 Today, I would like to talk to you concerning how to hear God's voice. I believe there's four types of voices every single person hears regularly. The first voice is your own voice. The second voice is God's voice. The third voice is the devil's voice. And the fourth voice is the voice of other people. Let me review that again. God's other peoples, your own and the devil's voice. If you remember the story of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, you'll remember that Adam obeyed the voice of his wife. Eve obeyed the voice of the devil and none of them obeyed the voice of God. And many people today live in spiritual paradise, in spiritual blessing. But the reason they cannot continually live in that blessing is not because they're not able to hear God's voice. For many of us, it's because we are not heeding God's voice. What makes you spiritual is not your ability to hear God's voice. What makes you spiritual is your ability to heed God's voice. Come on, somebody dropped that in the chat. It's more important to heed than to hear God's voice. See, Adam, he heard the voice of the Lord. But he heeded the voice of a serpent. Or in fact, he heeded the voice of a snake. Jesus, he heard the voice of a serpent in the wilderness, but he still heeded the voice of the Lord. And therefore, your spirituality is not summed up in your ability merely to hear God's voice. I know that's what this message is going to be about. Your spirituality is really anchored in your ability to heed. To heed meaning to hear and follow through, to obey the voice of God. Your next level in God is really connected to your ability to hear and to heed the voice of God. You must understand as a Christian, it's one thing to hear the voice of God. It's another thing to be able to follow through. Hear the word of the Lord occurs 32 times in NIV and 28 times in NASB translation. Seven times God speaks to the churches in the Revelation. Let him who has an ear hear. Seven times he says that to every church, and I believe the same word is happening to our church, the same word is released to the church today. Him who has an ear, let them hear. The God we serve speaks today. Our God is not distant God who created this earth and then left this earth. He set it in motion and forgot us. Our God wants relationship and for him to have a relationship, he has to communicate. And to communicate we have to be able to hear his voice. Adam, God's created human being, our first ancestor and the first human being did not have a physical book but he still had the ability to hear the voice of God and he heard commandments of God. Of course he disobeyed them but the point being is that God created a man and God communicated his instructions to that man and God made his will known by communicating it to a human being. Jesus says we are not just his creation, we are his children. And Jesus says in John chapter 10 verse 27 he says the following my sheep hear my voice and I know them and they follow me. My sheep hear my voice and I know them and they follow me. So we're not just God's creation, we are God's children and Jesus compares us to sheep. Now at first for those of you who don't know anything about sheep like myself we look at that statement and we're like oh this is so cute Jesus calls me a sheep. It's actually not a compliment, it's kind of an insult okay because sheep are actually the dumbest animals out there. Sheep they do not, they cannot defend themselves, they cannot find their own way. They are content with whatever they find so they can drink muddy water. Sheep have a tendency of going astray. Sheep are actually pretty stupid because they have been known to walk into an open fire and sheep have been known to walk off the cliff. Sheep actually tend to follow other sheep so if one sheep goes into the fire the rest of them follow. So they have a tendency to do what other sheep do. Sheep cannot fight back they don't have a tail or claws or teeth or some venom that they can defend themselves they're totally defenseless. Without a shepherd sheep are not only lost they'll never get anywhere and what I love about Jesus is that Jesus pretty much says that your spiritual life is contingent, is founded, your ability to move forward cannot happen without you knowing the voice of your shepherd. As a Christian no matter how many degrees you have no matter how long you've been a Christian no matter how experienced you are as a Christian no matter how much you've read the word you still need to know the voice of your shepherd. As a sheep you're not supposed to carry burdens you cannot handle burdens on your own you cannot defend yourself you really need a shepherd and not only you need a shepherd you need to know the voice of the shepherd. Now I have a dog he's not he's kind of like a sheep he looks like a sheep and he knows my voice I call him by his name he responds he knows things like walkie walkie which simply means we're going to go for a walk he knows snack the word snack he wags his tail very quickly because he understands he's gonna get some treats up that means he needs to jump up down means sit down lay that means he needs to lay roll means it means he needs to roll stop means stop whatever he's doing and so jackal but jackal can actually survive on his own my dog can survive on his own because he can kind of defend himself he's pretty violent and he can also probably find his own food he eats whatever but sheep cannot do that I want you to know as a Christian without the guidance of your shepherd without the leading of your shepherd you cannot live in green pastures and you cannot fulfill God's will for your life and so having the ability to hear God is not something that you have to strive for it's something that you can't live without and it comes naturally and it comes because of who you are and it comes because of who he is he's a father we are children he is our shepherd we are the sheep he is the creator we are the creation so I want to lay just kind of a foundation hearing God's voice is the foundation to knowing God's will and operating in God's ways God's voice personally has been a catalyst in changing my life I am not the smartest kid in the blog I don't have a lot of education a lot of experience per se I also don't have a lot of knowledge concerning life and so many other things to be as successful as God has blessed me with and if I can look back into my life some of the wisest decisions that I've made was really leading of the Holy Spirit they were not of my own doing the voice of God the first I would say the first time that I remember vividly that set the course in my life it happened around 16 years of age when I I felt like I heard God in my spirit it wasn't audible but it felt like it was audible when God painted a picture of what my future will be like at the age of 16 of the kind of people I'm gonna be impacting and the kind of church I'm going to be leading it was crazy it was unbelievable but it was so real it changed my future it changed the direction of my life I knew from that point what I supposed to do with my life and ever since that time I'm 35 now that's what I've been doing sometimes people ask me they're like man you know God is blessing you you're seeing the the faithfulness of God but I'm gonna tell you one thing guys is that I've been doing this for a very long time and the reason I've been doing this is because I felt and I was secure and confident that this is what the Lord spoke to me to do later on you know same thing concerning my marriage same thing concerning