Tension in God's Presence

Our trust in the Lord is tested.

How?
Like in a furnace or a forge until all the impurities are gotten out and there is a purified vessel that is ready for use.

Being in the presence of the Lord is tension. All of those men who were privileged to be in his throne room were affected.

How?
For the most part they fell to their faces without any strength left.
No one can stand in his presence and be unaffected,
No one who has been called by his name can expect to remain the same.

Some of the things he points at are things that we would like to get rid of.
Yes, I willingly submit to those things, rid me of them.

Then there are those deep rooted things, those things that don't want to let go, pulling them out hurts.
He is relentless and will contend with those things which are in the way of him having all of us.
His intention is that his children look like Jesus.
He is tenacious even in those things that cause us huge pain.
We would like for him to take his hand off and let us rest, but he won't.
He contends with our rebellion.
He contends with our pet sins.
He contends with the source of our attitudes.

Why?
Because he will have us.
He will possess us fully.
He didn't just save us so that we could be with him forever, although there certainly is that. But it is not all.
His desire is that we live this life abundantly.
Full of joy.
Free of guilt.
Longing to pursue him as he pursues us.
This is his desire for us.
Not to be half hearted and free spirited, but instead captivated and fully possessed.
I don't want to be weak.
I don't want to be in tension.
I would like for him to tell me of his love and his grace and convict me of those things which I hate.
But what about when he brings those other things up and we feel cornered?

How do we respond to that?

Trust.

Trust in what then?

Him.

In what, his ability?

Sure. But more than that we need to trust his provision, his love, his goodness, his will...

Ooh that's a hard one. His will.

But what if his will and mine are different.
What if I want an easy life?
One with testing that I understand and effects that I can predict.
What if I would like to be prepared before hand for what he is doing, respond correctly and predictably; then go on my merry way without unpleasantness and tension.

But no.
He has his will.
He has decided.
He knows what he wants to do, and unlike people whose will I can bend.
He is unbendable.
Unlike people who I may be able to manipulate.
He is not manipulated.
Unlike those who I can convinced to let me off easy and without pain.
He will not relent.
He will not give up.
He will not back down.
He will not lay off.
He will not give in.
He will not say uncle.
He will wrestle with me until I will not let go of him.

His will is like a river that does not shift.
His purposes are set in something greater than stone.
His purposes are set in those things he has sworn by himself to accomplish.

So what is my response?
What do I say to Him?

I say ok. I must say ok. You have your way.

Will it remove the pressure?
Maybe or maybe not.
But perhaps this is the real Christian life.
Maybe this is tension that is normal.

One day we will always be in his presence.
Maybe this is training for those days.
How will those days be different?

There will be no shadow between him and us.
No more looking through clouded glass.
No more reluctance.
No more half heartedness.
No more having just a downpayment of the spirit.

Instead.

Face to face.
Knowing as we are known.
Seeing as we are seen.
Able to give thanks with full understanding of what we are giving thanks for.
Able to finish what we have started.
Able to see how wonderful Jesus is without the enemy whispering lies.

Think of it.
Just think.
Ponder it.
Then let it frame your thinking.
Let that warm oil soothe and heal.

Then.

Listen to what he is saying and submit.

Even if it is through pain and trouble that we enter the kingdom.

I will know him. I will grow deeper into him. I will see him in more places and doing more things that I formerly realized.
And he will use what he has put in me to bless, heal, lift up, and strengthen.

