How to CLEARLY Hear the Holy Spirit's Voice

You don't have to settle for confusion. You can hear the Holy Spirit, yes, with confidence and with clarity. That means you're not going to be second-guessing. You're not going to be wondering, "Are these my thoughts? Are these my emotions? Or is this the voice of the Holy Spirit?" And you can hear Him with clarity. You'll know what He's saying when He speaks to you.

I'm going to give you biblical keys to clearly hearing the voice of the Holy Spirit. And the moment you apply these keys, they'll start working. Listen, this is scripture. This is not my opinion. I'm going to give you the truth of the word of God on this subject right now. And as you receive this truth, you're going to begin to see and hear in the spirit with clarity. My prayer is that you become so sensitive to the voice of the Holy Spirit that all He has to do is whisper, and you hear Him and then respond.

You can have that. You don't have to believe this lie that the Holy Spirit is difficult to hear. You don't have to believe this lie that hearing the Holy Spirit is reserved for some select group of Christians who are spiritually elite. There's no such group. All of us are utterly helpless without the Holy Spirit. All of us are completely dependent upon the precious Holy Spirit of God. And He is, in fact, speaking to you right now. In fact, that is probably one of the most shocking truths I can give you on this subject.

When people come to me and say, "How do I hear the Holy Spirit? Why isn't He speaking to me? Why does He seem like He's a million miles away? Why am I so confused on this issue?" When I tell them that they are, in fact, already hearing the Holy Spirit, I'm usually met with confusion. So I want you to write this in the comments section: "By faith, Lord, I'm listening." Type those simple words in the comment section right now, whether you're watching live or on the replay. Write that in faith: "Lord, I'm listening." Because I promise you, He is speaking to you. He's not going to speak to you. He didn't stop speaking to you. He is speaking to you right now. The Holy Spirit of God is saying something to you. The Holy Spirit is communing with you. He wants that fellowship. The Holy Spirit wants a friendship with you more than you want a friendship with Him. He is totally committed. It's up to you to listen.

And so, we must first understand the difference between hearing and recognizing. Remember this: hearing the voice of the Holy Spirit is not a skill to be acquired. It is a sense to be sharpened. I want to say that again: hearing the voice of the Holy Spirit is not a skill to be acquired. It's a sense to be sharpened.

Well, what do I mean by that? I mean that when you were born again, you were born hearing the Holy Spirit. Think about when someone is born healthy. When someone is born into the physical world in a physical body, perfectly healthy, they are born with their senses all intact. Those include hearing and seeing. Now, you can't explain sight to a man born blind. You can't explain hearing to a man born deaf. Because these are senses difficult to describe. You have to experience them to know them. This is why when people ask me, "What does the Holy Spirit sound like?" I don't give them a direct answer. Because you can't give a direct answer that's going to do them any good.

People want to hear things like, "Oh, when He speaks, it sounds like a whisper." Or, "When He speaks, He speaks with a lot of bass." Or, "When He speaks, it sounds like many waters." And these are typically biblical responses that we give. And yes, these can be helpful in terms of our own experiences with Him. But if I just give you these descriptions, "always sounds like a whisper," then what happens when you begin to whisper a thought of your own to yourself? You're going to be confused. You're going to say, "Well, that was a whisper, so surely that was the Holy Spirit. So why didn't that seem to work out?"

So it's not a matter of getting these descriptions of what His voice sounds like. It's a matter of exercising what He's already given to you, and that is the ability to hear His voice. You are hearing Him now. So just like those who are born in a physical body with physical senses, so those who are born again are born already hearing Him. You can hear the Holy Spirit. You are hearing Him right now. So the question is not a matter of hearing Him, but of recognizing Him.

This is why, again, the greatest, probably most shocking truth I can give you in regards to hearing the voice of the Holy Spirit is the fact that you already hear Him. I'll prove it to you with scripture. Go with me now to First Samuel, chapter 3. I'm going to read verses 1 through 10.

First Samuel, chapter 3, verses 1 through 10. "Meanwhile, the boy Samuel served the Lord by assisting Eli. Now, in those days, messages from the Lord were very rare, and visions were quite uncommon. So the prophets were not often hearing the voice of God. One night, Eli, who was almost blind by now, had gone to bed. Eli was Samuel's mentor, and Eli was also unable to hear the voice of the Holy Spirit on a regular basis. And here we see that he was blind, or almost blind by now. I believe this was a physical parallel that revealed this spiritual reality. He was almost completely blind. Verse 3: The lamp of God, the lamp of God had not yet gone out, and Samuel was sleeping in the tabernacle near the ark. Verse 4: Suddenly, the Lord called out, 'Samuel!' 'Yes, Samuel?' he replied. 'What is it?' Verse 5: He got up and ran to Eli. 'Here I am; did you call me?' 'I didn't call you,' Eli replied. 'Go back to bed.' So he did. Then the Lord called out again, 'Samuel!' 'Samuel!' He got up and went to Eli. 'Here I am; did you call me?' 'I didn't call you, my son,' Eli said. 'Go back to bed.' So here, Eli still doesn't recognize that Samuel is hearing from God. Verse 7: Samuel did not yet know the Lord, because he had never had a message from the Lord before."

Now, this is key. This goes back to what I was saying just a few moments ago. People often want—I should actually say, believers often want—these very specific descriptions of the voice of the Holy Spirit. Tell me, is there a lot of bass? Tell me, does He whisper? Tell me, does He speak sternly? Tell me, does He sound like a man? Tell me, does He sound like your own thoughts? Tell me, does He sound like many waters? Tell me, does it sound like the wind?

And if I give you descriptions, you're going to be obsessed with those descriptions. And then you're going to try to live in a relationship with the Holy Spirit based off of someone else's experience instead of having it for your own. Just as you cannot explain, as I said a moment ago, just as you cannot explain sight to a man born blind and hearing to a man born deaf, so you cannot explain the sense of the spirit to those who haven't heard it.

