1

LEARNING TO
HEAR GOD’S VOICE

KEN KESSLER
Learning to Hear God’s Voice. Copyright © 2009 by Ken Kessler. Printed and bound in the
United States of America. All rights reserved. Written permission must be secured from the pub-
lisher to use or reproduce any part of this book, except for brief quotations in critical reviews or
articles.

Published by:
Lifeschool International
P.O. Box 671063
Marietta, GA 30066-0136
(770) 509-1481
http://www.LifeschoolInternational.org
info@Lifeschoolinternational.org

Italics in biblical quotes indicate emphasis added.

Unless otherwise noted, Scripture quotations are from the New American Standard Updated
(NASU) Edition. Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by
the Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.
Scripture marked NKJV is taken from the New King James Version. Copyright © 1979, 1980, 1982
by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture marked TLB is taken from The Living Bible. Copyright © 1971. Used by permission of
Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, IL 60189. All rights reserved.
Scripture marked ASV is taken from The American Standard Version. Copyright © 1988 by Bible-
soft. All rights reserved.
Scripture marked KJV is taken from The King James Version. Copyright © 1988 by Biblesoft. All
rights reserved.
Table of Contents

1 CALLED INTO FELLOWSHIP WITH GOD 5

2 INTIMACY WITH GOD: THE FOUNDATION FOR HEARING HIS VOICE 19
3 DISCERNING GOD’S VOICE 31
4 MINISTERING AS JESUS DID 45
5 HEARING GOD FOR MINISTRY 59
6 KEYS TO HEARING GOD’S VOICE 77
7 THE BAPTISM OF THE HOLY SPIRIT 91
8 THE GIFT OF TONGUES 107
ANSWER SHEETS 123
FINAL EXAM 125
Session
1

Called Into Fellowship

with God

This session covers:

• Why learning to hear God’s voice is important
• The objectives of this class
• How we can and should hear God’s voice
• Common ways that God speaks today
This session corresponds to:
• Session 1 of Learning to Hear God’s Voice CDs

Hearing God’s Voice Is Important in the End Times

1. These are days of destiny for the Church.

• We live in an exciting generation. We are living in the
last days and are fast approaching the time of the
Lord’s return.
• God is preparing a Bride for Jesus.
• He is transforming the Church into mighty warriors
who can stand in spite of difficulties.
• He is equipping this army to do great exploits in Je-
sus’ name.
• Although the end of the age will be fearful and chal-
lenging to the world, the Church will enter into her
finest hour.
2. To be a person of destiny in these end times, it is es-
sential that we learn to hear God’s voice.
• Being equipped to hear the Lord’s voice is no longer
a nice option for the hungry and spiritually advanced

5
6 Learning to Hear God’s Voice

believer. To stand in the days ahead, each of us must learn to recog-

nize His voice.
• Hearing from God will be vital to our survival as the days grow darker.
It is also an indispensable tool for the End-Time Church and for true
followers of Jesus Christ.
• Jesus said, “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they fol-
low Me” (John 10:27).
• To truly follow Jesus we must recognize His voice. How can we know
where Jesus is leading us unless we hear from Him? How do we know
whom to marry or what job to take unless Jesus speaks to us? How
can we minister effectively in God’s advancing army without hearing
Jesus, the commander-in-chief?
• To be a true follower of Jesus Christ, we must learn to hear His voice.
3. Listening to God’s voice fulfills a deep passion within the heart of
God.
• For thousands of years, the Father has yearned for a people that
would find their greatest joy in listening to His voice. The Psalmist
prophetically expressed this when he penned Psalm 81. Speaking
through the Psalmist, God said:
But My people did not listen to My voice, and Israel did not
obey Me. So I gave them over to the stubbornness of their
heart, to walk in their own devices. Oh that My people would
listen to Me, that Israel would walk in My ways! I would quickly
subdue their enemies and turn My hand against their adversar-
ies. Those who hate the LORD would pretend obedience to
Him, and their time of punishment would be forever. But I
would feed you with the finest of the wheat, and with honey
from the rock I would satisfy you (Ps. 81:11-16).
• The Father longs for a company of people that will heed His Psalms 81
call. How He desires for us to wait in His presence and hear His voice!
• Look at the great blessings He promises those that make hearing from
Him their top priority. He vows to defeat our enemies. He promises
blessing, prosperity, and abundance.
• Before the Lord returns, the Father will fulfill the Psalms 81 call in His
people. He will transform His people into listening servants that only
do what He is saying.
4. Hearing God’s voice is necessary to:
• Develop an intimate relationship with Jesus
This is an essential part of the Worship Movement that is cov-
ering the earth today.
It is also vital to the Church being prepared as a Bride for Je-
sus.
• Minister as Jesus did
 Called Into Fellowship with God 7
This is the major way that the mighty army of worshipping
warriors will fulfill God’s will in this last hour of history.
• Become a significant member of the company of praying intercessors
In the days prior to the Lord’s return, God is appointing a
mighty band of prayer warriors who will partner with God to
see His will accomplished in the earth.
In His sovereignty, God has chosen to work through people. A
major way He does this is through the prayers of His Church.
We know that God hears us and answers us when we pray ac-
cording to His will. However, to pray His will, we must know His
voice.

To stand in the end times, to follow Jesus wherever He goes,

to satisfy the Father’s desire for listening servants, and to ful-
fill these three major works of the Holy Spirit, we must learn
to hear God’s voice.

Class Objectives

1. There are seven main objectives of this class. These are:

1. To convey effectively the truth that God desires to speak to every be-
liever;
2. To build the faith, confidence, and expectancy within us that we are
able to hear the voice of God;
3. To build a solid foundation of intimacy with God so that we are posi-
tioned to hear His voice;
4. To equip each of us with the necessary gifts, skills, wisdom, knowl-
edge, and understanding so that we can recognize and discern the
voice of God;
5. To magnify Jesus’ method of ministry so that each of us will model our
ministry after His;
6. To activate the nine gifts of the Holy Spirit in our lives so that we can
minister like Jesus did;
7. To clearly explain the baptism of the Holy Spirit and the gift of
tongues from the Scriptures so that every barrier that hinders these
valuable gifts from being fully released in your life is removed.
8 Learning to Hear God’s Voice

Intimate Fellowship with God

1. In 1984, I realized that we can hear God’s voice when making impor-
tant family decisions.
• This story from my book, Learning to Hear God’s Voice, illustrates my
point:
It was a warm spring day in 1984 and I was in my garage do-
ing some spring-cleaning. Earlier in the morning, I had spent
three hours in prayer as part of a discipleship class that I was
teaching. At that time, Donna (my wife) and I had two boys,
ages 12 and 7. We were both quite content with the size of our
family and had no plans for more children. In fact, we were
praying about permanent birth control measures. As I asked
God about our plans, He really surprised me. He said to trust
Him and have more children! What a shock! I thought, “How
am I going to tell Donna about this?” She was content with two
children. Her lifestyle was getting easier as the children grew
older. Alone, sweeping the garage floor, many thoughts raced
through my mind. Was this really God speaking or was this just
my imagination? Are we too old to have more children? How
would I explain this to Donna?
I was pretty sure that I had heard God’s voice. As these
thoughts flooded my mind, a long-time friend pulled into our
driveway. She had borrowed our baby bed several years before
when she and her husband were expecting a baby. Two chil-
dren later, she drove up with—you guessed it—our baby bed in
her car! Totally unsolicited by either Donna or myself, she
brought the bed back and said, “I am bringing your bed back.
You might need it.” At that point I knew! This couldn’t be a co-
incidence. God had spoken to me and we were to have more
children. Our third son, Jonathan, was born in 1986 and our
fourth son, Stephen, in 1989. It has been about twenty years
since that day in the garage and we now have four boys. Jona-
than and Stephen are both teenagers and are a tremendous
blessing to our family. What a blessing it has been that God
spoke those words to me that morning, and that I took the
time to listen.
From this event, I realized God’s sheep hear His voice and
that God desires to fellowship with man.1

2. God’s sheep hear His voice and He desires fellowship with man.
• We see this demonstrated in the Garden of Eden as God spoke freely
to Adam and Eve, walking with them in the cool of the day.
• He had fellowship with them. He communicated with them. Adam and
Eve were friends of God.
• Not only was this true in the garden, but also throughout history, God
and man have had fellowship.
 Called Into Fellowship with God 9

• Through this fellowship, God has nurtured, loved, and guided man.
• God has also invited man to partner with Him in advancing His king-
dom throughout the earth.
3. Intimate fellowship with God is the foundation of our Christian ex-
perience.
• Jesus Christ came to earth to offer us much more than a dead relig-
ion—He invited us to become the friends of God.
• Christianity, therefore, is a personal relationship based on fellowship
between God and His people.
• Paul stated this when he wrote,
God is faithful, through whom you were called into fellowship
with His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord (1 Cor. 1:9).
The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and
the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, be with you all (2 Cor 13:14).
• In these two verses, the Greek word for fellowship is koinonia, which
means fellowship, communion, intimacy, partnership, association, and
contact.
2

• Fellowship
The dictionary defines fellowship as “companionship; friendly
association; a mutual sharing, as of experience, activity, inter-
est.”
3

We are called to be friends of God who share experiences, ac-

tivities, and interests together.
• Communion
The dictionary defines communion as “the act of sharing one’s
thoughts and emotions with another or others; intimate con-
verse; an intimate relationship with deep understanding.” 4

We are called to share our thoughts and emotions with God

and to know His thoughts and emotions.
We are called to have heart-to-heart conversations with God
where we share our heart with Him and we know what is on
His heart.
• Intimacy
The dictionary defines intimate as “pertaining to the inmost
character of a thing; most private or personal; closely ac-
quainted or associated; very familiar.”5

We are called to know the secrets of God. We are invited into

the counsel of the Godhead.
10 Learning to Hear God’s Voice

• Partnership
The dictionary defines partner as “a person who takes part in
some activity in common with another or others; associate;
one of two or more persons engaged in the same business en-
terprise and sharing its profits and risks: each is an agent for
the other or others and is liable, except when limited to his or
her own investment, for the debts of the firm.”6

We are called to partner with God to advance the kingdom.

This partnership is characterized by having the same feelings
about ministry issues that God has.
• Association
The dictionary defines association as “a connection in the mind
between ideas, sensations, memories; the use of such connec-
tions as a literary device or psychoanalytic technique.”
7

Jesus said that if you know Him you know the Father (John
14:7). Jesus was an exact representation of the Father on
earth.
In the same way, through the power of the Holy Spirit, we are
representations of Jesus and the Father. Because we walk inti-
mately with God, others should associate us, like they did the
early apostles, as having been with Jesus (Acts 4:13).
• Contact
The dictionary defines contact as “the act or state of touching
or meeting; the state or fact of being in touch, communication,
or association.”
8

In our relationship with God, we can feel His presence and

sense His touch. We can connect with God and feel Him in a
deep emotional way.
4. True fellowship is based upon two-way communication.
• We all know that for communication to be effective between two peo-
ple, it must include talking and listening.
• One-way communication that is dominated by one person talking
while another listens is not nearly as fulfilling as two-way conversa-
tion.
• This same principle is true in our relationship with God. For our rela-
tionship to grow and be fulfilling it must be two-way.
• Most believers are far more comfortable doing all the talking and little
of the listening. Our prayers consist of a list of needs and wants, yet
we often spend very little time listening to what God desires to speak.
• However, listening to God’s voice is an essential part of our relation-
ship with Him. Note these Scriptures:
While he was still speaking, a bright cloud overshadowed them,
 Called Into Fellowship with God 11

and behold, a voice out of the cloud said, “This is My beloved Son,
with whom I am well-pleased; listen to Him!” (Matt. 17:5).
My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me
(John 10:27).
But He answered and said, “It is written, ‘MAN SHALL NOT LIVE
ON BREAD ALONE, BUT ON EVERY WORD THAT PROCEEDS OUT
OF THE MOUTH OF GOD’” (Matt. 4:4).
He who has the bride is the bridegroom; but the friend of the
bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly because of
the bridegroom’s voice. So this joy of mine has been made full
(John 3:29).
Listen carefully to Me, and eat what is good, and let your soul de-
light itself in abundance. Incline your ear, and come to Me. Hear,
and your soul shall live (Isa. 55:2-3, NKJV).
• From these passages, it is evident that God desires fellowship with
each of us.
• He loves to hear our voice as we worship and pray. He enjoys it when
we talk to Him about our concerns, fears, hopes and dreams. And He
eagerly desires us to be attentive to His voice as He speaks words of
encouragement, love, nurture and guidance.

Three Reasons Why We Need to Hear God’s Voice

1. Hearing God’s voice builds intimacy and friendship with Jesus.

• Hearing Jesus’ voice is one of the most fulfilling parts of a personal
relationship with Him.
• When He speaks affectionate words to us or when He gives us revela-
tion and guidance, it encourages and draws us closer to Him. We feel
loved and secure in our position in Him.
• Even if He has just spoken a word of correction to us, we feel cher-
ished and close to Jesus just because He—the God who created the
universe—spoke to us.
• Hearing His voice nurtures an intimate and loving friendship with Him.
This is such an important topic that we have devoted an entire session
to discuss it. In Session 2, we will look at how cultivating an intimate
relationship with Jesus is the foundation for a lifestyle of hearing His
voice.
2. Hearing God’s voice gives us personal guidance.
• We need to learn to hear God’s voice so that we can follow Jesus. For
example, we know from the Bible that man is to work. Paul said, “If
anyone will not work, neither let him eat” (2 Thess. 3:10). But we do
12 Learning to Hear God’s Voice

not know from the Bible whether we are to work at the factory down
the road or at the store in town. We need to hear God’s voice in order
to know which job to take.
• We also know from the Bible that God plans for most people to marry.
God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone; I will make him a
helper suitable for him” (Gen. 2:18). However, the Bible doesn’t tell
us whom to marry. We need to hear His voice so that we marry the
right person.
• This story from my book, Learning to Hear God’s Voice, illustrates my
point:
I saw the importance of this in 1998 when my oldest son,
Bryan, got engaged to his wife, Angie. She is the perfect help-
mate for him and she is a wonderful daughter-in-law to us—we
love her very much. While they were dating, both Bryan and
Angie believed that God wanted them to get married. However,
they both wanted God to speak clearly to them in order to con-
firm this.
One day Bryan decided to give Angie a piece of jewelry to
demonstrate his love for her. He asked his manager at work for
a place to purchase quality jewelry. His manager recommended
a jewelry store that Bryan had never been to. Before Bryan en-
tered the store, he said a little prayer to God, “Lord, please
show me what to buy.” As he looked around the store, a cross
pendant stood out to him so he decided to buy it. When he
gave it to Angie later that night, she was in shock. She asked
him, “Did you talk to anyone? Did you talk to my mom?” Bryan
did not know why she was so surprised by the gift so Angie
told him, “Three years ago I went to the same jewelry store
with my mom and I saw a similar cross pendant. When I saw
it, I said a little prayer to God, ‘Lord, let the man that I marry
buy this for me.’” God supernaturally revealed to them that
they were to get married. What an exciting confirmation of
God’s voice to them!9

• From this example, we see how important it is to hear God’s voice for
personal guidance.
3. Hearing God’s voice is essential for effective ministry.
• During the days of His earthly ministry, Jesus only did what He heard
or saw His Heavenly Father doing. Jesus only healed when His Father
said to heal. He only cast out a demon when He heard His Father say
to do so.
• Jesus had a strong relationship with His heavenly Father that was un-
interrupted by sin. Because of this, Jesus clearly heard from God and
did His will.
• Likewise, we are called to do the same. We must learn to hear our Fa-
ther’s direction and then do what He says do. Because this topic is so
vital for effective ministry, in Session 4 we focus entirely on how Jesus
 Called Into Fellowship with God 13

ministered in response to hearing His Father’s voice.

Four Common Ways that God Speaks Today

1. God speaks through the Bible.

• The most common way that God speaks to us is through the Bible.
Paul said:
All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for
doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteous-
ness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly
equipped for every good work (2 Tim. 3:16-17, NKJV).
• There are two Greek words for “word” in the Bible. One is logos and
the other is rhema.
• When the word logos refers to the Bible, it corresponds to the general
Word of God or the full counsel of God.
• The word rhema means the spoken word or a specific word of God
spoken into a certain circumstance.
• God speaks to us through the written Word of God to give us a solid
foundation for life. We will be blessed if we will become a doer of the
“logos” Word of God.
• He also speaks through the specific “rhema” word in order to nurture
us and provide specific direction for our life and ministry.
2. God speaks through experience.
• Not only does God speak to us from the Bible, He also speaks through
life experiences.
• He speaks through trials, through common events, through other peo-
ple, and through miracles.
• Probably every one of us has had a friend speak a word of confirma-
tion to us at just right moment.
• Most likely, we have also heard God speak in the midst of trials and
difficulties about what really is important in our lives or to show us our
need for patience and humility. God speaks often (and sometimes
loudly!) through our experiences.
3. God speaks through natural means.
• God speaks through nature. He speaks through the weather. He
speaks through human messengers.
• We have all heard that perfect message from our pastor that was just
right for us and spoke exactly into our circumstances.
• God also speaks through natural events. For example, several years
ago when an earthquake hit San Francisco during the World Series,
many believed God was speaking to the people of America to wake
up. Through this devastating tragedy, many thought God was saying
14 Learning to Hear God’s Voice

that playtime was over and that it was time for America to turn back
to God.
4. God speaks through supernatural means.
• God speaks through dreams, through visions, through angelic encoun-
ters, through His audible voice, and through thoughts and impres-
sions.
• We have found that many more believers have learned to discern the
voice of God in the first three ways than in the fourth category.
• If believers can learn to hear God’s voice through supernatural means,
then they can become very effective at hearing God in each of the dif-
ferent ways that He speaks.

Hearing God speak through supernatural means will be the

primary emphasis of this class.

Be A Doer of the Word

1. Make learning to hear God’s voice a priority in your life.

• God desires to speak to all of His children, not just to a special few. He
is not just interested in speaking to the preacher, the president or the
missionary. He desires to speak regularly and clearly to all who are in
a relationship with Him.
• God is no respecter of persons. He will communicate with all who will
dedicate themselves to learning to hear His voice.
• It takes time and attention to learn to hear God’s voice. Furthermore,
it is essential to understand that we cannot have true fellowship with
our Lord Jesus Christ, nor can we do our part to advance His kingdom
effectively, unless we learn to hear His voice.
• Therefore, I challenge you to make learning to hear God’s voice a pri-
ority in your life!
2. Become a doer of the Word and not a hearer only.
• As we conclude this session, it is important to remember the purpose
of this class. It is to activate believers so that they might learn to be
more effective in hearing God’s voice.
• Since the principles taught in this class have proven successful in
many different cultures and settings, they will also work for you.
• I exhort you to become a “doer of the Word” and not merely a “hearer
only.” In doing so, God will activate you to hear His voice more effec-
tively, both for personal guidance and ministry!
 Called Into Fellowship with God 15

Notes
1. Ken Kessler, Learning to Hear God’s Voice (Kennesaw, GA: Restoration Times Publica-
tions, 2003), pp. 15-16.
2. Biblesoft’s New Exhaustive Strong’s Numbers and Concordance with Expanded Greek-
Hebrew Dictionary (Seattle, WA: Biblesoft and International Bible Translators, Inc., 1994),
s.v. “koinonia,” referenced from PC Study Bible v3.2 (Seattle, WA: Biblesoft, 2001) and
The Online Bible Thayer’s Greek Lexicon and Brown Driver & Briggs Hebrew Lexicon
(Ontario, Canada: Woodside Bible Fellowship and the Institute for Creation Research,
1993), s.v. “koinonia,” referenced from PC Study Bible v3.2 (Seattle, WA: Biblesoft 2001).
3. Webster’s New World Dictionary and Thesaurus, s.v. “fellowship.”
4. Webster’s New World Dictionary and Thesaurus, s.v. “communion.”
5. Webster’s New World Dictionary and Thesaurus, s.v. “intimate.”
6. Webster’s New World Dictionary and Thesaurus, s.v. “partner.”
7. Webster’s New World Dictionary and Thesaurus, s.v. “association.”
8. Webster’s New World Dictionary and Thesaurus, s.v. “contact.”
9. Kessler, Learning to Hear God’s Voice, pp. 19-20.
 Called Into Fellowship with God 17

Review Questions

True or False
1. Hearing God’s voice is only important for preachers, leaders, and missionar-
ies.
2. Hearing God’s voice is necessary to minister as Jesus did.
3. God only speaks to His people through the Bible.
4. Hearing God’s voice helps us know what job to take and who we should
marry.
5. You can be intimate with God without hearing His voice.
6. In the end times, hearing God’s voice will be essential for every believer.

Fill in the Blank

7. Hearing God’s voice builds ___________ and ___________ with Jesus.

8. True fellowship is based upon ____-_____ communication.

9. We are called to be ___________ of God who share experiences, activities, and in-
terests together.

10. To be a true ____________ of Jesus Christ, we must learn to hear His voice.

11. ____________ ____________ with God is the foundation of our Christian experi-
ence.

12. Most believers are far more comfortable doing all the __________ and little of the
____________.
18 Learning to Hear God’s Voice

Matching (Place the letter of the correct answer in the blank space.)
13. Scripture verse(s) that call us to have Possible Matches for 13-16
fellowship with God.
a. 2 Timothy 3:16-17
14. Scripture verse(s) that describe us as b. 2 Thessalonians 3:10
sheep who can hear the Shepherd’s c. 1 Corinthians 1:9
voice. d. Genesis 2:18
e. Matthew 4:4
15. Scripture verse(s) that shows how we f. Psalm 81:11-16
should feed daily upon the voice of God. g. John 3:29
h. Matthew 17:5
16. Scripture verse(s) that reveal God’s i. John 10:27
deep passion for His people to listen to
Him.

From the list to your right, choose the corresponding letter for reasons why hearing
God’s voice is important.

17. Possible Matches for 17-20

18. a. Gives us personal guidance
b. Helps us know the day when Jesus will return
19. c. Helps us to minister like Jesus did
d. Deepens our relationship with Jesus
20. e. Helps us establish biblical doctrines
f. Helps us know who other people should marry
g. Empowers us to pray God’s will into the earth
Session
2

Intimacy with God: The

Foundation for Hearing
His Voice
This session covers:
• The truth that God often speaks in a still small voice
• How God’s servants heard His voice
• Why intimacy with God is so important to hearing His voice
• Five keys to developing an intimate relationship with the
Lord
This session corresponds to:
• Session 2 of Learning to Hear God’s Voice CDs

The Whisper of God’s Voice

1. God usually speaks in a quiet, soft voice—much like a

whisper.
• Most of us desire to hear the voice of God in powerful
and dramatic ways. And sometimes God does speak
in a spectacular fashion.
• However, God usually speaks in a quiet, soft voice—
much like a whisper. Notice how Elijah heard the
voice of God:
And behold, the LORD passed by, and a great
and strong wind tore into the mountains and
broke the rocks in pieces before the LORD,
but the LORD was not in the wind; and after
the wind an earthquake, but the LORD was
not in the earthquake; and after the earth-
quake a fire, but the LORD was not in the
19
20 Learning to Hear God’s Voice

fire; and after the fire a still small voice (1 Kings 19:11-12,
NKJV).
2. Our ability to hear God’s voice depends upon how close we are to
Him.
• If we are distant from God, preoccupied with other things, it is very
easy to be deaf to His whispers.
• Sometimes there are obstacles that block our ability to hear. In such
cases, even though God may be speaking to us, we often can’t hear
His voice.
• It is much like two friends trying to carry on an important conversa-
tion. If they are far apart, they must shout to be heard. If the distance
is far enough, it is difficult to hear even the shout.
• On the other hand, if they are close to each other, even a whisper is
clearly heard.
• We have been given many promises offering us a lifestyle of intimacy
with God. As we act on these promises and draw near to God, we po-
sition ourselves to hear His voice—whether it comes as a shout or as a
whisper.
• We are told in the Scriptures that the veil of separation has been torn
asunder through the work of Jesus on the cross. Because of this, we
can come boldly before His throne, have fellowship with God and be a
friend of God in Christ.
• Because we are promised intimacy with God through the Lord Jesus
Christ, we can live so close to God that we even hear His still, small
voice.
3. Throughout Scripture, we see that God’s servants performed amazing
exploits only because they obeyed His voice.
• The only way that they could obey God’s voice was to hear His voice.
• The only reason they heard God’s voice was because they were close
to Him. This powerful principle is summarized below:
To accomplish much in God, we must obey His voice regularly.
To obey His voice regularly, we must hear His voice repeatedly.
To hear His voice repeatedly, we must have an ongoing life-
style of intimacy with Jesus.
• We see this principle lived out in God’s servants throughout the Scrip-
tures.

