The Holy Spirit (Pt 3)

Acts 13:2 (ESV)

While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.”

Acts 8:29 (ESV)

And the Spirit said to Philip, “Go over and join this chariot.”

Acts 20:28 (ESV)

[28] Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the church of God, which he obtained with his own blood.

Several years ago I had the opportunity to sit with the pastor and elders of a small local congregation. A difficult problem came up that they needed to deal with. The Pastor said, “We need to pray about this.” They stopped right there and prayed together. Each person prayed, and then they sat in silence for a time. Then the pastor turned to each person in the room and asked, “What did you hear?” Each person had a thought or idea that had occurred to them as they were praying and listening. By the time each one had added to the conversation they had a plan to deal with the problem. The pastor had taught his leaders to listen to the Holy Spirit.

That is likely not the only way we listen to the Holy Spirit, but it is certainly one way to do so. Too often our approach is not to listen, but to talk. We talk a problem to death, come to a consensus, and make a decision, or we leave it for the next meeting. We are told to pray about it and we’ll talk about it at the next meeting. Few actually spend any significant time praying about the problem between meetings. We know how to make decisions, and we know how to put off making decisions. What we do not do well is listen.

The Spirit told Philip to talk to the Ethiopian Eunuch (Ac 8:29). The Spirit told the leaders of the church in Antioch to send Paul and Barnabas on a mission trip (Ac 13:2). The Spirit placed each leader in the church (Ac 20:28). Having been placed in leadership of God’s church by God’s Spirit, it is then important for us to actually listen to the Holy Spirit. How do we know it is the Spirit who is speaking, and not just our own ideas, or worse, some deceptive spirit?

The Spirit’s voice is often drowned out by the clamor of our own thoughts and desires. There are three principles that we need to keep in mind when we are learning to listen to the Spirit. First is the principle of indifference. The Apostle Paul wrote,

[12] I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. [13] I can do all things through him who strengthens me (Ph’p 4:12).

If we attempt to listen to the Holy Spirit, but we have a vested interest in how things turn out, or what we want to hear, it is difficult to hear clearly. If we are to truly hear the Spirit of God, we need to be okay with whatever he says. If I set my heart on buying a particular car, and I pray about whether it is a good idea, all the while yearning for the car, I probably won’t hear the Spirit. My yearning is screaming so loudly that it muffles the voice of the Spirit. In 1 Thessalonians 5:19 we are warned, “Do not quench the Spirit.” Unless we are able so say, “Whatever the Spirit says, I am okay with,” we will never hear clearly. Are we as ready to hear “No” as we are to hear “Yes?” The principle of indifference is a foundational principle in hearing clearly from the Spirit.

The second principle of hearing the Spirit is that the Spirit of God never speaks contrary to the Word of God that he inspired. 2 Peter 1:21 says, “For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.” The Holy Spirit, who inspired the Bible will never speak contrary to the Bible he inspired. When we think we are hearing from the Spirit, we must test it against the Word of the Spirit. The Apostle John wrote, “Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, . . . . every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God” (1 John 4:1-3). Not everything we hear is necessarily from God. It must be tested against what we know is true. It must be tested against the Word.

The third principle of hearing the Spirit is that what we think we are hearing from him must be tested against what others are hearing. “The spirits of prophets are subject to prophets. For God is not a God of confusion but of peace” (1 Cor 14:32-33). Throughout the Scriptures there is a principle of two or three witnesses. In 2 Corinthians 13:1 the Apostle Paul says that accusations against a brother “must be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses.” That same principle is taught in Numbers and Deuteronomy. Jesus taught that “if two of you agree on earth about anything they ask, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven” (Mt 18:19). Just three verses earlier Jesus taught us how to approach a brother who is in sin and will not listen. “But if he does not listen, take one or two others along with you, that every charge may be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses” (Mt 18:16). In 1 Corinthians 14:29 Paul taught, “Let two or three prophets speak, and let the others weigh what is said.” No one should say, “God said . . .” or “God told me . . .” unless it is first tested by others who are listening to the Spirit as well. May we learn to say, “I think I am hearing . . . from God. What are you hearing?”

If we are to learn to listen to the Spirit we need practice these three principles. We must be indifferent to what we hear. We must test what we hear against the Word of God. We must test what we hear against what others are hearing. The Spirit never contradicts himself, but we do not always hear clearly. I sometimes wonder if what people claim to be hearing from God is not just wishful thinking, or their own desires shouting loudly. When it comes to listening to the Spirit of God, we must come with humility, and a willingness to test what we think we are hearing. That being said, we must first be actually listening. He often speaks in a “low whisper” (1 Kng 19:12). It is time we stop making decisions and starting listening to the Spirit of God. He knows the heart of God. Romans 8 reminds us that we do not know how to pray, but the Spirit “intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words” (Rom 8:26). The Spirit of God knows both the depth of our hearts, and the will of the Father. Maybe it is time that we learn to listen to him.