Hearing the Holy SpiritSample

Each time the Holy Spirit asks us to do something and we don’t do it, we will hear from Him less and less. Disobedience to the voice of the Holy Spirit can surely mute His voice in our hearts. It’s not so much that He stops speaking to us, but we become deaf to His voice by choosing to not obey it. We become hard of hearing.

When God didn’t speak to Saul anymore through dreams, prophets, and Urim, he went to a medium to conduct a séance and conjure up the prophet Samuel, whom he expected to reach God for him. When the witch entered the spirit world to bring Samuel up, Saul complained to the spirit about how God left him and didn’t want to talk to him anymore. The spirit said the following shocking words:

Because you did not obey the voice of the LORD nor execute His fierce wrath upon Amalek, therefore the LORD has done this thing to you this day...tomorrow you and your sons will be with me. (1 Samuel 28:18-19)

In other words: Saul, you stopped obeying the voice of the Lord, and therefore He has stopped speaking to you!

The reason you can’t hear Him today is because you stopped heeding Him yesterday. Yesterday’s disobedience affects today’s hearing.

And hearing God’s voice doesn’t make you more spiritual; it’s heeding His voice that makes the difference. Notice one important thing: seeking to hear God’s voice makes you accountable to obey that voice. You don’t get off the hook after you hear His voice. Ignoring that voice puts your future contact with God at risk. The voice of God is the key to your breakthroughs, but the keys that you don’t insert into the lock—and turn—are simply pieces of metal. If you want to go into the next room of your life, you need to use those keys that have been given to you.

Once you begin to heed His voice, you will walk out the destiny that He has for you.

Reflection: If you find yourself in the same place as Saul, go back to the last thing the Holy Spirit told you to do and do it. Repent and obey. That act will unmute His voice in your life. You shouldn't be asking for a new word if you haven’t obeyed the old one.

Let's Pray:

Father, may the fear of man die in me. May the fear of people's opinions and the insecurities that stop me from obeying, die within me. Make me so in love with you that everything else pales in comparison. That saying "yes" to you would be easier every day. Help me Holy Spirit.

Learn more about the Holy Spirit in my new book: Host the Holy Ghost