Hearing From God

I have just returned from a three day spiritual retreat during which I saw some wonderful works of the Lord.  What made them so spectacular, in my mind, is that they were all accomplished by the power of the Holy Spirit working His will through a lot of "broken vessels."

Broken vessels are those who don't even realize that they ARE vessels full of His power. They love the Lord, they long to serve Him, they seek Him diligently; but they view others as more worthy of service, and themselves as less so.

The pretty and pristine vessels, all shiny on the outside without a single scratch, wanting to keep their appearance of perfection, aren't suitable to the working of the Holy Spirit.  Without cracks or holes, there is no possibility of His flowing out of them in ministry to others.  Besides, pride forces them to busy themselves so much with keeping up appearances of perfection, that they have no time for the Lord or His works.

Broken vessels, on the other hand, know that they are broken.  Pride no longer has a hold on them. These broken vessels know that without the Lord, they would crumble into bits and pieces altogether, but His Spirit sustains them, fills them, and flows out of them towards others just as broken as they are. 

Broken vessels have learned how to hear the voice of God and they have learned how to respond in obedience quickly before God's perfect timing is past.  Broken vessels are used by God as His hands and His feet on this earth.  They are led by God into specific actions or words towards specific people, so that through the broken vessels He can administer His love to those in need of His love.

That happened a lot during the retreat.  There were many broken vessels administering God's love to others by use of specific words of knowledge, specific words of wisdom, specific prayers of salvation and healing, specific prayers of deliverance...all spoken to specific hurting children of God.

You can witness the power of God at work when one who is rigid becomes instantly pliable with only a word or two spoken from the Lord...when the unsaved, become saved! In just an instant! From darkness to light! Instant transformation that is visibly witnessed! What a miracle that is!

God knows the right words, and He delivers the right words to His ministers of reconciliation IF they are listening to hear His words.  And IF the ministers of reconciliation (not "ministers" as having a position or title in the church, but just ordinary people like you and me...broken vessels) act in obedience quickly to deliver the specific word to the specific person whom God knows needs to hear it, then something miraculous happens.

It's funny, though, how even those who are used this way by God can be astonished at how quickly He causes things to change.  It seems to happen in an instant!  So quickly that even though we know He is at work, it's just so quick!  We want to say, "Wow, God, how did you do that?"  Even though we think we know Him fairly well, we are astonished!

It reminds me of the new church huddled together and praying day and night for Peter's release from prison.  Yet, when he arrives at their door, they refuse to believe it is him!  And yet they have been praying for that very thing! Isn't that a funny and strange thing that we do?

We are no different than the early church, we are all frail humans walking out our salvation, and we are still amazed at God.  He continues to astonish us with His love and with the power that His love works in others, as it has done and continues to do in us!

But I want to share one thing that I learned especially well from this retreat and that has to do with being still and waiting on the Lord.

We had an exercise in which we were to be still and silent for 15 minutes.  There was a song playing for a small portion of that time in the beginning containing the words "let the noise and clamor cease." [The song was "Be Still and Know That He is God" and Steven Curtis Chapman does a beautiful version of it.] 

Well, as I sat there, with my eyes closed, I began to feel cares, and worries, and fears, and anything of any weight dropping off of me, as I entered into the presence of the Lord...simply by waiting on Him with expectations of something wonderful...like peace.  I could have continued in that place for hours, never wanting to leave His presence.  It was wonderful!

Mind you, it was not a time of prayer, of sending up petitions and requests.  It was just a time to "hear" from God, rather than to "speak" to Him.  Sometimes we do so much speaking (which we are encouraged biblically to do), but we forget to wait to hear from Him (which we are also encouraged biblically to do!)

As I waited, just enjoying the perfect peace that only He can bring, He began to speak to me.  He spoke to me of how my flesh is the "noise and clamor."  My flesh makes noises of fear and worry and cares.  My flesh clamors for the things that it lusts for.  And the Lord let me know that I am to be aware of that noise and clamor, on guard against it, for it leads to sin. 

I believe that the solution against the noise and clamor is to run to a quiet place and spend quiet time with the Lord just waiting on Him.

So I encourage you, if you are weighted down with the cares of this world, to find only 15 minutes in your day, to get somewhere very quiet, and be quiet, and don't allow the noise and clamor to continue in your head, but set them firmly aside, and enter into His peace.

And let the Lord speak powerful and healing words of love to your heart.

The Shocking Works of the Spirit of God

"And it shall come to pass, that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions.  Even upon the menservants and maidservants in those days will I pour out my spirit."  (Joel 2:28-29)

Most Christians today have heard about the amazing evangelistic crusades of Billy Graham.  He is accepted as a true man of God, led by the Spirit of God to do all that he has done in over seventy years of service to His Lord, Jesus Christ.  Of this, there is no doubt. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billy_Graham]

Many Christians have heard of Paul (David) Yonggi Cho, of Seoul, Korea.  Cho became a Christian as a young man when a young woman came to pray for him after he had been diagnosed with terminal tuberculosis. He received Jesus Christ as His Savior and was shortly thereafter miraculously healed.  Cho went on to pastor what has been called the world's largest church in Seoul, Korea. Cho is a "full-gospel" pastor and a believer in home cell groups, empowering others to spread the gospel. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Yonggi_Cho  I must add that criticism is mounting against Cho for what some think to be a false doctrine that he is now teaching.  Whether this is true or not, I have not spent time checking yet; but it has caused me to ponder the subjects of "discernment" and "judging"...probably to be discussed in future blog.]

