Seeing in the Spirit - Part 2

What is our goal as a church family? To glorify God by passionately pursuing after Christ in the power of the Holy Spirit!

One of the most important tasks we have before us is to learn to hear the voice of God and see the revelation that He has for us in the day-to-day of life. To enter into dialogue with God is to experience a two-way conversation with Him – why? Because He loves us and we love Him.

Thus far – we’ve learned that:
- God’s voice in our hearts sounds like the flow of spontaneous thoughts. Therefore, in order to hear Him, I must tune into spontaneity.

- God speaks in the stillness, not in the noise, confusion and hurry. Therefore, I must embrace stillness in order to hear His voice.

- God uses visions and dreams to speak intimately to our hearts. Therefore, I will fix the eyes of my heart upon Jesus, seeking to see in the Spirit the dreams and visions of God.

When we begin to operate and live from the eyes of the heart – our experience with God takes on a vibrancy and life that simple head knowledge cannot ever replicate!

Last week, we defined vision as…
VISION DEFINED: Vision is seeing the movement of God with the eyes of the heart.

When God gives vision it is always to help you and I see what He is doing or is about to do! He gives vision so that we can participate with Him in what He is going to do.

And we also looked at the life of Christ and how He absolutely depended upon vision in order to accomplish His life’s purpose.

Remember what He said in John…
“I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does. For the Father loves the Son and shows him all he does. Yes, to your amazement he will show him even greater things than these.” John 5:19, 20

Today we are going to take a look at:
• How to prepare the eyes of your heart for God to speak to you.
• How to test any revelation in order to be certain of it’s origin.

We are going to look at how to test any revelation in order to be certain of it’s origin – prior – to discussing how to prepare your heart for God’s revelation. The reason we are doing this is that when I get to the preparation stage of this message, I don’t want you freaking out and saying: “Won’t this open me up to all kinds of falsehood and error!”

1. How to test any revelation in order to be certain of it’s origin.

We’ve been taught to live rationally – as if the mind were the center of the human. But it isn’t – receiving revelation happens as Spirit-to-spirit communication occurs. Yet, God hasn’t called us to throw away our minds! In fact, our minds serve us well and have a very important role to play in our spiritual development. God intends for you to use your mind as a place of testing what is being revealed!

As we begin to live in the Holy Spirit, we will make mistakes. So that’s why Paul wrote these words in 2 Thessalonians 5:21 - “Test everything. Hold on to the good.” 1 Thessalonians 5:21

There is so much at stake – you must learn how to test what is being purported to be of God.

1. Determine the origin – you’ve go to know who it came from, and from what I can tell, there are three possible sources:
- My mind – if so, then the picture will be born in my mind, not in the spirit – it will be a creation of my mind and will have been painted stroke by stroke by me.
- Satan – if so, then the picture will seem terribly out of place, it won’t fit what you know God is doing.
- The Holy Spirit – if so, then the picture will be a living flow of life coming from your innermost being and pointing you to Jesus!

2. Determine the content –

“This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world. You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world. They are from the world and therefore speak from the viewpoint of the world, and the world listens to them.” 1 John 4:2-5

Is the content of the revelation, word or vision one that brings honor to Christ?

If the ideas are merely my own, they will sound like what I’ve learned, and expression of what I have been feeding my mind and heart.

If the ideas are from Satan, they will be negative, destructive and pushy. They will bring accusation and fear. The message will not only violate the Word of God, but will violate the nature of God! Perhaps the clearest indicator of satanic origin is secrecy – darkness does not want to come into the light!

Any revelation from God will be open and eager for testing. It will be meek and humble, willing to be submitted to the Body of Christ! Truth seeks truth and isn’t afraid of the light! Divine revelation will be instructive, upbuilding and comforting!

Thirdly – test the revelation by…
3. Examining the fruit.

Matthew 7:16 tells us…
“By their fruit you will recognize them…” Matthew 7:16

What is the result of the revelation? Where does it lead?

The fruit of my thoughts will vary – depending on what I’ve been feeding myself.

The fruit of Satan will be fear, bondage, anxiety and confusion.

But the fruit of the Holy Spirit will be a quickening of faith, deepening peace, increasing enlightenment and knowledge of God!

Examing the fruit, determine the content, and determine the origin.

Now – how do you prepare your heart to receive revelation?

2. How to prepare the eyes of your heart for God to speak to you.

Paul prayed…
“I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints,” Ephesians 1:18

Preparation requires moving away from the logical, analytical and cognitive for a period of time and willingly entering into a place of vision, imagination, creativity and wonder.

When you were a little kid, you could move into imagination so easily. Broomsticks become swords, pop flies into right field become World Series winning grand slams. One of my all-time favorite comic characters is “Calvin” from Calvin and Hobbes. Why? Because Calvin has an amazing imagination – he can take a stuffed tiger and he becomes his best friend Hobbes. He can take a box and travel though time. He can take the same box – turn it upside down and it becomes the “transmogrifier” where he is able to transform himself into whatever he wants to be.

