“… and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice” (Joh 10:4)
People are often afraid to listen to the voice of God in case what they’re hearing is not really God but rather a voice of their own making, a type of sense-making fiction, influenced by either their own thoughts or Satan and his evil spirits. These are all legitimate fears that we have already covered in Day 81 and Day 82’s teachings on discerning the will of God (please go re-read those mentioned).
Were you to start working in a bank, one of the first skills you would acquire is that of differentiating between real notes and counterfeit ones. During the training you are given millions of authentic bank notes that you graze your fingers over, and after a while one counterfeit note is slipped among the others, and immediately the teller can tell that it is false.
The same principle applies to the voice of the enemy – the more you focus your energies on walking with God, the clearer it becomes when a voice is not God’s but indeed that of the enemy. John 10:5 states the following about believers: “Yet they will by no means follow a stranger, but will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers.” Because they know His voice, His sheep can’t help but to follow Him.
Remember that the Holy Spirit will lead you in all truth (John 16:13) and for all intensive purposes also becomes your conscience (Rom 9:1). In this way it is possible to do something you believe God has spoken to you about (as David in 2 Sam 24) but later come to the understanding that it was but your own flesh that made the decision. “And David’s heart condemned him after he had numbered the people.” (verse 10).
According to John 16:8 the Holy Spirit convicts us of sin (literally, when we miss our mark), especially through appealing to our conscience (John 8:9). “[They] who show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and between themselves their thoughts accusing or else excusing them.” (Rom 2:15). As a child of God this should give you great peace of mind, as long as you have not polluted your conscience (1 Cor 8:7) or seared it (1 Tim 4:2). In this context sear means “(to have your) own consciences seared as with a hot iron” (WNT) or as The Message explains, “they’ve lost their capacity for truth”. Literally: seared shut.
Paul states this quite explicitly in Tit 1:15: “To the pure all things are pure, but to those who are defiled and unbelieving nothing is pure; but even their mind and conscience are defiled.” Therefore it is necessary that we continually pray, “[asking] that you may be filled with the full (deep and clear) knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom [in comprehensive insight into the ways and purposes of God] and in understanding and discernment of spiritual things” (Col 1:9, AMP).
- Sela: Heb 9:14 states that there are times when we need to cleanse our conscience. Ask the Holy Spirit how you should go about doing this, and then do it.
- Read: 1 Sam 30; Prov 2; Gal 2
- Memorise: Gal 2:20
- For a deeper understanding: Read Andrew Murray’s brilliant article The Holy Spirit and conscience at http://www.worldinvisible.com/library/murray/7764/776421.htm.