even finances in my life same thing concerning different decisions in my life I remember the first time that me and my wife gave an extravagant sacrifice that became the catalyst in changing our ministry our finances and our life it was a leading of the Holy Spirit and I felt like I heard God to empty my account I remember the first time that I felt like I heard God to give my first car the second time when I gave a car and so on until last time around this last year around this time I had a car was planning to sell it and in the gym in our church I felt this prompting and impression of the Holy Spirit and I'm gonna talk to you in just a moment how to discern those and when I gave that away I became a miracle to somebody else's life this is what I can tell you about hearing God's voice when you hear God's voice and you act on it you will experience miracles and a lot of times you will become a miracle to someone else come on drop that in the chat if you hear and obey God's voice you will experience miracles and you will also become a miracle to someone else it's good to experience miracles what's better is when you become someone's miracle and God wants to have both of these happening in our life and the key is the voice of God if you track the blessing and the curses chapter you will see that God says if you hear my voice and you diligently obey my voice I will bless you if you know my voice but you do not obey my voice you will be cursed so blessings and curses are connected to hearing and obeying God's voice not just obeying God's word which is extremely important but obeying God's voice so many people are not walking in the blessings of God because they're not obeying God's voice some of them don't know God's voice and maybe you're one of them and I believe after the end of this session you will know God's voice and you will be able to discern God's voice and what you think is in your own head your own voice you might be missing it maybe it's the Lord speaking to you and acting on it could completely change your life I remember before I wrote Break Free Book two years prior to that I was in the Ukraine I had a jetlag I couldn't sleep and I decided to start praying turn on some music worship music and just it was a very large very tall apartment I think 26th floor or something I was sitting on the window just praying experiencing the presence of God I start crying the presence of God was so strong the awareness of his glory was so strong at the time I had two rental properties and out of nowhere I feel the Holy Spirit says I want you to get rid of all of your real estate and I want you to give the proceeds away and I saw this like a picture that the reason I joined the real estate is because I was planning to have a plan B in case ministry fails so I can have something to fall on and the Lord says I want you to go at this season of your life and burn the bridge no plan B and the presence of God was so strong honestly I felt like I wanted to die for Jesus become a martyr right there and then so I made a decision I said Lord I will do what you say in the next two years I sold one property gave the money away sold the other property gave money away but one of the things the Lord told me at that time to get rid of the real estate is he told me I will give you an idea that will come that will bring you passive income that will be connected to your calling not to construction and so I felt that impression it was very strong and so I get rid of the real estate and I am not getting any ideas I'm not thinking about actually any ideas in January two years prior two years after that I get this impression and I get this that's definitely not for me because I don't want to do it and I totally am not qualified to write a book on deliverance so of course I ignored that I ignored that for first month I ignored that for second month I ignored it for third month after the third month I started to experience very heavy spiritual dryness so I went to prayer to the Lord and said Lord you know I don't know what's happening to me and I heard this clear rebuke from the Holy Spirit that you're not obedient to my voice and I am telling you to write a book and you are not doing what I'm telling you to do and I said Lord I'm not author I'm not English is like my third language writing my writing socks and like no that's not for me and but it was a strong conviction strong conviction from the Holy Spirit that this was his voice and so out of sheer obedience not because I wanted to be an author definitely not because I wanted to make money or anything of that sort I really just out of sheer obedience started to write break free I wrote it I think within the month God connected me almost like supernatural to a person who helped me to edit it no publisher wanted to pick it up and so I learned how to self publish and it till this day this book is still so many people get delivered so many people get touched I just simply chronicle our story and I look back at it you know it's interesting even though I give this book for free and you know hundreds and thousands of copies have been downloaded for free but it's still on Amazon and Amazon sells it till this day more money from Amazon comes in than what I had in my rental properties passively I don't even promote this book as you guys notice I promoted this book three times during this live stream and I mentioned for you to download it for free which if you know anything about marketing that goes against your proceeds and still every single month somebody buys it from Amazon and Amazon sends me a check this is not to brag this is to tell you I am not that smart okay to create that on my own to come up with that on my own I've wrestled with that for three months but when I surrendered not only God used my obedience to his voice to bring a blessing into my life he used my obedience to his voice to make me a blessing to someone else see a lot of us we don't want to obey the voice of Jesus because it calls us into the impossible it calls us into sacrifice it calls us into the unknown when Jesus tells the servants take water and pour it into the vessels and then take it to the leader or take to the organizer of the wedding that is foolish that is crazy that's that's ridiculous but it's in that process the miracle happened and by doing that they became a blessing to the wedding party when you obey the voice of God you unlock miracles in your life when you obey the voice of God you become someone else's miracle God takes you to the next level so many people plateau in their walk with God for this one reason because they plateau in their obedience when you stop obeying God you stop growing in the next level with the Holy Spirit the key to the next level with the Holy Spirit is not always praying more fasting more or giving more it's obeying God if he tells you to fast more fast more if he tells you to give more give more if he tells you to forgive forgive your next level is not connected to you doing more it's connected to you obeying what he says whatever he says Mary says to the servants whatever he says just do it like the Nike says just do it come on somebody dropped it in the chat just do it many of you are spiritually stagnant and the key right now is not to punish yourself the key is to find what is he saying to you in this season that you need to do and just do that one thing it could be something that you're not comfortable with it could be something that takes you out of the realm of what's convenient it could be something that takes you out of the