When you allow yourself to become sensitive to Holy Spirit, He speaks to you in various of ways, I don’t like to box in how He speaks, because your relationship with God is called a “personal relationship” for a reason – it’s personal. The third figure in our Triune God has been sent to us as our Comforter, as our Instructor, as our Teacher, as our Guide and there are many ways He tries to communicate to us, and by putting “tries” is because we need to learn to listen and be attentive to what Holy Spirit is saying. (If you want to know more about our One Triune God, please click on the pink link below, which will take you to my home page where I have put a description of God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit to help understand our One Triune God, scroll to the bottom of the pink link and you’ll see the definition):
For me, my experience with Holy Spirit is with a quiet, gentle voice, it has also been through dreams and also revelation when I read the Word of God (the Bible). What I love about sitting down and reading my Bible, is that I pray for ears to hear, eyes to see and a heart to understand what it is I am reading before I begin to read and honestly, most times I feel like Holy Spirit is sitting there beside me, with His arm wrapped around my shoulder, pointing out verses in the Bible that fit what it is I need, for the moment. He makes them jump off the page and into my heart. It’s funny because even writing this right now, the comparison I get in my mind is when I’ve gone night fishing off a pier with my husband, who loves to fish (and is quite good at it). The difference I have witnessed for day fishing and night fishing, is that at night, when we’ve gone fishing off a pier – the fish literally “jump” out of the water to catch insects. It is amazing to watch! It has made me laugh to see it! Well, that is what it feels like when Holy Spirit causes certain verses in the Bible (since the Bible is the LIVING WORD of God) jump off the pages and minister a timely word to my situation and to my heart.
Here is the key statement:
LEARN TO LISTEN.
Not once has Holy Spirit ever yelled at me, even if I was in the wrong. His voice has always been quiet and gentle… In fact, because it is a choice to listen, if you grieve Holy Spirit, His voice gets quieter and quieter until you can’t hear Him. Hearing Him IS a choice and when you choose to listen, its amazing what He will say. Sometimes it’s a warning…
Ol’ Slewfoot cannot read your mind, but he and his dominions watch your every move, they know your weaknesses, they know your upset and they will do everything they can to hinder your walk with God, that’s why the Bible tells us to stand watch and be fully dressed in God’s armor as in Ephesians 6:10-18:
“Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people.”
The devil HATES God and by the way, because YOU are SO loved by God – the devil HATES YOU. The Bible warns us and tells us in John 10:10:
“The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy.“
He wants to steal from you, he wants to kill you and he wants to destroy you. The BEST way to be prepared, is to pray, read your Word (the Bible) and learn to listen to Holy Spirit. Holy Spirit has often warned me of an upcoming battle so that I can be prepared and stand firm in Christ (who is greater). The Bible tells us in 1 John 4:4:
“Greater is He that is in you than he that is within the world.”
We are in the middle of a spiritual war, and unless we use the weapons of our warfare (as described above in Ephesians 6) and learn how to hear what Holy Spirit is instructing us, we can be susceptible to the bullets ol’ slewfoot and his nasty dominions shoot our way and let me tell you from personal experience – he KNOWS our weaknesses. Don’t think he is stupid (he is, but he is not) and he has made it his personal mission to mess with you and he knows how to push your buttons – IF you let him.
Attacks from the enemy do not come in little polite “the glove is off, I’m slapping you in the face” they come with uppercut punches and “I seriously mean you harm” attacks, so it is important to realize where (in your walk) you are most vulnerable and usually that means issues of the heart. Our enemy attacks our minds AND our hearts – those are only two areas of many, but if you become alert through prayer, you become more sensitive to what those areas are…
I have learned to ask myself, “what areas am I feeling most vulnerable… Is it with something I currently am going through that I am praying through? Is it a temptation? Is it financial?” I do a personal “pat down” to be able to make sure I am covering myself up with the precious blood of Jesus. You see, the battle has ALREADY been won by Jesus’ victory on the cross and through His resurrection. Before Jesus’ ascended into Heaven, He said in John Chapter 17 beginning with verse 1-25:
“Father, the hour has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you. For you granted him authority over all people that he might give eternal life to all those you have given him. Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. I have brought you glory on earth by finishing the work you gave me to do. And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began. “I have revealed you to those whom you gave me out of the world. They were yours; you gave them to me and they have obeyed your word. Now they know that everything you have given me comes from you. For I gave them the words you gave me and they accepted them. They knew with certainty that I came from you, and they believed that you sent me. I pray for them. I am not praying for the world, but for those you have given me, for they are yours. All I have is yours, and all you have is mine. And glory has come to me through them. I will remain in the world no longer, but they are still in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them by the power of Your name, the name you gave me, so that they may be one as we are one. While I was with them, I protected them and kept them safe by that name you gave me. None has been lost except the one doomed to destruction so that Scripture would be fulfilled. I am coming to you now, but I say these things while I am still in the world, so that they may have the full measure of my joy within them. I have given them your word and the world has hated them, for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world. My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. They are not of the world, even as I am not of it. Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world. For them I sanctify myself, that they too may be truly sanctified. My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one— I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me. Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world. Righteous Father, though the world does not know you, I know you, and they know that you have sent me. I have made you known to them, and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them.”
Although we belong to Jesus, as He indicated above, we are STILL IN the world, so we must keep in mind that the battle for souls rages ALL around us. Ol’Slewfoot is not overly concerned with those that still have spiritual blinders on and do not know Jesus, because he has them right where he wants them. But with us, with you, he is terribly angry because IF you have made Jesus Christ your Savior, Lord over your life – YOU are a threat to his plan. He does not want you to walk in the fullness of your calling, which makes you a vessel of God that God intends to use to bring others into the knowledge of His love. Ol’ Slewfoot sees YOU as a threat to his “I hate God, let me hurt God” agenda. So we, as followers of Christ become his priority and focus of attack. And we MUST be aware of his tactics. The BEST way to be aware, is to learn how to listen to Holy Spirit, who sees ALL things.
Remember, the victory is already ours, we just need to stay alert as a watchman on a tower. The more you submit to Holy Spirit, the more ready you can be to stand in that victory that has already been won. GOD HAS GOT YOU. He has prepared you for a time such as this, in walking in God’s instruction, praying, reading God’s Word (and not ONLY reading it but obeying it) you CAN stand victorious in Christ Jesus and dodge ANY bullets the enemy aims your way. Be alert, on guard and listening… God’s got you. The victory through Christ (He is your bullet-proof vest! 🙂 ) is yours.
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