HEARING THE VOICE OF GOD THROUGH YOUR HUMAN SPIRIP

Today we want to look at one of the secondary ways God speaks to man - “HEARING THE VOICE OF GOD THROUGH YOUR HUMAN CONSCIENCE!” The third way God speaks to man by way of spiritual perception is through the human conscience.

What does it mean to hear the voice of God through your conscience? Hearing the voice of God through your human conscience means hearing the voice of God through the voice of your spirit-man. Since God speaks to us through our own human conscience, we should therefore, learn to listen to our consciences regularly.

WHAT IS CONSCIENCE? 

1. Conscience is the voice of your human spirit.

2. Conscience is the part of you that helps you to understand if you are in line with God’s perfect will or not.

3. Conscience is the God-given knowledge we have deep inside that guides us between right and wrong. 

4. Conscience is the inbuilt policeman of the human spirit that helps you to discern between right and wrong. 

5. Conscience is the impartial judge in the court room.

6. Conscience is God’s gift to you that keeps you sensitive to His moral code. You must use that gift by listening to and obeying your conscience regularly or else it will become useless. 

7. Conscience states whether an intention or act is right or wrong. Conscience does not instruct. Rather, it accuses or excuses you. 

KJV puts Romans 2:15 this way, “Which shew the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts the mean while (1) accusing or else (2) excusing one another.” 

The conscience “convicts.” John 8:9 says, “And they which heard it, being convicted by their own conscience…” 

What does it mean to convict? To “convict” means to declare you guilty of a crime in a court of law.

Your conscience can malfunction if not properly cared for. Your conscience can become a corrupted and imperfect witness that may condemn you too harshly or let you off too easily. 

How do you escape the persistent and tormenting accusations of your conscience? Not by ignoring them or rationalizing your behaviour, but by setting your heart on God’s love. 

For instance, when you feel guilty about something, you should remind yourself that God knows your motives as well as your actions. His voice of assurance is stronger than the accusing voice of your conscience. 

This is true: If you are in Christ, He will never condemn you.

Jesus said, “For God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through Him might be saved” (John 3:17).

The blood of Jesus Christ purges our consciences from dead works.

“How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, purge your CONSCIENCE from DEAD WORKS to serve the living God?...” (Heb. 9:14-15).

What is it that will cause your conscience to witness effectively to you?

How will you know that your conscience is witnessing for or against you? If your conscience is witnessing faithfully (1) for or (2) against you, it will activate your heart (spirit-man) and mind so that you know what is right and what is wrong; and you will have a strong inner call, a voice of accountability, to do what is right.

How will you know that your conscience has become inactive? If you have a reputation for not always doing the right thing, or if you find yourself unmoved by evil, it may be an indication that your conscience has become inactive [weak, evil, violated, or seared]. 

Your conscience may be misinformed, or conditioned to regard evil as good, or seared and dulled by repeated sin. In such cases your conscience will be less than God’s voice. 

The judgments of the conscience will be received as God’s voice only when they match God’s own truth in the Scripture. 

The conscience must therefore, be educated to judge scripturally.

Here is the truth: You can’t lose your conscience, but you can become so dulled to its urgings that you don’t or can’t hear it. 

Ignoring your conscience has a devastating consequence. Each time you deliberately ignore your conscience, you are hardening your heart (human spirit). Over time your capacity to tell right from wrong will diminish. 

The conscience is like a muscle; it must be exercised and developed. If you don’t exercise it the muscle will still be there but inactive. 

Even those who have done horrible deeds still hold a conscience. But over time they have learned to tune it off. 

This is so dangerous because without your conscience you feel free to do whatever you want.

“A murderer’s tormented conscience will drive him into the grave. Don’t protect him” (Prov. 28:17).

How can one keep a clear conscience? Keeping away from sin is the best way to keep a clear conscience. When you sin, you give your conscience a reason to witness against you. 

When you avoid sin, you are actively nurturing your conscience and keeping it from witnessing against you.

Acts 24:16 says, “I always try to maintain a clear conscience before God and everyone else.”

The more developed your conscience is the more God can speak to you through it. As you walk with God, and maintain a clear conscience, He will speak to you through your conscience, letting you know the difference between right and wrong. 

Therefore, be sure to act on those inner urgings to do what is right - then your conscience will remain sensitive, sound and clear.

How can one develop his/her conscience? Since your conscience is the voice of your human spirit, the more you develop or build up (strengthen) your human spirit, the stronger, the more sensitive and clearer your conscience will become.

“That He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might by His Spirit in the inner man (human spirit)” (Eph 3:16).

Your human spirit can be educated or built up in strength just as your soul can be educated or developed. 

Here is the truth: The more you study and meditate in God’s Word, the more sensitive and reliable your conscience will become.

When your conscience is adequately developed, it can speak to you in concert (jointly or together) with God Himself. 

Watch out for the next edition of Good News from the Pulpit!

Your friend: I. I. MADUBUNYI (Senior Pastor, HOG).