I know? Because it contradicts the word. The secular is more subtle. The secular wouldn't tell you oh you don't need the church. You don't need to go to church. The secular would tell you hey you worked hard this week maybe you should sleep in skip it and just have a family day. So there's the satanic versus the secular and both of them ultimately cause the end result but they come about it in two different ways. Now how do you silence these things? Because if you can simply silence the other voice is the only one left is the voice of the Holy Spirit. The satanic is speaking. The spirit is speaking. The world is speaking. They're all speaking at once and sometimes you may feel like it's way too much for you to handle. So if you could just learn to silence the other two influences all that will be left is the voice of the Holy Spirit. Again you don't have to ask him to speak. He is speaking. You don't have to force him. You don't have to convince him. He's talking to you. So now the responsibility is on us not necessarily to get God to speak but to cause ourselves to listen intently by silencing the other voices. So silence and stillness this is one step really but silence and stillness are two different ways of approach. Silence is to get rid of that outer distraction. I'll show you a scripture Matthew chapter 6 verse 6 but when you pray go away by yourself shut the door behind you and pray to your father in private then your father who sees everything will reward you. Well there we see a very practical application of silence. Jesus says here go to a private room shut the door have nothing to do with the outside world at least for a moment. Remember there's a difference between spiritual seclusion and flesh fleshly isolation. Seclusion is for a moment isolation is a lifestyle. We're called to moments of seclusion. We are not called to lifestyles of isolation. So in those moments of seclusion where we go away privately to hear from the Lord what we're doing is we're setting an atmosphere. Matthew 6 6 is talking about setting the atmosphere to hear God. What does that mean for the modern day? Well in the modern day we still have doors so you shut the door. I believe Jesus would have added where he's speaking to us today he would say silence your phone. He'd say when you go away privately shut the door silence your phone put your iPad on do not disturb close the laptop turn off the TV that's what I believe the modern day distractions are. Hold off on conversations wait for people tell them you know what I'm just going to have to wait for you until after I pray. Tell your spouse tell your family this is the Lord's time and this time I'm dedicating to him and you have to learn to set the atmosphere so this is simple but it requires discipline to get rid of outer distraction you simply need discipline this is to get rid of all the exterior distractions in our life you can't hear from the Holy Spirit if you're busy obsessing over the Instagram feed you can't hear from the Holy Spirit if you're binging TV shows on Netflix you can't hear from the Holy Spirit if you're caught up in conversations with friends that have nothing to do with the matters of the spirit now there's a time and a place for all things but I'm simply saying that there has to be a moment where you can get away and be silent before the Lord and cause those other things those exterior circumstances to be set to the side this is practical but we don't all do it and I'll tell you why we don't all do it it's because though we've learned how to put into practice silence not all of us have learned to put into practice stillness now there is a major difference here and the major difference is silence has to do with putting away outer distraction but stillness is the inner quieting of the soul watch this Psalm 46 10 be still and know that I am God I will be honored by every nation I will be honored throughout the world noise does not equal power sometimes what people lack in power they have to make up for in noise but noise does not equal power there is power in silence and stillness when you begin to practice this you'll start to notice something see when you practice silence here's what it might look like for you maybe you've been in this situation before where you say okay I'm going to pray I'm going to go hear the voice of the Lord and then you go to pray you set the atmosphere maybe you close the door you turn off your phone you've dedicated the time maybe you wake up super early or stay up really late but either way now you've set aside the time and you've implemented the practical discipline of silence but then you go to pray here's what happens and this probably happens to you I know what happened to me when I first began to pray then you go to pray and as you go before the Lord maybe you kneel and some of us we don't know right we have all these thoughts going through our mind we don't know exactly what to do but we go we pray and then all of a sudden questions start coming to your mind you're praying and then what should I be standing when I pray should I implement intercessory prayer should I pray for my loved ones right now should I maybe do some spiritual warfare rebuke some demons should I pray in tongues on that note can I pray in tongues in my mind is that something I'm allowed to do do I stand do I sit is it okay if I lie down would that be disrespectful would God still hear me would he still speak to me in that moment should I pace around the room or should I be very still and then if you're not questioning what's going on about prayer that's all of a sudden when all of the responsibilities of this world start to clutter your mind well did I pay that bill is so and so mad at me is God mad at me then it becomes God directed God are you angry with me have you forgiven me are you going to hear me are you mad because I skipped prayer last week are you mad because I didn't read enough chapters of the Bible lord I didn't go to church on Sunday are you still going to hear me speaking of church I have lots of ministry to do there's this task and that task and I don't know what I have to get done and even if you built your list of things to do sometimes you feel like you might be forgetting something I have to call so-and-so I have to text my parents I have to make sure that that project is done at work I have to study for this exam coming up oh I forgot to do that repair on my house so I forgot to do this thing with the landlord for my apartment oh the children are they okay we got to get them shoes well speaking of that we actually I got to get dinner ready or I have to start making sure that I'm going to go out and make sure that all of the errands are run properly and if I forget anything is it going to fall over into the next day and then what's going to happen if it all piles up and then oh wait was I praying yes I was supposed to be praying Lord what were you saying and then we go back to maybe in inwardly and we say well what about my past Lord I I I wasn't forgiven of that was I or or Lord I'm so ashamed of that still even though you forgave me that or