|
Wow! God has convinced us that He desires to speak to every one of His children. Jesus said, “My sheep hear my voice and I know them and they follow me.” (John 10:27) We also believe that when we hear His voice we should immediately do what He is telling us. One of the most important issues that our Ministry Training Institutes address is learning how to personally hear from God. There are so many Christians who seem to be in the dark when it comes to discovering God’s will for their life. The main reason is not knowing how to hear when God speaks. Hearing from God is the fourth chapter in our book, Doing What Jesus Did. We discuss our personal journey to hear from God. It has become apparent that this is the most important quest a follower of Jesus can pursue. The following story is a prime example of this.
During one of the small group practicum sessions at the Bend, Oregon MTI, a student minister sat in the “hot seat” requesting prayer. She had a very important prayer request, but according to the MTI instruction she could only give a brief description of what she wanted God to reveal. She said to the group something like “I need prayer because I have a lot of things going on.” That was it. That’s all the group had to go on. After praying in the Spirit, the group began to share what they thought they received from the Holy Spirit.
One of the student ministers related a “picture” she saw when she was praying. She explained, “I see you in the palm of God’s hand. And I heard the Lord say, ‘You are where you need to be.’ I also saw what appeared to be paint ball splattering going on around you but not touching you. These are only distractions.” At MTI we instruct the student ministers to follow up by asking, “Does what I just related make sense to you?”
The woman in the hot seat then related how she had been praying and that she had come to class to specifically hear a word from God as to what to do. She said she was one click away from buying a plane ticket back to Japan. When she received the word from a person she hardly knew, she knew God had heard her heart and had answered.
This is a safe way to hear from God. Pray first, then record any impressions you receive while praying in the Spirit. Allow God to spontaneously confirm the impressions through other Spirit-filled believers. By remaining in fellowship with like-minded believers, God will speak in more ways than we can imagine.
2006 will be a year to not only hear from God but to obey whatever He tells us. Our ministry schedule is shaping up to be one of the busiest years we have ever had. When God says go, we go. When He says do this, we do it. Mary, the mother of Jesus reminds us in John 2:5, “Whatever He says to you, do it.” That’s what all of us should do in 2006. Amen?
|
