David Diga Hernandez - How Do I Know If the Holy Spirit is Speaking to Me? (4 Ways the Holy Spirit Speaks)

So the voice of the Holy Spirit, there was a time in my life when I was tormented, wondering if I was correctly hearing the voice of the Holy Spirit or not. My own thoughts became obsessions. My own feelings became obsessions. Every little thought, every little whim, I began to wonder about it, «Was that the Holy Spirit? Did he speak to me»? I was tormented by the thought that I might miss the direction of the Holy Spirit. It was a religious way of living, and it became so bad that when I would be getting ready for the day, I would look through my closet, I would look at my jacket and say, «Holy Spirit, do you want me to wear that jacket»? I would look at my shirts and say, «Holy Spirit, do you want me to wear this shirt»? And there was this overbearing religious complex way of seeing the world that I began to live by, and it wasn’t until I truly discovered the voice of the Holy Spirit that I was set free from that kind of tormenting living. And maybe you’re in that place right now. You sincerely wanna hear the voice of the Holy Spirit. You just want to know what the direction is for your life, and you’ll obey, but you’re wondering, «Is this just me or is it the Holy Spirit»? Or, «How do I know the voice of the Holy Spirit»?

I’m gonna show you these four ways that the Holy Spirit speaks. Number one, the word. The word is perfect, lacking nothing. It is the inherent, inspired word of God, and it is the foundation for your living. The word of God is just the Holy Spirit, pure through and through. It is what it is. This is where it begins. This is your foundation. The scripture says in 2 Timothy 3, «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 to do every good work». You want a word from God? Open your Bible. If you’re serious about hearing the voice of the Holy Spirit, you’ll be serious about reading the Bible. The word is your foundation. The more familiar you become with the word of God, the more clearly you’ll be able to hear the Holy Spirit speak in the other ways that he speaks. If you don’t know the word, then you don’t have a foundation. If you don’t know the word, then you don’t have a safety net. If you don’t know the word, then you don’t have a measure by which you can judge whether or not you are hearing the voice of the Holy Spirit for the Holy Spirit will never contradict the word. So it begins with number one, the word.

Number two, wisdom. Now, wisdom is the Holy Spirit speaking to your spirit. So it doesn’t quite manifest in your intellect or your understanding. There’s sort of just this guiding pool, this sense about what should be done in particular circumstances. Romans 12:2 says, «Do not be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect». So when you have a renewed mind, you’re more easily guided by the Lord. It’s by the renewed mind that we can test and discern what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God. It’s by the renewed mind that we come into this flow with the Holy Spirit. That’s why I said, «The word comes first, and the word produces wisdom». Wisdom guides you. As I said, it’s like this pool. You don’t quite hear specific instructions. You don’t quite hear specific words or sentences, but you do have an overall sense. So wisdom is not the specific sentences. It’s the overall sense, just this knowing, this inner knowing about the direction that you should be going in your life. James 1:5 says, «If you need wisdom, ask our generous God, and he will give it to you. He will not rebuke you for asking». After the word, this is the most reliable way by which God speaks, wisdom. It’s that inner guide. It’s that pooling. It’s what instructed Solomon. It’s what James described as something that God would give to you if you simply asked. Wisdom cries out. Wisdom speaks. Wisdom guides. And so when you have the word in your life, that’s your foundation. That foundation helps to renew your mind, and then you have the wisdom of God. As I said, wisdom is not manifested in those specific sentences: «Do this, do that, say this, say that,» but it’s that overall sense that guides you. So the word is the most reliable, after that you have the wisdom of God.

