How To Hear The Holy Spirit Accurately by Dr. Craig Keener

 

(Dr. Craig Keener is one of the top New Testament scholars in the world. He is a theologian that practices spiritual gifts. He's a good example of what I call "A Word and Spirit" person.) www.craigkeener.com  

The Holy Spirit passes on Jesus’ words as clearly as Jesus passed on the Father’s. We should be able to hear Jesus’ voice as clearly today as his disciples did two thousand years ago and­— since we see things in light of the resurrection— understand his message better. Of course, Christians have often abused the promise of hearing God’s voice, hearing instead only what they wanted or expected to hear. What objective guidelines can help us learn sensitivity to the Spirit and enable us to hear God’s direction accurately?

 

First of all, the Spirit does not come to testify about himself; He comes to testify about Jesus (John 15:26; 16:14).  He brings to our remembrance and explains what Jesus has already said (14:2 6). What the Spirit teaches us is therefore consistent with the character of the biblical Jesus, the Jesus who came in the flesh (1 John 4:2). The more we know about Jesus from the Bible, the more prepared we are to recognize the voice of his Spirit when he speaks to us. Knowing God well enough to recognize what he would say on a given topic can often inform us what God is saying, because God is always true to his character. But be warned: those who take Scripture out of context thereby render themselves susceptible to hearing God’s voice quite wrongly.

Second,  the Spirit does not come merely to show us details such as where to find someone’s lost property, although the Spirit is surely capable of doing such things and sometimes does them (1 Sam. 9:6-20). Nor does the Spirit come just to teach us which sweater to put on (especially when it is obvious which one matches) or which dessert to take in the cafeteria line. The Spirit does, however, guide us in evangelism or in encouraging one another (for example, Acts 8:29; 10:19; 11:12.)  The  Spirit also comes to reveal God’s heart to us,  and  God’s heart is defined in this context as love  (John 13:34-35; 15:9-14, 17). To walk in Christian love is to know God’s heart (1 John 4:7-8; see also Jer. 22:16).

Third, it helps if we have fellowship with others who also are seeking to obey God’s Spirit. In the Old Testament, older prophets mentored younger prophets (1 Sam. 19:20; 2 Kings 2:3-8). And among first-generation prophets in the early church, Paul instructed the prophets to evaluate each others’ prophecies, to keep themselves and the church on target (1 Cor. 14:29). Spiritual mentors or peers who are mature in their relationship with God and whose present walk with  God we can trust can seek God with us and provide us a “safety net” of sorts.

If we feel that the Spirit is leading us to do something, but recognize that much is at stake if we are wrong, we may do well to talk the matter over with other mature Christians. Proverbs advised rulers that wisdom rests in a multitude of counselors, and that advice remains valid for us as well. In the end, we may not always settle on the counsel others have given us— like us, they too are fallible— but if they are diligent students of the Scriptures and persons of prayer, we should humbly consider their counsel. God sometimes shows us things for the church that others may not yet see; at the same time, God may well have shown some of our brothers and sisters things we have not yet seen.  I have a few spiritual mentors and peers whose counsel I especially treasure and whose wisdom time has consistently (though not always) vindicated.

Many of us as young Christians were intrigued by the frequent experience of supernatural guidance from the Holy Spirit. While most of us who have learned to hear the Spirit in that way still experience such guidance regularly today, after a number of years, sensitivity to the Spirit’s guidance in that form becomes almost second nature and thus becomes less of a focus than it once was. Nor is this guidance, exciting as it may be to one discovering it for the first time, always the most important form of guidance God’s Spirit gives us.

By this method of hearing the Spirit, we might help someone in need, because the Spirit specifically directed us to do so. But many of us have also learned to hear God’s Spirit exegetically, as the Spirit has spoken in the Scriptures.  By hearing the Spirit’s voice in Scripture, we might help that same person in need simply because Scripture commands us to do so.  But perhaps the deepest sensitivity to the  Spirit comes when we learn to bear the Spirit’s fruit in our  lives­ when our hearts become so full of God’s heart that we help that person in need because God’s love within us leaves us no alter­ native. All three forms of guidance derive from the Spirit and from Scripture. Yet where needs clearly exist, God’s character that we have discovered by means of Scripture and the Spirit is sufficient to guide us even when we have no other specific leading of the  Spirit or scriptural mandate, provided neither the Spirit nor the  Bible argues against it. It is when the Spirit has written the Bible’s teaching in our heart that we become most truly people of the Spirit.

