Praying Into Your Future

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One thing you can count on is that there is a always a next to prepare for. Your season will change. You won’t always have the job that you have now or the current position that you occupy at your company. We shouldn’t be shocked when seasons end, but we usually are.

Most of us are not as tuned into our hearts as we should be. We had a nagging sense or just felt that something was up – but we didn’t pay that much attention to it. Then we are surprised by what we were being alerted to or warned about. Pay attention!

The Scripture Promises that the Holy Spirit will Forewarn Us:

John 16:13 KJV Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come.

The Holy Spirit is communicating to us all the time. All too often, we are just not paying that much attention. It is time to start paying closer attention to what He is telling us about our next season.

The Holy Spirit is our Connection to Accurate Prayer about our Future:

Romans 8:26-27 NASB In the same way the Spirit also helps our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words; (27) and He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.

The Holy Spirit searches the depths of God’s heart about our future. Our weakness is that we do not know what to pray concerning the next season of our life due to our lack of ability to see into the future. We don’t even comprehend why certain people have connected with us or why some door has closed. Our knowledge is based solely on what we can see or by what our reasoning can deduce. All this is very limited. He, on the other hand is infinite. He has infinite knowledge and sees our future as clearly as our past. Our success would be insured if we could pray from the vantage point of His knowledge rather than just our own. Enter the Holy Spirit!

You Can Pray into Your Future by Praying with the Spirit:

1 Corinthians 14:14-15 NASB (14) For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays, but my mind is unfruitful. (15) What is the outcome then? I will pray with the spirit and I will pray with the mind also; I will sing with the spirit and I will sing with the mind also.

Tucked away in this passage is a clue. When I pray in a tongue, although my mind is unfruitful (does not understand) my spirit is fruitful. The outcome is that I should pray with the spirit and the understanding. How is my understanding going to become fruitful? The answer is in the verse just preceding:

1 Corinthians 14:13 NASB (13) Therefore let one who speaks in a tongue pray that he may interpret.

Pray that You May Interpret:

If a person who speaks in tongues can pray for natural understanding or interpretation then a person who prays in tongues can do the same. Our minds become fruitful or productive when they receive insight and revelation from the Spirit. The order of prayer in 1 Corinthians 15 is significant. “I will pray with the spirit and I will pray with the mind also.” Prayer in the spirit then begins to order the prayers being made with the understanding.

When we don’t understand why things that were comfortable in the past are no longer even tolerable, it may be a sign that change is upon us. We can pray into that season shift if we choose to. We can be prepared ahead of time if we take time to pray in the Spirit. Pray with the spirit and with the mind also. Then, you will be singing as your season shifts and not crying about it.

Learn to Flow with the Holy Ghost

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Hunger/desire

Jack Deere – Surprised by the Voice of God: How God Speaks Today Through Prophecies, Dreams, and Visions

“If we are not willing to do the will of God, we can’t hear His voice clearly.”

“. . . spiritual discernment is based on our willingness to do the will of God. . . In other words, God speaks to those who are willing to do whatever he says to them.”

If you are hungry to be used for God, He will use you. Very little happens in the life of a believer until that person becomes hungry for it. We serve a God who is all powerful, but He will not violate your humanity. If you do not want Him to move in your life He will honor your desire. However, if you desire Him to direct you He will. You have to be hungry for His leading. You have to desire to flow in the Spirit. Hunger is one of the chief ingredients to spiritual growth. The Proverbs say that, “to a famished man any bitter thing is sweet” (Prov. 27:7).

Learn to follow in the day-to-day, small things

Learn to “listen” to your heart. The heart is the key to the Christian life. That’s why the Proverbs tell us to “Watch over your heart with all diligence, For from it flow the springs of life” (4:23). We need to guard against heart damage. Things that damage your heart include sin, unforgiveness, unbelief, wrong words, etc. The heart is the basis for your conscience. Kenneth Hagin said, “If you persist in violating your conscience, you will make your conscience calloused to the Holy Spirit’s promptings.” You can learn to follow the Spirit’s direction even in the small things. You can have His help with things around the house, on the job, and in our independent Bible study.

When we establish our hearts in the righteousness of God we have confidence in the Lord. When we do things that we know displease Him we do damage to our hearts. Learn to be sensitive to your heart. What are you feeling in certain situations? When you are around certain people what is your heart sensing? What is your heart telling you to do?

If you are born-again you have flowed with the Holy Ghost at least once!  Build on this . . .