realm of what's normal it will take you into something maybe that's radical and ridiculous and not even reasonable to some people but I can guarantee you I'm a living witness it will change your life it will transform your life it will change your life if you simply obey the voice of the Holy Spirit I don't fast too fast even though fasting is part of my Christian discipline I fast because I want to be obedient when we did 21 day 40 40 day fast people like how do you do it I don't do it I obey for me it's not about 40 day fast for me it's about obedience and if I say Lord I want to obey you he will give me the grace to obey you know when me my wife given over six cars already it's not about I want it to be generous no I just want to be obedient that's all and I want to challenge you to do the same when it comes to consistency in prayer it's not about oh I just want to be disciplined that's not about that for me for me it's about obedience I want to be obedient to the Lord the writing of the book it's about obedience it's about like even right now what the Lord is challenging me to do in next six months of my life is about obedience it's not something I'm super comfortable with and it's not about sacrifice it's about obedience Abraham did not try to sacrifice Isaac Abraham simply obeyed God and it led to sacrifice God does not reward sacrifice he rewards obedience but obedience always leads to sacrifice come on somebody drop that in a chat God does not reward sacrifice he rewards obedience because obedience always leads to sacrifice you can sacrifice and not obey but you cannot obey and not sacrifice Saul sacrificed in disobedience but Abraham obeyed and it led him to sacrifice the Bible says Jesus learned obedience through the things that he suffered Jesus didn't come on the cross to prove that he was sacrificial lamb he came on the cross because he was obedient to his father and that led him to sacrifice and so do not fall in love and become addicted to sacrifice addicted to discipline be in love and addicted with the voice and obedience to the Lord and you will see great miracles in your life and you will see God will make you a miracle to someone else come on somebody drop number one in the chat if you are with me and you are in agreement that it's time to obey God like that old Christian hymn says trust and obey that's the only way trust and obey drop that in the chat trust and obey obedience is the key now let me share with you a few things on how to discern the voice of God better in your life if you're taking notes write this down number one get into God's word to hear God's voice get into God's word to get into God's voice in Matthew 4 4 Jesus says but he answered and said it is written men shall not live by brother alone but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God in other words if you want to hear God's voice study God's word in other words when you will become familiar with God's word we will become familiar with his voice because in second Timothy chapter 3 verse 14 it says for the word of God is inspired by God it's breath God breath release his breath it's breathed by God the meaning that means that this is not just poetry history this is not just chronicles this is not just Psalms these are not just history books this is actually the word of God that's why it's fresh that's why it's called the bread that's why it's called the voice of God that's why it's called the seed of God that's why it's called the sword of God that's why all of these things that hammer the oil the light why because the word of God it's different than any book actually the word of God is there and so as you study the word of God you will know the voice of God so let me ask you a question when you hear something when you feel a leading what does the Bible say that's the question you have to ask what does the Bible say like the person that you want to marry and you like oh God is telling me to marry this person okay what does the Bible say is this because the Bible makes it very clear you should marry someone in the Lord so whatever you hear whatever visions dreams angelic visitations impressions whatever you get if it does not line up with the Bible you have to throw it away completely you can't go and change the Bible to fit the voices in your head you have to allow the Bible the word of God to regulate and to pretty much create this filter by which you filter everything in your life the word of God contains the voice of God if you want to hear what God says you have to know what God said you have to know what God written in his word what Jesus says it is written you have to know what is written study the word of God memorize the word of God on the day before Christmas I'm gonna do a separate live stream concerning how to study the Bible and I'm gonna call it follow the star I believe it's like the wise men follow the star and we're gonna talk about the importance of the Bible and believers life but to know God's voice you have to study God's word read the Bible regularly read the Bible systematically read the Bible slowly let the Bible read you read the Bible with the marker read the Bible with pen but most importantly read it with the Holy Spirit because he wrote the Bible and he is the best teacher and he can help you to understand the Bible as you study the Bible as you read the Bible you'll be familiar with God's ways you'll be familiar with his voice you'll be familiar with his mind and you will be familiar with his heart so that's the first thing the second way to know God's voice is the spirit of God communicates God's voice so not only we have the word of God the Holy Scriptures we also have the spirit of God the Holy Spirit who speaks to us Jesus says that he will be another comforter he will be another advocate and he will teach you the things that I told you he will guide you into truth so the Holy Spirit will continue to guide us into truth now the Holy Spirit doesn't add extra revelations that are not in the written word of God but the Holy Spirit illuminates those revelations that are in the word of God he makes them alive the Holy Spirit causes the reading of God's word to come alive and the difference between that is logos and Reima logos is the written word and then Reima is the word that is quickened the written word becomes quickened but the Holy Spirit doesn't just quicken the word of God and speaks to us through the word of God the Holy Spirit can also speak through the following impressions promptings suggestions he brings things into remembrance that you studied remembered somebody has said imaginations or pictures and you can sometimes hear even an audible voice in Habakkuk 2 verse 1 it says I will stand my watch and I will set myself on the rampart and watch to see what he will say to me and what I will answer when I am corrected so he says I will position myself and I will watch to see what he says it's interesting you would think the correct wording will be I will watch to hear what he shows me or I will hear what he says he says I will watch to see what he says that means that the Holy Spirit sometimes will speak in pictures the Holy Spirit will speak in impressions the Holy Spirit will speak in suggestions the Holy Spirit will speak through your inner man that's why the Bible says in Romans chapter 8 verse 16 it says the Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God so the Holy Spirit gives these impressions these promptings these suggestions these these inner knowings in our spirit so we see the Bible is the word of God we hear