YES, YOU CAN HEAR THE HOLY SPIRIT - HERE'S HOW

In this episode, Erika discusses the importance of hearing the voice of the Holy Spirit and provides practical tips for listeners to enhance their spiritual communication. She emphasizes the necessity of the Holy Spirit in understanding God's messages, the various ways the Spirit communicates, and the significance of love and discretion in spiritual matters. Erika encourages listeners to engage in personal conversations with the Holy Spirit, limit distractions, and embrace God's timing and grace in their spiritual journey.

takeaways

• The Holy Spirit is essential for understanding God's thoughts.
• God's timing is crucial; He will communicate when needed.
• The Holy Spirit can communicate through various means.
• Reading the Bible helps confirm the Holy Spirit's messages.
• Recognizing God's voice may sound like your own.
• Initiating conversation with the Holy Spirit is important.
• Discretion in sharing personal matters aids spiritual clarity.
• Fasting can enhance the ability to hear God's voice.
• Love is a key component in hearing the Holy Spirit.
• Investing time in God strengthens the relationship.

Transcript

Erika (00:00)
Hi, welcome back. I'm Erica. This is Where Is Your Voice Ministries podcast. And we have another amazing topic. And today the topic is how to hear the voice of the Holy Spirit. Why is that important?

I feel like that's an obvious answer, but just case it isn't, let's go ahead and turn to

1 Corinthians chapter 2 verse 10 through 14. These are the things God has revealed to us by his Spirit. The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. For who knows a person's thoughts except their own spirit within them? In the same way, no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God.

What we have received is not the spirit of the world, but the spirit who is from God, so that we may understand what God has freely given us. This is what we speak, not in words taught by us by human wisdom, but in words taught by the spirit explaining spiritual realities with spirit-taught words.

The person without the spirit does not accept the things that come from the spirit of God, but considers them foolishness and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the spirit. So as you see, you actually need the Holy Spirit.

You can't even discern the Bible without the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the mind of God. So it is all knowing. It is there to lead you, guide you, talk to you, counsel you, discern all things. So it is vital. It's like having air. And it is a friend, it's a counselor. And the Holy Spirit is also eager to guide you. And for many years.

I struggled myself to hear the Holy Spirit and I would do many things to try my hardest to hear the Holy Spirit. I would cry about it. I would fast about it. I would read the Bible. I would watch so many sermons. I would go to church. I would over serve. I would try to manipulate God. I was doing so many things to hear the Holy Spirit and I was still struggling. I was like,

What is wrong with me? Why is it with me? I cannot hear the Holy Spirit. So now that I do hear the voice of the Holy Spirit, I wanna help to guide others on what they can do to hear his voice as well. So one of the first things that freed me is just knowing this. This is what helped my anxiety, that God is all powerful.

God is all knowing, right? God is the creator of all. So if there was something that he needed me to know in that moment, there is nothing that I can do or not do to stop him from getting that information to me. So once I realized that, that it was about his timing and not my timing, it freed me from the anxiety that the Holy Spirit was talking to me.

and I just couldn't hear him or God was trying to tell me something and I wasn't listening because I was ignoring or I was quenching the Holy Spirit. So just that helped me to enjoy the journey of knowing that the Holy Spirit can speak to me in all different kind of ways. So with that being said, turn with me to numbers.

Chapter 22, verse 21 through 28.

Balam got up in the morning, saddled his donkey and went with the Moabite officials. But God was very angry when he went and the angel of the Lord stood in the road to oppose him. Balam was riding on his donkey and his two servants were with him when the donkey saw the angel of the Lord standing in the road with a drawn sword in his hand. It turned off the road into a field.

Balan beat it to get it back on the road. Then the angel of the Lord stood in the narrow path through the vineyards with walls on both sides. When the donkey saw the angel of the Lord, it pressed close to the wall, crushing Balan's foot against it. So he beat the donkey again. Then the angel of the Lord moved on ahead and stood in the narrow place where there was no room to turn, either to the right or to the left.

