Key #1
- God’s voice in our hearts sounds like a
flow of spontaneous thoughts. Therefore, when I tune to
God, I tune to spontaneity.
The Bible says that the Lord answered
me and said...(Hab. 2:2). Habakkuk knew the sound of
God’s voice. Elijah described it as a still, small
voice. I had always listened for an inner audible
voice, and surely God can and does speak that way at
times. However, I have found that for most of us, most
of the time, God’s inner voice comes to us as
spontaneous thoughts, visions, feelings, or impressions.
For example, haven’t each of us had the experience of
driving down the road and having a thought come to us
to pray for a certain person? We generally acknowledge
this to be the voice of God callus to pray for that
individual. My question to you is, "What did God’s voice
sound like as you drove in your car? Was it an inner,
audible voice, or was it a spontaneous thought that lit
upon your mind?" Most of you would say that God’s voice
came to you as a spontaneous thought.
So I thought to myself, "Maybe when I
listen for God’s voice, I should be listening for a flow
of spontaneous thoughts. Maybe spirit-level
communication is received as spontaneous thoughts,
impressions, feelings, and visions." Through
experimentation and feedback from thousands of others, I
am now convinced that this is so.
The Bible confirms this in many ways.
The definition of paga, the Hebrew word for
intercession, is "a chance encounter or an accidental
intersecting." When God lays people on our hearts for
intercession, He does it through paga, a chance
encounter thought, accidentally intersecting our thought
processes. Therefore, when I tune to God, I tune to
chance encounter thoughts or spontaneous thoughts. When
I am poised quietly before God in prayer, I have found
that the flow of spontaneous thoughts that comes is
quite definitely from God.
Key #2
- I must learn to still my own thoughts
and emotions, so that I can sense God’s flow of thoughts
and emotions within me.
Habakkuk said, "I will stand on my
guard post and station myself on the rampart..." (Hab.
2:1). Habakkuk knew that in order to hear God’s quiet,
inner, spontaneous thoughts, he had to first go to a
quiet place and still his own thoughts and emotions.
Psalm 46:10 encourages us to be still, and know that He
is God. There is a deep inner knowing (spontaneous flow)
in our spirit that each of us can experience when we
quiet our flesh and our minds.
I have found several simple ways to
quiet myself so that I can more readily pick up God’s
spontaneous flow. Loving God through a quiet worship
song is a most effective means for me (note II Kings
3:15). It is as I become still (thoughts, will, and
emotions) and am poised before God that the divine flow
is realized. Therefore, after I worship quietly and then
become still, I open myself for that spontaneous flow.
If thoughts come to me of things I have forgotten to do,
I write them down and then dismiss them. If thoughts of
guilt or unworthiness come to my mind, I repent
thoroughly, receive the washing of the blood of the
Lamb, and put on His robe of righteousness, seeing
myself spotless before the presence of God.
As I fix my gaze upon Jesus (Heb.
12:2), becoming quiet in His presence, and sharing with
Him what is on my heart, I find that two-way dialogue
begins to flow. Spontaneous thoughts flow from the
throne of God to me, and I find that I am actually
conversing with the King of Kings.
It is very important that you become
still and properly focused if you are going to receive
the pure word of God. If you are not still, you will
simply be receiving your own thoughts. If you are not
properly focused on Jesus, you will receive an impure
flow, because the intuitive flow comes out of that upon
which you have fixed your eyes. Therefore, if you fix
your eyes upon Jesus, the intuitive flow comes from
Jesus. If you fix your gaze upon some desire of your
heart, the intuitive flow comes out of that desire of
your heart. To have a pure flow you must first of all
become still, and secondly, you must carefully fix your
eyes upon Jesus. Again I will say, this is quite easily
accomplished by quietly worshiping the King, and then
receiving out of the stillness that follows.
Key #3
- As I pray, I fix the eyes of my heart
upon Jesus, seeing in the spirit the dreams and visions
of Almighty God.
We have already alluded to this
principle in the previous paragraphs; however, we need
to develop it a bit further. Habakkuk said, "I will keep
watch to see," and God said, "Record the vision" (Hab.
2:1,2). It is very interesting that Habakkuk was going
to actually start looking for vision as he prayed. He
was going to open the eyes of his heart, and look into
the spirit world to see what God wanted to show him.
This is an intriguing idea.