the voice of God through the Bible and we also hear the voice of God through the Holy Spirit who lives with us walks with us and he reveals to us the voice and the will of God through these impressions suggestions and through our spirit number three the voice of God is hidden in the wisdom of God the voice of God we said number one we hear the voice of we hear the voice of God by understanding the word of God we hear the voice of God by developing a relationship with the Holy Spirit he speaks to our inner men number three the voice of God many times is hidden in the wisdom of God what I mean by that is this God will not always speak to you about things that he hides in his wisdom for example you don't always need to know the mind of God if you will know the heart of God you don't need to have God tell you should you love your wife as a husband you don't need God to give you conviction about it because the heart of God is revealed in the word of God the heart of God reveals the wisdom of God the wisdom of God the heart of God the ways of God which you already know contain God's perfect will and guidance for your life I don't need to have God speak to me concerning things that they're wise to do so sometimes the question you should be asking is not if you don't hear God's voice you should ask yourself this question what is the wise thing to do in this situation and the wisdom what is the wisest thing to do in that situation is really the voice of God in that situation because God is wise and the Bible says the man who built his house on the rock is the wise man the Bible doesn't call him righteous the Bible calls him wise man the scripture says that virgins that had extra oil they're called wise virgins the whole book of problems is about wisdom and so sometimes when you don't understand and you're like man I don't feel like I don't understand does God really want me to take a vacation or not well let's pause is this the wise thing for you to do is to take a vacation are you burned out are you financially stable can you afford to take a vacation are you going to lose your job when you take a vacation so you don't necessarily have to get an angelic visitation whether you should take a vacation or not you can ask yourself a question is this the wise thing to do because God's voice many times is hidden in God's wisdom that's why James tells us ask for wisdom James doesn't tell us just ask to hear God more because there are things in your life God will not speak to you about he wants you to have his wisdom and his wisdom will come from his spirit his wisdom will come from the fear of the Lord and his wisdom will come from turning away from evil so many things in our life you don't need to hear God's voice you just need to know God's wisdom and operate there are people who you you ask him how many times God speaks to you and you will see almost God like does not speak to them at all it seems like not in specifics and you're like why are you making all of these really smart decisions and you will if you look at their life you will see one thing is they have the wisdom of God and why they have the wisdom of God because they have the fear of God when you walk in the reverence of God you will operate in the wisdom of God and you will make right decisions and you will be in line with God's will and people from the outside will look at you like oh my goodness wow God speaks to you all the time you're like no I just walk in the fear of the Lord and God just gives me wisdom I'm not smart but I'm wise because you know smart is what you get in college but wise is what you get from the Holy Spirit when you fear the Lord and that's why a lot of people they have this understanding of the love of God but they don't have reverence for God they don't have the fear of God and therefore they don't walk in the wisdom of God so they constantly keep fishing for a prophetic word from somebody else when in reality there's a lot of things in your life you don't need a prophetic word on and you don't need a word from the Lord on what you need is you need to fear the Lord enough that he injects your life with wisdom because the wisdom of God contains the voice of God come on somebody drop that fire emoji in the chat if you are receiving what I'm sharing with you right now what does the word of God say what does the inner witness say thirdly what is the what is the wisdom of God say what is the God fearing wise person would say or do in this situation what is God fearing wise person would say or do in this situation and you can take risk and bank on that and take a decision and you won't fail to miss the will the ways and the voice of God number four it's the peace factor pay attention to God's peace one of the ways God speaks to us is not only through his wisdom not only through his word not only through his spirit God also speaks to us through his peace the scripture says in Colossians 3 verse 15 and let the peace of God rule in your hearts to which also you were called in one body and be thankful now one translation says the following let the peace of God be empire be an empire like a referee settle with finality with finality all matters that arise in your heart let me read this again so one translation says in Colossians 3 verse 15 it says the following let the peace of God be a referee that will settle with finality all matters that arise in your heart so you have all these matters like popcorn just showing up and and and God's like I want my peace to be the referee to settle things in your heart God's peace is one of the ways he communicates so the question would be is do you have peace about it because if God speaks about something something about God he is the prince of peace he injects his voice carries peace remember when Jesus spoke peace into the storm the storm stopped and maybe your heart is like that storm God's voice carries peace if there is tension if there is pressure if there is anxiety if there is stress if there is fear you can know that's not God's voice even if it makes sense to your natural mind God's peace doesn't always fit into our natural mind that's why it passes understanding but God's peace carries sense of sense of calmness in our spirit sense of assurance and sense of confidence God got this everything's going to be all right it is well with my soul the waves come down the storm comes down God's peace is in God's voice and sometimes when he speaks things don't make sense but peace like a river flood your soul the storm anxiousness tiredness confusion panic fear i'm gonna die i'm not gonna make it oh god how am i gonna provide for my family what am i gonna do the doctor said this this person said that and this person is criticizing when God's peace comes none of that matters it's almost like it's only you and God nothing changes on the outside but everything changes on the inside and God speaks that one thing to you and the case is settled because God's peace becomes the referee that gives pretty much settles the whole thing settles all the affairs in your heart come on somebody drop a fire emoji if you're thankful for the peace of God you want to know God's voice study God's word you want to know God's voice get to know the holy spirit you want to know God's voice walk in a field of God because that's where the wisdom is and God's voice is in God's wisdom you want to know the voice of God it comes in a peaceful way it comes in a way of peace number five you want to know God's voice lower the noise in your life lower lower the noise in your life the Bible says he who