To all Christians on the Nairaland website, this is from a July 2008 extract of my Bible study notes. I pray that you be blessed as you read. Amen.

A gospel minister went to the Orient on a retreat and saw 5 shepherds, each with thousands of sheep. Sitting on a hill, he observed as the shepherds sat down below and discussed, while roughly 10,000 sheep mingled, grazed and even mated. After some hours, when they were ready to part, each shepherd got up and started singing as they went in different directions; and the respective sheep neatly followed each master without a hint of confusion or misdirection.

The Master Shepherd has a voice. If you don't know it, you need to examine yourself and ask "Am I really a sheep?"

Joh 10:4  When he has brought his own sheep outside, he walks on before them, and the sheep follow him because they know his voice.
Joh 10:5  They will never [on any account] follow a stranger, but will run away from him because they do not know the voice of strangers or recognize their call.
Joh 10:14  I am the Good Shepherd; and I know and recognize My own, and My own know and recognize Me--
Joh 10:16  And I have other sheep [beside these] that are not of this fold. I must bring and impel those also; and they will listen to My voice and heed My call, and so there will be [they will become] one flock under one Shepherd. [Ezek. 34:23.]

Psa 23:1  A Psalm of David. THE LORD is my Shepherd [to feed, guide, and shield me], I shall not lack.
Rom 8:14  For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.

Emphasis on the Spirit of God, because many other spirits are eagerly seeking to lead, and each one has its own voice.

1Jn 4:1  BELOVED, DO not put faith in every spirit, but prove (test) the spirits to discover whether they proceed from God; for many false prophets have gone forth into the world.

When a Christian follows God's leading, he saves time, maximizes opportunities and enjoys.
When a Christian does not follow God's leading, he wastes time and opportunities and regrets.

God expects you to be led, it's your right as a Christian.

God will not depend on any of these to lead a Christian:
1. Mentality / Attitude
2. Mind / Intellect
3. Circumstances / Signs
These three means are in full operation in the sense and perceptivity realm.

It does not mean that God can not lead a Christian by senses, but rather He won't depend on them, and he will not expect you to expect to be led in those respects because the devil knows how to manipulate the senses and warp the message.

If, in a corrupt African country, every package from the United States of America is torn open and inspected for valuable things to steal from it at the post office, then re-packaged; a son in the U.S. who wants to send an expensive diamond necklace to his mother back at home will definitely use another means rather than the corrupt postal system!

A Christian who expects to be led by his senses is actually dead already, and is only as lost as the diamond necklace above. We need to be in total control, and not subjected to the erroneous corrupt system that is all around us and is enough to weaken our reception.

1Co 9:27 But [like a boxer] I buffet my body [handle it roughly, discipline it by hardships] and subdue it, for fear that after proclaiming to others the Gospel and things pertaining to it, I myself should become unfit [not stand the test, be unapproved and rejected as a counterfeit].

True, in the Old Testament, they were led in the sensory perception realms but that was for the sake of their stubbornness. Only the ones with sensitive spirits could hear God. e.g. God sent food and water when they complained in the desert, but they ate and drank and forgot that there should be more where that came from, so in a cycle they grumbled again. They murmured until the next windfall, they saw the hand of God but they chose their bellies.

There were three classes of people in the Old Testament that did not always rely on sensory perception:
1. King = Physical representation of the people
2. Prophet = God's messenger to the people
3. Priest = People's representative to God

For the king, priest and prophet who were sensitive enough to receive God's counsel, the Spirit of God came upon them, but temporarily. Also, the people could not absorb God's Word, so they wrote it on phylacteries and tied on their heads and wrists [Exod. 13:9; Num. 15:38; Deut. 6:8.]. For us, we have the Spirit in full measure (John 3:34), and God has written his Word on our hearts (Jer 31:33).

Don't ever come down to the limited sensory realms. Those who did it in the Old Testament didn't know better (putting out a fleece, asking for a sign, etc) and God mercifully helped them. Old Testament Kings, Priests and Prophets earnestly awaited the Holy Spirit in us. Wouldn't they be surprised that we seem to under-utilize or even ignore the unction?

