More on the Importance of the Word in Hearing the Spirit
If you become greatly obedient to the Word, you will eventually want and be able to hear the Spirit greatly. But if you try hard to hear the Spirit before you've become knowledgeable of and obedient to the Word, it will distract from what the Word says, and the enemy will be able to manipulate you more easily. Be warned, and focus above all else on obeying the Word of God!
Knowing the Word really well is what will allow you to distinguish between the voice of the Spirit and the voice of evil or the flesh.
Magnify God's Word above all His name Psalm 138:2. Focus most on Scripture!
Without grounding in the Word, we are more led astray by demonic influences. Only the written, changeless Word will keep your mind from being deceived.
To summarize the past few days of reading: We start by coming to know the Son, who brings us to the loving Father. To know the Father we must have relationship; and full relationship comes through the Spirit.
The process of doing the Word and learning to hear from the Spirit, then, is all about enjoying the development of your relationship with the Father. So don't treat the practice of growing in your knowledge/hearing as another obligatory task in your daily Christian checklist. It's all about relationship.
Hearing/knowing the Spirit reveals the Father's love on a deeper level, and for these reasons:
- We experience love when we know what the Father is up to—we hear of His desires, His works, His care, His compassion John 5:20.
- When you hear what the Father, through the Spirit, asks you to pray or do for others, you realize what's important to Him and the details in others' lives that He cares about—how much He loves His children. And knowing this intensifies the love that you will have for others also.
Read 1 John 1 to learn about fellowship with God:
1 That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of life;
2 (For the life was manifested, and we have seen it, and bear witness, and shew unto you that eternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us;)
3 That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ.
4 And these things write we unto you, that your joy may be full.
5 This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.
6 If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth:
7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.
8 If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.
9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
10 If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.