We shouldn’t think that flowing in the Holy Spirit is only for the experts. All of us who are born-again have the ability to be led by the Spirit. This is the key to flowing. When you were born-again you had to have listened to and obeyed the Spirit of God. So, at least once before in your life you have followed supernatural guidance. The Holy Spirit will communicate with you on the same channel. This time it may not come with the same feelings but it is there. When you accepted Jesus it was the Holy Spirit that spoke to you about the condition of your heart. Even if someone witnessed to you or you read a tract, it was the Spirit that spoke to you. You heard Him and responded. It is no different today. Flowing in the Spirit requires that you listen to Him on that same level – in that same place in your heart and that you respond. If you did that before, you can do it again and again.

Strong Word foundation

The Holy Spirit will draw from your knowledge of Scripture in order to speak to you most of the time. It is in the Word that we learn the language that will help us give expression to His impressions. He doesn’t always speak in words many times it is a knowing that we experience. We just know what we are supposed to do. He doesn’t argue or reason with us in the sense of talking us into something. There are many times that He speaks to us directly through the Word of God. A passage will stand out to us and we understand something about our situation. He has given us a particular application of the principles we find in the Word. The passage will give us words to describe the impressions that we are receiving. The voice or direction of the Holy Spirit will never contradict the written word. No direction of the Spirit will supersede the written Word either.

Kenneth Hagin – Following God’s Plan for Your Life

“You see, the voice that speaks to you in the Word is the same voice that leads you by your spirit.  So being in the Word sharpens your spiritual perception and ability to hear God’s voice in your own spirit.”

“God’s voice always agrees with the Scriptures.”

Having a strong foundation of biblical knowledge will keep you out of the ditch. You will not be prone to error or extreme if you stick with what the Word says. When you know the Word you will know the language of the Spirit. This is what the Spirit sounds like. God doesn’t lead through guilt and condemnation. He doesn’t condemn us, His Word doesn’t condemn us, and the Spirit will not condemn us either. The enemy will try to move us to do things through guilt, accusation, and condemnation. He will make you feel that you are not doing your part or that you should be doing more. He may attempt to keep you from doing things that you should be doing through rationalism. The enemy may try to convince you through thoughts that you are already doing so much or that you gave in the last offering.  The Holy Spirit is not going to argue with you. He will prompt you but He doesn’t beg us to follow. We need to put ourselves in a position to obey the voice of the Holy Spirit promptly. We need to position our hearts to be sensitive to His initial promptings. I like to say that the greatest power is available in the initial prompting.

These things are cumulative; you don’t get there over night.  Start where you are and grow.

Those that are the sons of God are led by the Spirit, this is your nature as a born-again person. Don’t compare yourself with others that may have been serving God longer than yourself. Don’t compare yourself with people that you think are particularly gifted. Be encouraged that if God can use them that He can use you too. Remember that they didn’t start out where they are today. We all have to learn and grown. Part of that means making some mistakes along the way. Have patience, but get started. Start right where you are with what you have. Ask God for His guidance and help with everything that you have to do. Where you are right now will be the training ground for what God has for you. Be faithful in your present circumstance. Trust God and watch how you grow! Get started today. Make flowing with the Holy Spirit a part of your prayer life. There is probably no better place to learn how to flow with the Holy Spirit than in prayer. As you do this the effects will begin to add up. You won’t get everything in one session but the effects will begin to accumulate over time. Each time you are successful in hearing and obeying it will open the door to great things in God.

Madame Gunyon

“This ‘activity’ of being led will always surround you with peace.  When you interrupt the Spirit’s leading, you will always sense it because you will feel either forced or constrained.  But when your actions are under the influence of the Spirit of grace, they will be free, easy, and so natural that it will almost seem as if you have not acted at all.”

Step out in faith

You can’t learn to swim without getting wet and you can’t learn how to flow in the Holy Ghost without stepping out. You have to try in order to learn. If you think that learning to flow will be perfect you are mistaken. Learning how to flow will be a process – the process of trial and error. You may miss it sometimes but don’t quit. You will never learn until you try. It will always require risk to walk in the Spirit. The risk will be to your flesh and to your pride. You flesh will be afraid to look foolish. That will be the best thing for the flesh. Your flesh may be uncomfortable but your spirit will be right at home in the flow of the Spirit. Your flesh needs to be embarrassed sometimes. The flesh is opposed to the flow of the Spirit. Just keep putting yourself in the presence of God and obeying what you believe to be His voice. Your flesh will soon learn that it is not in charge and will hush up and let your spirit be in control.

Spiritual Fission

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I read a powerful book called Critical Mass by Mario Murrillo. In the book, he likens revival to a nuclear reaction. He writes about how God will bring a core of people together who are hungry for a move of God. They want to see Him move with their whole heart, and they begin to fervently pray. As they begin to pray, other people join them who have a similar heart.