Notice here: "Samuel did not yet know the Lord." Why? Because he had never had a message from the Lord before. So why didn't he recognize the voice of the Holy Spirit? It's very simple, and it's going to sound overly simplistic, but we'll explain in a moment. Samuel did not recognize the voice of the Holy Spirit simply because he did not recognize the voice of the Holy Spirit. He hadn't heard it yet. He hadn't become familiar with it.

Now, verse 8: "So the Lord called a third time, and once more Samuel got up and went to Eli. 'Here I am; did you call me?' Then Eli realized it was the Lord who was calling the boy. So he said to Samuel, 'Go and lie down again, and if someone calls again, say, "Speak, Lord, your servant is listening."'" So Samuel went back to bed, and the Lord came and called as before, "Samuel! Samuel!" And Samuel replied, "Speak, your servant is listening." So from then on, he begins to hear the voice of the Holy Spirit.

Now, watch this: Samuel heard the voice of God before he recognized. Think about that. Samuel heard the voice of God before he recognized the voice of God. And I believe that's what's happening with many believers. In fact, that's what I believe is happening with all believers who claim they cannot hear God. He's speaking. He's saying something. He's ministering to your spirit. You just haven't learned to recognize it.

I'll prove it to you again. John 10:27: Jesus said, "My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me." So the question isn't, "Can I hear the voice of the Holy Spirit?" The question is, "Do you belong to God?" And if you belong to God, then the answer is yes, you can hear the voice of the Holy Spirit.

Now, as I said, it's not a skill to be acquired. A skill is something that we do in our own effort to acquire. But by doing it God's way, we do it according to God's grace, and therefore it produces actual results. Many people believe that by following biblical truths or by following the pattern that God has laid out for us in scripture, that this somehow equates man attempting to connect with God. But that's not the case. When we do things by faith, according to what God has said, we are doing it according to God's methods. And when we do it according to God's ways, then and only then do we have God's grace to see God's results.

And so, we must learn that there's a difference between the satanic, the secular, and the spirit. Now, the satanic is quite easy to spot. The satanic is anything that contradicts the word of God. And this is very blatant. The enemy is outright against what God says. When God says one thing, the enemy contradicts that. Sometimes he's a little bit subtle in first getting you to question what God has said, as he did with Eve in the garden. And sometimes the enemy is a little more direct than just outright saying the lie. And this works most effectively on those who don't know the word of God. So the satanic can be easily spotted or discerned by the one who is well-versed in the word of God. When you know the word, you can spot the lies of the enemy as they hit you.

And then there's the secular. This one is a little more subtle. You see, a satanic lie would be something like, "You don't need to go to church ever." Well, that's obviously a direct contradiction to God's word, and none of us would ever believe that. We would reject that idea outright simply because we know it's contrary to what God has said in the scripture. But the secular is going to be something a little bit more subtle. It's going to be something more believable. Whereas the satanic may say, "You don't need the church. You don't need other people. You don't need your fellow brothers and sisters." The secular would say, "Well, maybe you don't need to go to church today because you're so tired, or you've had such a rough week. I think you should take some time off from connecting with the people of God, or you deserve this time to yourself." And therefore, the secular is a little more subtle. It's a little more humanistic. It's a little more—and contradicted to God's nature. So it's the satanic contradiction contradicts God's word, and the secular often contradicts God's nature. And so it's a little more difficult to spot. But the spirit aligns with both the word and the nature, sure, of God. And this is what we must tune into.

Now, people complicate this process. Again, we want—we want very specific methods. But the problem is, when we have very specific methods, we ultimately fall into religious superstition. Very specific methods are the fast track to superstitious, superstitious methodology. Easy for me to say. And people complicate this because they want a list of things. "Well, tell me specifically what to do in terms of man-made superstitions that I might hear the voice of the Holy Spirit with clarity." Well, this is where it comes back again to the truth that we must simply follow the scripture. So what I'm giving you is not man-made. It's not superstitious. And therefore, it is of God. And God will give you the grace to do it. It really is just the Holy Spirit. It really is just learning to trust Him speaking.

People often ask this question: "How do I hear Him? How do I hear Him? How do I hear Him?" Well, now we know: you already do. So the question we should be asking now is, "How do I recognize Him? How do I recognize Him? How do I recognize Him?" Because if we can silence the voice of the flesh, which is self; if we can silence the voice of the satanic, which is that which contradicts God's word; if we can silence the secular, which contradicts God's nature, then all we're left with is spirit.

Think about this now, because this is a very powerful truth that actually helped me in my own walk with the Holy Spirit. I learned that it wasn't about trying to get the Holy Spirit to speak. He's already speaking. The key is silencing self, silencing satanic, silencing secular. And when you silence self, when you silence secular, when you silence satanic, all that remains, all that you'll hear is the spirit. How then would it be difficult to hear Him if He's the only one you hear speaking? And this is where it becomes simple. This is where it becomes easy. This is where it becomes second nature. I don't have to beg my wife to speak to me. I don't have to work to recognize her voice. I've been with her long enough. I know her well enough to know that she will speak to me, and when she speaks, I recognize that voice. I could pick her voice out of a crowd of any number of people, as long as I could hear her, as long as I wasn't drowning out her voice with everything else around her. So it's simply a matter of silencing now everything else.

So this is Key Number One. Key Number One: Hearing the voice of the Holy Spirit. You do this today. Listen, you do these things today, you're gonna start walking in greater clarity. That's not hyperbole. I'm not over-promising. That's the scripture. That's the Bible. Okay. So, silence and stillness is Key Number One.

Now, this is what happens when you begin to pray consistently. You begin to hear the voice of the Holy Spirit with confidence and clarity. You begin to draw closer to Him. You're more familiar with the way He speaks. You're more familiar with His likes and dislikes. You draw closer to Him as a friend, as a guide, as a comforter, as a teacher. Watch this. This is what the Bible says in Matthew chapter 6, verse 6: "But when you pray, go away by yourself, shut the door behind you and pray to your Father in private. Then your Father, who sees everything, will reward you."