Six Biblical Examples of Those Who Heard God’s Voice

1. Jesus
• Throughout the Gospel of John, we see that Jesus only did what He
heard or saw His Heavenly Father doing. For example, note the follow-
 Intimacy with God: The Foundation for Hearing His Voice 21

ing verses:
Therefore Jesus answered and was saying to them, “Truly,
truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, unless it
is something He sees the Father doing; for whatever the Father
does, these things the Son also does in like manner. For the
Father loves the Son, and shows Him all things that He Himself
is doing; and the Father will show Him greater works than
these, so that you will marvel” (John 5:19-20).
I can do nothing on My own initiative. As I hear, I judge; and
My judgment is just, because I do not seek My own will, but
the will of Him who sent Me (John 5:30).
And in the morning, rising up a great while before day, he went
out, and departed into a solitary place, and there prayed (Mark
1:35).
• Jesus, the sinless and perfect Son of God, had an intimate relationship
with the Father. He spent many hours in the presence of His Father in
prayer.
• Out of this relationship, He heard the voice of the Father for ministry
and for direction. As He heard God speak, Jesus obeyed and per-
formed powerful miracles.
2. Mary of Bethany
• In Luke 10:38-42, we read the story of Mary and Martha. Both of
these women loved Jesus and welcomed Him into their lives. However,
we see one major difference in the way they related to Him.
• Martha was busy—she was distracted from Jesus by doing things for
Jesus.
• On the other hand, Mary took time to sit at the feet of Jesus to listen
intently to His words.
• Because both of these women had different levels of spiritual inti-
macy, they also operated in different levels of spiritual power. We see
evidence of this in John 11 when Lazarus died.
• Both Martha and Mary pleaded with Jesus to raise him from the dead.
Jesus responded to Martha by giving her a great teaching about the
resurrection. However, Jesus answered Mary’s request by giving her a
resurrection!
• It was Mary’s plea that broke the heart of the Lord Jesus and moti-
vated Him to raise Lazarus from the dead. The cry of one who had a
lifestyle of intimacy with Him inspired the Lord to action.
3. John the Baptist
• As recorded in Matthew 11:11, Jesus said that John the Baptist was
the greatest of all people born up until that time. This was because of
his role in preparing the way of the Lord.
22 Learning to Hear God’s Voice

• John’s ability to prepare the way for the Lord’s first coming was em-
powered by a lifestyle of intimacy. Read John’s own testimony:
He who has the bride is the bridegroom; but the friend of the
bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly be-
cause of the bridegroom’s voice. So this joy of mine has been
made full (John 3:29).
• Note the emphasized words in this verse. These words express John’s
lifestyle of intimacy with Jesus. John regularly heard His voice. This
was John’s greatest joy. He even called himself a friend of the Bride-
groom.
• Because John was so intimate with the Lord, his ministry was powerful
and effective in making ready a people prepared for the Lord. John’s
ministry was successful because he heard Jesus’ voice regularly.
4. King David
• We all know of the powerful ways that King David was used in the na-
tion of Israel. He was a king after God’s heart. He brought the Ark of
the Covenant back to Zion. He established continuous worship before
the presence of the Lord. He wrote many of the Psalms.
• Among his many outstanding characteristics, there were two that de-
fined his life and positioned him to be used greatly of the Lord. First,
he inquired of the Lord regularly and he obeyed what God said:
Then David said to Abiathar the priest, the son of Ahimelech,
“Please bring me the ephod.” So Abiathar brought the ephod to
David. David inquired of the LORD, saying, “Shall I pursue this
band? Shall I overtake them?” And He said to him, “Pursue, for
you will surely overtake them, and you will surely rescue all” (1
Sam. 30:7-8).
• Second, David had an intimate relationship with God. David said:
One thing I have asked from the LORD, that I shall seek: That
I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to
behold the beauty of the LORD and to meditate in His temple
(Ps. 27:4).
• David longed to be in the courts of the Lord. He hungered for the
presence of God. Even though David made major mistakes, he had an
intimate relationship with the Lord. Out of this relationship, he heard
God’s voice, and he obeyed.
5. John the Apostle
• John the Apostle had an extremely close relationship with Jesus. We
see this from the intimate snapshots that are scattered throughout
John’s Gospel.
 Intimacy with God: The Foundation for Hearing His Voice 23

• For example, in John 13:25, John is seen leaning against the heart of
Jesus. In John 19:26, John refers to himself as the disciple whom Je-
sus loved.
• Out of this position of deep intimacy with the Lord, John received pro-
found and powerful revelation. It was years later, when John was ex-
iled for preaching the gospel, that his intimate friend visited him in an
extraordinary way.
• John saw Jesus Christ unveiled in a way that no other human being
has ever seen Him. John saw Jesus in His glorified, resurrected body.
John saw the God-man in all of His majesty.
• Because John was intimate with the Lord, he was chosen to write one
of the greatest books in history: The Revelation of Jesus Christ.
6. New Testament Church
• Intimacy with the Lord, hearing His voice, and being used to advance
the kingdom of God with power also characterized the early church.
Note the following passage:
Now there were at Antioch, in the church that was there,
prophets and teachers: Barnabas, and Simeon who was called
Niger, and Lucius of Cyrene, and Manaen who had been
brought up with Herod the tetrarch, and Saul. While they were
ministering to the Lord [intimacy] and fasting, the Holy Spirit
said, “Set apart for Me Barnabas and Saul for the work to
which I have called them.” Then, when they had fasted and
prayed and laid their hands on them, they sent them away
(Acts 13:1-3, emphasis mine).
• The first century church had an intimate relationship with the Lord.
They ministered to Him regularly through worship, prayer, and fast-
ing.
• Out of this lifestyle, they positioned themselves to recognize God’s
voice. When God spoke to them, they obeyed and took the gospel
throughout the earth.

From these six examples, we see the following principle:

To accomplish much in God, we must obey His voice
regularly. To obey His voice regularly, we must hear His
voice repeatedly. To hear His voice repeatedly, we must
have an ongoing lifestyle of intimacy with Jesus.
24 Learning to Hear God’s Voice

Developing Intimacy with God

1. Understanding the way that we are made helps us to develop inti-

macy with God.
• We are comprised of body, soul, and spirit (1 Thess. 5:23). With our
body, we contact the physical world through our five senses. With our
soul, we think, feel, and act. With our spirit, we relate to the Spirit of
God.
• When we are intimate with Jesus, our spirit-man rises above our soul
and we become more sensitive to the voice of God.
• A strong, sensitive spirit is important in deciphering God’s voice from
the many voices that speak to us.
• For example, our senses speak to us through cravings for fulfillment,
our mind speaks to us through thoughts, our will speaks to us through
potential choices and our emotions speak to us through feelings.
• All of these areas pull us one way or another. It is very easy for us to
believe that the cry of our senses or soul is the voice of God into our
lives.
• However, the Word says that our spirit is the place where God speaks
to us: “The spirit of man is the lamp of the LORD, searching all the
innermost parts of his being” (Prov. 20:27).
• To discern properly the voice of God for our life and ministry, it is es-
sential that we learn to distinguish the voices of the senses and soul
from the voice of God in our spirit-man.
2. Strengthening our spirit-man is the key to developing intimacy with
God.
• Paul showed us the importance of our spirit-man becoming sensitive
to God’s voice when he wrote:
But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of
God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them,
because they are spiritually discerned. But he who is spiritual
judges all things, yet he himself is rightly judged by no one.
For “who has known the mind of the LORD that he may instruct
Him?” But we have the mind of Christ (1 Cor. 2:14-16, NKJV).
• This passage tells us that we have the mind of Christ and that the
things of God are spiritually discerned. How does intimacy with God fit
into all of this?
• Intimacy with God feeds our spirit-man—nourishing our spirit and
making us strong. As we pursue a lifestyle of seeking and abiding in
the presence of God, our spirit-man arises.
• As our spirit-man arises, we begin to think more with the mind of
Christ, and we discern the voice of God with greater clarity.
• A lifestyle of intimacy with God causes our spirit-man to be nourished
and strengthened. In turn, this causes our spirit-man to arise above
our soul and body.
 Intimacy with God: The Foundation for Hearing His Voice 25

• When our spirit-man arises, we become more sensitive to the things

of the Spirit and thereby hear the voice of God more clearly.
• Since our spirit is the place where God speaks to us, a strong spirit
helps us discern between the voice of God and the voices that come
from our mind, will, emotions, and senses.
3. Developing intimacy with Jesus is a lifelong process.
• Developing intimacy with Jesus begins at the point of our salvation
when we are declared to be in right standing with God through the
blood of Jesus.
• From here, we are invited to come freely and boldly before His
throne of grace. As we continue to come before God’s throne on a
regular basis, we will develop a lifestyle of intimacy with Jesus.
• Developing intimacy with Jesus is a continuous process that will be
refined and cultivated throughout our entire life and walk with
God.

Though intimacy with God is a lifelong process, there are

some disciplines presented in the Bible that are necessary to
cultivate this relationship. We will look at five of these now.

Five Disciplines to Develop Intimacy with God

1. Unconditional and ongoing surrender to the Lordship of Jesus Christ

• The concept of unconditional surrender is spoken of throughout the
Old and New Testaments.
• Jesus said that we cannot be His disciples unless we deny our-
selves, take up our cross daily, and follow Him (Luke 9:23). Many
other passages speak of similar calls to surrender.
• Let me illustrate the importance of surrender in the development
of intimacy in this way.
Think of a man and woman who are dating. In the initial stages
of the dating relationship, they may have many friends with
whom they are equally open. But, as the relationship pro-
gresses toward engagement, they begin to confide in each
other in a much deeper way, sharing the deep secrets of their
hearts. Their relationship begins to take on a much higher de-
gree of closeness, far surpassing any other relationship. As
they enter the marriage covenant, their level of intimacy pro-
gresses to an even deeper level, as they become one in body,
soul, and spirit. Although the emotional aspects of love are a
major reason why the two have become so close, commitment
is what actually binds them together. As both parties to the
26 Learning to Hear God’s Voice

relationship become secure in the other’s commitment to them,

they begin to open up to the other in progressively deeper
ways.
• We also see this concept expressed beautifully in the Book of Esther.
Esther was selected as a candidate to be the bride of King Ahasuerus.
• Because of her commitment and surrender to the leading of the king’s
eunuchs, she said “yes” to every part of the preparation process. Ulti-
mately, this attitude caused her to be selected as queen.
• Because of her lifestyle, she was given the privilege to come freely
into the king’s presence and request anything she needed.
• Just as Esther grew closer to the king, we grow more intimate with the
Lord as we continually surrender to the will and purposes of God. As
we obey His voice, we grow closer to Him.
2. Ongoing separation from the world’s ways
• Throughout the Scriptures, Babylon is presented as a picture of what
man is like apart from God. It often represents the independence and
rebellion of man. It also symbolizes the ways of the world.
• In Revelation 18, Jesus tells His Church to come out of Babylon. At the
time of His return, Jesus says that the voice of the Bride will not be
heard in Babylon any longer. The Church as the Bride of Christ is a
picture of how we relate to Jesus intimately.
• From this picture, we can draw this principle: To grow in intimacy with
Jesus, we must develop a lifestyle of progressive separation from
worldly ways.
• James speaks along the same lines when he writes, “Do you not know
that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Therefore who-
ever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of
God” (James 4:4).
• The Apostle John described worldly ways as the lust of the flesh, the
lust of the eyes, and the boastful pride of life (1 John 2:16).
• Intimacy with the Lord grows as we separate from the lust of the
flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the boastful pride of life.
• As we become those who are in the world but not of the world, our
intimacy with God is enhanced.
3. Continuous separation unto God
• Separation is a two-fold process. It requires separation from worldly
ways as we discussed in the previous section, but it also requires a
separation unto God.
• We are to not just separate from evil in order to be good. Rather, we
are to separate from evil in order to be consecrated unto God and His
purposes.
• Separation unto God is another important key to developing an inti-
mate relationship with the Lord. Exodus 30:30 reads, “You shall anoint
Aaron and his sons, and consecrate them, that they may minister as
priests to Me.”
 Intimacy with God: The Foundation for Hearing His Voice 27

• Many times in Scripture, before God allows His people to minister to

Him, He first calls them to a life of consecration.
• The Hebrew word translated consecrate means to be set apart for, to
sanctify, to prepare, to dedicate, to be hallowed, to be holy, to be
sanctified, to be separate, to devote.
• As we dedicate ourselves to God and His purposes, a deeper level of
consecration comes about in our lives. As we embrace deeper levels of
consecration, our intimacy with God grows.
4. Regular times of sitting at the feet of Jesus
• After Martha complained to Jesus about Mary’s inactivity, Jesus told
her that sitting at His feet and listening to His words was the only
thing necessary in life (Luke 10:42). He told her that this one thing
would never be taken away from her.
• Taking time to sit at the feet of Jesus—with a heart that seeks to
know and respond to His Word—is an extremely important discipline
that helps facilitate a lifestyle of intimacy with Jesus.
• Waiting on the Lord for Him to speak, with an attentive heart toward
His voice, is vital if we want to grow closer to Him. If we want to know
Jesus’ voice better, there is really no short cut. It takes consistent
times of sitting at His feet—with the Bible in hand—reading, meditat-
ing, and listening for His voice.
• To be intimate with the Lord, we must regularly break away from our
busy schedules in order to wait on Him.
• Out of the practice of sitting at the feet of Jesus—reading, studying,
meditating, and listening for His voice with a heart to obey—intimacy
with God is developed.
5. Routinely ministering to the Lord
• Ministering to the Lord is such a broad concept that it encompasses
the four previous keys.
• Studying this truth throughout the Scriptures, we find that ministry to
the Lord involves consecration—both separation from sin and dedica-
tion to God—along with the disciplines of worship, prayer, fasting,
meditating on the Word and waiting on the Lord.
• In many cases, ministering to the Lord is set in the context of the
Tabernacle of Moses or the Temple. In either case, ministry to the
Lord is associated with progressing from the outer court, where minis-
try is focused on the people, to the inner court, where ministry is fo-
cused on the Lord.
• The Tabernacle of Moses paints a beautiful picture of how we move
toward the Holy of Holies and minister to the Lord. Each piece of furni-
ture in the Tabernacle can symbolize an aspect of our relationship with
God.
• The golden lampstand represents the Holy Spirit giving us light and
revelation. The table of showbread is symbolic of the Word of God.
The altar of incense typifies prayer and intercession. And the Ark of
the Covenant is the place of God’s glory and majesty.
28 Learning to Hear God’s Voice

• To minister to the Lord effectively, we need the ministry of the Holy

Spirit, the Word of God, worship and prayer. As we practice these dis-
ciplines, we will grow closer to the Lord and abide in the presence of
His glory.
• We also see continuous ministry to the Lord around God’s throne. As
we glimpse the heavenly throne room pictured in Revelation 4-5,
those that are closest to the Lord are continuously ministering to Him
through praise, worship, and thanksgiving.
• Along the same lines, Acts 13 reveals how the early church ministered
to the Lord and out of this, the Holy Spirit set apart Barnabas and
Saul for ministry.
• Again, we note the relationship of intimacy to hearing God’s voice.
Through routine times of private and public ministry to the Lord, we
develop intimacy with God that positions us to hear His voice.

As we establish these five disciplines in our lives, we will see

results quickly. We will hear the voice of God clearly for devo-
tional purposes, personal guidance, and ministry effective-
ness.
 Intimacy with God: The Foundation for Hearing His Voice 29

Review Questions

True or False
1. God often speaks to us loudly in order to get our attention.
2. Our ability to hear God’s voice depends upon how close we are to Him.
3. Our soul is the primary place that God speaks to us.
4. Intimacy with God is a lifelong process.
5. Jesus only did what He heard His Father say.
6. The furniture in the Tabernacle of David is a picture of how we move towards
the holy of holies.
7. Martha was known for sitting at the Lord’s feet and listening to His voice.

Fill in the Blank

8. Strengthening our _______-_____ is the key to developing intimacy with God.

9. If we are _________ from God, preoccupied with other things, it is very easy to be
deaf to His __________.

10. _____________ on the Lord for Him to speak, with an attentive heart toward His
___________, is vital if we want to grow closer to Him.

11. A ____________, ___________ spirit is important in deciphering God’s voice from

the many voices that speak to us.

12. Jesus said that we cannot be His disciples unless we ______ ourselves, take up our
_______ daily, and __________ Him.

13. We are to separate from evil in order to be ___________ unto God and His
_______________.
14. Throughout Scripture, we see that God’s servants performed amazing exploits only
because they _________ His _________.
30 Learning to Hear God’s Voice

Match the statement on the left with the correct discipline on the right (You can use an
answer more than once).
15. To be intimate with the Lord, we Possible Matches for 15-20
must regularly break away from
our busy schedules in order to wait a. Unconditional and ongoing
on Him. surrender to the Lordship of
Jesus Christ
16. We are to separate from evil in b. Ongoing separation from
order to be consecrated unto God the world’s ways
and His purposes. c. Continuous separation unto
God
17. Jesus said that we cannot be His d. Regular times of sitting at
disciples unless we deny our- the feet of Jesus
selves, take up our cross daily, e. Routinely ministering to the
and follow Him. Lord
18. In Revelation 18, Jesus tells His
Church to come out of Babylon.
19. The Tabernacle of Moses paints a
beautiful picture of how we move
toward the Holy of Holies. Each
piece of furniture in the Tabernacle
can symbolize an aspect of our re-
lationship with God.
20. Many times in Scripture, before
God allows His people to minister
to Him, He first calls them to a life
of consecration.
Session
3

Discerning God’s Voice

This session covers:
• The character of God’s voice
• Eight traits of God’s voice
• How to examine the voices that we hear
This session corresponds to:
• Session 3 of Learning to Hear God’s Voice CDs

The Character of God’s Voice

1. We must learn to extract the true word of the Lord

from the other voices that we hear.
• As believers, there are many voices that speak to us.
From Session 2, we saw that not only is God speak-
ing to us, but also our own thoughts, wills, and emo-
tions speak to us.
• We are bombarded by the voice of the world on a
regular basis. And demonic spirits frequently whisper
lies into our minds.
• Yet we know from the words of Jesus that His “sheep
follow him because they know his voice. A stranger
they simply will not follow, but will flee from him,
because they do not know the voice of strangers”
(John 10:4-5).
• To be effective in hearing God’s voice for guidance
and ministry, we must learn to discern the source of
the voices that we hear.
• As God told Jeremiah, “If you extract the precious
from the worthless, you will become My spokesman”
(Jer. 15:19).

31
32 Learning to Hear God’s Voice

2. God’s voice speaking into our lives will be consistent with His charac-
ter and Word.
• When I began the journey of learning to hear the voice of God, I did
not have a mentor. I came from a church that did not place a high pri-
ority on hearing God’s voice. Instead, the emphasis was on reading
and obeying the Bible. Although this is the most important aspect in
hearing and obeying God, we still must hear the Lord speak to us per-
sonally.
• Jesus rebuked the Pharisees—who studied and obeyed the Bible rigor-
ously—because they had never heard God’s voice (John 5:37). So the
Bible is foundational in hearing God, but we still must hear Him speak
to our spirits.
• As I pioneered through the unfamiliar territory of learning to hear
from God, I had to learn by trial and error. I drew from a variety of
classes and teachings. I listened to cassette tapes and went to differ-
ent conferences.
• Although I learned a lot from these sources, it did not keep me from
making my share of mistakes. In order to help us discern God’s voice,
I want to share one mistake I made several years ago. This example
will highlight the necessity of understanding the character of God’s
voice.
One particular Sunday morning, we needed someone to help us
out with praise and worship. Since our praise team would not
be at church, we invited a lady from another ministry to fill in.
This lady is a very sweet and anointed servant of God. We
knew her very well from another ministry with which we had a
good working relationship. At the time, she and her husband
were trying to have children. They had been married for quite a
number of years and had not yet conceived. At the end of the
service—as we sometimes do when guests come to our
church—we prayed for her. Our desire was to bless her and
meet her needs. As we were ministering to her, a woman who
was a member in our church began to speak “prophetically”
over her. This woman—who has since left us—had quite a
reputation for accurate prophetic insight. As she delivered the
word, she told our guest worship leader that she and her hus-
band would have a deformed child. She told them the reason
for this was the amount of love that they could give the child.
You can imagine the shock, discouragement, fear and anger
this produced.
Months later, I woke up to what had happened. I called our
guest, apologized to her, and asked her forgiveness. She was
very gracious and willingly forgave. I prayed to break off any
curse that the word might have released on her and her hus-
band. A few years later, we received the good news that she
had a baby—a perfectly healthy son. Praise the Lord for His
mercy!
Although I didn’t actually give this word, my mistake was in
 Discerning God’s Voice 33

keeping silent. As the pastor, I did not bring the necessary cor-
rection after the word was given. My lack of correction indi-
cated that I thought that the word was correct. Though this
was a mistake on my part, we can learn many valuable lessons
about distinguishing the voice of God from this example. 1

• First of all, this word was not consistent with the character of God’s
voice. James 3:17-18 reads:
But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gen-
tle, reasonable, full of mercy and good fruits, unwavering,
without hypocrisy. And the seed of whose fruit is righteousness
is sown in peace by those who make peace.
• James said that God’s wisdom has all of these attributes. Therefore,
whenever God speaks, it will be:
Pure
Peaceable
Gentle
Reasonable
Full of mercy
Full of good fruits
Unwavering
Without hypocrisy
• God’s voice speaking into our lives will be consistent with His charac-
ter and Word. From our example, not only was the word spoken by
this woman not in line with God’s character, it also brought discour-
agement and death.
• God’s voice is just the opposite. He always speaks the best into our
lives. His word brings life into our situation.
• Jeremiah 29:11 states, “For I know the thoughts that I think toward
you, says the LORD, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a
future and a hope.”
• God’s voice will lead us by the still waters and restore our souls (Ps.
23).
• God’s voice is also filled with kindness. Paul said, “It is the goodness
of God that leads you to repentance” (Rom. 2:4). God’s voice of kind-
ness produces true repentance and holiness. God’s kindness draws us
to Him.
3. The voice of the Lord builds us up and encourages us to continue on
with God.
• Paul said, “But he who prophesies speaks edification and exhortation
and comfort to men” (1 Cor. 14:3).
• Additionally, the voice of the Lord helps us to fight the fight of faith:
This command I entrust to you, Timothy, my son, in accor-
dance with the prophecies previously made concerning you,
34 Learning to Hear God’s Voice

that by them you fight the good fight, keeping faith and a good
conscience, which some have rejected and suffered shipwreck
in regard to their faith (1 Tim. 1:18-19).