How do I hear the voice of God. Part 4

First prayer, persevering prayer that takes us boldly into the throne of grace to find mercy when we are in need. Prayer that never gives up until the Holy Spirit comes and leads our prayer time, and prayer that changes the way we think about ourselves because we are in the presence of God.
Second read the Bible, because in it we are told the God's big story. We are told how God determined to redeem mankind and how Jesus was God come among us. Jesus is the word of God and he said of himself that he was the fulfillment of the law, the prophets, the Psalms, and all of the wisdom literature. As we continually drink of the word of God we will be filled with understanding of Jesus and as we are continually filled our minds will be renewed. A renewed mind filled with God's words will be able to determine when something we hear is from God and not from Him.
The third way of hearing the voice of God in the context of the body of believers, the church.
There is nothing so exciting to me as when the people of God gather together to worship and the Holy Spirit begins to move around the room touching different ones with things to offer in the meeting. In the meetings of the church where I am there is a microphone at the front of the room and men who are given the responsibility of listening to the things that God gives to his people and then helping to place those in the meeting so that what God is communicating to everyone will be clearly seen. It works and it is fruitful, but not everyone gets to be part of the meeting, mostly because of time constraints and such.
During the week, the church meets in smaller contexts in which fewer people get together and there is opportunity for each to hear the voice of God together. God loves to speak to his corporate church while they are meeting together in whatever context in order to bless, encourage, and comfort those who need help, but he also loves to give his words to people to give to someone else.
The people of God were not meant to be loaners. When Jesus saved us he connected us to a family. In this family, Jesus is the head and we are all members of each other for the mutual building up of each other. If we were on our own we could convince ourselves that God said something that he didn't.
Let's use the relationship that I talked about in one of the other posts. This person hears God say that the relationship they had with their husband is bad and that the new one is now the one that God is going to bless, remember that. Let's step back a minute and say that this person ran that word through the scripture test, the redeemed perspective test, and the Holy Spirit test and it passed. Why? We know that it shouldn't have passed any of them, so why did it pass them all. The heart is deceitful. We, as the people of God, have a redeemed spirit that is pure and holy, but we are still in this flesh that is full of sin. We can convince ourselves that something is God that is clearly not. We are not slaves to sin, but we can decide to be slaves again. To let our frustration give way to unbelief that God is for us and decide that instead he wants us to be happy and successful, on our terms.
Here I would like to briefly tell a Bible story. In the Old Testament in the book of Numbers, there is a story of a king named Balak. He was in the land next to where the children of Israel were when they left Egypt on their way to the promised land and he was afraid that they were going to invade his land. There was a man who was a prophet in the land whose name was Balaam so Balak called him. He sent a group of men with the promise of riches to Balaam if he would come and curse Israel for him. Balaam went to inquire of the Lord and the Lord said "do not go with them for Israel is chosen." The men left and went back to Balak who sent another group to Balaam with the same request. Balaam saw the money and instead of sending them on their way, went to inquire of the Lord again. This time the Lord said, "go with them, but only say what I tell you to say." What happened? Did God change his mind? Balaam left on his donkey, but the Lord was angry that he was going so he sent an angel with a flaming sword to stand in the middle of the pass. The donkey saw the angel and resisted. Balaam became angry. The donkey still resisted and pushed against the side of the cliff so that it hurt Balaam's foot. Balaam began to curse, swear and beat the donkey. God gave voice to the donkey and he spoke to Balaam then God opened Balaam's eyes to see the angel with the flaming sword. He repented of going after God had first told him not to, but God let him go and bless His people instead of curse them.
This is what can happen to the people of God when we convince ourselves that what God wants for us is what we want for us. It is not always true and we need to be able to listen to the counsel of the Lord that redirects us from bad thinking to good thinking, and from a wrong view of God to the right view. It is sometimes tricky and that is why we have been joined to a family.
 Friends that know you and love you might be willing to tell you what is right and help you, but if you are connected to the people of God we are one with each other. What affects you affects me. You are no longer struggling on your own. If we sin we hurt the church. We are not on our own bearing our own consequences, no it affects the church. When I resist temptation, it helps the church. When I speak a word of correction and receive correction myself, the church is helped. Remember, we are one body but many parts, but one with each other.
With these things in mind praying, reading the Bible, and building together with the church. We will be able to hear the voice of God for ourselves and each other, build the church up in love as each part does its work, and learn to know God together until we all see Him face to face.
What a wonderful day that will be. Amen