what about my future Lord is everything going to be okay financially is everything going to be okay at my work what if I can't pay my rent what if I can't buy food what if the economy collapses what if the dollar collapses what if I don't have enough food if the apocalypse comes what's going to happen in my life what's going to happen to my children what about my health am I taking care and then all of these things start to distract us and before you know it you forget that you're supposed to be praying and that's how quickly it comes and then you pull yourself back on track and you say okay wait a minute wait a minute wait a minute I'm supposed to be praying here I'm supposed to be praying here let me pull myself back to the moment and the moment you come back to that well there's another thought and it's a rabbit trail that takes you up and how are you supposed to hear the voice of the Holy Spirit when that happens you have to learn stillness peace to calm those inner thoughts and emotions to the point that you can clearly hear God that's a spiritual discipline it's the inner chaos that prevents us from hearing God oh setting the atmosphere is easy silence is the easy part though not all of us do it so silence that's simple just shut up shut the door shut off the phone tell people not to disturb you done oh but that inner chaos that's the real difficult challenge isn't it not dealing with the distractions around us but the distractions within us that's where the real challenge comes in that's where it takes real spiritual discipline how can we overcome that because there's so much that goes on in our minds there's so much that takes place and it's funny that we say things like this we'll say oh my goodness all day I was just fine all day I had no issues it wasn't until I went to pray maybe you've said this before we say it wasn't until I started praying that suddenly then all of these thoughts began to fill my mind well here's the reality that's what we call inner chaos all those thoughts and emotions like that whirlwind that distracts you and keeps you from hearing the voice of the holy spirit and here's the reality inner chaos doesn't show up when you go to pray and hear God inner chaos is revealed when you go to pray and hear God that inner chaos that's what's been going on inside of you all day all week you just weren't quiet enough to hear what was happening within you no wonder you're dealing with so many things in your emotions no wonder there's so much inconsistency in the spiritual life no wonder you feel like one day you're up in the next day you're down it's because you haven't addressed that inner chaos within you that prevents you from hearing clearly and recognizing the voice of the holy spirit so how do you do this well silence is easy I already told you shut the door shut off the phone make the appointment and set the date make sure nobody disturbs you and nothing can come in to disturb that moment that's the discipline part but now we see here stillness how do we find this stillness number one worship thou will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on thee be still and know that I am God that worship that focusing of the mind on the Lord begins to to calm that inner chaos why because you're looking at his face the old song says turn your eyes upon Jesus and the things of earth will grow strangely dim in the light of his glory and grace those things of the world those internal struggles those thought patterns they begin to wane and fade into the background as the light of Christ shines brightly before us and when we learn to focus on Jesus in worship we cannot be focused on other things so worship is one of the ways that you can bring stillness to your mind and to your soul another way to bring stillness is faith sometimes we just don't trust that God's gonna do what he said he's gonna do sometimes we just don't trust that things are going to work out sometimes we don't trust that God has worked it out and because of that we find ourselves in these moments where we're experiencing that inner chaos of the emotion when all we need to do is trust him stop trying to control everything do you realize that worry is the flesh's powerless counterfeit for prayer the spirit prays the flesh worries and as the flesh worries you get this false sense of control like you're actually contributing to something Jesus said you can't gain anything through worry worry is indeed the flesh is powerless counterfeit for prayer but if we want to experience that inner calming that inner peace we have to learn to trust what God has said we have to learn to put our faith in his word we have to learn to let it go it's not in our control there's nothing we can do about it sometimes and you have to just leave it to him so number one if you want to practice stillness you need to worship number two you need to have faith number three meditation on the word meditation on the word is simply repetition and thought meditation is repetition in thought if I will take the word and repeat its truths in my mind something begins to calm me there's there's an anchor for my soul and though the winds and the waves tossed me about I'm firmly rooted because of the anchor on my soul and that is the anchor of truth of God's word so number one you want to hear the voice of the Holy Spirit you have to practice silence and stillness and let me give you a little hint here's a special gem of truth sometimes our obsession with not being able to hear God is itself a part of the inner chaos that's how subtle it is we get so freaked out over the silliest things why because we simply don't trust we want our experience or our emotions to validate or our feelings to validate these truths when we should just believe them by faith and it's coming from that place of confidence and calm that we're able to clearly hear what the Spirit is saying so that's number one silence and stillness let me know in the comment section is this helping you is this something that you've dealt with do yourself have trouble dealing with silence or stillness what are some of the thought patterns that the enemy tries to throw at you while you're trying to hear the voice of the Holy Spirit what are some distractions of this world that keep you from clearly hearing God let me know chat in the comment section key number two the word all this one is so key and you guys will see several threads several themes being threaded throughout my teachings you'll hear a lot about the Holy Spirit and you're going to hear a lot about the word the word and spirit the word of God is so foundational to every practice every reality in the spirit and hearing the voice of the Holy Spirit is no different you must know the word the word is key please hear me now the word is key to hearing the voice of the Holy Spirit John 1426 says this but when the father sends the advocate as my representative that is the Holy Spirit he will teach you everything and will remind you of everything I have told you so what do we see the Holy Spirit doing here well we see him doing two things number one he reminds you of