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Conversation with God Glory Hearing God Holy Spirit Presence of God

Hearing God Better – When, Where, Who, How?

A thing of huge value is to notice, learn, value and act on — is what helps you hear God better. And in helping you experience better his holy Presence. Who or what helps you better experience his Glory.

A close friend of mine does best with worship with music and dance. The more she worships, especially with music and dance – the better she is able to appreciate the Glory & Presence of God; and what God says to her.

I, on the other hand, prefer to worship in silence and awe. The more I am silent and attentive, the more Presence, and also the more Glory I experience. The more I hear from God.

Presence I notice more easily, like a lot of us, in a particular place. Just like the Presence of a person – or better yet, a Person!

I also especially do well in nature. Fields, woods, mountains, rivers, desert, it all speaks to me of God and I hear God more when in what I more easily notice as his Creation.

Music. Beauty of all kinds. Even dance!

I also love churches of all kinds. Where I can visit, enter, and spend time in prayer.

I have other friends who do exceptionally well when with other people. Especially worshiping people, or prophetically inclined people. When I am with such people, Holy Spirit just flows and flows….

Pay careful attention to and note what helps you experience more of God. You may be like me, and have several good ways that are inspiring and helpful for you.

The more ways that are good for you, the better. The more circumstances, places, & kinds of people can help you do better with experiencing God!

Utilize such places, circumstances and people – often!

You’ll be glad you did. So will God be. He’s waiting for you — now!

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Conversation with God Getting Help Hearing God Prayer

God Answers Quickly!

Ask God.

Ask with total openness and vulnerability. Be wide open as you ask. (My friend, Dan Carl, first put this into words for me.)

Ask for how to pray. Also, ask for Guidance. Ask God…even just cry out, “Lord!?!” He already knows what you need.

And pay attention to what comes into your awareness right away. What comes quickly!

It will probably surprise you to notice how quickly God answers.

I see that God answers far faster than I ever expected or thought.

Usually you do not have to wait long. What it requires is that we be being attentive. Paying attention. Ready to notice. And ready far faster and more quickly than they have trained you to expect or notice.

I wonder…how much do we not hear God because he answered far more quickly than we expected?

(I encourage you to follow the early links to the other related articles. Which allows this article to be shorter than if I repeated it all here.)

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Conversation with God Hearing God Joy Prayer Trinity

Invitation to Encounter

Every time you want more of God, Every time God whispers or speaks to you, every time you simply long or more — our Lord speaking to you, directly and indirectly. Inviting you to a further encounter with him.

The Trinity speaks to you. You may speak to the Trinity, all at once or individually. I encourage you to explore both — you may be wonderfully surprised. I certainly was. Again, and again and again – I am surprised!

God’s first language is not English. The whisper of Still Small Voice is without words, even – though it can be translated into words. More or less. A Gift of Knowledge may come as a memory, an association, a symbol, something perhaps seen, maybe heard, often felt. All kinds of ways. Through co-incidences. It’s fairly safe to say that God speaks to you in all ways possible.

Can it be that every time God speaks to you in different ways, it is a different form of a Gift of Knowledge? If so, and you accept this, then you are receiving Gifts of Knowledge far more often than you probably have thought. You may be receiving but not yet noticing other gifts as well.

Spiritual Gifts of every kind are more frequent than most of us believe, and each one – each time – is an invitation to encounter.

So don’t just pay attention to your favorite ways like I have done for too long. You’ll miss too much.

God’s different ways of speaking to you is for his purposes. And they serve well for his purposes. So pay attention to a connection of how you “hear” and his purposes; your learning to hear will speed up tremendously.

Each way God speaks to you is an invitation to an encounter with him.

I don’t really know yet if God speaks to us all the time. At times I have certainly thought so, and I’ve found this can be a useful assumption — it gets me to listen much more often and much better, too.

I’ve often wondered why there is no name in Scriptures for God like, “Lord of Surprises”. Because he surprises me so often.

Revelation is usually a surprise – something new or a new deepening of something known.