has an ear let him hear if you want to hear God's voice you have to lower the noise a lot of times the problem is not that God doesn't speak the problem is we have so many other things blasting in our ears and we can discern the voice of God not because it's hard to discern the voice of God it's because we intentionally make our life extremely distracted we make our life very busy and our life is constantly buzzing with information and we're being discipled by CNN not the word of God we're being being discipled by the culture we're constantly like like dumb sheep following what everybody else is doing instead of calming enough and waiting at the presence of God and saying Lord I want to hear your voice so what do you want to do at that is that you want to have in your life you want to stop the noise for a season I want to encourage you to carve out time that you go to be with the Lord Elijah went into the cave he's seen the the strong wind and then the still small voice came in do you have a cave in your life that you come in to call the closet prayer closet do you have a secret place that you come in and that place might be noisy in the sense that you know there's worship playing there but that's not that kind of noise I'm talking about I'm talking about this noise right here I'm talking about the noise right here the Bible says that the spirit of a man is a lamb of the Lord searching all inner depths of his heart in Proverbs 20 27 and so the spirit of a man is a lamb of the Lord now at that time they did not have electricity so they had this like a candle we have a candle today made out of wax and then a wick that you know we light up so that it provides light in those days the lamps were made out of flax and then wick was dipped in oil and if you had no oil you pretty much would not have light and you wouldn't have light you wouldn't be able to operate during dark and so the Bible says this the the spirit of a man it's interesting the spirit of a man is the lamp is the candle of the Lord if you don't have oil in your spirit you won't have light in your life light provides illumination light provides direction light provides guidance in your life so we all want the light meaning we want to be led by the Lord we want to have we want to know is this from God or is this not from God Lord what I should do should I join this school should I go to intership should I move should I marry this person we all want light but you must understand is that in order to have light you have to have oil so if your spiritual life does not have oil and you only have distraction distraction instead of delight in the Lord so let me ask a question are you distracted or are you delighting in the Lord because when you're delighting in the Lord you have oil and that oil will cause light to be in your life light will cause illumination light will cause direction light will cause God's guidance when there is no light the goal is not to produce light the goal is to make sure that your candle has oil your spirit make sure that it's filled with the Holy Spirit and it's very simple to do you don't have to try hard for most of us the problem is not that God is not speaking the problem is there's so much stuff there's so much noise that is going on some of you you would benefit if you would take the next day off and turn off your phone for 24 hours and stop the noise of the notifications turn off the social media and go dark and go quiet some of you it would benefit in your life if you unplug all of these external things and for one day you go out of your town somewhere on the mountain rent a hotel pitch a tent or sleep in front of a beautiful sky and just be with God just stop the noise first few hours you'll freak out first few hours it will be weird but after that your soul will quiet down and your spirit will speak your spirit will hear what the spirit of God says our soul is very distracted it's very loud it's it's very boisterous it's it's where the emotions are at our spirit is where the knowing is at soul is what i feel my spirit is what i know and if i don't know what i only feel that means i'm still in the realm of the soul and i need to lower the noise so i can hear his voice and sometimes there are practical things i can do like get out of town turn off the phone practice Sabbath during my quiet time actually take a moment to quiet my soul surrender to the holy spirit worship him you know get near to God so i can hear God because God doesn't scream why he doesn't scream because he expects you to be close so God always speaks but he doesn't scream why he doesn't scream because he expects you and i to be close come on somebody dropped it in the chat God does not scream he whispers because he expects us to be near so you have to be near God to hear God you have to lower down the noise so you can hear his voice he speaks but if you turn off the noise you won't miss his voice it will be very clear because of so much noise going on in our life many times we don't hear him are you distracted or are you delighting in the Lord that it that will determine the discernment whether you can discern his voice or you just simply too crowded and too distracted number six so let's let's let's review how to hear the voice of God get get into the word of God get closer to the Holy Spirit because he speaks to your spirit through intuitions and pressures pictures and images we also have mentioned walking the field of God because you will automatically walk in the wisdom of God and the voice of God is in the wisdom of God God doesn't have to speak to you about things that honestly are common sense then we also have mentioned that the peace of God is really how God speaks for many of us number five we mentioned we have to lower the noise in our life number six we have to unmute God what i mean by unmuting God have you had on your computer where you are music is playing on your computer or on your phone music is playing or video is playing but you muted the phone or there's a mute button on the computer and the video is playing but you can't hear anything until you unmute mute what i mean by mute is this is when you disobey God's voice what begins to happen is he stops speaking a lot of times if you're not hearing God today perhaps you stopped heeding God yesterday you can't hear God's voice today if you did not heed his voice yesterday when you stop heeding God's voice it's a matter of time and he will stop speaking God does not like to be disrespected and a lot of times what happens how God is disrespected is when he says it we don't do it and then we come back and we're like God what should i do and he doesn't speak anymore that's what happened to King Saul King Saul was wondering why is God not speaking to me because when God did speak he didn't do anything then God stopped speaking and Saul got frustrated with God not speaking that he went to a witch and then God got really upset and he died pretty much the next day but all he needed to do is unmute God what does that mean go do the first thing God told you to do that you ignored downplayed or simply disobeyed you will jeopardize your walk with the Holy Spirit if you keep practicing a lifestyle of disobedience i'm not saying you're gonna lose your salvation what i'm saying is you will lose your intimacy and God will stop trusting you with his voice why does he need to keep telling you new things if the old things he told you you did not do if he told you to stop sleeping with your girlfriend clearly in his word clearly he's convicting you why does he need to