Now, something happens when we ‘grow up’ – that causes us to be embarrassed by our former abilitiy to imagine. But, we lose more than the ability to imagine – we lose the ability to see with the eyes of our heart! Our heads take over to exclusion of the heart.

So, what do we do –

1. Enter into a Bible Story. Simply picture the action as it takes place. Imagine what was going on – all around – as the scene unfolds.

Can you see Goliath standing tall across the field – can you hear his mocking voice? Can you feel the fear in the armies of God? Look at there faces – the hopelessness, the certainty of death? Do you see David’s size compared to the great warriors? How ridiculous his claim to kill Goliath sounds? How silly he looks in Saul’s armor? Can you imagine the shock Goliath felt when David made his bold statements – how much it must of sounded like a chijuahah going up against a pit bull.

Enter into the Bible – move into the third dimension – allow the Holy Spirit to open up the vastness of Scripture.

2. See Jesus while you pray. When you pray, look for Jesus. Go to a comfortable, welcoming place where you and Jesus can talk. In the eyes of your heart – walk with Jesus along the beach, in the shade of pine trees in the mountains, seated in the comfort of your patio.

What I’ve found is that I rarely see His face. I frequently see His hands, and He invites me to walk with Him, hand-in-hand – with Himself leading. But, I also see a quality of presence unlike whne I am with anyone else. Compassion, gentleness, love become reality. And then, as I see in the Holy Spirit my Savior, He begins to speak – bringing the words of wisdom and life that I so desperately need!

When you are praying for others, I’ve begun to see Him take action. When I pray for healing, I see Him touching the sick person at their point of need and giving them exactly what they need.

3. Enjoy praise and worship as you see what you sing. As the Holy Spirit leads you into worship, ask Him to help you see what you sing. Enter into His throne room – see the glory, see the angels and apostles worshipping, join them! When you sing “to see him high and lifted up” – see Him high and lifted up!

Worship will take on an entirely new meaning and vitality when you stop singing with the mind and begin to see what you are singing about! What does it mean that He is ‘holy, holy, holy’? See holiness! What does it mean when you sing…

The whole world’s shaking with the love of God
Great and glorious let the whole earth sing
And all you ever do is change the old for new
People – we believe that…

God is bigger than the air I breathe
The world we’ll leave
God will save the day and all will say
My glorious

CONCLUSION
Ultimately, to see in the Spirit requires that you do two things:

1. Become convinced of the value of living in the Spirit.
2. Set aside time for developing your spiritual life.

I want you to take a moment – and ask the Lord to bring vision and revelation to your life as I play a song for you --- use the tools that I’ve taught you recently…

Spontaneity
Stillness
Seeing in the Spirit

Play: “I can only imagine”

- What was that like for you?
- What did you see?
- How did it help you in your relationship with Christ?

PRAYER
I can only imagine
What it will be like
When I walk
By Your side
I can only imagine
What my eyes will see
When Your face
Is before me
I can only imagine
{Chorus}:Surrounded by Your glory, what will my heart feel
Will I dance for You Jesus or in awe of You be still
Will I stand in Your presence or to my knees will I fall
Will I sing hallelujah, will I be able to speak at all
I can only imagine
I can only imagine
When that day comes
And I find myself
Standing in the Son
I can only imagine
When all I will do
Is forever
Forever worship You
I can only imagine

Seeing in the Spirit - Part 1

As Christians, we face the daily choice of where we are going to draw our power:
- The power of the flesh – where we simply do ‘what feels good…’
- The power of our soul – where our mind, emotions and will direct us
- The power of the Holy Spirit – where we allow God living within us to lead us.

As we turn away from fleshly and soulish living, we simply must have intimate, dialogue with God so that His Spirit can lead us. We need to hear from Him – we don’t know how to live in the Spirit, unless we are in touch with the Spirit.

Which is why we are learning how to have authentic DIALOGUE with God – we aren’t talking here about one-way prayer, instead we are talking about training ourselves in the joy of having two-way conversations with God!

Thus far – we’ve learned that:
- God’s voice in our hearts sounds like the flow of spontaneous thoughts. Therefore, in order to hear Him, I must tune into spontaneity.

- God speaks in the stillness, not in the noise, confusion and hurry. Therefore, I must embrace stillness in order to hear His voice.

Today – we move to the next step in having dialogue with God. And it is this:
- God uses visions and dreams to speak intimately to our hearts. Therefore, I will fix the eyes of my heart upon Jesus, seeking to see in the Spirit the dreams and visions of God.

PRAYER
Look at Habakkuk 2:1 –
“I will stand at my watch and station myself on the ramparts; I will look to see what he will say to me, and what answer I am to give to this complaint.” Habakkuk 2:1

Here you see the process that one of God’s prophets went through to hear from God – and notice right in the middle of the text: “I will look to see what he will say to me…”

Habakkuk is LOOKING TO SEE what is BEING SAID – and interesting turn of words – why doesn’t he say, “I will listen to what God is saying”? – Because, Habakkuk understood that God speaks through visions and dreams – Habakkuk is LOOKING for the vision that God will send!