2Co 5:7 For we walk by faith [we regulate our lives and conduct ourselves by our conviction or belief respecting man's relationship to God and divine things, with trust and holy fervor; thus we walk] not by sight or appearance.

God will not be "forced" to "come down" to the sensory perceptive realm, as full of doubts and mirages as that realm is. Rather, we need to come up hither to him.

Nature of Man
To understand how God leads us, one needs to understand the nature of man.

Gen 1:26 God said, Let Us [Father, Son, and Holy Spirit] make mankind in Our image, after Our likeness, and let them have complete authority over the fish of the sea, the birds of the air, the [tame] beasts, and over all of the earth, and over everything that creeps upon the earth. [Ps. 104:30; Heb. 1:2; 11:3.]
Gen 1:27 So God created man in His own image, in the image and likeness of God He created him; male and female He created them. [Col. 3:9, 10; James 3:8, 9.]

Joh 4:24 God is a Spirit (a spiritual Being) and those who worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth (reality).

Man is made in God's image & likeness, so man is also a spirit.

1Th 5:23 And may the God of peace Himself sanctify you through and through [separate you from profane things, make you pure and wholly consecrated to God]; and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved sound and complete [and found] blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ (the Messiah).

Man is a spirit (inner man), who has a soul (inward man) and lives in a body (outward man).

If you must excel in this higher life called the Christian walk, you must build your REAL YOU (spirit).

Pro 18:14 The strong spirit of a man sustains him in bodily pain or trouble, but a weak and broken spirit who can raise up or bear?

If your spirit is strong, your body will be strong and it will make your soul strong as well.

Gal 5:16 But I say, walk and live [habitually] in the [Holy] Spirit [responsive to and controlled and guided by the Spirit]; then you will certainly not gratify the cravings and desires of the flesh (of human nature without God).

In building your spirit, it is YOU that determines how close you get to God.

Jas 4:8 Come close to God and He will come close to you. [Recognize that you are] sinners, get your soiled hands clean; [realize that you have been disloyal] wavering individuals with divided interests, and purify your hearts [of your spiritual adultery].

With your spirit, you contact the spiritual worlds.
With your soul, you contact the mental and emotional worlds.
With your body, you contact the physical worlds.

God does not live in a human body, it is too small. But your spirit is endless in size! The body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, it is the physical representation of your spirit, but it is in your spirit that the Holy Spirit dwells.

Rom 8:16 The Spirit Himself [thus] testifies together with our own spirit, [assuring us] that we are children of God.

Pro 20:27 The spirit of man [that factor in human personality which proceeds immediately from God] is the lamp of the Lord, searching all his innermost parts. [I Cor. 2:11.]

The Spirit, Soul and Body's elements of interaction
1. Body: 5 senses. Eyes, Ears, Tongue, Skin, Nose.
2. Soul: Mind -> Memory, Imagination, Reasoning
           Emotion -> Feelings
           Will -> Decisions and Desires
3. Spirit: Intuition -> To know God
            Communion -> Fellowship with God
            Conscience -> To function on earth while respecting God's Will

N.B.
(a) If the conscience was part of the soul, the soul would have corrupted it. The worst case that has happened with people is a seared conscience (1 Tim 4:2); i.e. a burnt, damaged, wounded conscience but not corrupt or dead or totally silenced.
(b) The unregenerated (natural) man's spirit also has intuition, but his spirit is inactive so he can't receive spiritual things (1 Cor 2:14).
(c) The spirit of a man is more alert to God than his soul or body.
(d) The soul of a man is more alert to the devil and this world.
(e) The body of a man is more alert to natural and animalistic drives / appetites and the compulsion of self-preservation.
(f) The body of a man will more readily listen to the soul, rather than to the spirit.
(g) To control the body with the spirit, you need to control the soul first, and the body will respond.

The Voices of Man
The spirit of man has a voice: Conscience
The soul of man has a voice: Reasoning
The body of man has a voice: Feeling

As you walk with God and develop your conscience, two things will fight you at every chance: your soul's reasoning and your body's feeling.

