WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:08.200 And good morning to each and every one of you. 2 00:00:08.200 --> 00:00:09.200 Happy Tuesday. 3 00:00:09.200 --> 00:00:12.360 I'm just doing a quick check. 4 00:00:12.360 --> 00:00:17.480 If someone on the computer side, let me know if you can see my slides. 5 00:00:17.480 --> 00:00:21.360 Sometimes I forget to click something, so can I just, maybe Earlene, let me know if 6 00:00:21.360 --> 00:00:23.120 you're hearing my slides. 7 00:00:23.120 --> 00:00:27.800 Those of you that want to go online, the links are posted to actually see the slides. 8 00:00:27.800 --> 00:00:31.000 Those of you that want to see my face, I'm on Facebook Live. 9 00:00:31.000 --> 00:00:37.320 All right, awesome, okay, well, we will get started. 10 00:00:37.320 --> 00:00:41.280 This is the final week on this series. 11 00:00:41.280 --> 00:00:43.520 I'm very excited to close out this series. 12 00:00:43.520 --> 00:00:44.520 It's been amazing. 13 00:00:44.520 --> 00:00:47.840 I hope you've enjoyed it, and I'm excited to start the new one. 14 00:00:47.840 --> 00:00:50.040 I'll tell you about that at the end. 15 00:00:50.040 --> 00:00:51.640 That will start next week. 16 00:00:51.640 --> 00:00:59.000 So in How to Hear the Voice of God, this is lesson number seven, and we're going to 17 00:00:59.000 --> 00:01:08.000 be talking about the still, small voice as one of the ways that God speaks. 18 00:01:08.000 --> 00:01:14.280 I love closing with this, and I'm actually going to share six keys to be able to discern 19 00:01:14.280 --> 00:01:22.160 the voice of God, and answer the question that maybe you have, which is, how do I know 20 00:01:22.160 --> 00:01:28.920 if it's my thoughts, or if it's the devil or enemy's thoughts, or if it's God's thoughts, 21 00:01:28.920 --> 00:01:34.000 or how do I really discern what's going on in my head? 22 00:01:34.000 --> 00:01:39.720 So I'm going to give you six keys for that, and then at the end, I'm going to share a 23 00:01:39.720 --> 00:01:48.160 little bonus, which is my very all-time favorite way to hear from God, and that is when I really 24 00:01:48.160 --> 00:01:52.260 have a question, how can I get that answered? 25 00:01:52.260 --> 00:01:53.880 So all of that. 26 00:01:53.880 --> 00:01:56.040 So glad you're all here. 27 00:01:56.040 --> 00:02:00.320 It's awesome to be with you every Tuesday morning, 7.30. 28 00:02:00.320 --> 00:02:04.040 I'm going to start with prayer, and then we're going to dive right in, because we've got 29 00:02:04.040 --> 00:02:07.400 a lot to cover in a short period of time. 30 00:02:07.400 --> 00:02:09.039 So Father, I just thank you. 31 00:02:09.039 --> 00:02:14.600 I thank you for a brand new day, that we were able to wake up, our heart beating and 32 00:02:14.600 --> 00:02:16.080 air in our lungs. 33 00:02:16.080 --> 00:02:21.240 We know, with everything going on, that that is a true gift. 34 00:02:21.240 --> 00:02:27.560 Lord, I pray for everybody that is listening, both now and to this recording. 35 00:02:27.560 --> 00:02:33.680 You are our good shepherd, and I pray for protection over their lives, their bodies, 36 00:02:33.680 --> 00:02:35.720 their home, their families. 37 00:02:35.760 --> 00:02:40.880 I pray for provision, abundant provision, of all that they need. 38 00:02:40.880 --> 00:02:43.160 You have promised that, Lord God. 39 00:02:43.160 --> 00:02:48.960 I pray that today, you will open our spiritual senses. 40 00:02:48.960 --> 00:02:54.360 I pray that we'll hear your voice so clearly, that we'll feel your presence. 41 00:02:54.360 --> 00:02:57.380 That peace was past us all understanding. 42 00:02:57.380 --> 00:03:02.920 For any that are feeling anxiety or fear, I pray that will be broken. 43 00:03:02.920 --> 00:03:07.720 I pray that your perfect peace, that past us all understanding, will flood their hearts 44 00:03:07.720 --> 00:03:11.080 and minds, guard their hearts and minds. 45 00:03:11.080 --> 00:03:20.160 I pray, Lord God, that today you will speak and meet the questions and the cries of the 46 00:03:20.160 --> 00:03:22.840 hearts of everyone listening. 47 00:03:22.840 --> 00:03:27.880 May the words of my mouth, the meditation of my heart, be pleasing in your sight. 48 00:03:27.880 --> 00:03:30.400 I ask in Jesus' name. 49 00:03:30.720 --> 00:03:33.400 Well, welcome to those of you that are joining. 50 00:03:33.400 --> 00:03:35.400 I see, Elen, you just came over. 51 00:03:35.400 --> 00:03:36.920 Christine, I see you. 52 00:03:36.920 --> 00:03:38.600 Welcome, welcome. 53 00:03:38.600 --> 00:03:41.160 How to hear the voice of God. 54 00:03:41.160 --> 00:03:46.320 So we have covered some total territory over the last seven weeks, and all of these recordings, 55 00:03:46.320 --> 00:03:53.240 you can go back and find the previous recordings here on Facebook. 56 00:03:53.560 --> 00:04:01.000 So we have talked about the Logos and the Rhema word as one way of hearing. 57 00:04:01.000 --> 00:04:06.960 That is the written word and the revealed word, which is what we've been focusing on 58 00:04:06.960 --> 00:04:08.240 this whole time. 59 00:04:08.240 --> 00:04:11.680 We've talked about finding God in creation. 60 00:04:11.680 --> 00:04:20.720 We saw a lot of examples of visions and dreams and how God would use that to give direction 61 00:04:20.880 --> 00:04:24.880 or to bring people together, divine appointments. 62 00:04:24.880 --> 00:04:31.880 We saw the virtual reality dream when they're awake, and we saw the sleeping dreams, and 63 00:04:31.880 --> 00:04:38.080 we saw a really important one, I think, for really discerning. 64 00:04:38.080 --> 00:04:42.680 And that was what was called the umpire of your heart. 65 00:04:42.680 --> 00:04:45.560 The umpire of your heart. 66 00:04:45.600 --> 00:04:50.280 And we learned that that's one of the ways that God speaks, which is through peace, through 67 00:04:50.280 --> 00:04:51.760 peace. 68 00:04:51.760 --> 00:04:55.800 And today we're going to be talking about the still small voice, and we're going to 69 00:04:55.800 --> 00:05:00.000 be talking about discernment, about discerning. 70 00:05:00.000 --> 00:05:07.080 God's voice. And so, plus like I said, the bonus. So let's dive right in. Super 71 00:05:07.080 --> 00:05:12.120 excited. Welcome to all of you joining on Facebook Live. Welcome Gail. I see you as 72 00:05:12.120 --> 00:05:16.200 well. Trying to reach over and hit my phone when it works and wave, but it 73 00:05:16.200 --> 00:05:22.960 doesn't always work. Okay, there it went. Alright, so let's start with six keys to 74 00:05:22.960 --> 00:05:28.480 be able to discern. Are these my thoughts? Where are these coming from? What are 75 00:05:28.480 --> 00:05:35.560 they? Alright, the first thing for hearing God's voice, which is hard for some of us, 76 00:05:35.560 --> 00:05:45.560 is to be still. I don't know about you, if that's easier for you. For me, to be 77 00:05:45.560 --> 00:05:51.520 still. I might be able to get my, you know, my body still, but to get my mind still. 78 00:05:51.520 --> 00:06:02.800 And to really listen. To really be present. You see, our tendency, so often, 79 00:06:02.800 --> 00:06:09.800 with our mind and our ego, is we spend so much time either reflecting on the past 80 00:06:09.800 --> 00:06:17.440 or reflecting on the future. Any of you find that? Are you, are you rehearsing? Are 81 00:06:17.440 --> 00:06:21.160 you going over again something that happened? A conversation that you happen 82 00:06:21.160 --> 00:06:24.960 an event that you had happen? You know, something you're concerned about that 83 00:06:24.960 --> 00:06:31.040 happened? Or are you jumping forward? And you know, what if this? And what if not 84 00:06:31.040 --> 00:06:40.280 that? And, and we forget to just slow down and be here now. One of the ways to do 85 00:06:40.280 --> 00:06:46.840 that, when you're being still, is to just focus on your breathing. Just feel your 86 00:06:46.840 --> 00:06:52.840 body. Listen to what's around you. Do you hear the birds singing? Do you, you know, 87 00:06:52.840 --> 00:07:02.640 look around and see what's really happening right here, right now. Because 88 00:07:02.640 --> 00:07:12.840 God is in the present moment. Your, your answer, your life, your joy, your peace is 89 00:07:12.840 --> 00:07:23.120 right here, in this moment. So here's some powerful verses. Psalms 46 10. Psalms 90 00:07:23.120 --> 00:07:34.920 46 10 says, be still and know. Be still and know that I am God. I will be honored 91 00:07:34.920 --> 00:07:40.720 by every nation. I will be honored throughout the world. So one of the keys 92 00:07:40.720 --> 00:07:48.640 we glean is to be still and to come with a sense of honor. To come with a 93 00:07:48.640 --> 00:07:54.120 sense that I'm really ready. You are my creator. You're the creator of the 94 00:07:54.120 --> 00:08:01.840 universe. You are infinite love, infinite potentiality, infinite wisdom. And so I 95 00:08:01.840 --> 00:08:08.880 come still and from a place of honor. Now I love the translation, the passion 96 00:08:08.920 --> 00:08:12.600 translation. It's one of my favorite versions of the New Testament, the 97 00:08:12.600 --> 00:08:21.120 passion translation. So the same verse says this, surrender your anxiety. You 98 00:08:21.120 --> 00:08:28.080 want to hear the voice of God? It starts by let go. Let go. Let God. Breathe. 