My Sheep Hear is a series of blog posts that will highlight one feature of my book. Toward the end of the book, I listed several practical ways that Christians may learn to recognize the Holy Spirit’s activities inside their hearts. Here, I will highlight these practical ways one at a time and show from the Scriptures how Christians may learn to recognize the Holy Spirit’s personal and intimate interactions with them.
Jesus said, “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me” (John 10:27 NKJV). Notice that Jesus said, “My sheep hear.” He did not say, “My sheep should hear”, or “My sheep must hear”, or “My sheep have the ability to hear.” He said, “My sheep hear My voice.”
Therefore, the point of my blog posts is not to convince anyone to listen to the Holy Spirit. Based on the Scriptures, if anyone is a Christian, then he hears Jesus’ voice and follows Him. The point of these posts is to help Christians realize that God is active in their hearts and to help them recognize His specific activities within them.
Why is this important? Because the greatest blessing of being a Christian is that Jesus lives in our hearts. As I wrote in the introduction of my book:
Having Jesus in us is the reason we enjoy a close relationship with God. From the close proximity of our hearts, He reveals wonderful things to us that are impossible to know otherwise. He pours out His love on us. He shows us His glory. He calls us, challenges us, inspires us, leads us, guides us, teaches us, and encourages us. He convicts us, corrects us, and comforts us. He empowers us, satisfies us, sustains us, and gives us hope.
Yet, there is widespread uncertainty within Christendom as to the means He uses to accomplish these things. My contention, and the contention of Scripture, is that He does these things by bearing witness with our spirits (Romans 8:16; 1 John 5:6). I want to help Christians learn to recognize God when He does these things from inside their hearts.
To be continued…