Eight Traits of God’s Voice

1. God’s voice always aligns with Scripture.

• God’s voice may disagree with our interpretation of Scripture, but it
will never disagree with Scripture.
• God will not speak something to us that is contrary to the Word. The
Spirit and the Word will agree.
• Let me illustrate with an example that I have heard many times.
A Christian girl who desires to go on with God is married to a
man who is very complacent in his walk with the Lord. She
knows that neither she nor her family can reach their full po-
tential in God unless her husband changes or she gets a new
husband. After years of trying to make her marriage work,
nothing changes. Suddenly she “hears” a word to divorce her
husband and marry a more spiritual man with whom she can
fulfill her destiny. In fact, she even knows the man that she is
to marry. This man has been showing her a lot of interest at
church. Although his advances seem innocent, she is being
drawn to him more and more. For years, she has longed for a
spiritual man like this. When she “hears” the voice say that he
is to be her husband, she is filled with excitement. She can
now fulfill her destiny in God! She believes that she is to di-
vorce her husband and he is to divorce his wife, leaving his
wife with the two children.2

• The problem in this illustration is that the Scriptures speak against di-
vorce (this is not to say that there is never a biblical reason for di-
vorce). She has not heard the voice of the Lord. Instead, she has
heard the voice of her emotions speaking to her.
• God’s voice will always agree with the Scriptures.
2. God’s voice is filled with hope.
• God’s voice does not nag, whine or argue. It is not mean or condemn-
ing. When God speaks, it is calm, quiet, confident, and filled with
hope.
• God’s voice often calls us to change certain aspects of our life. He
might encourage us to get free of bondage or to overcome a flesh pat-
tern. He could also exhort us to get victory over a certain besetting sin
or to surrender an area to Him.
• At times, a believer struggling with some difficult issue might “hear” a
voice implying that if they don’ get victory soon, calamity will strike.
Although God does warn those who continue to walk in open rebellion,
 Discerning God’s Voice 35

He treats the sincere but immature differently. God will not speak
some horrible consequence for those who are truly trying to follow the
Lord, but are falling short in an area of life.
• God’s voice empowers us with hope and redemption. His voice is reas-
suring, certain, and positive.
3. God’s voice produces good fruit.
• If we have a lifestyle of listening to God’s voice and obeying it, we
should have a life that exhibits the fruit of God’s blessing and leader-
ship.
• Proverbs 10:22 reads, “It is the blessing of the LORD that makes rich,
and He adds no sorrow to it.”
• Over time, hearing and obeying God’s voice will produce the good fruit
of blessing in our lives. It will put our individual life, family, job, and
ministry calling in order.
• When God speaks, it will produce blessings that money can’t buy.
God’s voice will produce prosperity in our lives. His voice will lead to
blessing whereas other voices lead to strife, dissension, and failure.
• Let me illustrate this point with a story from my book, Learning to
Hear God’s Voice:
When I was an associate pastor, there was a married couple in
our church who believed they heard God on all sorts of issues.
A day came when they believed God was telling them that the
husband should quit work and go back to college. So he quit
his job and started school. Their plan was to live by faith. The
only problem was that the wife was a stay-at-home mom. So
in a very short time they began to struggle financially. The
church saw their need and began to help them out. This went
on for a while. The couple was praising God, thinking that He
was providing for them in response to their faith. The church
began to get very weary supporting a family that was not
working. Finally, the entire situation exploded and they went
back to work. 3

• They were not living by faith. Rather, they were living by the compas-
sion and mercy of those around them. What they “heard” from God
did not bear good fruit.
• Later, they came to the church and confessed that they had not heard
God correctly. Everything ended fine; however, we all learned a valu-
able lesson.
• God’s voice bears good fruit.
4. God’s voice is quiet and soft.
• At times, God will speak in a thundering way; however, the majority
of the time God will speak in a still, small voice (1 Kings 19:11-12).
His voice is quiet, soft, and easy to miss.
• As I said in an earlier session, there have been times when I heard
36 Learning to Hear God’s Voice

God’s voice in a thundering way. At those times, there was absolutely

no doubt that I had heard from God. However, the most common way
that God speaks to me is in a still, small, quiet voice.
• This forces me to listen very closely so that I do not miss what He is
saying. At times, very profound words have come to me very softly—
almost imperceptibly. God’s voice will most often come as a whisper.
• If we have a lifestyle of listening to God’s voice and obeying it, we
should have a life that exhibits the fruit of God’s blessing and leader-
ship.
5. God’s voice may come to us in ways that are easy to reject.
• Frequently, God comes to us in ways that make it easy for us to reject
Him.
• He came to us as a baby in a stable when we were looking for a prince
on a white horse. He came to us as a sacrificial Lamb when we were
expecting a reigning King. He came to us in the weakness of human
flesh when we were anticipating the fullness of glory.
• Even now, He comes to us in a shadowy dream when we are looking
for a solid text of Scripture.
• He only lets us prophesy in part and know in part (1 Cor. 13:9) when
we want complete understanding.
• Each of us must be very careful to listen for the voice of God—no mat-
ter what source it comes from.
• Let me share two illustrations to explain this point. First, God will of-
ten speak to you through another person. At times, the person whom
God selects is someone you would not have picked to bring you the
word of the Lord. God’s chosen vessel for the moment may very well
be someone who really irritates you or has been a thorn in your flesh.
• In cases like this, your first reaction is to reject the word because you
don’t like or trust the messenger. However, God will speak to us in
situations like this so that we will always remain humble before Him.
• Second, God will often speak through negative circumstances. For ex-
ample, God can use a word that did not originate from Him to speak
certain things into our lives. Let me explain from a story from my
book, Learning to Hear God’s Voice:
A few years ago I received a “prophetic” word from a person
who went to my church at the time. The word was very con-
demning and judgmental. It brought great discouragement and
oppression to my wife and I. Sometime later, without knowing
that I had received such a negative word, an internationally
respected prophet told me that the word was not from God.
He, my wife, and I broke off the curse that this false word had
released over us. Immediately, we were free of discourage-
ment and oppression. Interestingly enough, however, though
the word did not originate from God, the Lord used it to speak
some things to me. He used this negative word to reveal areas
that He wanted me to change. Through this traumatic experi-
ence, I learned a valuable truth: We should always ask the
 Discerning God’s Voice 37

Lord to speak His words to us in the midst of the entire mes-

sage. We must all be careful not to reject the message of the
Lord because we might tend to reject the messenger. 4

6. God’s voice is not confined to our theological box.

• Isaiah 55:8-9 tells us that “God’s thoughts are not our thoughts, nei-
ther are your ways my ways.”
• Many times, God will speak to us in a way that will be completely dif-
ferent from what we expect. We might be in a certain situation where
we have to hear from God. We believe that God will speak to us in a
particular way. However, God frequently bypasses our logical conclu-
sions and speaks in an entirely different way than we anticipated.
• Earlier, I shared about the time when God told me to have more chil-
dren. When He spoke those words to me, having more children was
not even on my radar screen. My wife and I had no plans to have
more children. I was asking God to speak to me within the limits that I
had placed on Him. He spoke outside my limits.
• Often, God will speak in a way that is very different from what we
think is the normal or logical way.
• We must be very careful not to limit the voice of God or to put him
into a certain box.
7. God’s voice may differ from the opinions of friends or counselors.
• Proverbs 11:14 reads, “In abundance of counselors there is victory.”
• Although it is good to seek wise counsel in major decisions, we must
be aware that God’s voice will often be different, even contradictory,
to the advice of friends, pastors and counselors.
• Even Jesus encountered this. Every reference Jesus made to His disci-
ples about the cross was met with confusion and resistance.
• As I think back over my journey with the church I pastor, almost
every major decision was met with different voices that were contrary
to what God was saying to me.
• I would sense the leading of the Holy Spirit in one direction, while
other people advised me not to go that way. I sensed God’s voice tell-
ing me one thing while my friends and counselors were telling me an-
other.
• There were many times I had to stand alone in my decision—knowing
that those around me questioned my choice.
• While I have certainly made mistakes along the way, for the most
part, I believe that I have heard God’s voice correctly.
• Be prepared to stand alone when you know you have heard His voice.
8. God’s voice should be accompanied by His peace.
• Paul said, “Let the peace of God rule in your hearts” (Col. 3:15).
• For major decisions, I approach the decision-making process from two
directions. First, I determine whether or not I have heard from God
38 Learning to Hear God’s Voice

about the decision. Second, I make sure that I have peace in my heart
about my choice.
• If I am unsure about the answer to either question, I wait on the Lord
until I have a stronger sense that I am making the correct decision.
• Let me illustrate with an example of something that happened to me a
few years ago:
Our church was in a close relationship with another church. We
did many things together. The senior pastor and I were work-
ing in the city together and I was learning much from him. One
day, I went to a mountain park near my home to pray. As I
was praying, I heard a voice tell me to merge my church with
this pastor’s church. In one sense, it seemed logical. They had
strengths where we were weak, and we had strengths where
they were weak. We would also be much larger, which would
be helpful in reaching out to more people. But there was one
thing nagging at me. I did not have a peace that God was say-
ing this to me. I knew I had heard a voice, and I thought it was
God’s voice. But the peace of God was not present. So I
waited. I held the word in my heart, and I shared it with my
wife. We prayed a great deal about this word, but peace never
came.
5

• Consequently I never acted on the word. Years later, I realized that

the ministry was praying for us to join with them based on their de-
sires and not on the will of God. The voice I heard was the result of
their self-centered prayers rather than a word from God.
• When God speaks, calling us to do significant things, His peace will
rule.

Examining the Voices That We Hear

1. In order to discern God’s voice from the many voices that we hear,
we must examine how the voice affects our lives.
• God’s voice will always produce life while the other voices lead to
death.
• Whether it is the voice of the enemy or the voice of our own souls, the
end result will be unfruitful.
• God’s voice will lead us into our destiny whereas other voices will lead
us into a dead end.
• God’s voice will guide us along the narrow path that leads to life
whereas other voices will lead us down the broad path that leads to
destruction.
2. God’s voice convicts rather than condemns.
• For the most part, when God speaks to us, it is to encourage, comfort,
and exhort us to go on with Him. However, there are times when God
 Discerning God’s Voice 39

will speak a word of correction to us. When God brings correction, His
word convicts whereas the enemy’s voice condemns.
• There are several very important distinctions between the convicting
voice of God and the condemning voice of the enemy. These are listed
below.
Conviction Condemnation
Draws us closer to God Pushes us away from God
Is specific Is vague
Restores hope and confi- Results in discouragement,
dence guilt, and shame
Yields peace, comfort, and Yields anxiety, distress, and
life death
Leads to true repentance Keeps us in the same condi-
and change tion
Makes us feel clean Makes us feel dirty

• True conviction is God’s kindness that leads us to repent. Paul told the
Roman believers, “The kindness of God leads you to repen-
tance” (Rom. 2:4).
• When God convicts us, He wants us to change so that we become
more like Christ. Conviction is cleansing and refreshing to us.
• Notice the following Scripture: “Therefore repent and return, so that
your sins may be wiped away, in order that times of refreshing may
come from the presence of the Lord” (Acts 3:19).
• When we are convicted and respond by repenting, the action always
leads to a refreshing and cleansing feeling in God’s presence.
• On the other hand, condemnation has no power to change us. It only
keeps us in the same condition where we feel dirty, discouraged, and
defiled.
• We need to remember that God never condemns us, just like Paul
said:
Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in
Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has
set you free from the law of sin and of death (Rom. 8:1-2).
3. God’s voice builds faith, confidence, hope, passion for Jesus and a
sense of destiny.
• God’s voice is life-giving and faith-inspiring. Notice how Jesus speaks
to Nathanael:
40 Learning to Hear God’s Voice

Jesus saw Nathanael coming to Him, and said of him, “Behold,

an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile!” Nathanael said to
Him, “How do You know me?” Jesus answered and said to him,
“Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I
saw you.” Nathanael answered Him, “Rabbi, You are the Son of
God; You are the King of Israel” (John 1:47-49).
• In this passage of Scripture, the Father spoke to Jesus about Nathan-
ael through a vision. In turn, Jesus spoke to Nathanael about what He
had seen. He told Nathanael that there was no guile in him.
• Because of this vision, Nathanael saw Jesus as the Son of God. It re-
sulted in Nathanael following Jesus as a disciple.
• This brief passage gives us great insight into how God’s voice encour-
ages, exhorts, and builds up. Jesus’ words to Nathanael instilled faith
and hope. It produced the courage and confidence Nathanael needed
to follow Jesus.
• Similarly, in their first encounter, Jesus spoke faith and confidence
into the life of Simon when He prophetically called him the Rock (John
1:42).
• Another passage of Scripture, 1 Corinthians 14:24-25, adds reinforce-
ment to this concept. It reads:
But if all prophesy, and an unbeliever or an ungifted man en-
ters, he is convicted by all, he is called to account by all; the
secrets of his heart are disclosed; and so he will fall on his face
and worship God, declaring that God is certainly among you.
• Many have interpreted this verse of Scripture to imply the exposing of
one’s sins. Certainly, that is one way to interpret this passage. How-
ever, viewing this Scripture from another angle reveals the Heavenly
Father’s love, care, and detailed attention to a person’s life.
• For example, when a true prophet discloses the details about our
lives—information that could not be known by another—it shows that
God is truly there, watching over us.
• Because we feel His love and care for us through the prophetic word,
it results in an increased desire to worship and follow Him.
• God knows our hearts better than we do. He knows our deep secrets
and the desires that are locked up within us. When He speaks these
secrets to us, it fills us with a deep sense of awe and changes our
lives.
• When God reveals the secrets of our hearts and promises to fulfill our
deepest longings, we feel especially loved by the Lord. This strength-
ens our faith and confidence. It renews our hope and ignites a new
passion within us. And it gives us a clearer vision of our destiny.
4. God’s voice produces the fruit of the Spirit.
• Jesus said that believers would be known by their fruit.
• The voice of God will produce the fruit of the Spirit in our lives: “Love,
joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness,
 Discerning God’s Voice 41

and self-control” (Gal. 5:22-23).

• In 2 Corinthians 12:7-10, when God spoke to Paul, it produced great
patience and perseverance within him. Jesus told Paul, “My grace is
sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.”
• This word resulted in patience—a fruit of the Spirit—in Paul’s life.
• Through this word and the accompanying power that came with it,
Paul had grace to be content in all circumstances. He embraced weak-
nesses, insults, distresses, persecutions, and difficulties for Christ’s
sake.
• Hearing God’s voice produces inner strength within us. This empowers
us to walk in the fruit of the Spirit as we relate to God and others.

The path that leads to life is narrow. To walk this path, we

must learn to hear the voice of God. At the same time, we
must discern God’s voice from the voices that we hear. As we
learn to decipher God’s voice from the others, we must make
sure the voices that we hear are consistent with God’s charac-
ter and positively impact our lives.

Notes
1. Kessler, Learning to Hear God’s Voice, pp. 42-43.
2. Ibid., p. 46.
3. Ibid., pp. 47-48.
4. Ibid., pp. 49-50.
5. Ibid., p. 52.
 Discerning God’s Voice 43

Review Questions

True or False
1. God speaks outside of the Bible but not in contradiction to the Bible.
2. When God speaks a word of correction, it brings condemnation until we re-
pent.
3. God’s voice will always align with the counsel that we receive from others.
4. God’s voice is easy to reject.
5. When God speaks, He never contradicts what we think or believe.
6. God’s voice leads us into our destiny.
7. God’s voice always is accompanied by His peace.

Fill in the Blank

8. God’s voice produces the ____________ of the Spirit.

9. When God brings correction, His word __________ whereas the enemy’s voice
_____________.

10. God’s voice speaking into our lives will be consistent with His ____________ and
__________.

11. God’s voice is ________ and __________.

12. God’s voice is filled with ___________.

13. To be effective in hearing God’s voice for guidance and ministry, we must learn to
_____________ the ____________ of the voices that we hear.

14. ______________ draws us closer to God; _____________ pushes us away from

God.
44 Learning to Hear God’s Voice

Match the statement on the left with the correct trait of God’s voice on the right.
15. Many times, God will speak to us
in a way that will be completely Possible Matches for 15-20
different from what we expect.
a. God’s voice always aligns with
16. God’s voice will produce prosper- Scripture.
ity in our lives. b. God’s voice is filled with hope.
c. God’s voice produces good
17. God speaks to us in a shadowy fruit.
dream when we are looking for a d. God’s voice is quiet and soft.
solid text of Scripture. e. God’s voice may come to us in
ways that are easy to reject.
18. The Spirit and the Word will f. God’s voice is not confined to
agree. our theological box.
g. God’s voice may differ from
19. God’s voice is reassuring, certain, the opinions of friends or
and positive. counselors.
h. God’s voice should be accom-
20. Be prepared to stand alone when panied by His peace.
you know you have heard God’s
voice.
Session
4

Ministering As Jesus Did

This session covers:

• The need to know God’s voice for ministry
• A look at how Jesus ministered
• Examples of Jesus’ pattern of ministry
• Why we need to minister like Jesus did
This session corresponds to:
• Session 4 of Learning to Hear God’s Voice CDs

Imitating Jesus

1. We need to know God’s voice for ministry.

• In Sessions 1-2, we talked about intimacy with God—
how we can speak to Him and listen to His voice.
• Hearing God’s voice brings great joy and fulfillment
to us. It also allows us to know God’s will and destiny
for our lives. In these two sessions, we looked pri-
marily at hearing God’s voice for personal edification
and direction.
• In Session 3, we saw the importance of discerning
God’s voice from the other voices that we hear. Ses-
sion 3 applied to hearing God both for personal and
ministry purposes.
• In this session, we will make the transition to know-
ing God’s voice for ministry. This will be our focus for
the remainder of the class.
• Although God speaks to us for reasons other than
ministry, if we learn to hear His voice for ministry
purposes, we can hear His voice whenever He
speaks.

45
46 Learning to Hear God’s Voice

2. To be effective in ministry, we must learn to minister like Jesus did.

• Examining the Scriptures, we see that Jesus heard the voice of God in
order to minister effectively.
• Jesus only did what His Father told Him to do. By obeying the Father’s
voice, Jesus operated powerfully with great signs, miracles, and won-
ders.
• Likewise, in order for us to be effective in ministry, we must learn to
hear God’s voice. We must imitate the way Jesus ministered by only
doing what the Father says to do.
• The following story from my book, Learning to Hear God’s Voice, will
explain what I mean:
Several years ago, when my second son, Michael, was six
years old, he played in a children’s baseball league. During the
season, there was another young boy on his team who was in
an automobile accident with his dad. The dad was not hurt, but
the young boy had been injured and went into a coma. He had
been in the coma for several days when the team heard the
news. As you can imagine, all of the parents and the boys were
very upset and concerned. Donna and I were really burdened
to pray for him and we did, even though we saw no change.
One day I was driving down the interstate highway (I still
remember this encounter with God vividly even though it was
about 20 years ago). As I was driving, I heard God say to me,
“Go to the hospital and pray with the boy.” I turned the car im-
mediately toward the hospital and went to the boy’s room. He
was there in a coma, with his mother by his side. I asked her if
I could pray for his recovery. She eagerly gave me permission,
even though she and her husband were not Christians. I said a
brief prayer and left, seeing no change in the boy’s condition.
But the next day, I heard the wonderful news: The boy had
come out of the coma and had even gone home. God allowed
me to be a part of a miracle! Even though the family did not
respond positively, I had the opportunity to go visit the family
and tell them about Jesus.1

• From this story, my main point is this: It was essential that I heard
God’s voice. If I did not hear God tell me to go pray for the boy, I
probably would not have gone to the hospital. Instead, I would have
just prayed for him from a distance. But God had different plans. He
wanted to show His power to this family that did not know Christ.
• God’s voice initiated a supernatural healing that had a huge impact on
this family, and on my own life.

Before we can minister like Jesus did, we must under-

stand how He ministered.
 Ministering As Jesus Did 47

Four Characteristics of How Jesus Ministered

1. Jesus ministered in response to the needs of people.

• Jesus responded to the requests of the people He encountered. He re-
sponded to people’s faith. He was moved by compassion when He saw
people’s needs.
• Jesus ministered in response to the people around Him. For example,
note the following Scripture:
And it happened when He was in a certain city, that behold, a
man who was full of leprosy saw Jesus; and he fell on his face
and implored Him, saying, “Lord, if You are willing, You can
make me clean.” Then He put out His hand and touched him,
saying, “I am willing; be cleansed.” Immediately the leprosy
left him (Luke 5:12-13, NKJV).
2. Jesus ministered in response to the voice of the Father.
• Although Jesus ministered in response to the people’s needs, His pri-
mary method of ministry was based upon His response to the voice of
the Father. Note these Scriptures:
Most assuredly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Him-
self, but what He sees the Father do; for whatever He does,
the Son also does in like manner (John 5:18-20, NKJV).
I can of Myself do nothing. As I hear, I judge; and My judg-
ment is righteous, because I do not seek My own will but the
will of the Father who sent Me (John 5:30, NKJV).
• Jesus’ method of ministry was based upon what He heard from His
Father. He only did what His Father told Him to do. Even when Jesus
responded to people’s requests, He ministered to them through the
wisdom of the Holy Spirit.
• This is vastly different from the traditional method of ministry that is
based mostly upon our response to people’s needs or requests.
3. Jesus ministered in the power of the Holy Spirit.
• Jesus is God incarnate. He is the unique Son of God, the only begotten
of the Father. He is unequalled in character, holiness, power, and pu-
rity. He lived a sinless life. He fulfilled the Law with perfect compli-
ance. There has never been another like Him on the earth.
• Yet, the Bible does not record a single miracle performed by Jesus un-
til the Holy Spirit fell upon Him at His baptism. In fact, after Jesus was
baptized, He went into the wilderness full of the Holy Spirit (Luke 4:1)
and returned in the power of the Holy Spirit (Luke 4:14).
• It was after His wilderness testing, when He was filled with the power
of God, that He announced the beginning of His ministry. We see this
48 Learning to Hear God’s Voice

in Luke 4:17-21:
And the book of the prophet Isaiah was handed to Him. And He
opened the book and found the place where it was written,
“THE SPIRIT OF THE LORD IS UPON ME, BECAUSE HE
ANOINTED ME TO PREACH THE GOSPEL TO THE POOR. HE HAS
SENT ME TO PROCLAIM RELEASE TO THE CAPTIVES, AND RE-
COVERY OF SIGHT TO THE BLIND, TO SET FREE THOSE WHO
ARE OPPRESSED, TO PROCLAIM THE FAVORABLE YEAR OF THE
LORD.” And He closed the book, gave it back to the attendant
and sat down; and the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed
on Him. And He began to say to them, “Today this Scripture
has been fulfilled in your hearing.”
• In an unparalleled way, everything Jesus did was empowered by the
Holy Spirit under the direction of the Heavenly Father. He moved in
much more power than anyone in history. There is no doubt that His
unique nature was a significant reason for this.
• However, even Jesus needed the anointing of the Holy Spirit to per-
form great signs, miracles, and mighty deeds.
• When Jesus returned to the Father He sent the Holy Spirit (John
14:15-30). Just prior to His promise to send us the Spirit, Jesus
prophesied that we would walk in even greater power because he was
going to the Father.
• When we are anointed by the Holy Spirit like Jesus was, we can walk
in the same power that Jesus did.
4. Jesus ministered after spending much time alone with the Father.
• Even though Jesus was anointed with great power, He still had to
spend many hours alone in prayer with the Father. Look at Jesus’
prayer life in the following Scriptures:
After He had sent the crowds away, He went up on the moun-
tain by Himself to pray; and when it was evening, He was there
alone (Matt. 14:23).
And it happened that while He was praying alone, the disciples
were with Him, and He questioned them, saying, “Who do the
people say that I am?” (Luke 9:18).
Then Jesus came with them to a place called Gethsemane, and
said to His disciples, “Sit here while I go over there and pray.”
And He took with Him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and
began to be grieved and distressed. Then He said to them, “My
soul is deeply grieved, to the point of death; remain here and
keep watch with Me.” And He went a little beyond them, and
fell on His face and prayed, saying, “My Father, if it is possible,
let this cup pass from Me; yet not as I will, but as You will.”
And He came to the disciples and found them sleeping, and
 Ministering As Jesus Did 49

said to Peter, “So, you men could not keep watch with Me for
one hour?” (Matt. 26:36-40).
In the early morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left
the house, and went away to a secluded place, and was pray-
ing there (Mark 1:35).
After bidding them farewell, He left for the mountain to pray
(Mark 6:46).
It was at this time that He went off to the mountain to pray,
and He spent the whole night in prayer to God (Luke 6:12).
• Jesus knew the secret power of prayer. Prayer was the way He nur-
tured His relationship with the Father and positioned Him to hear
God’s voice.

Summarizing Jesus’ Pattern of Ministry

1. Let’s summarize the pattern of ministry that Jesus followed.

• Jesus pursued an intimate relationship with the Father throughout His
life on earth. He spent many hours, on a regular basis, in the presence
of the Father. He was devoted to prayer, worship, meditating upon the
Scriptures, and listening to the Father’s voice.
• At His baptism, Jesus was anointed for ministry by the Holy Spirit.
Through the Holy Spirit’s power and because Jesus was unique, He
was able to hear clearly the voice of the Father and perform extraordi-
nary miracles.
• Through the direction of the Father, Jesus ministered deeply into peo-
ple’s lives—healing and delivering them from the works of the devil.
• As a result of this ministry style, Jesus heard, saw, and knew what the
Father was doing and was able to accomplish the Father’s work.
• Jesus’ intimate walk with the Father allowed Him to hear the voice of
God and obey in the power of the Holy Spirit.

We need to minister in the same way that Jesus minis-

tered.

