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Men and woman throughout the Bible heard the
voice of God and saw visions. There is a deep hunger within each of us to
know and experience the voice of God. There is a desire to have communion
with God on a daily basis to hear God speak to our heart.
I would like to thank you for allowing me to
share my aggressive search to learn how to hear the voice of God. The
world inundates us with opportunities to access the spiritual realm, and
contact spirits. The world talks about having "spirit guides" of our own.
These New Age influences have caused many Christians to shrink back from
their heritage, and not hear the voice of God. Remember, it was the
privilege of Adam and Eve to walk with God in the cool of the evening.
Jesus said, "My sheep can hear my voice." In
Acts 2:17, we are told that in the last days we would not only dream dreams,
and see visions, but we will be able to hear him. My prayer to God is if
anybody can have this communion, I want it. (To
hear my personal search click audio clips.)
Romans 7:1-7 is seldom preached, but I believe
it shares the key to having an intimate relationship with God that is
FRUITFUL.
[Rom 7:1] Know ye not, brethren, (for I speak
to them that know the law,) how that the law hath dominion over a man as
long as he liveth?
[Rom 7:2] For the woman which hath an husband
is bound by the law to her husband so long as he liveth; but if the husband
be dead, she is loosed from the law of her husband.
[Rom 7:3] So then if, while her husband
liveth, she be married to another man, she shall be called an adulteress:
but if her husband be dead, she is free from that law; so that she is no
adulteress, though she be married to another man.
[Rom 7:4] Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are
become dead to the law by the body of Christ; that ye should be married to
another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth
fruit unto God.
[Rom 7:5] For when we were in the flesh, the
motions of sins, which were by the law, did work in our members to bring
forth fruit unto death.
[Rom 7:6] But now we are delivered from the
law, that being dead wherein we were held; that we should serve in newness
of spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter.
This is a manner of expressing that when we are
no longer married to our ability to keep the law, then we are free to
marry Jesus, as a matter of speaking. When we are free to marry
Jesus, we are free to come into a union or oneness with him. It is only in
the union where fruit is formed and something is birthed.
So how do I hear God? How do I know if it God
speaking to me? Someone suggested, "If you think it is God, ask if it is the
Lord." How many think it might be a problem if I have never heard the voice
of God to hear the answer? If Jesus is within me, then I should be able to
hear him! In fact, Jesus said, "I only do what I see the Father doing. I
only say what I hear the Father saying." So if Jesus is inside me, then I
ought to be able to hear what the Father wants to say.
I had a passion to learn how to worship Him,
like the woman
at the well. She wanted to worship in spirit and in truth. She did not get
bogged down in NOT having a relationship with God. She just wanted to know
how to have a relationship.
In Habakkuk, we find four steps that are key to
hearing God's voice and seeing Him in vision.
[Hab 2:1] I will stand upon my watch, and set
me upon the tower, and will watch to see what he will say unto me, and what
I shall answer when I am reproved.
[Hab 2:2] And the Lord answered me, and said,
Write the vision, and make it plain upon tables, that he may run that
readeth it.
This verse is amazing to me. Notice the verse
says I will watch to see, not listen to hear. This means the prophet could
see what was said, and he could hold on to the vision long enough to write
it, and RUN with it. Certainly Daniel the prophet, and John the Revelator
did also.
One of the most important things to keep in mind
is that we receive like a little child. How do we become like a little
child?
1.
Renounce
any fear of hearing the voice of God, and of Satan's power to confuse me.
Sometimes we may think the power of Satan is stronger. Even though we ask
God for something Biblical, sometimes we are fearful that Satan can bring
confusion and deception.
2.
Would
you like to denounce fear with me? Would you like to denounce the fear of
hearing the voice of God? The word says if we ask our earthly father for a
fish, he would not give us something that would hurt us. How much more will
our Heavenly Father give good things to those who ask him! Whatever I ask in
faith believing, I can believe and I already have what I say!
3.
Would
you like to live with the well of the spirit springing up within? John 4:4
tells me it is a spring that wells up within me.
