More on the Inward Witness

The voice of God to the believer is more of an impression or inward witness than a voice(See Romans 8:16). When I was a child in a denominational church I would here the phrase the Lord spoke to me and said…It filled me with wonder as to how God really speaks. What does His voice sound like?

God on very rare occasions speaks in an audible voice. This happened when Jesus was baptized by John. Then there is also the voice of the Holy Spirit that can speak within our human spirit. But normally, we can expect to be led by the Holy Spirit by the inward witness (Romans 8:14).

Here’s how it works. Fourteen years ago I was Associate Pastor of a church in my hometown. After a short term missions trip, the Senior Pastor decided to move he and his family to Europe for one year to start a church in one of the Baltic States. And he left me to pastor in his place for the year he was absent. As the year of 1993 drew to a close, I wondered what God had for me to do when the Pastor returned and assumed his daily duties as Senior Pastor.

My custom is to spend time each morning praying in tongues after I read and have a personal devotional time with the Lord. In November of that year I was praying in tongues and at the same time thinking in the back of my mind about what God had for me when the Senior Pastor returned. As I prayed the phrase already existing church seemed to float up from somewhere inside me (from my spirit). As I prayed day after day this thought kept coming back. Then, over a period of weeks and then months it continued and grew into the inward knowing that my next assignment was that to pastor an already existing church.

I received this first in November of 1993, and then in May of 1994 I told the Senior Pastor that somewhere in the world there was a church that had no Pastor and that at some point in my future I would pastor that church. Five months later I became Pastor here in Garner. The unusual thing I found out was that the very day that I told the Pastor that there was a church without one and that I was to pastor that church is the very day that the Pastor here in Garner left! Talk about a confirmation to what God spoke to me!

No person on earth or any demon from hell could ever convince me that I am not in God’s will. I got the witness about it months before it happened, and God confirmed that witness with “signs following!” Life is exciting when you choose to live this way. Take time to pray in the spirit and allow the inward witness to work for you!