A guy reaches a fork in the road, he doesn’t know which road to take, and then he hears an audible voice from heaven, “Take the road on the right”. So, off he goes down that road.
Did it require any faith on his part? No, none at all. Even an unbeliever could obey the audible voice of God, or some writing in the sky…. If we get a physical or tangible sign about God’s will, then we need no more faith than any unbeliever needs when he sees a road sign and believes it truly points in the right direction.
The leading of the Holy Spirit, hearing the voice of God, is always a faith relationship, and faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. It’s something you believe, not something you see or hear or even feel, necessarily.
Of course, there are occasions when God speaks thru visions or dreams or even audibly, but that is not the norm.
Abraham, the father of faith, heard God’s voice only a few times in his entire life, sometimes going 20 years without hearing anything, yet he’s commended to us in the Bible as a pattern of faith.
The relevance of this subject is that there are many these days claiming that God tells them to do everything they do, and they only do what God tells them.
This starts out with the mundane ( God told me to take a bath) but it ends up with, “God Himself told me and taught me my doctrine” (even if it contradicts Scripture).
Rarely does God “tell” me to do anything. He leads by His Spirit, in our spirit. He works in us to will and do according to His good pleasure.
(a side note re: the Doug Perry FOTM controversy – notice the stress on “God told me to do it”, and on “Doing what God tells you to do” ? It’s serious error/delusion. It makes people out to be robots programmed by God, rather than mature sons. The root is spiritual pride.)
On the issue of “God told me to do it”, praying/singing in unknown tongues is a perfect example of how God the Holy Spirit works IN us to WILL and DO according to His good pleasure, without “telling” us to do things. God never “tells” us to speak in tongues, it just happens, or, we have a knowing/desire/faith to do it and we then do.
Likewise, God doesn’t tell me to go to the toilet, brush my teeth, when to have dinner, when to pray etc… yet we should be living for Him all the time (in Him we live and move and have our being).
The check about the “God told me” thing (as in, i don’t do anything unless God tells me to) is that it exalts the person. They believe that they are so important that Almighty God on His throne in heaven issues words from heaven concerning their most mundane activities, like taking a bath, what shirt to wear, etc.
So, they are self-deceived concerning their importance.
Those who are led by the Spirit of God are the sons of God. The person who is not led by the Holy Spirit is not a Christian (or is a backslider).
So, as every saint is led by the Holy Spirit, and taught by the Holy Spirit, ALL the time, why should any saint claim anything superior to this? as if they are a special case?
Ian Vincent 
June 17, 2008 at 2:27 pm
Amen Ian. This hits particularly close to home for me, because in the early 1980’s (as a very young believer) I was involved in a house church setting that quickly devolved into a controlling cult like group.
The “prophetess” of the group issued “directives” for us that came “directly from God’s mouth to her ears” and woe to those who didn’t obey. Not only were we told that we must “have ALL of our steps ordered by God”, (meaning that we had to ask God’s permission to use the toilet, etc) but it was decreed that to show who was truly spiritual among us, the prophetess would ask the Lord what color she should wear to meeting on a given day. If any of the rest of us, who were also supposed to ask God what color to wear, showed up in another color, that proved that we were not spiritual enough. She would publicly humiliate those who were not wearing the correct color. Looking back, I can’t believe I fell for this. The fruit of her teaching was that I became paranoid, depressed, and started feeling as though I didn’t like God very much.
My involvement was my own fault because I did not search the scriptures for myself and when I did, I realized my error as well as the error of her teaching. I left without a word as to why except for one close friend. I told her I was convinced this woman was a false prophet and told her why. Within a few weeks not only my friend, but many others left. I found out later that this woman had a habit of calling upon dead relatives and “hearing words” from them as well. It took me a long time to get over this woman’s teaching and the false “prophetic utterances” she said over me. She once told me that God didn’t care one way or another if I repented of my sins, I was nothing to Him, and He’d just as soon send me to hell as not.
So, it comes down to control. Does the Holy Spirit control us, or lead us? I believe according to God’s word that He leads us. One of the fruit of the Spirit is self-control. It took me a long time to sort out the difference.
June 18, 2008 at 12:19 am
Cheryl wrote:
“So, it comes down to control. Does the Holy Spirit control us, or lead us? I believe according to God’s word that He leads us. One of the fruit of the Spirit is self-control. It took me a long time to sort out the difference.”
Excellent point sister.
June 19, 2008 at 12:58 am
Thanks for sharing that Cheryl. Forewarned is forearmed. What you’ve described with that cult and the “prophetess” is very common, in various degrees of subtlety.
Back to our Lord’s teaching, He taught us to never make a public show of the things of God, in any form or guise, and to never try and justify such stuff with a “spiritual” reason.
E.g. Anyone who feels that YOU need to be aware of how much THEY hear God’s voice is a dippo, and to be avoided.
The mature Christian NEVER justifies themselves, or their spirituality, before men, rather, following in Jesus’ footsteps, they leave that to the Father.
E.g. If God is speaking to me, i don’t need to make it known, it will be become evident sooner or later.
The things of the Kingdom are never PUSHED. Here, in Hindi, we say “Zabaradast nahin!” No pushing from Jesus.