Differing opinions, beliefs and ideas bombard you almost daily.
Many voices. Many are popular – which can tempt us.
Your choosing of what to do becomes more difficult.
The enemy is screaming – now!
And Holy Spirit is whispering – now.
Both are authentic experiences: the loud Adversarial world system, and the Presence, power and love of God: the Kingdom of God – the holy system.
Which will we trust, rely on, and depend upon?
You are a person of God. You have authority in your sphere of influence. You can rise and transform the environment and atmosphere around you.
When you listen to, respond to and obey the whisper of Holy Spirit instead of listening to the screaming of pain, panic, fear and anger of the Adversary – you help enforce God’s Kingdom.
How God answers prayer or how he speaks to youis a part of his answeror instruction to you that prepares and equips you to respond. Transforming you to be better able to pray and to act and to get God’s will done. So you can better do your part. And so you grow more and more into his likeness as you gaze upon him.
Some examples of the distinct ways God speaks to us, his “Voices”:
Fear of God – holy awe establishes your relationship with God correctly. Enables you to hear more and to hear better. To pay deep attention. Aligns your values. Opens your ability to receive wisdom and all gifts from our Lord. Begin, always, with holy awe. (Here is an interesting and fascinating paradox. God is utterly transcendent & awesome. And yet Jesus is also our friend. He is awesome and he is personal and also trustworthy.)
Scriptures – Not only teaches us, but gives us the standards by which we can understand and recognize God and his messages.What we receive will not contradict scriptures.
Still Small Voice – God asks you to be to be attentive and responsive. You are extra clear who this is from – from I Am (The Lord) – directly to you. (I Am is Yahweh, a personal name for God. Relating directlyto you.) God increases, automatically, your experience of your accountability. You are extra certain that the correct answer is, “Yes!”
Inner knowing – Knowing that you know that you know – providing you with deep inner certainty and even greater confidence. Increasing your ability to act and have great faith that empowers you to step out and risks.
Fruit of the Spirit – Especially love. God’s love spills through you to others. For ministry, and to just love, love and love! Equips you to obey the Great Commandment, to love God with all your heart, mind and soul – which is a lot of love! To love others with the same love.
Dreams, visions, parables – God calls you to dig deeper, and to seek actively. Increases your motivation and ability to apply what he says (to the right person, situation or context).
Words of Knowledge – Insight into how someone or a situation is. Often analogue (mediated through the right brain), that calls for you to identify correctly a particular ministry target (person, place, etc.) Or pray for the person or situation to Holy Spirit helps you to identify. You get to experience aspects of God’s chosen target. Giving you additional insight.
Gift of Wisdom – Enables you to know better how to act and apply with greater wisdom. Tells you what to do with what you know.
Trance – A trance focuses our attention completely onto what God is showing or telling us. Especially useful when an idea is hard to accept – you know you have received this message.
Angels – Angels are messengers. An angel is a messenger. And they can carry the atmosphere of the throne room of God. They are mighty, sometimes huge. Sometimes so much that people receiving a message from an angel will become so weak they cannot stand. Angels communicate great authority.All of this makes our standing on our own authority much less likely. Your attention has been strongly grabbed. So a message of great importance, that carries a lot of weight, that has huge consequences can be communicated without any doubt. We are sure of what we have received.
Thoughts in our own minds – Especially useful to help us identify with those thoughts and impressions as being owned by us. Especially useful when what is important is the message but not the Authority or Author of the message. Seems ordinary and we have little resistance to thoughts that seem to be ours and that indeed may be ours. But which could also be from God.
Nature – God’s creation and beauty are for me a reliable context for me to hear God in. And for many other people. God speaks to us through his creation. I can go look at and be in the midst of God’s creation, on purpose, and I will easily hear God and I know it. I am grateful for such grace when I sometimes have too much difficulty hearing God.
Beauty and art – When we are inspired by great music, beauty of any kind, great art – opens us to appreciate and receive inspiration.
Worship – Opens us to God and what God says much like beauty and art can. Only we are establishing our experience of relationship on purpose. Gratitude and praise make it easier to hear God. Being reminded of previous experiences with God makes it much easier for us to be ready to experience and hear again.