Some Christians have also heard of a man named Reinhard Bonnke, a German Christian who, for many years held evangelistic crusades in Africa and elsewhere, in which millions of people were not only saved, but healed, and some even raised from the dead! His ministry continues today, even though he has passed his mantle to a younger man of God, Daniel Kolenda. [http://www.cfan.org/ ]

Few Christians have heard of a man named John K. Nduati, pastor of a church near Nairobi, Kenya; a church by the way that has a growth crisis...it cannot hold all the new members.  In his services, hundreds at a time come to accept Jesus as their Savior and Lord, as a result of the Spiritual giftings Nduati has been given by God; his most prominent gifting, besides healing, is the word of knowledge (1 Corinthians 12:4-11). You can read about how these giftings are displayed in him by clicking the source link that follows. [Sources: http://www.choicesforliving.com/spirit/part4/kenya1.htm; and the book titled Megashift, by James Rutz]

There are several things that these men have in common:

1) they all claim to be followers of Jesus Christ;
2) they all display at least one gift of the Holy Spirit;
3) they have all been involved in miraculous events (a stadium full of people giving their lives to the Lord, as happened in Billy Graham crusades, is a miraculous event, even if no one was raised from the dead);
4) they have all had something slanderous spoken about them (if not by the world, then by other churches or denominations who, because of either jealousy or discomfort with the Spiritual manifestations and ignorance about the true Godly source of those manifestations, have provided plenty of criticism against them);
5) they all display the glory of God to a lost and hurting world;
6) they all share in the sufferings of Jesus Christ as Jesus also had His works declared to be "of Satan." (Matthew 10:25-26; Matthew 12:24-32)

The scriptures referenced in item 6 is a reminder to us all, that we are to be cautious to not fall into the trap of condemning things that we cannot understand, or that are, as is often the case with miraclulous works of the Holy Spirit: shocking! And that we are not to fear those who condemn us for using the gifts that the Holy Spirit has given us to be utilized to reveal the glory of God to the world.

In fact, it is item 4 that often holds us back, keeps us from "risking" what these men have risked in order to advance the kingdom of God.  We fear men.  We fear what men (even family members) will say about us.  We fear that we will be seen as ridiculous or foolish when we speak things of God in the midst of people who don't want to hear about God; the same people who think speaking the things of God belong in a church on Sunday, but nowhere else.

It is fear that keeps us Christians from utilizing the gifts of the Holy Spirit that God has given to each of us, when we should be sharing in the sufferings of Jesus Christ instead or protecting ourselves.

"He that loveth his life shall lose it and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal." (John 12:25) 

Paul, spent much time stressing to the folks in the church at Corinth that it was ONE SPIRIT by which they all had a diversity of gifts.  Sounds like they tended to condemn that which they didn't understand, much like we lean towards doing today.  All of us humans can be very cynical at times, and I think this is why Paul stressed so many times "the same Spirit" or "the same Lord" or "the same God" in this passage that describes the gifts of the Spirit.  As you read this, please look for the gift that you have been given. 

"Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I would not have you ignorant. Ye know that ye were Gentiles, carried away unto these dumb idols, even as ye were led.  Wherefore I give you to understand, that no man speaking by the Spirit of God calleth Jesus accursed: and that no man can say that Jesus is the Lord, but by the Holy Ghost.

Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit.
And there are differences of administrations, but the same Lord.
And there are diversities of operations, but it is the same God which worketh all in all.

But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal. For to one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom; to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit; to another faith by the same Spirit; to another the gifts of healing by the same Spirit; to another the working of miracles; to another prophecy; to another discerning of spirits; to another diverse kinds of tongues; to another the interpretation of tongues.

But all these worketh that one and the selfsame Spirit, dividing to every man severally as he will."
(1 Corinthians 12:1-11)

At the moment, it feels like most of the workings of the Holy Spirit are happening in foreign places; less and less happening here in America. 

We must feel that we are above that sort of thing. Maybe we don't want our comfortable boat to be rocked.

Of course, it's evident that we are on the right path as our country is so blessed by God.  Why fix what doesn't seem to be broken? (Some folks reading this might not recognize that I am being facetious, so let me assure you that I am!)

And yet, I do believe our country is blessed; but the blessings of God fall on both the just and the unjust (Matthew 5:45).  We cannot judge ourselves to be a nation obedient to God because of material blessings; we can only judge ourselves to be a nation obedient to God when God is given the glory for HIS good works!  That isn't happening so much here anymore. God isn't being glorified as much as in times past, while man seems to be getting a lot of glory in various venues these days.

The truth is that America is on a party boat that is facing upstream (having the appearance of going in the right direction), while it is being pulled downsteam with the current towards perilous falls! [Source: Relentless by John Bevere]

The prophecy that Christ spoke to the chief priests and Pharisees in Matthew 22:42-43 could just as easily be applicable to America, could it not? Jesus was speaking about the nation of Israel at that time, but how different is America than Israel who rejected Him?  This scripture and so many others similar to it should be taken as serious warnings to us Christians especially, who think we trust in God but don't act as though we do...

The time has come to stop playing church!
The time has come to pray...and then pray some more...and then pray some more! To pray until we recognize the voice of our Father and hear His voice so much that the sound of the world around us becomes tuned out!
The time has come to risk everything that we think we are, or that we think we own, including our pride and our time.
The time has come to humble ourselves and repent of apathy!
The time has come to BE the GLORY OF GOD to a FALLEN AND LOST WORLD!

The time has come to ask ourselves; how are we SHOCKING the world with our use of the gifts of the Spirit?

Spiritual babies are protected from risk.  We need to RISK in order to become spiritual GIANTS!

If your church will not allow you to become a spiritual GIANT because the pastor or pastors hold too tight a rein, and don't want the disruption that a manifestation of the shocking works of God will bring, then you need to prayerfully consider whether the Lord would have you look for another church:

"This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come.  For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, traitors, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away." (2 Timothy 3:1-5)