Have you experienced that flow with the Holy
Spirit of God? We live in the cognitive ability of our mind. We must repent
of living out of what our natural ears and eyes can sense. We must submit
our eyes and ears to God. Romans 6 tells us we must yield all our members
unto God. We are servants to whomever we submit our members to.
The words of John the Apostle tells us that the
Word of God (the Rhema word) is Life, and that life is the Light of men. If
I have the Life of Christ, I am free to tune into the flow of the Rhema Word
of God.
All of God's sheep can hear the voice of God,
not just the gifted ones. Even non-Christians can hear the voice of God. The
Bible is full of stories of people who had no covenant with God, yet they
heard the voice of God.
I would like to share the four spiritual keys
for hearing the voice of God.
1.
God's
voice in our hearts sounds like the flow of spontaneous thoughts.
Therefore, when I tune to God, I tune to spontaneity.
2.
I must
learn to still my own thoughts and emotions so I can sense God's flow of
thoughts and emotions within me. Be still before
God.
3.
As I pray,
I fix the eyes of my heart upon Jesus, seeing in the spirit the dreams and
visions of Almighty God. Watch what God will speak
to you.
4.
Journaling,
the writing out of our prayers and God's answers, provides a great freedom
in hearing God's voice. Record the vision.
These keys will not only work for me, but for
you as well. Practice all of these keys, not just one or two. These keys
are found in Habakkuk 1:1-2.
[Hab 2:1] I will stand upon my watch, and set
me upon the tower, and will watch to see what he will say unto me, and what
I shall answer when I am reproved.
[Hab 2:2] And the Lord answered me, and said,
Write the vision, and make it plain upon tables, that he may run that
readeth it.
Habakkuk knew the sound of God's voice. Elijah
knew the sound of God's voice and described it as a still small voice. I
have always listened to that still small voice, but I was not sure I had
heard it. Passages like this describe the voice of God, and reaffirms they
were hearing God's voice. They were sure enough that they wrote it down.
They were able to make decisions and run with it.
For most of us, the voice of God comes as a
still small spontaneous thought, vision, feeling or an impression. It is not
a booming bass voice. It is not audible. At least it is not heard with human
ears. We must learn to discern what is the voice of God, what is our voice,
and what is the voice of the enemy.
Ever pictured someone's face and had the impression that you should
pray for them? The thought just popped in your mind? Did you hear the
Lord say to pray for a particular person? We generally acknowledge instances
like that in casual conversation. We might say, "I felt like God wanted me
to pray for that person." That is an example of hearing God's voice.
What does the voice of God sound like? It is an
inner still small voice. It is spontaneous. It suddenly pops into your
awareness. You were not trying to figure it out. Many times you were not
even thinking about praying for someone, and suddenly a thought or picture
comes to your mind.
The best was we can describe it is a still small
voice or a spontaneous thought or picture. Many times I receive thoughts,
impressions or feelings that I would not normally experience. Many times
when you hear the Holy Spirit, He is encouraging you to be more loving and
kind, wise or more unselfish than you might choose. You know that is not
your voice, it is the voice of God. The voice of God is noble.
The definition of the
Hebrew word pagá, which is the word for intercession, is a chance
encounter or intersection. When a thought of intercession lights upon
us, we experience the voice of God! A thought intersects with our thought
process. Therefore, when I tune into God, I tune in to a God-encounter.
I must learn to still my own thoughts
and emotions so I can sense God's flow of thoughts and emotions within me.
Be still before God.
I will climb to the lookout tower.
Hab. 2:1-2
That is an expression of being still. If
Habakkuk was going to hear the voice of God, he would have to still his
mind, will and emotions. He would have to tune in to those spontaneous
thoughts in a quiet place. He had to still his own mind, and he had to do it
early in the morning before his mind was crammed with the pressures of the
day.
Some Jewish Rabbis set their clock for exactly 2
hours before dawn because they believe they can hear God the best in the
early morning. They believe that is more revelation in that two hour window.
That is a helpful hint, but not required.
[Psa 46:10] Be still, and know that I am God:
You have to be still to know that He is God. I
want to know God and have a relationship with God. There is a spontaneous
flow in the Spirit when we know that we are connecting with God. I want
living water. I want fresh bread. If anybody can have it, I want it too!