99 00:08:28.080 --> 00:08:35.880 Surrender your anxiety. Be silent and stop your striving. And you will see that 100 00:08:35.880 --> 00:08:41.799 I am God. I'm God above all the nations and I will be exalted through the whole 101 00:08:41.799 --> 00:08:51.680 earth. So once again you see it. Second Timothy 1 12 says, I'm not ashamed for I 102 00:08:51.680 --> 00:08:58.600 know him and I'm personally acquainted with him who I have believed with 103 00:08:58.600 --> 00:09:04.160 absolute trust and confidence in him and in the truth of his deity and I'm 104 00:09:04.160 --> 00:09:09.800 persuaded beyond any doubt that he is able to guard that which I have 105 00:09:09.800 --> 00:09:16.680 entrusted to him. That's Second Timothy 1 12 in the Amplified. I love that verse. 106 00:09:16.680 --> 00:09:24.600 It really gives us some real keys. You see one of the different things between 107 00:09:24.600 --> 00:09:28.440 the Christian faith that I have found as I've traveled all over the world and 108 00:09:28.440 --> 00:09:33.640 studied so many faiths, one of the biggest differences is that it is about 109 00:09:34.640 --> 00:09:43.200 relationship. The difference between religion, which is external, trying to do 110 00:09:43.200 --> 00:09:49.120 so many things, the difference between religion, trying to be good enough, work 111 00:09:49.120 --> 00:09:53.600 hard enough, keep enough rules, enough regulations, you know, follow the rules 112 00:09:53.600 --> 00:10:02.000 and relationship. It says Abba. The Bible says we're to call 113 00:10:00.000 --> 00:10:11.480 Daddy, the most intimate form, Abba, Abba, the Good Shepherd, the intimacy of I want 114 00:10:11.480 --> 00:10:18.800 to know you. I want to know you. And you see this with Timothy who was one of the 115 00:10:18.800 --> 00:10:25.920 youngest disciples. He was like Paul's spiritual son. And you see this in that 116 00:10:25.920 --> 00:10:32.960 verse. You see that that I have become personally acquainted with him. In the 117 00:10:32.960 --> 00:10:39.520 book of Ephesians 1 and 3, when you read Paul's prayers, I love it because it 118 00:10:39.520 --> 00:10:48.920 says to know him personally and experientially. You see, God wants us to 119 00:10:48.920 --> 00:10:54.880 experience him. He wants us to experience him. And this is what what Timothy is 120 00:10:54.880 --> 00:11:01.200 talking about here. And he says, I believe, I have absolute trust. And he 121 00:11:01.200 --> 00:11:06.720 says, I know he's able to guard that which I have entrusted to him. I love 122 00:11:06.720 --> 00:11:10.680 that. You know, those things that are making you anxious, those things that you 123 00:11:10.680 --> 00:11:16.400 can't control, those things you can't figure out. Maybe there's a struggle with 124 00:11:16.400 --> 00:11:21.360 family members. Maybe there's, you know, relationship problem. But can you take 125 00:11:21.400 --> 00:11:25.960 that thing, maybe it's a financial worry, maybe it's a health challenge, can you 126 00:11:25.960 --> 00:11:32.120 take that thing and can you entrust it? Can you let go of the fretting and the 127 00:11:32.120 --> 00:11:41.280 anxiety that just makes us sick and can you entrust it to him? That's the key as 128 00:11:41.280 --> 00:11:47.520 you really want to begin to hear God's voice. So number one, be still. Number two, 129 00:11:47.520 --> 00:11:54.280 recognize that he speaks in different ways at different times. Now, this is 130 00:11:54.280 --> 00:12:00.840 fascinating because he's the same God yesterday, today and forever, through all 131 00:12:00.840 --> 00:12:08.840 eternity. And yet he chooses to reveal himself in infinite ways. I mean, just 132 00:12:08.840 --> 00:12:13.800 creating each one of us and how different is how he reveals himself that 133 00:12:13.800 --> 00:12:19.400 many different ways. No single snowflake the same. No thumbprint the same. I used 134 00:12:19.400 --> 00:12:24.200 to, when I was teaching my kids, I used to take them outside on to a tree and I 135 00:12:24.200 --> 00:12:30.040 would say, hey, find two leaves that are the same. On a tree, just on one tree, 136 00:12:30.040 --> 00:12:34.960 find two leaves that are the same. You can't do it. No two people are the same, 137 00:12:34.960 --> 00:12:42.360 even identical twins. And so God just infinitely has new ways to reveal 138 00:12:42.520 --> 00:12:49.640 himself to us. And so we can't get in a rut. What happened, what happened 139 00:12:49.640 --> 00:12:54.040 yesterday, thank you Sharon, loving you guys's comments, welcome, welcome Sonja, 140 00:12:54.040 --> 00:12:59.680 all you guys. So, you know, the way that he spoke to you yesterday or the way he 141 00:12:59.680 --> 00:13:04.440 spoke to one of your relatives or the way he spoke to someone in the Bible may 142 00:13:04.440 --> 00:13:09.960 not necessarily be the way he's going to speak to you today. Are you ready? You 143 00:13:09.960 --> 00:13:18.080 know, Isaiah 43 says, I'm doing a new thing. He said, it says, will you not be 144 00:13:18.080 --> 00:13:23.160 aware? Will you not perceive it? You see, as we're being still and as we're being 145 00:13:23.160 --> 00:13:30.440 aware, we can open ourselves to say, wow, what new thing is God going to do today? 146 00:13:30.440 --> 00:13:36.320 Because he does it differently every single time. So watch this verse. This is 147 00:13:36.320 --> 00:13:45.360 a cool verse. It's 1st Kings 19 verses 11 through 13. And this is such a 148 00:13:45.360 --> 00:13:50.240 interesting verse, I find. So trying to wave at all you guys that are coming on 149 00:13:50.240 --> 00:13:56.560 Facebook live. Welcome, welcome, welcome John. All right, so it says, go out and 150 00:13:56.560 --> 00:14:03.600 stand before me on the mountain, the Lord told him. This is God talking to Elijah. 151 00:14:03.600 --> 00:14:11.040 And so Elijah goes out there. Now he is absolutely, Elijah's at wit's end if you 152 00:14:11.040 --> 00:14:18.280 know this story. Jezebel has been killing all the prophets. She's after him and has 153 00:14:18.280 --> 00:14:25.000 killed almost all of the people and here he is. And so as Elijah stood there, the 154 00:14:25.000 --> 00:14:31.040 Lord passed by and it says, a mighty windstorm hit the mountain. It was such 155 00:14:31.040 --> 00:14:39.680 a terrible blast that the rocks were torn loose, but the Lord was not in the 156 00:14:39.680 --> 00:14:47.420 wind. Interesting. Watch this. After the wind, there was an earthquake, but the 157 00:14:47.420 --> 00:14:56.120 Lord was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake, there was a fire, but the Lord 158 00:14:56.120 --> 00:15:01.880 was not in the fire. Now watch this, watch this. 159 00:15:00.000 --> 00:15:11.240 After the fire there was a gentle whisper and then Elijah knew. Elijah heard 160 00:15:11.240 --> 00:15:17.000 it. He wrapped his face in a cloak as a sign of worship and devotion. He knew he 161 00:15:17.000 --> 00:15:21.200 was in the presence of God and he went out of his cave. He stood at the front 162 00:15:21.200 --> 00:15:27.640 and then he heard what God had to say for him. What are you doing here Elijah? 