This lesson is devoted to what helps us hear God. The “How to Hear the Voice of God” school was held at Father’s Blessing Church.
Lesson 5. What Helps Us Hear God
1. The Right Setting or Environment
Some teach that it is better to listen to God in silence. Others teach that it is better to train yourself to listen to God with music playing. These camps sometimes even come into conflict with each other. In our opinion, there is a time and place for everything. It is better to stay somewhere in the middle and avoid extremes.
Habakkuk 2:1–2 I will stand at my watch and station myself on the ramparts; I will look to see what He will say to me, and what answer I am to give to this complaint? Then the Lord replied: “Write down the revelation and make it plain on tablets so that a herald may run with it,”
The key points here are solitude, waiting, and listening with the heart. There are certain clues here for us. The prophet did not simply say, “I strained myself and heard God.” He did something.
“I will stand at my watch and station myself on the ramparts”… The original text uses the word “rock.” The prophet did not simply climb a city tower; he went away from the people. But even if we assume that it was a tower, it was located somewhere secluded. In any case, the prophet climbed somewhere higher, farther away from the people.
“I will stand at my watch…” In other words, he prepared himself and found time and a place for solitude.
“I will look to see what He will say to me…” The first thing that helps us hear God is the right environment. The prophet withdrew from the hustle and bustle and from the people. He devoted himself to God, set aside time to be alone and remain in silence. The prophet literally calmed himself and watched, that is, waited. The word “watched” also means “to look intently.”
Everyone should practice this. In other words, we need to become as calm as possible and tune ourselves to listen—far from people, far from noise and commotion. Then we will truly be able to hear the Lord clearly and distinctly.
After many experiences and experiments, I came to the same conclusion, so I no longer withdraw for less than three or four days.
When I go somewhere far from people to be alone, the first few days I do nothing but calm my thoughts. The thing is, when you try to hear God while your mind is restless, thoughts arise such as: “You need to do this and that…” And you mistake your brain activity for the voice of God.
That is why I always take a notebook and pen with me and spend a couple of days dealing only with my thoughts, writing them down in the notebook. Sometimes it is a huge number of pages. You simply write down everything you have ever wanted to do—everything that comes to mind. Write it down—it clears your mind! Your mental activity calms down, and you begin to hear not yourself, but the Holy Spirit.
When I am alone, I usually get up early: as a rule, at five or six in the morning. Biologically, the body is already ready to be awake, and you do not feel sleepy. (If you get up late, your stomach immediately wakes up, and you think only about food.) You also have the opportunity to spend several hours in silence, like Habakkuk—to observe and pay attention to what God will say within you. This is a time of peace. Silence outside: there are no passersby yet, and the sound of cars cannot be heard. Silence beyond the walls of your room at a sanatorium, hotel, or vacation center: everyone is still asleep. And, most importantly, there is still silence in your head. You can sit quietly with a pen and notebook. In this case, there should be no music: it will only interfere. Simply silence!
Then your thoughts recede into the background, and you begin to clearly hear the Voice speaking within you. The amazing thing is that you no longer have to struggle with the stream of consciousness or wonder whether a thought is from God or your own. Even if you hear little, even if it is only one word, you will write it down, and it will work throughout your life. Because God said it.
However, sometimes it is impossible to create such an environment. You cannot be alone or achieve complete silence. Then you can try to focus in a different way—for example, surround yourself with appropriate music.
…Now call for a lyre player. And when the lyre player played the lyre, the hand of the Lord came upon Elisha, and he said: Thus says the Lord: Make this valley full of ditches… (2 Kings 3:15–16, Father's Blessing translation)
You may think that the case described above is unique, but in fact this principle is still at work today.
It was difficult for Elisha to tune in to a prophetic mode in that situation. Why? Because the king of Israel was an idolater, and when the prophet spoke with him, he said something like this: “King, I do not want to see you! What you are doing angers God. I have no desire to prophesy to you.”
The prophet needed to activate certain mechanisms in order to tune in and receive a word from God after all. Why did he invite a lyre player? Perhaps this was a practice among prophets at that time. Elisha was leading a school of prophets, and there were people there who prophesied with instruments. You remember: when a company of prophets moved along accompanied by musicians and singers, the prophetic spirit came upon them, and they began to prophesy (see 1 Kings 10:5–6).
Perhaps using instruments was customary for them, which is why Elisha asked for a lyre player to be summoned. But who this lyre player was and what exactly he played, we can only guess. There are two theories about this:
1. A lyre player was indeed with the prophet and accompanied him everywhere, so Elisha said: “Call my man. He knows what to play to create the right atmosphere.”
2. Elisha said, “Call for any musician, because I need to calm down, get centered, and focus.”
The right music can help. Like many others, I have conducted numerous experiments. Here is what I have noticed about music. We must not confuse music or songs for being filled with the Holy Spirit with music or songs for hearing the voice of God. These are different spiritual tools.
There are songs whose words grip you so strongly that you start singing along and being filled with the Spirit. At that moment, you are not so much receiving as giving. Your heart opens, and you echo the singers. Praise pours out of you. At such times, it is difficult to tune in to hear the voice of God.