Unanswered Prayer – This is surprising, yet unanswered prayer can cause us to investigate our previous prayers and ourselves as we seek additional insight about why.
Answered Prayer – Causes us to give thanks, be grateful, rejoice. All of which helps us be more ready to hear what God has to say to us. We are prepared and ready to listen and to do as God says.
Conscience – Causes us to correct our ways.
Correction – When God corrects me, he has my attention and my immediately stronger than normal readiness for me to agree to whatever I am being told to correct. Other people have told me they experience much of the same.
Signs & Wonders – Literally point to messages from God, such as how much he loves us and wants to do for us. Help us to be exceedingly grateful! At which time a leap in our devotion and determination to relate and respond well to God is more likely to occur.
Animals – Animals talk to us, and sometimes we hear. Nearly always, we learn. Sometimes God speaks to us through animals – so pay attention and be ready!
Peace – Peace can be a clear signal of God’s agreement with something, a message or a thought. (Lack of peace may show that there is no agreement from God.) I have a friend who found another place to live that looks wonderful – and who has no peace about it. Which he realized means that at least for now, God is not pointing him in that direction.
Coincidences – helps you learn to pay attention to, identify and respond with awe and great attention to Divine Appointments. Increasing your appreciation for and awe of God.
Other people – who affirm or inform can be comforting. Confidence building. And especially helps you experience community. Experiencing community with other members of the Body of Christ, especially as you are gathered in His name – gives you an experience of Jesus among you. And more! What few people notice consciously, but experience at least a taste of, is that you are having an experience of communing with and in Trinity. The community of God! You get to share in the communion of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit — the family that birthed you anew! Your most genuine family. And this is just a beginning of what will happen….
Silence – From: Oswald Chambers, “My Utmost for His Highest, Updated Edition”, (p. 285). Discovery House. Kindle Edition:
October 11 GOD’S SILENCE—THEN WHAT? “When He heard that he was sick, He stayed two more days in the place where He was.” John 11:6 Has God trusted you with His silence—a silence that has great meaning? God’s silences are actually His answers. Just think of those days of absolute silence in the home at Bethany! Is there anything comparable to those days in your life? Can God trust you like that, or are you still asking Him for a visible answer? God will give you the very blessings you ask if you refuse to go any further without them, but His silence is the sign that He is bringing you into an even more wonderful understanding of Himself. Are you mourning before God because you have not had an audible response? When you cannot hear God, you will find that He has trusted you in the most intimate way possible—with absolute silence, not a silence of despair, but one of pleasure, because He saw that you could withstand an even bigger revelation. If God has given you a silence, then praise Him—He is bringing you into the mainstream of His purposes. The actual evidence of the answer in time is simply a matter of God’s sovereignty. Time is nothing to God. For a while you may have said, “I asked God to give me bread, but He gave me a stone instead” (see Matthew 7:9). He did not give you a stone, and today you find that He gave you the “bread of life” (John 6:35). A wonderful thing about God’s silence is that His stillness is contagious—it gets into you, causing you to become perfectly confident so that you can honestly say, “I know that God has heard me.” His silence is the very proof that He has. As long as you have the idea that God will always bless you in answer to prayer, He will do it, but He will never give you the grace of His silence. If Jesus Christ is bringing you into the understanding that prayer is for the glorifying of His Father, then He will give you the first sign of His intimacy—silence.
Chambers, Oswald. My Utmost for His Highest, Updated Edition (p. 285). Discovery House. Kindle Edition.
P.S. I just found this. What a wonderful addition to this article, or even an improved substitute:Guest Post: Hearing God’s Voice
First, I encourage you to ask for more of Holy Spirit, and listen to what Holy Spirit has to say to you or to confirm to you.
Remember – to prophesy is to say what God is saying that he wants said. A prophecy is actually a report. And because you have Holy Spirit in you, you have a means of receiving confirmation or denial of that report.
I am reporting to you, a report to which I am a witness.
You are seeing Covid-19 create great stress for most of us, and in a growing variety of ways. Which makes all this even harder to deal with.