Pro 20:27  The spirit of man [that factor in human personality which proceeds immediately from God] is the lamp of the Lord, searching all his innermost parts. [I Cor. 2:11.]

God leads us by the Holy Spirit through our spirits, because spirit communicates with spirit. He won't lead you by your mind, mentality / attitude, random circumstances or coordinated signs.

Having considered enough background, let us now look at the ways God talks to Christians.

1. THE INWARD WITNESS
Rom 8:16  The Spirit Himself [thus] testifies together with our own spirit, [assuring us] that we are children of God.

The inward witness is the primary way that God talks to Christians on a daily basis.

The inward witness is a deep knowing about something, this deep knowing cannot be resisted or ignored.

Psychologists who do not know better, call it premonition or presentiment, an early warning about a future event, whether good or bad.

The inward witness is a traffic light on God's highway. It will ALWAYS be one of these three lights:
RED: Stop!
GREEN: Go!
AMBER: Wait and get ready for the next change, it's round the corner!

e.g. Acts 27:9-44 where in Acts 27:10 Paul perceived that there would be sea trouble on that voyage, even though the pilot and ship owner believed they had fair weather and the ship was fine. So they put to sea, and a tempestuous wind, called Euroclydon dealt with them.

Even David, sensitive to God while living in the Old Testament, had an inward witness
Psa 16:7  I will bless the Lord, Who has given me counsel; yes, my heart instructs me in the night seasons.

But the inward witness is not FEAR. Fear is a spirit, and the inward witness is a notification in your spirit. How can one tell which is which, then?
1. Righteousness. The inward witness points to the will of God, which is always righteous and points to God.
2. Peace. If you lose peace, don't go ahead.
3. Joy. God is your salvation, and that is enough security. Fear will kick against that, but with joy you draw from the wells of your salvation in God. e.g. Paul in Acts 27 said that nobody was going to die in the tempest, although it would be bad. Fear would not speak like such.

Isa 12:2  Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and not be afraid: for the LORD JEHOVAH is my strength and my song; he also is become my salvation.
Isa 12:3  Therefore with joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation.

The same way you are certain about your salvation, is the way you're certain of being accurately led by the Holy Spirit of God.

Psa 32:8  I [the Lord] will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you with My eye upon you.

The eye upon you, with which God guides you, is the inward witness. That makes me recall how, growing up, whenever we had guests at home and I was being naughty, I only needed to see my mother's eye once and I would understand perfectly what she wants me to do, or to stop! 

Don't make a shipwreck of your spiritual life: keep your eye on His eye, and watch out for the "traffic lights" of the inward witness.

The inward witness, once again, is the primary way that God leads a Christian. But there are other ways. . .

It is pitiable that a number of us do not recognize the voice of our Lord.

Do you remember the parable of the 5 foolish virgins in Matthew 25:1-13? Their foolishness was two-fold because not only did they not have enough oil, but also because they heard a false alarm, obeyed it, ran helter skelter looking for oil, and by the time they returned the doors were closed. It was while they were buying oil that the bridegroom REALLY arrived. Maybe if they had waited, oil or no oil, and heard the Master's real voice he could have overlooked the insufficiency of the oil in their lamps.

That's how dangerous it can be not knowing the Master's voice. Many have walked that narrow mountain-path and fallen into the valley, many ships have capsized on those high seas (not knowing the voice of their Lord).

Psa 62:11  God has spoken once, twice have I heard this: that power belongs to God.
When God speaks once and you hear it, ensure you hear it twice. How? Hear it and repeat it to yourself. That way, you are dubbing it on your heart, and that's how you hear it a second time!

Yes, crossroads will appear but sometimes they only exist to exert weight on your dependence on God.

In the New Testament, you are led by the Spirit of God. Even if a prophet tells you something, it must be confirmed in your spirit. Do not seek prophecies and prophets! It doesn't matter how accurate the prophecy is (recall the evil spirits prophesying to the little girl in the market place, Acts 16:16, but Paul was not deceived).

e.g. Don't LOOK FOR SEEING Jesus. He's there! When you start trying to see him physically by force, and it is not God's will, an evil spirit may just appear to you. 

