Impressions, by Martin Wells Knapp, 40

In a previous excerpt, Knapp stated that there are four features of "impressions" from God. These are Scriptural; Right (consistent with good morals); Providential (in harmony with God's will); and Reasonable. His discussion of "Impressions from Above" continues:

One Must be Dead. Dead to sin, to self, and dead to the world.

So dead to all voices from sinful and doubtful sources that they will influence our actions no more than if they had been silent. In the stillness of the funeral of self the voices from the skies are clearly heard. Therefore, "likewise reckon yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord."

Be Filled with the Spirit. This is the all important preparation. It includes all of the others. It gives an insight into Satan's devices that can be possessed in no other way. It gives the ears a keen discernment that will detect the slightest deviation of any impression from the four-fold harmony.

"To him who is crucified to self," says Dr. Watson; "The Holy Spirit grants an illumination and direction, incomprehensible to imperfect believers. He can discern in the providence of the Father a special significance and minuteness which others are blind to. He can detect clear indications of God's will in the written Word which others grossly stumble over, and besides these he can hear that inner voice of the Spirit, can know the touches of a divine finger on his soul impelling him along his
God-given orbit."

Fully possessed of the Spirit, the soul becomes a magnet which draws to itself all good impressions, but leaves the dross behind.

It is, therefore, a qualification of being divinely led of such paramount importance that Jesus would allow no preacher, after the opening of the Holy Ghost dispensation, to go forth without it, and the church in its purity as it came fresh from the mind of God selected only those thus filled to oversee her temporal concerns. Acts 6:3.

He who meets the above conditions will be at his best to discern the nature of all impressions. Though like Job he may sometimes be sorely tried, yet God will not permit him to "walk in darkness."

Above all the din of voices which are not divine, he will be able to hear the still small voice saying: "This is the way, walk ye in it." Though Satan may come as an "angel of light," yet his presence will pale before the celestial sunshine which illuminates within, and his icy waves of false light will be lost amid the burning beams of the sun which never sets. Hallelujah! 

Excerpted from Impressions, by Martin Wells Knapp. Original publication date, 1892. Public domain. My source is here. The previous post in the series is here.