There is disease and there is death. Fear of death. Grief at death. Financial hardship. Pressure on individuals, families and even groups.
Lies and fear of lies. Sometimes even great difficulty in knowing what is true.
There is anxiety, fear, and anger. Judgement of others or of us, and judgement of all kinds in politics.
We do not understand how long this will go on.
Opinions, strong ones, vary so much that reaching a consensus or even knowing what’s real can be hard. Too hard.
We are all being shaken. What can be shaken, will be shaken. Only what can not be shaken will remain. (See Hebrews 12:26-29.)
That’s awful news – and it’s because we live in a broken world, full of curses, ruled by an adversarial kingdom – a world ruled by the Adversary.
Here’s some wonderful news that changes everything.
First, there is God’s part:
-1. Everything will be wonderful. The world is being re-made. Everything and everyone – all of us, are being shaken. So what is not good, sufficient, and real in the Kingdom – can fall, being shaken away. (Reminds me of fire that burns all that can be burnt.) It will be hard in the meantime. Sometimes really hard! And in the end of this shaking, our world is re-made and God transforms things for your good.
God’s rule replaces adversarial and worldly ways led by Satan. Because:
-2. The rule and Kingdom of God are within your reach – is literally at hand. (So you can reach and bring God’s rule – his Kingdom, into all areas of your life. Especially where evil is happening.)
Second, there is our part:
-3. You get to have a profound change of mind and heart about how we live. We get to depend entirely on God instead of depending on the world and worldly things for our support and lives, and for our wonderful quality of life. On our King: Jesus Christ. And on God’s rule: the Kingdom of God. To trust in and believe in God and his Kingdom rule in all parts of our lives.Instead of trusting and depending on the Adversaries rule, and instead of trusting the world and worldly things.
You get to be free of the Adversary and his works and to live in the Kingdom of God. We get to live with the King, who is with us and for us – always. God shakes and renews. God is remaking the world for our benefit. And we will be glad that the shaking is over and done!
I say that this is wonderful news!
You can ask Jesus to show you how to respond creatively, patiently, and with lasting single minded determination and you can live in right standing with God, joy and Holy Spirit rather than in anxiety, fear, anger or judgement.
Now. Ask Jesus to show you how to succeed in his Kingdom. Pause, listen, and be attentive to what you experience – receive guidance and practical help. Your Comforter and Guide, Holy Spirit, will direct your steps and comfort you through today’s difficulties. Hear God today and write in your Journal what you receive so you remember and do what God shows and tells you to do.
Please apply this view as an overlay to how you see the virus and what results from it.
Please apply this to your sphere of influence – this is where you get to minister the Kingdom of God into.
He tells us to free the bound, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, and make disciples of all people groups. He shows, but does not tell us it’s the same underlying process.
I believe if the dead were unwilling to be raised, they would not be: it needs agreement.
Miracles involving people being healed or freed seem to require some agreement; it takes some decision.
Miracles involving things such as calming a storm – he commands. Yet we hear not of water being turned into wine – was it implicit? (He told his mother what to do – was that enough? The rest implicit? I wonder….)
He commanded a storm, commands material things & demons – neither of which have their own authority and are under his authority. Now our authority, too. I do not recall him explaining such differences. He showed us differences.
I can’t claim to know every example and that I can even explain every example. What I can tell you is this: watch what Jesus shows us and listen to what he tells us with words. You may learn something new and even something wonderful.
This process makes ministering with power, faith and love – easier. Knowing this process, you are more than clear about what to do next. Also, how to help someone take that next step.
I call this The Gospel Process.
The Gospel Process underlies the structure of how Jesus Ministered. He taught the Good News of the Kingdom of God. But preaching or teaching that Gospel is not the underlying process, although it uses that process. He often taught us to heal in that context. A context which changed the atmosphere, told an essential truth confirmed in listeners by Holy Spirit. Creating the atmosphere of the Anointed, his Anointing, and the Kingdom of Heaven.
If you want to minister more like Jesus, learn The Gospel Process and put it to work when you minister. When your ministry has been successful, you are probably already applying this process.
