Morning by Morning, January 28 - Learn to Discern the Voice of the Spirit
Good morning, Lord Jesus. All that I am and all I have, I entrust completely to You today -- Father, Son, and Holy Spirit of God. ...
"Do not quench the Spirit. Do not despise the words of prophets, but test everything; hold fast to what is good; abstain from every form of evil" (1 Thessalonians 5:19-22).
Holy Spirit, You are always with us, always speaking to us, always seeking to lead us. "For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God" (Romans 8:14). We're to be Spirit-filled and Spirit-led (Ephesians 5:18). It's part our inheritance as sons and daughters of God who are deeply loved and lovingly invited to live in a deeply intimate, personal relationship with You -- Father, Son, and Holy Spirit of God.
You speak to us and seek to lead us both individually and as a people, as Your Church. So give us spiritual ears to hear "what the Spirit is saying to the Church" (Revelation 2:7, 11, 17, 29; 3:6, 13, 22). By the power of Your grace, help us hear. But also help us obey what we hear. As Your Word says, "Be doers of the word, and not merely hearers who deceive themselves" (James 1:22).
Your Word says "do not quench the Spirit" and at the same time tells us to "test everything" so we can "hold fast to what is good" not deceive ourselves. So give us both the faith to listen and also the humility to submit everything we think we hear from You to the testing of the standard of the Word of God and the nature of God. Only through the process of judgment and discernment will we be able to determine "what is good" and what is "a form of evil," what we must "hold fast" to and what we must "abstain from."
In these days where many claim to hear what the Spirit is saying to the Church, we must learn to walk in ever-increasing spiritual discernment. "Let the wise also hear and gain in learning, and the discerning acquire skill" (Proverbs 1:5). We acquire skill by looking to You in humility and faith in the challenges of obeying Your command to "test everything." And above all, we "test everything" by the authority of the Word of God as our plumb line and standard. "All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness" (2 Timothy 3:16). "The sum of Your Word is truth; and every one of Your righteous ordinances endures forever" (Psalm 119:160). "Your Word is truth" (John 17:17). And "the Scripture cannot be annulled" John 10:35).
When we believe we hear Your voice, we should ask: Does this line up with the Word of God and does this line up with the nature of God? Does this bring peace in my spirit with Your Holy Spirit bearing witness with my human spirit? What is the fruit that comes from this? Does it point me to God and His ways or to my flesh and my ways? "The tree is known by its fruit" (Matthew 12:23). But all must be filtered and seen, judged and discerned, against the standard of the authority of Scripture if I truly believe "All Scripture is inspired by God."
One of the gifts of Your Spirit is "the discernment of spirits" (1 Corinthians 12:10). And we desperately need this gift and Your grace to learn how to live into it -- not avoiding Your spiritual gifts in an effort to be safe, but learning how to grow in Your spiritual gifts in a desire to be obedient. "Those who are unspiritual do not receive the gifts of God's Spirit, for they are foolishness to them, and they are unable to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. Those who are spiritual discern all things" (1 Corinthians 2:14-15). Let us not "throw out the baby with the bathwater" but learn how to love and nurture the baby You've entrusted to us as a means of Your grace to be Spirit-filled and Spirit-led.
Not all spiritual activity in our lives and in the community of relationship with one another is the activity of the Holy Spirit. Not every spiritual voice we hear is the voice of the Holy Spirit. The enemy of our souls often "disguises himself as an angel of light" when his unholy spirits attempt to masquerade as the Holy Spirit to gain our trust and ensnare our thoughts in his deception and confusion (2 Corinthians 11:14). So we need Your Word and we need Your Spirit to help us learn to discern in both humility and faith. And we need one another, in relationships of trust and respect, of honor and accountability, to test and discern together in Christian conference and loving community that's centered upon the confession of our faith and the authority of Your Scripture, as "iron sharpens iron" (Proverbs 27:17).
The answer is not to quit longing for spiritual leading or to "despise the words of the prophets." The answer is not to be so afraid of being deceived by the voice of the devil that we're no longer willing to seek the voice of God. As You promise us, "The One who enters by the gate is the Shepherd of the sheep.... and the sheep hear His voice. He calls His own sheep by name and leads them out.... the sheep follow Him because they know His voice. They will not follow a stranger, but they will run from him because they do not know the voice of strangers.... I Am the Gate.... I Am the Good Shepherd" (John 10:2-14).
So by the power of Your grace and leading of Your Spirit, firmly grounded in my submission to the authority of Your Word, help me learn to discern. Give me the courage to hold fast to what is true and resist what is not. Give me grace to hear and grace to obey, a hearer of Your word and a doer of Your word. In Jesus' name I pray, Amen.
Be encouraged today! In the Love of Jesus, Tommy Hays
My friend, I pray you are being empowered to learn to discern the voice of the Holy Spirit, testing everything and holding fast to what is true, with courage and faith to resist all that is not, in Jesus' name! Please pray the same for me! God bless you, my friend!
Pastors and Leaders Spiritual Retreat. Friends, thank you so much for keeping us in prayer this past Saturday as I had the honor and joy to speak on prayer at a spiritual retreat for pastors and leaders of the Crossroads District of the RioTexas Conference of the United Methodist Church. My topic was "Deep to Deep -- Greater Intimacy with God" and I believe the Lord gave me His words to express His heart, "speaking the truth in love" (Ephesians 4:15). God bless and thank you for your prayers and encouragement!
Morning by Morning, Daily Devotional Book. One's year's worth of a selection of my daily prayer devotionals -- written fresh every morning from the communion of prayer to begin your day embraced by your Father, centered in Jesus, and filled with the Holy Spirit. Join me on the journey or share this with a friend who's longing for a deeper, more intimate relationship with God.
Register for the Healing Academy.
Friends, I'll be teaching at the Healing Academy on Healing and Deliverance Prayer Ministry this coming February 5-8, 2019 in the Nashville area at the Aldersgate Renewal Ministries Center. Please come join us if you're being called to healing prayer ministry! Sign up today: Healing Academy
I'll be Teaching from the principles of my book on healing prayer ministry, Free to Be Like Jesus -- Transforming Power of Inner Healing and Deliverance (Endorsed by Max Lucado, Randy Clark, and Andy Reese)
Keynote Speaker in Shropshire, England for March Conference "Release for the Captives!"
Friends, I'm excited to be invited as Keynote Speaker this year for the European Conference of the Holy Spirit through Aldersgate Renewal Ministries in Shropshire, England in March. The theme this year is "Release for the Captives!" Come join us!
Register: European Conference on the Holy Spirit
Tommy Hays | Messiah Ministries
Healing from the Inside Out
Pastoral Director | Rapha God Ministries
4 Dominion Drive, Building 1
San Antonio, Texas 78257
Please share this word to encourage a friend!
