Hearing (6)

The Speaking Spirit of God

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The Lord once said to me, “I am a Speaking Spirit.” To define Himself in this way is to emphasize His desire for communication with His creation. Although He is Spirit, and seems very different at first from our own flesh and blood, we must remember that we, too, are spiritual beings who have the capacity to hear what the Spirit is saying:

“Draw near to listen to My “Speaking Spirit,” and you will be rewarded with a deeper understanding of who I am and what motivates Me!”


These are His words for us in this season. How do we get to know this “Speaking Spirit?” We return to one of God’s introductions of the Holy Spirit in Isaiah 11:
“The Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon Him [Jesus], the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord.” ~Isaiah 11:2 
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Prophetic Word: "You Hear Perfectly!"

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In prayer this week, I felt the Lord's desire to know His people - really know us, intimately. Sometimes we think this isn't possible because it seems so hard to hear Him. Into this difficulty, God desires to speak hope, because from His perspective, things look VERY different! The following words are what He gave me to share with you.  - See more at: http://www.hisinscriptions.com/blog#sthash.aU75a837.dpuf

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WITHOUT A DOUBT

Matthew 21:20-22

“When the disciples saw it they marveled, saying, ‘How did the fig tree wither at once?’ And Jesus answered them, ‘Truly I say to you, if you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what has been done to the fig tree, but even if you say to this mountain, 'Be taken up and thrown into the sea,' it will happen. And whatever you ask in prayer, you will receive, if you have faith.’”

 

Frankly, powerful statements that Jesus made like this about faith unsettle me. Does this promise mean if I believe hard enough, God will enable me to rob our local bank and cause the bank guard to wither when he tries to stop me? Does it mean I can have a pink Cadillac, if I drum up enough faith, saying, “I believe! I believe! I believe!”?

Such declarations tend to make us uncomfortable because we do not understand what faith is or how to acquire it.

Biblical faith responds to God. It rests on what God’s word says and on what God speaks to our hearts. Romans 10:17 says,

“Faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.”

Paul, of course, is referring primarily to hearing the gospel. But Jesus clearly told us no one could come to Him without the Father drawing. (John 6:44) This is not simply hearing the gospel from another person or reading it in the Bible. We must hear God speaking to us through the Bible or another person. As we respond to the gospel, we enter a relationship of faith by which we continue to hear God speak and trust in Him.

In Romans 12:3 Paul writes,

“For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned.”

Paul goes on to list different spiritual gifts that God calls us to trust him for. God may or may not call you to turn the Potomac River to blood or part the Mediterranean Sea for refugees to walk through on dry land. But if you grow in hearing God's voice, you will be amazed at what He will do through your faith in Him.

I need to say, I have trouble believing God for what He desires to do in and through my life. I want to cry out with the man in Mark 9, “I believe; help my unbelief!” I think that man, in his desperation, grasped the key to growing faith. He asked Jesus. Jesus develops our faith as we seek Him and spend more and more time listening to His voice.

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Hearing God Together


Whenever I read Jesus’ last recorded prayer—“that they may be one as we are one: I in them and you in me. May they be brought to complete unity” (John 17:22-23) I add my “amen,” but usually with a certain poignancy. The corporate unity He prayed for has always seemed so elusive to me. How can we get our ministry teams, churches, Christian organizations, families—any group of two or three believers gathered in His name—to operate in one accord?

Yet, somehow the early church seemed to find unity, even when they had to make important decisions and handle conflicts. I’ve been thinking about that lately, asking God what we can learn from them so we, also, can fulfill Jesus’ desire and prayer.

Two examples stand out to me from Acts. In chapter 13, while the church worships and fasts together corporately, they hear the Holy Spirit say that they are to send out Paul and Barnabas as missionaries (v. 2, emphasis added). They agree with God and one another, lay hands on them and send them off. Then, two chapters later, Luke reports a huge conflict about what is to be required of the Gentile believers who have recently come to faith. After much discussion and debate, the apostles and elders with the whole church wrote a letter with their decision. In the letter they state, “It seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us” (Acts 15:28) and they move forward with what they heard from God and each other.

In neither of these cases do we learn the exact process by which the believers got onto the same page with each other and God. But we do know that they had a habit of meeting together to worship, pray, and listen to one another and God. I think we can learn something from that.

In the past few months, three significantly different ministries that I’m a part of have been trying to practice listening-together-to-get-on-the-same-page. Some attempts seem more successful than others, but overall, I’m hopeful. In one group we needed to make a decision about our participation in a specific event that we each held different opinions about. In another we wanted to know God’s heart for the people we serve so that we could get onboard with Him. In the third, we wanted to hear Him about specific strategies for doing His work.

Although the exact methods differed, there were some definite commonalities in the ways the three different groups approached listening to God corporately. In each case:

1. Someone started the time by asking God a specific question out loud
2. We took time alone in silence (depending on the group, this ranged from 10 minutes to the better part of a day)
3. During the silence each of us individually jotted down our impressions of what we thought God might be saying
4. We came back together and compared notes on what we were hearing, and noted where several of us were hearing similar things.
5. Based on where we found agreement, we took that as confirmation and talked about next steps for moving ahead.

I’m still new at this, but in each of these recent experiences, I’ve been encouraged. I’m not sure it’s the actual method that matters so much as the group’s acknowledgement that apart from Him we can do nothing, that we need His Spirit in order to come together as His body, and that we’re going to take time to be quiet and listen for what He has to say—together. It seems like God honors our desire to honor Him in this way. And I get excited because I’m starting to see that maybe Jesus’ prayer for unity could actually be answered! I want that, don’t you?

