The Kingdom of God has order. Hearing always precedes speaking. Just think about it for a moment…The Holy Spirit has never spoken a word to you which He didn’t first hear the Father speak to Him.  Wow!  Could you maintain this type of discipline?

But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come.  John 16:13

Jesus wanted everyone to know how He personally operated. Like the Holy Spirit, Jesus listened first, then He spoke. This is the order of heaven and we need to know it because this is where our instructions and our truth will originate.

The Spirit of God is never going to give us brand-new, startling, isolated truths no one has ever heard.  Every now and then some “minister” will say, “God has spoken to me and has revealed to me a brilliant new idea, no one has ever taught.  The Lord has only spoken to me. If  you want to know the secret, you’ve got to come to me!”

This was exactly what Jesus said would not happen. The Spirit of God will never speak in this fashion. He will only speak what He hears. Therefore, what He reveals or speaks will always be integrated truth.  This truth will always be in line with what God has already spoken. It will never differ from what God has said in the past. This is why Jesus said “I didn’t come to abolish, but to fulfill” what was already spoken.

I personally have a large library of books.  I was moving into a new office one day and someone commented after seeing all my books, “I don’t read much. The Holy Spirit tells me everything I need to know. I don’t need to read books.”  Now, I have heard this line numerous times.  What these folks are basically saying is, “I am too lazy to read, learn, and listen to the lessons of others.”  I don’t want to chase this particular rabbit now. But, suffice it to say…this is exactly how error is born and developed.  I don’t read much these days to learn some new spiritual truth. I read to learn how the saints struggle and fight to continue serving even during dark times.  I read to avoid errors.  I want to know how others avoided life”s pitfalls. This is one of the reasons I blog.  I want to help others avoid the same mistakes I’ve made.

The Holy Spirit will build upon what He previously taught others in generations past.  I do not want to fall into the same pits my ancestors fell. No, I want to build upon the legacy they left behind.  If you personally are just trying to maintain what the previous generation accomplished, you need to rethink whether or not you are listening to the Holy Spirit. Because while the Holy Spirit is our Tour Guide, while He only speaks what He hears… He is constantly speaking about the future.  Your future to be exact. If you are one of those just maintaining the status-quo, you are probably in the dark.

This is why we are specially told by our Lord to expect the Holy Spirit to speak truth into our lives.  You need truth, I need truth…all God’s children need truth.  The problem is the truth we are told is not the truth we always want to hear. This is the main reason why people cannot hear the Holy Spirit speak to them personally.  He is only speaking TRUTH and they are not looking to hear the blunt truth from the Lord.

Let me give a personal example. I have heard the Lord speak to me so many times about pride issues. I have gotten to the point where I did’t want to hear about it anymore.  Have you ever been there?  I really did’t think there was anything wrong in getting up every morning and looking in the mirror to sing “How Great Thou Art.”  Just Kidding.  Follow me here.  In those times of the Lord confronting me about issues of pride, my quiet times were very, very…lets say “quite“. The Holy Spirit had nothing else to say and no other truth to offer.  I wanted Him to say something else.  I begged Him to say anything. By the way, this didn’t mean the Holy Spirit wasn’t using me to preach a message or lead people to the Lord.  I could still be used.  Being used of the Lord and being completely obedient to the Holy Spirit’s leading are two different things.  Don’t be deceived.  God used Balaam’s ass, but it still was an ass. You probably know what I had to do to move on. I could fake it or make it real. The only way to move on was to repent, confess (agree with God’s assessment), and allow the Lord to show me a better way.  Once that transpired, I received new truths.

A professional carpet layer stepped back to survey a newly installed carpet. Reaching into his shirt pocket for a cigarette, he realized the pack was missing. At the same time he noticed a lump under the carpet in the middle of the room, about the size of the missing cigarette pack. There was no way to retrieve his cigarette pack from under the attached carpet without ripping everything up and starting over. Finally, he decided to beat the object flat, thereby destroying any evidence of his mistake.        Gathering his tools, the carpet layer walked out to his truck. There on the seat of his truck was the mislaid pack of cigarettes. As he lit one up, the homeowner hurried out of the house and asked, “Hey, have you seen my son’s gerbil?”

It is possible to believe something is true when it is not. It is equally possible to believe something is not true, when in actuality it is true. Understand, the Holy Spirit is trying to bring TRUTH into our lives.  It is our job to give Him access to both sides of our belief systems.  Most believers are able to allow Him to teach them “new” truths.  They struggle in giving Him access to “old truths” they believe.  These are labeled “sacred cows” and untouchable.  The problem, this is exactly where the Spirit begins many times.  I have a long list of beliefs the Holy Spirit has totally destroyed and ultimately rebuilt.  The quickest way to grow unhindered is to give the Holy Spirit unlimited access to every area and belief in our life. It would be one thing if you were a BLANK SLATE, but you’re not and neither am I. We all have programs and data on our hard drives. Sometimes the Lord needs to do some erasing before He can write new programs.  Remember it is the Holy Spirit’s job to lead you into ALL TRUTH, not partial truths or incomplete truths.  The only question is will you allow Him access.

Blessings,

Pastor