Sensing and hearing from God

The Lord says:

"This is a crucial time for My people to hear My voice. In fact, there are many secrets that I want to reveal to you in this time and season. Continue to live a life of holiness. Continue to live a life of submission. Continue to live a life of humility. Wash your hands. Wash your hearts. Let it be clean. Continue to stir up your spirit man. Don't let your spirit to slumber. Keep your spirit alert and ready for what's coming ahead and the glory days ahead!" 

Colossians 2:8 (NKJV) says, 'Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ.'

Colossians 2:8 (Expanded) says, 'Be sure [Be careful; Watch; See] that no one leads you away [takes you captive] with false [deceptive] and empty [worthless] teaching that is only human [according to human traditions], which comes from the ruling spirits of this world, and not from Christ.'

It's for this reason in Colossians 2:8 that it's so important to be able to sense and hear correctly from the right spirit (i.e. the Holy Spirit), and not from other spirit or spirits of this world. 

In fact, some of these human philosophies or human traditions have even sometimes crept into the church, and contaminated or adulterated the church and what Christ has meant the church to be. 

Also, nowadays, there are so many 'predictions' or 'prophecies' being spoken around, that even some Christians are taking it without checking and sensing if these are really from the Holy Spirit, or if these are merely from the minds of men. So, that's why Paul wrote in Colossians 2:8 to be careful. Every prediction or every prophecy has to be tested. The Scripture says so. 

What are the keys to sensing and hearing in the spirit correctly? 

1. A life of humility, submission and surrender

There's no other way around it. Without humility, submission and surrender to God and God's Spirit, we cannot be effective in sensing and hearing from Him. 

2. A life of holiness

It is like a radio antenna that receives reception. If you clean it, the antenna can receive better and function better. If you remove any dirt, dust, or other contaminants that might interfere with the reception, the antenna can receive better and function better. It is the same with your spirit, if you want to receive more clearly from the Holy Spirit. Therefore, allow the Holy Spirit to clear anything that hinders your walk with God. 

3. A life of worship

This simply means a life of surrender to God. Because to worship God is to surrender to God. Worship is not just in songs and singing. 

In Hebrew, the very word 'worship' is translated as 'shachah', which literally means 'to bow down, to kneel, to prostrate oneself (before God)'. So, worship, in the truest sense of the word, is about the heart. It is about a heart and a life of surrender and submission to God. It is about lowering ourselves and humbling ourselves before God. It is not so much about the outward performance or outward show, but 'shachah' or 'worship' is essentially lowering ourselves in our hearts before the Lord. 

One example of this word 'shachah' or 'worship' in the Scripture is found in Genesis 22:5. That's when Abraham told his servants that he and Isaac (his son) will 'shachah' on the mountain, which is translated as 'worship' on the mountain.

Let's move on to 1 Corinthians 2:12 (NKJV) that says, 'Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God.'

What are the things that have been freely given to us by God? One is His wisdom. Another is His revelation as to what you should do or what you should avoid, and even what's to come in the future!

Just a few verses before that, 1 Corinthians 2:9-10 (NKJV) says, 'But as it is written: "Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man, the things which God has prepared for those who love Him." But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God.' In The Expanded Bible, it is translated as 'the deep secrets of God'. 

That leaves us with the next question. In what way does God reveal His deep things through His Spirit? The answer can be found in 1 Corinthians 2:13 (NASB) that says, 'We also speak these things, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit, combining spiritual thoughts with spiritual words.' 

See the words 'spiritual thoughts' and 'spiritual words' here? In other words, one way God can speak to you is by placing intelligible thoughts and words in your spirit. It means thoughts and words that can be readily understood by you. These thoughts and words are deeply imparted by the Holy Spirit inside of you, and these are not the product of one's own mind or one's own logic. Some Bible teachers call this 'the voice of the Holy Spirit'. It means the voice of the Holy Spirit spoken into your spirit. 

What are the general characteristics of the voice of the Holy Spirit? 

1. It comes as a spontaneous impartation, not premeditated by the hearer (Matthew 10:19-20)

2. It comes with specific commands or instructions (Acts 13:2)

3. It is distinctly divine, and the hearer knows it comes at the right timing when he/she needs it (Acts 10:19-20)

4. It is always aligned with the Word of God and the will of God, and not contradict it (Isaiah 55:8-11)

Click here for the full teaching in TiC YouTube Channel

God is raising a people of 'quick understanding'!