In nuclear fission, when there is enough radioactive material fused together scientists can shoot a neutron beam into that mass to start a reaction. The beam causes those molecules to move. Eventually, this movement is going to release the power of the atom, but first critical mass must be attained. Critical mass means that you have enough nuclear material to sustain a nuclear reaction. Just like it takes atoms coming together to create a critical mass, God has been, over the past few years, causing people who have a heart for revival to be attracted to places where there is a hunger for a full-blown move of God.

When the scientists keep shooting that neutron beam into the radioactive material, and just before the nuclear reaction begin to take place, something peculiar begins to develop. Where once there was activity and expansion, all of a sudden it looks like all activity ceases and that nucleus does not expand, it actually contracts.

This is where many of the revivals that have ever hit the earth die. There have been tremendous moves of the Spirit of God; wave after wave of His glory but people failed to press the battle when they “felt” a waning in the Spirit. God intended for people to contend for revival in consistent prayer. Instead, most become discouraged and give into their feelings. He had intended revival to explode and touch an entire region or nation. If our revival stays in the reactor and never reaches the streets of the city, we have fallen short. So many revivals stop right there. Why? People are discouraged. They are worn out. They have been going to evening prayer services and early morning prayer meetings. It seems like everything they have worked for is slipping away. It seems like things may be slowing down instead of speeding up and people begin to be moved by what they see rather than the prayers that have already been invested.

It is at this point that the believer, and the scientist, have to make a decision. The scientist must decide that regardless of what may seem to be going on, they are not only going to keep that neutron beam firing, but they are going to keep pumping more and more into it until they actually have a nuclear reaction. Likewise, the believer must press the battle until the move of God comes and touches our nation. Press until it touches the world! We need to keep the beam focused until we have a nuclear reaction that sends revival out in every direction.

That is where the church is today. I will tell you, something begins to happen when this stage is reached. Murrillo calls it the “dark night of the soul.” Maybe it seems like everything you have worked for has stopped moving; you feel as if everything you have been praying for is at a standstill. But we already know what to do, KEEP PRESSING THE BATTLE!

 

 

The Old Corn

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After escaping from bondage, the children of Israel went through the wilderness, but they did not do it quickly. When you read the story you find out that they were their own biggest enemy in the wilderness. Eventually, they made it to the Promised Land but not without hardships. Joshua 5:10 says,

“And the children of Israel encamped in Gilgal, and kept the passover on the fourteenth day of the month at even in the plains of Jericho. And they did eat of the old corn of the land on the morrow after the passover, unleavened cakes, and parched corn in the selfsame day. And the manna ceased on the morrow after they had eaten of the old corn of the land; neither had the children of Israel manna any more; but they did eat of the fruit of the land of Canaan that year.” (emphasis added)

The Israelites were at the end of the manna, and at the beginning of the land flowing with milk and honey. They were about to experience the place described in Numbers 13 where the grape clusters were so big, that it took two men to carry them. But, the children of Israel were used to the manna. They had grown accustomed to a mentality of “just getting by” living in the desert. Before them was an opportunity that would yield them an abundant glorious life. Yet, it was only attainable if they would possess the land and drive the enemy out. I am sure that they had questions and probably some doubts. Standing there looking across that river, the children of Israel were seeing into the land that God had promised them; the land of more than enough.

You must understand, many are somewhere “along the journey,” just like the children of Israel. Many of us are seeing the close of one chapter in our lives and the opening of another. I believe a lot of us are in a similar place as Joshua was with the children of Israel. We too have had tremendous victories in the past. We have overcome unimaginable obstacles and we have experienced powerful miracles.

We must understand that every time God wants to move a church body into a higher corporate anointing, there is a choice. Every time God wants to move you, as an individual onto a higher plane, you are looking across a river, like the children of Israel were. Are you satisfied with the old ways, or are you willing to take the challenge of a new day? Are you willing to take the challenge of change?

 

Presence of God Quotes

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Nothing will change your life quicker than a divine encounter with the presence of God. His presence is all encompassing and demands your attention. Throughout the generations there have always been believers who sought the face of God and received from Him. Let us be among those who will not settle for a Christian life void of His presence but will pursue Him with all our heart. Let the quotations below sink deep into your spirit and stir in your heart a greater desire for God.

  • “We are little more than a tame imitation without his Presence. We will only be a force in the world when we are once again clearly, and dangerously, the People of the Presence.” -Terry Wardle
  • “The purpose of God’s wondrous stories is to draw you into the passionate pursuit of more of His presence.” –Bill Johnson
  • “I am a most noteworthy sinner, but I have cried out to the Lord for grace and mercy and they have covered my completely. I have found the sweetest consolation since I made it my whole purpose to enjoy His marvellous Presence.” – Christopher Columbus
  • “I live in the faith that there is a Presence and Power greater than I am that nurtures and supports me in ways I could not even imagine. I know that this Presence is All knowing and All Power and is Always right where I am.” – Ernest Holmes
  • “The success of God’s work through you is intimately related to the reality of His presence with you.” – Unknown
  • “I want the presence of God Himself, or I don’t want anything at all to do with religion…I want all that God has or I don’t want any.” – Tozer
  • “Joy is the infallible sign of the presence of God.” – Pierre Teilhard de Chardin

 

An Observation about Relationships

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Having been relocated recently, I have come to a realization about relationships, especially long term friendships. You can’t replicate in a year or two, what took 20 or 30 years to build. It takes shared history to really know someone. You have to have been together in a multitude of situations.