So here, Jesus is talking about the discipline of removing outer distraction, removing the exterior, removing those things which would pull you from His presence. Of course, we do this to make sure that we're praying with proper motives, so that we're not doing it to receive the praise of man, but rather the affirmation of Father God. And we go away privately also that we might do away with exterior distractions, to get away from the noise. This must become an implemented discipline in the life of every believer. Every believer must come to this place of consistent, faithful, deep prayer.

When you begin to do this, there are things that develop in you that are very difficult to explain unless you've experienced them yourself. You see, we as the children of God are called to be beings of light, reflections of who He is. We are not the source of that light, but we ought to be reflections of that light. We must, day by day, moment by moment, become more and more like Jesus. We are of God. We are His children. We belong to Him. We are of the kingdom of heaven. We are heavenly beings, not earthly beings. We are heavenly beings having an earthly experience, not earthly beings looking for a heavenly one. We are of the kingdom of heaven. We are citizens of Heaven. Christ is in power and authority. We are in Christ. And so, we as believers ought to be taking on His character and nature. And this is what begins to develop when you become closer to the Holy Spirit through prayer. And when I say closer to the Holy Spirit, I don't mean that literally. I use that in terms of describing your awareness of who He is, your awareness of His nearness. Because you can't get any closer than within you. He dwells within you. He doesn't abandon you. He abides faithfully. And in doing that, He changes your nature.

And to experience the power of that transformation, to experience the fullness of what He offers as that abiding presence on your life, you must learn to be aware of what He's doing and then surrender to what He is doing in your life. He sanctifies you day by day. And this is one of the powerful works of prayer, especially if you practice this in private, especially if you implement this as a daily, faithful discipline. You begin to connect with that spirit nature within you, and the exterior begins to lose its power.

Now, watch this. When you begin to seek the Lord like this, the flesh begins to lose its power. Those cravings for sinful things begin to weaken. Those desires for habitual sins begin to weaken. In fact, you can come to the place where what once drew you begins to disgust you. What once tempted you will begin to repulse you. You have your nature so transformed that you become like Him. His desires become your desires. His presence marks your life. And everywhere you go, you take the atmosphere of heaven with you. That's being a carrier of the glory of God, walking into rooms and changing the atmosphere. You do this, and you don't have to go seeking encounters. You live an encounter. You don't have to go seeking atmospheres. You become an atmosphere. You become a carrier of the glory, a host of the Holy Spirit's presence. This is what happens when you pray faithfully.

But one of the elements of prayer is this shutting away of the exterior. And the reason we do this, in part—this is not the only reason we do this, but in part—is so that we can silence the other voices that speak. Self speaks. That's your flesh, your own desires, your own will, your own emotions, your own inclinations, your own upbringing, everything about you speaks. And that is self. Then there's the satanic. We know this is everything that contradicts God's word. There is the secular. This is everything that contradicts God's nature. But then there's the spirit. And when you go away to that quiet place, and this is difficult for some, you put that phone away, you shut the laptop, you tell everyone in your home, "Listen, I love you." It's what I tell people. "I love you, but you have to give me this block of time. It cannot be disturbed for this block of time." And then use that block of time to spend time with Him. Shut off the TV, shut off the tablet, shut the laptop, turn off the phone, stop taking calls, stop returning texts. Get rid of all the screens. In fact, even your your watch, if you have a device that's on your wrist, get rid of all the screens. Get rid of all the distractions. And then, once you silence the exterior, now you go into that private place, and you've actually done a good portion of the battle. You've actually already had victory over a good portion of the enemy.

And this is to silence those distractions which would pull you from prayer. And then comes the difficult part. Watch this now. Silence and stillness. Silence is the putting away of outer distraction. Stillness is the quieting of the soul. Oh, here is where we have trouble. Ever notice that the moment you begin to pray, that suddenly you're bombarded with thoughts, distracting you from prayer? Many of us blame the enemy. It's more often your flesh. Suddenly, when you begin to pray, you're thinking about the bills, you're thinking about your marriage, you're thinking about the kids, you're thinking about your fears, your "what ifs," you're wondering about the future. Perhaps you're thinking about a project you're working on, a test you have to take, some task lists that you must complete. And you begin to have all these inner stirrings, this inner chaos. I call it. And it's more than just concerns with everyday life, like, "What will I eat? What will I wear? Where will I go? How will I work?" It also becomes that inner chaos of mind and emotion where you begin now to attack yourself by doing the work of the enemy for him and accusing yourself. You start to remember suddenly all of your past, all of the things you did wrong. And then you start to lie to yourself, and you start to allow the enemy to lie to you, and then you agree with those lies, and you come into partnership with those lies. And now suddenly, you're believing that God doesn't want to hear from you. Suddenly, you're believing that you have some ladder to climb, that every misdeed took you down this ladder, and that only good deeds can bring you back to Him. When all He's looking for is a broken spirit and a contrite heart. And you can leave that past behind. But it's difficult to do when you're thinking about your past mistakes. It seems to me that people have more trouble forgiving themselves than they do others. And so that could be one of the weights that you carry as you approach the Holy Spirit in prayer. You can begin to have stirrings of anger, maybe ways that you were offended, bitterness begins to seep in. Bitterness can destroy your prayer life because now you can't even pray because the Holy Spirit is saying the whole time, "Get it right. Get it right. Get it right. Get it right." You can't even close your eyes for a moment of silence because the moment that you do, all of that comes to the surface. And now you're faced with having to forgive, and you can't do it. So bitterness begins to destroy prayer. And poor motives begin to destroy prayer. And that's what I call inner chaos. All of those stirrings about life, about self, about your relationship with God, about your theological questions. Many people struggle with that too. They, they can't even pray because they want all their questions answered about everything before they can focus on the Lord. And that's another attack of the enemy. That's another inclination of the flesh to fight you. Why does the flesh fight you so hard? Well, because it's in prayer that the flesh dies. That's why the flesh squirms so much when you pray. That's why when you go to pray, suddenly you feel these urges to get out of there. My friend, that's not a demon. That's you. That's the flesh. And the flesh knows that when you begin to seek the Lord, that it begins to weaken. And the flesh begins to lose its power over your life. That's the stirrings of the flesh. How do you silence those? The Bible says in Psalm 46:10, "Be still, and know that I am God." Stillness precedes revelation. This stillness is confidence in God. This stillness is focused on God. This stillness is trust in His power and His plan. So, silence and stillness. You put away the outer, the exterior, by removing all of the natural distractions. And this inner chaos, which, by the way, many Christians ask me, "David, why is it that I seem to be doing okay until the moment I go to pray, and then suddenly, the moment I start to pray, all these thoughts begin to fill my mind?" They ask me, "Why is it that these thoughts, this inner chaos, doesn't show up until I begin to pray?" My friend, it's not that the inner chaos shows up when you begin to pray. It's that the inner chaos is revealed when you begin to pray. Think about that. Think about that, because that's important to understand. That inner chaos is there all along. You're just never quiet enough to hear what's happening in you. Which is why it's important to practice silence and stillness.