Like so much of what Jesus teaches & shows, this can work explicitly or implicitly. (You can look for and notice how he did this in Scriptures. You can learn a lot, especially if this is new to you and when you are ready to learn.)
Ministering healing and freeing people from unclean spirits is much more simple and easy when you understand The Gospel Process and allow it to work in and through your ministry.
The Gospel of the Kingdom of God taught in the shortest form in your bible is in Mark 1:15:
Now is the time, the Kingdom of God is at hand (within reach); repent (make a new and better God-oriented, Kingdom oriented decision) and believe (rely, trust, and depend upon the Kingdom of God – and our King).
This scripture reveals the process when you read and meditate on this description. The process looks something like this:
(Hear the Word of God, because faith comes by such hearing, with the help of Holy Spirit confirming that truth to our spirit: have faith!)
Now. The time has finally come, and the time is now. (No other time is available; only now.)
The time – a Kairos moment, a Divine Appointment, if you will accept it being said this way.
Make a new decision, turning from your old life and orienting totally around the King and the Kingdom (rule) of God.
Believe and trust in the King and his Kingdom.
Now…notice especially the actions, the inner actions of the person hearing and acting on this:
Hear God’s Word and choose faith.
Make a new decision that totally turns around your life. Turning away from how you’ve been to orienting completely towards your new and alternative way of living – towards the King and his Kingdom.
Trusts and believe in God and his Kingdom.
Put those inner actions together and you have a process.
The same process that underlies and is The Gospel Process:
Hear God’s word and choose to trust it, having faith. (Sometimes this is done implicitly, and that’s another article)
In healing, a person at some deep level decides to be healed, to accept healing. Like the hemorrhaging woman who was so determined to touch the hem of the garments of Jesus (his fringes, or tallis) and receive healing: bringing her faith into contact with his Anointing. Her determination was so single minded and great that it reminds me of the being single and not double minded as in James 1. She already had great faith and determination. (From an experiential point of view, it’s hard to tell any difference between great determination and faith.)
In exorcism, like the man who ran to the feet of Jesus before a legion of demons could overcome and prevent him, he ran to Jesus and fell at his feet. He already wanted to be freed! Jesus then used his authority and power (which he gave to his disciples and to us) to tell Legion to leave, and even how to leave.
In healing – with the help of Holy Spirit, faith, love, power and authority – already given by Jesus, we encourage and help someone decide to be healed (or decide to receive healing).
In exorcism, or freeing someone from one or more unclean spirits – with the help of Holy Spirit, faith, love, power and authority – already given by Jesus, we encourage and help someone decide to be freed healed (or decide to receive freedom).
So….
+In each case (healing or exorcism) we create an atmosphere of faith and the experience of the Presence of God (with Holy Spirit and by saying what God says so Holy Spirit can confirm this to the spirit of the person being helped) for God’s work to happen.
+We help or encourage them to make a new decision, orienting around God’s truth instead of orienting around their previous problems.
+To trust, rely on and believe in this new Kingdom of God reality. That is, to believe.
=This, put together, is The Gospel Process. It’s the same process that undergirds the Preaching or Teaching of the Good News of the Kingdom of God, and that works in creating a context for ministering healing or freedom.
I believe this is also true for cleansing lepers (a kind of healing, in my view) and for raising the dead – though I have not yet done these two things. I’m convinced that it’s the same Gospel Process at work.
Oh – and I did not yet mention that this same process undergirds the making of disciples. Again and again – from the first decision to follow Jesus and do what he said, to deciding to receive and act on every other moment of teaching.
The Gospel Process undergirds the entire (every step of) the Great Commission as in Matthew 28!
Now…review this. Follow the links and review what’s written on this page. And pray – talk with and listen to God. And meditate.
Get personal revelation about this through Holy Spirit. Write that revelation in your Journal. Whether it’s a Prayer Journal like mine, or any other journal for this. And if you do not have one, please start one.
And get your own personal revelation and insight on this. Then be a real disciple – apply what you are learning. And as you make other disciples or help disciple other disciples (or as you disciple each other) – share this and help them have their own revelation of this, too. And encourage them to apply what they are learning in their ministry.
