BECOMING A PRAYER WARRIOR – A GUIDE TO EFFECTIVE AND POWERFUL PRAYER BY: ELIZABETH ALVES SESSION II (Chapter 4) HEARING FROM GOD Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. – James 4:8 Communication is the life-giving blood that sustains all relationships. Without blood, the body dies; without communication, relationships die. When we communicate, we listen with our hearts to the one who is speaking and then respond. To know and recognize a person’s voice, you must spend time with that person. After 43 years marriage, I have spent so much time with Floyd that I can usually read his body language before he opens his mouth to speak. I know Floyd’s voice; I also know his ways. For example, when Floyd is going to broach a serious subject with me, he swallows three times. When he’s irritated, my name is stretched over a long Texan pause…Beetthhhhh – this prepares me for what’s coming next. I can identify his footsteps before he even enters the room. And the way he fluffs his pillow at night tells me we need to talk. Yes, I know Floyd. Similarly, we can know God. We know Him through the person of the Holy Spirit. We learn His voice by spending time in prayer, and we learn His ways by studying His Word. We are never too young or too old to know God. When my grandson Christopher was small, I would spend time talking to him about the Holy Spirit and how the Holy Spirit lives within him. One day after returning from a trip to Germany, I picked up Christopher and took him with me to run some errands. When we arrived at my office, the secretary gave him some chewing gum; then we stopped at the travel agency, and the travel agent gave him some candy. As we crossed the parking lot. I noticed his little cheeks were so stuffed with goodies that he looked like a chipmunk storing up for winter. It was scorching summer day and the Texas sun had turned my borrowed car into a slow banking oven. As I began to fasten Christopher into his seat. I realized that not only had all the candy been consumed, but all evidence of the gum had also disappeared. I thought Oh no, I hope he didn’t’ leave that gum on the seat of my dear friend’s new car! I asked, “Christopher, what happened to your chewing gum?” He replied, “You know.” To which I responded. “No, I don’t know.” He insisted again, “Yes, you know. Nonnie.” And again I responded, “No, Christopher, I don’t know. What did you do with that gum? “I swallowed it!” he exclaimed. “Why did you do that?” I asked. He innocently explained. “You see, Nonnie, Jesus lives inside of me and He wanted to chew it for a while. You know, Nonnie, sometimes He talks, sometimes He sings, and sometimes He just wants to chew gum!” God is Not a Silent Friend God wants to speak to you personally; He wants you to hear His voice (see John 10:3-5). Drawing near to the Lord opens the door for Him to fellowship and communicate with you. His desire is to teach you (see Ps. 32:8), lead you into the truth, and show you things to come (see John 16:13-15). The Lord speaks to you through the person of the Holy Spirit (see Ezek. 36:27; John 14:16, 17). Jesus calls Him the Counselor (see Isa. 9:6; John 14:16, 17; 2 Timothy 3:16). The word “counselor” comes from the Greek word parakletos, which literally means “one called alongside to help.” It also means “comforter, strengthener, helper, advisor, advocate, intercessor, ally and friend.” You need not be afraid to trust the voice of the Holy Spirit. He never moves outside of the character of the Lord and is always in harmony with the Word of God. He is your friend who is called to walk beside you and communicate with you. His is not a silent friendship (see Pss. 28:1; 37:3; John 12:49; 14:26). God leads; Satan drives, God convicts; Satan condemns and brings guilt, God woos; Satan tugs hard. God wants to instruct you and give answers to your questions (see Pss. 21:2; 119:169). You cannot depend on another person to hear Him for you. Hearing the Lord’s voice becomes an everyday occurrence as you willingly spend time with Him and study His Word by meditating upon and memorizing Scripture (see Josh. 1:8; Ps. 119:11, 16). Then when you hear His voice, you know that it is the Lord because it is in agreement with the Word of God. The more you know His Word, the more you will also understand His character and His ways (see Exod. 33:13; Pss. 25:4; 103:7). One test to determine whether you are hearing the Holy Spirit is