I must quiet my mind and command it to submit to
the Spirit. There are many ways to quiet yourself. First of all, one way is
to connect with God through worship in song.
When we still our thoughts and emotions, we
can enter into His divine flow – into the river of God. That river
that wells up within us! Worship songs help me to position my heart toward
my Creator, and see what He has to say, and to see what He wants me to see.
If my thoughts come spontaneously in a higher and nobler way than I would
normally think, then I believe my prayer has been answered.
I asked the Lord to speak to me or show me
what He would have me to know. I have believed. I have bound other spirits
and no other spirit can affect me or speak to me.
Now if you are like me, as soon as I sit down to
pray many other thoughts crowd in to distract me. I think of all the things
I could be doing with that time. Many of those things are needful things
which should be done. I have learned to keep a pencil and paper available so
I can write these things down in order to acknowledge them. Once I have
given proper attention to that thought, I can dismiss it.
If I have thoughts of unworthiness, guilt or
shame, I repent. I address the unworthiness or shame by telling my spirit
the truth that God says about me.
I am forgiven, and totally accepted.
I am
accepted apart from my performance.
I
have been given a new future. And free from the past.
I am
not only loved, but God has made me loveable in him.
I
receive the washing of the word if I study the word, and the word sustains
me.
As I incubate the Word of God in my spirit,
I am able to hear God and come into agreement with Him. Then I to fix my gaze on Jesus.
When I fix my gaze on Jesus, I am tuning my heart to His divine frequency.
Turn your eyes upon Jesus,
Look full into his wonderful face,
And the things of earth shall grow strangely
dim
In the light of his glory and grace.
When I connect to His glory and grace, the
distractions do become dim. I find that I am actually conversant with the
King of Kings. It is dialogue with Christ who is inside me.
[1 Cor 6:17] But he that is joined unto the
Lord is one spirit.
[John 15:5] I am the vine, ye are the
branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much
fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.
[John 17:21] That they all may be one; as
thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us:
that the world may believe that thou hast sent me.
[John 17:22] And the glory which thou gavest
me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one:
[John 17:23] I in them, and thou in me, that
they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast
sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me.
Are we experiencing being one with the Father?
If we cannot see or hear God, how can that be oneness? If you become still
and focus on Jesus, you will receive the pure word of God. You will not get
a stone instead of a fish. However, if you are not still, you might receive
an echo of your own thoughts. If you are not focused on Jesus, you may have
an impure flow.
But if you focus on Jesus, still your thoughts
and watch to see what God might say, you will hear from God. You will hear
that God is giving you the desire of your heart. You will sense the
intuitive flow when you become still before God, and fix your eyes upon him.
As I pray, I fix the eyes of my heart
upon Jesus, seeing vision in the Holy Spirit.
Watch what God will speak to you.
We have already alluded to this principle. It is
interesting to notice that Habakkuk recorded the vision. Furthermore,
Habakkuk started looking for the vision as he prayed. He went into prayer
expecting vision. He went into prayer expecting to hear. Habakkuk went to a
special place, and expected to see and hear God. He determined to open the
eyes of his heart and the ears of his spirit. He decided to look into the
spiritual realm and to see what God wanted to show him.
Have you ever thought about opening your eyes to
look for vision or opening your ears to hear God? Have you submitted your
eyes and ears to God? God put us here in order to have communion with us.
How do we start? Look. Habakkuk said he was
going to look to see what God might say to him. Daniel saw visions in his
mind. Not only did he look, but he kept looking.
[Dan 7:1] In the first year of Belshazzar
king of Babylon Daniel had a dream and visions of his head upon his bed:
then he wrote the dream, and told the sum of the matters.
[Dan 7:7] After this I saw in the night
visions . . .
[Dan 7:9] I beheld till the thrones were cast
down . . .
[Dan 7:11] I beheld then . . .
[Dan 7:13] I saw in the night visions, and,
behold, one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to
the Ancient of days, and they brought him near before him.
I also see the same pattern in the Book of
Revelation where John saw visions. He looked. He kept looking, and he wrote
them down. So now when I pray, I am starting to watch to see what he will
speak to me. I will do what the Father says to do in vision, and say what
the Father says to say.