the teachings of Jesus and number two he reveals things to you so he reminds you of the things that the Lord has said well simultaneously revealing that which he is speaking but the Holy Spirit as he teaches he reminds as he reminds he teaches you need both but he is supposed to remind you of a truth how is he supposed to remind you of a truth that you have never heard or read how is he supposed to remind you of the word when you're not taking the word in the word of God familiarizes you with the voice of the Holy Spirit I'll give you an analogy here let's say that you and I go to a crowded place and we go I don't know to a mall or a shopping center or something like that so me and you go and we get separated and then you're trying to find me in the crowd now if I'm yelling your name maybe you're familiar with these live streams if I'm yelling your name in the midst of that crowd you're going to recognize my voice you're going to go oh that's David I know his voice I hear him all the time and will be reunited even though it's very crowded now here's another here's another example let's say you and a friend are with us so you your friend and me and then I get lost now your friend has never heard me before your friend doesn't watch the teachings your friend's not familiar with my voice and they try to pick me out of that crowd they hear all these conversations now you could do your very best to describe to them well he sounds like this he talks like this sometimes he talks fast sometimes he talks slow and you try to describe my voice to your friend well it doesn't matter how well you describe my voice they're not going to be able to pick it out of a crowd why because they've never heard my voice I think sometimes when we hear teachings on the voice of the Holy Spirit we want the quick easy answers well we're not going to give you quick quick and easy answers here on EncounterTV we want quick and easy answers what does he sound like you just want me to say oh you'll know it's God because he has a a a manly voice it's masculine it's deep and it's firm and he sometimes whispers right that's what we want to hear we want to hear the very specific descriptions of the voice of the Holy Spirit I could tell you sometimes he speaks like a mighty rushing wind I could tell you other times he's got the voice of many waters it's it's it's a booming voice I could tell you other times it's a it's a whisper the still small voice I could tell you other times he speaks very firmly and and with authority other times he speaks very softly and with kindness and all of those would be true but what good are those descriptions if I give those to you how do you know that your mind can't mimic that your mind can't whisper your emotions can't speak with authority I mean we we look for these very specific descriptions because I think sometimes we're just spiritually lazy oh just give me the descriptions and people there's no shortage of people who will tell you what you want to hear they'll give you the descriptions you want to hear oh I know the voice he sounds like when he speaks it sounds like many waters well okay that's great for you but it's all subjective because you may describe it one way but another person may hear it and describe it a completely different way so what good are these descriptions I'm telling you if you go based on that you're going based on someone else's experience and that's always dangerous no one can tell you what God sounds like I'm sorry they can't I hear the voice of the Holy Spirit I cannot tell you what he sounds like with such specific detail that you'll go okay thanks for that description now I know it's either you know it or you don't either you hear him or you don't either he's speaking or he isn't and this is why I think that sometimes in search of the quick answer we get answers that sound fun they sound exciting they sound interesting they're like oh that's good for the notes that I'm taking but they're useless in everyday application I'm sorry to spoil the fun but that's just the reality if we're just looking for those little descriptions of his voice we're never going to hear him this is why we need the word because unless you yourself become familiar with his voice no description will do in the same way your friend who doesn't know me couldn't pick me out of a crowd so we cannot pick God's voice out of the crowd unless we are familiar with it and you cannot be familiar with the voice of the Holy Spirit unless you're familiar with the word if you want to get serious about hearing God's voice you will get serious about listening to the word if you want to get serious about hearing the voice of the Holy Spirit you will get serious about reading the word devotion to the word produces familiarity with his voice let me say that again devotion to the word produces familiarity with his voice so we have these different ways that the Holy Spirit speaks but the primary way is the word now I want to show you here's something quite interesting I want to show you how the word will ultimately cause you to hear him you say well how can that be you mean I can just read the word and eventually I'll start to hear the voice of the Holy Spirit spoken to my mind to my intellect and I can hear him on the daily yes but you have to know the word first this is where it begins the word is the foundation the word is the starting point second Timothy chapter 3 verses 16 and 17 say this 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 you want a word from God open your Bible I did a video at the beginning of 2022 I titled it 100 accurate word what's God saying for 2022 the unpopular truth and in that video I talked about how we're wanting all these horoscope type prophecies that can easily come by just looking at economic or political conditions I mean I could look at the economy and tell you what's coming in the next six months and I don't even need to hear the voice of the Holy Spirit on that I can look at the status of any political system of any country and if you study it well enough you can make some predictions that might come true I mean these things are so secular that we just miss them and we just kind of accept them as spiritual and the reality is that if you want a word from God you need to open your Bible stop going from meeting to meeting looking for God to speak to you specifically if you haven't even read the word because what good is it going to do to hear some specific word if you have no foundational truth in your life again we want quick fixes we want interesting experiences I'm all about that you come to our events you're going to experience the presence of power of the Holy Spirit God may speak to you you may receive a miracle you're going to hear a powerful word the worship is wonderful there's a glory that rests on those meetings experience is great the word is better knowing the word is key and foundational if you're serious about hearing the voice of the Holy Spirit you'll be serious about reading the Bible now once you begin to become familiar with the voice of the Holy Spirit through the word what begins