There are multiple ways to be led by the Spirit of God. Here are two ways you might ponder in this area of being led by the Lord in your everyday life. Area one, by the Spirit of God directly; area two, by interpreting situations in the light of the love of God. With that being said, there are some valuable lessons that one can learn in this arena of hearing the Lord. Some of these lessons may help accelerate the learning curve. Consider the following.

Mountains and Bible Truth

• Bible truth is like mountain climbing. The view you get depends on the side of the mountain you are on.
• The same Bible truth from a certain side will have differences depending upon what side you look at.
• It is difficult to cover every facet of a truth from all angles in a single teaching.
• Sometimes confusion comes or people get a kind of ‘lost’ feeling when they hear certain ‘other side of the mountain’ truths’ because they have only known or been taught one side of the mountain in their Christian experience.
• These truths that we will be sharing are simple concepts – they are one side of the “prayer mountain” – maybe the side you have not been on. So, let’s start with…

1 Corinthians 12:1 (NKJV)
1 Now concerning spiritual gifts brethren, I do not want you to be ignorant:

• Notice the word ‘gifts’ is italicized. In the KJV, an italicized word is not in the original language.
• In the Greek text, the phrase ‘spiritual gifts’ is written like this”τῶνπνευματικῶν” which translates as ‘the spiritual’.
• You can absolutely translate 1Cor. 12 :1 as…
• 1 Now concerning the spiritual, brethren, I do not want you to be ignorant:

The Importance of being Delivered from the Word ‘Daily’

• Understand that we need to talk about the word ‘daily’ before we go any further.
• In fact, some deliverance is needed from this word ‘daily’

2 Peter 3:8 (KJV)
8 But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.

• Note that the Lord wants you to be smart about ‘the spiritual’ and He also wants you to be smart about ‘time’ and how we interface with it.
• We frame our entire life into 24-hour periods.
• We think in 24-hour periods.
• Because of that, we naturally slide God into a 24-hour slot.
• However, in God, there is no time; there are no borders of night and day.
• What exists in God are ‘seasons’.

 Ecclesiastes 3:1 (KJV)
1 To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:

• How much instructional Bible teaching have you heard about what we should do and steps we should take in the varied areas of the Christian experience?
• You have heard some teaching on waiting on God
• You’ve heard teaching on worshipping God
• You’ve heard teaching on intercessory prayer
• You’ve heard teaching in building up your spirit man by praying in other tongues
• You’ve heard teaching on praying for rulers and leaders of our nation
• You have your own stuff to pray about etc.
• If you did everything you ever heard you should do, you would never get it done in a 24-hour period or a 72-hour period for that matter!
• What is the answer to this?
• Understand that if you allow the Spirit of God to lead you, you will always be in season.
• So you must understand that being led by the Spirit must be a focal point of your everyday life because you only maximize what you emphasize in life.
• Only then will the Spirit of God be able to lead you through the maze of what you should be doing ‘daily.’
• Simply put, ‘if you want to hear God consistently’ it must become central to your life and not just something that you pick up when you get into trouble or difficulty and need an answer. You must begin practicing this when you are not under pressure to hear.
• Here are practical things to help you in this area that fall under the heading of ‘Other Side of the Mountain Stuff’

Statements of Faith and Consecration That You Can Make In This Area of Hearing God (Other Side of the Mountain Stuff)

Spiritual Things Can Be Practiced or Trained For

• Here is a simple training thing to help you hear God better: Ask the Holy Spirit to help you remember things. Ask Him to help you remember where you left your keys or that item your spouse asks you to pick up from the store. Do things without leaning upon natural devices and depend solely on Him.
• When you do this and the Spirit of God brings that area to your mind, remember how that is sensed.
• If you keep doing this, you will start to become more sensitive and familiar with the Holy Spirit.
• When you begin to depend upon Him for some the natural things that you depend on your mind to do or natural devices to help you do, sensitivity develops.
• DEFINITION of being ‘sensitive’ to God
  • Sensitive does not mean you are spiritual. Do not let anybody sell you that. Spiritual means walking in or developing the fruit of love and it is components in your life.
  • Sensitive does not mean spiritual.
  • Sensitive means you have practiced hearing.
• You have to put pressure on the process in order to develop. There is no other way to develop. The more you depend on the Holy Spirit to help you do the things that you would normally depend on your mentality to do the more sensitive to Him you will become.
• When you trust Him to help you remember something, and He helps you – you develop.
• If God wants you to do something for Him, understand He knows where you live!
• It is His job to get the information to you. Do not confuse job descriptions.
• This eliminates the ‘I must be defective’ line of thinking that the enemy constantly beats people over the head with. – The “I am not hearing from God because there must be something wrong with me” syndrome.
• There is nothing wrong with you – there is nothing wrong with your born again experience.
• You do not have a 3-year warranty on your spirit man.
• Your confidence should not be in your ability to hear God; your confidence should be in His ability to get direction to you.
• Take the pressure off yourself and put it where it belongs – on God! He can handle it!
• Relax and walk with God!
• Know that if God is not big enough to get direction over to you, He would not be much of a God and you do not need to be fooling with this thing anyway!
• That is the question you should settle within yourself; ‘Is your God big enough to communicate with you?’
• Think biblically now at all the methods He has ever used to get someone’s attention.
• Did He not speak with thundering’s and lightning’s on Mount Zion?
• Did He not speak with fire on Carmel?
• Did He not speak with a still small voice in a cave?
• Did He not speak with a loud voice on the road to Damascus?
• Did He not speak by way of an angel?
• Did He not speak by way of a jackass?
• Did He not speak by a burning bush?
• Does He not speak by a burning conscience?
• He will surely find a method that works for you.

Do not move until You hear from Him.

• It is way better to move too slow than to move too fast

Be Easy to Be Led

• People have made statements like this about being led into certain areas
• “God is really going to have to speak to me big before I ever do that…”
• “He is going to have to send an angel or write a message big in the sky with His own hand before I ever do something like…” Fill in the blank.
• My advice to you is do not ever ever say that!
• What are you communicating to God when you say that?
• You are not willing to do anything God asks you to do.
• You are telling God you are a difficult case and you are not easy to be led.
• Your confession should be, “I am His sheep and I know His voice and whatever you ask me to do anytime you ask me to do it, I am willing.”
• How God chooses to communicate His intentions to you is God’s choice not your choice.
• That is one reason why putting out a fleece in the New Testament does not work because you are choosing the method of communication.
• These are just a few thoughts on hearing God; there are many others. We will close with the following verse.

Isaiah 30:21 (ESV)
21 And your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, “This is the way, walk in it,” when you turn to the right or when you turn to the left.

Call to Action:

Since spiritual things can be practiced and since, as the old saying goes ‘practice makes perfect’, then we can, and should, hone in on this area of hearing God and make it a personal point of development. Combined with a consecrated determination to ‘be easy to be led’, a believer can become sensitive to the promptings and urges of the Holy Spirit within.

Question: Do you remember the first words or direction that God ever spoke to your spirit? Please leave your testimony in the comments section below.