You begin to do this, and you become like Jesus. You begin to focus on prayer in this way. Set aside those distractions and become consistent. Now, your character becomes like His character. The fruit of the Spirit begins to manifest in your life. You become transformed inwardly, outwardly, to become a reflection of that heavenly light, child of God. You begin to carry the presence of the Holy Spirit in an evident way. There's a weight on you when you walk around. That's what happens when you begin to pray consistently. And to the point here, you begin to become sensitive to the voice of the Holy Spirit.

Listen now. Listen. You say, "David, how do I do this? So, how do I practice silence and stillness? How do I get rid of that, that inner chaos?" Well, it's through worship. It's the focus on Him. It's through loving Him. Worship brings stillness. But here's what begins to happen when you put away those exterior distractions and you begin to silence what's happening within you, my friend, you're going to notice now clarity. Clarity begins to affect every aspect of your spiritual life. There's so much going on in our minds that when we finally silence it, suddenly the Holy Spirit becomes ultra clear. It's not that He wasn't speaking. It's that we weren't giving an ear to listen. "He who has eyes to see, let him see. He who has ears to hear, let him hear." Not a skill to be acquired, a sense to be sharpened. How? Silence and stillness.

And what begins to happen now? As you're praying, and you remove distraction, and now that inner chaos is calmed because you trust Him and you worship Him, what's left? The voice of the Holy Ghost. And that voice begins to speak to you clearly and in alignment with the word, which is going to be my next point, and I'm going to get there in a moment. But now there's this stability that comes over you because many Christians have—and I'm not saying this in a mocking way, so please don't hear what I'm not saying. I'm not using this as a joke. I literally mean that some people might misinterpret this. It's almost a form of like, like spiritual OCD, where every thought that enters their mind, they think it's God. And the really tormenting aspect of that is the fact that you don't want to miss Him. So if you have just some whim that pops into your head, and then you fixate on that whim, and you're so sure that it's God, you're gonna feel guilty for letting it go. But remember this: the Holy Spirit doesn't push. The Holy Spirit doesn't force you. The Holy Spirit isn't aggressive. He's persistent, but not aggressive. There's a big difference. And as He begins to lead you, and as you begin to practice silence and stillness, now He becomes clear.

I can't tell you how many times I've come out of those seasons of just intensified prayer. Look to my life. There are people asking about what my prayer life is like. I'll give it to you simply. I believe in setting aside daily time to just spend with Him. Sometimes that can be more, sometimes that's less. And especially if you work a full-time job, you're a parent, you're a spouse, you're involved in your church, the Lord understands. Look, the Lord is not bound by time like we are, but He knows it's good for us that we spend daily time with Him. So He's going to give you grace in certain areas. And there are some seasons of life, let's just be real here, where you can extend those private moments with the Lord for longer than others. So my prayer life is, I spend a certain amount of time with the Lord every single day that I cannot—I say, "Lord, help me to not give that up. That I need to keep in place. I'm going to keep my sanity." And then all throughout the day, I'm acknowledging His presence. All throughout the day, I'm aware of His nearness. And as you practice both scheduled and spontaneous prayer, you'll notice the effects of it begin to impact your life.

And so, when you begin to do this, you'll notice that there are seasons where you increase that private prayer. Now, I've come out of seasons where I've increased that private prayer, and I can tell you, when I walk out of that prayer room, I can—I can't really word it properly, but bear with me as I say, I feel like I can sense what's going on in people. I was telling my wife the other day, I said, "Dear," because we had people over there was a, you know, and so I needed like a break. And she's in the room talking to me, she's like, "Hey, is everything okay?" I said, "My dear, you just have to understand, I can sense very, very strongly what's going on in people." Like, not a subtle thing, it's a very strong sense I have. And that comes in times of heightened prayer. When I heighten or intensify or increase that devotion of private prayer, spontaneous prayer doesn't really do that all that much. But when I, when I increase that, that, you know, from go from one hour to three hours, or three hours to six hours, and you do that daily, well, you're now—and I'm not giving you a formula, okay? So don't hear what I'm not saying. But, but, but when you intensify that, when you increase that time in that private prayer, your sensitivity to the spiritual really heightens. And I'm not talking about suspicion. I'm not talking about cynicism. I'm not talking about your own thoughts, because a lot of believers say, "Oh, I have discernment," and really, they're just talking about their own likes and dislikes. I'm talking about true spirit-led insight. This is not just me. This is, this can be every believer. So I'm by no means bragging on myself. I have nothing to boast about. It's all Him. And every believer has access to this. I'm saying this to wet your spiritual appetite. It's as though you just, your sense is heightened, and you can really start to—like, it's strong. Like, I'm almost disturbed by some of the things I feel in other people. And that's what begins to happen when you practice silence and stillness.

