How To Hear The Spirit Part 2 | Pastor Shane Idleman

Shane Idleman: It's fine and my body did the same thing. And it's like where your teeth are chattering, but this is beyond. This is out of control. They got oxygen on my face, doctors are in there, staff, they got my shirt open putting a EKG machine on, trying to regulate my heart rate and injecting stuff to slow things down. It's like, what in God's... they're doctors, they have no clue what's going on. So finally when I calmed down, I put on worship. They want to inject stuff to get my fever down and I said, "No, let me just worship for an hour and a half." And I said, "I know what's happening. God is closing this door." And of course they tried to talk me into staying. I go, "Ma'am, this door is closed."
Guest (Male): Thank you for joining us here at Westside Christian Fellowship, located in Leona Valley, California, one hour north of Los Angeles. Today on Regaining Lost Ground, we hear the second part of this illuminating message titled "How to Hear the Spirit Part 2". Jeremiah 33:3 says, "Call to me and I will answer you and I will tell you great and mighty things which you do not know." Join Pastor Shane as he continues to teach us how we may be more obedient to the Lord by learning how we may hear the Spirit of God living in us, here on Regaining Lost Ground. You can hear the whole message at Pastor Shane's YouTube and Rumble channels. Make sure to subscribe today. For more information, visit us online at westsidechristianfellowship.org. We also encourage you to hear more truth from Pastor Shane with the Idleman Unplugged weekly podcast. And now from Westside Christian Fellowship in Leona Valley, California, here's Pastor Shane Idleman.
Shane Idleman: The scripture, they start into Andrew Wommack, I guess he is one of the people people have been sending me, like, "Watch this guy. Watch this guy." I mean, you can't because you should never be sick. Okay, what happens at 85 or 87? Does God say, "Now it's your time," and then you will be sick? Where do you come up with this stuff? But "By His stripes you are healed," that's not in context. The main context, look at it. He bled on the cross and was beaten without recognition. Because of His stripes, you are healed spiritually speaking from sin. And so we throw these verses at people and we have to make sure we're putting things in context. Look at the heart of God. Does He use sickness to get us back on track? Yeah, amen. Could it be a demonic attack and you're going to have to press in like never before? This kind comes not out except by prayer and fasting. We just don't know, but it's very dangerous to misapply scripture. We just have to be so careful in this area because being led of the Spirit means we're looking at scripture in its totality. Number five, are you guys ready to get into the danger zone? It's so funny for me because those who know me know I'm kind of conservative. I use a John MacArthur Study Bible. I'm conservative. I don't like weird stuff. But the power of the Spirit is real. It's evident. The gifts are real. Dreams and visions are real. It's good because the church can become well-balanced. Other churches, if they are too far in the other direction, can get off-kilter. You want to try to remain well-balanced. Nobody has perfect interpretation on exactly how things work. Do we have church service exactly like God wants us to do it, exactly perfect? Of course not. We're a bunch of flawed, frail, broken people, including me, coming to minister to people and to worship God. And so in that, we're just trying to do the best that we can. But this is a danger zone because God will use dreams, visions, and confirmations. But you have to be careful. From the Bible, when God would use visions and dreams, there is a lot to it. I could do a whole sermon on this because of confirmations. Do I have any Gideons in the audience that like to throw out fleeces? Is it just me? Maybe you need a quick history lesson on fleeces. God called Gideon to do something. He said, "Okay, Lord, if it's really you, let the fleece be wet and the ground dry." That would not happen naturally. And guess what? It happened. And then like any good Gideon, I can do this. "Okay, if this is really you, I'll flip it over. Let the fleece tonight be dry and all the ground around it be wet, if it's really you." He had three or four different confirmations on things. For me, that's okay because God knows our heart. We want to make sure it's Him because if you're like me, you say, "Lord, I trust you, I don't trust me. So I need to know if this is you." So there are some things you can do. First, throughout the Bible, the heart was genuinely seeking the right path. If you're asking God for confirmation or a dream or vision, your heart must be genuinely seeking the right path. God will honor that pursuit. "Lord, give me clean hands and a pure heart." And the Lord says, "Okay, he's genuinely seeking the right path. I'm going to help him out a little bit here." Second, it often happened on major decisions. Whether you should go to Costco later or not, you're probably not going to get a vision or a dream or a confirmation. It's usually on pretty significant, major decisions. The wise men were probably going to be killed. Herod said, "Come back and tell me about Jesus." Jesus was going to be killed, so God directed them differently. Joseph was going to be killed and Jesus as well, so God delivered them out of Egypt. "Out of Egypt I called my son." And He actually led Joseph in another dream. He warned a king when he took Abraham's wife. God uses these things on significant things. The key is you don't get caught up on it, like, "Oh, I had a dream. What does this mean? I had another dream. What does this mean?" You have to take it to the Lord, wait upon Him, and just be careful. I've seen a lot of people come through our doors and I've known a lot of believers