You must have water to live. One of the first symptoms of dehydration is mental fog. That is no way to live physically or spiritually. The way we look at the presence of the Holy Spirit in our life makes a huge difference in whether we stay hydrated spiritually. Are you thirsty? Then come and drink!
Hunger/desire
Jack Deere – Surprised by the Voice of God: How God Speaks Today Through Prophecies, Dreams, and Visions
“If we are not willing to do the will of God, we can’t hear His voice clearly.”
“. . . spiritual discernment is based on our willingness to do the will of God. . . In other words, God speaks to those who are willing to do whatever he says to them.”
If you are hungry to be used for God, He will use you. Very little happens in the life of a believer until that person becomes hungry for it. We serve a God who is all powerful, but He will not violate your humanity. If you do not want Him to move in your life He will honor your desire. However, if you desire Him to direct you He will. You have to be hungry for His leading. You have to desire to flow in the Spirit. Hunger is one of the chief ingredients to spiritual growth. The Proverbs say that, “to a famished man any bitter thing is sweet” (Prov. 27:7).
Learn to follow in the day-to-day, small things
Learn to “listen” to your heart. The heart is the key to the Christian life. That’s why the Proverbs tell us to “Watch over your heart with all diligence, For from it flow the springs of life” (4:23). We need to guard against heart damage. Things that damage your heart include sin, unforgiveness, unbelief, wrong words, etc. The heart is the basis for your conscience. Kenneth Hagin said, “If you persist in violating your conscience, you will make your conscience calloused to the Holy Spirit’s promptings.” You can learn to follow the Spirit’s direction even in the small things. You can have His help with things around the house, on the job, and in our independent Bible study.
When we establish our hearts in the righteousness of God we have confidence in the Lord. When we do things that we know displease Him we do damage to our hearts. Learn to be sensitive to your heart. What are you feeling in certain situations? When you are around certain people what is your heart sensing? What is your heart telling you to do?
If you are born-again you have flowed with the Holy Ghost at least once! Build on this . . .
We shouldn’t think that flowing in the Holy Spirit is only for the experts. All of us who are born-again have the ability to be led by the Spirit. This is the key to flowing. When you were born-again you had to have listened to and obeyed the Spirit of God. So, at least once before in your life you have followed supernatural guidance. The Holy Spirit will communicate with you on the same channel. This time it may not come with the same feelings but it is there. When you accepted Jesus it was the Holy Spirit that spoke to you about the condition of your heart. Even if someone witnessed to you or you read a tract, it was the Spirit that spoke to you. You heard Him and responded. It is no different today. Flowing in the Spirit requires that you listen to Him on that same level – in that same place in your heart and that you respond. If you did that before, you can do it again and again.
Strong Word foundation
The Holy Spirit will draw from your knowledge of Scripture in order to speak to you most of the time. It is in the Word that we learn the language that will help us give expression to His impressions. He doesn’t always speak in words many times it is a knowing that we experience. We just know what we are supposed to do. He doesn’t argue or reason with us in the sense of talking us into something. There are many times that He speaks to us directly through the Word of God. A passage will stand out to us and we understand something about our situation. He has given us a particular application of the principles we find in the Word. The passage will give us words to describe the impressions that we are receiving. The voice or direction of the Holy Spirit will never contradict the written word. No direction of the Spirit will supersede the written Word either.
Kenneth Hagin – Following God’s Plan for Your Life
“You see, the voice that speaks to you in the Word is the same voice that leads you by your spirit. So being in the Word sharpens your spiritual perception and ability to hear God’s voice in your own spirit.”
“God’s voice always agrees with the Scriptures.”
Having a strong foundation of biblical knowledge will keep you out of the ditch. You will not be prone to error or extreme if you stick with what the Word says. When you know the Word you will know the language of the Spirit. This is what the Spirit sounds like. God doesn’t lead through guilt and condemnation. He doesn’t condemn us, His Word doesn’t condemn us, and the Spirit will not condemn us either. The enemy will try to move us to do things through guilt, accusation, and condemnation. He will make you feel that you are not doing your part or that you should be doing more. He may attempt to keep you from doing things that you should be doing through rationalism. The enemy may try to convince you through thoughts that you are already doing so much or that you gave in the last offering. The Holy Spirit is not going to argue with you. He will prompt you but He doesn’t beg us to follow. We need to put ourselves in a position to obey the voice of the Holy Spirit promptly. We need to position our hearts to be sensitive to His initial promptings. I like to say that the greatest power is available in the initial prompting.
These things are cumulative; you don’t get there over night. Start where you are and grow.