This may strike you as a new idea – it certainly has me – until I looked deeper into the Bible and discovered that there are hundreds of verses from Genesis to Revelation that demonstrate that God has chosen to reveal Himself within our hearts by use of dream or vision!

And, since this is one of the ways that God speaks, it is vital for your spiritual growth and maturity for you to learn to see in the Spirit what God is saying!
At the day the church began in Jerusalem – the Day of Pentecost – the day that the Holy Spirit came – Peter quoted Joel 2:28 in Acts 2:17…

“‘In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams. Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days, and they will prophesy.” Acts 2:17, 18

The Holy Spirit of God is given to all who call upon Jesus! As a result – there will be prophesies, there will be visions, there will be dreams – all of which bring us into a greater revelation and experience of God!

It is time for us to move into this dynamic power – to allow Christ to set our hearts aflame with His love – to pursue Him in such a way that He opens us up to that realm of revelation that we have largely ignored!

Our problem is that we have all grown up with a cultural bias against spiritual life! Our culture bows down at the throne of Rationalism – to the complete exclusion of the spiritual realm! We must come to see that this is not God’s problem – this is our problem! The world says: There is no realm of the Spirit – there is only the material world, that which can be observed through the five senses! And much of Western Christianity has bought into this world view blindly – forgetting that as Christians our very hope lies in the fact that there is more than we can see – that God exists and has a Kingdom that is unseen to the natural eyes! We must repent of allowing the world to force us into its mold! If we are ever going to move into truly Spirit-filled living, we must willingly break out of the hold that our godless culture has on us!

Paul prayed for people like us in Ephesians 1:17-18…
“I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints,” Ephesians 1:17, 18

• We need the Spirit of wisdom!
• We need the Spirit of revelation!
Why? So we can ‘know Him better’!

• We need the ‘eyes of the heart opened and enlightened’!
Why? So we can ‘know hope and inheritance!’

Why is this so important? Because it is with the eyes of your heart that the heart of the Lord for you is revealed!

Let me illustrate:
HEAD KNOWLEDGE: “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” John 3:16

• God loves everyone.
• God sacrificed His Son.
• I must believe.
• When I believe, I am saved.

Let’s be honest – to hear that with the head doesn’t do much to thrill us!

But hear it with the heart…
HEART KNOWLEDGE:
“I am loved. I am loved deeply, personally, eternally. In spite of my mistakes, in spite of my most wicked moments, even when I said and did horrible things – God was busy – not condemning me, but loving me! His love for me is so extraordinary that He did the unthinkable – He willingly , planned, allowed and carried out the sacrifice of His only child so that I could be brought back from my stupidity, my foolishness, my failures and my eventual death! Imagine, because of this great love, I can experience peace right now. If He loves me like this, I must be of some importance. It doesn’t matter what my parents said, what my classmates or teachers said, it doesn’t matter that I didn’t finish college, that I don’t make a million bucks a year – that I won’t win any beauty contests, that I am not famous: I AM LOVED BY MY CREATOR! And now, I can talk with Him, and he’ll talk with me. I can pour out my heart to Him, and He pours out His heart to me! I can go into any circumstance and He goes with me! Why? Because He loves me! He – loves – me! I – am – loved!”

When we begin to operate and live from the eyes of the heart – our experience with God takes on a vibrancy and life that simple head knowledge cannot ever replicate!

Today and next week – I want to:
• define what vision is
• provide you a biblical foundation
• show you ways to prepare the eyes of your heart for God to speak to you
• and give you a series of ways to test vision to make sure of it’s origin.

VISION DEFINED: Vision is seeing the movement of God with the eyes of the heart.

When God gives vision it is always to help you and I see what He is doing or is about to do! He gives vision so that we can participate with Him in what He is going to do.

There are two worlds and two sets of eyes.
• The seen, temporal world – which are viewed with the eyes of the flesh.
• The unseen, eternal world – which is seen with the eyes of the heart.

It’s not hard to see what is going on in the natural world – it takes no skill or revelation. It’s obvious. But God gives vision so that you can see what He is doing in the unseen, eternal world!

Perhaps the best example of this is found in 2 Kings 6:15 – where the enemies of God have camped around the city where Elisha was staying. Let’s read the text:

“When the servant of the man of God got up and went out early the next morning, an army with horses and chariots had surrounded the city. “Oh, my lord, what shall we do?” the servant asked. “Don’t be afraid,” the prophet answered. “Those who are with us are more than those who are with them.” And Elisha prayed, “O LORD, open his eyes so that he may see.” Then the LORD opened the servant’s eyes, and he looked and saw the hills full of horses and chariots of fire all round Elisha.” 2 Kings 6:15-17, NIV.

Elisha saw his servant’s fear, and prayed for Him – “God open his eyes so that he may see!” And God did – he gave vision where there had only been fear – and the unseen, eternal world – the activity of God was revealed.

• Vision is God showing up and letting you know what His plans are! And isn’t it amazing that He loves you enough to do this for you!

