The Inner Voice

The sixth method of hearing from God is what I call the inner voice. In 1 Kings 19 we have the account of how Elijah, after he had run away in fear from Jezebel, sat down and wanted to die. He went to a place where God spoke to him. 1 Kings 19:11 to 13 says:

And he said, Go out, and stand on the mountain before the LORD [Yahweh]. And the LORD [Yahweh] passed by, and a great and strong wind tore the mountains, and broke in pieces the rocks before the LORD [Yahweh]; [but] the LORD [Yahweh] [was] not in the wind: and after the wind an earthquake; [but] the LORD [Yahweh] [was] not in the earthquake:

And after the earthquake a fire; [but] the LORD [Yahweh] [was] not in the fire: and after the fire a still small voice.

And it was [so], when Elijah heard [it], that he wrapped his face in his mantle, and went out, and stood at the entrance of the cave. And, behold, [there came] a voice to him, and said, What are you doing here, Elijah?

The still small voice is something that is even deeper. You must remember that what is being communicated from the spirit outwards, as it is communicated into the mind, it is communicated via the senses.

The still small voice is God communicating outwards, not in pictures, but in the hearing. Not everybody is able to receive and to hear in the Spirit. But most of us are able to hear the still small voice.

You are going to hear this still small voice when things are still. You will not hear it where there is noise. That is what God was trying to show Elijah. There was this big wind and earthquake and fire ? the glory, the power, the anointing, the revival power and the river of God.

No, the still small voice is not coming from without. It is not external, but a deep internal voice of God. It is speaking ? not shouting but speaking gently, almost whispering. You can learn to hear the still small voice if you will quieten your heart before the Lord and wait in His presence.

I think the Lord had a plan when He told Elijah to go and climb the mountain. It wore out all of his physical resources. He was physically tired by the time he came to the mountain top. His mind was probably boggled from just seeing rocks in front of him all the time.

Whatever it was, he came to the place where he was totally still before the Lord. Then God could speak to him in that still small voice.

You are also able to hear the still small voice of the Lord. It is a very quiet, deep, inner voice, and it comes out in words. The Lord will speak to you and you will actually hear His voice speaking deep within you.

Now this is a difficult one. This is one that takes a mature prophet of God to use. I will tell you why. It is because the still small voice comes up into your mind. Your mind is the battleground that Satan can use and attack, and he can bombard you from outside.

So this is a way of hearing from God that takes a seasoned prophet to use. It takes a man of God who knows the Word. It takes somebody who recognizes deception, and can recognize and discern if that voice is of God or not.

But you will find that you can come to the place where you enter His presence in silence and God will begin to speak within you. There will be no journaling, there will be no prophesying, there will be no speaking in tongues and no noise. It just bubbles up deep inside of you, the still small voice of the Lord rising up into your mind, and God begins to speak to you.

Very often God will speak to you this way when He wants to tell you things that are secret; when He wants to tell you things that are not meant to be known to others. They are not meant to be made public.

Satan cannot zero in on that one. He can read your journals; he can hear you prophesying. He can have an idea of what God is saying to you and what He is doing in you. But when God speaks up into you in the still small voice, you are the only one that can hear it.

God will speak to you, and He will share secrets with you. He will give you direction that is not for public hearing. There are things that God wants to say to you alone. That is what He did with Elijah at this time. He gave him instructions on what he was to go and do, who he was to anoint and the plan that he was to follow through.

The Audible Voice

The audible voice of God is where God's voice actually sounds the same as somebody speaking out loud. Not many people hear the audible voice of God. Those who do hear it, hear what to them sounds like an audible voice. But usually when they hear it, nobody else around them can hear it.

It is the same influence that is coming up from within. It is not an actual tangible sound wave that is coming out there and actually striking their ears. It sounds like that to them, because the sense of hearing has been so superseded by the Spirit that it has come up and come under control.

It is almost like a trance vision if you like, where the voice is being heard very distinctly and clearly.

You say, "Why doesn't God speak to me in an audible voice?"

"Well are you able to hear the still small voice?"

You say, "Yes."

"Then why must He speak to you in an audible voice?"