(Adapted from Three Crucial Questions About the Holy Spirit, published by Baker Books.)

Guidance: A Note From R.T. Kendall

 

( I posted this several years ago on my old blog. I still think it’s good advice. )

Several months ago I was praying about an important decision I had to make. I was praying for direction in my life so I emailed R.T.Kendall, and he sent this message back to me. I believe this will help someone else who needs guidance.

Do what gives you peace. Here is an acrostic I have preached all over the world:

P – is it providential – does a door open or do you have to break it down?

E – enemy – ask your self ‘what would the devil want me to do?’ – then do the opposite

A – authority – is it biblical?

C – confidence – does it increase or diminish; when I am wholly in God’s will I have a lot of confidence

E – ease – in your heart of hearts what do you feel. To thine owen self be true. God will not lead you to violate your conscience.

For this acrostic to work you must have ALL FIVE cohering; if so, it is fairly safe to proceed; if not, be careful.

Biblical basis for this: Romans 14:19.

God bless you.

RTK

The Fire Of God's Love: The End Times

 

“But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed.” – (2 Peter 3:10 ESV)

The fire of God’s love will one day burn up all the impurity on earth in a moment. Jesus’ return to the earth will be much more spectacular than some second-rate Christian movie. There is a debate between believers on how and when Jesus’ visible return to the earth will happen. God will ultimately bring into existence a New Heaven and a New Earth. That fact is non-debatable among orthodox Christians. It’s important to remember that all of God’s present and future judgments are justified. God’s motives are pure and holy as “Fire goes before him and consumes his foes on every side.” – (Psalm 97:6-9) We can be confident that; He will ultimately remove all evil from the earth.

While world leaders and their economic, military, and political unions seek to eradicate all signs of Christian influence in the west, we must remember that God will have the final say on the matter. We live in a spiritually dark culture filled with moral pollution with no end to the madness in sight. The Apostle Paul describes our spiritual condition in Romans chapter one. We are as those that “…worshipped and served the creature rather than the Creator…(Romans 1:25.) This is self-worship which is idolatry, and much of the western world has been given over to a “debased mind” as we allow our sin to rule us and not God. ( See Romans chapter 1)

The Scripture is clear that: “We know that we are children of God, and that the whole world is under the control of the evil one.” (1 John 5:19) In reality, there are only two Kingdoms – God’s and Satan’s. We are either members of the Kingdom of God or the Kingdom of Darkness. As the days grow darker in the western world, followers of Jesus must “count the cost” of being rejected and persecuted for the sake of truth. Those of us who name the name of Christ must learn to stand for righteousness without being mean-spirited or obnoxious. Our calling is to share and live out the Gospel. Our job in this world is to make disciples of Jesus Christ. 

Jesus is calling those who are his to total allegiance. He said, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free”(John 8:32.) And, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”(John 14:6)

 

An Interview With Sam Storms

 

Back in 2008 my blogger friend John Caldwell and I had the opportunity to ask  Dr. Sam Storms some questions. This is the re-post from my old blog.

Bobby
1. Many charismatic Calvinists consider you one of the leaders of this movement. What kind of responses have you received from your book “Convergence: Spiritual Journeys Of A Charismatic Calvinist”?

Sam
The response thus far has been overwhelmingly positive. Several hundred people have written or called thanking me for articulating a view that they’ve long held but were afraid to admit. Of course, there have been a few really negative reviews, as one would expect. Several commented that my description of some personal supernatural experiences in the first four chapters sounded really “weird”. I agree. They were weird! But that doesn’t mean they didn’t happen, or that God wasn’t behind them. Weirdness has never been a category for determining the validity of spiritual experiences. There are countless “weird” experiences narrated in Scripture. And may I suggest that perhaps some of it is deemed weird only because we have so thoroughly abandoned the reality of angels and the supernatural in general and spiritual gifts in particular that any deviation from what we regard as “normal” and “natural” would necessarily be perceived as “weird”. If you have no biblical or theological interpretive grid on the basis of which you not only believe in these kind of phenomena but also pray for and expect them, then I can understand why it would strike a person as “weird” when they hear another Christian relate such experiences.