Those that are the sons of God are led by the Spirit, this is your nature as a born-again person. Don’t compare yourself with others that may have been serving God longer than yourself. Don’t compare yourself with people that you think are particularly gifted. Be encouraged that if God can use them that He can use you too. Remember that they didn’t start out where they are today. We all have to learn and grown. Part of that means making some mistakes along the way. Have patience, but get started. Start right where you are with what you have. Ask God for His guidance and help with everything that you have to do. Where you are right now will be the training ground for what God has for you. Be faithful in your present circumstance. Trust God and watch how you grow! Get started today. Make flowing with the Holy Spirit a part of your prayer life. There is probably no better place to learn how to flow with the Holy Spirit than in prayer. As you do this the effects will begin to add up. You won’t get everything in one session but the effects will begin to accumulate over time. Each time you are successful in hearing and obeying it will open the door to great things in God.
Madame Gunyon
“This ‘activity’ of being led will always surround you with peace. When you interrupt the Spirit’s leading, you will always sense it because you will feel either forced or constrained. But when your actions are under the influence of the Spirit of grace, they will be free, easy, and so natural that it will almost seem as if you have not acted at all.”
Step out in faith
You can’t learn to swim without getting wet and you can’t learn how to flow in the Holy Ghost without stepping out. You have to try in order to learn. If you think that learning to flow will be perfect you are mistaken. Learning how to flow will be a process – the process of trial and error. You may miss it sometimes but don’t quit. You will never learn until you try. It will always require risk to walk in the Spirit. The risk will be to your flesh and to your pride. You flesh will be afraid to look foolish. That will be the best thing for the flesh. Your flesh may be uncomfortable but your spirit will be right at home in the flow of the Spirit. Your flesh needs to be embarrassed sometimes. The flesh is opposed to the flow of the Spirit. Just keep putting yourself in the presence of God and obeying what you believe to be His voice. Your flesh will soon learn that it is not in charge and will hush up and let your spirit be in control.
“One evening, July 3, I felt strongly impressed to go to the little Peniel Hall in Pasadena to pray. There I found Brother Boehmer ahead of me. He had also been led of God to the hall. We prayed for a spirit of revival for Pasadena until the burden became well nigh unbearable. I cried out like a woman in birth-pangs. The Spirit was interceding through us. Finally the burden left us. After a little time of quiet waiting a great calm settled down upon us. Then suddenly, without premonition, the Lord Jesus himself revealed himself to us. He seemed to stand directly between us, so close we could have reached out our hand and touched Him. But we did not dare to move. I could not even look. In fact I seemed all spirit. His presence seemed more real, if possible, than if I could have seen and touched Him naturally. I forgot I had eyes or ears. My spirit recognized Him. A heaven of divine love filled and thrilled my soul. Burning fire went through me. In fact my whole being seemed to flow down before Him, like wax before the fire. I lost all consciousness of time or space, being conscious only of His wonderful presence. I worshipped at His feet. I was lost in the pure Spirit. For some time He remained with us. Then slowly He withdrew His presence. We would have been there yet had He not drawn. I could not doubt His reality after that experience. Brother Boehmer experienced largely the same thing. We had lost all consciousness of each other’s presence while He remained with us. We were almost afraid to speak or breathe when we came back to our surroundings. The Lord had said nothing to us, but only ravished our spirits by His presence. He had come to strengthen and assure us for His service. We knew now we were workers with Him, fellowshippers of his sufferings, in the ministry of “soul travail.” Real soul travail is just as definite in the spirit, as natural human birth-pangs. The simile is almost perfect in its sameness. No soul is ever born without this. All true revivals of salvation come this way.”
Bartleman, Frank (2008-08-26). The AZUSA STREET REVIVAL – An Eyewitness Account (Kindle Locations 623-630). RevivalSchool. Kindle Edition.
“In a spiritually hungry church, the gifts of the Spirit move at almost every service. Each service leaves a residue of expectancy, spiritual hunger, and anointing. The difference between these churches is in the desire of the people for the things of God.”
“God is not looking for great ability; He is looking for cooperation. He is looking for people who desire to see Him move.”
“The greater the degree of expectancy, the more the Spirit of God is free to manifest Himself.” – Mark Brazee (Preparing for His Glory)
This life I now live, I live by faith in the Son of God.
We are contending for the gospel. This congregation will not let go. We contend for the revival. We will not let go. Move Holy Ghost move. Move in our midst. Do great things. Yes, to the Holy Ghost. Yes, to manifestation. If you do not move we will not go. You can move through me. You can use my vessel. No mocking spirit. No inhibitions. Stick with Jesus. Though none go with us, still we will follow. We will be people of breakthrough. The movement of Your Spirit will not be hindered.
Enough is enough. We’re not asking permission to have revival. There is nothing little about the Holy Ghost. Why sit we here? What is this room anyway? Why sit we here ‘til we die? We should give the Holy Ghost access to His own church.
Living and active, not dead and dry. What is living and active?