The name of Jesus is Emanuel, meaning God with
us. Why is he with us? He is with us so we can receive the divine
spontaneous flow of thoughts. He is present within us. The Psalmist said, Be
still, and know that I am God. God is willing and able to communicate with
us.
As we surrender our ears and eyes, we watch to
see what God wants us to see. Instead of running in panic or doubt, we
believe that whatever we see is from God. Doubt is an effective weapon of
Satan. But we can believe that God answers prayer and whatever we see
next is from him?
If we believe what we see is from the Holy
One, we can record it. We can run with it. But do not run with it unless we
submit the record to those who have spiritual oversight for us so they may
confirm it is either is from God, or if we need to pray about it some more, or
that it is not God at all. God continually revealed himself in the Bible to
his covenant people by dreams and visions. Why would he not do the same for
us?
In Acts 2:1-4, God confirmed at Pentecost that
the people could expect to receive dreams and visions from God. Jesus of
Nazareth demonstrated that it was possible to live out of an on-going
conversation with God – seeing and hearing what the Father wanted done.
Jesus said we would have that ability as well. He said he did nothing on his
own initiative, and we do not have to either. He said he did what he saw the
Father doing. We can do the same. God is ready and willing to show us and
tell us what He wants done. Christ is in us, and is able to do it.
It is Christ in me, the hope of glory. It
is by the power and presence OF the Risen Christ that we live the Christian life.
It is His power and His faith according to Gal. 2:20. Christ in YOU, is the mystery of the Gospel.
Col. 1:27
Journaling, the writing out of our
prayers and God's answers, provides a great freedom in hearing God's
voice. Record the vision.
Whenever we write something it imprints it upon
our mind. It is more likely to go into our recall memory. It is also better
to write it by hand than to type it, but that is not a requirement. God told
the prophet in Habakkuk 2:2 to write the vision, and record it on tablets.
But the question is, "Has it ever occurred to you to write your prayers?"
That is not quite the same as Habakkuk was
doing. He was writing whole conversations with God. Try this: write out the
scripture passages you feel God has put upon your heart, and what it means
to you. Then write out your response.
You will find many examples of journaling in the
Bible. We would not have the Psalms of David. It was a habit of David. He
poured out his heart to God. Sometimes he poured out ungodly thoughts to
God, but he always came back to agreement with God.
There is a quality which comes with this
practice which helps to escalate the process. It helps us to come into
agreement and fellowship with God. It helps us to have a pure heart much
more quickly. It is a facilitator to help us tune into the
spontaneous flow of the Holy Spirit, his guidance and his will for our
lives.
Write in faith! Do not quench it because that
will shut off the flow. You can share or test it later with a responsible
person, but do not be quick to share it with everybody. Some things are
meant to be kept close to your heart, and pondered.
When you doubt, you will hinder the spirit of
God. Doubt will shut you off from the flow. But come in faith! This is
Biblical. There are strong examples in the Bible. Choose. Choose to continue
to look into the vision actively, and continue to listen.
Do not take yourself too seriously. Do not be
tense or anxious. Enter into the rest. Stay in the flow. Believe that God
has initiated the flow of the spirit. Write your questions for God. Listen
and look for the answers, and you will begin to receive those answers. Those
spontaneous thoughts will come as fast as or faster than you can record
them.
I challenge you to do all four steps.
Doing one or two steps has not worked well in the past, and probably will
not in the future. Pray in faith believing that God is the rewarder of those
who diligently seek him. You can journal and stay in faith for an extended
period of time. You can test it later. You should have people in place who
are willing and able to test those things. They can let you know whether
they believe it is from God, or do not believe it is from God, or you need
to pray about it longer.
Are you ready to step into the river of God?
Are you ready to yield your ears and eyes to
God?
Are you ready to tune into the flow of
spontaneous thoughts and visions?
Are you ready to watch to see what God will say
to you?
Are you willing to submit to what God might
say to you?
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I will caution to you to read the New Testament
all the way through if you have not already done so. Make a habit of staying
in the Word! You should know the biblical foundations and boundaries. Make
sure you have a mentor in the area of hearing God who has a biblical
foundation as well. |
