Reflection by Ife Ologundudu on Chapter 19&20 of the book How to be Led by the Spirit- Kenneth Hagin
CHAPTER 19- The Voice of the Holy Spirit
While Peter thought on the vision, the Spirit said unto him, Behold, three men seek thee- Acts 10:19
The difference between the inner witness and the voice of the Spirit is that the voice of the Holy Spirit is more authoritative. It is sometimes so real that it almost seems to be an audible voice; you may even look around to see who said it. It may seem so audible sometimes that you may think someone behind you said something. But then you realize it was in you.
Remember in the Old Testament how the young boy Samuel heard a voice call his name, "Samuel, Samuel?" He thought Eli was calling him. He jumped up and ran to Eli to find out what he wanted. Eli said, "No, I didn't call you." Samuel went back to bed. Then again he heard, "Samuel, Samuel." Again he ran to Eli. "No, I didn't call you." It happened the third time. Finally, it dawned on Eli what was happening. Eli said, "The next time the Lord calls you, answer Him." So, the next time it happened, Samuel answered that voice, and the Lord spoke further to him (1 Sam. Chapter 3).
Kenneth Hagin said in the book how that the times he had heard the voice of the Holy Spirit, it was usually a spectacular encounter in His life such that if it hadn't been for the manner in which the voice had spoken to him and was imprinted steadfastly into his spirit, he wouldn't have stayed on course regarding the issue. Take for example Peter in our Bible text, he ordinarily wouldn't have yielded to visiting Cornelius (a gentile) if not for the forceful authoritative voice of the Spirit that he heard aforetime.
All of God's leading are supernatural, whether through the inner witness or still small voice but the Voice of the Spirit is usually more spectacular in nature. I'd like to share a personal experience here: On a particular Sunday after service, I was having a low mood as I had very little left on me, yet gave a good offering in Church, so when I got back to my room, somewhere in my head I started calculating what else I could have done with my offering, eventually I slept off, when I woke up, the first thing I heard was "Giving unto the Lord is only for the far-sighted!". It was so forceful, I was shocked and I wrote it down immediately but the truth of the matter is that the statement never actually left my head since then, it's been a compass for me, that singular experience has been sufficient to answer to the nagging questions that pop up in my head in situations like this.
Another point to note is that the voice of the Spirit superimposes over the voice of the flesh (Psalm 29:3-9).
Psalm 29:3-9 New International Version (NIV)
3 The voice of the Lord is over the waters; the God of glory thunders, the Lord thunders over the mighty waters. 4 The voice of the Lord is powerful; the voice of the Lord is majestic. 5 The voice of the Lord breaks the cedars; the Lord breaks in pieces the cedars of Lebanon. 6 He makes Lebanon leap like a calf, Sirion[a] like a young wild ox.7 The voice of the Lord strikes with flashes of lightning. 8 The voice of the Lord shakes the desert; the Lord shakes the Desert of Kadesh. 9 The voice of the Lord twists the oaks[b] and strips the forests bare. And in his temple all cry, “Glory!”
In Kenneth Hagin's experience in this chapter, he was to move to a new Church, his flesh didn't want to go, his mind kept telling him not to go. Considering the conditions of the new Church, he would ordinarily have declined based on what his mind told him and what his flesh wanted but the instruction he had received through the voice of the Spirit held him steady and God did the supernatural for him in ensuring that his word finds fulfillment. So, the voice of the Holy Spirit usually comes to us backed up by a staying power to obey and conform to the will of God.
CHAPTER 20- Judging By the Word
Prove all things.... 1 Thessalonians 5:21.
The Bible teaches that the Spirit of God and the Word of God agree. Anytime the Spirit of God speaks to us, it will always be in line with the Word. People have diverse kinds of spiritual experiences, some hear voices, some see visions, some have dreams etc. but you can judge whether these spiritual experiences are right or wrong simply by judging them by the Word because the devil and his cohort also manifest in the realm of the spirit, so it would be wrong to liken every spiritual experience to the presence of the Holy Spirit, therefore the need to subject it to the test of the word of God.
I remember a video about a certain pastor who told his male congregation to go ahead and begin to marry more than one wife, he backed up his claim by saying see all these sisters, if you people don’t marry them, who will marry them? Whether he said it out of pain or passion for the unmarried ladies or any reason whatsoever, he was simply wrong because what he was leading his congregation to do contradicts what the word of God says and God's solid foundation cannot be moved due to the circumstances of life.
When people say they received something from the Lord, saw a vision, heard a voice, etc., all of which is okay, it can and should be validated by the word of God. You can judge whether spiritual experiences are right or wrong simply by judging them by the Word. As humans, we are liable to rationalize or take actions based on our intuition and validate it by certain convictions that we have but a very good way out of this is to subject whatever we feel or perceive we are led to do at every moment to the word of God. There should be a scriptural basis or guide for whatever we do as believers for us to ascertain we are within the will of God.
Kenneth Hagin shared a story in the book about a woman who had come down with a mental breakdown because she heard an evangelist preach about how God called him using an audible voice and ever since then, the woman went after seeking God to speak to her also in that manner (note that this is very wrong, God has the prerogative to speak to us whichever way that he chooses to, we shouldn't box God in). The Devil saw this as an avenue and he took advantage of it such that after a while, the woman began to hear voices until she began insane.
Another example was shared about how he had a heart condition that made him bedridden for four months into his sixteenth birthday in which the doctors had told him he won't survive medically but along the line he stumbled on God's word and got healed miraculously. The point here is that we are not to accept or permit anything in (to) our lives without examining it in the light of the Word of God. If you've permitted the devil to cheat you for lack of knowledge, now is the time to begin to search out scriptures concerning what God’s word says over every area of your life because until he came to the point where he realized there was provision for his healing, he laid there in bed hopeless.
Shortly after he got healed, a voice said to him, even quoting scriptures "AND WHAT IS YOUR LIFE? IT IS EVEN A VAPOR THAT APPEARETH FOR A TIME, AND THEN VANISHETH AWAY." "AND TODAY THOU SHALT SURELY DIE." He initially accepted this since he knew it to be a scripture in the Bible but after some time these words came floating up from somewhere inside of him into his mind, with long life will I satisfy him, and show him my salvation; then it dawned on him that the devil wanted to corrupt his healing, wanted to validate the negative report concerning his health, wanted to cut short his life by using a verse of the scriptures to deceive him. From that verse of scripture he understood that you should live life until you are satisfied and he wasn't ready to die, so he rebuked the Devil and he lived more than 55years after! Because really the Devil can appear in any form, he could in fact, take the form of an angel of light (2 Corin 11:14) but you'd just know it's him because he's the father of lies, the devil never tells the whole truth, he is capable of taking up God's word and mixing some lies into it to deceive a believer and this is where the issue of training our spirit man through constant fellowshipping with God’s word comes to play. Shalom!