Six Examples of Jesus’ Pattern of Ministry

1. Jesus heard the Father for healing the sick.

• In Luke 5, Jesus miraculously healed a paralyzed man. But notice a
very important phrase in Luke 5:17:
50 Learning to Hear God’s Voice

Now it happened on a certain day, as He was teaching, that

there were Pharisees and teachers of the law sitting by, who
had come out of every town of Galilee, Judea, and Jerusalem.
And the power of the Lord was present to heal them.
• From this passage, we see that the power of God was present for
healing on this particular day. Jesus knew that the Father wanted Him
to pray for the sick.
• In John 5:1-8, Jesus healed a man who was sick for 38 years. What
an amazing display of God’s power to heal a man that was ill for so
long! Yet note verse 6. Jesus asked the man, “Do you wish to get
well?”
• The Father revealed to Jesus the key to this man’s healing. It was the
desire to be restored.
• Quite possibly, this man had grown comfortable in his infirmity. He did
not have to work. Other people took care of his needs. This man
probably had a complacent attitude toward being healed.
• Because Jesus heard from the Father concerning the root issue, Jesus
had the key that would unlock his healing. So before Jesus healed
him, he had to stir afresh a desire for healing within him. Once this
happened, Jesus instantly restored his ability to walk.
• Again, we see how hearing God was a necessary part of Jesus’ healing
ministry.
2. Jesus heard the Father for offering salvation to the lost.
• John 4 records the powerful encounter of Jesus with the woman at the
well. This is probably a familiar story to you. Jesus revealed Himself to
the woman and through her salvation, much of the city was saved. A
powerful move of God was initiated with that one encounter at the
well.
• Although this is one of the greatest stories of evangelism in the Bible,
have you ever thought about how this came about? What caused all of
these people to receive Jesus as their Savior?
• To answer this question, let’s look at John 4:39: “And many of the Sa-
maritans of that city believed in Him because of the word of the
woman who testified, ‘He told me all that I ever did.’”
• Earlier in the encounter, Jesus heard the voice of the Father. The Fa-
ther showed Jesus that this woman had been married five times, and
she was presently living with a man who was not her husband.
• Because He heard the Father reveal specific details about her life, it
led to her salvation and to the salvation of much of the city.
3. Jesus heard the Father for wisdom to select leadership.
• Jesus also heard from the Father about whom to select for leadership.
Note this passage from John 1:43-51:
The following day Jesus wanted to go to Galilee, and He found
Philip and said to him, “Follow Me.” Now Philip was from Beth-
 Ministering As Jesus Did 51

saida, the city of Andrew and Peter. Philip found Nathanael and
said to him, “We have found Him of whom Moses in the law,
and also the prophets, wrote—Jesus of Nazareth, the son of
Joseph.” And Nathanael said to him, “Can anything good come
out of Nazareth?” Philip said to him, “Come and see.” Jesus
saw Nathanael coming toward Him, and said of him, “Behold,
an Israelite indeed, in whom is no deceit!” Nathanael said to
Him, “How do You know me?” Jesus answered and said to him,
“Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I
saw you.” Nathanael answered and said to Him, “Rabbi, You
are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!” Jesus an-
swered and said to him, “Because I said to you, ‘I saw you un-
der the fig tree,’ do you believe? You will see greater things
than these.” And He said to him, “Most assuredly, I say to you,
hereafter you shall see heaven open, and the angels of God
ascending and descending upon the Son of Man.”
• Jesus called Philip to follow Him. Philip then found Nathanael and
asked him to follow Jesus. Nathanael had some doubts about following
Jesus. These doubts were erased when Jesus told him specific things
about his life.
• Jesus told him that he had seen him under the fig tree even before
Philip had called him. He also told him other things about his destiny.
• Because Jesus received prophetic insight, Nathanael received the
courage to be a leader and follow after Jesus.
• Again, we see powerful results when Jesus obeyed the voice of the
Father for ministry.
4. Jesus heard the Father for wisdom to handle a problem.
• In John 8, Jesus was thrust into the midst of a real dilemma. The
Scribes and Pharisees were trying to put to death a woman caught in
adultery. They were also trying to catch Jesus in a violation of the Law
in order to accuse Him.
• His response was amazing. He said “He who is without sin among you,
let him be the first to throw a stone at her” (John 8:7). What an an-
swer! What wisdom!
• Earlier that morning, Jesus had been to the Mount of Olives—most
likely to meet with His Father in prayer. As the need arose, He knew
from the Father exactly what to say to diffuse a very difficult situation.
• We see once again how hearing the voice of God helps in ministry
situations.
5. Jesus heard the Father for wisdom to teach.
• In John 9, Jesus revealed to His disciples that He was the Light of the
world. Because of this, He told the disciples that they must do the
works of the Father while the opportunity was available.
• But what led to this teaching opportunity? It was through a blind
man’s sight being supernaturally restored.
52 Learning to Hear God’s Voice

• Before Jesus taught about Himself as the Light of the world, He and
the disciples saw a blind man. The disciples wanted to know why the
man was blind from birth. Jesus told them that it was not due to sin,
but so the works of God could be displayed in him.
• Because Jesus had supernatural wisdom—knowing the reason why the
man was afflicted—it led to a miraculous healing and a teaching op-
portunity.
• Jesus used this miracle as a picture of what we are like without Him.
We walk in spiritual darkness, blinded by sin, until the Light of the
world shines into our hearts and guides us into the truth.
6. Jesus heard the Father for faith for the supernatural.
• In John 11, Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead. With many people
gathered around, it took great faith for Jesus to say “remove the
stone” from the tomb.
• Jesus operated on a level of faith that is far beyond what we are ac-
customed to.
• So what gave Jesus the faith to believe that Lazarus would be raised
from the dead? Earlier in the chapter, when Lazarus was about to die
from his illness, Mary and Martha asked Jesus to heal him. Instead of
healing him, Jesus spoke these words of promise: “This sickness is not
unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God may be glo-
rified through it” (John 11:4).
• Jesus heard the voice of the Father speak a promise that He would
raise Lazarus from the dead. This word gave Jesus the supernatural
faith to perform an extraordinary miracle.

We Need to Minister Like Jesus Did

1. Jesus’ style of ministry is a model for all believers to follow.

• Jesus did not minister in the way that He did just because He was the
Son of God. Nor was His ministry style applicable to a select few
throughout history.
• Jesus chose this style of ministry for all who followed Him. Note this
familiar passage in Mark 3:13-15:
And He went up on the mountain and called to Him those He
Himself wanted. And they came to Him. Then He appointed
twelve, that they might be with Him and that He might send
them out to preach, and to have power to heal sicknesses and
to cast out demons.
• Jesus taught the twelve apostles to minister using the following
model:
1. Live in an intimate relationship with Him
2. Hear His voice
 Ministering As Jesus Did 53

3. Go out as a sent one, based on His direction, to preach, teach,

heal, and cast out demons.
• We are all called to minister in the same way Jesus did.
2. As we minister like Jesus, we will perform great works in His name.
• Jesus said, “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the
works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall
he do; because I go to the Father” (John 14:12).
• Jesus said that His disciples would perform greater miracles than He
did.
• For us to see this promise fulfilled, we must learn to minister like Je-
sus did.

Four Reasons Why We Must Minister Like Jesus

1. Ministering like Jesus bears witness to Him.

• In John 5:36, Jesus said that His works testified of Him. When we
minister as Jesus did, we bear witness to the reality of the Lord Jesus
Christ. It also shows the world that the Father sent Him to redeem
mankind.
• Let me illustrate this point from a story in my book, Learning to Hear
God’s Voice:
I remember one Sunday morning at church. The father of a
lady who attended our church was visiting. He was from an-
other city thousands of miles away, so I had never met him
and knew nothing about him. Later, I found out that he was
not a Christian. His daughter really wanted him to accept Christ
as his Savior. As the service progressed, I began to have diffi-
culty breathing. This feeling only lasted a few seconds, but I
knew God was speaking to me about the condition of someone
in the room. I asked the Lord what He was saying, and I heard
the word “emphysema.” At the appropriate time, I asked if
there was anyone present who suffered from emphysema. No-
body responded so I went on with the meeting. When the ser-
vice was over, the lady told me that the word was for her fa-
ther. God wanted to heal him. But more importantly, God de-
sired the ministry to bear witness to Jesus. This man—whether
he responded to the request for prayer or not—knew that God
had spoken. The word bore witness to the reality of God to this
unsaved man. Had I just asked for anyone with a need to come
forward for prayer, it would have had no impact upon the most
important issue—that God is real and cares about him. 2
54 Learning to Hear God’s Voice

2. Ministering like Jesus allows us to do what God is doing.

• Hearing and obeying God allows us to flow in the anointing of the Holy
Spirit. Because God is merciful, anytime we minister out of a sincere
heart He will bless our prayers and effort.
• However, God releases far greater power on what He initiates. He will
bless what we do, but the greatest anointing comes when we hear His
voice and obey.
• In recent years, the Lord has allowed me to equip pastors. Whenever I
do a pastor’s conference, one message that I often teach relates to
keeping your worship service in the river of God.
• I instruct them that God has a specific plan for every meeting. I teach
that there is a river that flows from the throne and our task as leaders
is to discover the river, jump into it ourselves, and direct the service
into it.
• I tell them that there is life in the river (see Ezek. 47:9) and on the
banks of the river, there are trees that produce fruit for food and
leaves for healing (see Ezek. 47:12). Hearing God’s voice and direct-
ing the service accordingly allows us to jump in this river of the Holy
Spirit and do what He is doing.
3. Ministering like Jesus compliments the written Word in accomplish-
ing God’s will.
• Many Jewish believers knew about Isaiah’s prophecy about the virgin
birth. However, Mary did not know that she was the chosen virgin un-
til she heard the voice of God through an angel.
• Hearing God’s voice compliments the written Word by applying it to
our lives and ministry situations.
• For example, we know that God is our healer; however, we often don’t
know if God wants to heal in a certain service. When we receive a
word of knowledge, we know that He desires to heal a certain condi-
tion.
• This builds faith in us and in the person for whom we are praying.
4. Ministering like Jesus builds faith in the person for whom we are
praying.
• When we are ministering to someone and God reveals something to us
about them that was previously unknown, it helps them know that
God is at work.
• It helps them know that God is truly speaking, it builds up their faith,
and positions them to receive from God.
• Think with me about the illustration I shared at the beginning of this
session. Had I just told the mom that I came to pray for the boy, it
would have only produced a certain level of hope. However, when I
informed her that God spoke to me and told me to pray for him, it re-
sulted in a level of faith.
• There is a big difference between hoping for God to move and faith
that expects God to move. Hearing God releases faith.
 Ministering As Jesus Did 55

Learn to Minister Like Jesus Did

1. Learn to minister like Jesus did and you will be amazed.

• Every believer has a call to minister. Not everyone will preach or
teach, but we are all called to use our gifts to advance the kingdom of
God.
• Ministry is much more fun, rewarding, and powerful if we learn to
minister as Jesus did.
• Maybe you have never seen God move supernaturally as a result of
your prayers. Maybe you have only been ministering in response to
people’s needs. Maybe you have never heard God tell you what He
wanted to do.
• As we conclude this session, I want to challenge you to seek God for
what He is doing and partner with Him in His work. Learn to minister
like Jesus did. Test the results. You will be amazed!

Notes
1. Kessler, Learning to Hear God’s Voice, pp. 60-61.
2. Ibid., pp. 72-73.
 Ministering As Jesus Did 57

Review Questions

True or False
1. Jesus’ style of ministry is unique and cannot be imitated since He is the Son
of God.
2. In essence, hope and faith are the same thing.
3. Although Jesus ministered in response to the voice of the Father, His primary
method of ministry was based upon His response to people’s needs.
4. Ministering like Jesus builds hope in the person we are praying for.
5. Every believer is called to minister.
6. Believers are called to do the same works, and even greater works, than Je-
sus did.
7. Hearing God’s voice is essential if we want to minister like Jesus did.
8. Jesus performed several miracles before the Holy Spirit came upon Him.

Fill in the Blank

9. Jesus heard the Father for offering _____________ to the ________.

10. Ministering like Jesus builds __________ in the person for whom we are praying.

11. To be ____________ in ministry, we must learn to ___________ like Jesus did.

12. We need to know God’s voice for ____________.

13. Jesus heard the Father for ___________ to teach.

14. Jesus’ ___________ of ministry is a __________ for all believers to follow.

15. Ministering like Jesus __________ ___________ to Him.

16. As we minister like Jesus, we will perform __________ ____________ in His name.
58 Learning to Hear God’s Voice

Identify four reasons why we need to minister like Jesus from the list on the right and
place the correct letters in the spaces next to questions 17 through 20.

17. _____ Possible Matches for 17-20

18. _____ a. Ministering like Jesus improves our reputation.
b. Ministering like Jesus bears witness to Him.
19. _____ c. Ministering like Jesus allows us to do what God is doing.
d. Ministering like Jesus will give us more ministry opportu-
20. _____ nities.
e. Ministering like Jesus compliments the written Word in
accomplishing God’s will.
f. Ministering like Jesus builds faith in the person for whom
we are praying.
g. Ministering like Jesus give us favor in the marketplace.
Session
5

Hearing God for Ministry

This session covers:
• An overview of the gifts of the Holy Spirit
• The nine gifts of the Holy Spirit (1 Cor. 12)
• How these nine gifts are communicated to us by the Holy
Spirit
This session corresponds to:
• Session 5 of Learning to Hear God’s Voice CDs

An Overview of the Gifts of the Holy Spirit

1. Hearing God for ministry requires that we learn to

function in the gifts of the Holy Spirit.
• The power of God is available to everyone.
• God desires to speak to all of His children in order to
initiate, assist, and empower ministry.
• For me, ministering in the gifts of the Holy Spirit is
one of the most enjoyable parts of ministry. I love to
teach and preach, but being used as a vessel of the
Holy Spirit as God moves in supernatural ways is
very exciting.
• The following story from my book, Learning to Hear
God’s Voice, will illustrate what I mean.
A few years ago, when our church was still in
a denomination, I attended one of those very
boring denominational committee meetings.
After we had discussed some administrative
issues, God decided to interrupt this meeting
and finish it in a dramatic way. God changed
a dry committee meeting into one of the most
exciting times of my ministry. The Lord spoke
and it changed everything.
59
60 Learning to Hear God’s Voice

There were five of us at the meeting. At the end, we de-

cided to join hands for a closing prayer. As another person in
the group prayed, I felt a brief, sharp pain in the abdominal
area of my body. I wondered for a moment if the pain was a
physical discomfort or if God was speaking to me about a min-
istry opportunity. Occasionally, God speaks to me through feel-
ings in my body, especially when He wants to initiate prayer for
healing. I was reluctant to say anything because this group
was not accustomed to God speaking in this way. But as I
waited for the others to finish praying, I felt increasingly com-
pelled to take a risk and speak out. Finally, I went for it and
asked, “Is there someone in the group with abdominal pain?”
The lady next to me immediately screamed, “Who is this man?”
She of course was speaking of me. She was extremely sur-
prised that someone had perceived her condition without any
prior knowledge of it. As it turned out, she was scheduled to
have surgery two days later in her abdominal area. The doctors
said she had a tumor, quite possibly cancerous, that needed to
be removed.
As she shared her story, it was obvious that no one in the
group knew what she was facing. After we learned of her need,
we gathered around her, laid hands on her and prayed fer-
vently. I called her a few days later to find out the results of
her visit to the doctor. She told me her amazing story. As the
doctors began to do the surgery, the tumor was gone! Praise
God! This was an exciting time for everyone in our group. This
dear lady was in complete awe of God because He miraculously
healed her. I was overwhelmed with joy because I heard the
voice of God and was used to initiate a miracle. And everyone
in the group was thrilled because we were allowed to partici-
pate in a supernatural work of God. Through the gifts of the
Holy Spirit, a dull committee meeting was transformed into a
monumental event. 1

Since there is a close connection between hearing God

for ministry and operating in the gifts of the Holy Spirit,
let’s look at the gifts in more detail.

2. The four main passages where Paul taught on the gifts of the Holy
Spirit are listed below.
And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evan-
gelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints
for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, till we
all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of
God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of
 Hearing God for Ministry 61

Christ; that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and

carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in
the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting, but, speaking the truth in
love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ—
from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every
joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part
does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in
love (Eph. 4:11-16, NKJV).
For just as we have many members in one body and all the members
do not have the same function, so we, who are many, are one body in
Christ, and individually members one of another. Since we have gifts
that differ according to the grace given to us, each of us is to exercise
them accordingly: if prophecy, according to the proportion of his faith;
if service, in his serving; or he who teaches, in his teaching; or he
who exhorts, in his exhortation; he who gives, with liberality; he who
leads, with diligence; he who shows mercy, with cheerfulness (Rom.
12:4-8).
And God has appointed in the church, first apostles, second prophets,
third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, administra-
tions, various kinds of tongues. All are not apostles, are they? All are
not prophets, are they? All are not teachers, are they? All are not
workers of miracles, are they? All do not have gifts of healings, do
they? All do not speak with tongues, do they? All do not interpret, do
they? (1 Cor. 12:28-30).
But to each one is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the com-
mon good. For to one is given the word of wisdom through the Spirit,
and to another the word of knowledge according to the same Spirit; to
another faith by the same Spirit, and to another gifts of healing by the
one Spirit, and to another the effecting of miracles, and to another
prophecy, and to another the distinguishing of spirits, to another vari-
ous kinds of tongues, and to another the interpretation of tongues.
But one and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to
each one individually just as He wills (1 Cor. 12:7-11).
3. The gifts of the Spirit fall into one of three categories.
• The Fivefold Leadership Gifts
Ephesians 4:11-16
These gifts identify the types of ministry leaders that are called
to equip the Body of Christ for effective service.
These gifts are the apostle, prophet, evangelist, pastor, and
teacher.
• The Ministry Gifts
Romans 12:4-8
62 Learning to Hear God’s Voice

Some people refer to these as Motivational Gifts.

Although they do identify our motivation for ministry, they also
express an aspect of a person’s ministry calling.
These gifts are prophecy, service, teaching, exhortation, giv-
ing, leading, and mercy.
• The Manifestations of the Holy Spirit
1 Corinthians 12:7-11
Whereas the first two listings are more permanent in nature,
the manifestation gifts are distributed to all as a ministry need
arises.
These gifts are temporary demonstrations of the Holy Spirit’s
power in order to meet a specific need at a given moment.
These gifts are a word of wisdom, a word of knowledge, faith,
gifts of healing, effecting of miracles, prophecy, distinguishing
of spirits, various kinds of tongues, and interpretation of
tongues.
4. To operate properly in any of these gifts, we must know God’s voice.
• To be an effective giver, we need to hear God tell us who to give to
and how much we should give.
• To function as a prophet, we need to hear God’s voice for the pro-
phetic word.
• To be a competent leader, we need to hear God for the vision into
which to lead the people.

For the purposes of this class, we will focus on the third

category of gifts—the manifestations of the Holy Spirit
from 1 Corinthians 12:7-11.

An Overview of the Nine Manifestations of the Holy Spirit

1. To grow in ministry effectiveness, we must place a high priority on

the gifts of the Holy Spirit listed in 1 Corinthians 12:7-11.
• Jesus ministered in this fashion. Sometimes He would receive a word
of knowledge or word of wisdom. Other times He would give a pro-
phetic word or perform a miracle.
• We need to function in the gifts just like Jesus did.
• To do this, we need to practice and utilize these gifts.
 Hearing God for Ministry 63

2. Every believer can operate in all nine manifestations of the Holy

Spirit.
• The nine manifestations of the Holy Spirit are not permanent gifts. In-
stead, they are tools given to empower effective ministry as the need
arises.
• They are given for the common good of the body according to the will
of the Lord.
• At any given time, each of us can function in any of the nine gifts.
• Over the years, this issue has created considerable confusion. Many
people believe they only have one or two of these gifts. Some think
that one person may be gifted only in the word of knowledge or in the
word of wisdom. Or that certain individuals only function in the ability
to distinguish spirits. This is an incorrect way to interpret this passage
of Scripture.
• Each of us can and should experience all nine of these gifts as the
Holy Spirit determines we have need of them.
• Since a believer has access to all nine manifestations of the Holy
Spirit, we can minister just like Jesus did.

Describing the Nine Manifestations of the Holy Spirit

1. Words of knowledge
Definition: A revelation of information for a person, group, or situation
that could not have been known by natural means.
Illustration: The story that I told at the beginning of this session illus-
trates a word of knowledge. I had no prior information about the lady’s
abdominal condition. Yet God knew and He opened up heaven just for a
moment to give me specific insight into her condition. This revelation led
to her healing. Through a word of knowledge, great blessing came to this
lady because she was healed, to me because I was used to initiate a
miracle, and to the entire group because we were used to administer
healing through the power of the Holy Spirit.
2. Words of wisdom
Definition: A revelation of supernatural wisdom that enables a person to
know what to do or say in a particular circumstance.
Illustration: The story that I told at the beginning of Session 4 about the
young boy in the coma illustrates a word of wisdom. In this case, I knew
the boy was in a coma. I knew which hospital he was in. I didn’t need su-
pernatural knowledge for this. What I needed was the wisdom of God to
know how to minister to him. I needed the wisdom to know that I was to
go pray with him rather than just for him. The result was a mighty heal-
ing and an exciting testimony. If I had not heard God through a word of
wisdom, I would not have gone to pray with the boy. God may have cho-
64 Learning to Hear God’s Voice

sen to heal him anyway, but I would have missed out on a wonderful
blessing.
3. Distinguishing of spirits
Definition: The ability to discern what type of spirit is in operation in a
given situation.
Illustration: Since 1992, the Lord has used my wife and I to minister de-
liverance. During this time, we have had the joy of ministering to hun-
dreds of people in this way. Although this gift is used in other ways, dis-
tinguishing or discerning of spirits is essential for an effective deliverance
ministry. People come for ministry with symptoms, but they don’t always
know the root cause of the problem. Many times they are not aware of
the entry point that gave access to the specific demonic spirit or spirits
they are dealing with. As God communicates to us through this gift, He
reveals the specific spirit that is operating. By knowing this, we can deal
with the appropriate spirit.
I remember the first time I actually cast out a demon. Though I had
seen others do it, I never had an opportunity to do it myself. One Sunday
morning after I had preached a message on the power of the blood of Je-
sus, I sensed the Lord giving me a word to initiate ministry. I heard in my
spirit the phrase “spirit of addiction.” I called for everyone who struggled
with a spirit of addiction to come forward for prayer. Three people came
forward that morning. One lady came who was addicted to cigarettes. She
wanted to stop but couldn’t. As I began to pray for her, I noticed her
hands stiffen and contort in an unusual way. I knew immediately that a
demon was manifesting. It took a while, but by the power of the blood of
Jesus and the ministry of the Holy Spirit, we cast the demon out. This was
an exciting day for our church and for this lady who was set free from
cigarette addiction. It all began with the gift of distinguishing of spirits.
4. Faith
Definition: An unexplainable impartation of assurance that God will act on
our behalf.
Illustration: In 1983, I had my own business and was trying to sell it in
order to go into ministry. We were having major problems selling the
company, and I had given up hope. I believed we were headed for serious
financial collapse. On the other hand, my wife had heard from God. The
Lord gave her a word that imparted supernatural faith that our company
would sell. To make a long story short, we both held on to the word, be-
lieving that it was from God. Finally, after painfully waiting for God’s word
to be fulfilled, to His glory and our great benefit, the sale went through.
This enabled us to launch out into full-time ministry.
5. Healing
Definition: The immediate or gradual restoration of health to the body,
 Hearing God for Ministry 65

mind or emotions through the power of the Holy Spirit.

