Guard Your Gates (7 ways to hear God's voice- Part 2)
Heeeeeyyyy y’all. We are back this week with another blog post and this week I feel led to share PART 2 of 7 ways to hear God’s voice. We are currently in a time where deception is at an all time high and if we are not discerning, vigilant and alert, we will give our ears to the wrong person, platform or social media personality. We have a responsibility to guard our gates. What exactly does that mean though? When we guard our gates, we are mindful and diligent about letting the right things in AND keeping the wrong things out. Gates in the natural are an entry point, something that things can enter through. The same applies spiritually. We have gates to our spirit, soul and body (we are triune beings) and we are commissioned to guard what we hear (or listen to), what we see and what is in our hearts.
God wants to make sure that we know His voice and that above all else that we can hear from Him and be led by the Holy Spirit. We must be intentional with creating an atmosphere to hear from Him and we must expect Him to speak (He longs to speak to us everyday). He sent His Holy Spirit to dwell in us and The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of truth that will lead us into all truth, not error.
He speaks to us through internal peace (but to be spiritually minded is life and peace Romans 8:6b; peace is a true confirmation that you are hearing from God and if you wait for peace, you will be able to be obedient with faith)
He speaks through persistent inner promptings (the Apostle Paul said his inner conscience was enlightened and prompted by the Holy Spirit bearing witness with him Romans 9:1; our conscience will sense the evidence of truth and our conscience becomes more sensitive the more we grow in the Lord)
He speaks through our heart’s desires (the SANCTIFIED desires of our hearts that long for the works of the Spirit to operate in our lives. Psalm 37:4)
He speaks through a voice we know and trust (a voice that always brings peace when God speaks to us; an example of this is when God started calling Samuel. 1 Samuel 3:1-10)
He speaks through our thoughts (a thought that you wouldn’t normally have had i.e. pray for… or, ask them about….; the Holy Spirit lives inside of us and His spirit and your spirit are one. 1 Corinthians 6:17)
He speaks through signs and wonders (a sign is meant to lead you to Jesus and to confirm His will and way to follow; a sign could be a license plate, a billboard, a song or a butterfly-signs get our attention-they are ways that speak personally to us. Acts 2:19)
He speaks through His still small voice (it’s so subtle that we may think we are making it up or hearing our own thoughts; we must learn to discern His still small voice by spending time with Him, in His word. 1 Kings 19:12-13)
In all of God’s sovereignty, He desires for His children, His sons and daughters, to hear from Him to: guide us, correct us, lead us, love us, direct us on the right path, edify us, encourage us, warn us, rebuke us, comfort us. Guard your gates. Spend time with Him in the secret place and be intentional with listening and expecting Him to respond/speak.
Prayer: Heavenly Father, thank you. Thank you for who You are and all that You have been in our lives. We ask you to open our ears and purify and sanctify them so that they can be sensitive to Your voice. Circumcise our ears so that we are not distracted by fleshly desires that could keep us from hearing Your still, small voice. We pray for the discipline and self control to be good listeners, so that we may hear from You. We bind up all distractions, any voices or anything that would stop us from hearing from You. We repent for keeping our ears to anything that is polluting our spirits, souls and bodies. We repent for ignoring Your correction and redirection. We repent for being in atmospheres that drown out Your voice. And we thank you for Your grace, mercy and favor and for saving us from ourselves. We thank you Holy Spirit for leading us in to all truth. And now and going forward we vow, with the help and power of Holy Spirit, to guard our gates and to be intentional with spending time with You so that we may hear from You. In the mighty name of Jesus I pray, Amen.