Now here’s a surprise about revelation. Every revelation is not just an uncovering of an answer or mystery or a drawing of a curtain back onto information – it is also something that’s about the very nature of God.

A revelation is also revelation about the nature of God. If you will receive it, a revelation is an encounter with an aspect of God. That can take you closer to a more complete form of wholeness. It’s a revelation that transforms you. An encounter that transforms you. And that helps you be a bit more like God is.

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Conversation with God Discipleship Getting Help Hearing God Holy Spirit Journal Key Article Ministry Prayer

Get Guidance & Persist

Ask for Guidance. Best is to be full of Holy Spirit, first. Easier to notice and receive.

When you receive Guidance, make note of it. Best is to write it in your Prayer Journal or Conversation with God Journal, or Guidance Journal – best is with your own handwriting, but a computer will do.

Pray for your Guidance to succeed. That you will be faithful and follow through to see whatever is about is finished and complete.

Getting Guidance isn’t enough. We need to follow through. To complete what the Guidance is about. So praying for that is also a “best practice”.

Journal about your guidance. It’s an excellent way of supporting yourself, so you remember better and follow through.

An outstanding idea is to get support from people who want to encourage and support you and help you do what is valuable and important to you. Just because it is important and valuable to you.

If you do not have such support, go get some! You can even ask for Guidance how to best do this.

And – follow through. <warm grin>

Persist in following the Guidance gives you. The Guidance you receive is God telling you not only how to do something, but if you think about it or ask God – it’s also God telling you what to do. You have heard God’s “Voice” for this. It empowers you to do what God said to do. To do otherwise is to fail to do what God has asked you to do. Oops!

Persist. Until the doing of what you have asked for Guidance about – is complete and done. Finished!

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Anointing Holy Spirit Kingdom of God

What is the Experience of the Anointing?

The human experience of the Anointing is of extraordinary value.

Jesus, in Luke 4, tells us what the Anointing is for. He quotes Isaiah 61 to do so; it’s that important. This is literally about the Good News (of the Kingdom of God, which Jesus preached).

Jesus was give the Holy Spirit for important purposes. Such as to bring the Good News (the Gospel). To heal the sick and free prisoners and captives. And much more. He was Anointed, he was Christ – which is a Greek transliteration for Anointed One.

See, the Anointing is the experience of Holy Spirit for a purpose. To set us free from the schemes of the devil, to minister with power and love. Go read Luke 4 or Isaiah 61.

The human experience of the Anointing is Holy Spirit given for Father’s purposes. For the purposes of the Mission of Jesus.

Good theology can clarify many other valuable things about the Anointing. What the human experience of the Anointing is, though, is Holy Spirit for a purpose.

You can ask for an Anointing for something any time. For any good purpose of God’s. God is good, generous, and wise. And loves to empower you to do what God wants. Always!

There is one Anointed, Jesus the Anointed. He has one Anointing, not several. There is one Anointing. So when you have the Anointing of Jesus, you have his holy and singular Anointing. You have it all.

And there are important implications that arise from this, despite well intended traditions made up by humans. We we will explore some of these later.

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Conversation with God Discipleship Getting Help Hearing God Holy Spirit

Hearing God Better – What’s Most Important?

What is most important in hearing God well, and in having good conversations (prayer) with God?

Is it buying more books or going to more conferences to learn how to hear God? These can help. And yet, there is one thing that will make hearing from God and being able to have good conversations with God much, much easier. And this thing is easy to do. And it’s not the usual advice – this may at first come as a bit of a surprise – but then be obvious by hindsight:

It’s being more full of Holy Spirit.

When you are more full of Holy Spirit, being able to converse with God is not hard, and is not a problem at all.

Some people teach that a person who has not been born again and who does not thus have Holy Spirit in them cannot hear God. I do not agree. After all, how else is faith enough to be born again come to come to someone except by hearing God?

So we can all hear God – if we are ready. Whether born again or not.

God prepared me for years so that when I heard a certain evangelist sharing how to be born again, I heard confirmation from whom I now know to be Holy Spirit. Who confirmed to me that what this man was telling me was what God was saying to me. And I knew this was God confirming; which gave me necessary faith. And I had been hearing from Holy Spirit for years, without being clear about who I was hearing. I was kept safe many times…. Being born again led to amazing love – but that’s a story for another time.

