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Go to thelineoffire.org. Alright, we're talking about knowing the Holy Spirit, continuing our series on getting to know the Holy Spirit. We're talking about the inner witness, the inner leading, the inner voice, the main way I see it in scripture that God actually leads us according to his word. The Holy Spirit dwells within us, corporately as the body of Christ, Messiah's body, corporately we are indwelt by the Holy Spirit, Ephesians 2, 2 Corinthians 3, but individually our bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, 1 Corinthians chapter 6. We can debate the issue of the baptism of the Spirit and speaking in tongues. Are we full of the Spirit at salvation? Is there a baptism of the Spirit subsequent to salvation? But without question, we all have to agree that the moment we're born again, the Holy Spirit comes to live inside of us.
And that somehow, in our innermost being, in our own human spirit, that the Holy Spirit dwells there and leads and bears witness and convicts and encourages, we are indwelt by the Spirit. The Father and the Son come and abide with us. John 14, Jesus said, I will not leave you as orphans, I will come to you. My Father and I will come and make our abode with you. We'll have a room with you, literally in the Greek. John 14, the beginning of it, Jesus says, in my Father's house are many mansions in the King James, many rooms.
Well, he says, I'm preparing a place for you. Actually, in the immediate context of John 14, the place that he prepares is in our hearts and the Father and the Son, by the Spirit, come and dwell within us and abide in us. It is intimate, it is the most personal aspect of who we are, our innermost being. That's where the Holy Spirit dwells. That's where we have that assurance of salvation. That's where we have that leading, that guidance by the indwelling Holy Spirit. So, the Spirit dwells within us, so we should not be primarily looking for direction and leading from the outside. From other people, other prophecies, other voices, but the Word of God and the indwelling Spirit.
As for people who are stubborn and rebellious, they're cutting themselves off from the Spirit. And, in other words, if you are sinning in your heart against God, if you are in rebellion, then you cannot say, well, the Holy Spirit bears witness because you are sinning yourself against God. When you humble yourself before him, ask him to wash you, cleanse you, you humble yourself before him, his blood washes away your sins, there's true repentance and honor for him, the Holy Spirit will come and dwell within you with absolute assurance and you'll be led by the Spirit. What about the inner voice? Well, that's the Holy Spirit speaking within. There have been times where deep in prayer, I've heard that inner voice directing me to do things and I've seen him work in extraordinary ways. There have been times where deep in prayer or just walking with the Lord in worship, I hear that inner voice to say, how do you hear it? Well, it's in my mind, right? I'm not hearing an outward voice.
And I'm only saying this for those of you that are trying to understand or who can say, yes, I relate to this because we're being as practical as we can in these classes. So, the way it will happen with me is I'll hear something in my mind, you know, I'm to do this or contact this person or write this book, I'll hear that but with a witness in my spirit that says this is the Lord. It's not like when it's my own mind I hear, yeah, you should have a big salad today for dinner. And when it's the voice of God, it's like, you shall have a big salad for dinner. But it's not like there's a different voice.
There's a different feel to it. Again, I'm just being as practical as I can because what's one of the first things that your kids ask as they're growing in the Lord? How do I know the difference between my own voice and my own mind and what the devil's saying and what God's saying, right? And it's something that we often, these are just my thoughts. If I keep getting this assurance, everything's going to be all right.
Am I manufacturing it? What connects with me, let me say it again, is when I have that inner voice, sometimes very strongly, coupled with a deep witness in my innermost being, that is God speaking. That is God leaving. And then the thing happens as I felt, or the word that I spoke is right on. One of my favorite examples I've used many times, it's a little one, but this would have been around 1993 or 1994, thinking of the chronology. I was trying to schedule meetings with folks in Finland and in Italy, and my secretary, they weren't connecting. And it was the days before email, just easy contact, so it was either by phone or by fax, and somehow missing each other. And I just wanted to lock in my calendar because these trips, in those days, they used to travel two or three weeks overseas, India, up to a month.
