Here is the big question: How do we actually cultivate a relationship with the God of the universe? How are we Led by the Spirit? How do we hear the voice of God?
The scriptures are clear – God is talking to us – the problem seems to be in ‘the hearer’ or at least in understanding/interpreting.
The words of King Solomon might help: “It is the glory of God to conceal a matter, but the glory of kings is to search out a matter” (Proverbs 25:2). This verse teaches us that God hides things for us, not from us. You might ask, “Why does God hide things? Why doesn’t He make His voice clear?”
First, knowledge is power, and God does not want the arrogant and prideful to be the powerful. He therefore conceals His voice in such a way that it is only revealed to the humble and the hungry. Second, all of us are accountable for what we know, meaning that the more clearly we understand the will of God, the greater our capacity is to rebel, sin or disobey Him. The apostle James put it best: “Let not many of you become teachers, my brethren, knowing that as such we will incur a stricter judgment” (James 3:1). Obviously, revelation comes with accountability. The more we know, the greater our responsibility, and ultimately the more severe our judgment day will be.
By now, it should have become clear that the level of our spiritual intelligence [our capacity to hear and understand] is determined by the depth of our relationship with the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit has been assigned to guide us into all truth (see John 16:13). In fact, Jesus said that “the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you” (John 14:26). Yet the health of our relationship with the Spirit is largely predicated on our ability to obey God. If we take Jesus at His word—“Whatever you ask in My name, that will I do” (John 14:13)—then we have to have a prunable relationship with Him.
Jesus said, “You are My friends if you do what I command you. No longer do I call you slaves, for the slave does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I have heard from My Father I have made known to you” (verses 14–15). Once we learn to obey His commands, then we are promoted from slaves to friends. This relational transition from slave to friend opens the door for profound revelation in our lives. A slave only knows how to obey his master, but friends have a full-access pass to the voice of the Father!
Adapted from Spiritual Intelligence (p. 57-62). by Kris Vallatton Baker Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.