John Caldwell
2. Many Reformed believers are suspicious of any form of guidance that is not scripture, they are afraid that contemporary use of the prophetic, dreams, visions etc. will in some way take away from the sufficiency of scripture. How would you respond to this concern?

Sam
This concern was voiced to me by Richard Gaffin when we collaborated on the book, Are Miraculous Gifts for Today? Four Views (Zondervan). He and others object to the possibility of post-canonical revelation on the grounds that we would be “bound to attend and submit to” it no less than to Scripture. Aside from the fact that this wrongly presupposes that contemporary prophecy yields infallible, Scripture-quality words from God, the problem is one Gaffin himself must face. For were not the Thessalonian Christians, for example, “bound to attend and submit to” (lit., “hold fast”; 1 Thessalonians 5:21) the prophetic words they received, no less than to the Scripture in which this very instruction is found? Evidently, Paul did not fear that their response to the spoken, prophetic word would undermine the ultimate authority or sufficiency of the written revelation (Scripture) that he was in process of sending them. The point is this: non-canonical revelation was not inconsistent with the authority of Scripture then, so why should it be now? This is especially true if contemporary prophecy does not necessarily yield infallible words of God.

Someone might ask, “But how should we in the twentieth-century, in a closed-canonical world, respond to non-canonical revelation?” The answer is, “In the same way Christians responded to it in their first-century, open-canonical world, namely, by evaluating it in light of Scripture” (which was emerging, and therefore partial, for them, but is complete for us). Such revelation would carry for us today the same authority it carried then for them. Furthermore, we are in a much better position today than the early church, for we have the final form of the canon by which to evaluate claims to prophetic revelation. If they were capable of assessing prophetic revelation then (and Paul believed they were; witness his instruction in 1 Corinthians 14:29ff. and 1 Thessalonians 5:19-22 to do precisely that), how much more are we today! If anything, contemporary claims of prophetic revelation should be easier to evaluate and respond to than such claims in the first century.

Therefore, if non-canonical revelation was not a threat to the ultimate authority of Scripture in its emerging form, why would it be a threat to Scripture in the latter’s final form? If first-century Christians were obligated to believe and obey Scripture in the open-canonical period, simultaneous with and in the presence of non-canonical prophetic revelation, why would non-canonical revelation in the closed-canonical period of church history pose any more of a threat?

Gaffin argues that contemporary prophecy cannot, in fact, be evaluated by Scripture because of its purported specificity. But this is no more a problem for us today than it would have been for Christians in the first century. Did not they evaluate prophetic revelation in spite of the latter’s specificity and individuality? If they were obedient to Paul’s instruction they certainly did (1 Corinthians 14:29; 1 Thessalonians 5:21-22). Why, then, can’t we? And are we not, in fact, better equipped than they to do so insofar as we, unlike them, hold in hand the final form of canonical revelation whereby to make that assessment?

Gaffin and other cessationists believe that to admit the possibility of revelation beyond Scripture unavoidably implies a certain insufficiency in Scripture that needs to be compensated for. But one must ask, “What is Scripture sufficient for?” Certainly, it is sufficient to tell us every theological truth and ethical principle necessary to a life of godliness. Yet Gaffin himself concedes that God reveals himself to individuals in a variety of personal, highly intimate ways. But why would he need to, if Scripture is as exhaustively sufficient as Gaffin elsewhere insists? That God should find it important and helpful to reveal himself to his children in personal and intimate ways bears witness to the fact that the sufficiency of the Bible is not meant to suggest that we need no longer hear from our Heavenly Father or receive particular guidance in areas on which the Bible is silent.

Scripture never claims to supply us with all possible information necessary to make every conceivable decision. Scripture may tell us to preach the gospel to all people, but it does not tell a new missionary in 2008 that God desires his service in Albania rather than Australia. The potential for God speaking beyond Scripture, whether for guidance, exhortation, encouragement, or conviction of sin, poses no threat to the sufficiency that Scripture claims for itself.

Bobby
3. I really enjoyed reading your book,” Signs of the Spirit: An Interpretation Of Jonathan Edwards Religious Affections.” If Edwards were alive today, do you think he would be a cessationist? And do you think he would have approved of renewal movements such as Toronto, Pensacola, and what’s happening in Lakeland, Florida with Todd Bentley?