to happen is as you're gleaning the truth from the word the Holy Spirit starts to make deposits in your soul that are wisdom so the Holy Spirit first speaks through the word that's the foundation the second most accurate way that he speaks is wisdom Romans 12 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 what is good and acceptable and perfect if you will make a commitment now to the word of God I want you to write it in the comment section whether you're watching live or on replay I want you to write I will commit and that's your public declaration that you're going to commit to the word write it in the comment section right now live or replay I will commit now the word begins to produce wisdom hear me now the word transforms your mind a transformed mind will automatically walk in wisdom the word renews the mind the renewed mind is transformed and guided 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 so after the word wisdom is the most reliable way to hear the voice of the Holy Spirit it's an inner guiding it's an inner pooling like Solomon and in the book of James where we just read where you can ask for wisdom it's the it's in the book of Proverbs wisdom cryeth out these are the things that begin to guide our lives so first it's the word and then it's wisdom now wisdom is not necessarily a sentence spoken but a sense in the spirit so sometimes they're waiting for the voice of the Holy Spirit to come like a sentence when other times it'll just be like a pool on your life a drawing you just know there's just this path laid before you like for example with this ministry the Lord spoke to me about using certain pieces of technology to help for the gospel I had no idea what was coming but the Holy Spirit pooled me towards certain things and in doing those things we saw growth in the ministry why because that was the wisdom now the Holy Spirit didn't come down and clearly speak a sentence to my mind saying start using YouTube but when I saw YouTube I sensed a pool in the spirit drawing a story that's just one example of the many ways that the Lord has guided this ministry but here we see something beginning to happen as the word is becomes a foundation in our lives wisdom begins to manifest now the word is the foundation after the word the Holy Spirit speaks to wisdom after wisdom then we have the whisper see we want to all hear the voice of the Holy Spirit like that where he says hey maybe you're in the market he goes go to aisle five there's someone there who needs prayer like right that's a whisper or or the Holy Spirit may say hey take a right on this street pull over and wait for five minutes someone's going to walk by and I want you to minister to them that is a whisper so those very specific instructions in our lives are a part of hearing the voice of the Holy Spirit but that doesn't necessarily mean they are the primary way we hear the voice of the Holy Spirit again the word is the foundation then wisdom speaks now it's difficult to navigate the whisper because this is the one that becomes entangled in our emotions and our own thoughts and our emotions and our thoughts can intercept or distort what the Holy Spirit is saying nevertheless this is a reality we read it in John 14 26 yes he reminds us of certain truths but the Holy Spirit also reveals in other words he speaks for the now what we ought to be doing saying and how we ought to be living so as the Holy Spirit guides you with the word that firm foundation then he pulls you along with wisdom and so long as you please hear me now so long as you have the safety net of the word and wisdom you can't go wrong with the whisper here's the problem many believers want to reverse that this is immature believers they want to reverse it and they want the whisper first and then they try to gain wisdom and understanding of the word through the whisper of the spirit when that's not how it works it works the other way you gain understanding of what the Holy Spirit is whispering to your heart through first knowing the word and familiarizing yourself with the voice of the Holy Spirit then walking in wisdom and experiencing that guiding hand of God and then you can begin to obey the whisper otherwise you're going to get either caught in strangeness or religion I know myself when I tried to hear that whisper before I gained wisdom from the word I was feeling condemned every day thinking that maybe I put the wrong jacket on the Holy Spirit told me to wear the red one but I picked the blue one oh my goodness was that him or am I supposed to pray for this man you know in the market or maybe not and I'm going home I'm condemned because I didn't pray for everyone at the market or at the gas station these are things that begin to happen you become tormented in the mind because you're you're thinking every thought could be the Holy Spirit and you're not filtering it through first the wisdom of the word in the guiding hand of God that comes to wisdom if you try to go for the whisper first you're going to lose your mind you're going to walk in condemnation or you're going to get really weird you know well the Lord told me to go up to the man and ask him if a blue marker meant anything to him now maybe the Holy Spirit might say that but so often we just get these random thoughts and we take it to heart we go up to random strangers tell them things and sometimes they're just being nice going yeah that makes sense thank you so much and they want to just get on with their shopping but this is why we need the wisdom of the word so that when he speaks there is this guidance to it there is this familiarity with the voice of the Holy Spirit don't try to hear the whisper if you don't know the word don't try to hear the whisper if you're not walking in wisdom this is how the Holy Spirit works now some people have asked me this here's something I wrote I think you'll be interested in this some have asked if it's in God's word why does the spirit need to speak it to us if it's not in God's word why would the spirit speak it to us these questions however fail to take into account the need for specific instructions for details of our lives that are not addressed in the scripture for example where you should live who you should marry where you should work and so forth this is why we need to hear the whispers of the Holy Spirit in our life but remember that the whisper is not as reliable as wisdom or the word the word is the most reliable after that wisdom is the next most reliable after that the whisper is the next most reliable so he speaks through the word he speaks to wisdom he speaks to the whisper and he speaks through wonders now these are exterior expressions of the Holy Spirit's voice for example I'll give you just four wonders that the Holy Spirit uses profits we see that in 1 Thessalonians 5 19 through 21 visions Acts chapter 2 verses 17 through 18 dreams Job 33 14 and 15 and miracles and wonders it's mark chapter 16 verse 20 so this second key is very important you want to hear the voice of the Holy Spirit you need the word why because the word is the foundation upon which you