So, How do we hear from God?

Pic by Chloe Lewis

     "However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come." - John 16:13 (NKJV)

     Just because so many people don't hear, or aren't able to discern God's voice, doesn't mean He isn't speaking. We can't lower our level of expectation of God to what we experience, but rather we should push for our experiences to live up to the standard of His Word. As seen in the previous blog, it is imperative that we hear His voice. The truth is that as His 'sheep', we are capable of recognising the voice of the 'Shepherd', as Jesus taught in John 10, in the parable of the Shepherd and the Sheep. But, practically, how can we discern His voice? How do we know it is God and not just our flesh pushing it's agenda?

     The first step is being assured of the fact that God does speak and is speaking to us. Once we are aware of this truth,we start to look at situations differently, we start to expect God to speak to and through us. This expectation immediately starts making us more sensitive to the different ways He is able to speak to us and for what purposes.

     I want to stress at this point that the language used in many cases and contexts may be different; for example someone might say, "I heard the Lord say ..." and someone else might say, "I felt in my Spirit" and still someone else could say, "I just knew it was the right thing ..." All these things are filtered through our vocabulary and 'christianese' language, but come down to the same thing. God is talking and you heard!

     The most consistent and readily available way to hear from God is through His word. 2 Timothy 3:16 says that "All scripture is God-breathed ...", another translation says that it was "given by His inspiration" This means that whenever we read His word, the Holy Spirit is able to apply the Word to your life, as though it is God speaking right to you; because it is God speaking right to you! Our part is to believe what we are reading to be true, inspired and relevant. We must believe God can speak to us through His word, for it to actually happen.

     But, what about when we don't have our bibles open, or if God is not reminding us of a scripture? What about when we are ministering to people, or are having to make a quick decision, what should we rely on then? The story of Elijah in 1 Kings 19, where the Lord wants to speak to Elijah, is a good example of what we experience today. The Lord was not in the powerful wind that tore through the mountains, He was not in the earthquake and He was not to be found in the fire. Instead, God spoke to him in a 'gentle whisper'. This is a great picture of how we hear God speaking to our spirits today. So often we expect the fireworks, like God writing on the wall (Daniel), shouting in a booming voice (Samuel) or sending a sign down from the heavens (Elijah). He can do all these things, but more often than not, He speaks in a gentle whisper to our spirits.

     When He whispers in our spirits we must be able to discern His voice. Often we get confused with our own thoughts and imaginations, however, there are some ways to discern His voice from all the other voices in your head. Firstly, whatever you feel is being spoken to you, does it contradict the written word of God. If it doesn't, but instead it aligns with what the bible says, then it could be from God. But, just because it's biblical doesn't mean you've heard correctly. For example, you may have felt that it was God telling you to talk to someone about their salvation, that's bible. But, it may not be the right time to do so, they might not receive what you have to say at that moment, but at a later stage they may.

     Ask yourself these questions: Does, what you think you've heard, bring peace to a situation? Will it bring joy to a situation? Does it speak life into a situation? Does it go against your natural inclination or flesh? Does it get you out of your comfort zone, in a good way? If your answer is, yes, to all of the above, then it is probably God speaking to you.

     These aren't formulas, they are just guidelines. At the end of the day we must practise hearing His voice. The more we practise it, the better we are able to discern it. Start with the small things, then when the big, tricky situations arise, your confidence for hearing His voice will be high.  Expect Him to speak to you in every situation, He is always speaking, but are you listening?

Why is it important to hear from God?

Pic by Chloe Lewis

Maturity

     Most people do not go through the effort of seeking God and the truth of His word, on their own. The majority of church-goers prefer to get told what to believe. This is both the fault of the church leadership and the individual too. But why is this a problem? Can't the pastor just hear from God and tell the people what he thinks God wants them to know?
     No, this makes for a vast segment of believers who don't know why they believe what they believe, making it impossible for them to replicate these beliefs in others. Our mandate on earth is to 'make disciples of all nations', insinuating that we should teach others and train them up in the faith. We can't do this if we don't have our own understanding on why we believe and why it is important to tell others about what we believe. It's not the paid pastors job, it is the responsibility of every mature believer to spread the good news.
     Immature Christians are ineffective for the kingdom of God, as their beliefs and revelations are from the outside in and not from the inside out, often causing more damage than good! We must allow God to speak to us, His words are truth and life, setting us free from the desception of immaturity.

