This week I read a blog entry by Mark Holloway entitled "Why satan loves it when God makes you a promise". You can read the full blog entry on Mark Virkler's website.
The gist of it, if you don't want to read the whole thing is: God will make us promises, and then satan gleefully moves in to bring discouragement, trials and struggles. It will seem that God has "forgotten" or that there is no way we can ever see this hope fulfilled. The heavy spiritual warfare around us at these times can cloud out what is intended to be the release of God's power on earth through us.
What is the antidote to discouragement and the seeming failure of the promise? According to Mark Holloway's conversation with God, it is hearing from the Lord. The divine conversation is essential to be able to keep walking, to keep seeing things from God's perspective.
A few years ago, I took a six week journalling course with teaching by Mark Virkler. He is very thorough and Biblical in his approach, allowing time for practice in each session. Although I had already learned how to hear God's voice (see below), I didn't realize that God could speak to me anytime I cared to listen. It blew me open.
In the last two years since my husband's death, I have filled many journals, and much of it has been conversation with God. Sometimes I hear the words and then go to my journal to write them down, but most of the time, I start by opening the book and grabbing a pen. I hear the words as I write them. It's a little hard to explain. But I do know that this journalling has been a huge help to me through the path of grief.
At times when I miss my husband for his wisdom, counsel and listening ear, I find the Lord is there. Emotional reactions and overwhelming feelings can be quickly dispelled by His quick word in season. And the Lord knows me so well. He is a great consolation to me, but He is also the great father and lover of my soul that no one else can ever be.
The changes in my life have taken me down a completely different path. Everything has to be recalibrated so that God's will and purpose for me will be fulfilled. It isn't going to look like I thought. Maybe it isn't going to look like God planned. But He is the great Redeemer, and He will make it new in a new way. Choices made, seeds sowed, attitudes of faith and perspective all come together.
God is faithful in the middle of it all.
I was encouraged by this, and I hope you are too!
Hearing from God (principles I have learned):
In Youth With a Mission, there is a pattern used before prayer that was formalized by Joy Dawson and implemented in most YWAM communities:
1. Repent of any sin you are convicted of by the Holy Spirit.
2. Quiet your mind and bind your own thoughts (speak this out as a prayer)
3. Tell the enemy to be silent
4. Ask the Holy Spirit to speak to you.
5. Sit and wait on Him, listening.
6. If you find your mind starts to wander, or you are distracted, write down the distracting thought (if it's something you need to remember) or go back to steps 2 to 4.
7. Don't doubt the little nudges. Often that is where it starts and builds as you develop confidence.
8. Check what you hear with someone else you trust who is mature in faith.
Often I will hear a Bible reference or a phrase which I look up (now that we have apps for that, it's soooooo much easier! My brief concordance doesn't always do the job). Sometimes I will see an image in my mind. Often I will hear a few words and then I start going with it. Mark Virkler calls that "being in flow".
Keep practising; you'll get the hang of it. In relationships, you develop intimacy as you communicate openly. The Father really wants to talk to you!!
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