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“Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself, but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall HE SPEAK: And he will SHOW YOU things to come.” John 16:13 This article is the continuation of my last post titled, “How to Hear From the Holy Spirit”. In that post, I did promise to expatiate on the various ways the Holy Spirit speaks to and leads the children of God… Hence, this article seeks to scripturally point the Christian believer, to the various avenues, through which the Holy Spirit Speak to his Children. So they can always be sensitive to his voice and receive directions for themselves. Concerning any and every areas of their lives, which they need spiritual guidance on. Instead of running from one man after the other. So What Then Are the Various Ways The Holy Spirit Speak? 1. The Witness of the spirit – Rom 8:16. One of the principal way the Holy Spirit speaks to the believer, is through the witness of the spirit (heart, or conscience). The word witness, from the original Greek word means- to give an evidence of something. Hence, the Holy Spirit always leads every true believer to what God will have them do per time, by a convicting evidence to the heart or conscience. Many a time, he supports the conviction in the heart or conscience with a very glaring scriptural truth. That the believer cannot sincerely wave off. 2. Jumping Scriptures—Psalm 119:105; “Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.” Another principal way the Holy Spirit speaks very often to his children, is through striking revelations from scriptures that just jump at the believer’s heart. And this can be either when reading or meditating on the scriptures or any Christian literature. Then at some other times, it occurs even when not reading at all. The scriptural revelation, just jumps out from your spirit in total harmony with the situation you’re seeking answers from God to. And on some occasions, the scripture can be given to you in your dream. In order to position his or herself to be hearing from the Holy Spirit through scriptures, the believer must of a necessity, train his or her spirit to hear. And by training I mean, consistent reading, meditating and practicing of the word of God on a daily basis. Because most of the time, the Holy Spirit speaks to the believer, from the scriptures he or she is already aware of. 3. Audible Voice—Isaiah 30:21; “And thine EARS shall hear a word behind thee, saying, this is the way, walk ye in it, when ye turn to the right hand, and when ye turn to the left.” The Holy Spirit speaks to believers audibly. But though, rarely. Many men of God have confirmed to hearing from God through their ears only very few times. Some three times; and some others four times since they became Christians. I for one, I have only heard the audible voice of the Spirit once in all my Christian walk… And that was last year, as I was just about to wake up from my sleep. To be on a safer side, if you hear an audible voice, don’t just run with it. You must confirm it with a witness of the spirit and scriptural backing. 4. Authoritative Voice of the Spirit The authoritative voice of the Spirit, is what the Apostle Paul calls the Spirit speaking expressly in 1 Timothy 4:1. Through this avenue, you just receive a very strong and authoritative knowing in your spirit concerning what God wants you to do… You don’t hear anything in your ears, but after receiving the strong revelation in your spirit, it seems as if someone around or within you just spoke to you. I have had this particular experience about three or four times. And they have occurred to me when I would be asking God, concerning some critical issues that I am confused or not clear about. Whether he or the devil was the one speaking to me. Immediately, I get that authoritative voice in my spirit, I am instantly convicted of the truth of the matter. 5. Visions and Dreams: God speaks to the believer through visions and dreams. Visions include: Trance, Open visions, inner visions (with your eyes of faith) and dreams. I have never had an open vision or a trance. But I have gotten revelations through inner visions and dreams. But the dreams I accept as the directions of God are the one that as I wake up from my sleep, has a confirmation of the Holy Spirit, by the witness of the spirit… If as I wake up, I do not have any witness of the spirit concerning the dream, I just discard it. The Holy Spirit also leads through situations or providence; through the words of other people (Either born again or not- with the witness of the spirit). He also leads through wisdom or common sense, peace… and a number of other ways… But ultimately, amongst all these various avenues, he will always bear witness to the truth, through the witness of the spirit and scriptural truth. The Holy Spirit does not speak against or outside scriptural truth. So regardless of the avenue you receive a revelation, you must check with the written word of God and the witness of the spirit (through conviction or peace). Then also to be on a safer side, when seeking guidance from God on any issue, especially critical issues (such as marriage). You should seek to get confirmation from about two or three avenues as stated above, before making a move. May God guide you continually in the path of righteousness, for his names’ sake in Jesus precious name! Remain Blessed! Emeke Odili