all my life. The majority of those who are into dreams and visions and "the Lord said" are not stable. They really aren't. They have a lot of issues: character issues, financial issues, marriage issues, issues raising their kids. But it's always dreams and visions and "what are the prophets saying?" They're not healthy, usually. You don't need that to be your source. God and obedience to His word is your source. And then when you need a little help, the Helper helps you. But you're already grounded in that. Does that make sense? People that get a little wonky just go off. You'll see even in the charismatic community, look at all these people who are not ministering anymore. Mike Bickle, Chris Reed, these have all been in Lancaster before. A guy named Sandhu that Shekinah just warned us about now and they emailed me about. They just get into the dreams and visions. You just have to be careful because God uses that, but that's not the foundation. That is not your foundation. People can be manipulated with that stuff. They have a prophetic word, so they must be really close to God. Sometimes they're farther away and they have to use that stuff to manipulate people. You want to be in God's word, building on the foundation, obeying His principles, and being led by the Spirit that way. Third, they did not trust a sign alone. That could avoid some problems, couldn't it? "Hey, I got a sign, let me..." No, hold on. The devil can give you a sign. "Oh, I met this person. Is there such a thing as love at first sight? They're not a Christian yet, but God might be using me." Or the devil could be using you. We've had signs before that were not from God. You have to weigh them out. It's been a long time, so now I can tell you about it. Hopefully it's okay. My wife will remember, too. When Dave Prather was retiring at Central Christian, a lady said, "God told me and impressed me that you're supposed to pastor that church. Merge them together." I thought, "Whoa." This was at the dentist's office over on 10th Street, Division Street Dental, way back then. She pulled out the "God told me" card. I thought, "Okay, I guess God told her, so I have to..." No. You might have had a good idea at night. That wasn't God. There was no peace. Obviously, God closed the door. But she said, "God told me." I don't know if I've ever said that in all of my life. I will say, "I feel strongly about this. God's really convicted me, I think." But so she was completely wrong. Had I went on that alone, that would have been an ugly path. She said, "God said," even though there was no peace. So be very careful on this. Jeremiah 32, I love this. I just love that the Bible is real. Jeremiah said, "The word of the Lord came to me. And Hanameel, the son of Shallum, your uncle will come to you saying, 'Buy my field.'" So the word of the Lord came to him and said, "Somebody's going to come to you and say, 'Buy my field.'" All right, Jeremiah. But then he said, "Then my uncle's son did come to me and he said, 'Please buy my field.' Then I knew that it was the word of the Lord." Wait a minute, did you not know before that? But confirmation. Even the prophets needed confirmation. That's why it's okay to pray for confirmation. Especially listen, guys, God loves you. He knows you better than you know yourself. He doesn't play hide and seek. He's not trying to make life difficult and He wants you to know as much as you need to know. So, "Lord, I need help in this. I need confirmation on this. Would you show me? Would you open or close the door? I'm going to wait on you." He's not going to say, "No, I'm going to make you suffer for a while." He might make you wait to make you seek Him more. "Lord, I need to hear from you, I need to hear from you." That waiting time is not wasted time. Here's a bonus. People will use dreams and visions or "the Lord spoke to me" to manipulate you. All those guys I just mentioned a few minutes ago did that. Some of them are still doing that. Be very careful. Have your spiritual eyes open. Seek the Lord and He will show you. Number six in hearing the voice of God, be honest about who or what is truly influencing you. Is that not obvious? Many people are not truly honest about what's influencing them. They make a decision, but they are just being led astray by money and the world. "No, no, I'm not. God wants to use me. He wants to build my ministry." No, you're being influenced by numbers and status and recognition or people. Be honest. Don't tell people if you don't want to, but at least be honest with God. Say, "God, I don't know what's influencing me, but I want you to influence me." The only reason I mention this is because so many people think that they're being led by God's Spirit but actually the wrong thing is influencing them. Has anybody ever been influenced by their flesh? Every arm should go up. I might give you another opportunity in a minute. Seven, be slow to speak and actually slower to move. When you are led by the Spirit, you are often not reacting. You are responding in wisdom. "Okay, Lord, is this you?" I'm not going to react. Any reactors? Balcony? Anybody react up there? You want to fix things, get it taken care of, and you react. Often, being led by the Spirit is about responding. If you react and get out of the way of a coming car, that is one thing, but usually you want to be led by the Spirit. The reason we take time is because you have to flush out the wrong impulses. You have to get rid of the "why am I doing this?" Is it the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye, or the pride of life? It takes time to flush out all that stuff. Number eight, remain teachable and humble. That is the best way for God to lead you. Is it not? All right, parents, let's get real. How easy is it to grab your little two-year-old and say, "Okay, come on. There we go, no problem." Versus a child that has stiffened up? They anchor to that carpet