I had never thought of opening the
eyes of my heart and looking for vision. However, the
more I thought of it, the more I realized this was
exactly what God intends me to do. He gave me eyes in my
heart. They are to be used to see in the spirit world
the vision and movement of Almighty God. I believe there
is an active spirit world functioning all around me.
This world is full of angels, demons, the Holy Spirit,
the omnipresent God, and His omnipresent Son, Jesus.
There is no reason for me not to see it, other than my
rational culture, which tells me not to believe it is
even there and provides no instructions on how to become
open to seeing this spirit world.
The most obvious prerequisite to
seeing is that we need to look. Daniel was seeing a
vision in his mind and he said, "I was looking...I kept
looking...I kept looking" (Dan. 7:1,9,13). Now as I
pray, I look for Jesus present with me, and I watch Him
as He speaks to me, doing and saying the things that are
on His heart. Many Christians will find that if they
will only look, they will see. Jesus is Emmanuel, God
with us. It is as simple as that. You will see a
spontaneous inner vision in a manner similar to
receiving spontaneous inner thoughts. You can see Christ
present with you in a comfortable setting, because
Christ is present with you in a comfortable setting.
Actually, you will probably discover that inner vision
comes so easily you will have a tendency to reject it,
thinking that it is just you. (Doubt is satan’s most
effective weapon against the Church.) However, if you
will persist in recording these visions, your doubt will
soon be overcome by faith as you recognize that the
content of them could only be birthed in Almighty God.
God continually revealed Himself to
His covenant people using dream and vision. He did so
from Genesis to Revelation and said that, since the Holy
Spirit was poured out in Acts 2, we should expect to
receive a continuing flow of dreams and visions (Acts
2:1-4). Jesus, our perfect example, demonstrated this
ability of living out of ongoing contact with Almighty
God. He said that He did nothing on His own initiative,
but only that which he saw the Father doing, and
heard the Father saying (Jn. 5:19,20,30). What an
incredible way to live!
Is it actually possible for us to
live out of the divine initiative as Jesus did? A major
purpose of Jesus’ death and resurrection was that the
veil be torn from top to bottom, giving us access into
the immediate presence of God, and we are commanded to
draw near (Heb. l0:19-22). Therefore, even though what I
am describing seems a bit unusual to a rational
twentieth century culture, it is demonstrated and
described as being a central biblical teaching and
experience. It is time to restore to the Church all that
belongs to the Church.
Because of their intensely rational
nature and existence in an overly rational culture, some
will need more assistance and understanding of these
truths before they can move into them. They will find
this help in the book "Communion With God" by the same
author.
Key #4
- Journaling, the writing out of our
prayers and God’s answers, provides a great new freedom
in hearing God’s voice.
God told Habakkuk to record the
vision and inscribe it on tablets...(Hab. 2:2). It had
never crossed my mind to write out my prayers and God’s
answers as Habakkuk did at God’s command. If you begin
to search Scripture for this idea, you will find
hundreds of chapters demonstrating it (Psalms, many of
the prophets, Revelation). Why then hadn’t I ever
thought of it?
I called the process "journaling,"
and I began experimenting with it. I discovered it to be
a fabulous facilitator to clearly discerning God’s
inner, spontaneous flow, because as I journaled I was
able to write in faith for long periods of time,
simply believing it was God. I did not have to test it
as I was receiving it, (which jams one’s receiver),
because I knew that when the flow was over I could go
back and test and examine it carefully, making sure that
it lined up with Scripture.
You will be amazed when you attempt
journaling. Doubt may hinder you at first, but throw it
off, reminding yourself that it is a biblical concept,
and that God is present, speaking to His children. Don’t
take yourself too seriously. When you do, you become
tense and get in the way of the Holy Spirit’s movement.
It is when we cease our labors and enter His rest
that God is free to flow (Heb. 4:10). Therefore, put a
smile on your face, sit back comfortably, get out your
pen and paper, and turn your attention toward God in
praise and worship, seeking His face. As you write out
your question to God and become still, fixing your gaze
on Jesus, who is present with you, you will suddenly
have a very good thought in response to your question.
Don’t doubt it, simply write it down. Later, as you read
your journaling, you, too, will be amazed to discover
that you are indeed dialoguing with God.
Some final notes: No one
should attempt this without having first read through at
least the New Testament (preferably, the entire Bible),
nor should one attempt this unless he is submitted to
solid, spiritual leadership. All major directional moves
that come through journaling should be submitted before
being acted upon.