But there is musical accompaniment that, on the contrary, does not distract you. It has no words or striking melodies that draw your attention. When the music is neutral, you can truly calm down and begin listening to God.
If I am going to a meeting and feel that I lack spiritual refreshment, I find a song that gives me goosebumps. I play only that song and listen to it over and over. After a while, I feel the Holy Spirit pouring over me like a stream. Boldness rises up within me: “Where are you, Satan? I’ll deal with you now!” But at that moment, it would be difficult for me to focus and listen to the quiet voice of the Spirit.
But when I need to hear the quiet voice of God, I choose special music. My spiritual father taught me this. When we were flying together, he did something strange and illogical. He took earplugs and put them in his ears. Then he took out enormous headphones, covered his ears with them, and turned on his player. It looked rather strange! Logically, shouldn’t you choose one thing: either listen to music or block your ears?
This is how he explained it: “I cover my ears so that nothing distracts me. But at the same time, I quietly turn on light music that plays somewhere in the background and creates a spiritual atmosphere for me. It separates me from the noise of the airplane engines, people talking, and the music in the cabin. This is how I listen to God.”
In other words, he was in complete silence, while somewhere in the background, a piano, chimes, or violins played unobtrusively. This is precisely the kind of situation in which the music does not press in or fill your entire space, and you do not strain to listen to the chords, the sound, or the singing… Nothing distracts you. You listen to God.
It is best to develop the ability to listen to God in complete silence. This is a priority! But if you do not have that opportunity, you can use suitable music to create an atmosphere that will help you hear the voice of the Spirit.
2. Proper fellowship with the Holy Spirit
The key here is the word “proper.” If I tell you that fellowship with the Holy Spirit helps us hear God better, you will reply, “Isn’t that obvious?”
For example, there are healthy and unhealthy relationships between a husband and wife. Healthy relationships foster the growth of their unity, while unhealthy ones lead to the breakdown of the family. We ourselves can either destroy relationships or build them up.
This is very important to bear in mind when building a relationship with the Holy Spirit. Remember that He is a Person! Although God is triune, we find many passages in Scripture where all three Persons of God are described separately. The Holy Spirit is a distinct Person with whom you can and should have a separate relationship! He was sent to us and remains with us throughout our lives not simply so that we might feel some tingling down our backs. One of His main purposes is to reveal to us what comes from God.
But God has revealed it to us through His Spirit; for the Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God (1 Cor. 2:10).
Pay attention: who revealed this? God! He revealed it, spoke it, prompted us, taught us… So we need to build a relationship with the Holy Spirit because He reveals to us what God wants to say to us. He prompts us; He teaches us.
Today there is such confusion in the Body of Christ, everything has become so mixed up that people no longer understand whom they need to communicate with. They have become lost, so to speak, among the three pine trees, between the Father, the Son, and the Spirit.
And now these three remain: faith, hope, and love; but the greatest of these is love (2 Cor. 13:13).
Communicating with the Holy Spirit is not the same as having a relationship with a human being. Why? Because He is the Holy Spirit. The Spirit is holy! It is very important to Him how exactly you communicate with Him. A person may be able to swallow unpleasant words or a cold attitude toward them, but the Holy Spirit cannot! He is very sensitive. He knows everything you breathe because He is within you! That is why, if you have learned to communicate with Him correctly, you will know what has been given to you by God. The Spirit will speak with you, revealing many mysteries, and will be both a key and a door for you into the supernatural world.
If your relationship with the Holy Spirit has been severed, then, figuratively speaking, your loudspeaker—the device that should transmit information to you—is switched off. The device is there, but it is not turned on. You seem to understand that the Spirit is present in your life and even manifests Himself: for example, you pray and a person is healed. “But why doesn’t the Holy Spirit speak to me?” you wonder.
The Bible describes five mistakes regarding the Holy Spirit that determine whether or not we will have problems in our relationship with the Holy Spirit. Some people have read a book about relating to the Holy Spirit and decided that, to have a relationship with the Holy Spirit, all they need to do is say every day, “Good morning, Holy Spirit!” or “Good evening, Holy Spirit!” No! This would be like a guy deciding to win a girl’s heart. The moment he said, “I like you,” he would immediately hear her reply: “I am yours forever!” No, that does not happen! Building a relationship requires mutual desire and two-way communication.
What must we not do in relation to the Holy Spirit?
- insult Him;
- grieve Him;
- blaspheme;
- quench;
- deceive.
In the Bible, I found five main warnings for people concerning the Holy Spirit. If we disregard these warnings, the Holy Spirit as a Person will certainly be grieved, offended, and quenched.
Each of you will say to me: “Me? Offend the Holy Spirit? No way! Anyone but the Holy Spirit.” Yet the truth is that whatever we do to people, we do to the Holy Spirit.
1. How can a person lie to the Holy Spirit?
But Peter said: Ananias, why did you allow Satan to fill your heart to think of lying to the Holy Spirit and keeping back part of the price of the land? (Acts 5:3)
Ananias and Sapphira lied to a man of God, but it was counted as lying to the Holy Spirit. Never do this!