And so, hearing the voice of the Holy Spirit, there's there's this confidence. Like, there are times where where I'm in these modes, and the Holy Spirit just has me start calling preachers out of the blue, like preachers who have no idea that I even have their number. I'll call them and I'll say, "This is David Eagle Hernandez, and the Holy Spirit told me to do this." And they'll say something like, "I was literally just praying that 10 minutes ago for that." And I said, "That's the Holy Spirit." And then that's the end of the conversation. And the Holy Spirit will have me call several people, just, He drops people in my spirit, has me call random people, and give them words, and start praying over them, and start sowing, and start doing things. And, and that comes from what I'm giving you here. It's silence and stillness. There's no secret. There's no shortcut. It's right there in scripture. It's the putting away of the flesh and entering into this place of deep spiritual connection. And you become very sensitive. It's very difficult to not hear the Holy Spirit in this regard.

Number two. So that's number one: silence and stillness. Number two, and this probably should have been point number one, to be honest with you, but I wanted to give you that foundational explanation of self, secular, satanic, spirit before, um, I moved on this way. That's something I can touch on in every point. Which is why I started with the point I just started before silence and stillness. But number two is the word.

Now, John 14:26 says this: "But when the Father sends the Advocate as my representative—that is, the Holy Spirit—he will teach you everything and will remind you of everything I have told you." Now, watch this. The Holy Spirit works with the word. Many believers are under the impression that the word of God is somehow a contradiction to what the Holy Spirit wants to do. And this is evidenced by the fact that we say things all the time, and we say it out of a genuine place. And I may offend some people by saying this, but people say this all the time, and I get where they're coming from. I've even used language like this. But we say things like, "Oh, you know, the Holy Spirit moved, and it was so powerful, it was so good that he didn't even preach a sermon. She didn't even use her notes. Oh, they didn't even preach a single note of scripture. It was all just the Holy Spirit." I'm thinking, "Wait a minute. You're talking as if the Holy Spirit and the word contradict one another, when in fact, they work with one another."

The Holy Spirit works with the word. The word works with the Holy Spirit. The word is the material with which the Holy Spirit builds your spiritual life. The word is the material with which the Holy Spirit builds your spiritual life. So the Holy Spirit takes what has been taught of the Lord from the scripture, and it takes—he takes, I should say—and the Holy Spirit takes and reminds you of what you've already been taught. So He reminds and He reveals. He reminds and He reveals. That's His role in your life. And so, if you want to hear the voice of the Holy Spirit with more clarity, you must know the word with more familiarity. If you want to hear the voice of the Holy Spirit with more clarity, you must know the word with more familiarity.

If you're serious about hearing the voice of God, you'll be serious about scripture. Don't tell me God's not speaking to you and your Bible is closed. Don't tell me God's not speaking to you and your hours and hours and hours on TikTok and Instagram and Facebook and YouTube, but you have just minutes on the Bible app. Don't tell me God is not speaking to you when you haven't even looked to His word yet. If you're serious about hearing the voice of God, you'll get serious about the scripture. Because it's with the scripture that the Holy Spirit speaks. The word familiarizes you with His nature. The word familiarizes you with His voice.

Now, the word is the foundational way the Holy Spirit speaks. Second Timothy 3:16 and 17 says this: "All scripture is inspired by God and is useful." I want you to write that in the comments: "All scripture." Write that, live or on replay. "All scripture." Those two simple words. Because the Bible says, "All scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right. God uses it to prepare and equip his people." You want a word from God? Open your Bible.

People ask me, "David, what's God saying for 2023?" He's saying what He's always been saying. Listen. He's saying what He's always been saying. He will say, "Is it going to be a season of healing? Of deliverance? Of the prophetic? Of prosperity? Of the glory?" And I understand that there are moments and seasons where God will intensify His work in these areas. But the reality is that God, since the beginning of the church, and really all throughout history, has been saving souls, has been delivering the captives, has been healing the sick, has been speaking to the prophetic, has been revealing His glory. That's something that happens, hopefully, every day, not just in certain years. And so we have to stop having this superstitious approach as if God is really waiting for certain days on the calendar, which everything is done in His timing. It's according to His calendar, not man's calendar. And so we must look to the word to see about what God is speaking.

If you're serious about hearing the voice of the Holy Spirit, you'll be serious about reading the Bible. Read your Bibles. At this, look, sadly, I even I have to say this. This should not even have to be stressed. I've watched videos of believers from around the world, in many parts of the world, who, who, who can't even own a Bible legally. They have to get their Bibles underground. And I've seen them open packages with the Bible in it, and and they're so moved, they're so excited to receive it, that they hold the Bible up, and they, like, they smell the scripture, they smell the pages, and they press it against their bodies and hold it tight, like it's like it's their child. And and they're so thankful that they even have a copy finally of the scripture, the written word of God. And meanwhile, many of us, in many parts of the world, just kind of passively dismiss it and we say, "Well, maybe later I'll start a Bible reading plan at some point." When we should be in the word. We should be serious about what He's saying to us. Why is God going to give you a revelation specifically if you're not even obeying His word generally? You want specific words? Start obeying the general words He gave in scripture.

By the way, let me give you this real briefly, then we'll go to point number three. So, number two is the word. But remember this: there are four ways the Holy Spirit speaks. The word is the first, the most important, and the most reliable way that God speaks. The word of God is the more sure word of prophecy. There is no more certain way of hearing God than the scripture. The scripture does, however, also reveal to us concerning the wisdom that God gives to us, which is number two. So, the word is the first and most reliable way of hearing God. The second is wisdom.

Now, wisdom is not a specific instruction spoken to your heart. Wisdom is divine reasoning, or I should say, Godly wisdom is divine reasoning. It's the mind of God working through you. So you don't, when you exercise wisdom, necessarily hear a specific instruction. But with the wisdom of God, you can navigate certain situations. So again, wisdom isn't a specific instruction. It's divine reasoning working in you. And when you exercise wisdom, you learn to navigate certain paths, you have to take certain circumstances, you're facing certain conundrums that you don't know how to escape. The wisdom that God gives you helps you to navigate those areas of your life.