How do I hear the voice of God? Part 3

In the first of this series of posts, I made a case for the ability of those who are called by Jesus name to hear the voice of God. In the second, we talked about the first of three practical ways of hearing the voice of the Lord, that was pray.
The second is read the Bible.
In the first post, I gave brief mention to a scripture that was written in 2 Peter 1:19 here it is in its entirety.
"We have the prophetic word more fully confirmed to which you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts, knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of scripture comes from someone's own interpretation. For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit."(ESV)
Peter has earlier been describing the reality of God's gift of everything that we need "for life and godliness" which is wonderful and again brings to life the fact of our complete acceptance and salvation from sin. He talks about the things that we need to add to the foundation of this acceptance and then mentions that they did not follow "cleverly devised myths" when they made known the gospel. Jesus, the gospel writers, Paul, and Peter all attest to the fact that scripture was fulfilled in Jesus. Prophecy was fulfilled in Jesus, and everything that was written was so by the power of the Holy Spirit as he visited men and gave them the words to say. The New Testament words were given in the same manner as the prophets of old which Peter says in the same letter as above when he mentions the apostle Paul's letters being difficult to understand then he says.
"there are some things in them (the letters) that are hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction as they do the other scriptures." (2 Peter 3:16 ESV)
Jesus is the foundation from which we do everything. His perfect life, sacrificial death, resurrection, and glorious position at the right hand of God frames what we believe about the world, people, love, the church, and many other things. The scriptures are what reveal to us the story of God's redemptive plan from before the world was made to when all knees bow and all tongues confess Jesus as King and Lord. Reading and letting the scriptures form our thinking from what it was before we were saved to the everyday renewing of our minds is necessary to stay on track when hearing the voice of God. The scriptures are sure and tested, they are more sure than subjective revelation.
What do I mean by subjective revelation? We could not know God unless he chose to reveal himself to us. He opens our minds to understand the good news of Jesus then we respond to what we have heard. Remember, we are not the seekers; God is. In our sinful state, we are not inclined toward God to seek him, love him, or even listen to him. If he does not reveal himself to us we are totally lost.
When we receive what Jesus did we are ushered into the big God story that is told in the Bible. It may happen in different ways, but the results are the same. Changed lives and thinking. It is the plumb line from which we judge everything we hear, because it tells the story of what we have been ushered into.
If while we are praying, we hear God say, "you need to forgive your friend". You know you need to because of the story of Jesus. If you hear him say, "you should keep that grudge against your friend, until he is really sorry for what he did to you." You know that this is not from God because of the story of Jesus. Subjective revelation is anything you feel with your senses or hear in your head that may or may not be God. If you are reading your Bible you will be able to discern what is from God and what is not. So read the Bible.
There is another way to discern the voice of God and that will be the subject of the next post.

How do I hear the voice of God? Part 2

Now that we understand that those who are redeemed and have the Holy Spirit can hear the voice of God; how do I? Give me something practical something I can sink my teeth in and do.

Ok, here are a few suggestions. 

Pray

Now what do I mean? I mean talk to God as if he is in the room with you (which he is). You can't see him, but you can know he is there with you. He wants to reveal himself to you so ask him to. Then comes the hard part. You need to believe that he will speak to you. Then you have to be patient and wait. Oh boy, another tough one. So here is what I do.

I get into a quiet place and I get comfortable. Then I close my eyes and begin to worship, not out loud but inside in order to get my mind focused on Him. Then I begin to listen. Now its unlikely that you will hear an audible voice (it is possible but I never have), but I might hear a song running through my head so I begin to sing it out loud. I continue to sing until something else comes into my head, like a prayer for a friend or something; so I pray it. I continue on until something else comes and I do that as well. You may be convicted of sin,  if you are confess. You may be brought to tears for seemingly no reason. Don't spend to much time questioning, just let him sweep over you. 

What is happening is you are communing with God. He has the agenda for your time with him and he is giving you his leading. There is so much peace in waiting on God to set His own agenda for your prayer. He knows what needs to happen and he knows what he wants to accomplish when you are there. Sometimes you will not be led in any particular direction. Don't stress out as if you have unconfessed sin or something. If you have sin he will remind you until you confess. He wants to be with you. He might want to just sit there and hear your worship. So do whatever you want, but remember you are righteous as a gift. If he is silent it is because he wants you to trust that he is there, is hearing you, and is working to make your love deeper for him.

Keep in mind the things that I wrote in the last post about testing what you hear. If you hear a voice in your head and it says to do something strange, test it. Not making sense does not mean that it is not God, remember His ways are not our ways. So ask Him about it. If you don't feel confirmed that it's God then don't do it. If it is God then He will bring it up continually and each time you give yourself to him in prayer.