tell you new things if you have not done the old ones so if you remember when Jesus was getting baptized there's such a beautiful story there he came out came out of the water and the bible says the voice of God came and it said the voice from heaven came and said this is my beloved son in whom i am well pleased okay now you're reading that story like oh this is so amazing i want God to have exactly same experiences with me i want him to speak i want the voice of heaven to come not so fast if you remember something about Jesus the bible says when he was getting baptized John said you shouldn't be getting baptized and Jesus says permit it to be for us to fulfill all righteousness Jesus obeys the Father Jesus does what needs to be done and then God speaks so let me ask you a question are you obeying God in what you know God is saying to you right now are you obeying God in what you know God said to you in the last season or you put that under the carpet and said I don't like that I want to get a new word let me find me a prophet who can tell me what I want to hear then you're not really looking for God to speak you just simply want God to tickle your ears if you really want God to speak then what he said you should do and when you do what he said your closeness to God increases when you do what he says your trust God begins to trust you with his voice and then you become actually you walk with the fear of God you know that when God speaks it's pretty serious like when God speaks like this is no joke I used to when I was younger I used to pray I'm like Lord speak to me speak to me until the Lord starts speaking I said Lord speak less to me because like I'm responsible for what I hear from the Lord like when God guides me with something and I ignore it the next time I hear it less if I keep ignoring it then I hear less and then I don't hear it anymore and then I can live with this complacency oh I'm fine when in reality I'm simply disobedient because God is still speaking but I've trained my mind no don't do that don't do that don't respond to that don't follow through on that don't obey that don't rearrange your life according to the instruction the leading and the guidance of the Holy Spirit no Vlad don't pray for that person when the Lord gives you an impression to pray for that person no don't you dare to empty your account I mean God will never ask you to sacrifice Isaac Abraham that's not God hey widow don't give your last mind that that that's not God hey Mary don't break the alabaster box why did the impression that you got that that's from the devil hey David don't don't don't do all of that stuff that's not from God hey servants don't take the water and and take it to the master of the wedding and tell him that's wine that that's gonna get you fired like be careful what you're doing Peter don't walk on the water like that's ridiculous that's crazy and when we train our mind that's insane that's crazy I will never do that no that's gonna complicate my life no I just I'm used to living like that but then you're saying Lord speak to me speak to me speak to me and when God does and we're not following through we're telling the Lord Lord don't trust me with your voice that's what we tell in God with our actions and I know this is painful to hear and I do not please guys hear me out watching or rewatching I do not want to give you this I don't want to guilt trip you with this please but I do want to let you know that God is God wants to be treated with respect and when he asks for something and we don't obey it we're disrespecting him and our spirit becomes more dull and next time we lack more sensitivity and then comes a point we no longer hear God in that area again and it's not that he's not speaking we become deaf why because disobedience makes you deaf spiritually drop that in the chat disobedience to the voice of God makes you spiritually makes you spiritually deaf you know people who are deaf it's not that nobody speaks around them it's just they can't hear it when you constantly disobey the voice of God it's not that God doesn't speak it's that you no longer can hear so therefore you need to unmute God in your life by repenting for the times that you've disobeyed him and do what he says to do not partial obedience full complete obedience and he will speak again he will guide you again he will trust you again with his direction and with his voice are you receiving something if you are watching this drop number one in the chat if you are rewatching this I also welcome you to this and drop number one in the chat as well let me know that this is a blessing to your spiritual life and your spiritual journey and we're going to be praying that God will hear reopen your spiritual eyes in just a moment now let me give you number eight so let's go back through number seven let's go back through it again to hear God's voice you have to know God's word to hear God's voice you have to be friends with the Holy Spirit to hear God's voice you have to understand you have to fear God because God's wisdom is hidden in the fear of the Lord and God's voice is hidden in the wisdom of God you have to know that God speaks with peace or through peace if there is no peace it probably not it's not a God's voice you have to lower the noise in your life that means if you want to see light you have to have oil in your life they have oil you have to prioritize your time with the Lord and lower the noise God speaks but sometimes there's so much noise we don't hear it because to hear God we have to be near God we also said number six is that many times we don't hear God is because when he spoke previously we disobeyed him it was either too hard too difficult it was too sacrificial it would cost us too much my boyfriend wouldn't understand like oh I don't want to do it and so then now when we really are desperate to hear the voice of God God stop speaking not because he doesn't care it's because he doesn't trust us anymore to follow through with what he says therefore we have to go back and unmute through our repentance number seven to hear the voice of God we have to follow the signs sometimes God will speak to you through the signs the signs are few things common sense I mentioned that circumstances sometimes God will use things that are falling into place as a sign that that's what he is telling you to do very simple it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure that out when God wanted to speak to Moses he simply set the bush on fire now this was not a first time Moses saw bush this was not the first time that the bush was burning in the wilderness but something about it not burning out caught Moses's attention and it's when Moses churned his face and went to see that God spoke we see that Gideon you know would use fleas and he would use these signs and God would use that to speak to him we see the servant of Abraham was sent to find a bride and then he kind of prayed this very simple prayer if she comes and waters gives me water and waters my camels which was pretty bold prayer then I know this is from God and things just kind of fell into place this was from God that's the way God led him that's the way God spoke to him was through the signs the scripture says that heavens declared the glory of God God can use natural circumstances that kind of fall into place as a way of his divine direction in your life now yes of course I would like to get an angel to visit I would like to get and Michael or Gabriel to come and show up you know and put a duct tape over my mouth if I object