• Vision helps you in your communion with Christ – as He opens your eyes to His plans, your hunger and desire for Christ grows! Your love relationship with Him increases! His presence, His reassurance, His gentle word – draws me closer to Him.

• Vision also helps you as seek to minister to others – He shows you what He wants to do. (Christina – I saw in the Spirit the word “YES”)

VISION AND JESUS – A BIBLICAL FOUNDATION
TURN TO JOHN 5:19-20:
“I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does. For the Father loves the Son and shows him all he does. Yes, to your amazement he will show him even greater things than these.” John 5:19, 20

Jesus saw vision – “…he can do only what he sees his Father doing…” “…For the Father loves the Son and shows him all he does…”

TURN TO JOHN 8:38:
“I am telling you what I have seen in the Father’s presence, and you do what you have heard from your father.” John 8:38

Jesus spoke what He saw in the visions - “I am telling you what I have seen in the Father’s presence…”

TURN TO MATTHEW 13:34
“Jesus spoke all these things to the crowd in parables; he did not say anything to them without using a parable. So was fulfilled what was spoken through the prophet: “I will open my mouth in parables, I will utter things hidden since the creation of the world.” Matthew 13:34, 35

Jesus taught with visionary pictures – “parables, things hidden since the creation of the world…”

TURN TO COLOSSIANS 1:15
“He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.” Colossians 1:15

Jesus is a visionary picture of God – Do you want to see God – look at His image – Christ!

CONCLUSION:
If Jesus needed vision – you need it too!
Jesus opened acknowledged that all of His strength was the result of His intimacy with His Father in Heaven. If Jesus needed strength – you need it too!

We speak often about the spiritual battle we are in – how the enemy wants to steal, kill and destroy you – how you are in Christ potentially a powerful agent of transformation

The enemy doesn’t want your spiritual eyesight opened, he wants you to muddle through life, doing the best you can, living according to whatever soulish power you can muster up - but Christ offers you His vision – He offers you His reality – He offers you His life!

People ask: What is God doing at SUMMIT Church? And the answer is: He is building a truly SPIRITUAL house! He is calling us to pursue hard after Him – to long, to seek, to go after – to be willing to throw every lesser thing away – so that we can truly know Him!

Is this your desire?

Tune your heart into spontaneity.
Turn away from the noise and move into the stillness
Seek to see in the Spirit of GOD!

Developing Stillness

We are talking about having dialogue with God. Do you know what the word ‘dialogue’ means?

Here’s a definition that I found: “Talk of any kind between two or more people.”

When we speak of having dialogue with God, we are speaking of moving into such an intimate love relationship with Him that not only are we talking to Him, but we are hearing His response!

For most of us – this is quite a stretch from where we are at today. But – this is His desire for you! Jesus said:

“My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me.” John 10:27

So far, we’ve learned that in order to have authentic two-way dialogue with God we must:

• Tune into spontaneity. God speaks to our hearts – and we need to grow in our ability to listen in the spontaneous ways of the heart!

The next part of our journey into dialogue involves…

• Training in stillness. God speaks in the stillness, not in the noise, confusion and hurry that control our lives today! If I am to experience dialogue with God it will be the result of learning to still my mind and emotions.

Our biblical foundation for this spiritual truth is found in Psalms 46:10

“Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted in the earth.” Psalms 46:10

This verse comes in the context of a Psalm detailing a world at war – look at Psalms 46…

“God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging. Selah There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy place where the Most High dwells. God is within her, she will not fall; God will help her at break of day. Nations are in uproar, kingdoms fall; he lifts his voice, the earth melts. The LORD Almighty is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress. Selah Come and see the works of the LORD, the desolations he has brought on the earth. He makes wars cease to the ends of the earth; he breaks the bow and shatters the spear, he burns the shields with fire. “Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.” The LORD Almighty is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress. Selah” Psalms 46:1-11

And in the midst of troubles, trials, shaking, floods, earthquakes, political upheaval, God says– BE STILL AND KNOW THAT I AM GOD!

This has meaning for two different groups of people:

• The enemies of God are to be still and know! He is GOD! He is infinitely greater than they are! He will foil their plans for domination and He will be exalted – among all the nations!
• The people of God are to be still and know! We are to be calm and still, secure and no longer afraid – why? Because He is GOD! His IDENTITY secures our identity! His EXALTATION lifts us out of depression and despair! His NAME is given to us! We belong to Him!

Do you know what God means when He says: “Be still” ? He invites you to come to Him with all things and to cease striving, to relax, to let go and to enter into an attitude of playfulness!

All of this is the result of your taking your faith and putting it into action! Do we really believe that God is who He says He is? Will He really take care of me? Will He really meet all of my needs? – Or – am I on my own, alone in this cold, harsh and unkind world?

God invites you into the a place of absolute security – where He will speak and you will be built up as His child – “Be still and know that I am God!”

BUT – stillness doesn’t come easy. We aren’t exactly trained in stillness – in fact – everything in our culture and world goes directly opposite of stillness! All of us are experts at hurry! We have advanced degrees in noise! And confusion – we can do confusion extremely well!