163 00:15:27.640 --> 00:15:32.000 And the conversation goes on where God gives them instructions for that 164 00:15:32.000 --> 00:15:38.080 situation. And so it's interesting because here it says that God didn't 165 00:15:38.080 --> 00:15:40.840 speak through the wind. He didn't speak through the earthquake. He didn't speak 166 00:15:40.840 --> 00:15:45.000 through the fire. But if you go through the scripture there's many times he did 167 00:15:45.000 --> 00:15:50.480 speak through the wind. Look at the Pentecost, the arrival of the Holy Spirit, 168 00:15:50.480 --> 00:15:55.280 the baptism of the Holy Spirit in the book of Acts. It arrived as a wind that 169 00:15:55.280 --> 00:16:00.240 came into the room. That's how the Holy Spirit arrived. It says that he wasn't 170 00:16:00.240 --> 00:16:05.040 in the fire but again look at Pentecost. It said that that you know tongues of 171 00:16:05.040 --> 00:16:12.720 fire landed on everybody. So what happens is that God is going to speak to you 172 00:16:12.720 --> 00:16:19.680 differently in different situations. So keys to discerning God's voice is don't 173 00:16:19.680 --> 00:16:26.400 expect it always to be the same. He's going to reach you differently. So this 174 00:16:26.400 --> 00:16:34.800 creates a wonderful way to just be open. To wake up and say I'm open. I'm open 175 00:16:34.800 --> 00:16:41.600 God. And see how he's going to reveal himself to you. You know I have sometimes 176 00:16:41.600 --> 00:16:46.880 I've talked about nature. I literally have hummingbirds where they'll just fly 177 00:16:46.880 --> 00:16:51.120 right here and just stay right in front of my face you know and I'm like hi hi 178 00:16:51.120 --> 00:16:55.880 there you know or a butterfly that just keeps going. You know there's so many 179 00:16:55.880 --> 00:17:02.560 ways. I've had I've had dreams. I've had visions. I've had signs and wonders and 180 00:17:02.560 --> 00:17:09.800 miracles. But most often it's the whisper. It's just that quiet almost a thought 181 00:17:09.800 --> 00:17:16.839 that you can ignore it or you can pay attention to it. You know one time I was 182 00:17:16.839 --> 00:17:23.200 in New Jersey. I was in upstate and I was in a tiny tiny little country church 183 00:17:23.200 --> 00:17:27.400 and I was I was there on speaking engagement. I thought well I'm just gonna 184 00:17:27.400 --> 00:17:31.200 go find a little church and just pray before I speak tomorrow. So I didn't know 185 00:17:31.200 --> 00:17:35.440 anybody. I didn't know anything and I I go up there and I'm on the second pew 186 00:17:35.440 --> 00:17:43.160 back and I'm just listening and I I had some cash in my wallet just you know 187 00:17:43.160 --> 00:17:49.040 because I was traveling and everything and the Holy Spirit says to me so 188 00:17:49.040 --> 00:17:57.640 quietly give your hundred dollar bills to the man sitting in front of you. Now 189 00:17:57.640 --> 00:18:03.520 this man was sitting on the on the pew and he had his arms kind of stretched 190 00:18:03.520 --> 00:18:06.960 you know like a man will sometimes do just up on the pew almost like he had 191 00:18:06.960 --> 00:18:12.200 his arm around someone. So his hands were up his hands were up on the on the bench 192 00:18:12.200 --> 00:18:19.320 and I said but Lord I'm traveling that's my travel cash you know and the 193 00:18:19.320 --> 00:18:25.000 Lord says put it in his hand right now and this is the key to hearing God's 194 00:18:25.000 --> 00:18:30.840 voice is to be willing to obey even when it seems crazy and so I was like okay 195 00:18:30.840 --> 00:18:36.760 and I reach in and I take out my cash and I just kind of slip it in his hand 196 00:18:36.760 --> 00:18:45.040 and right after that the worship was concluded and the pastor called this man 197 00:18:45.040 --> 00:18:54.720 to the front and told the story of what this man was doing for for children 198 00:18:54.720 --> 00:18:59.040 sacrificing his life to the point that that he had nothing he was taking care 199 00:18:59.040 --> 00:19:03.800 of so many orphans and children and asked if the church would be willing to 200 00:19:03.800 --> 00:19:11.240 give to him and I thought wow Lord how wonderful that I got to have that chance 201 00:19:11.240 --> 00:19:15.520 to do it without you know it being announced at the front of the church or 202 00:19:15.520 --> 00:19:21.360 any fanfare but also how wonderful to get confirmation that you hear something 203 00:19:21.360 --> 00:19:27.920 and you obey and then it happens afterwards. I'm experiencing that again 204 00:19:27.920 --> 00:19:33.440 right now. I had that still small voice but it got louder and louder and louder 205 00:19:33.440 --> 00:19:38.080 maybe some of you have had this too and that was at the beginning of this year 206 00:19:38.080 --> 00:19:43.200 I was at the end of last year for the beginning of this year where God told me 207 00:19:43.200 --> 00:19:50.600 to have an event for women the women like me event. I'll tell you nothing in 208 00:19:50.600 --> 00:19:54.840 my flesh wanted to have that event I've done events for for decades there are a 209 00:19:54.840 --> 00:19:59.000 lot of money there are a lot of work there are a lot of time and I frankly 210 00:19:59.000 --> 00:20:02.000 didn't feel like doing it. 211 00:20:00.000 --> 00:20:05.200 an event my life is comfortable I didn't feel like it but do you ever have that 212 00:20:05.200 --> 00:20:09.080 where it just keeps coming back and coming back and coming back and my 213 00:20:09.080 --> 00:20:16.160 question is will you obey so I went ahead and obeyed I did this event and 214 00:20:16.160 --> 00:20:20.560 even all the way through it was the most beautiful event lives were touched so 215 00:20:20.560 --> 00:20:25.200 much but even after the event as I was paying lots of bills for it and 216 00:20:25.200 --> 00:20:30.280 everything I was like God what was that about why did you have me do that but I 217 00:20:30.280 --> 00:20:36.560 knew I needed to obey do you know that the fruit of that event because remember 218 00:20:36.560 --> 00:20:42.000 everything has a seed time in a harvest so do your prayers so do your obedience 219 00:20:42.000 --> 00:20:49.080 their seeds when God speaks you obey there's a seed time and a harvest okay 220 00:20:49.080 --> 00:20:53.320 and there's a gap between then you may not see what's happening during the 221 00:20:53.320 --> 00:20:58.240 gestation period that's when the seed is in the deep dark soil and you don't 222 00:20:58.240 --> 00:21:04.800 see any signs yet well here we are five months later after the event and the 223 00:21:04.800 --> 00:21:10.960 fruit that is coming up is absolutely astounding I'll share those blessings 224 00:21:10.960 --> 00:21:17.720 as time goes on so my point to all of this is are you willing to be still and 225 00:21:18.280 --> 00:21:26.640 are you willing to obey when you do here and do you know that he's going to speak 226 00:21:26.640 --> 00:21:33.920 differently in different situations all right number three that hearing truly 227 00:21:33.920 --> 00:21:40.400 hearing from God is based on relationship knowing and experiencing 228 00:21:40.400 --> 00:21:49.320 him John 17 3 eternal life means to know and experience you experience you 229 00:21:49.320 --> 00:21:57.400 as the only true God and experience Jesus Christ as the son whom you've set 230 00:21:57.400 --> 00:22:10.440 in John 10 27 it says my sheep listen to my voice I know them and they follow 231 00:22:10.440 --> 00:22:15.360 me so this hearing is based on being still on recognizing it can come in a 232 00:22:15.360 --> 00:22:22.840 multitude of forms it's based on relationship number four we need to be 233 00:22:22.840 --> 00:22:30.680 able to distinguish between our thoughts because very often it just 234 00:22:30.680 --> 00:22:38.120 appears as a thought the more you listen to God the more you obey the more it 235 00:22:38.120 --> 00:22:43.160 will become very clear it's like the more you know somebody the more you can 236 00:22:43.160 --> 00:22:47.000 recognize their voice in a crowd you can pick it up you can distinguish it from 237 00:22:47.000 --> 00:22:50.520 every other voice in the room you'll hear a laughter and all of a sudden 238 00:22:50.520 --> 00:22:55.040 you'll turn your head you'll go I know that laughter you can pick it out from a 239 00:22:55.040 --> 00:23:00.320 crowd it's the same way with God's voice and so but in the