Now, the word is the most reliable. Wisdom is the second most reliable. Number three is the whisper. Now, this is the one many of us want. We want the Holy Spirit saying very specific things, like, "On House on Straight Street," or "Make sure if you're going to buy a car, buy the silver one," or, "You know, if you're going to go to school, wear your red shirt today." And the Holy Spirit certainly does speak specifically to us. But if you're not careful and you try to live your life by the whisper, you're going to lose your mind. Let me just say, let me put it to you plainly, okay? I'm telling you this because I love you, and hopefully, you know by now that I love you in Christ. You know that I care about you. That's why I give you the truth, even when people get offended by it. Remember this, by the way: preachers of the gospel, we should neither aim for controversy nor should we try to avoid it. Don't try to resist controversy, and don't go looking for controversy. Rather, go after truth. Speak the truth. And if on the way to truth, you find controversy, controversy. If on the way to truth, you find controversy, then okay, that's fine. But pursue truth, not controversy. And don't try to avoid it either.

But I'm saying this to you because many believers, they want that whisper. They want those specific instructions every day. "Tell me specific, specific, specific." And this is why many lose their minds. This is why many become angry. This is why many become unreasonable. This is why many become stubborn. This is why many are difficult to talk to. They become isolated and weird because they don't know the difference between the word, the wisdom that God gives us, and the whisper of the Holy Spirit. And often, this whisper, these specific instructions, are where believers display these OCD-like symptoms.

I'll give you an example. When I was a new convert, I used to stand in front of my closet for 20 minutes trying to pick out a shirt to wear because I wanted to make sure I was hearing God correctly. And I would hear in my head, "He wants you to wear the red one." "No, He wants you to wear the blue one." "No, He wants you to wear the gray one." I'm thinking, "What if I miss this? And what if God was speaking to some individual who I will encounter today and telling them, 'Look for a young man in a red shirt, and I will give you a word to give to him,' and what if I'm missing something or missing something for them on behalf of the Lord? What if I'm causing myself to miss divine destiny all because I'm not wearing the right shirt?" That right there will drive you nuts. I'm telling you.

"Should I buy this house or that house?" Use wisdom. "When should I start the ministry?" Exactly. Use wisdom. "What nation should I go to on a mission trip?" Use wisdom. Yes, the Holy Spirit will speak clearly to you, but you also have the word and wisdom. And so, some have asked, "If it's in God's word, why does the Spirit need to speak it to us? If it's not in God's word, why would the Spirit speak it to us?" These questions, however, fail to take into account the need for specific instructions for details of our lives not addressed in scriptures, for example, where you should live, who you should marry, where you should work, and so forth.

So the Holy Spirit does speak specifically to you. The problem is this: we rely too heavily on that whisper. We rely too much on that whisper. And the whisper is—is less reliable than the word and wisdom because the whisper is the one that we confuse with our thoughts and our emotions. There are times when you have a thought, and you are so sure it's the Holy Spirit, and because of that, you drive yourself crazy with doing some weird thing that you thought God wanted you to do. And then you chalk it up to, "Oh, maybe He was just testing me." Sometimes, yes, that's true. Most of the time, it was just you. And now you're going to drive yourself nuts. Don't do that.

And then there's number four: wonders. This, of course, is the least reliable way to hear from God, especially since the enemy himself can also produce wonders. Wonders would be things like prophets, visions, dreams, miracles being performed, and so forth. So the Holy Spirit speaks to the word. He speaks to wisdom. He speaks to the whisper. And He speaks to wonders. Watch this now. The word is the most reliable. Next to that, in terms of its reliability, is the wisdom that God gives you, which is divine reasoning that is exercised through you. And then there is the whisper. These are the specific instructions spoken by the Holy Spirit directly to your heart. Then there are the wonders. This is where God speaks to prophets, visions, dreams, and exterior miracles that happen.

Here's where many believers make their mistake. They try to live their lives—please hear me, please hear me, please hear me, and please share this so that others people need to hear this. So leave a like right now, that'll help. Many believers try to live their lives by wonders and the whisper, and they make wonders and the whisper their foundation. And because they make wonders and the whisper their foundation, they neglect the word and wisdom, and they're left in confusion. They're aimless, wandering around, no purpose, no vision, no clarity, no structure. God is about structure and organization. They have no, no direction. And they just excuse it by saying, "Well, I'm just flowing with the Holy Ghost." Are you? Or are you mixing your mind and emotions with what you think is the Holy Spirit because you failed to build a foundation with the word and the wisdom of God? Believers should build on the word and the wisdom of God, the written word, and that divine reasoning He gives us. And then, from there, the whisper and the wonders become clear.

But you want to hear the voice of the Holy Spirit with clarity? You need the word, plain and simple. If you don't have a discipline for the word, you're not going to hear Him with clarity. I'm just telling you, I'm just telling you like it is. If you're not in the word, you will be aimless. You'll be tossed to and fro by by any wave that comes.

Your way, any new belief, you'll take it. Any doctrine given to you, you'll take it. Anybody says anything even halfway convincing, you'll believe it. And you're going to be tossed about. Why? Because you didn't build the foundation with the Word. The Word comes first, and the wisdom, and the whisper, then wonder. So that's key number two. You must, you must, you must know the Word.

So, key number one: silence and stillness. Key number two: the Word, the written Word of God. Key number three: now we're gonna go, we're gonna really challenge you here. Key number three is obedience. Proverbs 3:6 says this: "In all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct thy paths." It's in acknowledging and involving the Lord that we receive clearer direction. Many believers will say to the Lord, "Lord, show me what nation you want me to go to. Tell me what ocean you want me to cross." And the Lord will say to them, "You want me to tell you what ocean to cross? You haven't even crossed the street when I've told you to cross it." "Lord, send me to the nations of the world and I'll win their souls." He sent you to your community, to your family, to your school. What are you doing there? Why is God going to give you step three if you've yet to take step one? Why is God going to give you the next instruction if you haven't implemented the first instruction?