When the donkey saw the angel of the Lord, it laid down under Balaam and he was very angry and he beat it with his staff. Then the Lord opened the donkey's mouth and it said to Balaam, what have I done to you to make you beat me these three times?

So like I said, God can use anything and anyone at any time to speak to you. As you see, he used a donkey. So that's once you know that, you can, it's freedom in that. There's freedom in knowing that you have to understand the power of the Holy Spirit too. You have to understand that. So.

That leads me to my next tip on how to hear the Holy Spirit. Another thing is just knowing that the Holy Spirit can talk to you in several ways, dreams, visions, language, people, pictures, animals, because the Holy Spirit is the power of God. So you have to open your mind and ask, how is the Holy Spirit speaking to me today because it does change.

but it always confirms with the Bible. So that way you know for sure it's the Holy Spirit. And I like to journal and a few days after a journal entry, the Holy Spirit led me to a verse in the Bible. And I remember thinking too, when the Holy Spirit led me to that verse, I was like,

Psalms 13, because that was the verse, I was like, Psalms 13. And when I go to go read it, I didn't even know that this verse was in the Bible, but the verse mimicked almost to the T my journal entry from three days ago. And when I saw that, I just rejoiced because it allowed me to see that the Holy Spirit was truly talking to me.

So that's why we have to read our Bible. That's why we have to spend time studying our Bible because that's how the Holy Spirit confirms within us that he is speaking to us. So turn to John 14, 26.

And it says, the advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said. So you see, even when you read the Bible, and this is a lot of us, when you read the Bible, there are verses and you're like, my gosh, I don't even remember what I read. The Holy Spirit will remind you.

but you have to read it to be reminded. It needs to know that it's somewhere there in your brain so it can remind you of that verse. Remember that verse? It'll point you to it. Or it'll just pop up in your head. The verse would just come up and when you hear it, you're like, my gosh, now that is confirmation.

So, and then when that is confirmed within you, like every single time that the Holy Spirit confirms within you that it's talking to you, it grows. So now you understand on how to recognize when the Holy Spirit is speaking to you.

Because the more time you spend with the Holy Spirit, the more the Holy Spirit voice will sound more like a voice that you recognize. And this is actually in the Bible as well too. So turn with me to 1st Samuel chapter three, verse four through 11.

Then the Lord called Samuel. Samuel answered, here I am. And he ran to Eli and said, here I am. You called me. But Eli said, I did not call. Go back and lie down. So he went, lay down. Again, the Lord called Samuel and Samuel got up and he went to Eli and said, here I am. You called me my son. Eli said, I did not call. Go back and lie down.

Now Samuel did not know yet the Lord. The word of the Lord had not yet been revealed to him. A third time the Lord called Samuel and Samuel got up and went to Eli and said, here I am. You called me. Then Eli realized that the Lord was calling the boy. So Eli told Samuel, go and lie down. And if he calls you say, speak Lord for your servant is listening.

So Samuel went and laid down in his place. The Lord came and stood there calling at calling as at the other times, Samuel, Samuel. Then Samuel said, speak for your servant is listening. And the Lord said to Samuel, I see I am about to do something in Israel that will make the ears of everyone who hears about is tingle. So I think that is just a great verse to see that.

When the Holy Spirit talks to you, it sounds like a familiar voice. Like it sometimes sounds like your own voice. A lot of times it will sound like your own voice. And that's why it's good to be in the Bible and it's also good to be around wise counsel so they can help confirm that within you as well. And then another thing that I noticed about that too is God didn't request

anything of Samuel until Samuel actually confirmed that he can actually hear God's voice. So I just believe that that is important to know as well too that God's just not going to give up. He's going to keep trying until he can see finally you're here. And then once then that's when he's going to start telling us our assignment because now he knows we can hear his voice clearly.