Sam
Would Edwards be a cessationist if he were alive today? I’d like to think not. I’d like to think that he would take into account the enormous body of material, both exegetical and theological, as well as historical, that would be available to him now and come to a more biblical conclusion.

I think Edwards would respond to Toronto, Pensacola, and Lakeland the same way he responded to what happened in the First Great Awakening in his own day. He would likely acknowledge that “in the main” or “in the general” (that’s his terminology) these are genuine outpourings of the Holy Spirit, but that does not entail endorsing or approving of all the particulars. There will always be extremists and fanatics (in Edwards’ day they were called “enthusiasts” and given to “enthusiasm”) in any outpouring of the Spirit or in a season of renewal. There will always be abuses and mistakes and stumbling blocks because we are frail and fallible and prone to error. But that doesn’t necessarily discredit the legitimacy of the revival as a whole. Edwards would certainly have found many faults in all these current expressions of renewal and he wouldn’t have hesitated to say so publicly. But he would have argued, I believe, that there is a live baby of God’s presence somewhere lurking in the muddy bath waters of human error. Perhaps the best and most thorough way of answering the question is simply to have people read my book “Signs of the Spirit”!

Bobby
4. I love the Word and the Spirit but It seems like we’re in a time where many Charismatic / Prophetic Christians are becoming addicted to the spectacular. As a leader who has experienced the power of God in your own life ( Read Convergence ) Do you see that as a problem and finally do you have any words of caution?

Sam
Yes, far too many are addicted to the spectacular. They hanker after power encounters and experiences that they believe will either mean God loves them in a special way or will elevate them to positions of fame and influence and wealth in the Church. There’s nothing wrong with the spectacular, if by that you mean the God ordained display of signs and wonders. There are plenty of spectacular things in the Book of Acts and I don’t think people were inclined to be addicted (except in the case of Simon Magus in Acts 8 and some in the church at Corinth ). But having said that, I would encourage people to find their fundamental identity and satisfaction and joy in the experience of seeing and knowing and tasting and savoring the all-sufficiency and breath-taking beauty of God as he has made himself known in Jesus Christ. If, in the course and along the way of that pursuit, you encounter a spectacular manifestation of God’s power, wonderful. If not, it’s still wonderful.

 

Can These Bones Live?

 

          I took this picture behind a Church in Germany

Can these bones live? Without prayer the Church in the west as we know it will not survive. We (the Church) must recover our prophetic voice. Our prayerlessness has paralyzed us and we have very little spiritual power. As a whole, we have become conformed to the world and we are presently in retreat. Politicians cannot fix our present dilemma so we must rediscover the power of God in prayer. 

During the pandemic, God lead the Church into a forced sabbath. We’ve been given time to reflect on our depth of commitment to the values of the Kingdom. We must ask the question of ourselves; do we value the Kingdom of God more than Church as usual? We can emerge from this season in the power of the Spirit or just go back to a form of godliness that denies God’s transforming power.

God has given us time to reset and reengage the culture with spiritual power. This will require us to return to the ancient paths of prayer and holiness. We can no longer look to the Supreme court or politicians to get us out of the cultural chaos we find ourselves in. Jesus came out of his wilderness testing in the power of the Spirit. The question is, will we? God is going to raise up an “exceedingly great” spiritual army during these chaotic days. Our LORD still has a remnant in the western Church, those who have not bowed to political correctness or to cultural idols. May Jesus restore his Church in our day.

“The hand of the Lord was on me, and he brought me out by the Spirit of the Lord and placed me in the midst of the valley, and it was full of bones. 2 He made me walk all around among them. I realized there were a great many bones in the valley, and they were very dry. 3 He said to me, “Son of man, can these bones live?” I said to him, “Sovereign Lord, you know.” 4 Then he said to me, “Prophesy over these bones, and tell them: ‘Dry bones, listen to the Lord’s message. 5 This is what the Sovereign Lord says to these bones: Look, I am about to infuse breath into you and you will live. 6 I will put tendons on you and muscles over you and will cover you with skin; I will put breath in you, and you will live. Then you will know that I am the Lord.’”

