I think the challenge that you and I are often facing daily is that we do not depend on the reality of the Spirit of God enough. We do not realize that we need both the written Word of God and the Spirit. The Spirit and the Word work together in 100% agreement. Father gave us His Spirit so He can be active and speak into our lives daily. Beloved, we need to be keenly aware of and continually listening for the voice of the Ruach Hakodesh (Hebrew for the Holy Spirit).
In Revelation 2:29, Jesus said: “The one who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.”
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Obviously, Yeshua is saying: ‘When you hear the Spirit speaking – then listen.’ We need to be expecting the Holy Spirit to communicate with us. In other words, we have to be actively listening.
What does actively listening mean?
Actively listening starts with being in touch with our inner man. The way the Holy Spirit speaks to us, how we are led by the Spirit – is primarily within our inner man. It is through the witness of the indwelling Holy Spirit that God often chooses to communicates with us.
We need to develop the art of intuitive listening.
To be led by the Spirit, we must be aware of and listening to His leading. We must be able to discern the movement of the Spirit within us. This needs to become instinctive. A practical way to help us develop this sensitivity and consciousness of the Spirit’s leading is to begin each day by spending alone time with God. We designate it as the priority in our lives, the most important thing on our schedules. During this time each day we simply look up, sit quietly before Him and know that He is God.
“Be still and know that I am God” (Ps. 46:10, KJV).
Beloved, if we are not taking the time to discipline ourselves, by sitting before Him and simply being still, we will miss so much of the benefits of being His children.
“For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons and daughters of God” (Rm. 8:14).
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We need to “unplug” from our busyness and dedicate time to build that discipline in our life, or it will be very difficult to be led by the Spirit. If not, we will be distracted and occupied with: our smartphones, the challenges of life, the pressure of our jobs, the emotions of relationships and “keeping up with the “Joneses.” We need to break all that off of us and set aside time to develop a conscious awareness of God’s presence in our lives.
Many of you who have been following my ministry have heard me talk about this before, but it is a very important reminder. I often listen to gentle worship music during this devotional time.
David said of the Father God, “Your gentleness has made me great” (Ps. 18:35).
“In quietness and confidence shall be your strength” (Isa. 30:15, KJV).
Elijah describes the Lord, “After the earthquake a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire; and after the fire a still small voice” (1 Kings 19:12).
Hearing and detecting the voice of the Holy Spirit, the leading of the Holy Spirit, is an intentional and trained behavior. It requires such a keen awareness that if we have not developed our attentiveness, if we are not actively listening, we can miss Him.
Recently, I went to a church service that I had just showed up to encourage a pastor friend of mine. When I got there, he said, “Would you be willing to share just for about five minutes?” I said, “Sure.” I sat down and asked Father, “Lord, what would you like me to share?” There was something already stirring in my heart that would have been natural for me to speak on because it was really passionate to me.
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But God had a different plan. While sitting there waiting to get up and share, I faintly saw in my minds eye a Scripture reference (and beloved, I want stress it was so subtle and far away) that was different from what was in my heart that I wanted to share. If I had not developed a spiritual sensitivity, I would have never even seen it because it was so vague. It was like a silent seeing and hearing. I grabbed my Bible to look up this verse, as I randomly opened it, I looked down, and the Bible had seemingly opened to the verse that I had just saw in the Spirit.
The point is that the Spirit led me. And the way that I was led was not the Lord speaking to me with a thunderous voice that I could not have missed. Rather, He spoke to me in such a way that was very discreet. If I had not developed my spiritual sensitivities by simply practicing being still before the Lord every day and waiting on Him, I would have missed it.
I want to encourage you today. If you are really hungry for God and want Him more than anything else in your life. If your utmost desire is to know Him, hear His voice and follow Him with all your heart. If you are willing to do anything to serve Him, to be led by Him, to be walking in divine alignment with Him, to be living under His anointing, beloved, it will take spiritual discipline. This will then produce active listening that will enable you to hear His small quiet voice.
Rabbi Schneider hosts the impactful television program, Discovering The Jewish Jesus, which is available in more than one hundred million homes in the United States and nearly two hundred nations worldwide. In 2021 he began broadcasting on radio and now airs across America. Rabbi Schneider imparts revelation of Jesus’ Jewish heritage and His fulfillment of Messianic prophecy. Questions of how the Old and New Testaments tie together, and how Yeshua completes the unfolding plan of The Almighty Yahweh, are answered with exceptional clarity.
www.discoveringthejewishjesus.com/about-2/rabbi-schneider/