Never give up. This is very important. If you pray for ten days straight and you don't feel his presence, hear any direction for your prayers, or hear his voice; keep coming to him. He is not punishing you. He is God and is not obligated to speak at all, but he is still worthy of your trust. He will still lead, it may be harder, but don't give up. Keep worshipping keep on praying, and keep on listening. Don't freak out. Rest in him he is drawing you into deeper relationship with Him. If you keep seeking your longing will grow and you will find him. He is not teasing you he is drawing you. So keep asking, seeking, and knocking. Don't give up.

Now to those who pray by lists or even by pattern prayers in the Bible. I am not willing to say that these things are not helpful, they can be, but often they make talking with God a part of your agenda instead of His. If you don't hear the leading of God in prayer while waiting and you give up and move on to your usual pattern, you will miss a very fruitful learning experience and blessing. Hearing the voice of God is about making yourself available to Him to speak in His time and through his method. It is never static because it changes from day to day, but it is wonderful.

There have been times when I was scheduled to be at work at 7am. I started praying at 11pm and didn't get to bed till 4am, because I waited on the leadership of God in prayer. I will tell you that I was tired in the morning, but I wouldn't give up the experience for the world.  The next day I was sharper and heard God during the day in ways that I am sure I wouldn't have otherwise. I could see the need in people more acutely and had practical wisdom or words to say that would help them.
One last thing, when are we done? There have been times when God's presence is so tangible that it is hard to know when we are done for the night. What I usually do is say "I'm going to bed, Lord." I did this one night and after I started for my bed the Lord reminded me of a scripture that says,
Unless the Lord builds a house,
    the work of the builders is wasted.
Unless the Lord protects a city,
    guarding it with sentries will do no good.
² It is useless for you to work so hard
    from early morning until late at night,
anxiously working for food to eat;
    for God gives rest to his loved ones. (Psalm 127:1-2 NLT)

This meant two things to me. 

First, it made me realize that God is a work building his house whether I was contending in prayer for it or not, and that I am not primarily needed in the process, but he loves to include us in the pursuit of his glorious expectations.

Second, God gives his loved ones rest. It is good for us to stay up late when he leads and it is good for us to go to bed when he leads.

In the next post, I will give the second of my three practical words of advice, but until then

don't give up.  He hears those he loves, and he will speak to you. 