to ask; Is the voice gently leading, or is it commanding and harsh? God’s voice gently guides and encourages, giving hope (see Ps. 18:35; Isa. 40:11; Jas. 3:17). God leads; Satan drives (see John 10:4, 10). God convicts; Satan condemns and brings guilt (see John 16:8-11; Rev. 12:10). God woos; Satan tugs hard. When God speaks, He does not use fear to motivate. If fear overcomes you, it is the enemy speaking, not God (see 2 Tim. 1:7). Proverbs 4:20, 21 says, “My son [or daughter], give attention to my words; incline your ear to my sayings. Do not let them depart from your sight; keep them in the midst of your heart.” LISTENING: A KEY PART OF INTERCESSION Many times you and I don’t hear God’s directive because we have not inclined our ear to Him. The prerequisite to hearing is listening! Often we are so busy talking ourselves that we can’t possibly hear Him. And yet, He wants us to be so attuned to His voice that we can even hear Him in the midst of a crowd. Someone has said that we have one mouth and two ears because we need to listen twice as much as we speak. And as we listen, we find that God’s tone of voice changes just like ours does. Sometimes the Lord speaks with a loud thunder; other times He speaks in a still small voice. The Word commands us to keep on the alert; keep watching and waiting. When He calls us to intercede for someone, the Holy Spirit will reveal strongholds, special burdens, battle plans of the enemy, actions to take and prayer strategies. We must learn to identify His voice and to be sensitive to responding quickly. Remember, listening gets better as intimacy deepens. And know that even close relationships have times of silence. When God is silent, keep waiting in faith and do not allow the enemy to cause you to succumb to unbelief (see Heb. 4:11; 1 Pet. 4:18, 19). Focus on God’s faithfulness and other positive attributes while you are waiting (Pss. 33:18; 36:5; 37:7, 34; 143:1; Lam. 3:25, 26; Phil 4:8). God’s people needn’t think that listening to Him is something difficult or only for the very “spiritual” or “mature.” Even in the early months of infancy, a child learns to recognize the voice of the one who cares for it. The more time you spend with the Lord in total trust, just like a child, the more clearly you will recognize His voice. The ability to communicate increases with maturity. You need to make time to listen to the King of kings, concentrating on what He is saying. Jesus gave you His word that His sheep will hear His voice (see John 10:27). You are one of His sheep, and as long as you are part of the fold, you WILL hear His voice. He who is of God hears the words of God (John 8:47). HOW DOES GOD SPEAK? “God spoke to me” is one of the most misunderstood phrases among His people; it can create an atmosphere of misunderstanding, confusion, hurt, rejection, jealousy, pride and other negative responses. Perhaps you have run into someone who feels he or she has an edge on hearing from God and that everyone must accept what he or she is saying. If you are unfamiliar with the phrase “God told me,” or you do not understand how to hear God’s voice, you might feel inferior, thinking God never speaks to you. First, understand that God RARELY speaks in an audible voice. This can happen, but it is not the normal way in which God speaks to people. God is Spirit and communicates with you through His Holy Spirit within you. John 14 says: “And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever; that is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not behold Him or know Him, but you know Him because He abides with you, and will be in you. In hat day you shall know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you. If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him, and make Our abode in him (you). But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, who the Father will send in My name. He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrances all that I have said to you” (vv. 16, 17, 20, 23, 26). THE THEATER OF OUR MIND You may be wondering, If God does not speak audibly, how does He speak? He speaks through the Holy Spirit in the theater of your mind and through spiritual hearing-in the same way you sue your natural mind and hearing. You do not think in words; you think in pictures. Imagine a friend saying to you. “You should have seen Tom (your best friend) on the street corner yesterday with his