beginning if you're 240 00:23:00.320 --> 00:23:04.320 new to this we have to be able to distinguish between our thoughts and 241 00:23:04.320 --> 00:23:12.920 2nd Corinthians 10 5 says we have to take every thought captive now here's 242 00:23:12.920 --> 00:23:19.040 the way I look at that I like horses okay and so I like to think about 243 00:23:19.040 --> 00:23:23.040 corralling a horse you've got let's say you got wild Mustangs running through 244 00:23:23.040 --> 00:23:28.760 and and you get one and you corral it you have it in the corral and you can 245 00:23:28.760 --> 00:23:33.320 really look at it you can see if it's a male or a female you can see you know 246 00:23:33.320 --> 00:23:38.560 it's temperament you can see you know it's size you can you can really get to 247 00:23:38.560 --> 00:23:44.880 know it and you can discern is this is this the horse for you is this a horse 248 00:23:44.880 --> 00:23:50.360 that just let it go or give it to someone else and scripture says that 249 00:23:50.360 --> 00:23:55.000 we're supposed to do that with our thoughts we are to take every thought 250 00:23:55.000 --> 00:24:02.040 captive now here's here's what happens as a coach I know that the biggest 251 00:24:02.040 --> 00:24:07.240 challenges happen for people when their mind runs away with them when their 252 00:24:07.240 --> 00:24:11.440 thoughts control them instead of them controlling their thoughts because they 253 00:24:11.440 --> 00:24:16.920 haven't learned to pause and they get a thought and it could be programming it 254 00:24:16.920 --> 00:24:21.560 could be a thought like I am so unworthy I can't do anything right I'm never 255 00:24:21.560 --> 00:24:26.880 gonna I'm never gonna make it just a silly thought like that okay and one of 256 00:24:26.880 --> 00:24:31.280 the things I do in coaching is we take that thought and we put it under 257 00:24:31.280 --> 00:24:35.760 magnifying lens we wonder where did it come from we're curious about that 258 00:24:35.760 --> 00:24:40.160 thought right interesting point of view where'd that come from and here's the 259 00:24:40.160 --> 00:24:48.640 key is it true can I absolutely know it's true and one of the ways is look at 260 00:24:48.640 --> 00:24:54.680 the fruit every thought has a fruit so when you think that thought when you 261 00:24:54.680 --> 00:24:59.000 feel that thought this is one of the ways to know if it's coming from God 262 00:24:59.000 --> 00:25:01.960 when you 263 00:25:00.000 --> 00:25:07.520 Think that thought. How do you feel? And I'll do this with clients a lot of times and they'll, 264 00:25:07.520 --> 00:25:13.600 oh I feel depressed, I feel disgusted, I feel exhausted, I feel frustrated, I feel stuck. 265 00:25:14.320 --> 00:25:23.120 Those are all very low frequency emotions. Okay? Those are not from God. Because we already know 266 00:25:23.120 --> 00:25:28.800 the fruits of the Holy Spirit are high frequency emotions. Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, 267 00:25:28.800 --> 00:25:35.040 right? So when you're feeling that, that's the first clue. Okay? And so taking every thought 268 00:25:35.040 --> 00:25:43.440 captive. Look at this verse, 2 Corinthians 10 5. It says, this is from the Passion translation, 269 00:25:43.440 --> 00:25:55.280 it says, we demolish, I like this version, we demolish every deceptive fantasy that opposes God 270 00:25:55.920 --> 00:26:00.800 and break through every arrogant attitude, that's when the ego is rising up, 271 00:26:01.920 --> 00:26:10.080 that is raised up in defiance of the true knowledge of God. We capture like prisoners 272 00:26:10.080 --> 00:26:16.080 of war every thought and insist that it bow in obedience to the anointed one. 273 00:26:16.080 --> 00:26:24.400 Other translations say we are breaking through strongholds. Strongholds. A stronghold is what 274 00:26:24.400 --> 00:26:30.160 happens, you have a thought and you nurse that thought so often, you rehearse that thought so 275 00:26:30.160 --> 00:26:37.120 often, that it moves from being a thought to being a belief. And it moves from being a belief 276 00:26:37.120 --> 00:26:45.440 to influencing what you do. This is a stronghold. In the Bible, a stronghold was a fortress. Okay? 277 00:26:45.440 --> 00:26:52.400 And so we build these thought fortresses in our mind that need to be broken down. So we 278 00:26:52.400 --> 00:26:58.560 distinguish, we take the thoughts captive and anything that opposes the truth has to go. This 279 00:26:58.560 --> 00:27:05.200 is why in coaching a lot of times I say, is this true? Can you absolutely know that it's true? 280 00:27:05.760 --> 00:27:12.720 And usually they go, no. And so I say, okay, so you've been believing a thought, you've been 281 00:27:12.720 --> 00:27:19.760 believing a lie that's not true, that makes you feel all these low frequency emotions. Then I do 282 00:27:19.760 --> 00:27:25.120 something. I say, what would happen if you were willing to release that thought? What would happen? 283 00:27:26.240 --> 00:27:29.920 And they think about that for a second and you should see them light up. They say, oh, 284 00:27:31.280 --> 00:27:38.240 I'd be free. I'd be successful. I'd be happy. I'd be joyful. I'd be all of a sudden all the 285 00:27:38.240 --> 00:27:44.000 high frequency emotions. This is when you know that what you've been believing isn't from God, 286 00:27:44.960 --> 00:27:50.160 but it is something that has come in through the programming, through our own, you know, thoughts 287 00:27:50.160 --> 00:27:58.560 that we're not taking captive. So number four exactly says this, distinguish between your 288 00:27:58.560 --> 00:28:08.720 thoughts. A, examine the fruit. Every thought has a fruit. It says the fruit produced by the Holy 289 00:28:08.800 --> 00:28:17.200 Spirit within you is divine love. This is Galatians 5.22, by the way, Galatians 5.22. 290 00:28:19.440 --> 00:28:24.720 Those of you on the phone, if you could mute yourself, please, make some noise. But the fruit 291 00:28:24.720 --> 00:28:31.920 produced by the Holy Spirit within you is divine love. And I love this translation. It's the 292 00:28:31.920 --> 00:28:40.560 passion translation, love in all its varied expressions. So one of the things you're going 293 00:28:40.560 --> 00:28:48.560 to look for with your thoughts is, is this fear-based or is this love-based? Is my thought, 294 00:28:48.560 --> 00:28:54.320 everything is running on two tracks. Every conversation, every thought is running on 295 00:28:54.320 --> 00:29:02.480 two tracks. So is this fear-based or is it love-based? And you'll know by the fruit. So it 296 00:29:02.480 --> 00:29:06.960 says the fruit that comes from God, the fruit that comes from the Holy Spirit speaking within you, 297 00:29:06.960 --> 00:29:14.480 if that thought is love-based, it's from God. If it's fear-based, it's not. It's opposite of love. 298 00:29:14.480 --> 00:29:20.800 In fact, love is the antidote. It says that perfect love, mature love casts out all fear. 299 00:29:21.760 --> 00:29:26.720 Okay? So you're either walking in fear or you're walking in love. Every thought is either love-based 300 00:29:26.720 --> 00:29:32.640 or fear-based. Every action that you're taking is either love-based or fear-based. So we distinguish 301 00:29:32.640 --> 00:29:39.040 between the thoughts by examining the fruit. So Galatians 5.22 in the passion translation says, 302 00:29:39.040 --> 00:29:46.320 but the fruit produced by the Holy Spirit within you is divine love in all its varied expressions. 