So – what is our ACTION PLAN for becoming still?

We begin by…
Removing distractions to stillness.

Look at Mark 1:35…
“Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed.” Mark 1:35

What do we learn from Jesus about removing distractions to sillness?

• To get up early because the days are too busy! “Very early in the morning, while it was still dark…”

Let’s face it – few of us have a tremendous amount of free time. Most of us ‘go, go, go’ until we drop, drop, drop at the end of the day. We need to be intentional with our time with God – it won’t happen by accident, and it won’t happen if you wait ‘til you get around to it!

Some of you might say: “But I don’t like getting up early.” If you look at what Jesus was doing the night before in verse 32-34 – we see that it wasn’t until nighttime that Jesus really began ministering to people and that it most likely went until late at night before He finished! You may not like getting up early – but if you are going to pursue hard after Christ – you’ll find Him best in the early hours of the day!

The second thing we learn from Jesus is…
• To get away from others because we need our time alone! “He went off to a solitary place…”

Rancho Cucamonga is the 9th fastest growing city in the United States. California – in spite of it’s high home prices, traffic problems, smog and host of other challenges had in 2003 – nearly 36 million people living here! According to the US Census Bureau, there was an average of 2.87 people living in each household.

Regardless of all of this – the spiritually minded person, who is full pursuit of Christ is going to find both the place and the time to get away from others in order to be with Christ!

The benefits of being alone with Christ are too numerous to mention – but try these on for size:
o Gain clarity when confused
o Rediscover the love of God through Christ
o Find forgiveness when convicted of sin
o Direction for life

To get away from others is hugely important in hearing the voice of God! You know that you need this!

Where can you go – where you can be undisturbed for 30 minutes? It isn’t as hard as it may sound – if you make a commitment to be up early, before the others in the household!

On a practical level, once you’ve made the decision to be alone with God there will be other distractions:

• Physical Distractions – be comfortable! If you are kneeling, you’re legs will go to sleep. Be comfortable so that you can make Christ your focus!

• Brain Distractions – as soon as you sit down to be with God, your mind will begin to race – “You forgot to pick up the dry cleaning!” “Did you send the card to your nephew for his birthday?” “Am I ready for my meeting at work today?” “Did you make the deposit?” What are you to do with this? If you try to push those thoughts down – they’ll get louder and louder – so, deal with them – have a pen and paper ready, and when those thoughts come, write them down – so that you can deal with them later. Then refocus your thoughts back upon Christ.

• Conscience Distractions – Suddenly all of your sin is put before you. Guilty! Guilty! Guilty! Runs through your mind like a hamster on a wheel! You’ve got some choices to make: If you have not confessed your sins – now is the time. And then, you’ve got to take God as His Word. If you have confessed your sins – you’ve got to remind your conscience of God’s Promises. We are either going to gaze upon our self and our sin and weaknesses – or – we are going to choose to focus on Christ and His glory and grace! The Bible tells us that what we focus on will determine what we will become – check out 2 Corinthians 3:18

“And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.”
2 Corinthians 3:18

We must decide to fix our eyes on Jesus and trust that He will clothe us in His righteousness!

What is the GOAL of stillness?

The goal of stillness isn’t to empty the mind or totally blank out the intellect – rather the goal is:

• Refocus ourselves upon Christ! For it is in Christ that we are made new!

• Know deep within ourselves the movement of God! For it is in the stillness that God speaks and brings revelation of Himself and His plans into our lives!

Becoming still isn’t doing something, it is being in touch with the Lord Jesus Christ within! To be still is to experience Christ in this very moment. He is the Great I Am. To live the God of the Now, I must live in this moment.

I am not mourning for the past, or worrying about the future – I am living and enjoying Christ in the present moment. I am allowing my salvation to impact this very moment. I am living out what David wrote about when he said…
“This is the day the LORD has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.” Psalms 118:24

CONCLUSION:

Christ is calling you into the deep. He is saying: “I want to speak with you. I have the words of life – will you turn away from the noise, the hurry, the confusion – and come into the quiet, into the stillness, into my presence – in order to hear what I have to say?”

This week – turn inward. Turn toward the quiet.

In your notes there is a place where you can make a couple of notations:

• PLACE: Where will you go to be with Christ?
• TIME: When will you go there?
• PREPARATION: What will you bring with you?

One of the best rock bands in the world today – a group of guys called “Switchfoot” wrote these lyrics:

What's it gonna take to slow us down
to let the silence spin us around?
What's it gonna take to drop this town?
We've been spinning at the speed of sound.
If we're adding to the noise turn off this song
If we're adding to the noise turn off your stereo, stereo, stereo

This week – I dare you to move away from the noise, and into the stillness.

The Spoken Word of God - Part Two

Last week we introduced the concept of the “spoken” word of God – I introduced you to the word “rhema” which means God’s spoken word.

