Under the Influence

When you are in an attitude of listening to the Lord, you remain under the influence.

What do I mean by that?

Let’s go back to our proof text.

For as many as are led by the Spirit of the Lord, they are the Sons of God

(Romans 8:14 KJV).

In previous installments of Learning to Hear the Voice of God, we learned that there are a lot of things we can do to prepare our spirit to hear His voice.

  1. We can saturate ourselves with the Word of God.
  2. We can set aside time to be quiet before Him so that we can hear His voice.
  3. We can shut out the disruptive noise of life’s environment.
  4. We can develop an attitude of listening.

So, what is this business of being under the influence? The above things mentioned will help to prepare your inner man to hear the voice of God. If you try to do all or some of these things on a regular basis, it should also do something else. It should begin the process of sanctification.

Now George, you’re confusing me. I thought we were talking about hearing God’s voice. What is sanctification? What does that have to do with it?

I don’t mean to take a rabbit trail here, but bear with me. Sanctification is interwoven with hearing the voice of God. I’ll explain how.

James 4:8 says, “Draw near to God and He will draw near to you (NKJV).” There are four things I mentioned earlier that you can do to help you hear the voice of God. Go back through them now, and you will notice that all of them have to do with drawing near to God.

Let me give you another verse, and then we will attempt to show the relevance of sanctification to hearing the voice of God. “But sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts (1 Peter 3:15, NASB) . . .”

When the Bible refers to your heart, it means your inner man, the real you, the eternal part. So sanctify means to let Christ dwell in you, and to move away from things that are un-Christ-like.

Ephesians 3:19 speaks of “being filled with all the fullness of God (ESV).”

When you draw near to God, you indicate to Him that you want Him. You, in effect give Him permission to dwell in you in all of His fullness. This is the process of sanctification. The more you move into sanctification, the more your inner man becomes filled with God’s fullness, and the more you can hear the voice of God.

The more that sanctification moves to completeness or wholeness, the more you live under the influence . . . the influence of the Holy Spirit.

Ephesians 5:18 (NASB) says, “And do not get drunk with wine . . . but be filled with the Spirit.”

To be drunk from alcohol is commonly referred tot as being under the influence. The writer here, is suggesting a different kind of intoxication . . . being filled with the Holy Spirit. Sanctification and practicing the things I’ve suggested for hearing the voice of God, will have a cleansing effect on you inner man so that you can more easily hear the voice of God. The more you can hear the voice of God, the more you are living under the influence of the Holy Spirit.

I have said many times from the pulpit when I preach, “Serving God is a great adventure, more exciting than being a secret agent.” Living under the influence is a great way to live.

Check in next week for the next installment of Learning to Hear the Voice of God . . . posted right here!

This photo was taken by Lorraine of George