Listening To God Flashcards
Phase 1- Relaxation and Silence
The first phase is relaxation and silence, where we deliberately let go of all tension, worries and frustration. It takes some time to come to this position, but in order for our spirit man to tune in to God, we must learn to tune out the external disturbances and voices from our soul (mind and emotion).
Phase 2- Awareness of God’s presence
where a profound sense of security is found in the Heavenly Father’s presence.
Phase 3- Surrender
To be real in the presence of God means we hand back to God all that we are, feel and want to be apart from Him—our job, security, struggles, pain, success and failures. We continually remind ourselves that our identity is in Christ and we refuse the futile struggle of trying to please men.
Phase 4- Acceptance of HS conviction
where we allow ourselves to be moulded by God through the conviction of the Holy Spirit, and not condemnation by the devil, because through the blood of Jesus, God remembers our past sins no more. Instead, we invite God to shine His light on current specific situations, sins and attitudes which block our ability to hear God. The Holy Spirit will reveal to us the areas where we need to change. There will be no peace in our hearts until we surrender to Him, obey His command and renounce them. He will prune us so we can be fruitful. Because it is a spiritual warfare, there will be rationalising, reasoning and struggles as to why we shouldn’t release or forgive certain people, but these have to do with pride, self-righteousness, lofty thoughts and the carnality that refuses to submit to the Lordship of Jesus Christ.
We often think we are tormenting those who have wronged us by harbouring bitterness or hatred against them, but in fact, we are keeping our mind and emotions imprisoned, and we are the ones who are not free! Therefore, we must take hold of every thought and bring it into captivity to obey Christ by forgiving. The Lord Jesus requires us to forgive seventy times seven, so we are to release these people to the Lord. Take note of when you have released them, so when these thoughts come again, you can remind yourself that it has been dealt with
Phase 5- repentance and forgiveness
It is giving God the opportunity to prune or purge us. We are to confess our sins and accept forgiveness from God. God doesn’t want us to dwell on our sins after we confess, but to move on with the fellowship.
Phase 6- receiving
We are to progress from knowing God intellectually to knowing Him intimately just like the relationship between husband and wife. He comes to us as a bridegroom to His bride (the church). God came to seek for us and is overjoyed when our relationship is restored. He longs for deep fellowship with us. It is in His presence that He pours out His grace, courage, love, peace and strength and makes us aware that we are not alone.
God’s voice comes as an intuition in our hearts, as spontaneous thoughts that are dropped into our hearts or spirits. It lights up our mind from the heart as He directly impresses His thoughts and ideas upon it. The difference between the thoughts from our mind and our heart is that while the former is analytical, the latter is spontaneous. When God speaks, write down the instructions, challenges or directions, and be determined to obey to the best of our abilities. When we listen to God, God speaks, and when we obey, God works.
Phase 7- Praise and Thanksgiving
The seventh phase is praise and thanksgiving. We should give thanks to God for simple things and things we have taken for granted until it becomes a symphony of praise.
Phase 8- intercession
where we ask Him how we can intercede for someone, rather than telling God what we think is best for that person.
We have the privilege of praying alongside Jesus. As His prayer partner, we can learn about the leading of the Holy Spirit when we pray in the Spirit in partnership with the Holy Spirit for someone or for the issues that we are facing.