Illustration: Although I have already given several examples of healing
throughout this class, I want to highlight two important components of
the gifts of healing. First, healing can be instantaneous or it can come as
a gradual process that requires repeated prayer for breakthrough. Sec-
ond, there is not just a gift of healing—there are gifts of healing. The Holy
Spirit gives many different types of healing gifts to His people. Some peo-
ple may have a greater anointing for healing cancer. Others might be
more effective in healing back pain or heart problems.
6. Miracles
Definition: A supernatural demonstration of God’s power that bypasses
the natural laws and transforms nature, circumstances, or individual
needs.
Illustration: In 1995, my wife and I went to the hospital to pray for one of
our church members’ relatives. I remember the day vividly. It was a very
rainy, cold day. I really didn’t want to go, and I didn’t expect much to
happen. The lady that we were praying for was struggling with congestive
heart failure. She was an elderly lady and many did not think she would
survive. The medicine the doctors gave her created problems with her
kidneys. She had been in a difficult place for several days. The doctors
and family were losing hope, and prayer seemed to be the only answer
for her. As my wife and I began to pray, we felt the anointing fall upon
our prayers. Our faith level increased immediately, and we began to pray
more boldly. After a few minutes of prayer, we left with no apparent
change in her condition. But within a few hours, her condition improved
dramatically. She went home within a day or so. The miraculous part
about this story is the heavenly encounter that she experienced that day.
Shortly after we left the room, she told her family that a man dressed to-
tally in white clothing entered the room and touched her chest. After he
touched her, she knew she was healed. Since several of her family mem-
bers were not believers, God revealed to them His miracle-working
power. Praise God!
7. Prophecy
Definition: Speaking forth the mind and counsel of God to edify, exhort,
comfort, warn or direct.
Illustration: When I first started our church, I received a prophetic word
that was a tremendous encouragement. The word pertained to our church
and me. It was a word that revealed God’s purpose and destiny for us. It
also gave me the wisdom to deal with some serious problems that I faced
as the years went on. Through this word, the Lord said that some major
problems would arise, but if I would trust Him, He would carry me
through. This comforted me when the problems began to surface. I knew
that if I simply trusted the Lord that He would help me and bring me
66 Learning to Hear God’s Voice

through in victory. The word is far too lengthy to present here. However,
without this word, I am convinced that I would not have made it to this
point in my ministry. Through this prophetic word, I was helped, encour-
aged, comforted, and warned. This word empowered me to persevere un-
til the Lord brought breakthrough.
8. Tongues
Definition: A form of spiritual communication with God that originates in
our spirit, is controlled by our will, is directed by the Holy Spirit, is nor-
mally unknown to the speaker, and leads to our edification.
Illustration: The gift of tongues can be exercised personally or corpo-
rately. When we pray in tongues individually, our spirit is strengthened
and built up. It also causes our faith to grow stronger. This is an invalu-
able tool for the individual believer.
When the gift of tongues is practiced in a corporate setting, an inter-
pretation must follow. When this happens, tongues and prophecy are
equal in importance. Although it seems that in many places the public ex-
pression of tongues has been replaced by corporate prophecy, our experi-
ence has been to not ignore this important gift. At times, when the Lord is
trying to get our attention in a serious way, He will release the gift of
tongues. When this gift is expressed, it gets everyone’s attention and
they are ready to hear the interpretation. In Session 8, we will look at the
gift of tongues in much more detail.
9. Interpretation of tongues
Definition: The supernatural ability to translate and express the content of
what has been spoken through the gift of tongues.
Illustration: There are two main ways that an interpretation to a tongues
message comes. Most commonly, the tongues message is given and the
interpretation follows. The actual tongues message serves as a catalyst
for the interpretation. In other words, it stirs the heart of the interpreter
and the translation of the tongues message is given much like a prophetic
word. Less frequently, the interpretation comes word-for-word as the
tongues message is delivered.
I have given an interpretation to a tongues message on several occa-
sions. Normally, while a person is speaking in tongues, I will receive a
phrase in my spirit and as I speak it, I receive more. I remember one
time our worship leader was singing in tongues. It was very beautiful and
a sense of God’s presence filled the room. As she was singing, I began to
get the interpretation word-for-word. It was so exciting. As I looked and
listened to her, I understood every word she was singing.
 Hearing God for Ministry 67

Becoming Alert to Our Spiritual Senses

1. We relate to God through our spiritual senses.

• All of us know that we interact with the outside world through our
natural senses. We have senses of sight, sound, touch, taste, and
smell.
• In the same way that we have natural senses, we also have spiritual
senses. Through our spiritual senses we relate to God.
• For example, we can hear God’s voice; see in the Spirit; or feel in the
Spirit.
• Although some people have said that they can smell in the Spirit or
taste in the Spirit, our experience has been that most people either
hear, see, or feel in the Spirit.
• None of these senses is better than any other.
2. What God says is more important than how God says it.
• I remember when I first understood that I could receive communica-
tion from God. I really wanted to see visions. I would get jealous of
others who received great visions from God. I even got angry with the
Lord because He didn’t speak to me in that way.
• For several years, it was a real source of frustration for me. Gradually,
I began to realize that I was created to hear and feel in the Spirit
rather than see in the Spirit.
• Finally, when I accepted that the way God speaks to me was not infe-
rior to the way He speaks to others, I had tremendous peace. From
that time onward, I became confident in my own ability to hear from
God.
• Through this, I placed a greater importance on what God said rather
than how God said it.
3. In order to recognize God’s communication to us through our spiri-
tual senses, we must be spiritually alert.
• The main purpose of our spiritual senses is to receive communication
from God in order to accomplish His will.
• To hear God’s voice on a regular basis, we need to be in tune with our
spirit-man—always aware of our spiritual senses. This is a major fac-
tor in discerning that God is speaking to our spirit.
• I believe that God speaks regularly to many people who do not recog-
nize His voice. They have not yet perceived that the things they feel,
see, hear or know is actually God’s voice to them!
• When people awake to these promptings of the Spirit, they begin to
move in the gifts in powerful ways.
68 Learning to Hear God’s Voice

Classifying the Gifts of the Holy Spirit

1. God communicates to us through the Revelation Gifts, Speaking Gifts,

and Power Gifts.
• The Revelation Gifts
The gifts of the Holy Spirit that communicate unknown infor-
mation to us.
These gifts include words of wisdom, words of knowledge, and
distinguishing of spirits.
• The Speaking Gifts
The gifts of the Holy Spirit that are expressed through speak-
ing.
These gifts include prophecy, various kinds of tongues, and in-
terpretation of tongues.
• The Power Gifts
The gifts of the Holy Spirit that activate and release God’s
power.
These gifts include faith, gifts of healing, and effecting of mira-
cles.
2. Five of the nine gifts of the Spirit can be further classified as Hearing
Gifts.
• Five of the nine gifts of the Spirit involve recognizing God’s voice and
then speaking or acting upon what God has said. These five gifts can
be further classified as Hearing Gifts.
• The Hearing Gifts are words of knowledge, words of wisdom, distin-
guishing of spirits, prophecy, and interpretation of tongues.
• One important key to functioning in any of the manifestations of the
Holy Spirit is to recognize the voice of God through one of these Hear-
ing Gifts.

Now we will look at how God communicates to us

through the Hearing Gifts. In other words, we will see
common ways that God may give us a word of knowl-
edge, a word of wisdom, or a prophecy. We will look at
common communication channels that God uses to trans-
mit information to us.
 Hearing God for Ministry 69

Nine Common Ways God Speaks to Us Through the Hearing Gifts

1. Internal audible voice

• When God speaks through an internal audible voice, we hear an actual
voice in our spirit-man. It is internal and not heard by others. How-
ever, it appears as though someone were speaking to us within our
inner man.
• As I review my walk with the Lord, I can remember two occasions
when I heard God speak to me in this way. The impression came
somewhat like a strong thought, but it was louder and clearer within
my spirit.
• In both cases, there was absolutely no doubt that God was speaking
to me. I didn’t wonder if this was God or if I was imagining it. I knew
it was God.
• In both cases, I was in tremendous turmoil over issues that were af-
fecting the church that I pastor. I needed an answer. Once God spoke
clearly to me, I knew how to handle the situations and peace entered
my heart.
2. A phrase
• Most often, when we hear God speak to us through a phrase, it is
more of a thought than an internal voice. Frequently, it is just the be-
ginning of what God desires to speak.
• As we act on the phrase, we usually receive additional revelation. Of-
ten, prophetic words begin with a small phrase.
• Many times, when God is giving me a prophetic word either for an in-
dividual or a group, He will only give me a fragment of a sentence. As
I begin to speak the prophetic word based upon this, more revelation
comes.
• Often the sentence fragment will be what primes the pump. As you
speak out in faith, you become a conduit for the Lord to speak
through you. Most of what you say bypasses your mind and comes
directly from your spirit to your voice.
• Words of knowledge, words of wisdom and discernment can also come
as a phrase.
3. A word
• A word comes just as it sounds. In our thoughts, we may hear one
word.
• For example, when ministering in deliverance, the Holy Spirit will give
us discerning of spirits. We then hear one word—the name of the de-
monic spirit that we need to address to liberate a person from bond-
age.
• In praying for the sick as well, we may hear a word like heart. This
word is intended to give us insight into how we should minister. This
word implies that there are some people present that need prayer for
their hearts.
70 Learning to Hear God’s Voice

• From my experience, it seems as if God speaks a “word” most often

as words of knowledge, words of wisdom or discerning of spirits.
4. The Rhema word
• Rhema is actually the Greek transliteration meaning utterance or spo-
ken word.
• One application of rhema—which is important in hearing the voice of
God—is when a word of Scripture is quickened in our spirit as a now
word for a particular situation.
• Let me illustrate with an example from my own life. Recently, I have
been praying that God would use our ministry training center, Life
School International (LSI), to prepare the nations for the return of the
Lord. At the same time, I have been seeing the number “222” every-
where.
• After repeatedly seeing this number on clocks, signs, and license
plates, I knew that God was trying to speak to me. At first I did not
understand what He was saying. However, one day I came across 2
Timothy 2:2 and it stuck in my spirit. Finally, I realized that God was
giving me this verse as a “rhema” word for LSI.
• In 2 Timothy 2:2, Paul instructs us to entrust our teachings with faith-
ful men and women who can in turn teach others. Through this
“rhema” word, the Lord was giving me a strategy of multiplication to
spread LSI throughout the world.
• Ever since the Lord gave me this word, I have been praying with
God’s strategy and wisdom for LSI. I have been asking God to give me
faithful people in the nations that we can teach who will also be able
to teach others.
5. Supernatural intuition
• Supernatural intuition is when we have immediate knowledge about
God’s will without conscious reasoning. In other words, we just know
the will of God in a particular circumstance.
• Although we don’t hear a specific word or phrase in our spirit, we in-
tuitively know what is happening in a situation, and we know what
God wants us to do.
• It is important to understand that this type of knowing is spiritual. It is
not the same as knowing something in our mind or feeling something
in our emotions. It is a knowing in our spirit-man.
• Frequently, God speaks to me through supernatural intuition, espe-
cially when I need wisdom.
• As a pastor, I constantly need God’s wisdom to guide me and help me
make decisions. I need more than human wisdom that is based on
facts, data, and reasoning. I need supernatural wisdom from God.
• When God gives me His wisdom, I just know what needs to be done.
In my spirit, I am unmistakably clear about what God is saying. Al-
though I haven’t heard anything in particular, I just know.
• Don’t underestimate this way of God speaking. It may not be as glam-
orous as getting a vision or a dream, but it is a very important way to
 Hearing God for Ministry 71

hear God.
6. Feelings in the body
• Many times during ministry, God speaks to me through a temporary
pain or discomfort in my body. This awakens me to the area in which
the Lord desires to bring healing.
• For example, if the Lord wants you to pray for heart problems, He
may give you a brief pain in your chest area. If He wants you to pray
for asthma, He may give you a temporary shortness of breath. If He
wants to minister to knees, He may give you a pain in your knee. Of-
ten, He will combine the feeling in the body with a word. Very often,
feelings like this are used as words of knowledge to initiate healing.
• Let me share a specific example of this from my book, Learning to
Hear God’s Voice:
A few years ago, I was ministering at a church in Fiji. Even
though the meeting was going quite well, I knew that the
power of God had not yet been released. I was speaking about
God’s special love for the people at this church. As I finished
my message on God’s love, I had a sharp, momentary pain in
my chest. Immediately, I heard the word “heart” in my spirit.
Because the pain was so sharp, I knew that there were some
people with serious heart problems.
I invited everyone with heart problems to come forward for
prayer. Though I was expecting only one or two people, to my
surprise, at least thirty came forward. In addition, the Lord
spoke to me about those who were hurting in their heart be-
cause they did not really know the love of God. As we began to
pray for these people, the power of God came into the meet-
ing. God moved in a very special way. He liberated many peo-
ple by revealing His love to them. This wonderful demonstra-
tion of God’s power was initiated by a feeling in my body!2

7. Sensing someone else’s burden or bondage

• At times, the Lord will allow you to temporarily feel the burden or
bondage that someone else is experiencing. You may feel depressed,
frustrated, overwhelmed, hopeless or any number of other emotions.
• When you experience these emotions, and nothing has happened to
make you feel this way, you might be hearing from God. The Lord
could be giving you a revelation of what someone else feels.
• Because God allows you to encounter these feelings, He is showing
you what another person is experiencing. These emotions—or feel-
ings—come so you can pray for people or minister to them.
• In a similar way, you can feel in your spirit the bondage that someone
else experiences. You may walk into a room and sense lust or witch-
craft. You may meet or pass by someone and feel anger, frustration or
just sense that something is wrong in the person’s life. You could very
well be experiencing what they are going through.
72 Learning to Hear God’s Voice

• Please note that these feelings should be temporary. The Lord gives
us this insight so that we will know how to pray or minister to a par-
ticular person.
• Remember: Jesus took man’s burdens to the cross. We do not have to
take on another’s depression, anger, or hopelessness to free them.
Jesus already did this. We feel these emotions temporarily in order to
help lead them to victory and freedom.
• God often speaks to my wife in this way. Sometimes, when she walks
into a room, she will experience what someone is feeling. At other
times, she can go into a city or region and feel the territorial spirits
that are over that area. She doesn’t have to stay under these bond-
ages or burdens but receives them only to know how to pray or minis-
ter.
• A good example to illustrate this way of hearing God comes to mind. A
group from our church went to a conference in downtown Atlanta. Af-
ter the conference, one of the ladies who attended told us this story:
As the speaker was ministering, she began to feel lustful
thoughts toward him. For her to think this way about anyone
was totally unlike her. As her mind wandered, she was very
surprised that she was having these struggles and she asked
the Lord the reason for them. The Lord told her it was because
of the other friend who went to the conference with us. This
friend was having some marriage problems and had been flirt-
ing with a man from the office where she worked. The lady
from our church picked up the issue that was going on with her
friend.3

8. Dreams
• Many times God will speak in dreams. Not all dreams are from God,
but often He will give us a dream to provide insight, knowledge or wis-
dom about an issue.
• Quite a few books have been written about dreams and how to inter-
pret them. For example, certain animals and objects can have specific
meanings that help in their interpretation. However, the ultimate in-
terpretation comes by seeking the Lord diligently.
• Since dreams are somewhat of a parable, we must rely on the Lord to
help us decode them. As we inquire of the Lord about a dream’s
meaning, He will show us.
• Dreams can be a powerful way to hear from God. God may use a
dream to speak to us in areas that we would not even consider. Since
our mind is idle, He bypasses our preconceived ideas or limits.
• Michael, my second son, has a lot of dreams. Many of these are help-
ful in dealing with ministry issues. Others give alerts to prayer needs
in the city or nation. Some are even warnings that awaken us to po-
tential difficulties.
• Dreams are a most helpful way that God speaks to His people.
 Hearing God for Ministry 73

9. Visions
• A vision is a picture within our spirit-man that occurs while we are
awake.
• A vision can be in color or black and white. It can be a brief picture
that appears in our mind or it can be extensive. We can have a vision
while our eyes are open or shut.
• A vision is intended to help us see things in the spirit.
• Many times, a vision requires interpretation. This requires that we
hear from God about how to translate the intended meaning.
• Visions are very powerful in ministry situations. As the saying goes, “A
picture is worth a thousand words.” A vision adds vivid insight that far
surpasses the limitations of words.
• The wife of an Elder in our church has visions quite often. When we
are ministering to people, I generally ask her to be a part of our min-
istry team. Her visions add so much insight into the needs of the per-
son we are praying for.
• It is great when you can have a team of people praying and minister-
ing together. One team member might have a vision while another
might hear a word or feel in the spirit.
• When a team functions together—each knowing God’s voice in the dif-
ferent ways that He speaks—the person you are ministering to re-
ceives a blessing.

Hearing God’s voice will add tremendous excitement and

blessing to your walk with the Lord. It will also bless
many people that you will minister to. Now is the time to
begin or continue your journey into recognizing God’s
voice for ministry.

Notes
1. Kessler, Learning to Hear God’s Voice, pp. 76-78.
2. Ibid., pp. 97-98.
3. Ibid., p. 99.
 Hearing God for Ministry 75

Review Questions

True or False
1. A miracle is a supernatural demonstration of God’s power that bypasses the
natural laws and transforms nature, circumstances, or individual needs.
2. Supernatural intuition is an important way that God speaks to us.
3. Three of the Fivefold Leadership gifts are apostle, prophet, and teacher.
4. How God says something is more important than what God says.
5. A word of knowledge is the result of us thinking through a problem using rea-
son, logic, and common sense.
6. A word of wisdom, a word of knowledge, and faith are examples of Motiva-
tional Gifts.
7. The Power Gifts include faith, gifts of healing, and effecting of miracles.
8. The five Hearing Gifts are healing, faith, miracles, words of knowledge, and
words of wisdom.

Fill in the Blank

9. _________ is an unexplainable impartation of assurance that God will act on our be-
half.
10. ___________ is speaking forth the mind and counsel of God to edify, exhort, com-
fort, warn or direct.
11. ___________ ____ __________ is the ability to discern what type of spirit is in op-
eration in a given situation.
12. _____________ is the immediate or gradual restoration of health to the body, mind
or emotions through the power of the Holy Spirit.
13. In order to recognize God’s communication to us through our spiritual __________,
we must be spiritually ________.
14. The manifestations of the Holy Spirit are ______________ demonstrations of the
Holy Spirit’s power in order to meet a _________ need at a given _________.
76 Learning to Hear God’s Voice

From the list on the right, identify which form of communication best matches the de-
scription on the left.
15. A word of Scripture is quickened in
our spirit as a now word for a par- Possible Matches for 15-20
ticular situation.
a. Internal audible voice
16. We might feel depressed, frus- b. A phrase
trated, overwhelmed, or hopeless c. A word
for a brief moment of time. d. The Rhema word
e. Supernatural intuition
17. Helps us see things in the spirit. f. Feelings in the body
g. Sensing someone else’s
18. When we have immediate knowl- burden or bondage
edge about God’s will without con- h. Dreams
scious reasoning. i. Visions
19. God speaks to us when our mind is
idle and He bypasses our precon-
ceived ideas or limits.
20. It is usually just the beginning of
what God desires to speak.
Session
6

Keys to Hearing
God’s Voice

This session covers:

• The need to sharpen our skills in hearing God’s voice
• Six keys that will help us become proficient at hearing
God’s voice
• The need to apply these keys to our lives
This session corresponds to:
• Session 6 of Learning to Hear God’s Voice CDs

Learning to Hear God’s Voice

1. We must grow in our ability to recognize God’s voice.

• In every area of the Christian life, we are encouraged
to grow in certain skills and disciplines.
• For example, we must grow in the knowledge of the
Word. We must grow in our abilities to teach, to pray
or to share the gospel.
• When we are born-again, we are immature and
therefore must develop into seasoned disciples. We
must mature in every discipline of the Christian faith.
• Hearing God’s voice is no exception. We must
sharpen our skills in hearing God’s voice and apply
what we hear just as much as a teacher, pastor, or
evangelist develops in their areas of gifting.
2. There are six principles that will help us hear the
voice of God more effectively.
• These six principles are keys that help us grow in the
ability to recognize God’s voice. They are also disci-
77
78 Learning to Hear God’s Voice

plines that we must practice on a regular basis.

• In this session, we will look at these six basic principles.
• As you apply these principles to your life, you will become skilled at
operating in the gifts of the Holy Spirit and you will become proficient
in hearing and discerning God’s voice.
• These six principles—or keys—are:
1. A lifestyle of regular time in the presence of the Lord
2. Belief and expectancy
3. A sincere desire to hear God’s voice
4. The baptism of the Holy Spirit and praying in tongues
5. Practice using the gifts
6. Humility, submission, and love

Key #1: A Lifestyle of Regular Time in the Presence of the Lord

1. Spending time in God’s presence helps us hear God’s voice.

• Since I discussed this concept extensively in Session 2, I won’t say too
much more about it now. The main reason that I repeat it here is to
emphasize the important connection between spending time in God’s
presence and hearing His voice.
• As I said in Session 2, intimacy with the Lord strengthens our spirit-
man. Each of us has spiritual senses that enable us to discern in the
spirit realm. However, our spirit-man must be sensitized by the Holy
Spirit for this to happen.
• For example, a musician is trained to hear notes and melodies by
playing and listening to music. A hunter must train his eyes to see
deer and wild life by being in the woods. In the same way, we train
our spiritual senses by spending time in the presence of God.
• Private times in the presence of God are the primary training ground
for growing and developing our spiritual senses. The disciplines of pri-
vate worship, personal prayer, Bible study, and meditation upon the
words of Scripture heighten our spiritual senses and cause us to be
more aware of God’s voice.
2. Those that are the closest to God will hear His voice most often.
• We should not come into the presence of God just to get something.
Often, we come to God because we have a problem that needs to be
fixed, or we want God to do something for us.
• Many times, we come to God in order to get whereas God desires a
relationship with us. Jesus speaks about this in John 15:14-16:
No longer do I call you slaves, for the slave does not know
what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all
things that I have heard from My Father I have made known to
you.
 Keys to Hearing God’s Voice 79

• Those that are the closest to God will hear His voice most often.
• As we develop a friendship with God and desire to be in His presence
just because we love Him, we will hear His voice with greater fre-
quency and clarity.

Key #2: Belief and Expectancy

1. Belief and expectancy are essential ingredients to hearing the voice

of God and moving in the gifts of the Holy Spirit.
• We will only hear God to the degree that we believe and expect Him to
speak to us.
• Often, a person must overcome certain strongholds of unbelief and
fear in order to hear the voice of God.
• Unbelief usually originates from religion, tradition, or a ritualistic
church background that might have been ingrained in us. Fear can
originate from an unhealthy anxiety that we might miss God, say the
wrong thing, or be rejected by people whom we respect and admire.
• When I help people learn to hear the voice of God, almost everyone
has to overcome some form of unbelief and fear. Conquering these
mindsets is essential to developing an ongoing ability to hear God.
• Victory over these destructive thinking patterns increases as we de-
velop belief and expectancy.
• Below are my definitions of belief and expectancy:
Belief: A heart attitude that acknowledges God’s ability and de-
sire to speak to His people regularly. It is an attitude that ac-
cepts the truth that God still communicates to us through the
gifts of the Holy Spirit.
Expectancy: A heart attitude that anticipates and waits for God
to speak to us as individuals. It is a mindset that inspires us to
linger in God’s presence until we hear His voice.
2. Belief and expectancy are partner attitudes that work together to en-
able us to hear from God.
• Belief and expectancy are very similar mindsets. Although they are
quite similar, there are some key differences.
• Belief expects God to speak in general to His people. Belief is rooted in
the doctrinal truth that God still speaks, and that the gifts of the Spirit
are for today.
• On the other hand, expectancy is a personal desire and anticipation
that God will speak to me; such expectancy is accompanied by an ea-
ger waiting in His presence until I hear His voice.
• With these working definitions in mind, let’s look at belief and expec-
tancy in more detail.
80 Learning to Hear God’s Voice

3. In our lives, God is only as big as we believe Him to be.

• The Bible teaches that if we believe, we can move mountains. Note
Mark 11:22-24:
And Jesus answered saying to them, “Have faith in God. Truly I
say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and
cast into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes
that what he says is going to happen, it will be granted him.
Therefore I say to you, all things for which you pray and ask,
believe that you have received them, and they will be granted
you.”
• However, if we don’t believe, we put a constraint upon God. Note Mat-
thew 13:57-58:
And they took offense at Him. But Jesus said to them, “A
prophet is not without honor except in his hometown and in his
own household.” And He did not do many miracles there be-
cause of their unbelief.
• If I believe that God will meet my financial needs, He will. If I believe
that He will protect me, He will. If I believe that He will speak to me, I
will hear His voice.
• For many people, hearing the voice of God through a word, dream, or
vision is totally outside their belief system. People who have this men-
tality will rarely hear the voice of God through the gifts of the Spirit.
• The first step in hearing God’s voice is to believe that He will speak to
us regularly in the ways discussed in this class.
• A clear principle of Scripture is that God will only move in or through
your life to the extent that you believe. In your life, He will only be as
big as you believe Him to be.
4. We must believe in the reality of the gifts.
• In America, much of the Church believes that the gifts of the Holy
Spirit are not for today. The Church has embraced a belief system
rooted in the cessation of the gifts.
• The teaching goes like this: Once the last Apostle died and the Scrip-
tures were finalized, there was no need for the gifts of the Holy Spirit.
Gifts such as prophecy, tongues, discerning of spirits, words of knowl-
edge, and words of wisdom are deemed irrelevant, unnecessary and
even dangerous.
• Many church leaders teach that the pattern of ministry recorded in the
Book of Acts was only needed during the early years of the Church.
• Growing up, I went to a church that did not believe in the gifts. This
church taught us that God only spoke through the written Word. Since
there were sixty-six books of the Bible, that was enough. We did not
need to hear God’s voice for fellowship or direction. I was taught that
God no longer moved through gifts of the Holy Spirit.
 Keys to Hearing God’s Voice 81

• In my journey of learning to hear God’s voice, I had to overcome

mindsets of unbelief that were instilled within me. I came to realize
that God actually desired to speak to me.
• Through studying the Scriptures, I also saw that the gifts never
passed away, and that they were still available to the modern Church.
• For the most part, people with this same attitude will not hear God
outside of the written Word and will not be used in the gifts of the
Holy Spirit.
• For us to grow spiritually as people who hear God’s voice and are used
in power ministry, we must be willing to lay down our denominational
teachings and traditions and accept the truth that the gifts are for to-
day.
5. We must believe in the importance of the gifts.
• While many others in the American Church believe that the gifts are
for today, they do not view the gifts as an essential component for
effective ministry. These people view the gifts as irrelevant for the
modern Church.
• When I served as an associate minister in a specific denominational
church, most of the people had this mindset. It was a great church
and the pastor was a powerful man of God who moved in the gifts.
• However, most of the people thought the gifts were great for other
countries, but unnecessary in America. The mentality that existed in
this church is indicative of many committed Christians in America.
They believe that the gifts are for today, but they view them as irrele-
vant for effective ministry.
• To hear God’s voice and move in the gifts of the Holy Spirit, we must
overcome both of these beliefs. We must know that the gifts of the
Spirit are relevant for today and that they are important for effective
ministry.
6. I must expect God to speak to me.
• It is not enough to merely recognize the importance of God still
speaking today, but we also must expect God to speak to us.
• Expectancy is a heart attitude that anticipates and waits for God to
speak to us personally. Expectancy personalizes our faith so that we
wait on God’s voice ourselves.
• Many Christians only believe that God will speak to pastors, prophets,
evangelists, and other “special people.” However, to hear from the
Lord, I must expect God to speak to me.
• Expectancy requires that I personalize my faith. By doing this, I not
only believe that God will speak to others, I am confident that God will
speak to me.
• I remember my own journey of learning to hear the voice of God. I
was very eager to hear the Lord in order to operate effectively in min-
istry. On many occasions, I went to meetings where an anointed man
or woman of God ministered. They would share a word of knowledge
that produced powerful results. Or they would deliver a prophetic word
82 Learning to Hear God’s Voice

that would really bless someone.