2. How can a person quench the Holy Spirit?
Rejoice always. Pray without ceasing. Give thanks in everything, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus. Do not quench the Spirit. Do not despise prophecies. Test everything; hold fast to what is good. Keep away from every kind of evil (1 Thess. 5:16–22).
This passage of Scripture is somewhat difficult to understand because the apostle Paul speaks here in short phrases separated by periods, and it is difficult to see the connection between them.
Verse 19 clearly says that the Spirit can be quenched. The Greek word for “quench” means “to extinguish a flame/to put out a fire.” In other words, the fire or flame of the Holy Spirit can somehow be quenched. For example, when we suppress the manifestations and gifts of the Holy Spirit in ourselves or in others. Do not quench this flame!
John Arnott shared how, in their church, the move of the Holy Spirit began 12 years before the revival. During services, people began laughing, which, in the church leadership’s opinion, led to disorder. This continued for five, ten, thirty minutes… They could not continue the service because people were rolling under the chairs with laughter. Nothing foreshadowed what happened. It all happened suddenly. Then an administrator approached the pastor and said: “What are we going to do about this?”
They thought people would calm down on their own. But instead, the waves of laughter kept getting bigger and bigger… So they called everyone to order, making this announcement: “Please, everyone calm down! Stop laughing!” And afterward, according to John Arnott, he felt for 12 whole years that God had simply left their church. There was no move of the Spirit, no power, no healings, no miracles—nothing! Just a wilderness.
This is one of those cases when the Holy Spirit was quenched. God spread the fire, but people put out the flame. It was precisely the quenching of the fire that God had decided to kindle. So we must be careful when criticizing someone’s spiritual manifestations and gifts. Even with one careless word or gesture, we can quench the Holy Spirit!
3. How can a person blaspheme the Holy Spirit?
…But whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven, but is subject to eternal condemnation. He said this because they were saying, “He has an unclean spirit” (Mark 3:29).
The word “blaspheme” means “to speak evil of / dishonor.” Blasphemy or speaking evil against the Holy Spirit is expressed when people say that a person acting in the Holy Spirit is actually operating through a demon. This is not speaking evil or blaspheming against the person, but against the Holy Spirit, calling the Third Person of the Trinity an unclean spirit.
That is why, when we see some kind of spiritual manifestation in a person, we need to be very careful about our conclusions. We cannot simply declare, “It’s Satan! Demons are at work in that church! Demons are laughing through people there!” If you do not understand, it is better to remain silent. Better to say nothing.
You say it once, then a second time, then a third… And afterward you ask, “Holy Spirit, speak to me!” And He replies, “What are you doing? You are speaking evil of Me! You are blaspheming Me!” “When did I do that?” you ask in surprise. “You do it all the time. You blaspheme Me in these people!”—that is what you will hear from the Holy Spirit in response.
Do not do this!
4. How can we grieve the Holy Spirit?
If we understand this and are careful in our words and actions, a door will open for us into the supernatural realm, where we will be able to hear the Holy Spirit and see miracles!
But they rebelled and grieved His Holy Spirit; therefore He turned against them: He Himself fought against them (Isaiah 63:10).
“To grieve” in Hebrew means “to irritate, provoke, or anger.” In that situation, the Holy Spirit was deeply grieved. What was happening? You remember that in the wilderness, the Israelites were constantly grumbling. Nothing pleased them. Their complaints grieved the Holy Spirit because God was bringing them out of slavery and trying to help them. “Look, I brought you out of Egypt! Look, I am leading you into a land flowing with milk and honey! Look, I gave you water, manna, and meat in the wilderness! Here are the pillar of fire and the cloud! Just be grateful…” But the Israelites kept grumbling, and grumbling, and grumbling. And this, as it is written, grieved the Holy Spirit, and He turned against them.
5. How can we offend the Holy Spirit?
Grieving and offending are different from each other. You can grieve your wife, or you can offend your wife.
Let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth, but only what is good for edification in the faith, so that it may impart grace to those who hear. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking, with all malice, be put away from you… (Eph. 4:29)
I know you have read these lines many times. But let’s read them again and again… “Let no corrupt word.” This offends the Holy Spirit. In a burst of emotion, husbands and wives may release “corrupt words” against each other. Those being mentored may direct “corrupt words” at their mentors. Corrupt words mean spoiled words, like a rotten apple. If we direct such words at a person in whom the Holy Spirit lives, they are automatically directed at the Holy Spirit.
Irritation, rage, anger, shouting, and slander—all of this offends the Holy Spirit. So it is better to resolve conflicts calmly. It is better to sit down and talk peacefully. We should not strain our vocal cords by shouting at each other, nor should we speak evil of others. In our church, raising our voices at one another is not encouraged because it offends the Holy Spirit.
Let us pray:
“Lord, help me watch over my heart—the things I say and think. Help me watch over my ways. Help me walk on straight paths. Purify my lips; I so desire that only sweet water would flow from them, and that my lips would never blaspheme, offend, insult, or quench the Holy Spirit. Help me, Father, in the name of Jesus Christ.”
