My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. John 10:27 NKJV
It all began at a picnic table. This ministry we call Lightbearers, where today we walk together with some truly wonderful people who are doing great things around the world, touching thousands of lives for eternity, began at a picnic table. It was outside the main hall at the Bible College I attended in Kansas, it was graduation time, and I was sitting alone. All of the sudden, I was on an airplane that had just landed in some place I knew was called Nairobi, Kenya. After I walked down the stairs from the plane I walked up to a lectern, and as far as the eye could see, I began to teach dear African saints about the Holy Spirit. That was 1978. In 1994, it began to come to pass…
The great practical theme of the whole Bible is to hear His voice and obey what you hear. When you love people, you love out of obedience, because you have heard His voice when He said, ‘Love My people.’ When you tithe, when you pray, when you forgive, when you worship, when you greet other saints, you are acting out of obedience because you have heard His voice. The great practical theme of Christianity 24/7 is to hear His voice and carry out what you have heard with faith, expectation, diligence and love. Hearing His voice and acting accordingly gives you access to all the fullness of the blessings of God. It’s a wise choice!
I had to learn to hear His voice. I’ve always been a passionate prayer person, always was on a prayer team, always willing to pray. But in March of ’95 something wonderful happened. The outpouring at Toronto was touching the nations, and I attended a singular gathering in Bedford VA hosted by my friend Dale. ‘Toronto’ came to Bedford VA and I was ‘deep fried’ in the hot oil of the Holy Spirit. Every thing changed, especially my prayer life. I would go and pray for hours on the hillside south of town, all hours of the day and night. One night, as I charged back to my truck, HS stopped me. It was like hitting a brick wall! He said, “You charge up the hill – you pray, pray, pray – and you charge down the hill. You never stop to LISTEN TO ME!” Ohhh…so, I stopped to listen and, of course, after that He didn’t say anything!
Dr. Jack Tuls, my mentor, was a great listener. We had traveled to Niger, which might be the hottest place on earth, to plant a school of ministry. We planted the school the first day, then had a week to do nothing. We stayed in our airconditioned room because it was so hot. I paced like I was in a cage but Jack just lay on the bed, smiled and said, I think I’ll listen to God. Sure enough, God spoke to him, telling him for us to go to Timbuktu in Mali the next year which we did. The point was…he heard God, I didn’t!
Peace is the great fruit of the Spirit that allows you to hear the voice of God. What is peace? I suspect for many people it is nothing more than a numb period in between conflicts. Some achieve this numbness through medication, drugs or alcohol, or immersing themselves in music, sports, television or social media. But as soon as the drugs wear off the conflict returns, and there is no peace. The peace of God is the absolute end of all strife and trouble in your heart. Peace is the Holy Spirit’s mighty river carrying you without effort to the throne of God, the sanctuary and resting place of the Almighty. It’s the inner hearts awareness that all my sins are washed away, and I have been clothed in the righteousness of God. It’s the inner hearts knowing that He will never leave or forsake me, He will never condemn or give up on me, and that He will always be seeking my best interests in all things. It’s the inner hearts knowing that He can always be counted on, trusted in, and relied upon with the utmost certainty, a certainty that cannot imagine defeat. When that peace fills your soul, the voice of God is easy to discern!
When I teach my students to receive revelation, there are two things that I tell them: the Lord wants open-ended time, and He wants your undivided attention. The implied compliment that says ‘I love you’ in undivided attention melts the heart of God. Two young lovers understand this concept, and two old lovers value it highly. When you melt the heart of God, then He can pour it out to you. Do you see why it says to love God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength? I learned so much about the heart of ABBA when I became a father myself. Open-ended time allows Him to be Lord of your schedule, your time. I often tell my students, if the president of your country invited you to sit in his office, would you get up and leave when you wanted? How much more the President of the universe? When I give Him that time, not ending our time together until He releases me, then I always go with the anointing of God, the anointing that brings Heaven to earth.
Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us…Eph 3:20 NKJV
Imagination is the faculty of the soul that prepares the soul to receive revelation. If you think something is impossible, the Lord can never give you revelation regarding it. Read that again! Imagination plows the unbelief of the soul and allows seeds of hope to be planted for a harvest. One of the greatest things you can do as a parent is enhancing the imagination of your children. Let them play, and be kings, and pirates, and athletes and heroes. I read the story early on of a famous golfer who would ‘play the course’ in his mind before ever going out for the round. Seeds of hope! In Bible College they had us dress up, prepare a sermon, and preach to a tree. In our mind’s eye, we were to see ourselves preaching to a room full of people, a congregation or a multitude. The size of our mental image was up to us! I pictured a huge crowd…and it’s come to pass many times. Same with raising the dead, healing and miracles!
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Gen 1:1 NKJV
Reason holds the same relation to the Spirit as the body does to reason. Reason is a good servant – its great to be smart! – but it’s a lousy master. Your reason, your intellect will always deny the things of the Spirit, saying they are irrational, if you allow it to be the master. Your intellect says it is not rational to put your hand on someone, say words over them and expect diseases to leave their body. Yet the Bible says, they shall lay hands on the sick and they shall recover, that the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and that the recovery is directly tied to the laying on of hands and attendant prayer. So, who will you believe, your intellect or the Bible? The Spirit is NOT irrational, the Spirit is super-rational; the Spirit of God stands far above the rationality of mere intellect.
Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out demons. Freely you have received, freely give. Matt 10:8 NKJV
One time I got a call from Michael saying that the child of one of his pastors was dead. I said, “Lets raise him (not exactly a rational thought, but rather ‘super-rational’)!” The Spirit of God fell on us and we prayed. I didn’t think much about it until I got a text from Michael some weeks later saying the young man was found alive in the hospital after we prayed (the hospital had reported him dead before our call). This was six years ago. I didn’t hear the story until about a year and a half ago. The boy, actually a young man, was shot in Kampala and declared dead. The hospital called his mum in Kabale some eight hours away to come pick up the body. Before she got on the evening bus to Kampala, she called her pastor Michael and Michael called me. When she got off the bus in Kampala, her son was alive. Today he has two daughters, and I have another picture for my miracle wall. Glory to Jesus!
On that night God appeared to Solomon, and said to him, “Ask! What shall I give you?” 2 Chron 1:7 NKJV
So listen to Him! Hear His voice! Sit down right now and close your eyes, and imagine yourself doing the impossible, living the promises of God – what would that look like? Sound like? Feel like? – enjoying the abundance of God. Then go put on your best clothes – how would you dress if you were to meet the president of your country? Is this why people used to dress up to go to church? – and go meet with the President of the universe. Sit in His presence in praise and worship – there is a certain language you could be speaking in – and wait until you hear in your spirit, “Ask! What shall I give you?” Then tell Him your dreams. Describe in detail what you have been imagining and wait with expectation. Eyes on Him! No distractions, but expectations, like a confident child waits for a loving parent. Hear His voice and do what He says…the essence of practical Christianity. Amen? Love you!
Remember dear ones, we must be about our Father’s business…