How do I hear the voice of God? Part 1

This question often brings fear to many, both those who are asking and those to whom the question is being asked. So what is the answer? Jesus said, "my sheep hear my voice and I lead them into good pasture". If Jesus said that we can hear then that should be enough right? Well, it should but sometimes there is a battle in our minds that usually has to do with "our worth" and holding it up next to "hearing the voice of God". "If I am good enough, if I pray, if I read my Bible, then I can expect to hear His voice". The only problem with that thinking is that it is not what Jesus said. In his words, the only qualification for hearing Him is being one of His. Not how good or faithful we are to do the things we think are necessary to win God's favor. Being one of His is the only requirement, but it is a huge one.
What does it mean to be one of His? It means that you believe that when Jesus died, God put all of the sins of all of mankind past, present, and future on Him; and he took yours as well. Then His death to sin was credited to us so that when God looks at us He sees the blood of the Son that He loves. What a wonderful place to be, in the Son that He loves. In addition, we have been given the gift of the Holy Spirit who is God in us. Wonderful, now that we are in that place where sin is not our master anymore, we have been given the righteousness of Jesus as a gift, and we are filled with the Spirit; we can hear the voice of God.
Does God want to speak to me? That is another good question that needs an answer. Yes, He does want to speak to us. It is the reason that Jesus died and rose again from the dead so that we would have a relationship with Him that is somewhat like the one Adam had with God in the Garden at the very beginning.
What does the Bible do in this? The scriptures both old and new testaments are what Peter the apostle said were "a more sure word of prophecy" we can count on God to both speak through the Bible and through the inward voice of the Spirit inside of us. The Bible contains the words of God and it is therefore a guide to help us to discern the voices that we hear in our hearts and the voices of brothers and sisters who hear God and then speak to us.
There is no need to be afraid of hearing some errant prophet who goes off half cocked and says things that we don't believe. If you don't have an inward witness to a prophetic word, don't receive it. If part of it is good and the other part is nonsense, then keep what is good and toss the rest.
Paul the apostle said that we needed to test everything hold to what is good. He also said that the reason we need to test everything is that there have been many spirits that have gone out into the world.
So lets give an example. You have a friend who is having an affair and you know about it but no one else does. They come to you and tell you that they were praying and God said, "I see that you are unhappy with your situation with your husband, and it is weighing heavy on your mind. This other person is the one that I actually planned for you so you are released from your sinful, disobedient marriage and I will bless the other. (sound far fetched; I thought so to until it happened)
How do you answer your friend? This is how I would test that word.
First, does the Bible have anything to say about it? Now I would not take the scriptures quote them out of context and then beat your friend with them. Look at the entire counsel of God on marriage in both the old and new testament. There is a theme and it has to do with God's relationship to the people of God.
Do you as a redeemed person who loves your friend have any problems with it? There is nothing wrong with you telling your friend that you think it is not true, and I am sure there will be lots of reasons for your belief. The point is to test what you think and then tell them what you think.
Does the Holy Spirit have anything to say about it? This has to do with hearing the voice of God, testing what you hear and then communicating to your friend what you hear.
Each situation is different dependent on the friend and your relationship with them, but the  point is that we must trust in the voice of God in every situation, and if we believe and listen you will get wisdom that cuts through all the nonsense. It might not be popular and you might lose your friend, as I did, but you will have spoken the word of the Lord to them and God said of His word, that it will not return to him void without doing what he sent it out to do. Later, my friend sent an email to me repenting and regretting that they had not listened to counsel, but the Lord had restored them to Him and although there is trouble He is with them. Wonderful, Jesus convinced them His way was best even after the fact and He is with them and doing His work.
There is a lot more to say about this that I don't have time for here, but if you have questions go ahead and comment.

I was praying and thinking about God's promises to the church. I was becoming frustrated when I thought about how weak we can be and the Lord encouraged me with this word. I hope it will also encourage you.

I’m teaching you to trust. To obey without knowing the answers. To reach out without knowing all the reasons. I’m teaching you to listen to my voice. To rest and be confident in what I have spoken. Confidence that will cause you to lay aside your greatest concerns and seek my face for what I want  while you’re in this place. 

I am with you. I want you to hear my voice, then I want you to stand firm unwavering until I accomplish what I have promised. No plan “B’s”. No determining the  end  date  for my action, then you do your own thing. No, I want you to stand firm until I please to bless you. And will I bless you? Oh, yes more than you can ask or imagine. 

Those who trust in the Lord will never be put to shame. The Lord is a strong tower, a rock of defense, He can be counted on. 

A Change in Design

When I first started blog it was intended to be a precursor to something more. When I thought about the name Gathering Sticks the idea was based on a prophetic word that I was given many years ago in a prophetic conference in NW Arkansas. Basically the Lord told me that "prophetic clarity was going to increase in the coming years and while now you are 'picking up sticks' (at the time I was playing drums for the church) clarity would increase and the word of the Lord will make room for itself where you are and "fires would be started that will burn for the nations". There was much more to this word than I am willing to say here, but I can say that God has been faithful, done more than I could even envision, and will continue to do so to the praise of His glory.
The previous posts have been focused on relational encounters with the Lord and with other things that charged me at the moment, but I think there is a change in the wind and the posts are going to be more prophetic in nature and give an opportunity to fan the flames of the corporate prophetic expression in the church and give help to those individuals who have prophetic gifting.
I love the voice of the Spirit when he speaks to his people to give counsel from one person to another that will build up both the giver and the receiver. I love when prophetic ministry is working in the corporate meetings of the church to the extent that when the unbeliever comes in the room his heart is exposed to him and he must say, "surely God is living among you". The corporate prophetic expression of the whole church should be this way. After all the purpose of prophetic ministry in the church is that men and women who know God would be encouraged, edified, and comforted; and that the lost will hear the collective prophetic message of the gospel proclaimed through the church, repent of their sin, and become lovers of Jesus as fully participating members of the church.


Comments are welcomed and filtered.