1 Corinthians 8:2 English Standard Version (ESV) If anyone imagines that he knows something, he does not yet know as he ought to know.

1 Corinthians 8:2 King James Version (KJV) And if any man think that he knoweth any thing, he knoweth nothing yet as he ought to know.

The mind is a powerful tool but it is just a tool. Imaginations are not real. Thinking that you know a thing simply because you have the power to reason does not make it true. Hearing God is a spiritual gift activated by faith because it pleases God to do so.

Men can be very convincing. Their reasoning skills can be very persuasive. Does that make them the voice of God? No, only the Holy Spirit is the voice of God. His ability to speak to us is by faith and is a revelation not mental reasoning.

Bringing things into remembrance sounds like a memory skill but it comes from a different place. His indwelling is the new heart not the renewed mind. His affirmation of truth is a yes and amen which comes to us by faith and not by reasoning. When a pastor or teacher speaks truth the spirit confirms by faith not by reasoning.

Reading God’s Holy Word without thinking about what it means is our first encounter with hearing by faith.

Romans 10:17 English Standard Version (ESV) So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.

Nowhere in that verse is there a reference to our reasoning skills. It is a spiritual exercise. We fool ourselves if we tell ourselves that our reasoning skills brings us to His truth. He reveals truth from the heart which is the seat of true choice. That is His abiding place. He does not occupy our mind.

We are not puppets. We must choose to hear and obey. That is an exercise of our free will.

Choose to love God.

Psalm 138:2a English Standard Version (ESV) I bow down …

Now that we have received the baptism of the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Truth abides with us to teach us all the things that Jesus has to say. Hearing it from the Holy Spirit is hearing it from Jesus, they are One.

John 14:26 English Standard Version (ESV) But 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 have said to you.

To remember anything we must first place this information within the library of the mind. Reading His Holy Word is essential to activating this passage surrounding remembrance. It is also one of our more difficult efforts because of how we must access that storehouse of information. That is where humility gives us our best clue.

We cannot teach a know-it-all anything.

When reading the Word our attitude should be one of emptiness, an empty vessel eager and willing to receive what the Spirit of Truth has to reveal. We have to forget for a moment that we know anything. Humility will allow us to put aside what we think we know and make room to listen as the Holy Spirit speaks to us through His Word. This is the primer, the first best way to hear the Holy Spirit. These first moments of hearing have to come from a place where the mind is quieted and not active in reasoning out what has been taught by preachers and teachers and counselors. We will have plenty of time to sort all that our later.

This exercise is all about hearing the Spirit of Truth and coming to know by faith that God is talking to us in the most personal way. He has opened up the lines of communication, do not close them with pride.