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The Importance of The Holy Spirit

You may be saying at this point, I know how to pray in faith about the various promises from the Scriptures until I receive an answer from God. However, since the Bible doesnt give promises specific enough in certain circumstances, then how can I know what God wants me to request of Him in these situations? For example, how can I know whether Im to trust God to enable me to move to Tokyo, or London, or Cairo, or Dublin, or Belfast? Or how do I know whether God wants me to trust Him to bring about my marriage to John, or Peter, or Fred (if Im a woman), or Mary, Joan or Helen (if Im a man)? The Bible says that it is mostly Gods will for people to marry (see Matthew 19:11-121). Therefore, God promises most people a wife or a husband by a general Biblical promise. However, the Bible doesnt give a specific promise or verse which says, You are to marry Fred, or You are to marry Joan. A Christian cannot ask God to bring about a marriage to Fred or Joan unless the Holy Spirit reveals that this is His will. A person who desires to pray in true Biblical faith, needs not only to know what God in the Bible reveals that He wants him to request. He also needs to know how to obtain guidance directly from God the Holy

Spirit about specific matters of which the Bible doesnt give such specific guidance.

11 But he said to them, Not all men can receive this saying, but only those to whom it is given. 12 For

there are eunuchs who have been so from birth, and there are eunuchs who have been made eunuchs by men, and there are eunuchs who have made themselves eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. He who is able to receive this, let him receive it.

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The Holy Spirit reveals Gods will about these matters mainly through:

the inner witness

4:74)

(see Romans 8:162, Colossians 3:153, Philippians

the still small voice (see 1 Kings 19:125, John 10:276, Isaiah 30:217) circumstances
3210). On rarer occasions, He uses (see Matthew 16:2-38, Isaiah 7:10-149 and 37:30-

dreams, audible voices

and

other

spectacular supernatural means.

2 3

16 it is the Spirit himself bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God, (TEV)15 The peace that Christ gives is to guide you in the decisions you make; for it is to this peace that

God has called you together in the one body. And be thankful. (RSV) And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in the one body. And be thankful.
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7 And the peace of God, which passes all understanding, will keep your hearts and your minds in Christ 12 and after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire; and after the fire a still small voice. 27 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me; 21 And your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, This is the way, walk in it, when you turn to the 2 He answered them,[a] When it is evening, you say, It will be fair weather; for the sky is red. 3 And in

Jesus.
5 6 7

right or when you turn to the left.

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the morning, It will be stormy today, for the sky is red and threatening. You know how to interpret the appearance of the sky, but you cannot interpret the signs of the times.
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10 Again the Lord spoke to Ahaz, 11 Ask a sign of the Lord your God; let it be deep as Sheol or high as

heaven. 12 But Ahaz said, I will not ask, and I will not put the Lord to the test. 13 And he said, Hear then, O house of David! Is it too little for you to weary men, that you weary my God also? 14 Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, a young woman[Or virgin ] shall conceive and bear[Or is with child and shall bear ] a son, and shall call his name Immanu-el.[That is God is with us]
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30 And this shall be the sign for you: this year eat what grows of itself, and in the second year what

springs of the same; then in the third year sow and reap, and plant vineyards, and eat their fruit. 31 And the surviving remnant of the house of Judah shall again take root downward, and bear fruit upward; 32 for out of Jerusalem shall go forth a remnant, and out of Mount Zion a band of survivors. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will accomplish this.

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GOD NEVER SPEAKS AGAINST WHAT HE HAS WRITTEN

As stated in the Introduction of this book, know clearly that the Holy Spirit will NEVER give us an inner witness or still small voice or a sign or dream and so on that suggests that God is saying something to us contrary to the teachings of His Scriptures. He will never ever do this. Remember this while studying the following chapters. The Scriptures will show if the so-called guidance is telling us to do or believe something opposite to or different from what God teaches. For example, if the so-called inner voice tells us to try to communicate with spirits of the dead, we will know that this voice is a demon talking or is merely our own human reasoning. Deuteronomy 18:11 says not to try to talk to the spirits of the dead. THE WRITTEN

WORD AND GOD THE HOLY SPIRIT NEVER DISAGREE.

There are too many Christians these days claiming that the Holy Spirit has told them to do something, when He has not. We must be very careful. This is where the teaching of my own book, HOW TO RECOGNIZE GODS VOICE11 is necessary reading for anyone who wishes to know how to obtain direct revelation of the will of God, and how to distinguish Gods guidance from the thoughts and emotions of his own fleshly mind and from the suggestions placed in his mind by demons. This book should be re-read many times, until deep understanding of how to get guidance from God is obtained. We have

11

Graham Fitzpatrick, HOW TO RECOGNIZE GODS VOICE, Spiritual Growth Books,

Australia, 1985.

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to be very careful not to be misled by Satan or our own thoughts and feelings. Unless we are aiming to become more sensitive to the voice of the Holy Spirit, we will find great difficulty in trying to trust God to do things not specifically promised in His Holy Scriptures.

WATCHMAN NEE
Watchman Nee knew some things about the Correct way to pray. Nee said12 that all good prayer requests are based on the following four

principles. He said, The first step is that God conceives a thought,

which is His will. The second step is that God reveals His will to His children through the Holy Spirit, causing them to know that He has a will, a plan, a demand and expectation. The third step is that Gods children return His will by praying to Him, for prayer is responding to Gods willif our heart is wholly one with His heart, we will naturally voice in our prayer what He intends to do. And the fourth step is that God will accomplish this very thing.

12

Watchman Nee, LET US PRAY, Christian Fellowship Publishers, 1977, New York,

P. 24.