My last post on "Hearing God for yourself" brought in great dialogue. This is a subject I am immensely passionate about. I think this will be an ongoing blog topic for me since I long for more of the Body to know how to hear God for themselves. I want to share a few of my core beliefs that affect the way, frequency, and accuracy with which I believe I hear the Lord. These are my thoughts and experiences. They may or may not be helpful to you. I am not proposing that if you hold a different view on any of the points below that you cannot or are not hearing God for yourself. I am simply sharing my journey and what I have come to believe about God speaking to us as His Body, Bride, Children, Friends, Co-laborers, and His people whom he passionately loves.
Core Beliefs that affect my ability to hear the Lord clearly:
1. Jesus is THE WORD. (John 1:1-5) He loves to speak, to be heard, to be understood.
2. He is currently speaking to anyone who is listening. (Heb 12:25-29)
3. Those who call themselves followers of Jesus are to know his voice and will follow no other.
(John 10:1-5, 27)
4. God speaks in MANY ways. It is a fascinating study in Scripture to find the ways God has spoken through history and continues to speak. He knows no bounds! Thunder, donkeys, dreams, visions, prophets, and on and on.
5. God is over the top committed to relationship with each one of us. And relationship entails communication - 2 way communication. He calls us his friends! (John 15:15)
6. I have a deep conviction that when we say yes to Jesus, we are made new (2 Cor 5:17-18). The old is gone the new has come. Many people preach this and very few live it. Many people still live like they are scum, sinners, beggars, getting in by the skin of their teeth rather than renewed, reborn, full of the same Spirit that rose Jesus from the dead. I believe 1 Cor 2. It tells us that we have the mind of Christ through the Spirit of Christ within us. As a believer who is committed to being set apart for the Lord, hearing His voice, and walking in obedience, I am absolutely confident that my mind is not only capable of being in line with the mind of Christ, but that it often is. Does that mean I never struggle with flesh or have thoughts that are generated from a source other than the mind of Christ? No. But the longer I practice hearing the Lord and recognizing Him speak, the more quickly I can determine when a thought is my own or from the Lord. But in the beginning of my journey, I had to overcome this gigantic barrier of the underlying belief that I was evil in my core and I could never trust my heart or thoughts. Once the Lord revealed the depth of transformation that happened in me when I said yes to Him, I was able to believe the things He would speak to my mind and heart were actually from HIM!
7. When I talk about "hearing God," I mean the whole gamut of how the Lord talks. Some people get pictures, visions, dreams, Scripture, prophetic words from other people, the Spirit talks to their mind or spirit, journaling, just "knowing," and on and on.
8. I believe the less clutter of the world we have in our lives, the more clearly we can hear the Lord. I believe we will hear the Lord more often if we give Him time, room, and space in our mind, spirit, and physical environments. I believe it is important for us to monitor the input of the world, what we are meditating on throughout the week, and what we give ourselves to. In no way am I trying to be religious about this or set up "Thou shalts and thou shalt nots." Each person needs to be honest with themselves before the Lord about what is good and right and healthy for them in terms of entertainment, hobbies, and what we meditate on. Everything is permissible, but not everything is beneficial (I Cor 6:12; 10:23) Phil. 4:8 Fix your thoughts on what is true and honorable and right. Think about things that are pure and lovely and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise.
9. The more grounded we are in Scripture, the more confident we can be that we are hearing the heart of the Lord. I will not go so far as to say that if you do not have a solid grasp on Scripture you cannot hear the Lord. Based on facts that many throughout the world are without written Scripture available to them, I simply cannot believe that the Lord will only speak accurately or clearly to someone who knows or has the Scriptures. I have seen children as young as 3 hear from the Lord and then speak the words of the Lord accurately. They had very little knowledge of the Scripture! If you know THE WORD, you can hear the Lord accurately. Because if you know THE WORD, you will have HIS SPIRIT alive within you. And the two will bear witness to TRUTH that is spoken to your heart and mind. But even in saying that, I have a deep value for being in the Scriptures and knowing what it says. The more we know The Living Word, His character, how He operates, and what He has said in the past, the more we will be able to accurately represent His heart, life, and words to those around us.
10. It's a learning and growth process. Jesus is incredibly patient! The more surrendered I am to the Holy Spirit, the more freedom He has to speak to me and through me. We are to continually be "being filled" with the Spirit of God.
I am very aware that there are many ways to see and argue with every point I have made. I'm not sharing in order to argue or convince anyone to see things the way I do. I simply want to share my journey in hopes that someone else will benefit too. Feel free to email me if you'd like to dialogue about it. Happy hearing!
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