• During this time, I recall how I longed to prophesy or share a word of
knowledge like these people. I longed to minister like them. Although
I believed that God moved like this today, I did not expect Him to use
me. I had belief, but no expectancy.
• Finally, I reached a point when I would say to myself, “I can do that.”
It was not until I reached this level of confident expectation that I be-
gan to hear God’s voice for ministry.
• Expecting God to speak to us personally is a much more difficult step
of faith than a general belief that God still speaks today. However, to
hear and minister in the gifts of the Holy Spirit, it is necessary.
7. I must expect God to speak through me into the lives of others.
• Another component of expectancy is having confidence that God will
use me to minister into the lives of others. I must expect to hear God
on behalf of others and then speak to them what I have heard.
• At this point, we might battle fear and uncertainty. Questions flood
our minds, such as, “Who am I to hear like this?”, “Did I really hear
God?”, “Is this word correct?”, or “What if I say this and it is com-
pletely wrong?” As we determine to minister into the lives of others,
these questions are very common.
• We must overcome these feelings of timidity in order to share with
others what God has spoken to us. To do this, we must come to the
point of trusting God completely. We must know that God is trustwor-
thy and faithful. As we lean on God, knowing that He will not let us
down, He will come through for us!
8. I must be willing to step out of my comfort zone.
• For most people, stepping out of our comfort zone is the most neces-
sary and most difficult part of expectancy. For most of us, stepping
out in faith is very frightening—especially the first few times that we
share something from the Lord.
• Breaking out of familiar territory always involves risk. We risk making
mistakes, embarrassment, rejection, and isolation. Some have said
that we must spell faith “R-I-S-K.”
• The following story from my book, Learning to Hear God’s Voice, illus-
trates my point:
I will never forget the first time that I stepped out and shared
a “word.” It could have been an extremely embarrassing mo-
ment if God did not come through. I was at a class that was
similar to this one. We were learning to hear the voice of God
for ministry. The instructor had given us a class assignment.
We were to get into groups of eight and share a word of knowl-
edge that God had given to us. Based on this word, we were to
pray for the others in the group.
We all got quiet and waited for God to speak to us. As I
waited on the Lord, the only word that I heard was “breast.” I
 Keys to Hearing God’s Voice 83

thought to myself, “How could I ever share this word?” Since

the group was equally divided between male and female, this
had the potential to be very offensive. To make matters worse,
I didn’t know any of these people. I had just met everyone ear-
lier that evening. As I thought about the “word” that I had, my
heart began to race. I was the last person to share. Everyone
else shared very eloquent and lengthy words. All were very
good. And all I had was one word—breast.
Finally, it was my turn. After about a hundred excuses why
this may not be correct, I said the word “breast.” To my sur-
prise, one of the ladies in the group recently had a mammo-
gram. The doctor had discovered a possible lump on her
breast. We spent some time encouraging her. Then we gath-
ered around her and prayed for the tumor to be removed.
What could have been a very embarrassing situation became a
great opportunity for powerful ministry! This would have never
happened if I had not taken a risk and shared the word. 1

Key #3: A Sincere Desire to Hear God’s Voice

1. The Bible exhorts us to be hungry for spiritual gifts.

• Many of us have heard well-meaning Christians say that we are to
seek the Giver, not the gifts. Although this statement sounds spiritual
and righteous, it implies that desiring to operate in the gifts of the
Holy Spirit is a wrong motivation. It suggests that the spiritual Chris-
tian should not be concerned about whether they operate in the gifts
of the Holy Spirit or not.
• This teaching is wrong and produces passivity toward the gifts of the
Spirit.
• Let’s look at a Scripture verse that refutes this teaching. Paul told the
Corinthians, “Pursue love, yet earnestly desire spiritual gifts, but espe-
cially that you may prophesy.” (1 Cor. 14:1).
• The context of this verse is 1 Corinthians 12-14, which lists the nine
gifts of the Holy Spirit that we discussed in Session 5.
• The Greek word that is translated “earnestly desire” in this verse is a
form of the word zeloo (dzay-lo’-o) or zeleuo (dzay-loo’-o) meaning:
To have warmth of feeling for or against
To burn with zeal
To be heated or to boil with envy
Hatred, anger (in a good sense)
To be zealous in the pursuit of good
To desire earnestly
To pursue
To strive after
To busy oneself about him
To exert oneself for one
84 Learning to Hear God’s Voice

• This word appears twelve times in the Greek New Testament. In these
verses, the word zeleuo is translated envy, covet, jealous, zealous,
and desire.
• As we get a clearer definition of the word translated “desire,” it be-
comes apparent that we are to have a very strong desire to hear the
voice of God and to operate in the gifts of the Holy Spirit.
2. If we desire to hear God’s voice and minister in the gifts, He will en-
able us to do so.
• As we align our hearts with God, God gives us the desires of our
hearts.
• If we desire to witness, He will give us the opportunity. If we desire to
teach, He will let us. If we desire to lay hands upon the sick, He will
make it happen.
• The mindset of “I am available if you want me to minister this way” is
not correct. We must ask, pray, and diligently seek to hear and minis-
ter in the gifts.
• I am not speaking about a lust for ministry that surpasses our desire
for Jesus. The number one priority of our lives should be an intimate
relationship with Jesus. However, within this context, we must ear-
nestly desire to hear His voice and speak His words.

Key #4: The Baptism of the Holy Spirit and Praying in Tongues

1. The baptism of the Holy Spirit and praying in tongues help equip us
to hear the voice of God and operate in the gifts of the Holy Spirit.
• Session 7 is devoted entirely to the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Session
8 is focused solely on praying in tongues. Since I cover these two top-
ics in later sessions, I will only briefly mention them here.
• In the New Testament, we see a connection between the baptism of
the Holy Spirit and believers hearing the voice of God. For example, in
the book of Acts, each time the people received the baptism of the
Holy Spirit it was accompanied by some manifestation of the gifts of
the Holy Spirit.
• In several cases, the baptism of the Holy Spirit resulted in the believ-
ers prophesying. At other times, they would speak in tongues.
• In the Book of Acts, the baptism of the Holy Spirit activated believers
in the Hearing and Speaking Gifts.
2. The baptism of the Holy Spirit releases a new level of spiritual power
into our lives.
• Without the baptism of the Holy Spirit, we can still prophesy or see
visions; however, we cannot function in the fullness of the Holy Spirit
until we experience the baptism.
• The reason for this is because the baptism of the Holy Spirit releases a
new level of spiritual power into our lives.
 Keys to Hearing God’s Voice 85

• In later sessions, we will cover this in much more depth. For now,
know that the baptism of the Holy Spirit and praying in tongues are
powerful keys to hearing the voice of the Lord effectively.

Key #5: Practice Using the Gifts

1. Our skill in hearing the voice of God and functioning in the gifts of the
Holy Spirit improves with practice and use.
• “Use it or lose it” is a common phrase that we hear in connection with
the parable of the talents. In this parable, the slave who hid his talent
forfeited it to the slave who had been given the most. Note this pas-
sage:
And the one also who had received the one talent came up and
said, “Master, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you
did not sow and gathering where you scattered no seed. And I
was afraid, and went away and hid your talent in the ground.
See, you have what is yours.” But his master answered and
said to him, “You wicked, lazy slave, you knew that I reap
where I did not sow and gather where I scattered no seed.
Then you ought to have put my money in the bank, and on my
arrival I would have received my money back with interest.
Therefore take away the talent from him, and give it to the one
who has the ten talents.” For to everyone who has, more shall
be given, and he will have an abundance; but from the one
who does not have, even what he does have shall be taken
away (Matt. 25:24-29).
• In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus tells His disciples not to hide their
light under a basket. Note Matthew 5:14-16:
You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hid-
den; nor does anyone light a lamp and put it under a basket,
but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the
house. Let your light shine before men in such a way that they
may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in
heaven.
• The author of Hebrews tells us that our spiritual senses are trained
because of practice:
But solid food is for the mature, who because of practice have
their senses trained to discern good and evil (Heb. 5:14).
• Now let me summarize these three verses. In the parable of the tal-
ents, Jesus told us that if we do not use our gifts, they will be taken
away and given to another who will use them. He also said that the
more we use our gifts, the more we will be given. Remember, Jesus
86 Learning to Hear God’s Voice

said, “For to everyone who has, more shall be given, and he will have
an abundance.”
• In His Sermon on the Mount, Jesus told us not to hide our light under
a basket, but to let our light shine. Hearing God’s voice and function-
ing in the gifts of the Holy Spirit are a way to shine our light.
• Finally, from Hebrews 5:14, we know that our spiritual senses are
trained through practice. Putting these verses together, we can draw
an important principle for hearing the voice of God:
Our skill in hearing the voice of God and functioning in the gifts
of the Holy Spirit improves with practice and use. As we faith-
fully step out, using what we have, our skills will be sharpened.
2. As we practice using the gifts, our spiritual discernment increases.
• This increase operates like a weightlifter. As weightlifters work out on
a regular basis, exercising their muscles, they grow stronger. Imagine
what would happen if the weightlifter took three months off and then
tried to lift the weight he was accustomed to. Most likely, he would
not be able to lift it.
• Or take a football team—no football team can become championship
material without practice. The team begins practicing twice a day well
before the season even starts.
• As the old saying goes, “Practice makes perfect.” This saying holds
true for operating in the gifts of the Holy Spirit.
• The more we practice using the gifts, the more skilled and proficient
we will become.
3. Faithfulness is also very important to grow in the gifts.
• We see an example of this principle in the parable of the talents. Since
the slave with the most talents was faithful, his talents increased. Ad-
ditionally, the master gave him the lazy servant’s talent as well.
• As we are faithful in small things, more will be given to us. In other
words, God will give us greater gifts as we are faithful with the smaller
ones.
• As we value and faithfully practice the gifts of the Holy Spirit, our
skills will increase, and we will be entrusted with more.

Key #6: Humility, Submission, and Love

1. Humility, submission to authority, and love have a very close connec-

tion to hearing God’s voice accurately.
• Over the years of learning to hear the voice of God both for myself
and for equipping others to hear His voice, I have seen the great im-
portance of true humility, submission, and love.
• From my experience, these foundational character traits have a very
close connection to hearing God’s voice accurately.
• During my years in the ministry, I have encountered many wounded
 Keys to Hearing God’s Voice 87

and angry people within the Body of Christ. No matter how the hurts
were inflicted, these people often minister out of a bitter spirit.
• Rather than love, they minister out of anger. Rather than submission,
they minister out of independence. Rather than humility, they minister
out of pride.
• Because wounded people often have a low self-esteem, they fre-
quently minister to others so that they feel better about themselves.
The result of this type of ministry is often hard, cold, inaccurate, and
destructive.
• Instead of drawing others closer to the Lord, ministry from a wounded
spirit can push people away from the Lord, leading them into depres-
sion and discouragement.
2. Let us all model our ministry after Jesus who walked in humility, sub-
mission, and love.
• Hearing God’s voice for ministry is intended to build others up, not
tear them down.
• Hearing God’s voice is designed to encourage and exhort others to go
on with God—leading them closer to Christ.
• To effectively hear and minister with accuracy, power, and authority,
we must be healed of past wounds and learn to walk in humility, sub-
mission, and love.
• We need to forgive the people who have hurt us and receive healing
so that our ministry is pure and undefiled.
• Like Jesus, we need to minister to others out of a heart of humility,
submission, and love so that we can build people up and lead them to
a closer walk with the Lord.

Proficient in Hearing God’s Voice

1. Applying these six keys to your life will help you become skilled at
hearing God’s voice.
• I have equipped many people to hear God’s voice by teaching these
principles—so I know they work. As you give serious study to these
six keys and implement them in your life, you too can be equipped to
hear God’s voice.
• Over the years of teaching others how to hear God’s voice, I have no-
ticed two types of people.
• One is the person who heard the teaching and never thought much
more about it after it was over. Consequently, this person never
learned to hear God’s voice.
• The second type took these principles and made them issues of prayer
and fervent pursuit. This person became proficient in hearing God’s
voice.
• My prayer is that you will fit into the second category—the one who
will diligently pursue learning to hear His voice! You will not regret it.
88 Learning to Hear God’s Voice

Notes
1. Kessler, Learning to Hear God’s Voice, pp. 110-111.
 Keys to Hearing God’s Voice 89

Review Questions

True or False
1. Belief is a heart attitude that anticipates and waits for God to speak to us.
2. The Bible tells us to seek the Giver, not the gifts.
3. The baptism of the Holy Spirit releases a new level of spiritual power into our
lives.
4. Expectancy is a mindset that inspires us to linger in God’s presence until we
hear His voice.
5. Belief is a heart attitude that acknowledges God’s ability and desire to speak
to His people regularly.
6. Our skill in hearing the voice of God and functioning in the gifts of the Holy
Spirit improves with practice and use.
7. Having a wounded spirit affects how we minister to others.
8. Expectancy is an attitude that accepts the truth that God still communicates
to us through the gifts of the Holy Spirit.

Fill in the Blanks

9. Those that are the ___________ to God will hear His voice most often.
10. Our skill in hearing the voice of God and functioning in the gifts of the Holy Spirit
improves with __________ and __________.
11. Stepping out of our ___________ _________ is the most necessary and most diffi-
cult part of expectancy.
12. In our lives, God is only as _________ as we ___________ Him to be.
13. The baptism of the Holy Spirit releases a new level of _________ ________ into our
lives.
14. We must ___________ ____________ to hear God’s voice.
90 Learning to Hear God’s Voice

From the list on the right, identify which key to hearing God’s voice best matches the
description on the left.
15. “Use it or lose it” Possible Matches for 15-20
16. I must be willing to step out of a. Regular time in the presence
my comfort zone. of the Lord
b. Belief and expectancy
17. Those that are the closest to God c. A sincere desire to hear God’s
will hear His voice most often. voice
d. The baptism of the Holy Spirit
18. The mindset of “I am available if and praying in tongues
you want me to minister this e. Practice using the gifts
way” is not correct. f. Humility, submission, and love
19. Hearing God’s voice for ministry
is intended to build others up, not
tear them down.
20. Releases a new level of spiritual
power into our lives
Session
7

The Baptism of
the Holy Spirit

This session covers:

• The purpose and evidence of the baptism of the Holy Spirit
• Whether it is a separate experience from salvation
• How to receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit
This session corresponds to:
• Session 7 of Learning to Hear God’s Voice CDs

A Journey to Spiritual Power

1. The baptism of the Holy Spirit is an important key to

hearing God’s voice.
• The baptism of the Holy Spirit—what a controversial
issue! This matter, along with speaking in tongues,
has been one of the greatest sources of division in
the Bible-believing church for the last 100 years. It
makes us look at each other with doubt and skepti-
cism. It keeps us from praying and worshipping to-
gether. It has created a great rift in the Body of
Christ.
• Although the debate has gone on for many years,
and much has been written about this subject, I in-
clude it in this class because it is an important key to
hearing the voice of God.
• Just notice what happened to the people in the book
of Acts after they received the baptism of the Holy
Spirit. Among other things, they began to speak as
those who knew the voice of God (Acts 2; 10:46;
19:6).
• When the Spirit of God fell upon believers, they were
91
92 Learning to Hear God’s Voice

changed powerfully.
• The baptism of the Holy Spirit is not the only key to hearing from God,
but it is an extremely important component.
• This session covers the topic of the baptism of the Holy Spirit in detail.
Specifically, we will address five often-asked questions about the bap-
tism of the Holy Spirit. It is my prayer that these answers will help us
see the importance of this encounter with God.
2. Let me explain my journey to spiritual power.
• Before I get too deep into doctrinal issues, I want to briefly share my
experience with the baptism of the Holy Spirit.
• In 1977, I was born-again at the age of thirty. I had a radical conver-
sion. Before my conversion I was running away from God at full
speed. When God caught up with me, He turned me around, and I
have never been the same.
• When I was born-again, the Holy Spirit began to deal immediately
with my sin. He led me to repent, to forgive, and to ask forgiveness. I
began to search the Scriptures regularly to make sure that I had not
committed an unpardonable sin. I wanted to know that I was truly
saved. The time was a powerful one for me. The Lord put my marriage
back together, restored my children, and reordered my life in virtually
every area.
• As I look back on my life, I know that God worked mightily through
my salvation experience. For the first five years of my Christian walk,
operating in the power of God was the last thing I was interested in.
Although I had seen God’s power as He put my life back in order, I
gave no thought to functioning in God’s power myself. I was just
happy that I wasn’t going to hell when I died.
• It did not even cross my mind that I could have power to hear His
voice, heal the sick, cast out demons, or teach the Word with author-
ity. However, about five years later, my heart began to change. I
started to long for God’s power in my life.
• I had a growing desire to do the types of works that I saw in the book
of Acts. I wanted to heal the sick, cast out demons, see visions, and
have spiritual dreams. I wanted what the church in Acts had. Though I
knew about the baptism of the Holy Spirit, I didn’t know how to re-
ceive it since the church I attended didn’t teach about the baptism.
• Finally, in 1983, I asked God to baptize me with the Holy Spirit. I had
heard that speaking in tongues was the evidence that you were truly
baptized in the Holy Spirit. Although I tried to speak in tongues, noth-
ing happened. However, I did begin to notice more power in my life. I
began to hear God’s voice for ministry. Sick people that I prayed for
got healed, even some from terminal illnesses.
• Below is a testimony from my book, Learning to Hear God’s Voice,
that illustrates my point:
A lady in our church had terminal cancer, and the doctors gave
her no hope. One Sunday before she was to have emergency
surgery, I prayed for her. Sitting at the hospital with her hus-
 The Baptism of the Holy Spirit 93

band, the doctor came out to give us the post operative report.
He looked very puzzled as he spoke. He told us that he found
no trace of the cancer. During the procedure the doctor merely
corrected some problems she had in her stomach. Although
this lady was only supposed to live for a few more months, she
lived approximately nine more years. And her death was unre-
lated to her previous bout with cancer. When I performed her
funeral in the early 90’s, I was able to testify about God’s heal-
ing power. Praise God for His healing mercy! 1

• Because the Lord baptized me in the Holy Spirit, I had the power to be
used to heal cancer. Although I did not receive the gift of tongues un-
til eight years later, I saw a definite increase in power after I prayed
to receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit. From that point onward, I
have seen wonderful results.
3. The baptism of the Holy Spirit gave me an increased measure of spiri-
tual power.
• My salvation experience changed me mightily. It transformed me as it
relates to sin. The baptism of the Holy Spirit altered my life just as
much. But it transformed me as it relates to power.
• After this supernatural encounter, I received power to hear God more
clearly and to perform mighty acts of healing, deliverance, and mira-
cles.
• We have heard the saying that a person with a testimony is not at the
mercy of a person with an argument. This saying summarizes my atti-
tude about the baptism of the Holy Spirit.
• From my own life, I know how real it is, and I know that it was a
separate and distinct encounter from my salvation experience.
• I know that it is a necessary part in hearing the voice of God and op-
erating in the gifts of the Holy Spirit.

Now let’s look at five commonly asked questions about

the baptism of the Holy Spirit. The answers to these
questions will help you understand and receive the bap-
tism of the Holy Spirit.

1. What Is the Baptism of the Holy Spirit?

1. The baptism of the Holy Spirit is an important encounter with God

that is available to every believer.
• The baptism of the Holy Spirit is a very significant encounter with God.
It is not an optional experience for God’s servants. It is not essential
94 Learning to Hear God’s Voice

for some while unnecessary for others.

• If Jesus Himself needed the baptism of the Spirit, how much more do
we? (Matt. 3:16-17).
• God Himself underscored its importance by recording it in all four gos-
pels (Matt. 3:11; Mark 1:8; Luke 3:16; John 1:33). Note what John
the Baptist said:
As for me, I baptize you with water for repentance, but He who
is coming after me is mightier than I, and I am not fit to re-
move His sandals; He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and
fire (Matt. 3:11).
• The baptism of the Holy Spirit is an important gift that is available to
every believer.
2. The baptism of the Holy Spirit is a complete immersion into the Spirit.
• The Greek word translated baptize is baptizo. It means to immerse,
submerge or overwhelm.
• The word was not a religious term in the days of the New Testament.
In fact, it was a word used in every day life. In approximately 200
B.C., Nicander, a Greek poet and physician, used this word in a pickle
recipe. He said that in order to make a pickle, the vegetable should
first be dipped (bapto) into boiling water and then baptized (baptizo)
in the vinegar solution.
• Both verbs imply the immersing of vegetables in a solution. Bapto is
temporary. Baptizo, the act of baptizing the vegetable, produces a
permanent change.
• The Greeks also used this word to describe the dipping process when
a garment was permanently transformed by a dye. The Greeks also
used baptizo for the drawing of water by dipping or immersing a cup
into a larger vessel.
• When used in the New Testament for water baptism, baptizo implies
our union and identification with Christ, along with the act of immer-
sion in water. For example, Mark 16:16 reads, “He that believes and is
baptized shall be saved.”
• Christ is saying that mere intellectual assent is not enough. There
must be a union with Him—a real change—just like the vegetable is
transformed into the pickle!
3. Not only is the baptism of the Holy Spirit a complete immersion by
the Spirit, but it is also a gift from the Father to us.
• From the New Testament, when believers are baptized in the Holy
Spirit, it is referred to as a gift. Note these Scriptures:
Peter said to them, “Repent, and each of you be baptized in the
name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you
will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is for you
and your children and for all who are far off, as many as the
 The Baptism of the Holy Spirit 95

Lord our God will call to Himself” (Acts 2:38-39).

Therefore if God gave to them the same gift as He gave to us
also after believing in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I
could stand in God’s way? (Acts 11:17).
If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your
children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the
Holy Spirit to those who ask Him? (Luke 11:13).

In summary, the baptism of the Holy Spirit is a gift from

God that immerses or submerges one into greater union
with the Holy Spirit, resulting in a permanent change and
increasing our power to be witnesses for Jesus.

2. What Is the Purpose of the Baptism of the Holy Spirit?

1. The baptism of the Holy Spirit releases the power of God into our
lives.
• In Acts 1:5, after His resurrection and preceding His ascension into
heaven, Jesus spoke these words to His disciples: “For John baptized
with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many
days from now.”
• Then He told them the purpose of the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Here
is what He said:
But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon
you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in
all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the
earth (Acts 1:8).
• To help us get a clearer picture of the purpose of the baptism of the
Holy Spirit, let’s look at one more Greek word. The word translated
“power” in Acts 1:8 is the Greek word dunamis (doo’-nam-is). It
means force or miraculous power.
• This Greek word appears 116 times in the New Testament. In each
case, it refers to the power of God working through God’s servants,
enabling them to do miracles, mighty signs and wonders, to bring sal-
vation to the lost, and to establish the kingdom of God on the earth.
2. The baptism of the Holy Spirit reforms our lives by empowering us for
ministry.
• At the beginning of this session, I shared my testimony about the
96 Learning to Hear God’s Voice

baptism of the Holy Spirit. Referring back to my personal experience, I

will explain the purpose of this great gift from God. Earlier, I said that
salvation deals with sin while the baptism of the Holy Spirit releases
power.
• When we are born-again, we become a new creature in Christ. Old
things have passed away and all things become new. We become
aware of sin, conviction, and the Lordship of Jesus Christ in our lives.
We begin to see our need to change. True salvation brings a tremen-
dous transformation into the lives of most people.
• Likewise, the baptism of the Holy Spirit reforms the lives of most be-
lievers by empowering them for ministry. After we are baptized in the
Holy Spirit, we begin to sense God’s leading and power in ministry.
We begin to hear His voice about ministry issues. Our understanding
of the Word is enhanced. And we have the power of God flowing
through our lives—blessing people who need a touch from God.
• The baptism of the Holy Spirit releases God’s power into our lives so
that we can be an effective witness for Jesus Christ. It is an imparta-
tion of miracle-working power and authority enabling us to demon-
strate the risen Christ to a needy world.

3. Is This A Separate Experience from Salvation?

1. Do we automatically receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit at the

point of salvation or is it a separate event?
• The timing of the baptism of the Holy Spirit is a major source of divi-
sion in the Church. The crux of this matter is: Do we automatically
receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit at the point of salvation or is it a
separate event?
• Although salvation and the baptism of the Holy Spirit may occur at the
same time, they are separate issues and normally occur at different
stages.
• Some have argued this point, saying that we are complete in Christ
when we receive Him as our Lord and Savior. Note Colossians 2:9-10:
“For in Him all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form, and in Him
you have been made complete, and He is the head over all rule and
authority.”
• From the moment we receive the precious blood of Jesus, we are
complete in Him because of His work on the cross.
• Although we have all of the blessings of Christ at the point of our sal-
vation, we still must acknowledge what is ours and receive it by faith.
Let me use a personal illustration from my book, Learning to Hear
God’s Voice, to explain this point further:
When my youngest son, Stephen, was about one and half
years old, he received many gifts at Christmas. After unwrap-
ping numerous gifts, he announced to everyone that he was
tired of opening presents. He told us that was enough and re-
fused to open any more. Smart parents that we are, we de-
 The Baptism of the Holy Spirit 97

cided to give him the remaining gifts at his birthday in March.