Isaiah 11:3a (KJV): And shall make him of quick understanding in the fear of the Lord...

The word 'understanding' here in Hebrew is 'ruwach', which can mean 'scent, sense/smell, perception, anticipation'. In other words, being of 'quick understanding' is being 'quick-scented, quick in sensing/smelling, quick in perception, or quick in anticipation'. Interestingly, this word 'ruwach' is the same word found in Genesis 1:2 that says, '...And the Spirit ('ruwach') of God moved upon the face of the waters'. Here, this same word 'ruwach' means 'spirit, breath, or life'.

Let's look at Isaiah chapter 11 now. This chapter speaks about our Savior Jesus, the Messiah who was to come. Isaiah 11:1-2 begins with, 'And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots. And the spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord'. And it's from here that Isaiah 11:3 continues, 'And shall make him of quick understanding in the fear of the Lord...'

As you can see, all the above attributes, i.e. wisdom and understanding, counsel and might, knowledge and the fear of the Lord, and of course, being of 'quick understanding' in the fear of the Lord are attributes found in Him. And you know what? The Bible says 'as He is, so are you in this world'! (1 John 4:17) Receive the impartation of all these in your life by faith now!

In this end-time, God is also raising a people who are like Jesus, a people who are of 'quick understanding', a people who are spiritually-sensitive (to the things or situation in and around them), and a people who just know how to make a way of escape when they sense danger (or something amiss)! One example is in Luke 4:30. Here, even in the midst of 'danger' surrounding Him (and when some people were trying to kill Him), He just knew how to make a way out - somehow, someway, supernaturally! And He knew His time (to die) was not yet.

I like the definition 'quick-scented' in the first paragraph. The word 'scent' is defined in Oxford Dictionary as 'characteristic smell of something, particular type of smell, smell left behind by a living thing that allows others to track/follow, feeling of the presence of something, or discovering something by sense of smell'. Therefore, I can also say being 'quick-scented' means 'when you sense/smell something, you just know what it is or what is going on'.

Today, the Lord is indeed sensitizing (or 'scent-sitizing') His people to be likewise, a people who are enabled by His Spirit to sense and move with His timing and season (being sensitive to every change or movement in the spiritual realm, and what He is currently doing in the spiritual realm at the moment).

In fact, what is in the spiritual realm is reflected by the physical realm. In the animal kingdom, there are animals which are very sensitive even in the most ‘minute’ of any earth movement. One of the earliest recorded instance of animals being able to sense impending earth movements/earthquakes was recorded in the history of the Greek. During the winter of 373 BC, ‘all the mice, beetles, centipedes, and every other creatures of that kind in the city of Helike left’. After these creatures left, an earthquake occurred, the city went under, an immense wave flooded, and Helike disappeared!

More recently, it has been recorded that before a powerful earthquake hit Chile in 2010, dozens of deep-sea fish surfaced and was discovered by a group of Japanese fishermen. Shortly before the 2011 earthquake and tsunami in Japan, a number of deep-sea fish were found stranded on beaches nearby. In a scientific study of earthquakes, waves, and earth movement by a Japanese specialist in ecological seismology, it has been found out that “deep-sea fish living near the sea bottom are more sensitive to the movement of active faults than those near the surface of the sea.” In the spiritual realm, the same is also true, that the deeper one’s walk with God, the more likely he/she’s going to ‘catch’ or sense what’s currently going on in the spiritual world!

Sensing/smelling has to do with inhaling/breathing in. In Genesis 2:7, the Bible says, 'And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed (out) into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being'. This word 'breathed (out)' is 'naphach' in Hebrew, which can mean 'blow, scatter (as in scattering seeds), kindle, give up'. Genesis 1:26-27 says you are created after His own image and likeness. In other words, you are made after His kind, i.e. His seed (that He scattered). And even when man sinned, He sent His only Son to 'give up' His Spirit at the cross (John 19:30), so that we have His Spirit (breath, life) again. His redemptive work for mankind!

So, people of God, what do you breathe in today? He breathed (out) His 'ruwach' into your nostrils, so that you can now breathe in His 'ruwach'! You should therefore ‘smell’ Him all the time, because you have His 'ruwach' inside you. And what is this 'ruwach'? The sweet-smelling fragrance of Jesus! The Spirit of life that conquers death! The Spirit who always leads you in triumph in Christ, and through you, diffuses the fragrance of the knowledge of His glory wherever you go (see 2 Corinthians 2:14). Hallelujah! Amen!