Disciples perhaps for generations – and those healed or set free – will be glad for such powerful and effective ministry. Even if they do not know all the details of what happened and how you ministered with power, faith and with love.
It has long been my observation that Jesus would sometimes speak metaphorically, while speaking of it as if he were speaking literally. (See John 3:1-7, for example.) I suspect this is a way of shocking his listeners. This was especially strong when he was saying to eat his flesh and drink his blood. He lost listeners. He had to know what was happening; and he did it anyway.
This has had such a powerful impact that down through the years this still gains great attention and thought. Jesus did this on purpose, I believe. And not infrequently, either. It’s part of the way Jesus surprises us with how he communicates.
Surprising communication gains attention and thought. This is part of how Jesus communicates. On purpose. Even today….
Would you like to learn and practice learning how to communicate like Jesus? (I know I am eager to do this. Easier to say than to do.)
I could have inserted “Sometimes” in the title but did not. How am I doing? A bit of shock and confusion? If I succeed, you will remember this.
Praying just may work more powerfully and wonderfully with prayer partners. And there are simple, easy and very different ways of doing this.
You can ask Jesus to pray with you. Your Helper to pray with you. Both! And you can ask Father, who also loves to help you pray.
Jesus often sent his disciples out in pairs. Apostles frequently went with a partner.
If you go to minister, take a partner. If you can’t take one, find one on the way or where you are going to minister. Ask them to partner with you.
Explain in advance what you intend to do and what you expect. Discuss afterwards how things went, so you both can review and learn. This is key to disciple making, by the way!
You can ask them to help you with practical details and to help things go more smoothly. Allow them to make a vital contribution this way.
You will discover that most of the time when you pray with a prayer partner, your prayers are not only better, more inspired, loving and powerful – you’ll discover that you get better results, too.
When you have a group present – ask the people to pray for you, to pray for the person ministering. That you follow Jesus better, and minister with love, faith and power even more effectively. This usually has very noticeable effects. It draws the group in. It helps them help minister to you.
It multiplies the power of your ministry.Many effective minsters have people pray before, during and after ministry time. More effective ministry happens: the ministering person is more inspired and inspiring. More gifted. The power of Holy Spirit is more noticeable.
Have prayer partners with you. Have prayer partners who are part of your regular intercessory team – those who intercede for your family, for you and your ministry. All will be more safe and more effective. Have prayer partners at a distance.
Have as many prayer partners as you can, near and far. Before, during and after ministry. Which is especially valuable when you are traveling to minister in any way, including teaching. Everyone is safer, more gifted at giving and receiving. More full of compassion and Holy Spirit. More powerful and effective.
A disciple is someone who learns and who applies and practices what they are learning. It’s a lot like an apprenticeship.
Making apprentices of Jesus who grow into living and ministering more like Jesus is part of your job. (See Matthew 28, for example.)
When you go to minister, take a partner. If you can’t take one, find one on the way or where you are going to minister. Ask them to partner with you.
Explain in advance what you intend to do and what you expect. Discuss afterwards how things went, so you both can review and learn. This is key to disciple making, by the way!
You can ask them to help you with practical details and to help things go more smoothly. Allow them to make a vital contribution this way.
When one of you talks, the other prays. This adds value to the ministry, and hugely. When someone else is praying for you, you can usually notice that you seem smarter, more inspired and more gifted. Do not deny this to the people you are ministering to. Have people pray for you and you pray for other people – see, this can be done in groups!
When you have a group present – ask the people to pray for you, to pray for the person ministering. That you follow Jesus better, and minister with love, faith and power even more effectively. This usually has very noticeable affects. It draws the group in. It helps them help minister to you. It multiplies the power of your ministry. Many effective minsters have people pray before, during and after ministry time. More effective ministry happens: the ministering person is more inspired and inspiring. More gifted. The power of Holy Spirit is more noticeable.
You may notice that you are doing some disciple making with the people in the group.
You can do this even when the group has non-Christians in it or when it’s entirely non-Christian. What a great way to plant seeds and to get people to share in ministry. Remember – when they are with you this way they are more likely for you and not against you and what you are doing.