build the wisdom and then after you gain wisdom you gain the whisper imagine it like a building if you're building a house then the word of God is the foundation and wisdom is like the the the wood and the drywall the the structure itself so the word is the foundation wisdom is the structure and the whispers of the Holy Spirit are like what kind of countertops did you choose for the kitchen or what type of flooring did you choose for the bathroom or what type of carpet did you choose for the bedroom what type of windows did you install in those walls so the foundation is the word the structure is wisdom the interior design and decor is the whisper and then hey the wonders is like you know amenities like the internet and the luxuries the fireplace right those extra things but all of them are necessary for living and all of them have their place but do not treat the whisper like it's the word and you'll walk in that safety so number one you want to hear the voice of the Holy Spirit silence and stillness number two the word the word the word the word if i say it once i'll say it a thousand times more you know how much we emphasize the word here you need the word otherwise you're just going to get weird here's a quote for you without the word you'll get weird and the number three the third key this is this is going to be a heavy one okay this third key this this this may go deep to the heart but sometimes conviction of the Holy Spirit is good now the key i'm about to give you have to ask the Holy Spirit to help you receive this because if you don't ask the Holy Spirit to help you receive this your flesh may reject it and this really is the most important key so i gave you number one number one key silence and stillness number two the word but this one right here in terms of practical application of things that you can begin to do right now to hear God like you can begin hearing him my prayers after the stream is done as soon as you're watching this video that you're going to begin hearing the voice of the Holy Spirit so this is the third but i believe it's the most crucial in terms of what you do this is something you can do now some people think well is he going to tell me to close my eyes and listen to instrumental worship for 30 minutes no that's too specific i want to give you a principle that you can apply every day but before i give you this final key please make sure you leave a like on this video if you're enjoying this content believe it or not the likes on this video actually help to spread it further so leave a like right now whether you're watching live or on the replay you haven't done it gently click the like button i always tell people don't smash it or break it other people need to use it and we believe in the gentle touch of the Holy Spirit so gently click that like button do it right now and it'll actually help spread the video further okay now we're going to get onto this key and again this one's heavy it may not seem so at first but we're going to really dig deep into this all right key number three is obedience if you are not obeying God or you're not walking in a lifestyle of obedience to the Lord you're going to have a lot of trouble hearing his voice that's just a fact the bible says in psalm chapter 37 verse 23 the Lord directs the steps of the godly he delights in every detail of their lives now wait a minute the Lord directs the steps of the godly this means that the ungodly are not directed by the Lord do you realize that the guidance of God is for his people now of course God is working through the Holy Spirit and his church to guide all men to salvation that's a fact biblically speaking but this extra guidance this this specific guidance for your life in terms of what you should do where you should go who you should be how you should behave that guidance is for the believer the Lord directs the steps of the godly he delights in every detail of their lives look at this in Proverbs chapter 3 verse 6 in all thy ways acknowledge him and he shall direct thy paths for every way that you acknowledge him he brings guidance for every way that you obey him he brings truth for every way that you respond to his voice he gives you the next step here's the problem we're going to get a little deeper now here's the problem and this maybe is why some of you don't want to pray you see Lord help me help me say this I pray the Lord would help you receive this I really do this this this will be such a breakthrough for many of you you see some of us see prayer like a struggle we see prayer like it's a lot of work and this is why we don't pray because we imagine that we're going to have to go and fight to connect with God we imagine that we're going to have to go and beg for his attention that's not the way it works no wonder you don't want to pray if you think that when you go to pray God's just going to be judging you for all the times you missed prayer if you think that when you go to pray that God's going to be angry with you because you didn't read enough of the word that week or if you think that when you go to pray he's going to reject you because of something you did or didn't do recently that's not the way this works and if you imagine that prayer is work if you imagine that prayer is a task or that prayer requires you to put in all you have in order to connect with God no wonder you don't want to pray because you imagine that it's on you but when you go before the Lord go boldness and confidence and know that he already is connected with you in other words I don't pray to connect with God I pray from connection with God now how does it apply in terms of obedience well this is very subtle but sometimes we struggle to go and pray because we know that we're not obeying God we don't want to hear him and and there's so many layers to the flesh that we get stuck in what's called self deception and this is the scariest kind do you realize that your flesh will try to deceive you and it's very convincing I dare say this I dare say that your flesh is better at deceiving you than Satan is I believe that with all my heart I believe that the flesh is better at deceiving you than Satan is why because there are so many layers to us hear me now this is going to give you a breakthrough there are so many layers to ourselves like for example the guy who goes to the bar and tells himself that he's not going to have a drink now he knows deep down in his heart that he wants to have a drink and that's why he's going to the bar but that first layer of himself is telling him no no I'm going God will give me strength on the temptation and he goes or that young man who wants to do those things with his girlfriend or he knows that he's not supposed to do those things but he tells him I'm not going to do anything we've already talked about being pure but he goes to her house at night alone anyway now in the back of his mind he knows what he wants he knows what he's going for when the front of his mind he's telling himself I'm not going to do that he keeps that facade he's lying to himself in the same way when we go to pray we lie to ourselves