I am asked frequently the entitled question: “How do I hear from the Holy Spirit?” Usually if someone is asking that question they are serious about knowing God, Doing HIS will, and honoring Him. Occasionally it is asked of me by someone who desires a short cut to Heaven or at least blessings here on Earth.
The Bible has much to say about this very topic, but what it says is often co-opted by the first verse in the group from the pericope. Here is one snippet of the the group:
13 “aWhatever you ask in My name, that will I do, so that bthe Father may be glorified in the Son. 14 “If you ask Me anything ain My name, I will do it. 15 “aIf you love Me, you will keep My commandments.
Verse 13 receives all of the attention because that is where people who are searching for God’s blessings first look and affix their attention: “IF I simply add ‘In Jesus’ Name’ to my prayers this says I get whatever I am praying for!!! Hello new Calloway Corvette!!! Slow down slam dancer, that isn’t what the verse, in its context means. We are then ushered to verse 15, IF (emphasis mine) you love Me, you will keep my commandments. The IF here is a condition of release, relief, and restoration. IF you do this, then that means you love ME.
Verse 16 goes on: 16 “I will ask the Father, and He will give you another 1aHelper, that He may be with you forever;
The powerful IF is still in play here. Jesus Christ, as the Holy Spirit will be our Helper (see note at bottom) and He will be with us forever, IF we keep His commandments. Remember, this is Jesus Christ speaking to His disciples. He is comforting them. We in this time and era want the blessings and presence of God in our lives, the Holy Spirits intervention without doing anything and that simply doesn’t jive with scripture or, in this case, Jesus Christ’s own Words.
Maybe Verse 21 will help? 21 “aHe who has My commandments and keeps them is the one who loves Me; and bhe who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and will cdisclose Myself to him.”
Any help to you? No? Feels kind of like pressure on your chest to be perfect? No, that is not what is expected, but Jesus Christ did not come to suspend the Law, He came to fulfill it. We are still expected to pursue holiness while we are being sanctified for His purpose. What that means is, “We are jacked up and all of us struggle with one thing or a hundred, and we will not be perfected this side of Heaven, but why not try every single day?” Because Jesus Christ did not just say something that is no longer valid or applicable to today. Jesus Christ is always relevant. Either way, what Jesus Christ is saying is very clear, we must keep His commandments in order that we will be known as the ones who love Him and then He will disclose (or reveal) Himself to us through the Holy Spirit. Maybe verse 23 and 24 will help?
23 Jesus answered and said to him, “aIf anyone loves Me, he will bkeep My word; and cMy Father will love him, and We dwill come to him and make Our abode with him. 24 “He who does not love Me adoes not keep My words; and bthe word which you hear is not Mine, but the Father’s who sent Me.
There is that IF again. IF only there were no IF’s, but alas, there are IF’s. The “IF’s” are what has gotten lost in translation in our worldview of today in lieu of the Biblical Worldview in play as Jesus Christ was speaking these Words. We erase the IF when we don’t feel up to the task of seeking to “Keep His commandments.” It gets difficult after awhile to maintain such a strict discipline – like an exercise regimine designed by the Navy SEAL’s, it isn’t easy or routine, nor will it ever be, but it must be done nonetheless. What is the downside? In verse 24, the “He who does not…” means that we or they or us – whoever is willfully disobedient in not keeping His Word faces a disconnect from the Holy Spirit and IF we are seeking that, it will not only be a terrible void, but also an emptyness that nothing in this world can fill.
Verse 26 clears some of this up for some of us:
26 “But the aHelper, the Holy Spirit, bwhom the Father will send in My name, cHe will teach you all things, and dbring to your remembrance all that I said to you.
Here Jesus Christ is telling His disciples that the Holy Spirit will surely come to their aid and the Holy Spirit will teach them all that they do not know, that they neeeeeed to know, and He will remind them of His Words. This would be incredibly important when the future of the church would rest upon the apostle’s shoulders. People would be healed in Jesus’ Name through the ministry of the Holy Spirit enacting upon the Apostle’s obedience, so the stakes were/are high. However; we need to know, that no matter what healing we seek, WE must do something in order for that healing to come.
Acts 3 speaks of Peter and John enacting this promise from Jesus Christ when they were the human instruments in a supernatural healing of a beggar, lame since birth.
1 Now aPeter and John were going up to the temple at the 1ninth hour, bthe hour of prayer.
2 And aa man who had been lame from his mother’s womb was being carried along, whom they bused to set down every day at the gate of the temple which is called Beautiful, cin order to beg 1alms of those who were entering the temple.
3 When he saw aPeter and John about to go into the temple, he began asking to receive alms.
4 But Peter, along with John, afixed his gaze on him and said, “Look at us!”
5 And he began to give them his attention, expecting to receive something from them.
6 But Peter said, “I do not possess silver and gold, but what I do have I give to you: aIn the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene—walk!”
7 And seizing him by the right hand, he raised him up; and immediately his feet and his ankles were strengthened.
8 1aWith a leap he stood upright and began to walk; and he entered the temple with them, walking and leaping and praising God.
9 And aall the people saw him walking and praising God;
10 and they were taking note of him as being the one who used to asit at the Beautiful Gate of the temple to beg alms, and they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him.
The lame beggar had to “look at us!” in order to give due attention to those who would heal him in Jesus’ Name. He had to do something. He did it, and was healed. So the religious rottweillers could not miss Who/What was actually responsible for the healing Peter and John made it very clear in verses 11-21.
11 While he was clinging to aPeter and John, all the people ran together to them at the so-called 1bportico of Solomon, full of amazement.
12 But when Peter saw this, he replied to the people, “Men of Israel, why are you amazed at this, or why do you gaze at us, as if by our own power or piety we had made him walk?
13 “aThe God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, bthe God of our fathers, has glorified His 1cservant Jesus, the one whom dyou delivered and disowned in the presence of ePilate, when he had fdecided to release Him.
14 “But you disowned athe Holy and Righteous One and basked for a murderer to be granted to you,
15 but put to death the 1aPrince of life, the one whom bGod raised from the dead, a fact to which we are cwitnesses.
16 “And on the basis of faith ain His name, it is 1the name of Jesus which has strengthened this man whom you see and know; and the faith which comes through Him has given him this perfect health in the presence of you all.
17 “And now, brethren, I know that you acted ain ignorance, just as your brulers did also.
18 “But the things which aGod announced beforehand by the mouth of all the prophets, bthat His 1Christ would suffer, He has thus fulfilled.
19 “Therefore arepent and return, so that your sins may be wiped away, in order that btimes of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord;
20 and that He may send Jesus, the 1Christ appointed for you,
21 awhom heaven must receive until the 1period of brestoration of all things about which cGod spoke by the mouth of His holy prophets from ancient time.
Repent and return so that a refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, restoration from the Holy Spirit. Clear and unmistakable direction that we don’t like to hear these days. IF we want the Holy Spirit in our lives in a very real and relevant way, we must obey. We obey by keeping the commandments, reading and studying our Bibles, praying, seeking God’s Will, then doing His Will. Keep fighting that sin that seems to have trapped you for the longest time and the Holy Spirit will come as your Helper. You must first believe, then trust, then obey.
That is how you hear from the Holy Spirit.
(All Scripture from the NASB)
