The Voice of God
Life is great when we walk according to the commands of God our master. We are no way less than successful when we have the potential to listen to our master’s voice and follow it through. The truth is that our master does keep talking to us all the time. But are we sure of our master’s voice? Many a times we fail to rightly discern His voice.
Once when Jesus had His prayer answered by the Father, a voice came from heaven saying, …“I have both glorified it and will glorify it again” (John 12:28). This statement was very clear to Jesus but for those standing around him, they had their own assumptions. “Therefore the people who stood by and heard it said that it had thundered. Others said, “An angel has spoken to Him”” (John 12:29). Only Jesus was able to hear the voice of the Father clearly but. But it sounded different to everyone else. For some, it was extremely variable as they heard a thunder. But the truth is that the voice of God had appeared for everyone standing there.
Even unto us, God our Father keeps talking and resounds His voice without ceasing. Yet we mistake or misinterpret His voice justifying our own assumptions. Most of the times our self conviction makes God sound different, as of those who stood by Jesus and heard a thunder. It seems like there is a great mismatch in the wavelength between us and our Father. But Jesus said, “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me” (John 10:27). We are His sheep and we know that He is our shepherd (John 10:14). Only when we know Him, we can identify His voice. The scripture makes it very clear that if we do not know Him, we do not know His voice and hence we cannot follow Him. So how do we know Him?
A shepherd and the sheep are two different species when taken into consideration. Yet the communication between them is very strong. The sheep seldom misses the command of the shepherd. This is because, the sheep knows it’s shepherd and his voice very well. The Bible says “Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God” (I John 4:7). To be understood more precisely, it says that those who are born of God, is of love and knows God. Unlike the shepherd and the sheep who are different species, those who are born of God do not differ from Him. They will know Him and will identify His voice. But “He who does not love does not know God, for God is love” (I John 4:8). To know God, we at the first place need to know what is love and what kind of love God is of.
“In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins” (I John 4:9-10). We received the love of God while we were still sinners and not as a return for our love towards Him. It was He who first loved us. This is Godly love. “Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another” (I John 4:11). With such love, we ought to love others. Love without any expectation; love for hatred and evil.
If this is God’s command and desire for us, He has already put that potential in us. God does not extract from us that which we don’t possess. “…the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us” (Romans 5:5). If we find it hard to love someone, it doesn’t mean that we don’t have it because the word of God does not lie. It is the deception of the enemy that stops us to love certain people. He makes us believe that we are unable to love because we don’t have it. But the truth is that Love has been poured into us by the Holy Spirit. Only if we know and believe this, love comes out of us. Otherwise we get trapped into the deception of the enemy leading to misinterpret the voice of God filled with love. We end up having our own assumptions on the voice of God concerning those we find hard to love. “No one has seen God at any time. If we love one another, God abides in us, and His love has been perfected in us. By this we know that we abide in Him, and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit” (I John 4:12-13).
We who are born of God are made of love, because God is love. Unless we know that we are made of love, we cannot show it. When we give out what we received from God, we match His wavelength and nothing can stop us from hearing and rightly discerning His voice.
Stop fighting against God
A GPS navigation technology is very common in use these days. In fact it has become a vital part of our lives. It is a blessing among many of man’s inventions. It benefits us by directing our routes and locating destinations we desire to reach. Yet, all it can do is to direct us; not intervene in our decision makings. It’s finally us who decide to yield to it’s promptings towards our destination. There is a similar aspect with the Holy Spirit whose in us. “However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; (John 16:13a).” We ought to understand a very important truth that the Holy Spirit “guides”. He does not drag, pull or push. We have our free will to either do what is good and desirable to God by yielding to the Holy Spirit or fail to please Him by ignoring the guidance of the Holy Spirit.
If all who believe in Jesus Christ become the children of God and receive the Holy Spirit (Eph 1:13), who prompts and directs our paths, then why do most fail to listen and yield to Him? This is because some force is keeping you from yielding to Him. This force is called the flesh. Apostle Paul says “For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells;(Romans 7:18a).” You cannot find any good or anything benefiting in your flesh because it is enmity with God (Rom 8:7). Dealing with your flesh is the ultimate solution.
