FROM: Banbury, Oxfordshire, United Kingdom
ABOUT ME: Living the highs and lows of life in the adventurous pursuit of God Himself and of who I'm meant to be as the Bride of Christ.
(View complete profile)
Tuesday, January 29, 2008,7:58 a.m.
PROPHETIC MESSAGE FOR YOU TODAY
Just as "sunshine on my shoulders makes me happy" in the summer so do snow days in the winter. School is cancelled today! But since it's just barely 8:00am and I have almost finished my novel already, I thought I'd noodle on the computer before getting a jump on my marking and report cards in an attempt to free up the coming weekend. (There does seem something a little wrong about working on a snow day, but the last time I went out and played in the snow on a school snow day I ended up in the hospital and was on crutches for 6 months! Working sounds so much safer....)
In my browsing around online I found a blog written by Brad Jersak, author of Can You Hear Me?, a book on listening to the voice of God. I thought I'd reproduce his thoughts here for those who might choose to ponder them and use them to facilitate hearing the voice of the Lord today.
1. What message is God sending me? My excellent bride, Eden, recently shared that for those who don’t literally “see” a vision, “hear” a voice, or get a “word” are nevertheless continually receiving messages from God’s Spirit. This often requires that we put words to what we’re feeling or sensing—and then acknowledging those words as God’s message. Even when we do have a clear internal audio or video from heaven, we might still ask, “Okay, so what’s the message? What’s God getting at? What point is he trying to drive home?”
2. What if it’s true? What if the living God really did just say that? What if he really was talking to me / us just now? Just yesterday I was participating in a service at Cityview Church in York, PA. At some point, one member took the handheld microphone and shared a prophetic exhortation. This fellow hadn’t gone to the stage, so I couldn’t see the person attached to the voice I was hearing. Since the message given was worded in first person as if God was speaking (as per 2 Peter), I imagined that we were all hearing God’s audible voice interrupting our proceedings. And then it hit me, “Isn’t that exactly what just happened?” Given that the message conformed in tone and content to the God that Jesus has revealed, what if I were to treat that voice as The Voice. The pastor was having the same experience as I was, which led him to speak out our follow-up question:
3. What immediate response can I offer? Pastor Steve pointed out that we don’t merely listen and smile and give a little “praise-clap” if God has truly spoken. If we are to take God seriously, does this not invite a direct (and perhaps immediate) response? And so right away, he simply asked the Lord what kind of response he wanted? A nod of consent is rarely life-changing. Faith acts on what is heard, even when the message is about what God is doing or promising (Heb. 11). So we pursued the Lord down that path rather than simply affirming the word and moving on to the next item of business. And God responded to our response! It seemed as if he unzipped the roof and began pouring in MUCH MORE. I realized that the words effects were proportional to our response. I.e. when God is pouring our soup, don’t pull away the bowl too quickly.
Sometimes that response is simply to say Yes! and then to posture ourselves to receive, refusing to get up or move on until the Father says “that’s enough for now.” At other times, there will be an attending, “Go!” that finds us following Jesus into his history-making activities.
4. Bonus question: If this were true, how would it affect the way I live tomorrow? What would be different if I KNEW that this was God’s message for me?
Let’s practice: I think I have a prophetic message for you today. You don’t need to send me money to get it or buy one of my books to receive it. But I would ask you to respond by asking God the above four questions as you hear it. This message is a good example because it’s directly from God and directly from the Bible, and might even explicitly tell you HOW to respond. But God must speak to your heart and you must act in order to activate the message. Here it is:
Now I'm not saying, "Ask him for anything and he'll do it," (although Jesus DID say that - Matt. 18:19)... but there's something here for you. Something special about him knowing you by name. Hmm.
My favourite line from this blog:
"If we are to take God seriously, does this not invite a direct
In my browsing around online I found a blog written by Brad Jersak, author of Can You Hear Me?, a book on listening to the voice of God. I thought I'd reproduce his thoughts here for those who might choose to ponder them and use them to facilitate hearing the voice of the Lord today.
1. What message is God sending me? My excellent bride, Eden, recently shared that for those who don’t literally “see” a vision, “hear” a voice, or get a “word” are nevertheless continually receiving messages from God’s Spirit. This often requires that we put words to what we’re feeling or sensing—and then acknowledging those words as God’s message. Even when we do have a clear internal audio or video from heaven, we might still ask, “Okay, so what’s the message? What’s God getting at? What point is he trying to drive home?”
2. What if it’s true? What if the living God really did just say that? What if he really was talking to me / us just now? Just yesterday I was participating in a service at Cityview Church in York, PA. At some point, one member took the handheld microphone and shared a prophetic exhortation. This fellow hadn’t gone to the stage, so I couldn’t see the person attached to the voice I was hearing. Since the message given was worded in first person as if God was speaking (as per 2 Peter), I imagined that we were all hearing God’s audible voice interrupting our proceedings. And then it hit me, “Isn’t that exactly what just happened?” Given that the message conformed in tone and content to the God that Jesus has revealed, what if I were to treat that voice as The Voice. The pastor was having the same experience as I was, which led him to speak out our follow-up question:
3. What immediate response can I offer? Pastor Steve pointed out that we don’t merely listen and smile and give a little “praise-clap” if God has truly spoken. If we are to take God seriously, does this not invite a direct (and perhaps immediate) response? And so right away, he simply asked the Lord what kind of response he wanted? A nod of consent is rarely life-changing. Faith acts on what is heard, even when the message is about what God is doing or promising (Heb. 11). So we pursued the Lord down that path rather than simply affirming the word and moving on to the next item of business. And God responded to our response! It seemed as if he unzipped the roof and began pouring in MUCH MORE. I realized that the words effects were proportional to our response. I.e. when God is pouring our soup, don’t pull away the bowl too quickly.
Sometimes that response is simply to say Yes! and then to posture ourselves to receive, refusing to get up or move on until the Father says “that’s enough for now.” At other times, there will be an attending, “Go!” that finds us following Jesus into his history-making activities.
4. Bonus question: If this were true, how would it affect the way I live tomorrow? What would be different if I KNEW that this was God’s message for me?
Let’s practice: I think I have a prophetic message for you today. You don’t need to send me money to get it or buy one of my books to receive it. But I would ask you to respond by asking God the above four questions as you hear it. This message is a good example because it’s directly from God and directly from the Bible, and might even explicitly tell you HOW to respond. But God must speak to your heart and you must act in order to activate the message. Here it is:
Exodus 33:17:
"And the Lord said to Moses, 'I will do the very thing you have asked,
because I am pleased with you and I know you by name.'"
Now I'm not saying, "Ask him for anything and he'll do it," (although Jesus DID say that - Matt. 18:19)... but there's something here for you. Something special about him knowing you by name. Hmm.
My favourite line from this blog:
"If we are to take God seriously, does this not invite a direct
(and perhaps immediate) response?"