The inward witness is the light of God in Proverbs 20:27 that shows you direction. This inner knowing or perception is not because of what you hear / feel physically but what you hear on the inside.

2. THE INWARD VOICE (a still, small voice)
1Ki 19:12 And after the earthquake a fire; but the LORD was not in the fire: and after the fire a still small voice.

Elijah was fleeing Jezebel. He had been used to earthquakes, fires and winds but do not look at the results, God is not necessarily there. With God, the end does not justify the means. Similar to how Moses struck the rock and produced water (results) but God was not there.

The still, small voice is the voice of your own spirit. It will entreat you and make you see reason and come back to yourself.

Often, the still, small voice will tell you things after you have already ignored the inward witness.

The still, small voice (inward voice) is in YOUR voice, it will sound exactly like how you often hear yourself sound, although more knowing and confident!

1 Ki 19:12 was the voice of Elijah's spirit, making him come to himself.
1 Ki 19:13 was the voice of the Lord.

Your own spirit's voice can be found rebuking you when you have deliberately ignored God's counsel. Your spirit knows you more than you think you "know" yourself in your soul! (Rom 15:22 Paul was hindered in his spirit from going to Achaia, that he may minister to them in Macedonia).

As you walk in life, your spirit taps into the wealth of wisdom in God, and the wisdom speaks everywhere! If you're stubborn, God cannot force you in leading you.

3. The VOICE of the HOLY SPIRIT
Unlike the persuasive voice of your own spirit, the voice of God does not persuade, it commands! Though authoritative, it will give you a gentle push.

This is very unlike the devil's voice, which is violently disturbing. He is the accuser of the brethren: accusing you to God, God to you, your brethren to you, you to your brethren, and you to yourself!

The Voice of the Holy Spirit is AUDIBLE, CLEAR and AUTHORITATIVE.

The Holy Spirit may not decide to speak audibly to everyone everytime. You must be faithful in little if you want to be led in greater.

Again, do not seek out voices to follow them!

You can expect to be led DAILY by these supernatural ways above (inward witness, inward voice, the Holy Spirit's voice), but there are also a number of spectacular ways that God may decide to use to talk to a believer:
1. Visions
2. Angelic appearances
3. Prophecies
4. Dreams

a.) Spectacular ways happen only when God wants! We can't force his hand!!
b.) Any spectacular way must be accurately backed up by the Word of Truth. e.g. you can't be told by an angel or a dream something that is not in line with God's Word.
c.) All spectacular ways must check out i.e. bear witness with your spirit by means of the inward witness.

If you, for instance, wake up with a dream and after praying about it, your spirit still does not understand it, discard it!

Dreams come from three media:
- God. Sometimes God shows and tells us things in our dreams. Either a more detailed description of what has happened, or a description of a future event. Peace will follow it, and your inward witness will assure you that it is from God.
- Your busy mind (Ecc 5:3) due to a multitude of business or maybe over-eating 
- Satan (nightmares). It's not God's will for a believer to have nightmares and live in fear.

Personally, my dreams are always in black and white. I have never seen the sun shining in a dream before, although I get the "sensation" of a sun and of colors, but I don't really see the colors. I have asked some friends and they say the same thing. Could that mean that dreams are in negative, and they have not been "developed"? So you can discard the film, or you can print it. The ball is in your courts!

Be careful WHAT you hear, and HOW you hear it.

Always remember, God's voice does not condemn or cause confusion! The place where His word is fulfilled is inside His Word, so bury your head in the Word.

The distance between "Thus saith the Lord" and "it came to pass" is the journey of someone who buried His head in the Word and said "I will go".

Continuity builds establishment.

Finally, if God must lead you, you must have a pure and tender heart. No doubt, unbelief, fear or idols (ungodly thing you crave for) must be there. A perfect heart.

2Ch 16:9  For the eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to shew himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward him. Herein thou hast done foolishly: therefore from henceforth thou shalt have wars.

God bless you.

Christianity is a scam. It took moses to fast for days for God talk to him, small thing the lying Ghost worshippers say jesu had spoken to me. Hahaha, fairy tale and dumb lies

Dear Abu Zola, thank you for commenting but I dont support what you said.

