Who Told You?
“I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. 13 However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come. 14 He will glorify Me, for He will take of what is Mine and declare it to you. 15 All things that the Father has are Mine. Therefore I said that He [a]will take of Mine and declare it to you. John 16:12-15
My Goal Today:
Identify the need for asking: Who told me?
How to Identify the voices that may be speaking.
What do you do once you have identified the voices?
When teaching on hearing the voice of God one of the most common questions we receive is:
Well, how do I know for sure who is talking to me? How do I know if it’s the enemy, my flesh or the Spirit?
This is a great question because we do in fact need to know who is speaking to us.
Interestingly enough, this is the 2nd question God asks mankind. Who told you you were naked? (Gen 3:6-12)
This question is key when discerning voices.
Who told me?
The Spirit
The flesh
The enemy
This question is so important to ask because even though what you are hearing, seeing, sensing sounds good, right, truthful, okay doesn't mean it is always God.
For example: Who told you were naked?
It was true. They were naked. BUT who told them? The enemy tempted them, they sinned and shame came upon them. Their sin, giving into desires of the flesh to eat the fruit, resulted in them knowing they were naked.
Adam doesn’t even answer the question and immediately throws the blame on Eve, “she made me do it!”
But in this passage God is giving us insight on how to stop and identify what voices we are allowing to influence or speak to us.
Who we allow to speak into our life will influence our actions.
For example:
Voice: “You’re naked, You’re naked, You’re naked”
Man: “I am ashamed”
Man: “I must hide from God”
Adam allowed the words that weren’t God’s to influence His action. How do I know? Look at the results.
Shame
Isolation
What God speaks does not bring shame or isolation.
Does this mean that everything God never tells you hard things? Of course not. He disciplines those He loves, but it is always with a heart of love and redemption. To bring us out of darkness into the light, to bring us on to the narrow road.
This is why it is good to ask this question, especially when we notice a track playing on repeat in our mind:
How many of you have been there?
You’re too much.
You’re not enough.
You’re weak.
You’ll never change.
You will always struggle this way.
You are not wanted here.
You are not loved.
You are a burden.
But what if we could begin to stop the track and ask who’s voice is this? Who is telling me this? Who is speaking here?
What freedom could come.
Okay so we are asking the right questions, but how do we find the answer? How can we identify the “who”?
Here are the tell-tale signs of the 3 voices (the flesh, the enemy, the spirit):
The flesh (stay here, its comfortable here)
Story of Samson
Nazarite Vow aka Consecration (set apart for a special purpose)
Abstain from all alcohols derived from grapes. ...
Refrain from cutting the hair on one's head;
Avoid corpses and graves, even those of family members, and any structure which contains such.
19 Delilah lulled Samson to sleep with his head in her lap, and then she called in a man to shave off the seven locks of his hair. In this way she began to bring him down,[a] and his strength left him. Judges 16:19
Delilah had already set him up 3x before and he still allowed his flesh to win by falling for her enticement.
The flesh is predictable and will entice you over and over with comfort.
Netflix, scrolling, sleeping in, binge eat
The flesh wants us to compromise our consecration (don’t be so holy, it’s fine, no big deal)
Why pray now? Your bed is so cozy.
Why take care of your temple by working out? Eat that cookie girl, you deserve it.
Sleep with her, you’ll feel so much better after.
What’s another drink, you feel so niceeee.
When we identify the flesh as the voice we protect our consecration before the Lord.
Identify: Picking it out of the suspects line: call it out, name it for what it is, cancel the voice
When we do this we make it clear that we are not willing to compromise our consecration.
The enemy (Go! Go! Run! Run!)
Adam and Eve: go & hide (Gen 3)
Elijah flees Jezebel (1 Kings 19:1-4)
Elijah moves out of fear
Jezebel sent a messenger not an assassin
Elijah goes into seclusion & isolation
Difference between solitude vs. isolation
Come away with me vs. get away from me.
The enemy has used covid to keep some people in a fear induced state of isolation
Elijah has the desire to quit & self-pity
“I have had enough, Lord,” he said. “Take my life; I am no better than my ancestors.” v.4
Attacks our self-worth and value
When we identify the enemy as the voice we protect our allegiance to God.
The Spirit (invites) (takes what’s God’s and declares it to us.)
28 “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” Matt 11:28-30
Invites
Comes alongside you
“And now I will send the Holy Spirit, just as my Father promised. But stay here in the city until the Holy Spirit comes and fills you with power from heaven.” Luke 24:49
Empowers you
Gives you what you need
I pray that God, the source of hope, will fill you completely with joy and peace because you trust in him. Then you will overflow with confident hope through the power of the Holy Spirit. Romans 15:13
When we identify the voice of the Spirit we protect our partnership with Jesus.
Now you know I got you. We have tools to identify the voices, but NOW WHAT? Now what do we do? Because we want to
Partner with the right voices
Shema: Listen and Obey the Spirit: because He will only declare to us what the Father has already declared.
So, Once you have discerned the voice, what do you do?
Fighting the voice of the flesh
Never submit, never obey.
24Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. 25Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last, but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. 26Therefore I do not run like someone running aimlessly; I do not fight like a boxer beating the air. 27No, I strike a blow to my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.-1 Corinthians 9: 24-27
Often Abstaining from things that feed the flesh (the flesh is acting up: we can strike a blow to it)
Netflix/entertainment
Junk food
Social media
16 But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. 17 For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do.
Practicing humility
Apologize first
Forgive generously
Serve one another
Prefer one another
Don’t try hard, train hard
Fighting the voice of the enemy
Never declare it over yourself, never obey
The Sword of the Spirit: Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. Ep 6:17
How do we take up our sword?
Read your bible
Memorize scripture
Keep my commands and you will live; guard my teachings as the apple of your eye. Bind them on your fingers; write them on the tablet of your heart. Ps. 7:2-3
12 For we have the living Word of God, which is full of energy,[j] and it pierces more sharply than a two-edged sword.[k] It will even penetrate to the very core of our being where soul and spirit, bone[l] and marrow meet![m] It interprets and reveals the true thoughts and secret motives of our hearts. Hebrews 4:12
His word reveals the truth to us!
This is what we saw Jesus do!
And Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness 2 for forty days, being tempted by the devil. And he ate nothing during those days. And when they were ended, he was hungry. (Luke 4:1-12)
“It is written” 4x
The enemy departed until the opportune time. (v. 13)
We must be in training, alert and aware.
Accepting the voice of the Spirit (can also be used to fight the voices of the flesh and enemy)
Storehouses
For the Lord has a hidden storehouse of wisdom made accessible to his godly lovers.[a] He becomes your personal bodyguard as you follow his ways, protecting and guarding you as you choose what is right. Pro. 2:7-8
What He says write down and begin to create storehouses of wisdom.
My identity storehouse
This sacrifice will be worth it in the future.
You provide our daily bread.
You are a waymaker and promise keeper.
You are a light in the darkness.
Joshua and I will be a sign and wonder of Your provision.
Seek first Your kingdom and You will take care of the rest.
Ezra needs his partner in ministry.
Redemption is coming.
I will rest in You.
I will show up for all the hard things.
When I do this I allow Him to become my personal bodyguard, protecting and guarding me as I choose to believe what He says.
Declarations
Make vocal declarations of what He says
9 If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved.
With our mouth we say what we believe
Declaring only what he has said
Always according to His word and in humility
Why worship works
Commit to training hard, not trying hard. This takes practice and discipline. Commit to identifying who’s speaking so that we can partner with only what God says, protect our consecration to Him and Maintain our allegiance to God.