We refuse to bind what He has loosed. We will not do without. We will have what you want us to have. You will fill the hungry. You will fill the thirsty. We will not be the clog in the line. We will be free of hindrance. We will be free of hindrance. We will loose it. There is more than enough. You hand is not shortened. There is no missed connection from your hand to us. Flood the city from this place. We will yield faithfully to you. Free the flow. Bigger than us. Bigger than our ideas. Let the river flow unhindered. Remove blockages. Remove barriers. Big and wide river. Big and wild river.
The Revival is in You
We had a great College Bible Study this past week. To make a long story short the power of God was in manifestation in a way that has been all too rare in recent days. Several expressions came out of this meeting that bear repeating:
• The revival is in you.
• What are we waiting on?
• Enough is enough. Why sit we here?
• There is nothing little about the Holy Ghost. He is more than the voice in my heart.
• We don’t have to ask permission to have revival.
There is a tendency in people to forget the last thing God has given rather than keeping it as part of the structure. Rather than discard what God has done we should practice it. I know that there are seasonal things but there are also fundamental things that God gives. For example there is nothing seasonal about joy.
Heb 12:2 NASB fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
Gal 5:22-23 NASB But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, (23) gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.
The things God reveals to us are to be built upon, line upon line, precept upon precept. He seldom gives us everything at one time. He releases things as we can assimilate them into our daily walk. When you build a house you can’t go back and discard the foundation after the roof is on. The house is meant to stand on its foundation. It is the foundation that gives the house its permanence. Each wave of revival in the past has brought with it fresh revelation and reminded us of things once held dear to the body of Christ. Let’s keep the fire burning in our hearts. Revival is not only for church services it is meant to affect every part of our lives, especially the parts lived outside of the four walls of the church building.
“Some like to read the Bible in the Hebrew. Some in the Greek. I like to read it in the Holy Ghost.” – Smith Wigglesworth
“Every man is as full of the Holy Spirit as he wants to be. He may not be as full as he wishes he were, but he is most certainly as full as he wants to be.” – A. W. Tozer
“Are you feeling far from God? Guess who moved?” – John Maxwell
“We cannot organize revival, but we can set our sails to catch the wind from Heaven when God chooses to blow upon His people once again.” – G. Campbell Morgan
“A genuine revival without joy in the Lord is as impossible as spring without flowers, or day-dawn without light.” – Charles Haddon Spurgeon
“Give me one hundred preachers who fear nothing but sin and desire nothing but God, and I care not whether they be clergymen or laymen, they alone will shake the gates of Hell and set up the kingdom of Heaven upon Earth.” – John Wesley
We are entering our 24th week as of this Sunday, Sept. 5. We have seen several hundred people (my estimate) walk the aisle to receive Jesus or rededicate their lives to Him. These have been great days. I don’t think we have seen all the purposes of God revealed for these meetings. I do know that they have been important days. God has been working on our hearts. People have been changed. Marriages have been restored.
Because people have preconceived ideas of what revival is and how God should do it this time, we have to deal with expectations. What we expect God to do and what He does are not necessarily the same thing. When we insist on Him doing what we want rather than what He wills we develop a condition known as “leaness of soul.”
Psalms 106:14-15 KJV But lusted exceedingly in the wilderness, and tempted God in the desert. (15) And he gave them their request; but sent leanness into their soul.
The people tired of the manna and “lusted a lust” for meat (not God’s plan). It is no small issue when His provision is not seen as sufficient. The people had also forgotten the deliverance God gave them from Egypt. Note the poetic terseness in the verses that precede these verses:
Psalms 106:11-13a NASB The waters covered their adversaries; Not one of them was left. (12) Then they believed His words; They sang His praise. (13) They quickly forgot His works;
We need to let God be God and allow Him to determine the scope of His work. Our job is not to analyze but to appreciate and enjoy what He does. We need to accept the move of God at face value realizing that not everyone receives in the same way. The supernatural is not alway spectacular. Let’s not be like those who sing His praises one minute and forget what He has done the next. Keep your heart open and we will all receive what God has for us. And, we will see a lot of others blessed in the process.
This is a video from the 1995 Brownsville Revival. Alison Ward was 19 years old at the time and was powerfully touched in the revival meetings.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Revival is a Divine attack on society. – Ron McIntosh
My fear is not that our great movement, known as the Methodists, will eventually cease to exist or one day die from the earth. My fear is that our people will become content to live without the fire, the power, the excitement, the supernatural element that makes us great. – John Wesley
A genuine revival without joy in the Lord is as impossible as spring without flowers, or day-dawn without light. – Charles Haddon Spurgeon
I do not preach any new truth. I do not have any new doctrine. . . . We must have a revival that will mean purity of heart as a normal standard for everybody. We must be clean people, and not only clean outside. – A.W. Tozer