We learned that we have to learn to distinguish between the various voices in our hearts…
• Satan
• Intellect
• Will
• The Holy Spirit

We learned that God wants us to step out complete dependency of cognitive, analytical approaches to God and to willingly move into the heart – which requires that we be open to spontaneity. God bringing to mind ideas that express His heart to our heart!

• This is the voice of God: a chance idea that intersects your mind, not flowing from the normal processes, but simply appearing in your heart.
• This is the voice of God – an idea from God lighting upon your heart and being registered in your mind as a spontaneous thought.

The first time this happened to me it was like Christmas morning! He was talking to me! He was talking to me! There was an old song we used to sing when I was a kid: “Heaven came down and glory filled my soul!” That’s what I’m talking about!

But, if you are going to hear the voice of God – you’ve got to embrace spontaneity! God does not jump through our soulish hoops to speak to us, we’ve got to open our hearts to His Holy Spirit in order to hear Him speak!

So – what does God’s voice sound like?
1. His voice is like a love song.
1. His voice is light and gentle, easily drowned out by soulish exertion.
1. He frequently speaks in the first person.
1. His voice takes me to higher levels.
1. His voice excites.
1. His voice brings power to do what is needed.

1. His voice is like a love song.

When he speaks, he speaks as a lover speaks to his beloved. He is tender, compassionate, and very much for you!

At the baptism of Jesus – God spoke:
“This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.” Matthew 3:1

The Song of Solomon is an allegory of love between a husband and wife – but also between God and His people. God lovingly invites, entices and welcomes us to Himself…
“Arise, my darling, my beautiful one, and come with me... show me your face, let me hear your voice; for your voice is sweet, and your face is lovely.” Song of Solomon 2:10, 14

This is quite different than our fearful belief that if God were to speak He’d be like a Middle School Principal scolding wayward students! Or a harsh parochial school nun ruling with an iron first!

Even when God speaks words of correction- they are gentle and loving!

Paul wrote in Romans that it is
“…God’s kindness leads you towards repentance.” Romans 2:4

You need not fear the voice of the Lord anymore than you’d fear the words of someone who really loves you! His voice is like a love song – which is why we are to be worshippers –

How do you respond to love – love back! Driving down the freeway singing of His praises! Going through the workday – giving praise in every moment of the day! Turn off talk radio and love God!

Paul McCartney sang a song called “silly little love songs” where he responds to the people who were critical of him for not being more like John Lennon. Many Christians are critical of other Christians who just want to worship and sing ‘silly little love songs’ to God – and let me respond to that: There is nothing more important ‘to do’ than to express your love in return to Him!

You want to hear God? Join in the love song!

1. His voice is light and gentle, easily drowned out by soulish exertion.

If I interrupt the spontaneous flow with my own analytical thoughts or self will, God will not try to out shout me or speak above the noise. As a man who is seeking to become truly Spiritual, I’ve got to discipline my mind, will, emotions and body to be subject to the authority of the Holy Spirit living within.

Psalms 46:10 tells us what to do:
“Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.”” Psalms 46:10

The Hebrew word for ‘still’ is “rawpha” and it means to sink, let down, relax, to go slack!

When you are listening to God – and when you start to get ahead of Him in mind, will or emotions – simply say to your self: “Be still! God is speaking!” and then pray: “Holy Spirit, help me be still, for I long to hear from you!”

Thirdly…
1. His voice is highly personal.
What I’ve discovered as I’ve tuned into spontaneity, is the frequently when God speaks He’ll use my name: “Doug…” and then off He’ll go. If you were to read my journals, you’d see that frequently when He begins to speak to me, it begins with “Doug…”

This makes perfect sense – for God is a Person desiring a personal relationship with His people.

Jesus said:
“And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered.” Matthew 10:30

Don’t you think He knows your name?

He said to Moses in Exodus 33…
“I am pleased with you and I know you by name.” Exodus 33:17

Isn’t it thrilling to know that He knows your name and isn’t afraid to use it! God’s voice is highly personal!

1. His voice takes me to higher places.

Let me explain: When my soul is in control, my prayers, thoughts and attitudes are frequently pretty mediocre. “God help me with this, help me with that… I’m worried about this, that and the the other thing…”

But when the voice of God comes – it always takes me to higher places! His voice is more merciful than mine! His voice is more discerning than mine! His voice gets to the root issues while my mind is still running around in circles in circumstantial confusion!

When God speaks, He lifts.
When God speaks, He points to a higher way, to more pure motives, to better responses!

Do you know why?
“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the LORD. “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.” Isaiah 55:8, 9

When the voice is from God, you can rest assured that it will take you higher – never lower!

Which leads us to #5 -
1. His voice excites.

And how could it not! To realize that you are so connected with God that you are now – beyond a shadow of a doubt – hearing His voice – how could this not thrill us to the core of our being!?

When God speaks, He brings with His voice a special sense of excitement, conviction, faith, vibrancy, awe and peace!

When you know that you know that you know that it is the Lord who is speaking, you’ll find that your body, soul and spirit will respond differently than to any other voice! I have had experiences where I feel my heart racing, my body feels like electricity is flowing through it, my mind sees more clearly – why? Because I am in the Presence of the Lord!