—Cynthia Bezek

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What to do when leadership ignores your idea

Do you ever experience the disappointment of having others not endorse your "word from God"? I'm a visionary. (Although I don't know if that makes me a missionary with a vision; or a visionary with a mission.) To avoid those disappointments, at least to some degree, I've learned to apply the following biblical principle.

Paul taught us that we all "see through a glass darkly", and we "prophesy in part". If a man who wrote multiple books of the Bible saw himself this way; I certainly see myself the same. I never assume that I absolutely know what God's saying.

We're told that things should be established by two or three witnesses. So, unless something is urgent and immediate (and personal), rather than act, I tend to wait on the Lord and look for His confirmations.

If you've offered something to your pastor and feel ignored, it may be that your pastor's lack of response could be one of the confirmations you need to show you that although it's a good idea, and possibly a prayer assignment for you, it's not one that needs be distributed across the United States.

As I watch and pray (waiting for confirmations), I assure God that I am ready and willing to do whatever He wants me to do. But, I "don't trust me", I only trust Him. I ask him to provide me with unmistakable confirmations. There have been many times, perhaps most times, that the confirmations weren't given, or negative confirmations were given, and I was freed from what I had assumed was "my word or assignment". There are others, not as many perhaps, when I received unmistakable confirmations. Although I could share many with you, I'll share one.

One morning, almost 20 years ago, I awoke with an impression that I was to coordinate 40-days of fasting and prayer for revival in the spring of each year. I did as always--I submitted it to the Lord for Him to confirm.

When I arrived at my office, my secretary announced that there was a doctor's wife on the phone (I still remember her name). She asked me if anyone had ever launched and led a 40-day fasting and prayer initiative across denominational lines. I told her I didn't know, but I'd find out and let her know. I called denominational prayer leaders to ask them. Some had done 40-day initiatives within their denomination, but none had done it with other denominations.

I reported my find to her and she asked if I would consider doing that. By this time, I assumed I had one possible confirmation. Her telephone inquiry.

I would never have considered myself a national leader. So, launching and leading something like this wasn't something I felt free or even qualified to do. But, for a week I couldn't shake the idea.

Finally, partly to get some relief, I sent personal letters to the top 50 prayer leaders in the U.S. and told them how I had been led and what I was feeling. (I was totally unknown to any of them.) I asked, "If you feel this is possibly a call of God for our nation and would be willing to do so; meet me in Chicago at O'Hare Airport for an all-day meeting on..." To my amazement, 35 of them came at their own expense to Chicago. Some from the east coast, some from the west. One even slept in the airport to make the occasion.

Alice, my wife, and I flew to Chicago to conduct the meeting in a room at the airport I had rented (via credit card) because we had no money for our flight or the room!

When the plane landed in Chicago, I received a call from my secretary in Houston. It seemed that the only unemployed board member we had, out of 22, had brought a check by the office. The amount of the check was: $7,000! That was the largest single gift we'd ever received! It paid for the room, the meals and our flight! This was a second condemnation.

I spent the morning with them in prayer. I presented to them what I sensed the Lord might be saying. Then we took a break for lunch. I had no idea how they'd respond or what they thought.

After lunch, they returned. One by one each shared their impression. They overwhelmingly endorsed what we chose to call "PrayUSA". To me, that was the third confirmation that I had indeed heard from God. Then they laid hands on us and commissioned us to launch and to lead it.

I would have never launched or considered myself leader of such an effort. But confirmations continued to arrive. Dr. Pat Robertson at CBN heard about it and invited me on the 700 Club. He and Dr. Bill Bright of Campus Crusade for Christ agreed to be honorary co-chairmen of the effort.

For the next six years we led PrayUSA! (ending in 2001). Dozens of denominations, hundreds of parachurch ministries, thousands of churches and millions of Christians participated each year in what CBN News reported was the largest prayer and fasting initiative in history.

What began as a personal impression, confirmed multiple times by the Lord, became a great success. I hope this inspires you.

When I miss it, it's no reflection on me. It doesn't mean I can't hear God. It doesn't mean that leadership doesn't support me. It simply means that I don't perfectly hear--I see through a glass darkly and prophesy in part. That's why I need you and other believers. That's also why I need the confirming work of the Holy Spirit.
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In the Silence

It is in the silence that God speaks and we must be quiet and listen. How hard can listening be? Very hard. In a society were we are always "plugged in," listening can be challenging. We feel a need to "do something, say something, move something and hurry God along." Being quiet requires us to slow down and wait on God to answewr. Being quiet requires us to concentrate on hearing in the silence. Being quiet requires us to tune our ears to hear God's voice and tune our hearts to receive his revelation. Being quiet is building a place of intimacy with God. Being quiet is being content sitting in his presence and silently waiting.
In the silence we worship God's majesty, his power, his glory. In the silence we become sensitive to God's presence and we filled with awe. In the silence we learn that God is asking us to be quiet. Not rushing, not impatient but confident that he hears and will answer. In the silence he teaches us to trust him.
"And He said, Go out and stand on the mount before the Lord. And behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind rent the mountains and broke in pieces the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind; and after the wind an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake; And after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire; and after the fire [a sound of gentle stillness and] a still, small voice. When Elijah heard the voice, he wrapped his face in his mantle and went out and stood in the entrance of the cave. And behold, there came a voice to him and said, What are you doing here, Elijah?" 1 King 19:11-13 (AMP)

In the silence we wait for God to ask us, "Why are you here? Why do you seek me? What are you inquiring of me?"

After the silence God speaks.

"And the Lord said to him, Go, return on your way to the Wilderness of Damascus; and when you arrive, anoint Hazael to be king over Syria. And anoint Jehu son of Nimshi to be king over Israel, and anoint Elisha son of Shaphat of Abel-meholah to be prophet in your place." 1 Kings 19:15-16 (AMP)

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