little girl. They were sharing about Jesus, and his daughter sang “Jesus Loves Me” in such a special way.” As you were being told, you could see Tom as his little girl sharing and singing. You could picture it in the theater of your mind and hear it with your inner ear because you know them both so well. If you had just become engaged and wanted to tell your family, you would probably rehearse the situation again and again in the theater of your mind, seeing and hearing everyone’s reaction. Suppose someone talking to you said the word “man,” then “woman,” then “house.” In the theater of your mind, you would not see the letters m-a-n, etc. you would see an impression of a man, woman or house. Now let’s change those same words to “my father,” “my mother” and “my house.” These words bring a totally different impression to your mind. Who do you love most in the whole world? Now the picture is entirely different. Think back to a memorable experience that you and your favorite person shared. You do not actually hear or see, but because this person is so special to you and the experience so profound, you can relive it again and again. It is the same with the Lord. When you begin to spend time with Him and meditate on His Word, you, too, will see and hear Him and know Him, even better than the person you love most in the world. Time set apart for the Lord naturally develops into an intimate, loving relationship between you and Jesus. You have probably heard His voice many times, and undoubtedly the Holy Spirit has given you impression or pictures which you did not realize were from Him. Often men refer to the Holy Spirit’s impressions as a “gut feeling” and women call it “a deep inner sense or inner knowing.” I cannot overemphasize the fact that the Holy Spirit NEVER speaks to you contrary to the Word. TESTING THE SPOKEN WORD If you receive a word and you are not sure whether it came from God, self or the enemy, first, search the Scripture to see what the Bible has to say about it. You might want to start with a good concordance and look up the words or word pictures as you receive them. Let’s consider the example of my call to prayer. I heard, “Elizabeth, I have need of you.” I begin to meditate on each word the Lord spoke. Obviously, I knew my own name, and the word “I” meant THE LORD, the I AM. “Have” means now, or it could mean in the future. But what did Jesus have need of? Going to the concordance, I looked up “need.” There I found that Jesus had need of only one thing – a donkey. What then? I went to an encyclopedia and read about a donkey. The encyclopedia said that a donkey is a burden bearer that carries a weight many times greater than its size. Sometimes it carries the man; sometimes it carries the man’s burden. And often it walks alongside the man. Was the Lord calling me into intercession to help carry a man or a man’s burden? (it was some time before this was confirmed and I realized God was calling me to carry both the man and the burden at various times in prayer.) GUIDELINES FOR HEARING THE VOICE OF GOD Satan does not want you to hear God’s voice because your partnership with the Lord can wreak havoc on his kingdom. Knowing that you will have to fight the enemy as you enter into your time alone with God will help you to stay true to your commitment. The following guidelines are tools to help you win the battle: • Bind the voice of the enemy. When you pray, Satan will try to interfere. So before you start to pray, bind his voice. Do this in the name of Jesus. Then trust the Holy Spirit. He will lead you and guide you in ALL truth. (See Matt. 16:19; John 14:26, 15:26, 27; 16:13-15; Jas. 4:7, 8; 1 Peter 5:8, 9.) • Submit your own will and reasoning to the Holy Spirit. Many times your own will and reasoning get in the way of what the Spirit of the Lord wants to share with you or communicate to you. Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. (See Ps. 119:104, 12; Prov. 3:5; 16:3; 1 Cor. 2:14-16; Jas. 4:7,8) • Turn off your own problems: This isn’t always easy, but it is necessary to true communication. Concentrating on your own problems forms a “static” that can interfere and bring confusion, causing a mixture of interpretation. (See Pss. 37:5; 42:5; 43:5; Prov. 3:5; 14:30; Isa. 26:3; Phil. 2:4; 4:6,7; 1 Peter 5:7;) • Give your undivided attention to God’s Word: Focus your mind on what He is saying; hearing is passive, while listening is active. This will require mental effort and attention. Satan will fight you on this because the more revelation of God’s Word you have, the more of a threat you will be to the kingdom of darkness. (See ps. 37:7; Prov. 4:4, 20, 23; 1 Cor. 2:10-12; 2 Cor. 10:5.) • Limit your own talking: After you have petitioned the Lord, take time to be still and wait upon Him. You do this in the same way you would carry on a conversation with a precious friend. (See Num. 9:8; Pss. 18:28; 27:14; 31:24; 37:5; Song of Sol. 2:14.) • Write it down: Listen to your inner thoughts and ideas. The Spirit of the Lord will speak to you through impressions or pictures in the theater of your mind. When this happens, write them down, because with time there is a tendency to forget. And the Lord might want to add more later. Soon you will begin to see that what you have written fits into a pattern. As you continue to pray and see the answers to your prayers, certain pictures will take on a special meaning for you. (See Exod. 17:14; Pss. 16:7; 36:8b, 9; 37:5; 77:6; Prov. 9:10; 16:3, 9; 1Cor. 2:9-16.) • Don’t argue mentally: When the Spirit of the Lord speaks, you may tend to argue with yourself and say, That’s just me, or my imagination. But as you check your written notes, God will give you confirmation from previous times with Him, or He could be giving additional “witness” to His future plans. (See Isa. 46:10, 11; John 16:13; 1 Cor. 2:16; 2 Cor. 13:1b; Phil. 2:5.) • Wait upon the Lord for the interpretation: Don’t try to figure out impressions when you receive them. Wait upon the timing and wisdom of the Lord. (See Pss. 27:14; 37:7; Prov. 2:6; 16:3; Dan. 2:22, 23, 28, 0; John 10:4; Eph. 1:17; Col. 1:9.) • Don’t get ahead of (or lag behind) the Holy Spirit: Often when the Lord shows or tells us something, we get so excited that we run and share it; but the Spirit of the Lord isn’t finished with us yet. Let Him develop the thoughts He gives you; wait until you know He is through. Don’t try to make things happen. Proverbs 16:9 says, “The mind of man plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps.” (See Jer. 10:23; 1 Cor. 4:5a; 2 Cor. 4:6; 2 Peter 3:9a.) • Be trustworthy: The Lord will share with you just as you share with a friend. He expects the same from you that you expect out of the one with whom you share your personal confidences. The more He can trust you with deep and intimate things, the more he will entrust to you. (See Gen. 18:17-19; Num. 12:7, 8; Ps. 25:14; Isa. 45:3.) • The Holy Spirit speaks through music: There are times in the morning when you wake up with a song on your heart, such as “Only Believe.” Listen to the words; during the day it could be the very key you will need to build your faith and lead you to victory. (See Exod. 15:1; 2 Chron. 20:21, 22; Pss. 32:7b; 40:3; 42:8; 138:5; Eph. 5:19; Col. 3:16.) • Pay attention to your dreams: The Lord often speaks in dreams and visions (word pictures). Eventually these dreams will fit into a pattern, and certain pictures or circumstances will begin to mean something which will help you to interpret what you have dreamed. Not all dreams are of God; those that are will stand out and will leave a deeper impression on you. You will be able to remember them beyond just waking up in the morning. Remember to write them down; this is the only way you will be able to recall the details. Even if you don’t understand the dream, write down what you think it means to you. (See “Journaling: Recording What You Hear,” Chapter 6) See Job 3:14-16; Dan. 2:19-23; 4:18; 7:1,2,7,13; 9:21,22; 10:14,21; Matt. 1:20; 2:13.) • Don’t be afraid of silence: Sometimes the Lord is silent. Don’t become upset if you don’t hear anything when you pray. Often the Holy Spirit just wants to worship the Lord. When you have your heart clean before Him, then there is nothing wrong. He just desires that you come and bask in His presence because you love Him and want to be with Him. Be still and know that He is God. (See Pss. 45:11; 46:10; 96:9; Song of Sol. 1:4; Isa. 12:2,3; 30;15; 50:10,) The Holy Spirit is the One who leads us into God’s truth. And when the Holy Spirit speaks, His voice is unique to each individual. Thus, the more you understand the Holy Spirit’s personality through you and others, the more clearly you will be able to discern God’s truth.
Posted on: Sun, 28 Jul 2013 14:34:50 +0000
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