and we tell ourselves oh I'm ready to hear God when we're not oh I'm ready to obey when we're not oh Lord I'm here I'm listening and we're pushing down in the back of our mind what's really going on and this is so subtle you may not catch it but I've come to expose truth today that you might be set free the truth will set you free and so we come to this place now where we go to pray and we lie to ourselves saying I'm obeying God I'm doing as I should I'm walking in his will and really we know we're not and there's that one thing he's been speaking to us about that we don't want to address we don't want to respond to we don't want to hear and we know that the moment we go to pray God's going to start speaking here's the reality sometimes we don't like what God says so we pretend we don't hear him and in pretending we don't hear him we clutter the spiritual airway so to speak with stubbornness stubbornness will keep you from hearing the voice of the Holy Spirit and we go and we pray and there's that pressing of the Holy Ghost on our minds and we know that he's saying something we know that he's instructing us give up that bitterness repent of that secret sin surrender that relationship give what I told you to give go where I told you to go give up what I told you to give up place that on the altar volunteer where I told you to volunteer work where I told you to work do as I told you to do and all the while we're fighting with the Holy Spirit within ourselves going back and forth and back and forth and in that inner chaos there's that battle and we're resisting God but at the front of our minds we're telling ourselves oh I'm ready to hear the Lord oh I'm ready to obey and we're walking in self-deception and that's the truth that's the fact of the matter and this is why so many believers in fact I dare say this is probably the primary reason why most believers can't hear God it's not because they're not practicing silence and stillness they are it's not because they're not in the word they are it's because they're not obeying him and they don't like what he's saying so they pretend they don't hear him or they're resisting him on some inner level they're resisting him on some subconscious level and they're walking in self-deception and that barrier is like a dam that's keeping the waters from flowing and we keep it stubbornly built there and we don't want to budge on those deeper issues we say God I want to keep this thing and pretend I'm obeying and this is what it is to have a form of godliness but to deny the power thereof yeah there's a form of godliness yeah you're worshiping yeah you're praying yeah you're reading the word yeah you're practicing silence and stillness but there's this inner struggle within your heart and you're not budging on those issues and because you're not budging on those issues you can't hear God sin doesn't keep God from speaking it keeps you from listening we say God give me step three and four give me step three and four give me step three and four reveal my path he's saying why am I going to show you step three and four if you haven't even obeyed step one yet why are you asking me for step number 10 when you're still waiting to take step number three and in this way we get stuck spiritually stuck and stagnant we start dying and then we revert back into our old ways we revert back into our old habits we fall back into the flesh and then we end up in more chaos and we just layer upon layer upon layer upon layer of self-deception and disobedience and self-deception and disobedience and then we become so entangled in ourselves that we can't hear God all because we resisted his voice and wouldn't obey the Holy Spirit will speak and then not speak again until you've obeyed what he's already spoken that's for someone listening right now the Holy Spirit will speak and then not speak again until you've obeyed what he's already spoken you would be amazed at how crystal clearly you'll begin to hear the voice of the Holy Spirit if you just begin to do what he says just do what the word says do what wisdom says do what he's been speaking to you to do you watch how one act of obedience will cause all of the garbage to be moved out of the way one act of faith and obedience one moment of repentance from stubbornness and suddenly perfect clarity oh i want that i want to be able to hear the voice of the Holy Spirit with such clarity that if he whispers it's like he's talking to me over a loud speaker i want to be able to hear a pin drop in the spirit i want nothing to cause my listening to go out of tune i want to hear him clearly and i know you do too some of you need to repent right now again i know i said this was going to be deeper and harsh but but sometimes these harsh truths are necessary you know there is danger in hearing in ignoring his voice real danger now i want to show you something here i want to talk about the importance of hearing is i want to talk about the dangers of not hearing him i gave you the three keys but we need to go deeper now don't stop there because the Lord has more for you he does i just gave you three keys to clearly hearing his voice but i want to talk to you about something else here i want to talk about the dangers of not hearing him just for a few minutes because this is for those now who want to go deeper who really want to understand the dynamics of the spiritual realm in this way but before i go into these truths let me just encourage you if you're a first time viewer or maybe you've watched several of my teachings or the videos of the power of the Holy Spirit in action and you love the content i want to encourage you right now to subscribe to encounter tv and click that notification bell when you do subscribe i put out teachings and sermons on the Holy Spirit prayer spiritual warfare and topics like these also we do live streams like this where i teach and pray and then we also live stream our events from around the world where you will see the sick killed the demon possessed go free you'll see believers empowered you will see demonstrations of the Holy Spirit's power at these events so subscribe now click that notification bell when you do and do me a favor those of you who are already a part of our spirit family meaning you're already subscribed go ahead and tell them in the comment section why you're subscribed to encounter tv and how is it how it's helped you whether you're watching live or replay let them know in the comment section now okay so there's so many opinions in the world right all of them are convincing just check social media your family speaks satan speaks your emotions speak the world speaks false prophets speak unfortunately so there's a consequence to not hearing him number one the first consequence is spiritual deafness an example of this is samson one of the most frightening passages in all of scripture is judges chapter 16 verse 20 and then she cried out samson the philistines have come to capture you when he woke up he thought i will do as before and shake myself free but he didn't realize the lord had left him now in the new testament we