303 00:29:46.960 --> 00:29:55.040 Here's the expressions of love. Joy that overflows, peace that subdues, patience that endures, 304 00:29:55.600 --> 00:29:59.920 kindness in action, a life full of virtue, faith that 305 00:30:00.000 --> 00:30:07.400 prevails, gentleness of heart and strength of spirit. And so where it says 306 00:30:07.400 --> 00:30:13.860 the fruit, the Greek word actually means harvest, okay? And so every seed that you 307 00:30:13.860 --> 00:30:20.680 plant has a harvest and in this case if it's coming from love those are the 308 00:30:20.680 --> 00:30:27.280 harvests, peace and joy and patience and kindness. So we distinguish between our 309 00:30:27.280 --> 00:30:32.920 thoughts. Is this from God? Well, is it love-based? Yes, because God is love. Is it 310 00:30:32.920 --> 00:30:37.920 fear-based? No, no. We've got to distinguish the voices coming at us 311 00:30:37.920 --> 00:30:44.000 especially right now. You know, fear is being used as it always has throughout 312 00:30:44.000 --> 00:30:50.160 all history. Fear has been used to control. Shame, low-frequency emotions, 313 00:30:50.160 --> 00:30:55.760 shame has been used to control. I hope you never say to anyone you know ever 314 00:30:55.760 --> 00:31:03.800 shame on you. Never say those words, not over yourself, not over anyone or 315 00:31:03.800 --> 00:31:09.240 even the word ashamed. Don't put that after the words I am, the name of God. Do 316 00:31:09.240 --> 00:31:15.760 not connect shame with God. That's the lowest. When you look at the frequencies 317 00:31:15.760 --> 00:31:21.920 of emotion, the charts I showed you a few weeks back, shame is the very lowest 318 00:31:22.120 --> 00:31:28.560 emotion. After shame you die. They have done this with prisoners of war. They 319 00:31:28.560 --> 00:31:33.880 have taken them, separated them out and had them in front of their peers that 320 00:31:33.880 --> 00:31:38.000 they respect, have them talk about something that they are so ashamed of 321 00:31:38.000 --> 00:31:44.440 and have them be mocked and remove all positive reinforcement so that they're 322 00:31:44.440 --> 00:31:49.440 just in a place of shame and it's been statistically shown they'll go and then 323 00:31:49.440 --> 00:31:51.960 I mean you don't even have to kill them or torture, they'll put a blanket over 324 00:31:51.960 --> 00:31:58.640 their head and just die. Shame is the lowest frequency but shame, fear, these 325 00:31:58.640 --> 00:32:05.600 things are used to to control and so you must be aware not only to distinguish 326 00:32:05.600 --> 00:32:10.760 your own thoughts and welcome to all of you joining, welcome Dawn, welcome Andrea, 327 00:32:10.760 --> 00:32:16.280 to distinguish not only your own thoughts and is this coming from God, is 328 00:32:16.280 --> 00:32:22.880 this love-based or fear-based? Have a discernment. All the voices that you are 329 00:32:22.880 --> 00:32:27.360 allowing, what are you allowing in your eye gates, what are you allowing in your 330 00:32:27.360 --> 00:32:32.560 ear gates because this is shaping your entire physiology. On Thursday I'm going 331 00:32:32.560 --> 00:32:37.280 to be speaking at the summit, you can find the announcement there. I'm going to 332 00:32:37.280 --> 00:32:43.920 be talking about emotions and how the emotions affect our health. Fascinating, 333 00:32:43.920 --> 00:32:53.280 your entire physiology changes based on the frequency of the emotion, who you 334 00:32:53.280 --> 00:32:58.760 attract, money, money is currency, it's energy, what you attract and so 335 00:32:58.760 --> 00:33:03.680 distinguishing what you're allowing to come into your life both internally 336 00:33:03.680 --> 00:33:09.400 through your own thoughts and externally. Who or what is your source, who or what 337 00:33:09.400 --> 00:33:14.640 are you listening to and so as we distinguish, we look at the fruit 338 00:33:14.640 --> 00:33:21.800 and consider the nature of it and the way I like to do that is consider 339 00:33:21.800 --> 00:33:27.000 the nature of the Holy Spirit that we can see in the very names of the Holy 340 00:33:27.000 --> 00:33:30.520 Spirit. If you look at the Amplified Translation, the word Paraclete, Holy 341 00:33:30.520 --> 00:33:38.400 Spirit, it means helper, comforter, advocate, intercessor, counselor, 342 00:33:38.560 --> 00:33:46.600 strengthener, standby, the spirit of truth, the God of all peace. 343 00:33:46.600 --> 00:33:52.840 You look at the names, you look at the names of God, Jehovah Shalom, the 344 00:33:52.840 --> 00:34:00.600 God of peace, Jehovah Jireh, my provider, Jehovah Rapha, my healer. So if the 345 00:34:00.600 --> 00:34:05.200 thoughts that you're having, the words that you're feeling, the impression that 346 00:34:05.240 --> 00:34:11.320 you're getting, if it lines up with that, is it comforting? Is it joyful? Is it 347 00:34:11.320 --> 00:34:18.400 peaceful? Is it loving? Is it kind? Is it gentle? Then you know you're listening to 348 00:34:18.400 --> 00:34:23.199 the Holy Spirit. You know when I got that word, hey put that money in that man's 349 00:34:23.199 --> 00:34:27.880 hand, you know it's not your own thoughts because I guarantee you I wasn't 350 00:34:27.880 --> 00:34:31.960 thinking out of my own volition, hmm I think I'll take my last $200 and put it 351 00:34:31.960 --> 00:34:35.800 in a stranger's hands. Okay, when it's something like that, you know it's not 352 00:34:35.800 --> 00:34:41.239 you and I know it's not the opposer. I know it's not the devil because the 353 00:34:41.239 --> 00:34:45.120 devil doesn't make me go around doing good. The devil was never going around, 354 00:34:45.120 --> 00:34:49.360 you know, encouraging you to walk in love and patience and kindness and 355 00:34:49.360 --> 00:34:56.199 generosity. No! So when you examine the fruit and and when you start to consider 356 00:34:56.199 --> 00:35:01.880 the nature of that thought, the nature of that voice, 357 00:35:00.000 --> 00:35:06.960 The nature of that impression doesn't line up with who God is. God is love. God is peace. God is joy. 358 00:35:07.760 --> 00:35:15.120 God is generous. God's so loved that he gave his only son. It says that it's the father's 359 00:35:15.120 --> 00:35:21.760 good pleasure to give us the kingdom. So, you know, God is so good that if the thoughts are 360 00:35:21.760 --> 00:35:27.200 lining up with that, you can be pretty sure you're hearing from the voice of God, right? But if the 361 00:35:27.200 --> 00:35:36.560 thoughts are like the opposer, look at John 10 10. It says a thief has only one thing in mind, 362 00:35:36.560 --> 00:35:45.440 wants to steal, slaughter, kill, and destroy. Jesus said, but I've come to give you everything 363 00:35:45.440 --> 00:35:53.440 in abundance, more than you expect. Life in its fullness till you overflow. Do you see 364 00:35:53.440 --> 00:36:00.640 the difference here? It's contrasted right there in John 10 10. You know, the thief comes to steal, 365 00:36:00.640 --> 00:36:08.560 kill, and destroy. God comes to give you the abundant life. So, look at the thoughts, 366 00:36:08.560 --> 00:36:14.320 look at the fruit, and who does it line up with? And you'll know which one to listen to 367 00:36:15.280 --> 00:36:21.520 and which one to follow. Of course, number five, as we're talking about this, and by the way, 368 00:36:21.520 --> 00:36:26.560 welcome all of those of you joining. Welcome, Andrea. Welcome, Chris. I'm trying to reach over 369 00:36:26.560 --> 00:36:35.360 and wave a little bit there. Does the thought that you're having, does it line up with the word? 370 00:36:35.360 --> 00:36:45.280 You see, God will never contradict himself. And so you see in Luke 21 33, heaven and earth will 371 00:36:45.280 --> 00:36:55.360 pass away, but my words will not pass away. And then you see the power of agreement. So, Amos 3 3 372 00:36:55.360 --> 00:37:04.560 says, can two walk together unless they have agreed? How can two walk together unless they agree? 373 00:37:05.200 --> 00:37:13.040 Okay, so there's this power of agreement. Matthew 18 19 says this, even about people. 374 00:37:13.680 --> 00:37:19.920 It says, I tell you this, if two of you agree on earth concerning anything you ask, 375 00:37:19.920 --> 00:37:26.720 my father in heaven will do it for you. So, another principle is to consider the power of 376 00:37:26.720 --> 00:37:34.720 agreement. Does this agree? Does this agree with the word? Does it agree with your experience of 377 00:37:34.720 --> 00:37:41.520 God? Does it agree with the nature of God and what you've known? Is it creating agreement amongst 378 00:37:41.520 --> 00:37:48.400 people or is it creating division? If you see something that is dividing and polarizing and 379 00:37:48.400 --> 00:37:56.080 and creating going against each other, separation. Separation is the opposite of God. Scripture says 380 00:37:56.080 --> 00:38:02.400 there there's one God and it says that we're all one. Jesus's prayer before he died was, Father, 381 00:38:02.400 --> 00:38:09.440 I pray that they will be one even as we are one, as you are in me and I am in them and they are in 382 00:38:09.440 --> 00:38:16.240 us. You see, oneness is a nature and a characteristic of God. So, when you see something that is 383 00:38:16.240 --> 00:38:25.200 polarizing, then you need to look at that as well. All right, number six is just praying for discernment. 