So we took the fully wrapped, unopened presents and stored
them in a closet until his birthday. When we gave him the gifts
three months later, he opened them with excitement. We
saved a lot of money and Stephen was blessed. From this illus-
tration, my point is this: Stephen had all of the gifts at Christ-
mas, but he was not able to receive them all. He reached his
capacity and was content with the ones that he had opened. He
didn’t want anything else after that point. The same is true
with the baptism of the Holy Spirit. It is available at the point
of our salvation, yet few people are able to receive it then.
2

• When most people are born again, they are content with the wonder-
ful gift of salvation, and they do not have the capacity or understand-
ing to receive any more gifts at that time. So God puts it up in the
closet until they are ready.
• The gift is still theirs, reserved for them when they are able to receive
it. They are not incomplete without it because it is not a badge of
honor—it is a tool. Whenever the need arises, God will give it to them.
• So this brings us back to our question: Is the baptism of the Holy
Spirit a separate experience from salvation? My answer is a resound-
ing “yes.” It is a separate experience that requires a separate request
and a separate faith.
2. The baptism of the Holy Spirit was a separate experience in the life of
the first disciples.
• After His resurrection, the risen Lord breathed the Holy Spirit into His
disciples. Look at the passage:
So Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you; as the Father
has sent Me, I also send you.” And when He had said this, He
breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy
Spirit” (John 20:21-22).
• This event was much like the Garden of Eden when God breathed into
Adam, and he became a living soul. The breath of God caused Adam
to come to life.
• In the same way, the breath of the Son of God gave new life to the
disciples. They were born-again at this point. Even though they
walked with Jesus for three years, participating in many miracles, they
could not receive the Holy Spirit until Jesus rose from the dead.
• Although the Holy Spirit lived inside of the disciples, they still had not
received the baptism of the Spirit. However, notice what happens ap-
proximately fifty days later on the day of Pentecost:
When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in
one place. And suddenly there came from heaven a noise like a
violent rushing wind, and it filled the whole house where they
were sitting. And there appeared to them tongues as of fire
98 Learning to Hear God’s Voice

distributing themselves, and they rested on each one of them.

And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak
with other tongues, as the Spirit was giving them utterance
(Acts 2:1-4).
• Verse 4 uses the phrase filled with the Holy Spirit rather than baptized
in the Holy Spirit. However, Jesus described this same experience as
the baptism of the Holy Spirit in Acts 1:5.
• Summarizing, the first disciples were born-again when Jesus breathed
upon them, and they were baptized in the Holy Spirit approximately
fifty days later. Thus, for the first disciples, the baptism of the Holy
Spirit was a separate experience from salvation.
3. The baptism of the Holy Spirit was a separate experience every time
it is recorded in the book of Acts.
• In addition to the day of Pentecost, the baptism of the Holy Spirit is
described three other times in the book of Acts:
Acts 8:12-17: Records the Samaritans receiving the Holy Spirit
for the first time.
Acts 10:34-48;11:15-17: Records the Gentiles receiving the
Holy Spirit for the first time.
Acts 19:1-7: Records twelve disciples of John the Baptist re-
ceiving the Holy Spirit for the first time.
• In each case, these people received the Holy Spirit as a separate ex-
perience from salvation. Let’s discuss each example.
• In Acts 8:12-17, the Samaritans first received the baptism of the Holy
Spirit. Here is what happened:
But when they believed Philip preaching the good news about
the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were
being baptized, men and women alike. Even Simon himself be-
lieved; and after being baptized, he continued on with Philip,
and as he observed signs and great miracles taking place, he
was constantly amazed. Now when the apostles in Jerusalem
heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent
them Peter and John, who came down and prayed for them
that they might receive the Holy Spirit. For He had not yet
fallen upon any of them; they had simply been baptized in the
name of the Lord Jesus. Then they began laying their hands on
them, and they were receiving the Holy Spirit (Acts 8:12-17).
• From this Scripture, it is easy to see that the Samaritans received the
baptism of the Holy Spirit in a separate experience from salvation.
They did not receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit until Peter and
John arrived from Jerusalem.
• It is also interesting that Simon, who was traveling with them, saw
that the Holy Spirit was being bestowed upon them (Acts 8:18). The
 The Baptism of the Holy Spirit 99

baptism of the Holy Spirit was noticeable to those around. It was

something that everyone could see, and it was a separate experience.
• In Acts 10:34-48 and Acts 11:15-17, the Gentiles first received the
baptism of the Holy Spirit. Notice what took place:
Opening his mouth, Peter said: “I most certainly understand
now that God is not one to show partiality, but in every nation
the man who fears Him and does what is right is welcome to
Him. The word which He sent to the sons of Israel, preaching
peace through Jesus Christ (He is Lord of all) – you yourselves
know the thing which took place throughout all Judea, starting
from Galilee, after the baptism which John proclaimed. You
know of Jesus of Nazareth, how God anointed Him with the
Holy Spirit and with power, and how He went about doing good
and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was
with Him. We are witnesses of all the things He did both in the
land of the Jews and in Jerusalem. They also put Him to death
by hanging Him on a cross. God raised Him up on the third day
and granted that He become visible, not to all the people, but
to witnesses who were chosen beforehand by God, that is, to
us who ate and drank with Him after He arose from the dead.
And He ordered us to preach to the people, and solemnly to
testify that this is the One who has been appointed by God as
Judge of the living and the dead. Of Him all the prophets bear
witness that through His name everyone who believes in Him
receives forgiveness of sins.” While Peter was still speaking
these words, the Holy Spirit fell upon all those who were listen-
ing to the message. All the circumcised believers who came
with Peter were amazed, because the gift of the Holy Spirit had
been poured out on the Gentiles also. For they were hearing
them speaking with tongues and exalting God. Then Peter an-
swered, “Surely no one can refuse the water for these to be
baptized who have received the Holy Spirit just as we did, can
he?” And he ordered them to be baptized in the name of Jesus
Christ. Then they asked him to stay on for a few days (Acts
10:34-48).
And as I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell upon them just as
He did upon us at the beginning. And I remembered the word
of the Lord, how He used to say, “John baptized with water,
but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.” Therefore if God
gave to them the same gift as He gave to us also after believ-
ing in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I could stand in
God’s way? (Acts 11:15-17).
• From these two passages, we see that as Peter preached to the Gen-
tiles, the Holy Spirit fell on the people. In Acts 11:16, Peter refers to
this encounter as the baptism of the Holy Spirit.
• At first glance, it seems that these Gentile believers were simultane-
ously saved and baptized in the Holy Spirit. There does not appear to
100 Learning to Hear God’s Voice

be two separate events. However, notice closely what Peter said in

Acts 11:17: “God gave to them the same gift as He gave to us also
after believing in the Lord Jesus Christ.”
• Peter said that the Gentile believers received the “gift” of the Holy
Spirit “after believing in the Lord Jesus Christ.” Even though these two
events occurred in very close proximity to one another, they are
nonetheless separate experiences.
• In Acts 19:1-7, Paul comes to Ephesus and meets up with twelve dis-
ciples of John the Baptist. Look at what happens when Paul is intro-
duced to them:
It happened that while Apollos was at Corinth, Paul passed
through the upper country and came to Ephesus, and found
some disciples. He said to them, “Did you receive the Holy
Spirit when you believed?” And they said to him, “No, we have
not even heard whether there is a Holy Spirit.” And he said,
“Into what then were you baptized?” And they said, “Into
John’s baptism.” Paul said, “John baptized with the baptism of
repentance, telling the people to believe in Him who was com-
ing after him, that is, in Jesus.” When they heard this, they
were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. And when Paul
had laid his hands upon them, the Holy Spirit came on them,
and they began speaking with tongues and prophesying. There
were in all about twelve men (Acts 19:1-7).
• When Paul met these twelve men, he discovered that they had not yet
been born-again. They had only been baptized by John the Baptist in
preparation for the coming of Jesus.
• After learning this, Paul led them to salvation. This is implied by the
phrase “they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus” since water
baptism came after believing in Jesus’ name.
• After leading them to salvation, Paul laid his hands on them to receive
the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Again, we see salvation and the bap-
tism of the Holy Spirit as separate experiences.
• After analyzing these three references in the book of Acts, I can confi-
dently state that the baptism of the Holy Spirit is a separate experi-
ence from salvation.
4. The baptism of the Holy Spirit was a separate experience as pictured
in the feasts of Israel.
• The three festivals that Israel has celebrated throughout history are
significant to the New Testament Church. Each festival was important
to the ancient agricultural society of Israel and has represented
mighty truths about God to the Jews.
• At the same time, these three festivals paint wonderful pictures about
Jesus Christ. These truths are important to the Church and should be
experienced by every believer. Read Exodus 23:14-17:
Three times a year you shall celebrate a feast to Me. You shall
 The Baptism of the Holy Spirit 101

observe the Feast of Unleavened Bread; for seven days you are
to eat unleavened bread, as I commanded you, at the ap-
pointed time in the month Abib, for in it you came out of
Egypt. And none shall appear before Me empty-handed. Also
you shall observe the Feast of the Harvest of the first fruits of
your labors from what you sow in the field; also the Feast of
the Ingathering at the end of the year when you gather in the
fruit of your labors from the field. Three times a year all your
males shall appear before the Lord GOD (Ex. 23:14-17).
• The emphasized words indicate that everyone should appear before
God to celebrate these three festivals, and none should come empty
handed.
• In our day, the Lord is calling many Christians to celebrate the three
New Testament truths contained in these festivals. Many are celebrat-
ing Passover rather than Easter. They are observing the Fall Festival
of Tabernacles as they look forward to the soon return of Jesus Christ.
And they honor the birth of the Church and the outpouring of the Holy
Spirit during Pentecost.
• My main point is this: Every believer should encounter Jesus in all
three festivals.
• As we celebrate Passover, we experience Jesus as our Passover Lamb
whose blood has purchased our salvation. As we celebrate the Feast of
Tabernacles, we anticipate the returning King by preparing ourselves
for Him and His return. And we celebrate Pentecost by receiving the
baptism of the Holy Spirit.
• Using these feasts as symbols for spiritual realities, we can see that
salvation is a distinct event from the baptism of the Holy Spirit since
the Feast of Pentecost is celebrated approximately fifty days after
Passover.
5. This issue has created a great division between the evangelical and
charismatic streams.
• I have spent a lot of time showing why the baptism of the Holy Spirit
is a separate event from salvation. I have done so for good reason.
This one issue has divided the evangelical stream from the charismatic
stream in the Body of Christ.
• For the last one hundred years or so, this topic has created a rift of
distrust, fear, and rejection. In some cases, believers from these two
streams refuse even to fellowship together.
• Many spiritual leaders teach their people that the baptism of the Holy
Spirit was given at salvation. Because of this teaching, many Chris-
tians have been robbed of the joy and power that this gift brings.
• If you fall into this category, I plead with you: Ask God today to bap-
tize you with the Holy Spirit. You won’t regret it!
102 Learning to Hear God’s Voice Understanding the Millennial Kingdom 102

4. What Is the Evidence That I Have Received It?

1. In the Bible, there was always evidence that people had received the
baptism of the Holy Spirit.
• In Acts 8:18, Simon, who was following Phillip throughout Samaria,
saw evidence that people had received the baptism of the Holy Spirit.
• Throughout the book of Acts, every time people received the baptism
of the Holy Spirit, those around them knew.
• So the question is: What was the evidence that someone had received
it? To answer this question, let’s go to the Scriptures. Look at Acts
10:45-46:
The circumcised believers who came with Peter were amazed,
because the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out on the
Gentiles also. For they were hearing them speaking with
tongues and exalting God.
• After these Gentiles were baptized in the Holy Spirit, they spoke with
tongues and exalted God. In other passages, after the Spirit was
poured out, the believers prophesied, spoke the Word of God boldly,
and performed great miracles.
• On the day of Pentecost, Peter said that dreams, visions, and proph-
ecy confirmed the outpouring of the Holy Spirit.
• Putting together the various places where the baptism of the Holy
Spirit is mentioned, the following list gives us a good idea of what we
should expect:
Prophecy
Visions
Dreams
Tongues
Desire to exalt God
Boldness
Gifts of the Holy Spirit (1 Cor. 12:7-11)
Revelation and understanding
2. The primary evidence that we have received the baptism of the Holy
Spirit is change.
• After we have received the baptism of the Holy Spirit, we will have
power to love God more, power for ministry, and power to be a wit-
ness for Jesus Christ in the earth.
• We will also be empowered to hear God clearer, to do the miraculous
works of Jesus, to gain greater understanding of the Bible, and to
have an increased desire to worship the Lord.
• Although the list above is certainly not comprehensive, it does give us
indicators as to whether or not we have truly experienced the baptism
of the Holy Spirit.
• On the other hand, we might receive prayer for the baptism of the
 The Baptism of the Holy Spirit 103

Holy Spirit and not experience any of these indicators immediately.

Some people have instant results and others do not. However, as you
believe in faith that you have received the baptism of the Holy Spirit,
you should begin to experience some or all of these indicators at some
point.
• Some people say that speaking in tongues is the evidence that I have
received the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Others would go on to say
that if I don’t speak in tongues, then I have not actually received it.
My experience has been this: Tongues is an evidence but not the only
evidence.
• As I shared in my testimony at the beginning of this chapter, I had
received the baptism of the Holy Spirit for eight years before I re-
ceived the gift of tongues. However, during that eight-year period, I
did experience many of the other indicators that I listed above. There-
fore, based on my own experience, I don’t believe the gift of tongues
is the exclusive indicator of receiving the baptism of the Holy Spirit.

5. How Do I Receive the Baptism of the Holy Spirit?

1. Even though we believe all of the doctrines about the baptism of the
Holy Spirit, we still must experience it for ourselves.
• To receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit, we must ask for it. Jesus
said, “God will give the Holy Spirit to those who ask” (Luke 11:13).
• The key to receiving the baptism of the Holy Spirit is to ask for it, re-
ceive it in faith, and believe that God has done what He promised. As
we ask God with a sincere heart of faith, He is faithful to fulfill His
word in our lives.
• After we have received the baptism of the Holy Spirit, the gift of
tongues is available to us. At our church, once a person has received
the baptism of the Holy Spirit, we help activate the gift of tongues in
their life.
• However, if they do not receive tongues at this point, we tell them not
to worry or fear. We encourage them by reaffirming that they have
received the baptism of the Holy Spirit. We tell them that the gift of
tongues will come.
• The Scriptures refer to the laying on of hands as a component in re-
leasing people into the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Although this is an
excellent, helpful, and preferred way to impart the baptism of the Holy
Spirit into someone’s life, in my opinion, it is not absolutely necessary.

In summary, to be released into the baptism of the Holy

Spirit, you should:
1. Ask God for it
2. Receive it with an open heart
3. Believe in faith that you have received it
104 Learning to Hear God’s Voice

Notes
1. Kessler, Learning to Hear God’s Voice, pp. 121-122.
2. Ibid., pp. 127-128.
 The Baptism of the Holy Spirit 105

Review Questions

True or False
1. In the book of Acts, the baptism of the Holy Spirit was always a separate ex-
perience from salvation.
2. The baptism of the Holy Spirit is not available to every believer.
3. The baptism of the Holy Spirit produces a temporary change.
4. Boldness is evidence of the baptism of the Holy Spirit.
5. Over the years, the baptism of the Holy Spirit has unified the evangelical and
charismatic streams.
6. The baptism of the Holy Spirit was a separate event from salvation for the
first disciples.
7. The baptism of the Holy Spirit releases greater power into our lives so that
we can have a more successful and prosperous ministry.
8. Every believer should encounter Jesus in all three feasts of Israel.
9. Believers who have received the baptism of the Holy Spirit are superior to
those who have not received it.

Fill in the Blanks

10. The baptism of the Holy Spirit releases the _________ of God into our lives.
11. We celebrate ____________ by receiving the baptism of the Holy Spirit.
12. The primary evidence that we have received the baptism of the Holy Spirit is
______________.
13. The word translated “power” in Acts 1:8 is the Greek word dunamis (doo’-nam-is). It
means _________ or _____________ _______________.
14. The Greek word translated baptize is baptizo. It means to ___________,
___________ or _____________.
15. The baptism of the Holy Spirit increases our power to be ___________ for Jesus.
106 Learning to Hear God’s Voice

From the list on the right, identify which one best answers the question on the left.

16. What is the baptism Possible Matches for 16-20

of the Holy Spirit?
17. What is the purpose a. Believe and receive by faith
of the baptism of the b. Releases greater power in our lives
Holy Spirit?
18. Is the baptism of the c. A greater union with the Holy Spirit
Holy Spirit a separate d. Prophecy, boldness, or speaking in tongues
experience from sal-
vation? e. The disciples received the baptism of the
19. What is the evidence Holy Spirit fifty days after Jesus breathed
that I have received the Spirit into them.
the baptism of the
Holy Spirit?
20. How do I receive the bap-
tism of the Holy Spirit?
Session
8

The Gift of Tongues

This session covers:

• What is the gift of tongues and what is its purpose
• Whether this gift is controllable and available to everyone
• Whether tongues is the only evidence of the baptism of the
Holy Spirit
This session corresponds to:
• Session 8 of Learning to Hear God’s Voice CDs

The Gift of Tongues Is Important

1. Receiving the gift of tongues has had a very signifi-

cant impact on my life.
• The gift of tongues has revolutionized my walk with
the Lord—especially my devotional life and teaching
ministry.
• Since I received the gift of tongues in 1991, I can
say with full assurance that it has been an extremely
powerful tool. God has used this gift to equip and
empower me.
• After receiving the impartation of this gift, I did not
see any sudden changes. Even though there were no
bells and whistles when I received it, it has been a
great blessing to me.
• I had heard many testimonies of people when they
first received their gift of tongues. Some shared
about waves of love engulfing them. Others shared
of seeing visions. And others said they were so over-
whelmed by the Holy Spirit that they could not even
stand.
• In my case, none of this happened. It felt very good
to release my spiritual language for the first time,

107
108 Learning to Hear God’s Voice

but I didn’t see visions or hear anything from the Lord. However, over
time, receiving the gift of tongues has had a very significant impact on
my life.
2. The gift of tongues has given me greater revelation.
• Though I have been positively affected in many ways by the gift of
tongues, the greatest change came in the area of “revelation.”
• When I say revelation, I mean God’s unveiling of the Bible to me. My
gift of tongues has given me much greater insight into the Word of
God.
• Many truths of the Bible are easy to understand. We can grasp truths
such as tithing, forgiveness, and repentance just by reading the Bible.
• However, there are other truths in the Bible that are mysteries. These
truths must be unveiled. They are hidden as buried treasures, and it is
our responsibility to find them and dig them out. By excavating these
precious gems, we gain true knowledge and understanding.
• Receiving the gift of tongues opened up revelation and understanding
of the Bible at an entirely new level. It brought me into the Scriptures
in a much deeper way. I began to comprehend some of the mysteries
that I had been blind to—even after years of studying.
3. The gift of tongues is a powerful but misunderstood gift.
• The gift of tongues, also known as the prayer language, is one of the
most misunderstood and controversial practices in the Church. It has
created much confusion and disagreement.
• Because of this dissension, many people without the gift of tongues
don’t really want it. In addition, many people with the gift of tongues
don’t really understand the purpose of it.
• With this in mind, I will discuss the gift of tongues in this session. I
will deal with some issues related to the gift of tongues that often cre-
ate fear and misunderstanding.
• My desire is to diffuse the lies that keep the Body of Christ from oper-
ating in this powerful gift.

Now let’s look at five commonly asked questions about

the gift of tongues. The answers to these questions will
help you understand and use the gift of tongues on a
regular basis.
 The Gift of Tongues 109

1. What Is the Gift of Tongues?

The gift of tongues is a form of spiritual communication with God

that originates in our spirit, is controlled by our will, is directed by
the Holy Spirit, is normally unknown to the speaker, and leads to
our edification.

1. The gift of tongues is a form of spiritual communication with God.

• When we pray in tongues, we are communicating with God on a spirit-
to-Spirit basis.
• The words we speak are deeper than our native language—they are
spiritual words. Paul said that the Holy Spirit prays through us with
“groanings too deep for words” (Rom. 8:26).
• Praying in the spirit is a form of communication that transcends hu-
man words. It is at a much deeper level. This form of talking with God
binds our spirit together with God’s.
• Notice what Paul said about this: “For one who speaks in a tongue
does not speak to men but to God; for no one understands, but in his
spirit he speaks mysteries” (1 Cor. 14:2).
• When we pray in tongues, we speak directly to God.
2. The gift of tongues originates in our spirit.
• When we are born-again, the Holy Spirit comes to reside in us. The
Holy Spirit causes our spirit-man to come alive. Note Romans 8:9-11:
However, you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the
Spirit of God dwells in you. But if anyone does not have the
Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him. If Christ is in you,
though the body is dead because of sin, yet the spirit is alive
because of righteousness. But if the Spirit of Him who raised
Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ Jesus
from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through
His Spirit who dwells in you.
• As a born-again, baptized in the Holy Spirit believer, God has ener-
gized my spirit. Therefore, when I pray in tongues, I am speaking a
spiritual language that originates in my inner man and is empowered
by the Holy Spirit.
• Note 1 Corinthians 14:15: “For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays,
but my mind is unfruitful.”
• The gift of tongues is our spirit language, given as a gift by God.
110 Learning to Hear God’s Voice

3. The gift of tongues is controlled by our will.

• We have control over the gift of tongues. In 1 Corinthians 14:15-19,
Paul explains this concept to us. Notice what he says:
What is the outcome then? I will pray with the spirit and I will
pray with the mind also; I will sing with the spirit and I will
sing with the mind also. Otherwise if you bless in the spirit
only, how will the one who fills the place of the ungifted say
the “Amen” at your giving of thanks, since he does not know
what you are saying? For you are giving thanks well enough,
but the other person is not edified. I thank God, I speak in
tongues more than you all; however, in the church I desire to
speak five words with my mind so that I may instruct others
also, rather than ten thousand words in a tongue.
• We decide when to release our gift of tongues, how loud to speak it,
and when to stop.
• Some people fear this gift because they think it is uncontrollable. They
are afraid that the gift will spontaneously flow out of them at the gro-
cery store, at work, or with family members. That is not the case at
all.
• We have restraint over the gift of tongues. We control how and when
to use it.
4. The gift of tongues is directed by the Holy Spirit.
• The Holy Spirit directs the gift of tongues. In my opinion, this is the
most valuable aspect of the gift of tongues.
• As we begin to speak in tongues, the Holy Spirit guides us to pray or
speak what God desires in a certain situation.
• When we know what we are saying, our tendency is to add our own
thoughts or feelings into the prayer. However, when we pray in
tongues, we yield to the Holy Spirit and allow Him to pray through us
whatever He wishes. Notice what Paul said about this:
In the same way the Spirit also helps our weakness; for we do
not know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit Himself in-
tercedes for us with groanings too deep for words; and He who
searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, be-
cause He intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.
And we know that God causes all things to work together for
good to those who love God, to those who are called according
to His purpose (Rom. 8:26-28).
• Many times we don’t know how to pray for a certain issue. As we use
our gift of tongues, the Holy Spirit directs us how to pray. He prays
through us with groanings too deep for words.
 The Gift of Tongues 111

5. The gift of tongues is normally unknown to the speaker.

• Even though the gift of tongues originates from our spirit, we normally
do not know what we are speaking.
• I use the word “normally” because there are rare occasions when we
know what is said. However, far more commonly, we don’t know what
is being spoken. Normally, the gift of tongues is an unknown tongue.
• Paul deals with this topic extensively in 1 Corinthians 12-14. This sec-
tion of Scripture contains the most information about the gift of
tongues in the Bible.
• In 1 Corinthians 13:1, in the context of speaking in tongues, Paul
writes, “If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels.” This im-
plies that the gift of tongues could be either an angelic or a human
language.
• Sometimes when we speak in tongues, humans might be able to un-
derstand what we are saying—just like on the day of Pentecost. At
other times, we may be speaking a language that is known to the an-
gels—issuing commands for spiritual warfare.
• The important point here is this: The language is normally unknown to
the speaker.
• Paul made this clear when he wrote: “For one who speaks in a tongue
does not speak to men but to God; for no one understands, but in his
spirit he speaks mysteries” (1 Cor. 14:2).
• The speaker does not understand what he is saying because He
speaks mysteries to God.
• Why is it so important that the language be unknown to the speaker?
As we saw above, the gift of tongues helps us bypass our limited wis-
dom, knowledge, and understanding by allowing the Holy Spirit to
pray through us the will of God.
6. The gift of tongues leads to our edification.
• Notice what Paul says about tongues and our personal edification:
“One who speaks in a tongue edifies himself” (1 Cor. 14:4).
• When we pray in tongues, our spirit prays while our mind is inactive.
This puts our mind at rest—silencing the lies, anxieties, and limited
understanding that regularly bombards us.
• It also builds, nurtures, and strengthens our spirit.
• In addition, this leads to our spirit-man arising above our soul and
body, and results in increased faith and intimacy with God.