That's why you want to keep confirming it so you can build up that faith. Another way and help to hear the Holy Spirit is to start talking to Him. You can talk to the Holy Spirit as well. As you saw, what Samuel did and Eli suggested to him when the Holy Spirit, when God spoke to Samuel, he told him to speak back, but you can start initiating the conversation yourself as well. When you get up in the morning,

Say, good morning, Holy Spirit, how are you? When you go for a walk, spend some time on your walks. Like this is so pivotal, I feel like even you see it so much in the Bible, you see Jesus walking, Moses walking, Noah walking, David walking, and it says they walk with God. spend some time in worship, let some worship music play for a little bit.

Then after you're done listening to your worship music, I say just do like one or two songs, know, wait till you're feeling, you know, you're starting to feel the Holy Spirit. And you can feel the Holy Spirit within your body. It's that tingling feeling. A lot of times I start to feel it in my right hand and my right hand starts to feel tingly. It feels like that feeling where, you know, how your like your leg or your foot fell asleep. It feels like that, like needles. But that good feeling of needles throughout your body.

So you start feeling like that, that warmth. And then when you start to feel that, after that, turn the music off and then invite the Holy Spirit within your walk and say, hi, Holy Spirit. And just start telling the Holy Spirit about your day, your fears, things you're holding close to your chest, advice that you want from the Holy Spirit. And then once you do that, pray. And then after you get done praying, keep walking.

but don't say anything, allow the Holy Spirit to talk to you back. See what the Holy Spirit says. And as you're listening, how do you feel? Do you feel at peace? Do you feel encouraged? Do you feel better? Because if you feel those things, that is a big sign that the Holy Spirit just spoke to you back. Now, another thing you can do is look around.

after you speak to the Holy Spirit in your quiet time as you're walking? And what are the things that you see? What speaks to you as you're looking at those things? What are they saying to you? And when you see it and they're saying something to you, how do you feel after that? Do you feel at peace? Do you feel encouraged? Do you feel more loving? Because if you feel that way, that could be an indication that the Holy Spirit is speaking to you.

But the Holy Spirit, like I said, will confirm it. He will confirm it with the Bible so that way you will know for a fact that he is speaking. And so the best way the Holy Spirit confirms it, in my opinion, is the Bible. Is the Bible. But he does sometimes send wise counsel as well. But I just say that's a slippery slope when I say wise counsel, because a lot of times people view

wise counsel is their friends, their coworkers, their parents, their aunt, their uncle. But wise counsel are people who have strong faith and have experience in the very thing that you're seeking them about. Because if you go to the wrong person about something that you feel that the Holy Spirit told you,

best believe the enemy is gonna have them tell you something different just to confuse you. And we don't want that to happen. You actually see this happen in the Bible and that's leading in to my next step on how to hear the Holy Spirit. You really have to refrain from gossiping. Like do not gossip if you wanna hear from the Holy Spirit. Like I'm telling you, if you have friends that gossip, don't even talk to them, just girl.

We can't talk about Jesus. Ain't nothing else to talk about. We want to talk about starting a business. I don't know, but do not gossip. And another thing is do not talk about your personal affairs. When you share too much of your personal affairs, it is really hard to hear from the Holy Spirit. Because the thing about it is we will pray about some things and then we'll go and tell five different people.

the very thing that we're praying to God about. And that makes it really hard for the Holy Spirit to confirm that within you. Turn with me in the Bible. First to First Thessalonians, chapter four, verse 11.

and make it your ambition to lead a quiet life. You should mind your own business and work with your own hands just as we told you. Then the next verse I am going to is Luke 9, Luke chapter 9 verse 18. Once when Jesus was praying in private and his disciples were with him, he asked them,

Who do the crowds say I am?

to Matthew chapter 16 verse 14 through 17. They replied, some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah and still others, Jeremiah are one of the prophets. But what about you? He asks, who do you say I am? Simon Peter answered, you are the Messiah, the son of the living God. Jesus replied, blessed are you Simon son of Jonah.

for this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by my father in heaven. Now go with me to Mark chapter eight, verse 31 through 33. He then began to teach them that the son of man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law.

and that he must be killed. And after three days rise again, he spoke plainly about this and Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. But when Jesus turned and looked at his disciples, he rebuked Peter, get behind me Satan. He said, you do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns.

