God’s Spirit is right there inside you, living in the inner man of your heart, teaching and directing you.

No matter whether we’ve been walking with the Lord for 50 days or 50 years, an important factor for any of us in our lives as a child of God is that we hear God and follow the direction He gives us.

You may say, “Gloria, I don’t know if I’ve ever heard God… how do I do that?” Well, hearing God is part of your walk of faith.

When you heard from God’s Word that He loves you and that He gave His Son Jesus to give you everlasting life (John 3:16), faith came to you for salvation. And you believed and received salvation.

When you became aware of God’s Word that by the stripes of Jesus you were healed (1 Peter 2:24), faith came to you for healing. And you believed that Word and were healed.

Everything about your life as a Christian hinges on your receiving the Word of God. “Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God” (Romans 10:17). So you can see that you really have heard God speak to you, through His written Word.

Now that you are born again, you are a new person inside. Your spirit, your inner being, the very heart of you, is directly connected to the Spirit of God. Because of this connection, you have the capacity to hear God speak to your heart.

You can trust the leading of your heart when you know the Holy Spirit is the center of it and the final decision-maker.

The Holy Spirit Leads You

God’s Spirit is right there inside you, living in the inner man of your heart, teaching and directing you. Because He is, you can hear from Him and follow His leading. You can follow your heart, knowing the very thoughts and intents of the heart of God are in you.

When you are born again, God makes you a new person—He actually puts a new heart in you. He re-creates the inner man. Three times, the prophet Ezekiel spoke God’s promise to His people:

“I will put a new spirit within you, and take the stony heart out of their flesh, and give them a heart of flesh” (Ezekiel 11:19; 18:31; 36:26, NKJV)

A heart of stone cannot receive the things of God. It is resistant and hard. It refuses to be led by God’s Spirit.

A heart of flesh, however, can receive the good news and the good things of God. It is accessible and pliable, a heart God’s Spirit can easily lead.

Jesus paid the price to assure God’s people could receive the fulfillment of Ezekiel’s prophetic words. When Jesus completed His work on earth, He ascended to heaven and sent the Holy Spirit to continue His work through every person who would be born again. When we hear the gospel, believe it, receive it by faith, and say yes to Jesus, He fills us and imparts that new heart to us.

Your Heart: Recipient of Faith

Every person’s experience of salvation begins with the heart. The heart is where we believe what we believe. The inner man of our heart is the recipient of faith.

Our heart receives faith when we hear the Word of God—both the written Word and the Word spoken directly to us by the Spirit.

“The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart (that is, the word of faith which we preach): that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation” (Romans 10:8–10, NKJV)

When you believed with your heart and received Jesus as your Savior, your heart became immediately connected with the heart of God. His Spirit connected with you and re-created your spirit man. At that moment, you received the capacity for the life of faith to become your way of life.

When you made the decision to receive all God has for you according to His Word and what He says to you in your heart, you began to experience the fullness of life, the abundant life Jesus gives (John 10:10).

Check Your Pulse

If hearing from God is a challenge and you’re having a hard time following His direction, you may want to check your pulse, your inner man’s pulse. If you are alive and born again, God is speaking to you. The question is: Are you taking time to listen?

To get a reading on your heart, look at how much time you spend with God in His Word and in prayer. None of us can hear someone speak if we are not in their presence or not connected.

Are you scheduling time in your day to sit down with the Lord, one-on-one, to receive from His Word and communicate with Him in prayer? Doing that opens you to hear from Him throughout the day and helps you become attuned to His voice in your heart.

From my early days as His child, I decided to spend the first hour of my day with my heavenly Father. I am convinced that the decision has made a world of difference in my life.

Walking consistently in His blessing is the reason He placed His Spirit inside us, to keep us on track.

It’s Good to Follow the Leader

You may be thinking, Gloria, how can you be absolutely sure you’re hearing and following God’s voice?

When I don’t get a clear direction, I wait. I let the leading incubate until I’m convinced I’ve heard correctly. I go back to Him, ask Him about it, and let His Word speak to me.

Sometimes I’m not sure if a leading is from the Lord or from me. If it’s something good and a blessing, I may go ahead while praying in the Spirit. At times, I’ve stopped right in the middle of something because I sensed His leading that I was off track, and that’s okay. If I’m asking, He’s answering.

God desires our good all the time. Our walking in His blessing consistently is why He placed His Spirit inside us.

“For I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope” (Jeremiah 29:11, NLT)

Even if we miss it, the Spirit stays with us, nudging us back on course.

Ken uses an illustration I love. If a pilot veers off course, he doesn’t have to return to the starting point. He adjusts his course and heads toward the destination.

When we set our hearts on God’s plan and follow the leading of the Spirit, He is committed to getting us to our destination.

When We Follow, We Lead

Jesus often said, “Follow Me.”

While the disciples followed Jesus physically, Jesus Himself followed the Spirit. He said:

“The Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do” (John 5:19, NKJV)

The same Spirit who led Jesus now lives in you.

As His followers, we are also called to lead others to Him, to help people connect with their heavenly Father through the Spirit.

As Ken and I have followed our hearts by the Spirit, we’ve told countless people, and I say to you now:

You can trust your heart because you can trust the One who lives in your heart. Step out in faith and follow your heart. VICTORY!

 

Scriptures to Meditate On:

• John 10:27 – “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me.”
• Romans 8:14 – “For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.”
• Jeremiah 29:11 – “For I know the plans I have for you… plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.”

We look forward to hearing about your experiences of increase in every area of your life. Please send them to us by visiting kcm.org/testify.