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!
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.
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!
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:
Stop and be still.
Look with the eyes of our heart towards Jesus
Listen to what God says to us or shows us, especially through flowing thoughts, and
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!
When you pray from within the Kingdom of God – the place God rules from – which is now always within reach – literally. You pray from a place of Love, Power and Holy Spirit Guidance.
The Presence of our Lord is powerful. Within reach, always. The Glory of our Lord emanates from his holy Presence. Some see this as light, other times, missed, other times a weight – being weighed down.
This is a magnificent way to pray.
A lot of us have not thought to pray from here; yet once you consider this, it may be obvious that this is an outstanding thing to explore and learn about. And to do.
This is what Jesus did; and his prayers and commands for healing were – successful! Powerful. Full of compassion.
You can be this way, too. And hear and do what Father shows you, through Holy Spirit.Ministering more like Jesus.
Some additional thoughts, in response to a request for more on this:
The Kingdom of God is the love, power and Presence of God ruling in a situation or place. Where there is righteousness and joy in Holy Spirit. This is always at reach, at hand rather. All you have to do is reach out in your spirit, your heart. God and his Kingdom are within reach. This is the Good News of the Kingdom of God.
The King is in his Kingdom, this is where Jesus is. You can call on his name, or ask for the other Comforter he sent, Holy Spirit. You have already Holy Spirit in you.
You can always ask for more of Holy Spirit with sincerity – and receive by faith. Your experience may not be dramatic, but you receive more of Holy Spirit when you ask sincerely with faith, confidence and trust in God.
With more of Holy Spirit you can pray for others. You can ask how to pray and receive guidance for that.
It is more practical to continue praying and to be praying always than many of us have thought. It’s easy, it’s good to do – and it can be important, even life saving.
The first time this happened, and I was led with conscious awareness by Holy Spirit was after my father collapsed and threw up a rather large amount of blood.
He was rushed to the hospital, and immediately sent to emergency surgery. Which took a surprisingly long number of hours.
I prayed for him and for his surgery to go well and for his healing. Holy Spirit was directing me. I saw a star, a smallish star, and I knew I was to keep my attention on this star as a part of my prayer.
So where ever I was, what ever I was doing, I kept part of my attention on this “star”, as I was being gifted and led to do.
I was helping, I was praying, and I would be learning from this.
It turns out that when they thought they were finished with the surgery, they miscounted sponges and thought they were missing one. So they opened him up and looked for it.
As they were looking for this sponge, they found a small artery that was bleeding. They said it would have killed him, but was small enough so that there would be no dramatic symptoms right away – which would delay or even keep them from knowing they had to cut him open again to find the bleed and save his life.
The found the small bleeding artery, closed it, and closed him up. Surgery was successful, and he lived.
He not only lived, he went on to change his life in other good and needed ways – which gave him a longer life and a better one. That’s another story.
From what I could tell, the time I the star and the flow of intention and dunamos energy stopped was about the same time the opened him up again, found the bleeding artery and fixed it.
The timing was to teach me something about how prayer goes.
And I learned consciously how to pray in the Spirit, with my spirit. How to notice and respond to the signals I was given, to obey and continue. Until it was done.
You can do this too. Pray in the Spirit, noticing and paying attention, obeying what is given you, until it is done.
You will be praying continuously, and can continue until it is complete: until the prayer work is done. You will know when it’s done, because a part of you is still and continuously paying attention.
You can pray in the Spirit. With your spirit. Notice what you are given to do, led to do; and to obey until it is complete.
You will over the course of your lifetime, by doing this, help many people in many situations. Including following Holy Spirit as someone heals. Lives will sometimes be saved. Other blessings will accrue.
Pray in the Spirit as directed until it is done and complete. You can do this, and our Lord wants you to do so.
Thus you will be doing what you are shown, and ministering more like Jesus.
This morning I received a request for further healing help through a friend, for someone my friend knows and cares about. Someone I know of.
I immediately saw a micro-vision, a picture of a heart. And I knew on the inside that I was being directed to send love. That is how I am to respond, this morning. It was fast, and fortunately, I was paying attention and ready.
The flow of love was going well. Agape, the Jesus kind of love, which he has taught me so much about.
I thought at first this would be fast because I got that direction. I was mistaken. The flow continued for a while…and I am not finished with praying until it’s done.
This is one example of how you can pray and receive direction for healing (or other) prayer. Even healing at a distance. And as long as the flow is continuing, you are to continue.