2. Is the Gift of Tongues Available to Everyone?

1. The gift of tongues is available to every born-again believer who de-

sires it.
• Some have debated this position by using 1 Corinthians 12:30. It
reads, “All do not have gifts of healings, do they? All do not speak
with tongues, do they? All do not interpret, do they?”
112 Learning to Hear God’s Voice

• I can hear the skeptics now, wondering how I will explain this one.
Well, give me a moment, and I will explain why I believe this to be
true.
• To begin, we need to understand what Paul meant by this verse.
Throughout 1 Corinthians 12-14, Paul made a clear distinction be-
tween the public and private use of tongues. The public use of tongues
intended for the corporate gathering should be accompanied by an
interpretation in order to edify the people. When someone speaks in
tongues and an interpretation is given, it is equivalent to prophecy.
• On the other hand, the private use of tongues is a form of spiritual
communication with God that nurtures and strengthens the spirit of
the one who is praying. The private use of tongues builds us up and
activates our faith. Both expressions of tongues have different pur-
poses.
• Summarizing my interpretation of 1 Corinthians 12-14, I have listed
the main points below:
If one speaks in tongues for the purpose of communicating to
the gathered assembly, there should be an interpretation. Paul
prefers prophecy to tongues in the public forum unless there is
an interpretation. In this case, tongues and interpretation be-
come equivalent to prophecy.
Not everyone is gifted to move in the public delivery of a
tongues message. We do not all speak in tongues in this way,
do we? This is the context of Paul’s statement in 1 Corinthians
12:30.
Paul valued the gift of tongues very highly. In 1 Corinthians
14:18, Paul thanked God that he spoke in tongues more than
all of the Corinthian believers. Yet he would rather speak in a
known language to the church (1 Cor. 14:19).
The individual use of the gift of tongues, also called the prayer
language or praying in the spirit, is intended for every believer.
In 1 Corinthians 14:5, Paul stated his desire that everyone
speak in tongues. He also urged believers to earnestly desire
all of the gifts (1 Cor. 12:31; 1 Cor. 14:1). In 1 Corinthians
14:13, he even told them to ask God for a gift of the Spirit that
they did not have. He said, “Therefore let one who speaks in a
tongue pray that he may interpret.” Now if all of the gifts—
including tongues—were not available to every believer, why
would Paul admonish us to desire these gifts? If these gifts
were not available to us, Paul would create an enormous
amount of frustration by exhorting us to pursue something that
we could not have.
• With all of this in mind, when Paul makes his statement in 1 Corin-
thians 12:30, his main point is to describe the differences in the Body
of Christ, not to exclude certain believers from operating in the gift of
 The Gift of Tongues 113

tongues.
• Even though all of the gifts are available to every believer, Paul was
being practical and showing the real-life scenario. Though the gift was
available, not everyone had been activated to speak in tongues in a
public fashion.
2. Other Scriptures make it clear that every believer can speak in
tongues.
• To further make my case that everyone can speak in tongues, let’s not
forget Jesus’ words when He commissioned His church:
And He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the
gospel to all creation. He who has believed and has been bap-
tized shall be saved; but he who has disbelieved shall be con-
demned. These signs will accompany those who have believed:
in My name they will cast out demons, they will speak with new
tongues; they will pick up serpents, and if they drink any
deadly poison, it will not hurt them; they will lay hands on the
sick, and they will recover.” So then, when the Lord Jesus had
spoken to them, He was received up into heaven and sat down
at the right hand of God (Mark 16:15-19).
• There is nothing stated or implied in this passage that only a few
would speak in tongues. Rather, Jesus said that everyone who be-
lieves will speak in tongues.
• Furthermore, read the four sections in the Book of Acts that offer the
clearest view into the baptism of the Holy Spirit (see Acts 2:1-4; 8:5-
18; 10:44-48; 19:1-7).
• In these accounts, we see that speaking in tongues is the most com-
mon evidence that people received the baptism of the Holy Spirit. In
three of the four instances, the gift of tongues is specifically listed as a
result of the outpouring of the Spirit.
• In the fourth case (Acts 8:5-18), a noticeable yet unidentified mani-
festation was observed. There is a very good chance that this could
have been the gift of tongues as well.
3. The following testimony shows that every believer can receive the
gift of tongues.
• On a ministry trip to India a few years ago, we had the opportunity to
pray for about 120 students who had never received the baptism of
the Holy Spirit or spoken in tongues.
• After at least an hour of ministry, every one of the students received
the baptism of the Holy Spirit and the gift of tongues.
• To verify this, an interpreter accompanied each team member. We
wanted to make sure they were speaking in an unknown tongue and
not their native language.
• This encounter reassured me—as much as anything I have ever
seen—that tongues is available to everyone who wants it.
114 Learning to Hear God’s Voice

3. Is the Gift of Tongues Controllable?

1. This question relates to the issue of control and release.

• Does the gift of tongues, whether public or private, just spontaneously
come out of our mouth? Or do we have to release it? The answer to
these questions is we have to release it.
• The public use of tongues is given as the Spirit wills (1 Cor. 12:11).
Even though this is true, the gift of tongues does not just erupt from
within our spirit. We have the ability to control it.
• Although it may rise up within us, we can release it or restrain it.
When this gift is released depends upon whether it is public or private.
2. The public gift of tongues must be released.
• For public tongues’ messages, let me share how the Spirit has led me.
Though I have only been used like this a few times, each case hap-
pened in a similar way.
• First, I begin to sense that God wants me to deliver a tongues’ mes-
sage. Then the message begins to well up within my spirit. It arises
within me, and I feel a burden to release it.
• However, I still have complete control over when I give it. I can wait
until an appropriate time in the service. Or I can even refuse to deliver
it, and the burden will subside.
• If and when I finally decide to deliver the message, the burden of the
Spirit rises within me, and I release it by speaking.
• When I am finished, someone else delivers the interpretation in a
manner similar to a prophetic word.
3. The individual gift of tongues must be released also.
• The gift of tongues belongs to us and we must initiate it.
• Both the first time we use it and each time thereafter, the exercise of
the gift depends upon our activation (1 Cor. 14:14-15).
• Understanding that I had to release my gift of tongues confused me.
Since I attended a church that did not teach us about the gift of
tongues, I knew very little about it. Even though I had a strong desire
for the gift of tongues, I did not know how to get it. I was waiting for
God to give it to me.
• At times I would ask for it. At other times I would tell the Lord that if
He wanted me to have it, it was okay with me. Through this approach,
I never received the gift of tongues.
• I finally realized that it was my language given to me by the Holy
Spirit. Therefore, to release it, I had to speak out. As I did this, the
gift of tongues was activated in me, and I have been able to use it
from that point forward.
• If I had continued to “wait” on God to give it to me, I still would not
have this invaluable gift. We cannot just wait for the gift of tongues to
come upon us. If we do this, we will most likely never be released in
it.
 The Gift of Tongues 115

• We must step out in faith in order for the gift to be activated within
us.

Once we have received the gift of tongues, we can use it pri-

vately whenever we wish. When we use this gift privately, we
decide when to use it. This is different from the public use
where the Holy Spirit prompts us when He wants to release it.

4. Is the Gift of Tongues the Only Evidence of the Baptism of the

Holy Spirit?

1. The gift of tongues is not a test, but a tool that empowers us for min-
istry.
• Before I received the baptism of the Holy Spirit, I believed that speak-
ing in tongues was the only sign that verified an authentic baptism in
the Holy Spirit. I believed that those who did not speak in tongues
were not baptized in the Holy Spirit.
• For a few years, I felt incomplete. I believed that God really didn’t like
me as much as those believers that had their gift of tongues.
• Without realizing it, I viewed the gift of tongues as a test that indi-
cated whether a person had received the baptism of the Holy Spirit. I
believed that tongues was the evidence that a believer had received
the baptism of the Holy Spirit.
• Now I realize that the gift of tongues is not a test or a sign that one
has received the baptism of the Holy Spirit.
• The baptism of the Holy Spirit is a gift that we ask God for in faith,
and the gift of tongues is not a test, but a tool. It is a tool that is ex-
tremely useful in many ways.
• We can use this tool in prayer, in our devotional lives and in ministry
to others.
• God didn’t give us tongues just to confirm that we have the baptism of
the Holy Spirit; He gave us a valuable tool that empowers us as His
witnesses in the earth.
5. What Are the Purposes of the Gift of Tongues?

1. The gift of tongues is a means of Spirit-led prayer.

• In Ephesians 6:18, we are told to pray in the Spirit at all times. We
could easily write an entire chapter on praying in the Spirit or praying
a Spirit-led prayer. Instead, I will give a brief explanation.
• A Spirit-led prayer, also called praying in the Spirit, is a prayer that is
anointed by the Holy Spirit in accordance with the will of God.
• By yielding to the Holy Spirit in prayer, He helps us fulfill our call to
116 Learning to Hear God’s Voice

pray according to God’s will (1 John 5:14).

• There are two primary ways to pray in the Spirit. We can hear from
the Lord what His will is and pray with our minds. Or we can use the
gift of tongues, allowing the Holy Spirit to direct our prayers.
2. The gift of tongues helps us pray when we lack direction.
• We all find ourselves in situations where we don’t know what to pray.
We can often lack direction or guidance about the way to pray. Paul
talked about this to the Roman believers:
In the same way the Spirit also helps our weakness; for we do
not know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit Himself in-
tercedes for us with groanings too deep for words; and He who
searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, be-
cause He intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.
And we know that God causes all things to work together for
good to those who love God, to those who are called according
to His purpose (Rom. 8:26-28).
• From this passage, we see that the Spirit knows how to pray and will
pray through us according to the will of God. Praying in the Spirit al-
lows this to take place.
• When I lack direction in prayer, I have found that my gift of tongues is
extremely helpful.
• As a pastor, people often ask me for prayer. Many times, I don’t know
how to pray for them. In these instances, I pray in the Spirit. As I do,
God frequently gives me understanding. Taking this insight, I pray in
English. By doing this, I know that I am praying God’s will for the per-
son.
3. The gift of tongues helps us receive revelation knowledge.
• True wisdom from God is often concealed in mysteries. The deeper
things of God are very often hidden to the natural mind. We can only
perceive them through revelation knowledge.
• Paul told the Corinthians that the hidden mysteries of God are only
revealed to us through the Spirit. Notice what he wrote:
Yet we do speak wisdom among those who are mature; a wis-
dom, however, not of this age nor of the rulers of this age, who
are passing away; but we speak God’s wisdom in a mystery,
the hidden wisdom which God predestined before the ages to
our glory; the wisdom which none of the rulers of this age has
understood; for if they had understood it they would not have
crucified the Lord of glory; but just as it is written, “THINGS
WHICH EYE HAS NOT SEEN AND EAR HAS NOT HEARD, AND
WHICH HAVE NOT ENTERED THE HEART OF MAN, ALL THAT
GOD HAS PREPARED FOR THOSE WHO LOVE HIM.” For to us
God revealed them through the Spirit; for the Spirit searches
 The Gift of Tongues 117

all things, even the depths of God. For who among men knows
the thoughts of a man except the spirit of the man which is in
him? Even so the thoughts of God no one knows except the
Spirit of God. (1 Cor. 2:6-11)
• Praying in the Spirit connects our spirit to God’s. From this union, the
Holy Spirit unlocks the mysteries of God to us. He gives us deep in-
sight, revelation, and wisdom. He opens up the Bible and the spirit
realm to us as we use the gift of tongues.
4. The gift of tongues builds us up in strength and faith.
• Have you ever felt like quitting? Maybe you felt weary. Perhaps you
lacked the spiritual strength and faith to continue in the call of God.
• During these times, the gift of tongues helps us significantly. Notice
what the Bible says about this:
One who speaks in a tongue edifies himself; but one who
prophesies edifies the church (1 Cor. 14:4).
But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy
faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of
God, waiting anxiously for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ
to eternal life. And have mercy on some, who are doubting
(Jude 20-22).
• The gift of tongues is a wonderful tool that helps build us up in the
Holy Spirit.
• In my life, when I am growing weak, praying in tongues gives me
fresh strength. When I feel my love for God cooling, my gift of
tongues releases new passion within me. When I feel impatient or
doubt attacks my mind, praying in the Spirit energizes my faith and
helps me continue on in God.
5. The gift of tongues helps us exalt God.
• Both the baptism of the Holy Spirit and the gift of tongues produce a
greater desire in us to worship and exalt God. Look at three Scriptures
that illustrate this truth:
All the circumcised believers who came with Peter were
amazed, because the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured
out on the Gentiles also. For they were hearing them speaking
with tongues and exalting God (Acts 10:45-46).
And do not get drunk with wine, for that is dissipation, but be
filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another in psalms and
hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody with
your heart to the Lord; always giving thanks for all things in
the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God, even the Father
(Eph. 5:18-20).
118 Learning to Hear God’s Voice

What is the outcome then? I will pray with the spirit and I will
pray with the mind also; I will sing with the spirit and I will
sing with the mind also (1 Cor. 14:15).
• In my life, both the baptism of the Holy Spirit and praying in tongues
has enhanced my desire to worship. I used to wonder why we sang all
those songs. I wanted to get straight to the message, but now I long
to worship and exalt God.
• The gift of tongues also serves as a wonderful tool for worship. Many
times, singing in the spirit enables me to express what I feel to God.
This is especially helpful when I am worshipping God, and I don’t
know what to say or how to say it.
6. The gift of tongues empowers us in spiritual warfare.
• Ephesians 6:18 exhorts us to pray in the Spirit at all times.
• Let me make two points about Ephesians 6:18. First, this mandate is
given in the context of spiritual warfare. Paul stated in verse 12:
Our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rul-
ers, against the powers, against the world forces of this dark-
ness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly
places.
• Also, be aware that there are two Greek words for time. Chronos
means a space of time and kairos means an opportune or strategic
time.
• Going back to Ephesians 6, Paul exhorts us to pray at those strategic,
kairos moments. We are to pray in the Spirit at opportune times when
the spiritual battle intensifies.
• Let me illustrate. Many times the enemy tries to disrupt the peace in
our home. He will often create strife among our children. When no
amount of correction seems to help, my wife and I pray boldly using
our gift of tongues with a warring attitude. When we are finished pray-
ing, peace usually returns to our home.
• Praying in tongues also activates angels for spiritual warfare. Earlier in
this session, we saw that tongues could be both angelic and human.
Since the Bible says that angels are ministering spirits that render ser-
vice to us, we need to activate them by speaking their language.
When we engage in spiritual warfare by praying in tongues, we are
actually releasing angelic commands to warring angels to fight on our
behalf.
• The gift of tongues is a valuable tool for spiritual warfare.
7. The gift of tongues helps increase the amount of time that we pray.
• Paul tells us to pray without ceasing. However, most of us run out of
words to pray in a very short time.
• The gift of tongues helps us in this area. By praying in tongues, we
can persevere in prayer, even when we don’t know what else to pray
for.
 The Gift of Tongues 119

Remember, in the Book of Acts, the baptism of the Holy Spirit and
the gift of tongues activated believers in the hearing and speaking
gifts. We can hear God without these valuable tools; however, they
are extremely important aids that help us in the pursuit of His
voice. My desire is that each of you will use the gift of tongues so
as to grow stronger spiritually, have more boldness and confidence,
and to hear God’s voice more effectively.
 The Gift of Tongues 121

Review Questions

True or False
1. People with the gift of tongues do not have any control of this gift.
2. The gift of tongues is only available to mature believers.
3. The gift of tongues is a tool for spiritual warfare.
4. The gift of tongues builds us up and edifies us.
5. When we speak in tongues, we usually know the interpretation of what we
are speaking.
6. Speaking in tongues is a form of spiritual communication with God.
7. The gift of tongues can be in the form of human or angelic communication.
8. The gift of tongues originates in our soul.

Fill in the Blank

9. The gift of tongues leads to our _____________.

10. The gift of tongues helps us __________ God.

11. The gift of tongues builds us up in __________ and ___________.

12. The gift of tongues must be ____________.

13. The gift of tongues helps us receive _____________ ______________.

14. The gift of tongues helps us pray when we ________ _____________.

15. By praying in tongues, we can ____________ in prayer, even when we don’t know
what else to pray for.
122 Learning to Hear God’s Voice

From the list on the right, identify which one best answers the question on the left.
16. What is the gift of Possible Matches for 16-20
tongues?
a. Depends upon our activation
17. Is the gift of
tongues controlla- b. Builds us up in strength and faith
ble?
c. It is a sign of those who believe.
18. Is the gift of
tongues available d. A form of spiritual communication with God
to everyone?
e. Tongues are not a test but a tool.
19. Is the gift of
tongues the only evi-
dence that I have re-
ceived the baptism of
the Holy Spirit?
20. What are the purposes
of the gift of tongues?
 Answer Sheet 123
123

Answer Sheet
Session 1 Session 2 Session 3
1. F 1. F 1. T
2. T 2. T 2. F
3. F 3. F 3. F
4. T 4. T 4. T
5. F 5. T 5. F
6. T 6. F 6. T
7. intimacy; friendship 7. F 7. T
8. two; way 8. spirit; man 8. fruit
9. friends 9. distant; whispers 9. convicts; condemns
10. follower 10. waiting; voice 10. character; Word
11. intimate; fellowship 11. strong; sensitive 11. quiet; soft
12. talking; listening 12. deny; cross; follow 12. hope
13. c 13. consecrated; purposes 13. discern; source
14. i 14. obeyed; voice 14. conviction; condemnation
15. e 15. d 15. f
16. f 16. c 16. c
17. a 17. a 17. e
18. c 18. b 18. a
19. d 19. e 19. b
20. g 20. c 20. g

Session 4 Session 5 Session 6

1. F 1. T 1. F
2. F 2. T 2. F
3. F 3. T 3. T
4. F 4. F 4. T
5. T 5. F 5. T
6. T 6. F 6. T
7. T 7. T 7. T
8. F 8. F 8. F
9. salvation; lost 9. Faith 9. closest
10. faith 10. Prophecy 10. practice; use
11. effective; minister 11. Distinguishing; of; spirits 11. comfort; zone
12. ministry 12. Healing 12. big; believe
13. wisdom 13. senses; alert 13. spiritual; power
14. style; model 14. temporary; specific; mo- 14. earnestly; desire
15. bears; witness ment 15. e
16. great; works 15. d 16. b
17. b 16. g 17. a
18. c 17. i 18. c
19. e 18. e 19. f
20. f 19. h 20. d
20. b
 124 Learning to Hear God’s Voice

Answer Sheet
Session 7 Session 8
1. T 1. F
2. F 2. F
3. F 3. T
4. T 4. T
5. F 5. F
6. T 6. T
7. F 7. T
8. T 8. F
9. F 9. edification
10. power 10. exalt
11. Pentecost 11. strength; faith
12. change 12. released
13. force; miraculous; power 13. revelation; knowledge
14. immerse; submerge; over- 14. lack; direction
whelm 15. persevere
15. witnesses 16. d
16. c 17. a
17. b 18. c
18. e 19. e
19. d 20. b
20. a
 Final Exam 125
125

Learning to Hear God’s Voice

Final Exam

The following questions are true or false. Place a “T” for true or an “F” for false in the
space provided (2 points per question).
1. God speaks outside of the Bible but not in contradiction to the Bible.
2. God often speaks to us loudly in order to get our attention.
3. Although Jesus ministered in response to the voice of the Father, His primary
method of ministry was based upon His response to people’s needs.
4. The gift of tongues is a tool for spiritual warfare.
5. Boldness is evidence of the baptism of the Holy Spirit.
6. Expectancy is an attitude that accepts the truth that God still communicates
to us through the gifts of the Holy Spirit.
7. A word of wisdom, a word of knowledge, and faith are examples of Motiva-
tional Gifts.
8. A word of knowledge is the result of us thinking through a problem using rea-
son, logic, and common sense.
9. You can be intimate with God without hearing His voice.
10. Our ability to hear God’s voice depends upon how close we are to Him.

Fill in the Blanks (2 points per question)

11. Jesus’ ___________ of ministry is a __________ for all believers to follow.

12. Our skill in hearing the voice of God and functioning in the gifts of the Holy Spirit
improves with __________ and __________.

13. The baptism of the Holy Spirit increases our power to be ___________ for Jesus.

14. When God brings correction, His word __________ whereas the enemy’s voice
_____________.

15. If we are _________ from God, preoccupied with other things, it is very easy to be
126 Learning to Hear God’s Voice

deaf to His __________.

16. ____________ ____________ with God is the foundation of our Christian experi-
ence.

17. The gift of tongues leads to our _____________.

18. The primary evidence that we have received the baptism of the Holy Spirit is
______________.

19. Those that are the ___________ to God will hear His voice most often.

20. To be ____________ in ministry, we must learn to ___________ like Jesus did.

21. God’s voice speaking into our lives will be consistent with His ____________ and
__________.

22. The gift of tongues helps us receive _____________ ______________.

23. True fellowship is based upon ____-_____ communication.

24. To be effective in hearing God’s voice for guidance and ministry, we must learn to
_____________ the ____________ of the voices that we hear.

25. The baptism of the Holy Spirit releases the _________ of God into our lives.

Multiple choice: Circle the correct answer (2 points each)

26. Which of the following does not describe the character of God’s voice?
a. God’s voice is filled with hope.
b. God’s voice will always align with the counsel that we receive from others.
c. God’s voice convicts rather than condemns.
d. God’s voice produces good fruit.
e. God’s voice is usually quiet and soft.
 Final Exam 127
127

27. Which of the following does not help us develop intimacy with Jesus?
a. Separate from the ways of the world.
b. Consecrate ourselves to God.
c. Spend time in God’s presence.
d. Witness to our friends and neighbors about Jesus.
28. Which of the following best describes why learning to hear God’s voice is important?
a. Gives us personal guidance
b. Helps us know the day when Jesus will return
c. Helps us to minister like Jesus did
d. Helps us establish biblical doctrines
e. a and c
f. All of the above
29. Which of the following best describes why we need to minister like Jesus?
a. Ministering like Jesus improves our reputation.
b. Ministering like Jesus will give us more ministry opportunities.
c. Ministering like Jesus gives us favor in the marketplace.
d. Ministering like Jesus bears witness of Him.
30. Which of the following does not describe a purpose of the gift of tongues?
a. The gift of tongues is controllable.
b. The gift of tongues helps us to pray when we lack direction.
c. The gift of tongues is a tool for spiritual warfare.
d. The gift of tongues builds us up in strength and faith.
31. Which of the following best describes the purpose of the baptism of the Holy Spirit?
a. The baptism of the Holy Spirit is a separate experience from salvation.
b. The primary evidence that we have received the baptism of the Holy Spirit is
change.
c. We receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit by faith.
d. The baptism of the Holy Spirit releases the power of God into our lives so that
we can be an effective witness for Jesus Christ.
32. Which of the following is not a way that God communicates to us through our spiri-
tual senses?
a. Life experiences
b. Supernatural intuition
c. Dreams and visions
d. Rhema words
33. Which of the following is a false statement?
a. Most believers talk to God more than they listen to God.
128 Learning to Hear God’s Voice

b. We must seek the Giver, not His gifts.

c. To hear God’s voice we must expect Him to speak to us.
d. Practice helps us become proficient at hearing God’s voice.
34. Which of the following is a true statement?
a. When God speaks a word of correction, it brings condemnation until we re-
pent.
b. In the book of Acts, the baptism of the Holy Spirit was always a separate ex-
perience from salvation.
c. When we speak in tongues, we usually know the interpretation of what we
are speaking.
d. Belief is a heart attitude that anticipates and waits for God to speak to us.
35. Which of the following is a false statement?
a. The Power Gifts include faith, gifts of healing, and effecting of miracles.
b. Hearing God’s voice is essential if we want to minister like Jesus did.
c. When God speaks, He never contradicts what we think or believe.
d. A miracle is a supernatural demonstration of God’s power that bypasses the
natural laws and transforms nature, circumstances, or individual needs.
e. Belief is a heart attitude that acknowledges God’s ability and desire to speak
to His people regularly.

Discuss in your own words (10 points each)

36. Define three of the nine gifts of the Holy Spirit and give an illustration of each. Your
illustration may be a story from your own life, a story from the Bible, or a story that
you heard from someone else.
 Final Exam 129
129

37. Using the keys to hearing God’s voice from Session 6, explain in your own words
how you would help someone learn to hear God’s voice.

38. State whether the following statements are true or false. Then, from what you have
learned in this class, defend your position. Use Scripture to support your argument.
130 Learning to Hear God’s Voice

A. When we are born again, we are complete in Christ and receive the baptism of
the Holy Spirit at that time.

B. The gift of tongues is the only evidence that someone has really been baptized in
the Holy Spirit.