So we were trying to get my calendar set, and I was a little frustrated that we couldn't lock these dates in. So I'm praying, it was on a Sunday night, I believe it was on a Sunday night, because the next day was a work day, I'm praying, and I have a sense, you'll hear from Italy and Finland tomorrow, and you'll also hear from England. I hadn't been to England to preach since 1987. Now it's about seven years later, and you'll hear from England. So I thought, okay, I heard that all together in my spirit. Well, the next day, it was a fax from Finland and a call from Italy, whichever one it was. I forget which was which, but my secretary gets word, and now she's going to reconnect with one thing and get that locked in. So she tells me, she goes, yeah, this from Finland, this from Italy, and you also got a call from a man named Derek in England.
Isn't that interesting? Out of the blue. You'll hear from Finland, you'll hear from Italy, and you'll also hear from England. I hadn't thought about England at all. Now we get a call.
Okay, that's what I thought the Lord told me the night before. Now, the thing about the call from England in itself was just like a little added note to what I was praying about, Finland and Italy. So in point of fact, after days or even weeks of missing each other and miscommunication, next day, Finland and Italy, as God showed, and you'll also hear from England.
Okay, I'm supposed to do something with England. So we set up a call for me to speak to that brother, Derek, from England a little later in the day. And he said, we do an annual leadership conference.
We have about 120 people gather together, and it's special time leaders from all over the UK, some other nations. We'd like you to come speak at that, as well as come speak at my church and some other churches that we'll set up for you in England and so on. And I said, well, I don't know anything about you at all, but God told me I was going to get a call from England, so let's do it. He says, well, I don't know anything about you either, but let me tell you what happened. There was a brother named Douglas who pastored a church in Scotland.
I got to know him afterwards, but he had come over to the States, and he was preaching in a church on Long Island, where I had preached several times. They had a bookstore. So after the service, the pastor said to this brother from Scotland, we probably have some books here in America that you don't have in Scotland.
He said, why don't you take a look and take whatever you want? He looked through their entire bookstore. Only one book caught his eye. Whatever happened to The Power of God by Michael L. Brown? So he took that book home with him, the only book in the bookstore when he preached at a church where I had previously preached on Long Island.
He is at his home in Scotland, in his church office, whatever it is, in his study. Derek is over there ministering with him, sitting in his study, and he looks on his bookshelf. Out of all the books on the bookshelf, he sees one book, Whatever Happened to the Power of God by Michael Brown. He says, I'm taking that book to read.
So the pastor gives it to him. So remember, he comes all the way over from Scotland to Long Island. On Long Island, he finds one book in a bookstore of interest, and he brings it back to Scotland.
This brother is over there. I've been in many pastors' studies, and most have lots and lots and lots and lots and lots and lots of books. He goes over there, Derek, he sees that one book on the shelf, says, I want to read that book. He reads it, and God tells him, contact Michael Brown and invite him to come.
And God tells me the night before, in a quiet, inner voice, you're going to hear from England tomorrow. I could give you lots and lots of beautiful instances like that. That is not coincidence. That is not chance. That is not happenstance.
It's not the devil, obviously. It's just the beautiful leading of the Holy Spirit. And then I ended up doing those leadership events, 1994, 1995, 1996. We had beautiful outpouring. We stayed in touch for years.
That brother has been a dear brother in my life over the years, ministered in other places in England, UK, out of that relationship. The Lord knows how to guide our paths. The Lord knows how to direct our steps.
We know very little ourselves. I've often told the Lord, I am just a dumb sheep. It's not my responsibility to figure things out. I'm a dumb sheep. You're the shepherd.
It's my responsibility to follow your voice. And as the shepherd, it's your responsibility to speak to me in such a way that I can understand so I can do what you're calling me to do. So the shepherd knows the sheep. The sheep know the shepherd. And there's that confidence that he leads us, that he guides us, that he directs us. It's beautiful. It's intimate. It's powerful. The inner witness, the inner leading.