That’s better than what I used to think – well, I do a bit of what I’m told and that’s sufficient. We learn. I learn, you learn. Especially as we pay attention to Holy Spirit.
Keep paying attention, doing as you are shown. Follow Holy Spirit. And continue until it is done.
Praying for healing at a distance with the help of Holy Spirit is a wonderful opportunity you will be given often. Honor this.
Do as you are shown, and continue until it is complete. Minister more like Jesus.
The more I kept attention on Holy Spirit, the less it hurt. This was good. Then more happened….
I felt muscles shift throughout the middle of my body. First, this helped the cramping, reducing it nicely. Then something even better happened, as I kept my attention on Holy Spirit.
I felt muscles continue to shift, the balance of my body changed, also. And I knew I could walk without my rolling walker, and even without canes.
I tested this out. It felt wonderful – much better to stand and walk with such freedom. It felt strange, not having walked like this in more years than I clearly remember at the moment.
Since then I’ve been testing this out. Strange and wonderful it is to walk with my hands free to carry or do things. The joy of very every day things has multiplied. Handling soap, going to the sink, walking with my dogs so I can let them out of the house in the morning — all done with a fair amount of joy.
I hope I keep on noticing and paying attention to such every day joy. I have asked for this, too; and I have confidence that this is mine. I used to be this way and now am experiencing joy in every day things again. Hallelujah!
I am being careful with muscles. I have been getting stronger, but some muscles have not been used much for some years now. So I am being conscious not to over do walking too much while I continue to get stronger.
I was amazed and grateful when I was, a few years ago, able to stand and walk right, hips and legs not being an obstacle to that. I rejoiced and was glad. I knew I was healed, and I walked. And I knew healing would continue to show up.
And I rejoice and am glad now.
And there are muscles to use and strengthen; a body to get used to again. And joy to be had that these things are so.
The power of keeping our attention on Holy Spirit can and does release miracles, just doing that. And a wonderful companionship. Walking with Jesus is the same…there is a certain energy and understanding love that comes through him that always surprises and is amazing. And it is hugely wonderful to walk with him.
Now I can walk with him while I metaphorically walk with him. I have no words for this, so I’ll stop writing, now.
For a long time, my favorite way of hearing God was Still Small Voice. When you are paying attention, God can speak to you this way, you hear, you know. You know that you know…. And you are ready and set to get on with what’s next in regard to what you are hearing.
Sometimes you get a Word of Knowledge &/or Wisdom. Which may come as an image, a memory, an association, a thought in your own mind; a body feeling…these come in many ways. Takes some getting used to. Once you start getting the knack of paying attention, though, it gets easier and easier.
With such a Word of Knowledge &/or Wisdom, you have to search a bit. You have to be more active in your listening. God isn’t doing it all for you. This is good for you and prepares you to be more active.
Sometimes you hear in a dream, a symbolic vision, something that requires even more active searching on your part. Maybe even a parable or dark saying. Or a puzzle. Or something symbolic and new to you. Our Lord loves it when you search out his Word. Which causes you to be even more active and committed, searching it out. Receiving the whole message is not as certain – you have to follow through.
Having to follow through like this is very different than when you hear Still Small Voice and you can act on the Word you receive right away. If you are paying attention and listening, you have received the message.
You may deepen your understanding later, diving intuitively, with your spirit, more into what Holy Spirit has delivered to you – but you are ready to act right away.
Interesting differences.
Can you begin to see and to wonder about when and how God might be speaking to you in different ways at different times? Requiring your response in different time frames? With different levels of activity on your part?
I invite you to ponder this. To meditate.To learn.
Jesus ministered by doing as Father showed him and told him. Wereally cando the same. Here’s how.
A first key that so many of us have been missing is this: ask Father how to pray. How to pray for whatever situation, need, concern, worry, fear, or ministry opportunity we have.
A second key many of us miss is this: notice what happens, what you see, hear or otherwise what you experience. Especially when this is not what you expected.
What you experience is either Still Small Voice – or more likely what is a Word of Knowledge and a Word of Wisdom, or what is very much like one.
What you will experience is not directions for what you were likely expecting in how to pray.
What you will experience is literally the answer to the need or issue that you are praying about. How to have the answer you were seeking; what to be, what to do, or both.
Youare responsible to pray for, steward and enforcethat answerabout to how to pray.