I have also come to realize that there are people who are now in their twenties that Lisa and I have 20 plus years of history with! (Those of you who fit that category, we are truly grateful that God placed you in our path! We want to be of service to you in any way we can. We pray for you on a regular basis.)

When Lisa and I married we were friends with a small group of couples. Those people are still some of our closest friends. The realization that came to me is that we have almost as much history with their children as we have with the parents. We even know their children’s children. Wow!

We are purposed to sow into these groups of relationships as best we can for the rest of our lives and ministry. Lisa and I have been so blessed to serve, not only our generation, but multiple generations through Youth and Young Adult ministry. We want to continue to be a voice for these generations as best we can. We fully understand that many of you have also been moved to other churches. We applaud your faithfulness to the Lord.

So, to those of you who have come to these same realizations, I ask that you come on this journey with us to stay connected and to continue to share community and ministry to one another by every means possible. You are not alone! Even though many of the people around us may not fully know us, we can still draw from the relationships that we have known so well.

Distance cannot deter friendships unless we let it.

True Revival

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“One evening, July 3, I felt strongly impressed to go to the little Peniel Hall in Pasadena to pray. There I found Brother Boehmer ahead of me. He had also been led of God to the hall. We prayed for a spirit of revival for Pasadena until the burden became well nigh unbearable. I cried out like a woman in birth-pangs. The Spirit was interceding through us. Finally the burden left us. After a little time of quiet waiting a great calm settled down upon us. Then suddenly, without premonition, the Lord Jesus himself revealed himself to us. He seemed to stand directly between us, so close we could have reached out our hand and touched Him. But we did not dare to move. I could not even look. In fact I seemed all spirit. His presence seemed more real, if possible, than if I could have seen and touched Him naturally. I forgot I had eyes or ears. My spirit recognized Him. A heaven of divine love filled and thrilled my soul. Burning fire went through me. In fact my whole being seemed to flow down before Him, like wax before the fire. I lost all consciousness of time or space, being conscious only of His wonderful presence. I worshipped at His feet. I was lost in the pure Spirit. For some time He remained with us. Then slowly He withdrew His presence. We would have been there yet had He not drawn. I could not doubt His reality after that experience. Brother Boehmer experienced largely the same thing. We had lost all consciousness of each other’s presence while He remained with us. We were almost afraid to speak or breathe when we came back to our surroundings. The Lord had said nothing to us, but only ravished our spirits by His presence. He had come to strengthen and assure us for His service. We knew now we were workers with Him, fellowshippers of his sufferings, in the ministry of “soul travail.” Real soul travail is just as definite in the spirit, as natural human birth-pangs. The simile is almost perfect in its sameness. No soul is ever born without this. All true revivals of salvation come this way.”

Bartleman, Frank (2008-08-26). The AZUSA STREET REVIVAL – An Eyewitness Account (Kindle Locations 623-630). RevivalSchool. Kindle Edition.

 

 

Revive America!

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Today we are closer to the return of Jesus than any other generation. Our nation clearly needs to return to its roots of righteousness and faith in God. I pray that the quotations below will stir in you a desire to see a greater move of God in our nation. Through prayer and the presence of God we can see revival in America!

“America was born a Christian nation. America was born to exemplify that devotion to the elements of righteousness which are derived from the revelations of Holy Scripture. I have a very simple thing to ask of you. I ask every man and woman in this audience that from this day on they will realize that part of the destiny of America lies in their daily perusal of this great Book (the Bible).” —Woodrow Wilson, May 7, 1911, Denver, Colorado

“A genuine revival without joy in the Lord is as impossible as spring without flowers, or day-dawn without light.” – Charles Haddon Spurgeon

“Revival never falls on the casual seekers of Christ. Instead, it falls on those who are seeking the Lord with all of their hearts. The Lord will visit those willing to yield to Him.” – Frank Bartleman

“[To see revival] we need to pray for breakthrough in private, but then take risks in public.” –Bill Johnson

“How we have prayed for a Revival – we did not care whether it was old-fashioned or not – what we asked for was that it should be such that would cleanse and revive His children and set them on fire to win others.” – Mary Warburton Booth