Abu Zola:

Christianity is a scam. It took moses to fast for days for God talk to him, small thing the lying Ghost worshippers say jesu had spoken to me. Hahaha, fairy tale and dumb lies

Islam is a worse fraud. . . .

Mazaje ?

mazaje:

Islam is a worse fraud. . . .

u can say that again

Abu Zola:

Mazaje ?

Guy who are u can i know u, u have my name

^^^^^^^
Ur username implies that u are the father of all frauds

alimat 2:

^^^^^^^
your username implies that u are the father of all frauds

I AM THE SON OF JEHOVA GOD SENT TO CLEANSE THE RELIGION SECTION OF I AM FOR MOSES AND MOHAMMAD OR I AM FOR JESUS.

I AM SENT TO BRING UNITY AND PEACE AMONG THE WORSHIPPERS OF JEHOVAH ELSHADAI

XTIANTY< MOSLEMS ETC

JEHOVAH IS ONE SO DOES U ALL MUST BE ONE


SHALOM

^^^^^^^^

I See!!!!!!!

alimat 2:

^^^^^^^^

I See!!!!!!!

So do i

@Abuz@la
dem don ban u again? wetin u do this time?

manmustwac:

@Abuz@la
dem don ban u again? wetin u do this time?

I dnt get u ban me for what offence. I just join 2day

Abuz©la:

I AM THE SON OF JEHOVA GOD SENT TO CLEANSE THE RELIGION SECTION OF I AM FOR MOSES AND MOHAMMAD OR I AM FOR JESUS.

I AM SENT TO BRING UNITY AND PEACE AMONG THE WORSHIPPERS OF JEHOVAH ELSHADAI

XTIANTY< MOSLEMS ETC

JEHOVAH IS ONE SO DOES U ALL MUST BE ONE


SHALOM

Who are u a Messiah or what

Toba whats ur biz about who i am? Show love is my mgs

Abuz©la:

Toba whats your biz about who i am? Show love is my mgs

I want to know if u re fake or Original

Everybody, please I appreciate the fact that you took time to read my posts, but please I want to plead with you not to derail the thread discussing someone's identity. God bless you all.

I apologize if the interruption above was / is considered rude. I just wanted us to keep things in neat form, in case someone has questions or contributions. Thank you! 

traugott nice thread - God bless u - pls how can i hear from God loudly?

woye77:

traugott nice thread - God bless u - pls how can i hear from God loudly?

God bless you too, woye77.

The way to hear from God is to
1. Have an obedient, focused heart that is free from all kinds of fear, anxiety, unbelief and idolatry (ungodly things you crave for). You must have a life-pattern of faith.
2. Then you must believe that he IS (that He exists).
3. You must believe that he cares about you, and wants to speak to you.

Heb 11:6  It's impossible to please God apart from faith. And why? Because anyone who wants to approach God must believe both that he exists and that he cares enough to respond to those who seek him.

However, you cannot control HOW he will speak to you, whether through a witness in your spirit, or through the voice of your spirit, or DIRECTLY to you by the Holy Spirit in an audible voice. He will always choose the BEST way to speak to you, that will communicate what you need to hear at the moment, but it is not for you to control.

For example, imagine a man in the UK, whose pretty fiancee is in Nigeria, same time zone and he is always thinking about her. If he could stay on the phone talking to her for 24 hours a day, he would gladly do so. There are many ways that they communicate: by email, by voice calls on Skype, by mobile phone calls, through Nairaland, through yahoo messenger, by registered mail, and sometimes he flies over to Nigeria to visit his sweetheart. He can't fly over to see her everytime, but each day she gets like 100 SMS from her guy, and vice-versa.

In their case, SMS is the standard means of communication. But sometimes, SMS cannot carry the weight of what this guy wants to tell his sweetheart, so he makes a phone call. Other times, it's just because he wants to hear her voice. Now, Val's day arrives and this guy travels to Nigeria because he has to spend the day specially with his love. He flies into Nigeria and the girl is happy that he could come, because she knows that he won't fly into Nigeria every single day, so he has made it very special for her. That's how it is like when God speaks to us audibly, he will do that on his own terms, and that will make it special for us.