Insecurity

     If you don't hear God’s voice on a regular basis, our only option is to be insecure. If you never hear God’s voice, there is no way you can confidently be about God’s business. No way you can know if you are in His will and no way of knowing whether the decisions you are making are the right ones. You are constantly in doubt, easily offended and easily swayed. Not the place you want to be. The church is rife with insecure Christians, always worried about popular opinion, happily letting their destinies slip through their hands due to the fear of rejection, which is at the root of insecurity.
     One word from God and everyone else's opinions seem trivial. Regularly hearing from Him will catapult your life into a life of passion and purpose. Knowing His heart for your life, in every situation, is when we really start to live!
    
    Practise hearing His voice, make it a priority in your life. Read His word as though it is Him speaking to you; ask the Holy Spirit to drop thoughts, ideas and unctions in your heart about situations, both present and future. Listen to your spirit-filled friends and leaders, open your heart and see what the Lord is saying through them! We can't afford to not hear His voice, we can't afford to be average: You were born for greatness!
His grace is sufficient for us!

What do you give off?

Pic by: Lea vd Heever

What do you give off?

   This is a question I've been throwing around in my head for a while now. Each one of us communicate with other people without actually talking or making gestures on a conscious level. In fact it's a consistent 'vibe' that you're giving off, that other people react to. It's not that spooky if you think about it. I'm talking about the way you think and act without even knowing it; this could include body language, frame of mind, confidence, mood etc. People react to you according to what you give off.

   Bear with me for just a second, I am getting to something a little more concrete! As Christians what kind of signals should we be giving off when we interact with people? How should people feel after having been around you, regardless of what you say or do, but just by assessing what is going on in your heart? Remember, humans aren't just physical beings, we are spiritual as well. There are many unseen things that trigger reactions in our spirits, which make themselves known in our physical bodies. Take worry for example, I have known people to become physically sick, just by worrying, it's true.

   The state of your heart will always come through in your physical, no matter how well you try to hide it. Keep your heart with all diligence, For out of it spring the issues of life (Prov 4:23). Insecurities will show up at the funniest of times and manifest in many different ways.The most important manifestation of what is going on in your heart can be seen by the type of environment or atmosphere you create when you are around other people.

   As born-again believers, we should always bring the hope, safety and joy into a situation; because that's what Jesus would have done. It is our responsibility to make other people feel as safe as possible so that they are able to express themselves fully, as God made them. The kingdom of heaven is righteousness, joy and peace in the Holy Spirit (Rom 14:17), we are meant to be carriers of this kingdom and therefore exponents of these qualities.

   So my question to you is: What are you giving off? Are you so secure in your relationship with Christ in your heart, that without thinking or being purposeful about it, you can change the atmosphere in a room? Do other people feel safe around you, free to be themselves? Is it easy for you to encourage and admonish other people without needing acceptance in return?

   It is not a personality issue, it is a heart issue. An issue of the security of knowing who you are in Christ and your acceptance of His love towards you. We need to be people who give off the right 'vibes', so that other people want what we have!

Cripple Boy WALKS!

     Incredible video of a little boy walking for the first time in his life! I was fortunate enough to be there, to be able to witness him being prayed for and being healed! This is a video of a video, as I did not have my camera on me when it happened, of him being paraded in front of everyone! Praise the Lord, He is good!!

How do I really Know? #2

" ... for the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit."
 - Romans 14:17

    In the previous 'How do I really know?' post, I expanded on how
we really know if we are saved (born-again) or not. The conclusion we came to was that if we do not know the love of God and experience His love in and through us, then we probably are not truly saved.

    Love, still being the overriding factor, is also accompanied by two other factors, which if understood, could give you and even clearer indication of your spiritual status. These are: Peace and Joy. Love, peace and joy are the first fruits of the spirit mentioned in Galatians 5:22. Once you are born-again and your spirit is made brand new, the fruits of the spirit are natural products of this renewed nature:

" But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control "
 - Galatians 5:22-23

    Peace can be defined as: the absence of strife or dissension. If you are born-again though, peace becomes the presence of a Person, the Holy Spirit. As a born-again believer your spirit and your mind should be free of constant uncertainty, worry or anxiety. This is only possible if we make room for the person of the Holy Spirit, in our hearts. We should have confidence in the decisions we are making and should not let that which is out of our control steal our peace. When we understand that pur salvation is not based on our works, but rather on our faith in Hisfinished work, then we will have peace in our hearts. Jesus even said in John 16:33 that, "... in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world"

    Joy, is an inward contentment, expressed as outward jubilation! When your spirit is at peace and is aware of the love of the Father towards you, it can't help but leap for joy. Joy is different to happiness, in that it is not an emotion, rather it is a reaction to the goodness of God! Joy gives us strength (Nehemiah 8:10), there is fullness of joy in His presence (Psalm 16:11) and there is joy on the day of our salvation (Psalm 57:12). If we can rejoice, even in the hard times, it is a good indication that we are convinced of the faith we have in Him! Jesus said this about His joy, "these things I speak in the world, that they may have My joy fulfilled in themselves" (John 17:13).