Jesus talked about the fact that what understanding we do have would be taken away from us if we don't embrace that understanding. It's the law of stewardship. When you take care of what God has given you, He increases that which He has given you. The same applies to revelation. Please hear me now. This is something, this is something so few believers are aware of. The law of stewardship applies to revelation too. I need you to understand that the law of stewardship applies to revelation. The law of stewardship says that God will increase what I have if what I have honors God. So if God gives you finances and you honor Him with those finances, He increases your finances. If God gives you responsibility and you honor Him in that responsibility, He gives you more responsibility. If God gives you influence and you honor Him in that influence, He gives you greater influence, so on and so forth. If you honor God with the revelation He's given you, He gives you more revelation. The law of stewardship applies to revelation.

And so, we as believers must be responsive to the voice of the Holy Spirit. Don't tell me you're sensitive to the voice of the Holy Spirit if it takes you forever to respond to His instruction. Sensitivity to the voice of the Holy Spirit is much more than just hearing Him clearly. It's about responding immediately. Delay is disobedience. Why are you bargaining with God? Why are you debating with Him? You know why many believers have trouble hearing the voice of the Holy Spirit? Many believers have trouble hearing the voice of the Holy Spirit because they don't want to hear Him, because they don't like what they know He's saying. This is, in fact, why I'm going to go there, guys. This is, in fact, why some believers don't like praying. They don't want to go to the prayer room because they know the moment they get alone with God, and it's silent, and it's quiet, they're going to be confronted with what God has been telling them to do, and they don't want to face it. So what do they do? All together, they just avoid the prayer room. "Well, I already know what God's going to tell me." And we don't say it outright like that. We don't verbalize that. Surely we wouldn't do that because then we wouldn't be able to deceive ourselves. But rather, we say things like, "Well, I don't know if He'll accept me." Or, "I don't know what to pray." Or, "I don't want to really go to that place of prayer because I'm tired." And really, all the while, we're just avoiding that confrontation because we know God is not changing His mind. And because of that disobedience, many believers get stuck to where they can no longer hear the next instruction because God has already given it to them, and they didn't like what they heard.

Guys, this is scary. I've had preachers say, "Guys, listen. Please, please listen." Preachers have said, "I can't hear the voice of God anymore." That's terrifying to come to the place where, as a minister of the Gospel, as a spiritual leader, you can't hear from Him anymore. Terrifying. Even as a believer, to come to that place to where you can't hear from Him anymore. Why? Because, because many of us just don't like what we're hearing. We claim to not be able to hear God because we're deceiving ourselves, because we don't want to face what He's told us, and we know it.

But as you begin to obey, God says, "Jump," and you jump. God says, "Run," and you run. God says, "Go," and you go. You start to do that. When God speaks, respond. And I'm not talking, remember, we already addressed that hypersensitive, obsessive-compulsive hearing of what we think is the voice of the Holy Spirit. Okay? So that's one side of the coin. The other side of the coin is, once we know what God has spoken, and we are certain of it, we know God has said it, and it, and it, and it, by the way, is validated by His Word. It doesn't contradict the scripture. He'll never tell you to do anything that contradicts the scripture. Once we know that and we move forward with it, and we obey Him, well, then the next step will be revealed. Take step one, He'll show you two. Take two, He'll show you three. Take three, He'll show you four.

I once heard it said, and I wish I knew the attribution because I don't recall right now offhand, I once heard it said that faith is coming to the edge of light where there is only darkness beyond, and then taking one more step. What an incredible quote. I wish I came up with that, but that's the truth. God reveals incrementally. His will progressively unfolding before our spiritual eyes. And if we have the faith to walk that path that we cannot fully see, and we have the faith to continue to obey even when we don't know the result, well, the Holy Spirit just begins to speak. And this, now you're going to love this, this now is when you get into that flow. He speaks, I move. He speaks, I move. He speaks, I move. And that is really the beauty of walking in that sensitivity to the Holy Spirit. You start to gain spiritual momentum. And now, listen here, He's no longer having to speak specifically about the broader things in your life: where you should live, who you should marry, what car you should drive, what degree you should go for, what business partner you should choose, and so forth. But now, He begins to speak to you very specific things in ways that can help those around you. He helps to speak to you in ways that can help you to avoid calamity. What greater advantage is there in life than knowing the voice of the One who knows all things? Think about that. That I can know His voice. That God, I mean, I don't even think we grasp that. I certainly don't grasp that. Maybe some of you do. I don't. My mind, I can't wrap my mind around it. It's very difficult for me to understand this God, the Creator of Heaven and Earth. And that's not just a cliché. Think about that. The vastness of the cosmos, the infinite nature of the heavens, the beauty, the largeness, the terror, everything created. He knows the hearts of men. He hears conversations that take place behind your back. He can see very clearly your future. It's right there in front of Him. Certainly, surely His Word is a lamp unto your feet, a guide into your path. And He speaks from the perspective of eternity. He speaks outside of the bounds of time. And He sees the paths laid before you. And as you make your choices, like air traffic control speaking to a pilot, He can tell you, "Adjust your altitude, change your direction, reduce your speed, storm up ahead, turbulence to your left." He speaks, we listen, obey, obey, obey. And His voice will become clearer.

Number one: silence and stillness. Number two: the Word. Number three: obedience. Let me pray for you. I really want you to receive this now. I want you to ask the Lord, first of all, to forgive you for disobedience. I'll be right there with you. All of us have things we need to correct in our lives. All of us are works in progress. Lord, forgive us for not being sensitive enough to Your voice that we obey immediately. And then, I want to pray that God would bring clarity to you as you begin to apply these keys. Come on, let's pray.

Father, we Your children come to You now and we ask, Heavenly Father, for Your forgiveness and Your mercy. We throw ourselves helplessly on Your mercy. Thank You for being kind to us. Now, Lord, forgetting those things which are behind us, we now press forward. Moving forward, precious Holy Spirit, help us to obey You and hear You. Help us to respond immediately when You speak. Teach us and give us the grace to practice silence, stillness, that we might behold You. Give us a hunger for Your Word. Speak to us in times of revelation through Your Word. Father, I pray, give us the grace to obey. Remove every attack of the enemy right now in the name of Jesus and give us the grace to obey in the mighty name of Jesus, we pray.