“For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God” Romans 8:14 My friend Henry Amuoghobor, narrated to me, some months ago, the story of a woman, who went for a religious meeting. According to my friend, as this woman participated in the meeting, the so-called prophet, called out to her, and gave her a personal prophecy about her family… The prophet told this naïve and ignorant lady, that her Father and Mother In-law, are responsible for her predicaments. Then foolishly, this lady just went straight to her in-laws, and accused them confrontationally, of being the evil hands behind her predicaments. When the said lady’s husband eventually returned, and eventually got to his parents, they narrated to him how his wife had insolently accused them of witchcraft, and being responsible for their problems. After the man heard of the insult of the wife to his parents, as he got home, the issue eventually led to the breakage of their heavenly ordained marriage. This story is just one of many disasters that many spiritually ignorant individuals have caused themselves and others- by always trying to get direction and instruction from God through their fellow humans. Instead of going to God directly to hear from him. People have lost their money, their God given wives, relationships, ministries and other valuables by their undue inquisitiveness, and trying to pry into the future through human agents. And this is mainly as a result of ignorance to scriptural truth. They fail to understand that in the New Testament, Prophets are not given to give personal directions to any child of God. Yes, in the New Testament, there is the ministry of prophet. And their primary duty is to preach and teach the word of God, through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, just like every other ministry gift. And also, because they always have revelational gifts, they can also give direction to the general assembly of a Church by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit concerning God’s agenda per time. But when it comes to personal messages to the individuals in the Church, they are to only confirm to the believer only what God has already revealed to them personally for the purpose of confirmation and strengthening of faith. To this end, an individual believer, with the Holy Spirit in him or her, should not depend on prophets to give him/her direction for personal life. They should only go to the prophet to hear preaching or teaching. Then in the process of preaching or teaching, God can occasionally use the prophet to confirm what he has already revealed personally to the believer. However, if the prophet gives the believer a message that God has never revealed to him or her before time, and does not bear witness with the spirit, the believer should discard it. Then on the other hand, if he suspects there could be truth in it, he should personally go and inquire from God concerning the revelation before agreeing to or acting on it. It is very risky and dangerous to take any man’s word for it, without hearing the truth from God first. And when I say any man, I mean any man- regardless of whom the person may be. No matter the position of the man, we can’t afford to put our destinies in the hand of any man. Even if the individual has the true gift of prophecy, he is only a human as much as you are, and as such, is bound to make mistakes. Prophets operate in the realm of the spirit, and as the scriptures said, there are many voices in the spirit realm. Familiar spirits (that mimic the Holy Spirit) can speak through people. Including even genuine prophet or a child of God. Peter did yield to the devil, and started speaking against Jesus’s death. Anybody can at one time or the other, yield to the wrong spirit. So committing your destiny to any mortal man to direct, is to be toiling with your life and destiny. It is better to develop your relationship with God personally, and always consult him for any direction or instruction you need in any area of your life. If you want to make any business decision, go to him in a prayer of inquiries (if you want, you can take up some days of fasting and prayers)… If you want to marry, ask him for the right person. If you have a call for the ministry, go to him for instructions. Don’t allow anybody prophesy or call you into the ministry. If things are not going well with you in any area of your life, ask him personally to reveal to you what is going on. He is always ready and available inside of you to answer you if you are truly living in and for him… So my message in essence, is that you should learn to walk in the Spirit, instead of walking in men and prophets. When a believer always runs to a fellow man for answers, God is provoked to jealousy. Because by so doing, we tend to treat the man as God, and relegate God to the background. Hence, the errors many folks find themselves in the quest of seeking directions from prophets. So what are the various ways the Holy Spirit speaks to his Children? There are several ways the Holy Spirit lead or speak to his children. Principally, he speaks through the Witness of the spirit, the written word of God, small still voice (in the heart), audible voice (rarely), Wisdom (Godly wisdom, not sensual), situations or providence, visions and a host of other means. I’ll be discussing in details how the Holy Spirit speaks to the Believers through all these medium in my next article. But in the interim, I encourage you to smoothen out your relationship with God and his Holy Spirit, and learn how to be sensitive to his voice and leadings. Learn how to hear him for yourself for any situation you find yourself in; that you need direction for… Don’t subject your destiny to the direction of any man, no matter whatever title he or she is called. Right now, I decree your spiritual ears to pop open, in the mighty name of Jesus Christ. I command every deafening forces in you, to lose their grips off you, in the name of Jesus Christ! From now onwards, begin to hear God, per second, per minute, in the name of Jesus Christ! Remain Blessed! Emeke Odili