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So call now 1-800-771-5584 or online at TriVita.com. Thanks, friends, for joining us on the Line of Fire, talking about being led by the Spirit, knowing the voice of the Spirit. If we had many of the other ways of hearing from God, dreams, visions, prophecies, circumstances, right? You have a prophetic dream.
You have a prophetic vision, a prophecy spoken over you, circumstances falling into place. But we didn't have the witness of peace within our hearts. We didn't have the witness of peace about our decision.
Then the former things would not be enough on their own. We must have the inner witness. You follow what I'm saying? You're saying, Lord, am I supposed to move to Kentucky? And right after you pray that prayer, six cars pull in front of you. You're in New York City, six cars pull in front of you, one, two, three, four, different lanes. And everyone has Kentucky on the license plate?
Wow. And then you go to put on your favorite radio station. It's like, coming away from Kentucky? It's like, Kentucky?
We're in New York. What's that? Okay, unless you had a deep peace and assurance in your heart, a deep peace and assurance in your heart that you were to go to Kentucky, those are just outward, circumstantial signs. If three different people spoke prophecies over you, or alleged prophecies, all saying the same thing, okay, that's amazing, that's exciting, they had no way of knowing that, but unless you have that inner witness, you can't act on it. You might say, that's amazing, Lord, is it really you? That's incredible. But you still have to know on the inside.
Can I just give you one other story? First to Scripture. Acts 15, 28. Acts 15, 28.
The apostles, the leaders of the congregation, the church in Jerusalem, the early leadership of the body. How should Gentiles live? Are they required to keep all the laws of the Torah? What about the laws that were specifically for Israel? What about dietary laws? What about these other things?
What's the verdict? So they come to a decision based on testimony, based on Scripture, but based on the leading of the Spirit. Look at how they write. It seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us, not to burden you with anything beyond the following requirements. I don't believe that Old Testament prophets might have even used that language.
I mean, it's very high-level language, right? It's not, thus sayeth the Lord. It seemed good to the Holy Spirit and us. We are in agreement that the Holy Spirit is bearing witness and we feel right about it as well. Not so much by the prophecies, all that declaration, but that inner witness. Hebrews 5, 14.
Solid food is for the mature who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil. So, let me give you another illustration. In the early 80s, there was a brother in the congregation I was part of serving as an elder in training, a younger elder, doing some preaching, but normally adult Sunday school teacher, etc. And there was a brother a little bit older in the congregation and he was always flooded. He was here, he was there, he was everywhere. He was all over the place. He'd get locked in and then he'd say, yeah, I'm supposed to be here and then he'd be out preaching there. And then, you know, I'm supposed to be here and then he'd be over there.
Really good guy in many ways, but just had this weakness. So, we met together with all the leaders and there were some marital issues then. It's like, okay, you just need to be at home. So, we all met and we said, we just don't think you should be traveling now. And he agreed. He said, yes, I know it. God's spoken to me.
I'm not supposed to be traveling. So, we all agreed on it. Okay. So, it's now late 82, early 83.
I remember the timeframe. He has one of the guys, one of his colleagues come back, member of our church, and says to him, I was just in Maine. You absolutely need to go to Maine and minister.
Boy, this church would love you if you went there. He's thinking, okay, but we all agreed I'm not supposed to be going out. I'm supposed to be here.
I'm supposed to be home. His wife was in another location in the midst of a long fast. And she said, I've been praying for you. I really think you should go to Maine and minister.
Huh, that's two people, but I know we all agreed that the Lord was saying this. And then he's driving and praying about it. And just then a truck pulls in front of him, Maine license plate, something like that.
It was a sign, Maine. So, he was doing some work with me. We were driving to wherever the job was, doing some work together. And he tells me the story, and I feel the Spirit fall on me. And I said, all those were tests to see if you were going to really do what you knew God wanted you to do. And he goes, I know that in my spirit, that's exactly right. No, it's not time for me to go. Now, you had the interesting outward signs.