to his instructions but but most of us we're not like dumb we're not come on we're not stupid okay like green light means go you don't need to wait in front of the green light and call the secretary of transportation and say should I go or should I not go no you just go green light means go so when things begin to fall into place when there are circumstantial confirmation and scripture is on board and you have wise people in your life that confirm that go what are you waiting for go means go green light means green light just so a lot of times God will speak to you through the circumstances number eight God will speak to you through dreams so write them down the bible says that God spoke to Joseph wise men and so many others and next week we're going to talk about dreams how God communicates through dreams but we see that God spoke through dreams in the dreams now a lot of us we think oh it's just the pizza dreams it's just uh it's just I'm just thinking about it I was just thinking about it and that's why it came so if it's a vivid dream and next week we'll talk more about how to understand your dreams and dreams from God and etc and so I'm going to even have my wife join me as well for a little bit and we're going to talk about dreams so I'm not going to spoil that for next week it's going to be exciting I'm really really excited to share that and I actually have a e-course that's coming out about dreams and so but the bible says in the last days I'll pour out of my spirit and young men will see visions and your old men will see will dream dreams and so God can still use the night to reveal his will to your life and sometimes God will show you in the dream that you will for example cast out demons he's calling you to the ministry of deliverance he will show you in the dream while you're sleeping you're reaching and preaching to thousands and why does he do that in the dream because it's so radical and ridiculous that most of us will not believe in that if God will come and speak to us in person or in the audible voice and through dream God is able to bypass all of our objections all of our walls and pretty much communicate his word directly into our life and so God speaks also through dreams number nine the last one is if you still can't hear God go to a prophet because God can speak through a prophet or through counselors we see that Samuel couldn't like fully understand God's voice even though God was speaking God said Samuel Samuel and he was like Eli did you call me and Eli said no i didn't call you and then um Samuel Samuel he comes to Eli again hey did you call me no i didn't call you so that tells me that sometimes the voice of God can sound like somebody else's voice sometimes God will actually somebody was speaking to your life and it will be God's voice because sometimes God's voice sounds like someone else's voice sometimes your own voice it sounds like your own voice because it's gonna be in your head so it could be that so why do you need Eli in your life why do you need the prophet in your life not so that the prophet can always give you God's voice it's so that the prophet can help you to understand the voice of God you're hearing to confirm what you're hearing Eli did not make Samuel hear God he made him discern what he was hearing did you catch that Eli helped Samuel to discern what he was hearing the prophetic in our life the mentors in our life is not to hear God on our behalf even though sometimes they can they can hear God on our behalf give us the word of the Lord and it's so beautiful but it's so that they could hear help us to hear God on our own the prophet of God does not replace my need to hear from the Lord and hearing from God does not replace my need for the prophet of God God has called some people to be prophets God has called and given some people words of knowledge and words of wisdom and my need for them is not canceled because I hear God and because I hear God I still need the prophets and when the prophet gives his word it doesn't cancel my need to develop my hearing of God's word now I'm going to give you a few simple practical steps and what happens if the prophet gives you a word I understand that people sometimes have questions how do I know it's from God how do I know if this prophetic word if I should act on this prophetic word the word of God that comes through a prophet will usually not be something new to the mind of the person that is receiving the prophetic word it will confirm something God's been dealing with you about be careful of prophetic words that come out of blue you didn't think about it God didn't deal with you about it and out of nowhere they're just throwing you into something even though I believe it still can happen but I would be careful with those words especially words that come in in more of a directional setting where you know you're praying and there's no impressions no guidance no circumstances no peace nothing about this particular thing like getting married to this person giving or moving or picking up this job and the prophet comes in and says God says you should do this and do this especially if the prophet comes in and says you need to give all of your money to my ministry to the prophet's ministry a red flag or if the prophet comes in and says you need to marry my daughter a red flag or if the prophet comes in and says you need to quit your job and go become a full-time minister but that's not something the Lord's been dealing with you about and it's not confirming anything in fact it's confusing you yeah I would be hesitant about that because the prophetic word should confirm what the Lord's been dealing with you already it shouldn't replace and bring confusion the other part about the prophetic word is the character of the person bringing the prophetic word should always be considered let me say it again the character of the person giving you a prophetic word should always be considered just because they said thus says the Lord it does not mean thus said the Lord the bible says you shall know them by their fruits you should consider the character of that person sometimes God's word gets deluded and polluted by the bad character and attitude of the very prophet because the spirit of a prophet is subject to a prophet God can say one thing and a prophet through his filter can give you something that is completely not the same and therefore you must consider the word consider the man of God that is giving you that word his character number three the word of God I'm speaking the prophetic word right now go to the prophet to get the prophetic word if you want to know the direction and the guidance from the Holy Spirit concerning this area of your life the word from a prophet prophetic word should not be controlling but confirming if it's controlling it's not from God God does not drive us he leads us he doesn't control us he guides us he doesn't manipulate he motivates number four all prophecy is in part as true as it is it never gives us a full whole picture no prophet has a full picture prophets prophesy in part we see in part and one of the reasons God will not give you a full picture even through the best the greatest the most anointed prophet in the world is because God wants you to trust him no amount of prophetic words and miraculous power will make faith unnecessary in your life even when you are clear God spoke there will still be a little ounce of risk taking why because it requires faith to obey God everything that we do with our relationship with the Lord is through faith and there