The natural way of hearing is through our physical ears. However, did you know the #1 way the Holy Spirit guides us is NOT by words that we hear with our physical ears?

The Holy Spirit lives in you.

God wants to direct your life through your decision making. The Holy Spirit guides us in our spirits (not through our physical body). The #1 way The Holy Spirit leads and guides us is through what the Bible calls, the “Inward Witness.”

Proverbs 3:6 NLT | Seek His will in all you do, and He will show you which path to take.

What is an inner or inward witness?

An inner witness is an impression or perception on the inside of you.(Romans 8:16 NLT)

Jeremiah 7:23-24 | “But this is what I commanded them, saying, ‘Obey My voice, and I will be your God, and you will be My people; and you will walk in all the way which I command you, that it may be well with you.’ Yet they did not obey or incline their ear, but walked in their own counsels and in the stubbornness of their evil heart, and went backward and not forward.”

In the Kingdom, we’re not led by our senses. We’re not led by our ears or our eyes. We’re led by our spirit. When we talk about hearing God, we’re not talking about hearing God with our physical ears. We’re talking about hearing Him in our spirit. 

EXAMPLE: The Apostle Paul

The Apostle Paul had been arrested and he was headed to his trial. Before he took the journey he sensed something in his spirit. He wasn’t the captain of the ship, but he sensed something in his spirit. And in Acts 27:10, Apostle Paul said, “Sirs, I perceive that this voyage will be with hurt and much damage, not only of the lading and ship, but also of our lives.” 

It wasn’t long before the ship hit a cyclone. But an angel appeared and assured Paul that everyone would make it, and they did.

Understand what Paul said in the beginning, “I perceived.” This is what we’re covering. We’re talking about being led by the spirit.

Watch now, for a more in-depth experience of this information.

HOW TO RECOGNIZE THE VOICE OF GOD THROUGH THE INWARD WITNESS

• Intuition — the ability to understand something instantly without the need for conscious reasoning (an inner knowing).
  
  Ex: Mothers often have intuition as it relates to their children. They don’t always know the details offhand, but they may have a feeling that “hmmm, something isn’t right here.”

• Prompting — a gentle nudge to do something; a fleeting thought.
  
  Ex. The thought may be that someone or something “crosses your mind” out of nowhere. Or you get an urge out of the blue to call and “check on so-and-so.” Or that you’re supposed to do something in particular.

• Check — feeling of uneasiness or restraint; gnawing discomfort you cannot explain; feeling something is not right; this is a brake pedal or red light in your spirit; you have a loss of peace.

  How do I know it’s just not fear? Fear is an attack from outside; physical sight or hearing. So because of what you heard or what you’ve seen, you were nervous about it. Fear always comes from the outside, and it most often than not deals with what you’re seeing and hearing.

  Ex: Everything naturally looks great. It’s exactly what you want. You’re at the car dealership & the car is the color and price you wanted, but for “some reason internally,” you feel uneasy about this particular deal.
  
  

• Abiding Peace — restful feeling; sense of release; quiet assurance; deep sense of security, this is a gas pedal or green light in your spirit.
  
  Ex: You walk in a house and feel in your spirit that this is a “go” and “yes” to buy it. You ask God about a certain upcoming decision and you feel restful and assured about it. No nagging hesitations.

• Desires — God changes, intensifies, and downloads new desires in our hearts. Philippians 2:13; Psalm 37:4
  Most of your desires are God’s desires.
  

Take these five things and go back and think through the areas of your life that require decision-making. Think about being led by the Holy Spirit. Once you feel like you’re being led by the Spirit in a certain direction, OBEDIENCE is the next step. Obedience is demonstrating a confident trust in God by our actions. 

Obedience always precedes understanding.

START TODAY.

Begin by asking the Holy Spirit to teach you how to be led by Him. “Holy Spirit, teach me how to be led by you.”

Then, before you make any major decisions, acknowledge God: “God, this is what the situation is, >insert your situation<, what are you thinking?” or “God, this is what is happening right now, and this is what I’m thinking about doing. What do you think?”

From this point, you begin to look on the inside. Practice looking on the inside. Do you have peace on the inside? Or do you have discomfort on the inside?