Here’s the thing. If you want to hear more from God and to converse more effectively, there is one thing you can do. Ask for more of Holy Spirit for this purpose. You will be equipped and given exactly what you need. Just ask, and by faith, receive.

There may be no drama as you receive more of Holy Spirit for healing and communicating with God better. You may not even notice you are having an attitude adjustment if needed – or you might notice, if God wants you to notice. Either way, Holy Spirit will help and guide you into better conversation with God.

When you need to learn something new, your Teacher will guide you. When you need help, your Helper will help you. When you need comfort, your Comforter will help. When you need help with devilish thoughts or accusations, your Advocate will help. When you need help with Gifts of the Spirit or with Fruit of the Spirit – Holy Spirit delivers generously. Intimacy with Father – Holy Spirit helps. Want to live more and better out of your New Self – Holy Spirit is key. Minister more lovingly and powerfully – Holy Spirit for a Purpose helps. Conversations with Jesus – Holy Spirit especially loves to help. With whatever is needed.

Just ask with and receive by faith; and it only takes a teeny amount of faith – like a mustard seed, as Jesus has told us. So worry not about this, just do it.

Ask for more of Holy Spirit so you can converse better with God. And God, who is generous, will be wonderfully glad to help you, and will give you good gifts.

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Prayer

What is Prayer, Actually?

Prayer is two way communication with God.

You speak to each other; are attentive to each other, and the conversation goes back and forth.

You are transformed, more and more, into being like him. Loving, merciful, generous, patient, kind, and so on.

You act more like God, and enforce the Kingdom of God where people are healed and restored. Freed from being bound up or hindered. Freed more and more from the kingdom of darkness.

You love more and rejoice – being full of joy. Much, much more full of joy!

Everything you really need to know and do, with the power to do such things – comes through prayer – two way communication with God.

You could say that two way communication with God – prayer – is the most important thing for you to practice at until you are becoming really good at this. And then, continue praying and learning. Teach others and share what you are learning.

With experience, the building of good memories and with practice, this will become easier and easier for you. More and more joyful. The benefits will multiply – exponentially. So start – and keep on praying.

Please. Please engage in listening to and speaking to God.

The more you do so – the more you will be glad you did.

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Discipleship Healing Jesus Preaching Key Article Kingdom of God Ministry Miracles Prayer Success

Jesus Taught a Progression – Going Beyond Disciplemaking

Jesus taught lots of things; in particular, there is an important series of things to do in order to minister more like Jesus. From one point of view, here’s an overview:

First, it’s valuable to know what an Ecclesia is. That’s a Greek word frequently translated as “church” in many bibles, today. And that can be confusing because the meaning has changed over the years.

When the Roman’s conquered a new territory, one of the things they would do was to appoint people to transform the local culture to Roman culture. To teach them how to talk, dress and in many other ways act like Romans. So that when the Emperor would come, he would feel at comfortable and at home. These people were backed up by the power of the Roman Empire.

Jesus apparently borrowed the term and used it to mean local Christians, disciples, who would meet in small groups – such as peoples homes (in addition to public places). Encourage and build each other up. Teach and help one another And, to change and transform the surrounding culture – into becoming a Christian culture with lots of disciples. An Ecclesia is backed up by the Kingdom of God, led by Jesus – our King.

This was a period of extremely rapid growth of the Body of Christ, and this was a huge method of helping that to happen. Ecclesia’s made of disciples were very important to the rapid spread of Christianity.

They practiced what is now called “Marketplace Ministry”. Not in local churches with separate buildings where they sat passively as one mostly person spoke. Everyone participated and many were business owners – fishing business, sheep business, a tax collector. Jesus was a worker of wood – making many different things. Later St. Paul was a tentmaker. At that same time there was also a dealer in expensive dyes. And others….

How were such disciples made? Through Ministry. It went something like this:

-Jesus and later his disciples always began with prayer. Prayer, prayer and more prayer. Always much prayer before growth in numbers ad in effective ministry happened.