In Isaiah 66:2 God says:
“This is the one I esteem: he who is humble and contrite in spirit, and trembles at my word.” Isaiah 66:2

The voice of God excites. In an age of cynicism and doubt – hearing the voice of God makes you young again – filled with hope and excitement about what He is saying to you!

And then, lastly…
2. His voice provides the power to do what is needed.

When God speaks – and when He directs, He also provides. He gives you the power to do what needs doing.

Jesus said:
“My yoke is easy and my burden is light.”” Matthew 11:30

It is only easy and light when we are living in the power of the Holy Spirit. But when God speaks – and when He leads – He provides what is needed. Even if He gives a hard assignment, He provides what you need, exactly when you need it.

Jesus speaks to Paul and to us:
“My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” 1 Corinthians 12:9

When Moses heard the voice of the Lord – Moses was empowered to bring the slaves of Israel out of captivity in Egypt and to the Promised Land!

When Gideon heard the voice of the Lord – Gideon was empowered to fight with an army of 300 against an army 1000 times as large and win!

When Peter heard the voice of the Lord – Peter was empowered to preach the Gospel to tens of thousands gathered in the Temple courtyards and at least 3000 men were saved that day!

When I heard the voice of the Lord – I was empowered to stand my ground and fight on behalf of this church!

CONCLUSION:
• When you hear the voice of the Lord – you will be empowered to do what He tells you to do! When He tells you to forgive the person who hurt you, you will.
• When He tells you to love your enemy, you will.
• When He tells you to stay in that marriage and fight for it, you will.
• When He tells you to stay in that church and serve, you will.

Because what we are all looking for is the power of God in our lives. And the power of God comes as we hear the voice of the Lord.

LAST WEEK, I gave you an assignment to journal – asking God to speak as you wrote.
This week, I give you another assignment – do it again. And listen. Listen for a voice that…

1. is like a love song.
2. is light and gentle.
3. speaks in the first person.
4. takes you to higher levels.
5. excites.
6. brings power to do what is needed.

The Spoken Word of God

All of us want for God to touch our hearts. We want to truly experience Him in our lives. In order for this to happen, we must learn to live out of not only the written word of God, but also the SPOKEN WORD of God in our hearts!

The New Testament uses two different words for ‘word’: Logos and Rhema

The Dictionary of New Testament Theology says: “Whereas logos can often designate the Christian proclamation as a whole in the New Testament, rhema usually relates to individual words and utterances.”

In fact in every use of the word ‘rhema’ in the New Testament – some 70 uses – not one of them refer to the WRITTEN WORD, but everyone refers to SPOKEN word!

Ephesians 6:17 says: “Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word (RHEMA) of God.” Ephesians 6:17, NIV.

This is important because what Paul is saying in Ephesians is that when we are doing battle against the enemy – we need for God to give us specific scriptures that are appropriate to the situation!

Learning how to hear the voice of God means that we allow the Holy Spirit to touch our hearts with the SPOKEN words of God!

What I am discovering is that the SPOKEN WORD OF GOD – Rhema – gives me the precise word that I need when I need it!


SO – HOW DO WE RECEIVE THE SPOKEN WORD OF GOD?

First of all –
Affirm by Faith that our God is a Communicating God!

From Adam and Eve to today God speaks to His people!

“And they heard the sound of the Lord God…” Genesis 3:8
“Now the Lord said to Abraham…” Genesis 12:1
“The Lord said to Moses…” Exodus 4:13
“The Lord spoke to Joshua…” Joshua 1:1
“I, John, was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day, and I heard behind me a loud voice like the sound of trumpet saying, ‘write in a book what you see….’” Revelation 1:10

And Jesus said in John 10:27…
“My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me.” John 10:27, NIV.

Affirm by faith that God has not changed and that you and I – as simple people of faith – can and will hear His voice spoken to us!

Now that that is settled –
Learn to distinguish the voices inside.

In our lives – we hear voices – some have said “it’s like having committee in my head…”

The voices include:
• Satan – seeking to deceive and destroy us.
• Our fleshly mind – which is analytical and cognitive – desiring to figure everything out. The fleshly mind wants answers and doesn’t allow for that which cannot be understood.
• Our my own heart – which has an agenda of it’s own – desiring what it wants, when it wants it – or ---
• The Holy Spirit – which is intuitive and doesn’t not answer to the fleshly mind, yet is exactly Who we need in order to genuinely hear His voice. The Holy Spirit is Spirit-to-spirit communication expressing God’s SPOKEN words through spontaneous thoughts, ideas, words, feelings or vision.

Distinguishing the voice of God – that is the Holy Spirit within – means that we learn

1. To recognize and reject deception and embrace truth! That shuts up Satan!

We know that Christ has said: “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.” John 10:10, NIV.

The key to recognize who is speaking here is to know what kills and to know what leads to life!

Do you know what kills? Do you know what leads to life?

Jesus said: “I am the way and the truth and the life. No-one comes to the Father except through me.” John 14:6, NIV.