That's why it's so important, y'all, really go through your Bible and study it because one thing that you notice is you see Jesus say, he went and he prayed privately. Then after he prayed privately, he asked the disciples, who do people say that I am? And Peter didn't answer the question.

Properly actually, when I say properly, he didn't say who people say that he is. He said who God says that he is. And the thing about it is, it's important to key in that Jesus prayed privately because the reason this was confirmed is because the only way Peter could have known this is if God told him, because none of that had been revealed yet.

So a lot of times the Holy Spirit wants to reveal some things to us, but we're telling everyone. We're telling everybody. So imagine, like let's say you're in a process, you're praying every day for God to buy you a house. You're praying this every day and you haven't told anyone and God is confirming to you, I'm gonna give you a house. You haven't told anyone. You go to work one day or you're talking to your brother or sister in Christ and they go.

You know God gonna get you that house. You know for a fact that is the Holy Spirit because you haven't told anybody. So God had to reveal it to them. And then get this, you also see reading down a little further why you should be careful about who you tell your affairs to because once Jesus told them what the Pharisees were gonna do to him,

Peter says something that was in contrary to what God said. And that's another way that Jesus knew that it had to come from Satan. Cause he was like, this is something me and God, we have this planned out. So if you're saying something in contrary to already what is said in stone, then it's coming from the enemy. And it's the same with us. When God tells us something like God could be telling people,

you might need to leave your job, right? And then you'll go to your friend and you'll say, God told me that I need to leave my job. Your friend is going, no, girl, God would never tell you nothing like that. He would never say that you should do anything like that. You don't have a resource. They'll tell you that. People who have strong faith, they'll tell you that you can't leave your job because they'll say, that's your supplier.

They're not going to look at God as being your supplier. But that's why it's so important about who you tell your personal information to, because it makes it really hard for the Holy Spirit to confirm things with you. If you move in silence with this you and God, and I'm talking about your private affairs, I personally feel like we post too much information. We're posting our kids' birthdays, we're posting we got a new job, we got a new house.

God is probably like, what are they doing? But anyway, I went on a tangent a little bit.

So the next tip is distractions. You have to limit the distractions. For instance, a lot of people say fasting is amazing for hearing God's voice. And it is true, fasting is amazing for hearing God's voice. But I do wanna add that it's not that you can't hear God's voice when you're not fasting.

It's just that you hear it more when you're fasting, because if you're fasting properly, it's supposed to be solely you time with God. So no social media, no TV, no phone calls, just you and the Bible prayer and worship. that is, what distractions are there? And that's why you can hear his voice so clearly. So when you're really trying to hear his voice, you have to limit those.

You have to limit those distractions. So go with me to 1 Kings chapter 19 verse 11 through 13. The Lord said, go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the Lord, for the Lord is about to pass by. Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the Lord. But the Lord was not in the wind.

After the wind, there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake was a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire were a gentle whisper. When Elijah heard it, he put his cloak over his face and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave. When a voice said to him, what are you doing here, Elijah? So the Holy Spirit is a soft,

still voice. And as you see, it's always asking and needs to know what we need. Even though it knows what we need, the Holy Spirit wants us to open that up to them and tell us what we need. So that way when they answer it for us, we know that God was the one who did it and God would get all the glory.

The next tip is super important, especially if you want the give of prophecy, especially if you want to be able to know the mysteries of the kingdom, the things to say that's really going to encourage others.