and they are not getting up. You say, "We're going. Yes, you are." What is easier for leading them? Fighting, kicking, and screaming or saying, "Lord, where do you want to lead me?" I think I even have the verse for that. Check out this verse. "The humble He teaches His way." Well, that tells me He resists the proud. He resists the proud, but He teaches and He leads those who are humble. In other words, if you want to be led by the Spirit, God will lead you. If you can truly say, "Lord, I truly want to know what you want me to do in this area," I can guarantee He will lead you. It might not be that day, type A people. Do you ever pray and expect the answer later today or right now? I've done many of those. Number nine, seek godly counsel, but understand that God may lead you differently. However, the Bible says there is safety in the multitude of counsel. Many people go to one person and that one person might not see things like you do. That is why He said in the multitude of counsel. The more counsel you can get from Christian people, the more safety there is. But sometimes God will lead you differently when it's not a moral issue. Does that make sense? When you clearly don't know what to do, He will open and close doors if He wants to when you are sincerely seeking Him. Here's one of the things I've been praying about. I don't want to talk about it. I actually hate talking about it. I was actually scheduled to fly out today to be on Dr. Daniel Pompa's podcast tomorrow, but I canceled a couple weeks ago. It's anxiety. I don't like talking about it. Most of you know what I'm going through. When I took the trip to Mexico, which I still recommend to people, I took an alternative route. It's actually called integrative oncology. They use the best of both worlds, whatever works, basically. I'm going somewhere with this. It is an important point. I sought godly counsel and even when I got there, I talked to Christian doctors. I was five hours away from beginning chemotherapy. Five hours. Cyclophosphamide, made in the 1940s from mustard gas. It is a problem that I know too much, so that doesn't help. But in what they call low dosage, what it does is it reveals the regulatory T-cells. Often, cancer can hide inside the regulatory T-cells. Regulatory means they are regulating the immune system. That low dose exposes it and so your immunity can get those cancer cells. I just didn't have peace the whole time. "Okay, Lord, I'm going, but if you want to close this door, close this door." And that's actually what happened. I had vitamin C therapy and electrolytes where they put electrolytes in your IV for an hour and a half. My body just freaked out. It convulsed. It was bad. I was almost close to heading to the hospital. To date, they still don't know what caused it. That is not normal. They have never had that happen. I said, "Okay, listen to counsel." I stayed and on Tuesday, they did ozone therapy where they put in a lot of oxygen. This is really good because cancer hates oxygen. Normally it's fine, but my body did the same thing. My teeth were chattering, but this was beyond that. It was out of control. They had oxygen on my face. Doctors and staff were in there. They had my shirt open putting an EKG machine on, trying to regulate my heart rate and injecting stuff to slow things down. The doctors had no clue what was going on. Finally, when I calmed down, I put on worship. They wanted to inject stuff to get my fever down and I said, "No, let me just worship for an hour and a half." I said, "I know what's happening. God is closing this door." Of course, they tried to talk me into staying. I said, "Ma'am, this door is closed. My wife is picking me up tomorrow and we're going to Coronado for a few days. That is the plan." All counsel, right? Even people kind of got mad at me for leaving. But God closed that door. He deals with people differently. A pastor friend of mine has the same thing I have. He's on his third trip down there and it's working great for him. But God worked differently for me. Ever since I started everything five months ago, I've actually been doing much better. I don't feel it much anymore. I have tons of energy. I don't know what that means, though. I have no clue what that means. It just means day by day, trusting the Lord. God was using something different in my life because whatever the end of the story is, He gets all the glory and all the credit. I can't say Mexico worked, chemotherapy worked, this worked, or that worked. I'm just trusting the Lord. Talk about a closed door. We've never seen anything like that. Five hours away, cyclophosphamide, drip, drip, drip. And then you have to take pills home for months and it says, "Don't touch them and keep them away from kids." I thought, "What is going on here?" Hello Regaining Lost Ground listeners, this is Pastor Shane Idleman. Hey, I want to let you know that my new booklet titled "A Calculated Assault Against Cancer" is now available. You can download it for free right now at shaneidleman.com. Again, my new booklet, "A Calculated Assault Against Cancer," is now available at shaneidleman.com. The reason I did this is because there is so much negativity and fear that encompasses that word, especially in the medical industry. There's not a lot of hope. And so I want to release this booklet to give people hope and perspective and let them know, hey, with God, all things are possible and His sovereignty can be your sanity. So again, get this to anybody struggling with their health, especially and primarily cancer. The title of the booklet is called "A Calculated Assault Against Cancer" and it's available right now at shaneidleman.com.
Guest (Male): Westside Christian Fellowship is located 60 miles north of Los Angeles in Leona Valley, California. Thank you again for listening to today's message of Regaining Lost Ground, where we are reminded daily, times change, truth does not.