384 00:38:25.840 --> 00:38:34.400 Discernment is a gift. Psalms 119 verse 169 says, O Lord, listen to my cry. 385 00:38:35.360 --> 00:38:46.480 Give me the discerning mind you promised. David prayed, Lord, make me to know truth in my inward 386 00:38:46.480 --> 00:38:54.400 parts. This is something I pray often. I pray for discernment. Help me to discern because sometimes 387 00:38:54.400 --> 00:39:01.120 our eyes are not accurate. I know you realize that. I mean, if you look at the horizon, you 388 00:39:01.200 --> 00:39:06.800 would think the earth is flat, right? You know, perception, if you look at railroad tracks at a 389 00:39:06.800 --> 00:39:12.400 distance, it looks like they get closer. It looks as we go in a distance that things get smaller. 390 00:39:12.400 --> 00:39:21.520 Our eyes can deceive and the lens that we look at things, the perspective that we look at things, 391 00:39:22.400 --> 00:39:30.000 can deceive what we see. And so, asking to see through God's eyes and asking God, please help me 392 00:39:30.000 --> 00:39:37.520 have the discerning mind. Help me to know truth. There's sometimes I just don't know. There's many 393 00:39:37.520 --> 00:39:47.440 times I just don't know. And when that happens, I pause. Maybe you're trying to figure out in your 394 00:39:47.440 --> 00:39:54.880 life something. I've learned that when God wants me to do something, I know that I know that I know. 395 00:39:54.880 --> 00:39:59.840 It doesn't mean I'm not uncomfortable. It doesn't mean I might not fear nervous or afraid 396 00:40:00.000 --> 00:40:05.640 is boy I might, you know, fear has two words in the Bible, right? 397 00:40:05.640 --> 00:40:11.200 And so one is the fear from an overactive imagination, but a common fear in the Bible 398 00:40:11.200 --> 00:40:15.480 which is also awe is whenever we go out of our comfort zone. 399 00:40:15.480 --> 00:40:19.240 Whenever you stretch and do something, maybe you're not a public speaker like doing right 400 00:40:19.240 --> 00:40:23.720 now, everybody's having to learn how to, you know, build online, I mean fortunately I've 401 00:40:23.720 --> 00:40:30.440 been speaking, you know, for most of my life and I've been speaking online since 2014, 402 00:40:30.440 --> 00:40:34.800 it's not as frightening to me, but, you know, as I'm coaching people and helping them, you 403 00:40:34.800 --> 00:40:41.080 know, doing this for the first time, you're going to feel a fear, you're going to feel 404 00:40:41.080 --> 00:40:47.800 an anxiety, that doesn't mean that it's not from God, but you will know in your inmost 405 00:40:47.800 --> 00:40:51.540 being when you ask, you'll know you're supposed to do it, right? 406 00:40:51.540 --> 00:40:57.420 So many times I've done things that are very, cause a little bit of anxiety or fear because 407 00:40:57.420 --> 00:41:02.640 it's so out of my comfort zone, in fact I pray for that, I pray all the time that I 408 00:41:02.640 --> 00:41:07.540 just break out, because the only way you can play big is to break out of your comfort zone, 409 00:41:07.540 --> 00:41:13.300 especially now, with what we're going on with this pandemic, you know, I'm equipping women, 410 00:41:13.300 --> 00:41:18.420 I'm equipping people to pivot and start businesses and, you know, this is not the time, like 411 00:41:18.420 --> 00:41:24.780 the Bible says, to shrink back in fear, this is the time for us to be bold and so we must 412 00:41:24.780 --> 00:41:29.360 be in this place of listening and asking the Holy Spirit to guide us and then we have to 413 00:41:29.360 --> 00:41:31.980 boldly advance. 414 00:41:31.980 --> 00:41:39.260 And so, one of the things to do is just pray for, pray for this discernment, I like, it 415 00:41:39.260 --> 00:41:48.260 says this, it says 1 Thessalonians 5, 20-22, it says, don't be one who scorns prophecies, 416 00:41:48.500 --> 00:41:54.820 but be faithful to examine them by putting them to the test, so this is just like thoughts, 417 00:41:54.820 --> 00:41:59.700 you do the same thing with prophetic words, examine them, and it says, and afterwards 418 00:41:59.700 --> 00:42:06.420 hold tightly to what is proven to be right and avoid the appearance of evil, well the 419 00:42:06.420 --> 00:42:13.420 Aramaic version of that could be translated this way, regard everything seriously and 420 00:42:13.780 --> 00:42:16.380 choose what is best. 421 00:42:16.380 --> 00:42:23.220 Look, we're not perfect, we make mistakes, I make mistakes more often than not, okay, 422 00:42:23.220 --> 00:42:30.220 but if we pray for this discernment and then based on what you have, advance forward, trust 423 00:42:31.500 --> 00:42:34.900 God, choose what is best. 424 00:42:34.900 --> 00:42:39.580 If it turns out that, you know, it's not perfect because we're not perfect, you get to choose 425 00:42:39.580 --> 00:42:44.460 again, that's a wonderful thing, God is God of forgiveness and fresh starts and he's the 426 00:42:44.460 --> 00:42:46.060 God of fresh starts. 427 00:42:46.060 --> 00:42:51.180 And so, you do your best to discern, you pray for discernment, you advance forward as you 428 00:42:51.180 --> 00:42:58.140 feel led and if there's something that needs to be adjusted, you know, you choose again. 429 00:42:58.140 --> 00:43:03.700 I often think of, you know, like the rockets, you know, like going to the moon, the spaceships 430 00:43:03.700 --> 00:43:05.140 and stuff like that, right? 431 00:43:05.140 --> 00:43:09.700 It's not a straight line from earth to the moon, right? 432 00:43:09.700 --> 00:43:14.700 It's this constant, a little bit here, a little bit here, adjusting to stay midline and our 433 00:43:14.700 --> 00:43:18.100 life is like that, we go a little bit to the right and we come back and we go a little 434 00:43:18.100 --> 00:43:21.740 bit to the left and we come back, it's not a straight line. 435 00:43:21.740 --> 00:43:26.380 Your business won't be a straight line, you know, it's up and you have some downs and 436 00:43:26.380 --> 00:43:30.420 then you have some ups and you have some, hopefully you create it in a way that the 437 00:43:30.420 --> 00:43:35.820 trajectory is going in the direction that you want, but, you know, give yourself some 438 00:43:35.820 --> 00:43:37.460 grace too. 439 00:43:37.460 --> 00:43:42.660 Again, the low frequency, the shame and the doubt and the worry and all of that stuff, 440 00:43:42.660 --> 00:43:46.100 that's just making you sick, that's just beating you up, that's not God, right? 441 00:43:46.100 --> 00:43:48.100 So give yourself some grace. 442 00:43:48.100 --> 00:43:52.580 So I love this, 1 Kings 4.29, 1 Kings. 443 00:43:52.580 --> 00:43:56.820 By the way, welcome everyone, welcome Terri, welcome, I don't know how to pronounce your 444 00:43:56.820 --> 00:44:01.660 name when you're here, welcome, so glad you guys are joining. 445 00:44:01.660 --> 00:44:12.700 So look at this, 1 Kings 4.29, I love this verse, it says, now God gave Solomon exceptional 446 00:44:12.700 --> 00:44:18.160 wisdom because he prayed for it, by the way, when he had an opportunity to pray for money 447 00:44:18.160 --> 00:44:22.740 and things and everything else, he didn't pray for a new car, a new harem, a new wife, 448 00:44:22.740 --> 00:44:28.860 he prayed for wisdom and God gave him the wisdom and all those things, so God gave Solomon 449 00:44:28.860 --> 00:44:38.300 exceptional wisdom, it says, and look at this, and very great discernment, so God gave him 450 00:44:38.300 --> 00:44:43.260 wisdom and discernment, that's a gift from God, but watch this, this is my favorite, 451 00:44:43.260 --> 00:44:50.820 I had to underline this, it says God gave Solomon exceptional wisdom, very great discernment 452 00:44:50.820 --> 00:44:59.660 and breadth, breadth of mind, broad mindedness. 