I feel this, I think this, here's an outward sign. But ultimately, he knew what was right. He made that commitment to what was right. And the Holy Spirit bore witness to it. So, the Holy Spirit is someone we can consult at any time. You can't induce a dream or vision or prophecy. But we can go to God in prayer and seek the leading of the Spirit about a decision at any moment. There can be a tendency to take the easy way out. And instead of developing a deep personal relationship with God, to instead rely on others to hear from God for us. How many times have we done that?
I've done that? Through prophecies and other means or just counsel. And what do you think God is saying?
What else should I do? Of course, you get counsel. The multitude counsel their safety. But ultimately, we have to know God for ourselves. We fundamentally must be able to hear from God in our own lives. When we really need to know, God can make us know the thing we need to know. And the previous ways of hearing from God, we mentioned dreams, visions, prophecies, circumstances, still require hearing from God inwardly.
Philippians 4, Philippians 4, 6-7. Do not be anxious about anything. Well, that's easier said than done. The plane's shaking in the air and the turbulence and we're going to go down. That's easy for you to say. We just got the report and our friend's going to die. We got the report. You don't know our financial circumstances. Everything's going. You don't know what's about to happen.
It's all coming down. Easy for you to say, well, this is a word from God to us. Okay, I'm not going to be anxious. I will not be anxious. I will not be fearful.
That doesn't work. Many of you that are suffering tremendous anxiety right now, telling it to go away does not make it go away. Well, how do I do it? God says, don't be anxious. Well, how do I not be anxious? Don't be anxious about anything but in every situation by prayer and petition with thanksgiving. Present your request to God and the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Messiah Jesus.
Oh, that's how we do it. 1 Peter 5, casting all your cares, your anxieties on him. Psalm 55, cast your burden on the Lord. Lord, I'm anxious. Lord, I'm weighed down. Lord, I'm confused. Lord, I'm full of fear. Lord, I don't know which way is up. I don't know what to do.
Whatever it is, my kids, my health, the finances, attacks from the enemy, uncertainty about the future. Lord, I don't know what to do. But I know you're good. I know you're faithful. So there's the thanksgiving. I'm going to praise you for your love, for your kindness, even though I don't feel it. I remember when you helped me.
It seemed like a desperate situation years ago. You helped me. I remember that.
I remember that. So, Lord, I cast every care, every concern. I list them.
I list them. There have been many times I just say to the Lord, here's everything on my mind. Sometimes I even write it out. I've got this on my mind, this, this. Oh, oh, and that brings to mind this.
Oh, yike. The more you write, the more you realize how much is on your mind. And I give it all to him. I give it all to him. I throw it all on him.
All of it. I throw it on him. And when I'm done, I have peace. You say, oh, he answered all the prayers? No, he didn't do anything yet. Oh, he spoke to you about?
No, I just gave it to him. And there was peace. If we have a deep personal prayer life, we can rely on God to give us a deep abiding sense of peace that we're on the right path. There is a place of abiding peace in God. If we rarely pray and have a shallow relationship with God, being at peace is not a good indicator.
It could be complacency or settling for less than God wants. George Muller, great man of faith, said this. The beginning of anxiety is the end of faith. The beginning of true faith is the end of anxiety. Hear this again.
George Muller. The beginning of anxiety is the end of faith. The beginning of true faith is the end of anxiety. If we know that we know that we know that we have peace before God about something, then we do not worry about it.
You cannot manufacture it. It comes out of relationship with God. And out of that relationship, he gives you peace in the midst of the storm. Hey, if you're watching this on YouTube and you haven't subscribed yet, remember to do it. Just click subscribe and ring the bell to make sure you share it with your friends. And if you haven't subscribed yet, remember to do it. And if you haven't subscribed yet, remember to do it. And if you haven't subscribed yet, remember to do it. Just click subscribe and ring the bell to make sure you hear from us regularly. If you're enjoying the podcast or the radio broadcast, share with a friend.
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