Is it necessary? That is up to the Lord. I know He has never spoken to me in an audible voice so I cannot identify with this one. I know that His voice within me has risen up at times so loud that it almost sounds audible. But I would not say that I actually heard it with my ears. I heard it with my spirit.

Face to Face Relationship

Now we come to the final way of hearing from God, and that is the face?to?face relationship. In Numbers 12:5 to 8 it says:

And the LORD [Yahweh] came down in the pillar of the cloud, and stood [in] the door of the tabernacle, and called Aaron and Miriam: and they both came out.

And he said, Hear now my words: If there is a prophet among you, [I] the LORD [Yahweh] will make myself known to him in a vision, [and] will speak to him in a dream.

My servant Moses [is] not so, who [is] faithful in all my house.

With him will I speak mouth to mouth, even clearly, and not in dark speeches; and the form of the LORD [Yahweh] he will see: why then were you not afraid to speak against my servant Moses?

It was a face to face relationship. Moses saw the presence of the Lord. He saw that manifestation of the Lord that is called the Angel of the Lord or a theophany. He saw God in a physical form and he spoke to God face to face.

Is it possible for us to experience that today? Is it possible for a prophet to enter into that kind of relationship with the Lord where he can speak to Him face to face? Yes it is. I know because I have experienced it myself.

You say, "Well who are you going to see in the Spirit?"

The Scripture says,

There is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.

Jesus said,

No one comes to the Father, but by me.

We do not have to speak through the Angel of the Lord anymore. We have One who was God manifested in the flesh. We have One who sits on the Throne of Heaven.

We have One in whom we are and who is in us ? and that is the Lord Jesus Christ. And it is possible for us to enter into a face to face relationship with Him in the Spirit, where we can speak to Him as man to man, as person to person, as friend to friend, face to face and mouth to mouth.

Entering the Love Relationship

How do I know this is available to us, and how does it become available? It becomes available when you enter into a love relationship with the Lord; where the love of God becomes your consuming passion, and where it permeates your very being.

Paul tells us about it in 1 Corinthians 13:9 to 11. He says:

For our knowledge is limited, and our prophecy is limited.

But when maturity has come, then the limitations will be removed.

When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things.

He is speaking about growing up. The Scripture says,

Love is the bond of perfection.

The Scripture speaks about being 'perfect (or mature) in love.' Paul says also in 1 Corinthians 13:12:

For now we see through a mirror, a puzzling image; but then [we will see] face to face: now I know partially; but then I will know just as I also am known.

Spiritual Maturity

When is now and when is then? Now is when you have not been perfected in love. Then is when you have been perfected in maturity and in love.

It means that you begin to move into a love relationship with the Lord. You begin to move into spiritual maturity. You begin to move more and more into a face to face relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ to where you can say,

"Before I saw through a puzzling image, but now that I am in maturity and walking in love, I can see Him face to face. Before I only knew partially. Now I know as I am known."

What does it mean? Paul continues in 1 Corinthians 13:8 to 10 and says:

But if [there are] prophecies, they will come to an end; if [there are] tongues, they will cease; if [there is] knowledge, it will vanish away. For our knowledge is limited, and our prophecy is limited.But when maturity has come, then the limitations will be removed.

What is he saying? He is saying,

"Before, I needed to receive a revelation. I needed to obtain a word of wisdom or a word of knowledge. I needed to receive a prophetic word from the Lord.

"But now what has happened is I have come into a relationship with the Lord Jesus where I do not need to hear from Him. He doesn't have to send an angel to me with a message. I can speak to Him and ask Him myself."

This means I come into such a relationship with Him that I speak to Him and I say,

"Lord, tell me about such and such a person."

The Lord says, "What do you want to know?"

I ask Him my questions and He answers me and says,

"This is the problem. This is what I want you to say to him. This is how I want you to advise him. I want you to tell him this for me."

Then I turn to the person and I say,

"This is what the Lord says."

I go back to the Lord again and I say,

"Lord, what must I do here?"

I am walking down the street with Jesus at my side and there is somebody lying there sick. I say,

"Lord, what do you want me to do? Can I help on this one?"