    So be encouraged, that as you experience the love of God, that you also have every right to experience His peace and joy! It is important for these three realities to work in tandem, in order for us to live out the purpose God has placed us on earth to fulfill.

"Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit" 
- Romans 15:13

    My prayer is that by reading this and seeing what the word of God says about salvation and the born-again spirit inside of you, that you will be left under no illusions as to where you stand in your relationship with Him.

An Ideal for which I am Prepared to die

      Nelson Mandela talking about, equality for all, in the country of his birth, South Africa. Are there any ideals which you feel strongly about? If not, why  not? I wage to say, that if we don't live by our convictions and follow our passions, that our lives stand the chance of being ordinary. This is a scary thing, as ordinary indicates a lack of thinking beyond yourself, it shows no signs of ambition and leads the person living such a life to ponder the relevance of their existence! What are you prepared to die for (if need be, that is)? Live for that!

How Do I Really Know? #1

Picture by: Kirsti Pennels

   One of the most frequently asked questions I have come across in talking and ministering to people, is regarding their salvation: "How do I really know I'm saved?" This came as quite a shock to me, because some of these people I would have regarded as being 'strong' believers and yet they still struggled with this foundational issue.

   In contemplating this phenomenon, I started to see a common denominator, that is, in almost every case, these folks were extremely religious. What I mean by religious is, that they said and did all the right things, and were convinced that in the doing, they would earn acceptance from God. A works based faith. This is a very dangerous place to be, because even though many main streams of Christianity preach a version of this, it places the onus on your works, and not on faith in the finished work of Jesus Christ on the cross, for your salvation.

   Let's see what the bible says we need to do to be saved and how we will know that we are, it's pretty simple:
In John 3:16, Jesus is talking to Nicodemus, explaining to him the new-birth experience, saying that "...whoever believes in Him (Jesus) shall not perish but have eternal life ... " The Apostle Paul reiterates this in Romans 10:9 when he writes, " That if you confess with your mouth "Jesus is Lord" and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved" Belief (or faith) is an issue of the heart, only God knows your heart and sees your faith, thus He is faithful, by grace, to save you and you automaticaly enter into His eternal blessing.

   Due to a severe lack of understanding of what happens when you get born-again, people tend to get disillusioned, because they feel as though nothing has changed and start to doubt whether, in fact, they were/are truly saved. In a nutshell, this is what happens when you put your faith in Jesus as your Lord and Saviour: a)Your sins are forgiven, past, present and future tense b) You are redeemed from every curse that came with the fall of man ,when sin entered the world, with Adam. These include poverty, sickness, disease and fear (all having their root in sin) c) You have the power of God inside of you to change your circumstances and those of others (2Peter 1:3) d) You have inherited eternal life with the Father (John15) (this is a hugely broad topic which deserves deeper exposition, future posts will deal with what happens when you get saved).

   So, realising what you can tap into, once you are born-again, will go a long way in making a reality of what has happened to you in the spirit. Remember you are made up of spirit, soul and body. When you get saved it is your spirit that is renewed, your soul and body remain pretty much the same, initialy. Thus, in the parable of the sower (Matt 13:18), Jesus explains exactly what happens when people start to doubt, He says "When anyone hears the message about the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away that what was sown in his heart" This makes it very clear as to why people sometimes doubt their salvation, satan steals the truth and replaces it with confusion. There is only one way to counter this: " ... know the truth, and the truth will set you free" (John 8:32)

   What is the truth then? The truth is that "Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God ... if we love one another, God lives in us and His love is made complete in us" (1John 4:7-11) "If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in him and he in God ... God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in Him" (1John 4:15-16)

Question: How do I know if I'm saved?
Answer: Love.

"The only thing that counts is faith, expressing itself through love" - Galatians 5:6

   If you love others the way God loves you, not because you have to, but because you want to, because you love them with His love. Because He is on the inside of you. Then there should be no doubt! (see 'Love, Life and Ministry' posts)

   Salvation is thus not a: fruit, works or performance based issue, it is a heart issue. A thankful (loving) heart will produce fruit and inevitably works (James 2:26), not the other way around. "For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith - and this not from yourselves, it is a gift of God - no by works, so that no man can boast" (Eph 2:8-9)

All scripture quoted from NIV (1984) with emphasis added