will be no need for faith if you see the full picture and the last one about prophetic words from prophets and how to hear God's voice in light of the word we should prayerfully consider what the prophet has given to us Hezekiah didn't surrender to the prophetic word in fact he went to prayer and God changed things so God's prophetic word is not a final verdict it's something you should take to prayer and pray through pray about is this what the Lord wants or is this not what he wants to do is this something that's on his heart or is this something that's on his mind things could change or not and Hezekiah prayed about it and the prophetic word was changed and so I get a lot of prophetic words you know given to me by people some people really mean well some people completely are off but it's fine I'd say thank you and if they're way off and I don't trust their character then I say hey you know no don't give it that stuff but if they really mean well I take that word put it into prayer and then it goes through the grind of prayer and after that you know if needs to go on my paper or something I need to intercede and fight according with prophetic words or if it's something I just need to put aside and say Lord it's in your hands so but I would not let prophet bring confusion into my life I will God's voice is not like that and so don't allow prophetic voice don't allow God's voice because it's not God's voice it's the enemy that will sometimes plant seeds and that's how you know it's not from God if it doesn't give you like clarity if it doesn't give you confidence if it doesn't give you confirmation but it brings confusion it brings condemnation this is when you really know this is not the Lord the devil comes to confuse the devil comes to bring condemnation in Jesus name rebuke that stay away from that and walk in the path of peace I believe that we need more prophets in our churches we need more prophets in our teams who will hear the sermon and guide us even more I'm not a prophet I'm more of a teacher but I rely on people in my life who have the prophetic gift I hear God's voice for myself for my ministry but me hearing God does not make prophetic people in my life unnecessary and just because I have prophets in my life it does not mean I don't need to hear God I still have the responsibility and I have the privilege of hearing my father to guide me to direct me and to lead me and my personal life has been enriched and changed because of the voice of God and I pray to dear Holy Spirit to the Lord to the Father Son and the Holy Ghost that you will begin to walk in the voice of God I don't believe that every single day God speaks like specifically I believe that he speaks to his word he speaks to the Spirit he comforts me he convicts me but this this whole idea that people walk around every single day God said God said God said God said but there is no fruit in their life of anything happening like I think they need to tone it down and and start living by what God is written in his word and to walk around like Jesus and say it is written it is written it is written and walk in the feet of the Lord instead of walking around God said God said but God does speak God does guide and miracles happen when we obey his voice his voice carries a sense of comfort his voice carries a sense of peace his voice carries a sense of conviction his voice carries a sense of confidence his voice will demand faith from you his voice will make you responsible to obey sometimes God doesn't have to speak about things that honestly his wisdom will guide you into if you walk in the feet of the Lord there are things God will not have to speak about because you are in his word and his word is very clear about it so period but in many areas of our life we will need his comforting his convicting his confirming his reassuring peace that will come through the inward impressions promptings and pictures in Jesus name if you receive something today drop number one in the chat let's pray together if you are able to place your hands on your ears just for a moment okay so maybe leave your keyboard for just a moment and let me just pray right now for your spiritual ears let me just ask the Holy Spirit to open your ears Lord in the name of Jesus I pray for every person that is watching right now I pray for every person that will be rewatching this that you will open their spiritual ears father that your children will know your voice it's natural it's not something we have to go to college for to know your voice we're born into your family but teaches to discern your voice from the voice of people from the voice of the accuser from our own voice Lord I pray for those people who are so eager to know your voice but they're not hungry for your word bring transformation in their life today in Jesus name Holy Spirit I ask you for those who don't know you as their guide and comforter and their friend I pray that they will cultivate relationship with you precious Holy Spirit and that they will begin to take risks in trusting the impressions promptings suggestions even be open to open their heart to hear what the Spirit says to the churches Lord I pray for those who have disobeyed you so many times and they're so disappointed and defeated because they're disobedient and today they have become spiritually deaf I pray that you will lead them to repentance right now I pray that you will give them tears of repentance that you will give them conviction not condemnation I pray they'll get on their knees and that you will give them the gift of repentance unmute them let them hear again the voice that was always speaking let them give them grace to heed your voice in Jesus name give them grace to follow what they hear act on what they hear not simply accumulate God said to me God said to me but I never did anything about it Lord I pray for those people who simply need to relax and follow the signs and pay attention to common sense pay attention to the things that are falling into place that just you're just making things happen circumstantially and but they're still waiting for a green light they're still waiting for some kind of a supernatural sign when the natural sign is enough Holy Spirit I ask you for those that you're speaking through dreams but maybe they don't understand that you will prepare their heart to understand and Lord I pray for those who maybe have prophetic words but these prophetic words maybe brought them confusion or maybe these prophetic words or God they don't know what to do with them that you will give them clarity Holy Spirit that you will give them understanding that they will begin to receive confirmation comfort through prophetic words surround them with wise counsel surround them with wise mentors surround them with people that will walk alongside with them in Jesus name help us Holy Spirit as we're stepping into the next year I know some people in this livestream and those rewatching you will speak to them about fasting Lord I know that give them the grace to obey some of them you will speak to them about changing certain things that they're doing give them the grace to obey you will speak to them about like you always do for me in December about the coming upcoming year and you're always giving grace to obey and Lord we lean on your grace to obey what you say in Jesus name let our life not be a result of our strength wisdom ingenuity and cleverness let it be the fruit of the Holy Spirit the fruit of being led by God for the children of God are led by the Spirit of God in Jesus mighty name amen