I want you to say it now because you believe it. Say, "Amen." If you enjoyed this teaching, whether you're watching live or replay, make sure you leave a like on the video. Yes, that actually helps us. Helps to spread the video even further. And also, if you haven't done so already, make sure you're subscribed to this channel if you want to learn more about the Holy Spirit, prayer, spiritual warfare, and such topics. Also, if you want to see the power of the Holy Spirit in action from our live-streamed events from around the world, then make sure you're subscribed and do click that notification bell when you subscribe.

Now, I want to read you a portion of scripture here. It's found in Proverbs chapter 11. I want you to go there now. Proverbs chapter 11, verses 24-28. This is wisdom from the Holy Spirit being spoken through these proverbs. "Give freely and become more wealthy; be stingy and lose everything. The generous will prosper; those who refresh others will themselves be refreshed. People curse those who hoard their grain, but they bless the one who sells in time of need. If you search for good, you will find favor, but if you search for evil, it will find you. Trust in your money and down you go, but the godly flourish like leaves in spring."

This is a principle that I've really tried to apply to my life: to be a generous giver. Now, I, like anyone else, could use some work in this area, but I'm very intentional about trying to be generous, and hopefully, I'm a good reflection of the Lord's generosity. This is something I constantly ask for His help with. But I found that as I've obeyed His Word, as I freely released resources that, by the way, God placed in my hands. We may say things like, "Well, I worked for it," or "I strived for it," or "I used my body, I used my mind, I used my emotions, I everything in me I used to gain that finance." It's true, and you did use your free will to use what God gave you to bring forth your resources. But ultimately, God's the one who gave it to you. So when I release those resources, I have found that there's never been lack, even in this time of the recession. And if you're watching this maybe years from now, I'm talking about the recession that people were in around 2020, 2022, right around there. But you know, even in that season, the ministry has flourished. Why? Because whenever we're faced with a difficult season, whenever we see that things around the corner may not look so good, I gather my team together and I say, "Here's what we're going to do. We're going to find ministries. We're going to find good soil, and we're going to sow financial seed." And I've found that the Word of God is true. Look, either we believe the Word, or we don't. Either we obey His voice, or we don't. And the Word is quite clear: "Give freely and become more wealthy." There's something to be said of generosity. When we reflect that generous nature, it comes back. God brings it back to us. I can't say how, I can't say when, I can't say in what amounts. I don't use gimmicks like that. But we do know the scripture teaches that the generous soul will prosper. See, the world thinks just the opposite. The world thinks, "Well, if I give, if I release, then then I'll lack." And do you know what's at the heart of that deception? The heart of that deception is fear. Fear says, "If I give, I will lack. If I give, I won't have enough. If I give, I'll go without." That's a lie from the enemy. Let God be true, and every man a liar. Let God be true, and let the devil be a liar. His Word is true, and the Word says when we release, God releases to us.

And so, I want to challenge you right now to support this ministry. Look, if you've been blessed by the teachings, by the services, by the books, by the events, then I want you to help pay that forward. Freely we see, freely we receive. We give our ministry doesn't charge for our events or for our content because we want it to go far and wide. It's supported by generous donors like you. So I'm going to challenge you. Either give a single donation by going to davidhernandezministries.com/donate. Maybe you want to give a single donation, $25, $50, $100, whatever God puts on your heart, whatever the Holy Spirit speaks. Or maybe you're saying, "You know what? I'd like to partner with you on a monthly basis." Then go right now to davidhernandezministries.com/partner. Whether you're giving a single gift or a partnership gift, by monthly giving, you can go to davidhernandezministries.com/donate for a single gift, slash partner for a monthly gift. And I actually be able to see some names coming in right now. If everybody who watches this does something, just do what the Holy Spirit leads you. Pause for a moment. Say, "Holy Spirit, what would You like me to give?" Listen for what He says, and then just release it by faith. That's what I do. And it's not always easy, trust me. When the Holy Spirit tells me some amounts, I'm like, "Are You sure that's You, Holy Spirit?" But you know, I understand that He's working with me and He's teaching me. And I sometimes I have to say to Him, "Holy Spirit, give me the faith for this." And maybe that's what you have to pray right now. Kirsten, Joshua, Teresa, Sonia, Helen, thank you for your gift. Brad, also, thank you for your gift. Catherine M, thank you for your gift. Dante, thank you for partnering. David, thank you for partnering. Denise, thank you for partnering. Brian and Kristen, and also I see Vina, thank you for partnering with us monthly. Marita, thank you for your one-time gift. I appreciate you. Irwin, thank you for your gift. Hannah, thank you for your gift. Janet, thank you for your partnership. Miriam, thank you for your partnership. Paul, thank you for your partnership. Isabella, thank you for your gift. We so appreciate you. Myrna, thank you for signing up to becoming a partner. Raymond, thank you for your gift. Guys, they're coming in so fast, I can't really read all of them, but I'm going to read as many as I can. Ken, thank you for your one-time gift.

So I want to challenge you, especially as we're getting into the new year, to partner with the ministry. Maybe you can give a one-time gift, or a single gift, I should say. Maybe you can partner with us monthly. Some of you can do both, which would be very helpful. But whatever you do, listen for the Holy Spirit's instruction. And so again, davidhernandezministries.com/partner to become a monthly supporter. You can do that for as little as $15 a month, and that goes a long way. Those monthly partnerships. If you want to give a single gift, you're going to go to davidhernandezministries.com/donate. Tim, I said single gift, you're going to go to davidhernandezministries.com/donate for the single gift. And again, partner for monthly, slash donate for the single gift. And if you enjoyed this teaching, then make sure you also check out Bible Study for Beginners: Five Simple Keys.