Love. If you want to hear the Holy Spirit, you have to be in a place of love. You truly do. Like, something you can do is even just look at someone in a loving way. Like, oh my gosh, I love them. The way they do this, the way they do that. And the Holy Spirit will start ministering to you things about that person that will uplift them, that will encourage them, that will...

draw them near to Jesus, because that's the whole point. So go with me to 1 Corinthians chapter 13, verse one through three. If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy,

and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge. And if I have a faith that can move mountains but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give all possessions to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing. So it has to be out of love. And the more love that you have, the easier you can hear.

the Holy Spirit. And if you're struggling with the love part, because I do know that that is a really hard part, So there is a verse that's also really great for this as well too. I want to read it. It's Matthew.

Matthew chapter 6 verse 21.

Okay, so Matthew chapter six, verse 21, for where your treasure is, your heart will also be. What that scripture means is what you invest in, that's where your heart is also going to be as well. If you're in a relationship, you've been investing in that relationship, you love them. The more you invest into God,

because there is no elevator to God, okay? This is a journey. This is a journey. So the more you invest in God, which investing is gonna be spending time in the Bible, spending time in church, spending time with faithful friends, spending time in prayer, spending time getting to know God. And the more you get to know Him, the easier it will be

to know his voice. Ding ding. So that's why I said my last tip that I have on here is patience. Is patience, you must have patience because it is not your timing. It is God's timing and his timing is always best. And let me tell you,

God has seasons, it's always seasons. You gotta know your season. The Holy Spirit is always talking to you. But if you're having a hard time on hearing the Holy Spirit, that's what I mean about the timing. Because that's gonna take time on reading the Bible, it's gonna take time on getting to know God, it's gonna take time on being in church. But during that time, enjoy it. I say, try to figure out what God is trying to get you to know.

in every single season, because every season he is trying to build you up for something. So enjoy that because it's really like a beautiful moment because when I look back, I think like, wow, I didn't even know like all of these things were about to happen. Like all of these things that were going to, I was about to be gifted, but consistently keep praying and asking God, of course, because he will give it to you. He's a gracious God.

Why wouldn't he want you to hear from him? Why wouldn't he want you the gifts of the spirit? And you got to keep going to those sermons and everything as well too. But the best thing is getting in the Bible yourself and digging in there and finding the gold and the diamond and all the jewels that are there and taking time to fall in love with it. And don't read the Bible like a book. Read it as like, want to know who God is.

I want to know about you God. And then ask the Holy Spirit, Holy Spirit teach me about God and he will. He will definitely do that. And then the last thing that I want to add, because I just think a lot of us do this. Well, I know I did it a lot anyway. Don't get in your head thinking that it is something that you're doing or something that you can do. Because me,

I used to say maybe if I tied a lot more, maybe if I pray more, maybe if I fast more, maybe if I serve more, or I would think because I was sinning, like if I sinned the day before or did something really bad, I would think, oh, God is mad at me. That's why he's not talking to me. God is a gracious God. He has immeasurable grace. There's nothing you can do for his love to run away from you.

Nothing you can do. And everything he gives us is for free. It's nothing we can do to earn those things. That way we can't boast. So when you know that, you walk in grace knowing that he can use anybody at any time to talk to you. No matter what you do, he can do that. No matter what you do. Cause it's not about you, it's about God. Remember that. It's not about what you do, it's about God.

What you're doing is making ways so you can confirm and strengthen the relationship that you have with God. Just like you would strengthen a relationship with any other friendship. You would want to learn about them. But that's what the Bible, that's what church is for. That's what praying is for. It's strengthening your relationship, your faith too as well.

That's why we do those things. And the more you do it, the more you fall in love. And the more you fall in love, the more you can hear the Holy Spirit. Okay. So I'm going to go ahead and pray and I hope y'all learned something today. But anyway, let's pray. Lord, we come to you in the name of Jesus. We are so humble. We are so grateful. We are so thankful to be a chosen vessel.

And God, we are asking for guidance and reassurance, Lord, because we want to hear that Holy Spirit, Lord, and it be confirmed within us so that way we can build us and even build the church, Lord. And we know that you are always speaking, Lord. So show us those ways and those areas where we may be missing it, God. And we are so ready and eager to hear from you. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.

all right bye