After reading the recent LeadLikeThis article on prayer, a few people came to me saying something like, “Your article helped me to better understand how to speak to God and how to help students do that… but how can I hear Him speaking to me?” This is an important question, so I wanted to answer thoroughly and biblically. If we are followers of Christ, it is necessary that we are able to confidently hear his voice so that we can know Him, love Him, and follow his direction. So where can we turn to hear God’s voice? The first place we go should be Scripture.
Scripture is God’s words (2 Timothy 3:16-17). Therefore, anyone who wants to hear God speak should open up the Bible and read. While popular pastors like Andy Stanley may be telling us to unhitch from parts of the Bible, we recognize that Scripture is filled with God’s own endorsement of his written Word. Psalm 1 says it brings joy. Psalm 18 calls it flawless. Psalm 19 says it is perfect. Psalm 119 says it is a light for our path and the way to purity. Isaiah 40 testifies that it lasts forever. 1 Peter 1 calls it living. And the list could go on and on.
The Bible is only place that a person can go to be 100% sure that he is hearing from God. While the Spirit of God can and does actively lead us, there are others who would as well. Scripture is the key in knowing the voice of God as He leads us. The sheep know the Shepherd’s voice to us (John 10:4) because it is always consistent with his Word to others (Titus 1:2). His voice is always calling us to “crucify the flesh” so that we can walk “in step with the Spirit” (Galatians 5:24-25). We know we are in step with the desires of the Spirit when we live according to the Word of the Spirit. The Bereans pleased God and were called noble because they tested Paul’s preaching against Scripture (Acts 17:11). As a result of their use of the Word, many believed (Acts 17:12).
As evangelical Christians, we call this trust in God’s Word the sufficiency of Scripture: that everything we need to know in order to follow God in this life is found in the Bible. 2 Timothy 3:17 says that Scripture thoroughly equips God’s servants for every good work. “Every good work” includes your work as a biblically integrating teacher. The Bible is sufficient for leading you because it is God’s own words.
What about the Holy Spirit? Doesn’t He speak today? Yes… notably through the Bible. Look at 2 Peter 1:20-21:
Above all, you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet’s own interpretation of things. For prophecy never had its origin in the human will, but prophets, though human, spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit is the Author and Originator of the Bible. Those who want to hear the Spirit’s voice need only open his book. He has given it to us. And He wants us to go to the Word since it is the “sword of the Spirit” (Ephesians 6:17). There is no distinction between the words of the Holy Spirit and the words of the Bible. Hebrews 4:12 says that the Word of God is living and active, and that Word is the Spirit’s Word.
So how does the Bible lead the Christian teacher? Through the illumination of the Holy Spirit. Not only did the Spirit of God inspire the text of Scripture, He also applies it to us. He reminds God’s people about the Person and work of Jesus (John 14:26). In that way, the Holy Spirit points away from Himself and to the glory of Christ (John 16:14). This is not because He is lower or less than Christ (He is not), but because each Member of the Trinity has different roles. We see these differentiated roles in the gospel: the Father sent the Son (John 3:16), the Son lived and died (Romans 5:8), the Spirit raised the Son from the dead (Romans 8:11). We can also clearly see the roles of the Trinity in creation, in Jesus’ baptism, and in God’s work of drawing us to Himself. Likewise, each Member of the Trinity has a different role in speaking to us. The Spirit “carried along” human writers as He authored Scripture through them. But the Bible is complete (Revelation 22:18-19), so what does the Spirit do now that his canon is closed? One pastor sums it up well:
“The Holy Spirit’s role is to empower us as we preach, teach, write, talk, witness, think, serve, and live. He does lead us into God’s truth and direct us into God’s will for our lives. But He does it through God’s Word, never apart from it.”
The Spirit works all the time in our world in real ways. He guides us. He convicts us. He reminds us. He encourages us. He is alive and active. And He does all of those things in conjunction with his perfect Word. The Spirit has said all that need be said in his Word, and the complete faith has been handed down once and for all in the Bible (Jude 3). Thank the Spirit for that! And ask Him to bring his own words to bear on our lives through his active ministry.
And, of course, a strong belief in the sufficiency of Scripture does not in any way diminish our confidence in the supernatural God’s ability to do supernatural things. The message of the Good News is a perfect picture of the supernatural Word in action since the gospel is the power of God for salvation to all who believe (Romans 1:16). Faith is a supernatural gift that the Spirit gives through the hearing of the Word about Christ (Romans 10:17). Our God works in wondrous ways and He does as He pleases. But any miraculous works we see are servants of the miraculous Word since Scripture cannot be broken (John 10:35), and God does not contradict Himself. Those who love to please the Spirit should love to honor his priority on the Word.
The Spirit may use any number of means to illuminate and apply the Scripture to our lives as He pleases. Through the Word, the Spirit tells us to love our neighbor (Mark 12:31). He then shows us how to love our neighbor, convicts us when we don’t, and gives us the power to love like He does. Therefore, we must recognize that all of God’s supernatural works are meant to point us back to his voice as revealed in the Bible. The Bible is the Spirit’s voice and He is invested in letting it ring out clearly in our minds and hearts.
So to close: What kind of person pleases God? The one who trembles at his Word (Isaiah 66:2). What kind of teacher pleases God? The one who trembles at his Word and rightly handles that Word (2 Timothy 2:15). If you want to hear God speak, look to his Word and tremble. The Spirit of God will work through his Word in you and in your class. If you want to lead your students to hear God’s voice, call them to tremble at his Word as well. How do we hear his voice? We go to his Word.