Be a disciple. Learn and grow into being more like Jesus. Help others do the same – occasionally – and with some people on an ongoing basis.
It’s amazing how much you’ll learn by being a disciple maker.
And…you’ll notice that your life and ministry are never the same again, after you start making disciples – apprentices for Jesus – on purpose. What a great way to more easily and more quickly learn, grow, become a better disciple.
I’ll focus on Jesus – which is easier for many of us and is a splendid fallback position when you are not doing as well or being as resourceful as you prefer. You can talk to one, two, or all of the Trinity – one at a time or together.
This is your genuine family. The root and basis of who you really are.
So…to minister with Jesus, or through Jesus when you need to depend on him even more and especially when you are not ready to be more active, here’s how to experience this.
Tell Jesus what’s on your heart. Ask for guidance or how to pray, just as in the links above. Or, when you want to intercede and ask God to help – ask Jesus to take care of what is already on your heart. It’s a brilliant way to intercede. Intercession is asking God to do something for someone – so literally do this!
Minister with Jesus. Minister through Jesus. You can do this. And it’s as easy as having a conversation. Because that’s what prayer is – having a conversation where you share your heart and where you are attentive to and allow Jesus to share his heart with you.
He loves you that much. He wants to minister that much. He wants to minister with you and through you. And he loves it when you minister with him – and when you minister through him. He loves this much.
So minister with Jesus. Minister through Jesus. Love and serve, with and through our Lord and Savior. You can do this! He makes it easy.
Put your compassion to work. Add your faith – you only need a teeny, mustard seed size bit of faith. Or have someone pray with you and allow them to use their faith. This is one of many excellent reasons for having prayer partners. (More on Prayer Partners, soon.)
A lot of us are very confused about what the Scriptures say about the Law. Especially from sections of the Old Testament.
The word translated so often as “law” comes from the Hebrew word Torah. People frequently think the Torah means law. It can. It can also be translated, I am told, as “Teachings”.
I like “Teachings” better. I have, like a lot of us, a lot of baggage around the word “law”. Baggage makes it harder to be receptive.
Personally, I love the notion that God teaches. I love to do what God teaches to do and to avoid what God teaches us not to do. (I also love the results that come from doing as he teaches.)
Deuteronomy 28 is pretty simple, even though we humans can make it complicated. It boils down to this: when we do what God teaches us to do, we experience what human beings experience as blessings. All sorts of Good Stuff. When we do what God teaches us not to do, we experience what feels like curses; we feel cursed. All sorts of bad stuff.
God does not actually curse us any more than a parent curses a child who grabs the handle of a hot iron skillet when a parent says not to do that. The child experiences consequences of what the parent told them – tried to teach them – to not do.
Human traditions (too often twisted traditions) and the way Scripture is often translated can make this seem far worse than it is. God is not mean or judgemental. Those are things we humans (too often) do.
When we do what God teaches us to do, we experience what seems like blessings. Hurray!
Behind any behavior – holy act or sin – are a collection of attitudes and beliefs. Which are easily passed on in a family. For generations, sometimes. A collection of such attitudes and beliefs can lead to behaviors – even to sin. Or to holiness (being set apart to God).
Attitudes and beliefs, passed on, can even lead to behaviors – not experienced for generations – being done anew. Being done again.
Even sinful or holy behaviors.
Then it looks like behaviors which are in aline with what God teaches or against what God teaches – can be re-created. Generated anew, even after generations.
A behavior that goes against what God teaches can be passed down easily for 3-4 generations. A behavior which God teaches – with a collection of attitudes and beliefs – can be passed down for many, many generations. It’s self-reinforcing! Of course it gets passed down more.
So clearing generational curses is simple. Repent on behalf of what needs a transformed mind about – what you and your ancestors believed and did that is not in line with what God chooses. (Easy – choose to love God with all your heart, mind and strength. Receive Gods love and let it spill over, automatically, to all others.) Choose what is in line with the Kingdom of God. Repent and believe in the Kings way of doing things in the Kingdom.
Teach this to anyone you can, especially children. Especially children you are responsible for.
You not only clear “generational curses”, you can also be the first generation of a long, long line of generational blessings!