Some examples:
If pain in a muscle has been an issue, you may experience subtle shifts or subtle movements in that muscle. That’s the target. That’s what to pray for. What to do. It’s also the answer to how to pray – pray for that. Do that. See your ministry recipient doing that. Enforce what you have been shown or told or otherwise experienced. Those subtle movements and how they are made: pray for them and see that they are done.
If you have a chronic issue or problem, you may be given a memory of when another person demonstrated how to be and what sort of thing to do – and be a person without that problem. You may have a flash of memory when you acted in such a way. That’s your answer to your prayer, that’s what to pray for, that’s what to do and to enforce in prayer on earth as it is in heaven.
If you have a relationship problem, you may be given a thought, memory, idea, feeling, way of being, things to do — that are literally an answer to such an issue. So you are to pray for that, do those things or see that they are done. Enforce that answer to prayer, and pray that such is done.
What we too often miss is this: an answer to how to pray is often us being shown the solution to what we are praying about.
The solution we are to pray for, act upon, see that it is done. To pray for and to enforce, on earth as it is in heaven and to see that it is done.
We are expecting something that looks to us like how to pray: maybe a picture or set of directions of us praying – and how.
What we are getting is an answer to what we are praying about.
An answer to the prayer-need that we are to pray for! To enforce, to do, to act upon, and to see that it is done on earth as it already is in heaven.
God is faster and more generous than we expect.
And we can too easily miss such answers, because it is not what we were expecting. Such answers can be quick and can be subtle, as well as not what we expect to see or hear – which can make the answers we receive all too easy to miss.
A Word of Knowledge may be you experiencing something in your body. Having a feeling, a knowing, a memory of you or someone else doing something. Not what we usually expect.
A Word of Wisdom is an answer and how to apply knowledge well.
A request about how to pray results in us being shown a solution which is an answer to the need or problem – includingwhat to pray for – that solution.
Praise be to our Lord and Christ for Wisdom, Knowledge, love and faith. Rejoice in such love and kindness shown and told to us. Receive with joy, and rejoice!
P.S. – See below:
So K. asked for more examples, and the back and forth of the conversation went something like this:
K: I like that David. Asking how to pray sounds like a good question. I wonder, and maybe this just me being slow right now, but I wonder if you could tell me a couple of more concrete examples of what you might see in a particular situation so I can see it better? It could be made up, but it helps me understand if you say, supposed you prayed for help with having arguments with a person and you received this (example of what you might receive) as a response, then this is what you would do.
By the way, also posted the post on MeWe.
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David: A memory such as a family friend who refused to take arguments seriously. Who refused to acknowledge anger. Who just laughed in a warm and loving way.
Which teaches me how to be and how to act.
Which gives me a model, exemplar, to learn from. To have a sense of the kind of energy to be applying.
Of someone just refusing to believe in or take seriously or real something less than another persons best self.
Which teaches me to apply these attitudes and behaviors to the situation and person I was praying about.
Or I might have a memory or image of someone who listens deeply and well, with love. To find, with good intent, what the other person is experiencing. How they understand things to be. To understand what they really need from me.
I might remember a story of a saint or someone interceding for someone with a determined and loving intention, while being shown being full of Holy Spirit.
Or just someone who is loving, paying attention, and who reacts without any defensiveness. Just listening deeply and knowing the person who is angry.
Does this help?
These show me how to be, and also how to pray. To pray that such attitudes and actions take place.
Questions? Comments or thoughts?
I might have an image of the sun shining on chilly people. And realize that this is how God shines on us all, and of what I am called to do.
Just shine, warmly.
And pray that I do that, or that it gets done.
Or a warm breeze doing the same.
Or an image of the Dalai Lama or Bishop Desmond Tutu, smiling in the way they do, with understanding, complete acceptance and love.
And realize I am to do that, to be that way, and to pray that I do, until it happens.
Or see or remember a mother cat, licking and loving her kittens.
Or see a leaf, growing happily among many other leaves on a tree, feeling what that’s like and what it means.
Does this make any sense?
You see, having the answer is not always enough.
So we asked how to pray. We’re shown the answer as what to pray for.
And praying for that may be needed until it is done because knowledge alone is not enough.
Knowing an answer can fall short of living out that answer – so prayer is still needed.
We asked how to pray, and are shown how to pray.
Even though it looks like an answer or that it looks like something we have not yet seen as an answer.
In either case, prayer is needed until the thing is done.
We asked to be shown how to pray, and we are being shown how to pray for that answer to happen.