IF WHAT YOU ARE HEARING doesn’t lead you to Christ – it doesn’t lead you to life!

Reject it! Renounce it! And then – embrace what leads to life! Embrace truth!

Secondly – we must learn to…
2. Turn our head away from demanding analytical answers and instead to simply come to Him in love and worship, praise and passion! That takes the human mind off that throne and returns Christ to His rightful place as Lord!

Do you want to hear the voice of God? Worship Him! Sing of His praises!

Worship and love for God is a powerful prerequisite to hearing from Him! Listen to Psalms 100:

“Shout for joy to the LORD, all the earth. Worship the LORD with gladness; come before him with joyful songs. Know that the LORD is God. It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, the sheep of his pasture. Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name. For the LORD is good and his love endures for ever; his faithfulness continues through all generations.” Psalms 100:1-5, NIV.

Frequently, the time that I need to hear most is when I am in trouble – and that’s when the Enemy doesn’t want me to praise and worship the Lord, and he whispers in my ears: “You aren’t worthy! God doesn’t want to hear from you…”

But that’s exactly when I need to worship the most – I need to do just the opposite of what the enemy and my mind demand – I need to come up against this with an opposite spirit – and nothing could be more opposite than worship and love!

WHEN you need to hear – love! Reach out! Praise His name!

By worshiping and by loving God, I am telling my mind: “You are not in charge! You cannot demand answers! God is greater than my ability to understand!” Which then enables me to hear God’s voice instead of my demanding mind!

If I am going to hear the spoken word of God than, I must learn…
3. To submit my heart’s desires to the will of God, coming to a place of sweet surrender to Him and His plans!

How can we hear to voice of God when our heart is screaming: “I want! I want! I want!”

Ezekiel 14:4 speaks of the danger of “setting up idols in our hearts.” And one of the biggest idols that I can set up in my heart is MY WILL being done! So long as I demand my will – over God’s – than how can I anticipate hearing His voice?

When I come to the Lord in prayer, I am to be a living sacrifice. It isn’t about what I want, it is about what He wants for me! If pray about an issue where I have a preconceived notion of what I want, that notions interferes with what the Spirit of God may be desiring to say to me. How can I hear one thing, when I am so fixated on another? What needs to happen is that my focus has to change – I must focus on Him and His love, kindness, mercy and grace far more than I focus on what I want to have Him do. As I do this, I am set up to receive pure revelation from Him!

As I do this, I begin to live in a place of sweet surrender where the concerns of my heart are silenced by His love!

Now, the next part of preparation to hear spoken word of God is much more positive:
4. To embrace the Presence of the Holy Spirit as the vital key to hearing God by accepting that God is speaking to us through those spontaneous thoughts, ideas, words, feelings of vision that come to us as we seek Him! This opens us up to the Holy Spirit!

Let me give you an illustration that I think most of you will relate to: Have you ever been doing something – driving, cleaning, walking – when suddenly someone’s name popped into your mind and you just knew that you were supposed to pray for them? You hadn’t been thinking about them, but ‘out of nowhere’ you know that you are supposed to pray for them – right then. And, furthermore, you accepted this as God leading you to pray for them. That is intercession.

The Hebrew word used in the Old Testament for ‘intercession’ is paga – which literally means a ‘chance or spontaneous encounter’

This is the voice of God – a chance or spontaneous idea that intersects your mind, not flowing from the normal process, but simply appearing. That is God’s voice – an idea from God lighting upon your heart and being registered in your mind as a spontaneous thought.

In order to hear the voice of God – we must be willing to simply listen for spontaneous thoughts that He puts on our hearts and minds.

As these spontaneous thoughts come to us we then filter them:

Is it Satan deceiving me and taking me away from Christ?
Is it my mind demanding that God answer?
Is it my desires demanding their own way?

OR – is it from the Lord showing me His ways?

CONCLUSION:
I’ve included in the bulletin a list of every time that the word “rhema” is used in the New Testament – I think it would be a great study for you to do this week on your own.

Moving from an analytical and cognitive approach to spiritual life in Christ is not easy. We’ve all been trained to live in our heads. But the Lord is calling you into deeper waters with Him and that requires that you open yourself up to the eyes of the heart and to spiritual intuition.

I want to encourage you – to exhort you – to challenge you – to conduct an experiment this week.

• Take a pen and paper.
• Using spiritual vision, see Jesus with you in some comfortable scene.
• Write down: “Lord, what do you want to speak concerning the things I am learning?”
• Then, focus yourself on the eyes of the heart and tune into spontaneity.
• In simple faith, begin to write down the thoughts that begin to flow into your mind. Don’t challenge them or doubt them for the time being, just receive them in child-like faith and record them as they flow.
• Now, after several minutes, go back over what has been written – test it. Does it line up with Scripture? Does it sound like something God might say? Does it point me to Christ?

In this simple exercise, you are beginning to dialogue with God.

Jesus said in John 6:63:
“The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words (rhema) I have spoken to you are spirit and they are life.” John 6:63, NIV.