Then to go. Going for the Harvest of souls. Going took several forms, which we will explore later. The key point: people were sent.

-Then the Proclamation or Preaching of the Good News of the Kingdom of God.

-Then in that context, the healing of the sick, freeing those bound by unclean spirits; and also the cleansing of lepers and raising the dead. (I often speak of this as being healing the sick and freeing the bound for a shorter phrasing as well as focusing on what is more usual these days. The other two items are still valid.) This attracts a lot more people!

-Then was the making of disciples (of all ethnos, – all people groups). People who learned and who applied and practiced what they were learning. And reported back to a rabbi for more instruction as needed. Most people went on with their lives, happy for the ministry help. A few even said, thanks. A much smaller number were open to learning and to applying what they were learning. The custom among in Israel at that time (where Jesus was ministering) was that a rabbi would teach, disciples would go practice and report back to the rabbi. Who would give more teaching to help, as needed.

-The disciples would in turn become sent ones, who prayed for their areas, then were sent to represent the Kingdom and make more disciples by going through this progression of steps.

-The disciples who were going through this progression and making more disciples would also meet to encourage, help, minister to, and teach one another. All participated. Leadership had the purpose of helping them achieve unity in the faith, maturity in Christ, and to prepare these people for ministry – and more. Ministry was to be done by people helped by leadership to be prepared to do such ministry. This was the biblical pattern.

And this was the progression. Prayer, then going to help gather the harvest – sent in a few but somewhat various ways. Proclaiming the Gospel of the Kingdom of God. Healing sick, freeing the bound – prisoners and captives. Making disciples of all people groups. Planting Ecclesia’s who prayed massively for the local area, ministered generously – who shared the Gospel, healed the sick, freed the bound (attracting many people), making disciples who again applied this progression that Jesus taught – and who made yet more disciples. Then ecclesia’s were planted who continued these continuing cycles leading to rapid growth.

When this pattern is followed, evangelization and ministry spreads faster better and more powerfully than any other method I have ever heard of. This is what Jesus taught. It’s Scriptural. It works powerfully. It helps Missionaries avoid money trouble, when the other methods of sending are added. (Can’t wait? See Luke 10; and also Matthew 10.)

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Conversation with God Discipleship Getting Help Hearing God Journal Prayer

Always Talk to God About Your Dreams

The title is a quote from a book written by Dr. Barbie Breathitt, Dream Seer: Searching for the Face of the Invisible. It’s the name of a section of the book.

What a great section title! There is a lot going on these days about dreams, and prophetic dreams. What to do with them and what not to do. Opinions vary – opinions vary about what to do with dreams!

Dreams fascinated me as a child, noticing how many there were and how important they were in the bible. I’ve been recording dreams and studying about dreams ever since.

Dream journaling is an excellent thing to do, and if there is enough interest I may write about how to remember your dreams and how to work with them. Let me know if you are interested…comments will do; or email me.

Dreams can be challenging. So asking God about your dreams is always wise. Aside from the usual dream-work methods, even the dream-work methods I recommend – which work well for people who use these, asking God about your dreams is likely to be the most important thing you do.

Being attentive and listening to God about your dreams follows asking. Hearing God is very important, another subject we may cover here, and there is this article about How To Receive Quick & Reliable Guidance for Prayer that you may want to apply to asking God how to pray regarding understanding what to do with your dreams. And there are many wonderful books on the subject. It’s a fascinating subject and valuable to know about and to follow through with.

The key point is: talk to God about your dreams. Listen to God about your dreams. And listen carefully with your heart to everything else God has to say to you. Put to work and do as it leads you. This disciples do: learn, and apply. Get feedback. Learn and continue to put what you are learning. Get feedback and continue.

When you ask God about your dreams and listen, you may hear him speak through Still Small Voice. Or through your own thoughts – so pay attention! You may have a memory, see or hear something…and many other possibilities. Assume this is an answer to your prayer and be attentive. This is God’s answer to your prayer about how to pray about your dreams. You are now listening to God about your dreams.