Number three, the whisper. Now this is the Holy Spirit speaking to your spirit and your spirit speaking to your mind. So, remember, wisdom is the Holy Spirit speaking directly to your spirit, and then that creates sort of this inner guiding, this inner knowing. But when the Holy Spirit whispers to you or speaks specifically to you, this is the Holy Spirit speaking to your spirit and your spirit communicating that to your natural understanding, and so it comes forth as specific instructions. Now, this one is a bit more difficult to navigate because there are a lot of thoughts and emotions that can interrupt, intercept, and distort the voice of the Holy Spirit. John 14:26 says, «But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you». Now the whisper is not as reliable as the word and not as reliable as wisdom. This isn’t because the Holy Spirit’s not reliable. It’s because as I said, we have so many things going on inside of us that we can interrupt or disrupt or maneuver our way around to distorting the voice of the Holy Spirit when he speaks to us through the whisper. Now, 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»? However, these questions fail to take into account the need for specific instructions and details for our lives that are not addressed in the scriptures. For example, where you should live, who you should marry, where you should work and so forth. So in the scripture, you can find commands like, «Live holy. Worship God. Love one another. Forgive each other». These are all things that were very clearly instructed to us. But as far as what you should do in the specifics of your life, who will your spouse be? Where indeed should you live? Where indeed should you work? Should you take that offer to that school and so forth? These are the things where we need the whisper of the Holy Spirit. These are the things where we need the specific instruction of the Holy Spirit, which leads believers to ask, «Oh, what does this sound like? What does the voice of the Holy Spirit sound like»? And on this question, I’ll tell you you’re gonna get a lot of different answers from a lot of different people. And I’m not saying people are lying. I’m saying that people experience the Holy Spirit’s voice in different ways, or at least, interpret and describe the voice of the Holy Spirit in different ways. So even if I stand here and say, «Well, the Holy Spirit, his voice sounds like many waters». Well, what good does that do for you? Because you may have a thought run into your mind, and in your mind you imagine it to be like the voice of many waters, and therefore you say, «Oh, that’s the Holy Spirit». Or let’s say I say that the Holy Spirit’s voice is like a whisper and you hear a gentle nudge in your heart. Now that could be your own mind still, but because it’s gentle, are you therefore gonna say every time that’s the Holy Spirit? This is why those specific descriptions of the voice of the Holy Spirit don’t really give us the help that we actually need. Rather, when talking about the voice of the Holy Spirit, we need to understand that it is simply a sense. It’s a spiritual sense. How would you describe sight to a man born blind? How would you describe hearing to a man born deaf? There’s no way to describe a sense that someone has never had before. In the same way, the sense of the Spirit, the sense of his voice is something totally outside the realm of description. It’s something you either know or you don’t. Now that may sound discouraging, but, in fact, this is actually really encouraging because for believers, it comes naturally. So it’s not a matter of hearing the voice of the Holy Spirit. He’s speaking to you. It’s a matter of discerning the voice of the Holy Spirit. And the more familiar you become with the word and the more you walk in wisdom, the more easily you will begin to identify those whispers. And this is something, again, we should not be obsessing about. Why? Because everything that God gave us that we absolutely need to please him is found in the word, and then our lives are guided by his wisdom. When it comes to those specific instructions, we mustn’t walk in condemnation, especially if we’re trying to hear the voice of the Holy Spirit. If we’re sincerely seeking his advice and direction and surrendering our lives and saying, «Lord, I want you to guide my life. I want to surrender to you». In that case, we can be free of this religious toxic, destructive mentality that tells us, «Oh, you missed it here. You missed it there and therefore God is angry with you». No longer do you have to obsess about these whims and these thoughts that come near your mind, but you can be guided by the word, guided by wisdom, and the Holy Spirit will reveal himself through the whisper as you live based on those first two foundations. So number one, the word. Number two, wisdom. Number three, the whisper, that’s the specific instruction.

And number four, wonders. Now the word is just the Holy Spirit, as I said, pure through and through. Wisdom is the Holy Spirit speaking to your spirit, and that manifests as an inner pool. The whisper is the Holy Spirit speaking to your spirit, and then again, the spirit, your spirit speaking to your mind. And this is manifested in specific sentences that you receive or specific instructions that you receive from the Holy Spirit. Wonders, that is the exterior world to your mind and then to your spirit. These are things such as dreams, visions, prophecy, words of knowledge, and signs. We see in 1 Thessalonians 5:19–21 that the Holy Spirit speaks through prophets. In Acts 2:17–18, we see that the Holy Spirit speaks through visions. In Job 33:14–15, we see that the Holy Spirit speaks in dreams. Mark 16:20, we saw that the Lord confirmed messages and therefore spoke through miraculous signs and wonders. So wonders includes this list of exterior manifestations that God uses to speak to us, such as miracles, such as prophets. But all in all, we can always come back to the word if ever we become unsure. So number one, the Holy Spirit speaks to the word. Number two, the Holy Spirit speaks through wisdom. Number three, the Holy Spirit speaks through the whisper. And number four, the Holy Spirit speaks through wonders.