understand that the holy spirit doesn't abandon the believer just because the believer makes mistakes nor do i believe that the holy spirit left samson in the way that is traditionally understood rather i think that what happened here is that there was a lessening of the influence of the holy spirit's power on his physical being i think that's what the scripture is describing when it says that he didn't realize that the lord had left him we know this because later that powers restored on his life now samson did not hear the holy spirit's warnings little by little by little he compromised more and more and more and in compromising more and more he came to the place where he had spiritual deafness and he could no longer hear the voice of the holy spirit because of his sin so that's number one spiritual deafness is a consequence of not hearing him number two the sin of presumption we see this happening with nathan the prophet in second samuel chapter seven verses one through five when king david was settled in his palace and the lord had given him rest from all the surrounding enemies be careful in seasons of rest sometimes it's difficult to hear the lord because we're no longer listening for his voice actively because we've become comfortable in blessings verse two the king summoned nathan the prophet look david said i am living in a beautiful cedar palace but the ark of god is out there in a tent nathan replied to the king go ahead and do whatever you have in mind for the lord is with you but that same night the lord said to nathan go and tell my servant david this is what the lord has declared are you the one to build a house for me to live in so here we see nathan the prophet presumptuously thinking that god had blessed what david wanted to do so he speaks on god's behalf saying you're good to go go and do all that god is placed in your heart and then he has to go back later and apologize now thank god nathan corrected this and did go back and say sorry david actually i misspoke you're not the one who's going to build the temple by the way on a side note here's an example of a prophet getting it wrong and still being considered a true prophet but he goes back now and he says okay i'm sorry i was presumptuous that's not what the lord has spoken that's not godly advice that's not wise counsel you can't build the temple god doesn't want you to do it well this all happened because nathan didn't have that pace of life where he was listening intently to the lord why because they were in a season of rest and success will make you presumptuous success will make you say it must be god because i want to do it and that's ego ego that comes about as a result of blessings and success so number one spiritual deafness number two the sin of presumption and i'll give you number three real briefly here number three is the trap of tradition this is this is a big one moses here we see exodus chapter 17 look at this this is incredible verses four through six says this then moses cried out to the lord what should i do with these people they are ready to stone me the lord said to moses walk out in front of the people take your staff the one you use when you struck the water of the nile and call some of the elders of israel to join you i will stand before you on the rock of mount sinai at mount sinai strike the rock and water will come gushing out then the lord then the people will do will be able to drink it so moses struck the rock as he was told and water gushed out as the elders looked on so that's exodus 17 verses four through six moses strikes the rock as god instructs and water gushes out a miracle right this is wonderful well in numbers chapter 20 verses 7 to 12 i'll just reference that you can look it up later numbers 27 to 12 we see moses and the children of israel find themselves in a similar situation where the people are complaining against moses and they want water and then we see that the lord tells moses to speak to the rock but instead moses doesn't speak to the rock he strikes the rock now here's the danger the trap of tradition and by the way this is a separate instance some say they're the same instance described a different way but there are some indications that reveal to us that this is actually two separate instances i don't have time to go into that right now but in these two separate instances one god says strike the rock moses strikes the rock water comes gushing out in the second instance in numbers chapter 20 god tells moses speak to the rock and moses doesn't instead he relies upon what god had spoken in the past and he strikes the rock but because it's not as effective now he has to do it twice he now has to work twice as hard because he's going on yesterday's revelation moses in that moment chose system over spirit ritual over revelation be careful that today's revelation doesn't become tomorrow's ritual power is not found in system but in obedience he sacrificed the future for the familiar what a dangerous place to be indeed so if you're not hearing the voice of the holy spirit you fall into the trap of tradition and you try to go on yesterday's revelation to deal with today's problems and you find yourself walking in disobedience to god this is why we must hear his voice i pray we do it i want you to say it one more time in the comment sections i want you to say it out loud i want you to ask the lord to speak to you say speak to me lord write that right now speak to me lord let that be your altar call i'm about to pray for you and i don't want you to go anywhere because i want to share something else too and i believe god's gonna speak to you but i want you to write that speak to me lord go and practice these things now and let him speak to the point where you're hearing with confidence and clarity write that in the comment section let it be your altar call father in the name of jesus i pray lord you would give your people boldness to step out in faith i'm asking you lord to begin to reveal to your people these areas of their lives where they've not been obedient let us obey you lord that we might hear you more clearly father i ask in the name of jesus that you would cause us to practice silence and stillness and to find you in the quiet lead us besides still waters i pray and lord give us that unction to place your word before all else that we might build the foundation for our lives and father help us to take that step of faith and obey you that we might continually hear you speak in the mighty name of jesus we pray i want you to say because you believe it say amen now i want to show you something here go to proverbs chapter 11 i'm going to read a few verses to you this is key proverbs 11 24 through 28 give freely and become more wealthy be stingy and lose everything the generous will prosper those who refresh others will themselves be refreshed people curse those who hoard their grain but they bless the one who sells in times of need if you search for good you will find favor but if you search for evil it will find you now watch this verse 28 so key trust in your money and down you go but the godly flourish like