Now pray that way. The way God showed you to pray. And keep on praying that way, enforcing the answer given you – until it is done.

Conversation continues. Ask more. Tell God what is important to you. Always be attentive and pay attention to what you what you experience. Best is to write it down – forgetting even powerful impressions is too easy at first when a response is still in brief term memory. So write it, preferably in your own handwriting. You’ll remember better than if you use a computer. Whatever you do, whatever method you use, commit to remembering by writing.

So talk to God about your dreams. Ask. Focus. Note what you asked and what you received, what you “heard” by writing it.

Take action on what you are learning and be ready for feedback and further guidance.

Continue the conversation – God loves talking with you. God loves it when you listen, and when you do as he says.

Have wonderful conversations with God about your dreams, learn and grow through doing this. Enjoy and rejoice at his goodness!

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Conversation with God Discipleship Hearing God Holy Spirit Journal Prayer Prayer, Intercession, Angels,

Conversations with God – Fast & Slow

Some conversations with God are really fast. Only taking a moment. Like when you are reading scripture and a passage speaks to you more personally and more deeply. Or when Holy Spirit pulls you up short with a correction. And your answer is a wordless – or maybe with actual words, maybe something like, “Yes, Lord!”

Other conversations are slower and can go on for months or years. As when God brings us back to a particular scripture time and time again. These are usually topics of great learning and deep transformation over time. At other times, you may have a back and forth conversation with God where you are led and learn more gradually – over a longer period of time. There is a lot God has to say, and he speaks to you, one key notion at a time, over a long period of time. The conversation can cover many topics, even. Like a long walk in the rolling hills where the grass and trees are fresh and full of life.

Once I had asked to go west, to the western United States. I had asked strongly and repeatedly. I asked many, many times. Then I heard Still Small Voice say, translated into words, “Not yet!”. I had no idea Still Small Voice could be so loud and so definite.

God has taught me on particular subjects that go on for months, pointing out various things to me. Such as his teaching me about the Kingdom of God. We keep coming back to that, again and again. Sometimes there is no conversation on the subject for a while, at other times the subject is picked up again and he shows me new things, or he reminds me of previous lessons. A lot of my learning is this way.

I keep a Prayer Journal. A record of our conversations, often two way conversations. Reviewing these brings me valuable lessons back to mind again, it’s too easy to forget or lose track of key ideas. Writing also helps make the conversations more real and definite than when they are just “in my head”. I recommend learning about and doing this. Perhaps we’ll explore this in this blog. In the meantime, you can go to cwgministries.org and look for his book or video series about hearing from God, conversations with God; and especially, “4 Keys to Hearing God’s Voice”, as an eBook or as a video series – offered on the same page.

Mark Virkler teaches that when we do all four of these things at the same time:

  1. Stop and be still.
  2. Look with the eyes of our heart towards Jesus
  3. Listen to what God says to us or shows us, especially through flowing thoughts, and
  4. Write down what we experience

He guarantees that we will hear from God or get our money back. Quite an encouraging guarantee!

Any area of your life where you let God freely operate and rule is part of the Kingdom of God. The King rules his Kingdom. This is my favorite place from which to hear God. His Kingdom is at hand – within reach. Now. Always.

If you are having a good conversation with God, especially a longer one over a greater period of time, you are probably having such a conversation inside of the Kingdom of God. You know what that’s like, then!

St. John had such a conversation, an unveiling. A showing. A revelation; it’s called the Book of Revelation. This will take a lot of time to study and study well. This will be a longer conversation.

See, the Kingdom is not a matter of eating and drinking – no, not of things like that. The Kingdom is standing rightly before God, in peace and joy in Holy Spirit. (See, Romans 14:17.)

God has already been talking to you and with you for a long time. Are you ready to notice and realize how this is true? Can you recognize and remember some of those “conversations”? Appreciate them? Maybe even take notes. Begin or continue with a Prayer Journal or a Conversations with God Journal, if you like. I encourage you to write daily. When you do, your life and your faith will grow and transform. I promise you. So…do such as this, and be sure to give thanks and rejoice!