The most urgent and serious problem the body of Christ facing today is how to listen to the Holy Spirit. God’s people have to learn to trust the word of God, not this man or that person’s opinion or their theologies which at it’s best, some truth mixed with many errors.
Be filled with the Spirit
When the scripture in Ephesians 5:17-19 says, Therefore do not be unwise, but understand what the will of the Lord is. And do not be drunk with wine, in which is excess, but be filled with the Spirit, speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord; we need just go ahead and obey it, speaking to ourselves (to mind, heart and soul) in psalms.
I don’t remember how I started to pray after psalms, only after many years of practice I can see verse 17 to 19 is one sentence, God’s will is be filled with the Spirit, speaking to the self is the way to be filled with the Spirit. Many believers are drunk with worldly things, they don’t have any respect for the word of God. They have to wait until everything is destroyed then will come back to obey the word of God.
Meditate day and night
The first thing we learn from psalms one is; do not sin and meditate the Word day and night. If anyone refuse to obey, there maybe very slim chance to listen to the Holy Spirit. That person has rejected the blessings. Now move to psalms 4, the Holy Spirit started to talk our inner being if we obey verse 4, “commune with your own heart on your bed, and be still“. Many times I receive message from the Holy Spirit during meditating on my bed, commune with your own heart means meditation.
Meditation is a very important form of prayer. We saw Jesus doing it in (Luke 9:18) One day while Jesus was praying privately and the disciples were with him, he asked them, “Who do the crowds say I am?” praying privately means no one knows what he said, so Jesus prayed quietly, communicating with the Father in the form of meditation.
We also see Nehemiah doing the same in (Nehemiah 2:3-5) And I said to the king, Let the king live forever. Why should not my face be sad, when the city, the place of my fathers’ tombs, lies waste, and its gates are burned with fire? And the king said to me, For what do you ask? So I prayed to the God of Heaven, and I said to the king, If it please the king, and if your servant has found favor in your sight, I pray that you would send me to Judah, to the city of my fathers’ tombs, so that I may build it.
When Nehemiah wrote, “So I prayed to the God of Heaven”, he prayed silently, the king did not hear anything. Jesus prayed privately is the same, his disciples were with him, but unaware what he prayed. This is happening all the time, since nobody know what he prayed, it can’t be recorded.
Reminding the scripture
My understanding is when we pray to the Lord quietly, like meditating, something is happening in the spiritual realm. And we receive message from the Holy Spirit mainly through meditating, in the form of some “ideas” or “thoughts”, many times refer to one specific scripture. It’s not real sound or anything physical. It is vital to be very familiar with all scriptures, otherwise, we may easily mistaken it as some strange ideas. Those who refuse to obey psalms 1 or 4, refused listening to the Holy Spirit.
On the other hand, temptation may also come in with scriptures, as we see in Matthew chapter 4. The devil knows how to twist, if we don’t know the scripture well, we will often be fooled into sin. It is written: (Ephesians 6:17) also take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. Without it we have no weapon to fight, will end up being beaten up or taking captive by the devil. As Paul wrote, (II Timothy 2:26) And that they may wake up and escape from the devil’s snare, who have been taken captive by him to do his will.
Spiritual battle has a lot to do with meditating and thinking, so it’s critical to pray psalms 19:14 Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Your sight, O LORD, my Rock and my Redeemer. Many people do not like to pray like this, so they suffered defeat.
Keep increasing
In the beginning, each prayer may not accomplish much, as Peter summarized spiritual growth as a gradual increasing process, (II Peter 1:5-8) And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness; And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity. For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that you shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
When we keep praying, reading and obeying more the Word and doing more charity, our spiritual life will grow more. And we will hear the Holy Spirit more often and clear. If we stop doing so, it will go back to stage one and become blind again. Jesus said: (John 15:5-7) I am the vine, you are the branches. The one who abides in me while I abide in him produces much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. Unless a person abides in me, he is thrown away like a branch and dries up. People gather such branches and throw them into the fire, and they are burned. If you abide in me and my words abide in you, you can ask for anything you want, and it will be yours.
If we don’t get what we asked, it is an evidence of we did not abide in Him. God’s people need to wake up and do some self checking, our heart can deceive us, but can’t fool God. “Today when you hear his voice do not harden your heart”. Let’s pray;
The heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament proclaims His handiwork.
Day after day they pour forth speech, and night after night they reveal knowledge.
There is no speech nor language where their voice is not heard.
Their line has gone out through all the earth and their words to the ends of the world. In them He has set a tabernacle for the sun,
Which is as a bridegroom coming out of his chamber, and rejoices as a strong man set to run a race,
Its going forth is from one end of heaven, and its circuit is to the other end. And there is nothing hidden from its heat.
The law of the LORD is perfect, restoring the soul; the testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple.
The precepts of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart; the commandments of the LORD are pure, enlightening the eyes.
The fear of the LORD is clean, enduring forever; the judgments of the LORD are true and righteous altogether,
More to be desired than gold, yea, much fine gold; sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb.
Moreover by them Your servant is warned; in keeping them there is great reward.
Who can understand his errors? Oh, cleanse me from my secret faults;
And keep back Your servant also from presumptuous sins; do not let them rule over me; then I shall be blameless, and I shall be innocent of great transgression.
Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Your sight, O LORD, my Rock and my Redeemer. Amen.