453 00:45:00.000 --> 00:45:06.920 Open-mindedness, as opposed to narrow. You see, God didn't give him a narrow 454 00:45:06.920 --> 00:45:17.200 mindset. God gave him breadth, breadth of mind. For me, having lived in so many 455 00:45:17.200 --> 00:45:20.240 different parts of the world and experienced so many cultures and 456 00:45:20.240 --> 00:45:26.000 languages and experiences, I feel, I told my son and my kids, I feel, you know, all 457 00:45:26.000 --> 00:45:32.520 my kids have traveled, I feel that it's so important to really experience and 458 00:45:32.520 --> 00:45:40.680 have a breadth. We cannot go at life rigidly. We cannot be stuck because what 459 00:45:40.680 --> 00:45:47.600 you have believed so far has gotten you where you are. What our people 460 00:45:47.600 --> 00:45:52.760 have, whatever it is, you know, have believed so far, our nation, our world, 461 00:45:52.760 --> 00:45:59.400 it's gotten us this far. And Einstein said that the same mind that created the 462 00:45:59.400 --> 00:46:04.440 problem cannot solve it. The only way that we're going to advance is opening 463 00:46:04.440 --> 00:46:09.800 ourselves to the wisdom of God, like Solomon had, the wisdom to pray for 464 00:46:09.800 --> 00:46:15.600 discernment and to be willing to look at everything from a totally different 465 00:46:15.600 --> 00:46:21.520 point of view, to have a breadth of mind, to ask God to give us new solutions, new 466 00:46:21.560 --> 00:46:26.480 ways of looking at things. And so it says that God gave them that wisdom, 467 00:46:26.480 --> 00:46:33.000 discernment, breadth of mind like the sand of the seashore. I love that. So the 468 00:46:33.000 --> 00:46:40.080 sixth key for hearing the voice of God is discernment. All right, I'm gonna wrap 469 00:46:40.080 --> 00:46:47.120 up as I promised with my favorite way to hear from God. This is something I've 470 00:46:47.120 --> 00:46:52.760 done for decades. It's something I've taught and it has blessed the people 471 00:46:52.760 --> 00:46:58.720 that I have taught this to, many, many people. My favorite way, when I want to 472 00:46:58.720 --> 00:47:06.200 know, God, tell me your heart or God, what do you want me to know right now? What do 473 00:47:06.200 --> 00:47:12.280 you, what do you desire me to understand right now about this situation or about 474 00:47:12.280 --> 00:47:21.040 whatever I'm praying about? My favorite way is to journal. And I journal, I have a 475 00:47:21.040 --> 00:47:27.480 whole journal template that is really a powerful way to start your day using a 476 00:47:27.480 --> 00:47:31.760 journal. So I don't just, you know, write out all my thoughts. I have a whole 477 00:47:31.760 --> 00:47:34.840 journal template how I lay out my journal and you can get that free on 478 00:47:34.840 --> 00:47:43.400 prosperandallthings.com. But what I do is I use gel pens. I like two different 479 00:47:43.400 --> 00:47:51.880 colors and so in pink, that's me, that's my voice in pink, I write a question out 480 00:47:51.880 --> 00:47:59.600 to God. And so I'll talk to God, I'll write out, God, I worship you, God, I have so 481 00:47:59.600 --> 00:48:02.720 much gratitude. I'll be in a high-frequency place. I'm so thankful for 482 00:48:02.880 --> 00:48:06.360 everything you're doing, you know, and so I'll be writing that out and I'll say, 483 00:48:06.360 --> 00:48:10.640 God, what do you want me to understand about this? What do you want me to know 484 00:48:10.640 --> 00:48:16.200 about? And I'll ask the questions of my heart. Because James, the book of James 485 00:48:16.200 --> 00:48:21.920 says that if you ask God for wisdom, it says if any man, James 1, if any man lacks 486 00:48:21.920 --> 00:48:28.480 wisdom, let him ask of God who will give liberally and abundantly without fault 487 00:48:28.520 --> 00:48:32.760 finding. So God's not sitting up there going, no, you're not good enough, I'm not 488 00:48:32.760 --> 00:48:36.240 gonna give you it. It says he'll give liberally and abundantly without fault 489 00:48:36.240 --> 00:48:41.320 finding. And so knowing that, I can trust that God's gonna give me the wisdom that 490 00:48:41.320 --> 00:48:48.000 I need. And so I write out the question to God and then I change colors. I grab a 491 00:48:48.000 --> 00:48:56.320 gel pen and I take purple for royalty and I just ask God to write through my 492 00:48:56.440 --> 00:49:03.560 hands. I ask God to write. And at first, if you haven't done this, it might feel 493 00:49:03.560 --> 00:49:07.980 awkward and you might, for me, when I first started, I usually only hear my 494 00:49:07.980 --> 00:49:12.760 name or I hear something like my precious child. Just write whatever it is. 495 00:49:12.760 --> 00:49:16.560 Now here's the key, you've got to not analyze your writing, not think about it, 496 00:49:16.560 --> 00:49:21.120 just allow whatever comes to you, just write it. Whatever comes to you, just 497 00:49:21.120 --> 00:49:26.480 write and write and write and write. And when you get done, say, Lord is there 498 00:49:26.480 --> 00:49:32.160 more? And very often even more will come and you write. This has been the greatest 499 00:49:32.160 --> 00:49:38.560 source of joy and wisdom to me. And I love my journals. I go back, I go back a 500 00:49:38.560 --> 00:49:42.920 week, I go back three weeks, I go months, usually at the end of the year I review 501 00:49:42.920 --> 00:49:49.800 and I read all of this and I'm like, wow, that's what you were talking about. I can 502 00:49:50.080 --> 00:49:55.080 see how it was preparing me for what was coming. I didn't, when I wrote stuff 503 00:49:55.080 --> 00:49:58.680 sometimes, I have to tell you, I didn't even understand it. Some of it I have to 504 00:49:58.680 --> 00:50:01.040 go, huh. 505 00:50:00.000 --> 00:50:06.640 Usually it's a new perspective that I haven't even thought of, but it turns out, let me show you this 506 00:50:06.640 --> 00:50:12.640 in scripture and then we're going to close in prayer. Oh, here it is right here. Habakkuk 2, 507 00:50:13.200 --> 00:50:25.760 Habakkuk 2 says, I will stand at my guard post and station myself on the tower. So you see Habakkuk 508 00:50:25.760 --> 00:50:30.960 putting himself in a position to receive, whatever that is for you, go in your prayer closet, Jesus 509 00:50:30.960 --> 00:50:36.800 talked about, or you know, go out in nature, but station yourself and look what it says, 510 00:50:36.800 --> 00:50:45.680 and I will keep watch to see what he will say to me. So you come from this place of receptiveness. 511 00:50:46.720 --> 00:50:54.160 You know, the Bible says, my sheep hear my voice. And so he's promised to give wisdom. So I can come 512 00:50:54.160 --> 00:51:02.960 from a place of faith and expectation and I can go there and I can position myself. I remember we 513 00:51:02.960 --> 00:51:08.960 started with be still and know that I am God. So here you see Habakkuk doing this. I'm going to 514 00:51:08.960 --> 00:51:15.440 position myself in a place where I don't have distractions. I'm in a position myself where I pray 515 00:51:15.440 --> 00:51:21.520 that God opens my spiritual senses. I'm going to position myself where I open my heart and my mind. 516 00:51:21.520 --> 00:51:24.960 And it says here, I'm going to keep watch. I'm going to have expectation. God, 517 00:51:25.520 --> 00:51:30.320 what are you going to say today? How are you going to show up today? Right? I'll keep watch 518 00:51:30.320 --> 00:51:38.560 to see what he will say to me. And one answer that I will give as his spokesman 519 00:51:39.440 --> 00:51:44.560 when I'm reproved. And then the Lord answered me. Here's what God told him. 520 00:51:45.520 --> 00:52:06.560 Write. First words God gave him, write. Write the vision. Write what you hear. Now this is true if you're in business, writing the vision. This is true for your personal vision. But this is also true just as God gives you a life vision, right? 