There's another case in which the man could have to travel to Nigeria to see his girl. Imagine that he sent his 102 SMS for the day, and the girl didnt even reply once. He calls her, she doesn't pick the call. He sends her offline messages on yahoo messenger, no response. He sends her emails, and she does not reply. Some emails even bounce back. She does not show up on Nairaland or Facebook. He calls her family and friends and they say they haven't heard from her. Who will prevent that guy in deep love from entering the next flight to Nigeria to find out what happened to his love?

The same way, sometimes God HAS to speak audibly to Christians because they have stubbornly ignored all the messages that he has been sending, and he loves them and does not want them to get into trouble or go to waste.

Lastly, I want to remind you again that if someone goes around trying to hear voices, he/she will use their physical ears to hear them, and the physical plane of sensory perception is under the command of the devil: an evil spirit will simply start speaking to such a person. It will be like an impersonator appearing dressed like the girl's fiance from the UK, pretending to be him, so as to win her heart. This can only happen if the girl is too eager beyond reason to see her lover from the UK by all means.

Please don't go around trying by all means to hear God AUDIBLY. It will be his choice whether to speak to you that way or not.

Remain blessed in Jesus' name.

The Lord speaks at all times; there are those who believe that God is as close to sound as he is anything else. The Lord speaks through the Spirit and it is through the Holy Spirit that we hear Him. Too hear Him better one must learn His voice as Traugott said, pray for clarity and pray to know Him when He speaks. Also, give Him a chance to speak; the world is so full of noise that we cannot hear the sound of our own thought let alone Gods voice. In the The Screwtape Letters C.S. Lewis explains how the enemy has surrounded us by noise so much so that we can hardly hear sounds at all. What is the difference? Sound is important it carries messages, songs, instructions, praise and so forth. Noise on the other hand is never important it blots out all of those things and bring frustration, confusion, hostility and countless other things that are not conducive to a Christian lifestyle. This is why people so often claim nature to be spiritual; it is indeed so but no more than anywhere else in a world made by God. The difference is that when one is alone in a place segregated from others one can hear the things of the Spirit more so.

Dear Dodgur, you are absolutely correct! Thank you for the contribution!

Well thank you Traugott I thought you might like someone else speaking on the same topic as you seeing as how this thread is filled with an array of subjects; and I believe the pursuit of God and knowing him personally is a worthy and honorable thing.

On the topic of dreams the Lord does indeed want our dream to be good I wish I could find the address but he says that a Christian should have sweet sleep. The things that I would like to discus on this topic is that i do not believe one should be so hasty to discard dreams. Personally I think you should sometimes employ an outside source when deciphering a dream. There are symbols in dreams that those, unfamiliar with them, might overlook. In the realm of the believer God has used others to tell the meaning of dreams before such with the case of Daniel. There is also a difference I believe in terms, there are dreams and then there are visions. A dream, as I understand it, is something inward your; mind telling you something about yourself, though often abstractly. A vision on the other hand is from an outside source be it God or demonic. A demon, of course, has no powers comparable to that of God but let us not forget what they are a fallen angel. The word angel means messenger, and as Traugott spoke of, one of the ways a message is sent is through dreams. Therefore, demons can still hold sway over dreams; in the case of believers I believe this to be the most common why in which they attack us directly. To the end of them attacking us there is no question but that is another topic in and of its own. God of course also give visions, those are referred to as prophetic, meaning Of Prophesy and should be treated as such.

On a wholly personal level I have often dreamt in color, the only reason I do not say that I always do so is simply that I have so often that I no long note it unless there is some sort of significance. Those dreams/visions in which I remember color most vividly are those of demonically lead ones, the color of blood or of a demon’s eyes ect. I do not know if I have seen the sun, is there significance to that symbol? I would be shocked if there weren’t I merely am ignorant about it is why I ask.

Thanks for sharing Traugott!

@ Traugott,
Thank you for the wonderful thread. I believe that you have personal experience of what you said?.If so thank GOD for you and i request for more of such posts.