“For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace (Romans 8:6).” Where flesh dwells or is abound, death is found. It is the spirit that counters your flesh leading to life and peace. Because that is the dwelling place of the Holy Spirit where we receive His guidance through promptings and intuitions. We need to understand the truth that there is always a battle between this flesh and the spirit (Gal 5:17) and like in every other battle, that which is stronger dominates.
Flesh always keep fighting against your spirit to put you under the dominion of sin which wages death. The flesh is in fact the access point of the enemy to find his way into your life to ruin your well being. Hence, it is obvious that the spirit needs to be strong to win it’s fight with the flesh. This battle at the first place needs an awareness that we need not yield to our flesh because we are not debtors to it (Rom 8:12). Because Christ has accomplished the righteous requirement of law in His flesh once for all on our behalf (Rom 8:3). We are not bound to our Flesh to be directed towards whatever it leads us to. If you’re ignorant and bound to it, your thoughts circle around your flesh leading to death. “But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His (Romans 8:9).”
The verse above declares that we don’t belong to God if we are operating in our flesh. You who are born again are born of the spirit. Yet if we are not led by the spirit, we cannot live as sons of God (Rom 8:14). We will remain being children just because we believed in Him. Our heavenly father’s desire concerning us is to grow and become His sons. Because a growth-less child is a pain to any father.
Be mindful that yielding to your flesh and fulfilling it’s desires feeds your flesh and makes it dominant against your spirit. Whereas otherwise, feeding your spirit by walking according to it as sons of God will conquer your flesh. To feed and make your spirit stronger, feed yourself with the word of God which is of spirit and life. As you wake up, rise and win this fight against your flesh through your spirit, you will enjoy a life of abundance in every area. Because you will not miss out on the continual guidance of the Holy Spirit according to Isaiah 58:11.
Who are you?
Ever wondered “Why am I still struggling with shortcomings though I have believed in Christ and born again?” It is true that your old self is dead and you are a new creation, when you are in Christ (2 Cor 5:17). But most of us struggle to believe it when we don’t see or produce results outwardly. The Bible tells us, “The first man was of the earth, made of dust; the second Man is the Lord from heaven. As was the man of dust, so also are those who are made of dust; and as is the heavenly Man, so also are those who are heavenly” (I Corinthians 15:47-48). We see two types of mankind here. The one that is of earth, made of mere dust and the other kind that is heavenly. Now if you are born again by believing in Christ, you belong to the later kind. Transformation has already happened on the inside.
Now, it is very important what state of mind you possess. Whether it is stuck with your old self or has fit into the new you. It is everything. You are who your mind believes to be. You who are heavenly cannot live like those who are of the earth. For a better understanding, let us consider a pig whose nature is evident. It rather enjoys a puddle or an unclean atmosphere than a clean environment. Now let’s say this pig is dead and been reincarnated or born again into a sheep, yet not aware of the nature of one. What happens? The purpose of it’s existence becomes meaningless. It’s ridiculous to find a sheep possessing characteristics of a pig. This is very similar to those who are born again, yet possessing an old state of mind. It is not fair for the heavenly to have the mind of the dust.
Besides, you need to be aware of the battle that prevails in your mind all the time. The battle between flesh and your spirit, where your flesh fights to settle for the dusty mindset. The spirit that is in you on the other hand leads you to possess a heavenly mindset. “But you are not controlled by your sinful nature. You are controlled by the Spirit if you have the Spirit of God living in you” (Romans 8:9 NLT). Those who are in Christ, walk in the spirit as they belong to Him (Romans 8:9b). “If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit” (Galatians 5:25). Walking in the spirit means, walking in the word which is life and of spirit itself.
When Isaac was in Gerar during the time of a severe drought throughout the land, everyone set their path towards Egypt for living. But the word of God appeared to Isaac, insisting him to stay back where he was and God would bless him there, regardless of the prevailing condition. As Isaac yielded himself to the word of God, which is spirit and walked according to it. “The man began to prosper, and continued prospering until he became very prosperous” (Genesis 26:13).
As you constantly walk in the spirit by obeying the word from God (Rehma), you will therefore have a shift in the state of your mind. The realisation of your born again nature by continued renewal of mind through the word, leads to transfiguration in your spirit producing results outwardly.