7 So I prophesied as I was commanded. There was a sound when I prophesied— I heard a rattling, and the bones came together, bone to bone. 8 As I watched, I saw tendons on them, then muscles appeared, and skin covered over them from above, but there was no breath in them.

9 He said to me, “Prophesy to the breath,—prophesy, son of man—and say to the breath: ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe on these corpses so that they may live.’” 10 So I prophesied as I was commanded, and the breath came into them; they lived and stood on their feet, an extremely great army.” – (Ezekiel 37:1-10 NET Bible)

Storm Clouds Are Approaching

 

(I originally posted this article on another blog back in 2020. The Storm is upon us now. It's time to wake up and make intercessory prayer a priority.)

Storm clouds are approaching America at a rapid speed. The time is now to allow the LORD to examine our hearts. It’s time to turn from our willful disobedience to God. It’s time to return to Jesus. Much of the Church in America has compromised with spiritual darkness. We have allowed the values of our culture to shape our thinking.

While we must stand up for justice, we must not align ourselves with movements with dark spiritual roots. Riots in our streets, pestilence, and anarchy abound. Civil war seems to be a real possibility as foreign enemies could take advantage of this situation. God is not the author of this chaos.

Those who follow Jesus have a responsibility to seek and pursue peace. But compromising with evil is never the answer. Christians are to live out the gospel and stand in the gap. The gap is an opening in the wall of an ancient city. Walls were to keep out foreign invaders.

The Watchmen were there to fill in the opening caused by an attack by an enemy. And to be lookouts on behalf of the city. We stand in the gap today by praying for the protection of our cities - and God’s mercy. Without repentance in the church, we can do very little to help the world around us.

“I looked for someone among them who would build up the wall and stand before me in the gap on behalf of the land so I would not have to destroy it, but I found no one.” – Ezekiel 22:30

Overcoming Evil

 

“Then the seventy-two returned with joy, saying, “Lord, even the demons submit to us in your name!” So he said to them, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven.  Look, I have given you authority to tread on snakes and scorpions and on the full force of the enemy, and nothing will hurt you. Nevertheless, do not rejoice that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names stand written in heaven.” – Luke 10:17-20 NET

Jesus has sealed his cosmic victory over the forces of evil through his death, burial, and resurrection from the dead. When demons are being cast out, the devil is cast down. Satan (the satan) is not a personal name – it’s a title. The New Testament refers to this leader of the demonic realm as the devil. He is an accuser, slanderer, and adversary of God’s people. He seeks to obstruct, oppose, divide, and wage war on the world.

One way the devil wages war with us is with godless ideologies, that result in the persecution of believers all over the planet. His agenda is carried out through ethnic and territorial conflict. He is behind war, disease, death, and extreme poverty in this world.

The present turmoil in America is demonically inspired and led by the ancient serpent himself. The lines between good and evil in the political battle between the right and the left are sometimes blurred.

Marxism is atheistic at its core. The devil’s mission is to lead all nation’s astray and into chaos, and Carl Marx was one of his evil apostles. Excessive materialism or crony capitalism can be just as dangerous to our souls, but it is much more subtle. But freedom (even with its abuses) is always preferable to an Orwellian society.

While the serpent has lost the war with God over the world – we still must fight him until Christ returns. Scholars often refer to the “already and not yet of the Kingdom.” Even though the devil has been defeated – he still takes people captive to do his will. He has been dethroned but still engages in guerilla warfare on this planet. When someone turns to Christ they leave the realm of spiritual darkness that he leads to becoming children of the light – led by King Jesus.

“And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death.” – Rev. 12:11 KJV

If you are reading this then you are being called to wage war against the fallen one and his army. But how do we fight? We overcome our ancient foe through the blood of the Lamb and the word of our testimony while living a surrendered life. We learn to pray and oppose evil and injustice in all its forms. We proclaim and live the gospel of the Kingdom and seek the reconciliation of people to God. We love our neighbor as ourselves and speak the truth about God’s moral and ethical commands, which can only be lived out through the power of the Holy Spirit.

Those who seek social change through destructive acts are being led astray by the evil one. As Christians in America, we must pause and ask ourselves; are we seeking God for a spiritual solution or a political one to the turmoil we are presently in?

Let’s pray for God to change the hearts of our enemies. While we demonstrate the love of God to our neighbors.