leaves in spring that's the promise of scripture i want to tell you today i know it's easy sometimes when watching something online because no one's watching you but god it's easy to just go while i receive the word now i'm going to click out maybe the lord is calling you perhaps he's calling you to help with what this ministry is doing you have to ask the lord you want to hear his voice you have to ask him and i know it's tempting as i said to just click out and go to the next video or watch something else but but but allow the lord to soften your heart toward this ministry and this work i know there's lots of ministries lots of great soil to put your resources into but i want to talk to you about how you're giving counts here you know sometimes we have these streams reach a quarter of a million people i think one of them did like 700 000 just a couple months back they reach anywhere from 50 000 to 100 000 to 200 000 people and i thought my goodness if every single one of those people were to just become a supporter or even give one time this ministry will be able to do so much more for the kingdom so many more souls would be saved so many people would be delivered so many believers would be empowered so many more would hear truth from this ministry if you believe in the gospel if you love souls and you believe in ministry then i'm going to ask for your help help us continue to take the gospel of jesus christ and the power of the holy spirit all around the world give freely and become more wealthy the scripture says trust in your money and down you go some of us we hoard right we hear these types of things we say oh i don't want to give to that i gotta i gotta keep it you might look at the conditions of the world around you and say well they're saying this about the dollar or that about the economy or this about the job market and because of that we become afraid and we start to hoard don't do that trust in your money and down you go faith is the currency of heaven faith is the currency of heaven it's how things get done here at the ministry and so i'm asking you to do as the scripture says to give freely and become more wealthy yes there is blessing and giving yes god prospers those financially who give but that's not why we give we give so that the gospel can go forward now currently let me explain something here currently we're in the middle of what we call project e tv and project e tv is the expansion of our media ministry and we'll do this once every couple years because the ministry is constantly growing so we constantly need to expand with it but right now we're building a tv studio in austin now disclaimer if you're watching this several months from now when the project is done or maybe a few years from now when all three phases are complete then your giving will go toward the ministry as a general gift you can still give at the website even if the project is finished you can give but all giving will go toward general gifts i have to specify that because some people in the future may want to give to the project and it'll be done but if you're watching this well the project is still going on then i want to encourage you to support this ministry for the project and again disclaimer in the future it may be that you give and the project is done in that case your support will go to the ministry in general but right now here's what we need we need as many of you as possible to stand in faith with us and give toward project e tv we have until may 15th 2022 to finish raising the 2.75 million dollars as of today we are over 1.9 million in fact i think it's 1,960,000 let me check it right now you're watching this live the number may change when you watch the replay it's 1,961,000 so this is i believe if i'm if i'm not mistaken i believe this is just under 800,000 i could be wrong but you know i can't do the math on the fly right now either way we're 71 to our goal for phase one i mean many of you to sacrifice for this ministry now do we have those pictures ready tim for project e tv there's some pictures i think we'll put in the comment section for you this is something that you can actually go to the website and see different updates on the ministry pictures of the building you can see the progress bar going forward this is something i believe that god's going to use but ultimately we're building for the future we're building a studio we're building a production facility god's going to use this and i know that this is necessary especially for what's coming in the future i believe christians should own their own studios their own data centers their own tech why because you know the world is going to become less and less friendly to the gospel i'm not worried about the future but i am preparing for it and so this is a part of kingdom expansion taking territory not just reacting to the world but taking territory for the gospel so help us do it we need to raise the remainder by may 15 2022 and we are so close to the goal guys this means i need everyone whether you're watching live whether you're watching the replay i need everyone to give something some of you can give 10 some can give 25 some can give 50 some give 100 there are a few of you watching who could give a thousand there are even fewer of you're watching maybe there's one or two of you you can do a six figure donation i you may say brother david that's a little a little presumptuous to be asking for that no there are some people who have those kind of resources who watch and in fact several have given six figures to this project because we've asked the bible says you have not because you ask not but i understand this all you want to know is is my finance that i i send us support is that going to go to actually making a difference and yes it will go right now to david hernan's ministries dot com slash expand to give toward this project and again if you watch in the future on the replay and the project's done you can still give to the ministry but it'll go toward general giving i need everyone to go right now and give something we are so close to the goal i can't even believe we've come this far i mean one point nine million guys one point nine six one one million nine hundred sixty one thousand and we are seventy one percent of the way there so if you've been waiting you've been wondering is it going to happen maybe maybe you're someone who's been holding back and saying i'll give when they get a little closer you would be amazed at how when you give and people see that progress bar moving how it inspires even more people to give so now is the time ask the holy spirit what can i sacrifice what can i do to make this a reality all of us coming together but everyone needs to do something everyone should give something for the sake of the gospel now before i transition i do want to say that if you enjoyed this teaching and it helped bless your life number one leave a like on the video but also consider watching now my teaching how do i become a friend of the holy spirit and in that teaching i give you very practical keys on drawing closer to the person of the holy spirit