The Lord says, "I want you to go and lay your hands on him, and I want you to speak to that sickness and disease and command it to be healed."

"Okay Lord, let's do it. 'In the name of Jesus, be healed!' "

It is quite easy really isn't it?

You say, "But you didn't have the gift of healing, and you didn't have the gift of faith."

I have the Lord Himself. He is all of those. You can enter into a love relationship ? and it only comes by a love relationship. That is what Paul is speaking about.

It comes when you enter into that close relationship with the Lord where you can speak to Him face to face. It is where He becomes more real to you, or just as real to you as any other fellow human being.

When you can come into that relationship as the spokesman and the servant of God, then you will find that your whole approach changes and you speak forth what He tells you to speak. You will find that you do not have to battle to hear His voice anymore because He is speaking to you directly.

Conclusion

All of these means are available. Any believer is able to hear from God in most of these ways. It is not only restricted to the prophet. But as I said before, prophets have a very special ability to hear. They have been gifted to hear better and to have a greater capacity.

If God has given you that opportunity; if He has given you that privilege and taken you through that horrible preparation that has qualified you to be His spokesman, you need to be using all of these methods all of the time.

Whatever circumstance you are in, whatever the situation demands, you need to be able to hear from God. Then you can speak forth His Word into the earth.

You can speak forth His Word to people. You can speak a prophetic word, a word of encouragement and exhortation, to lift up the Body of Christ and to build up the church, to help people identify their ministries.

You can do everything that God has called the prophet to do. You can do all of these when you have learned how to hear His voice by listening in these seven ways.

Final Practical Project

You have been building up to this final way of hearing God though all of the projects you have done already. Now you are going to bring together everything that you have learned, and come into a relationship with Him unlike anything you have ever known before.

And you will do it, as you have been doing with the other methods, by using the power of speech. How can you get to know someone and become their friend without speaking to them?

Is it possible to develop a relationship with another human being without talking to them? In the same way, you cannot develop a close relationship with the Lord without speech. So here are the things you should be speaking daily to develop this relationship.

1. Speaking in Prayer

This is far more than bringing your requests to Him. It means holding a real conversation with him. It means praying in the Spirit and speaking to Him out loud.

Your project of praying in tongues has helped you do this. And your project of journaling has also set the stage for it.

2. Speaking the Word

There is a tremendous power in speaking Scriptures. So take a few good verses and speak them out loud over and over again.

This is a process my wife Daphne has named 'bulldozing', and I have also explained it in detail in my book The New Way of Blessing.

If you combine it with praying in tongues, it will bring you very quickly into a place where you can sense the presence of the Lord and His power.

3. Speaking Love and Praise

Once you sense the presence of the Lord and you can feel that He is near, begin to tell Him how much you love Him. This might feel awkward at first because you are speaking into the air. If you do this all alone you will soon overcome the embarrassment of feeling like you are talking to yourself.

The first time I told my wife that I loved her, it was an act of faith and devotion. I cannot say I felt that deep love yet. But the more I did it, the sooner I began to feel those fuzzy feelings of love.

It is the same with the Lord. The more you tell Him that you love Him, the sooner you will actually begin to feel those emotions of love towards Him.

Then you will quickly move into an experience of closeness with Him that becomes more real. You will begin to sense His presence, until He becomes as real as a physical person who is there with you.

When you come to this experience in the Spirit, you will find that the love relationship and the face to face experience with Jesus in the Spirit become a natural part of your prayer life.

The moment you close your eyes, you know He is there. You begin to talk with Him as friend with friend. And you will soon come to the place where you can hear His voice without having to journal or prophesy.

This takes some time to develop and will come about only as you spend time daily in His presence. Just begin with Him and enjoying His company; telling Him how much He means to you, and expressing your love to Him.

If you do it daily, I will guarantee that after a short space of time, He will start to become even more real to you than other human beings. And the more real He becomes to you, the easier you will find it to hear His voice as He speaks directly to you.

Then you will begin to know Him as He knows you. Then you will no longer need prophetic words or special revelations, because you will know Him as your Savior and Lover. And you will be able to hear His voice at any time.

This is the goal of every believer. And it is goal that you can reach if you truly desire it.

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