521 00:52:06.880 --> 00:52:15.040 Write the vision and engrave it plainly on clay tablets. I would say use, you know, non-acidic 522 00:52:15.040 --> 00:52:24.240 pens and paper that lasts, right? So that, so why are you writing? So that the one who reads it 523 00:52:25.200 --> 00:52:34.160 will run. Who's the one that's going to read it? You. Me. Now you may choose to make it public so 524 00:52:34.160 --> 00:52:38.800 other people can read it, but the first person that's going to read it is you. So you're writing 525 00:52:38.800 --> 00:52:45.920 what God says so you can run this journey. So you can run this race. You can finish this race that 526 00:52:45.920 --> 00:52:52.480 you've been called to, right? So that the one who reads it will run. Verse three, for the vision is yet 527 00:52:52.480 --> 00:52:58.640 for the appointed future time. So do you remember that we said one of the roles of the Holy Spirit 528 00:52:58.640 --> 00:53:06.880 at the beginning of the study? One of the roles is to guide you into all truth and show you things 529 00:53:06.880 --> 00:53:14.800 to come. Scripture says God never does anything without first revealing it, okay? To the prophets, 530 00:53:14.800 --> 00:53:22.720 to people, okay? We talked about the sons of Issachar who were able to understand the times 531 00:53:23.680 --> 00:53:30.080 and know what their city was to do. How much we need that right now in the middle of all of this. 532 00:53:30.080 --> 00:53:38.240 We need so much wisdom. We need so much love, so much compassion, so much understanding. I think 533 00:53:38.240 --> 00:53:42.720 most of you are awake enough to know that everything coming through the media is not true 534 00:53:43.840 --> 00:53:52.560 and it's not always in your best interest. So now more than ever we must be able to hear from God 535 00:53:52.640 --> 00:53:59.360 we must have discernment and wisdom and understanding, a heart of compassion, a voice of 536 00:53:59.360 --> 00:54:08.560 hope, a desire to have unity. And so as we write the vision so that we can run it says because what 537 00:54:08.560 --> 00:54:14.000 you're writing is actually not necessarily for this moment, it may be, but it says it's for an 538 00:54:14.000 --> 00:54:21.200 appointed future. And it says it hurries toward the goal of fulfillment and it will not fail 539 00:54:21.280 --> 00:54:26.640 even though it delays. Some of you, I saw your posts on here, I'm waiting for my harvest. 540 00:54:27.760 --> 00:54:35.200 Though it delays, it says wait patiently for it. God will answer. He's faithful. I can promise you 541 00:54:35.200 --> 00:54:42.320 he's faithful. It says because it will certainly come. And it goes on to say you know look at the 542 00:54:42.320 --> 00:54:50.400 proud one. His soul is not right within him. We must be on guard against the enemy of pride. 543 00:54:50.960 --> 00:54:58.320 It's ego. It's ego that keeps us from truly enjoying the peace and the joy and the abundance 544 00:54:58.320 --> 00:54:59.840 that's ours. And so it's 545 00:55:00.000 --> 00:55:05.080 It says right here that as we're journaling, as we're writing, as we're trusting that this 546 00:55:05.080 --> 00:55:11.580 truth is going to be revealed in us, it says guard against pride. 547 00:55:11.580 --> 00:55:15.300 Pride will be the enemy. 548 00:55:15.300 --> 00:55:19.840 It says basically that pride goes before the fall, right? 549 00:55:19.840 --> 00:55:20.840 I'm so excited. 550 00:55:20.840 --> 00:55:22.560 Look at my sister just joined. 551 00:55:22.560 --> 00:55:24.520 Hey, Darla. 552 00:55:24.520 --> 00:55:30.480 So this is my bonus, my favorite way to be able to just hear the voice of truth, the 553 00:55:30.480 --> 00:55:35.740 voice of God, the voice of love, the voice of forgiveness, the voice of peace, the voice 554 00:55:35.740 --> 00:55:40.600 of direction, the voice of wisdom is by journaling. 555 00:55:40.600 --> 00:55:47.320 I ask a question and then I just write out what God reveals. 556 00:55:47.320 --> 00:55:52.360 And as you go back and you review all of this, I have bookshelves of journal. 557 00:55:52.360 --> 00:55:54.760 There's so much in there. 558 00:55:54.760 --> 00:56:01.140 There's so much that God reveals in advance as you need it, if you trust. 559 00:56:01.140 --> 00:56:04.440 So I pray that you've enjoyed this study. 560 00:56:04.440 --> 00:56:08.960 I'm going to announce the next study and then I'm going to close in prayer, but I pray this 561 00:56:08.960 --> 00:56:09.960 has blessed you. 562 00:56:09.960 --> 00:56:13.480 Again, all seven of these studies are here on the live stream. 563 00:56:13.480 --> 00:56:20.240 So you can scroll back down and catch all of the seven ones on how to hear the voice 564 00:56:20.240 --> 00:56:21.840 of God. 565 00:56:21.840 --> 00:56:23.800 Next week, we're starting a new series. 566 00:56:23.800 --> 00:56:29.360 I'm very excited about it, God, health, and me, the Bible study. 567 00:56:29.360 --> 00:56:32.280 What scriptures teach you about health? 568 00:56:32.280 --> 00:56:35.360 I think you're going to be surprised. 569 00:56:35.360 --> 00:56:40.000 There's so much in the Bible about health that most people don't even know that it is 570 00:56:40.000 --> 00:56:41.000 there. 571 00:56:41.000 --> 00:56:44.400 So I think you're going to be blown away. 572 00:56:44.400 --> 00:56:50.640 All the principles to experience vibrant health, abundant life, and the principles apply to 573 00:56:50.640 --> 00:56:57.720 everything, to abundance as a whole, to prospering in every area of our life, physically, financially, 574 00:56:57.720 --> 00:57:00.080 relationally, spiritually. 575 00:57:00.080 --> 00:57:01.480 So I'm excited to have you. 576 00:57:01.480 --> 00:57:05.000 We're here every Tuesday morning, 730 Pacific Standard Time. 577 00:57:05.000 --> 00:57:10.240 So we'll be here starting the new series next week, God, health, and me. 578 00:57:10.240 --> 00:57:15.280 In the meantime, let me close and just pray for you, your health, your family, blessings 579 00:57:15.280 --> 00:57:18.680 over your life, and then we'll close out. 580 00:57:18.680 --> 00:57:20.360 So Father, I just thank you. 581 00:57:21.080 --> 00:57:24.080 I thank you that you are love. 582 00:57:24.080 --> 00:57:31.080 And I thank you and I pray that as we've learned that peace is our umpire, it's peace that 583 00:57:31.080 --> 00:57:33.040 helps us know which way to go. 584 00:57:33.040 --> 00:57:39.120 Father, I pray that your peace will guard our hearts and our minds in Christ Jesus. 585 00:57:39.120 --> 00:57:43.880 I pray your perfect peace that passes all understanding will be with every single person 586 00:57:43.880 --> 00:57:44.880 listening. 587 00:57:45.080 --> 00:57:50.560 I pray that they will take their thoughts captive and that which is love-based, they 588 00:57:50.560 --> 00:57:58.920 will proceed with, and that which is fear-based, that the perfect love will cast out that fear. 589 00:57:58.920 --> 00:58:00.680 I pray for their families. 590 00:58:00.680 --> 00:58:06.640 I pray for healing, Father God, anyone that is struggling with any health issue right 591 00:58:06.640 --> 00:58:08.120 now. 592 00:58:08.120 --> 00:58:09.620 You are Jehovah Rapha. 593 00:58:09.620 --> 00:58:12.920 You are the God who heals. 594 00:58:12.960 --> 00:58:16.160 You said by your stripes we have been healed. 595 00:58:16.160 --> 00:58:21.920 So Lord, I pray that healing to flow into every body listening to this and to their 596 00:58:21.920 --> 00:58:24.680 loved ones and to the homes, Father God. 597 00:58:24.680 --> 00:58:27.600 I pray for healing of relationships. 598 00:58:27.600 --> 00:58:30.280 I pray for healing of families. 599 00:58:30.280 --> 00:58:33.640 I pray for healing of hearts. 600 00:58:33.640 --> 00:58:35.760 There's been so many hard things. 601 00:58:35.760 --> 00:58:40.920 Lord, may you take what the enemy meant for harm and use it for good. 602 00:58:40.920 --> 00:58:43.680 I pray for our nation, Father God. 603 00:58:43.680 --> 00:58:49.760 You've said if we'll humble ourselves and if we'll seek your face, that you will forgive, 604 00:58:49.760 --> 00:58:51.920 you will heal our land. 605 00:58:51.920 --> 00:58:56.720 Father God, I pray that you heal our land, Father. 606 00:58:56.720 --> 00:59:02.400 May we return to being one nation under God, indivisible. 607 00:59:02.400 --> 00:59:10.200 Father God, break up the division and bring us back to a place of oneness, Father God. 608 00:59:10.200 --> 00:59:15.160 One nation under God, indivisible, Father God. 609 00:59:15.160 --> 00:59:16.800 I pray that. 610 00:59:16.800 --> 00:59:22.460 I pray that you speak clearly, that every person listening to this and the recording 611 00:59:22.460 --> 00:59:26.360 will discern your voice and obey your voice. 612 00:59:26.360 --> 00:59:28.320 I pray they'll rise boldly. 613 00:59:28.320 --> 00:59:36.520 I pray they'll be a voice of hope, a voice of courage, Lord, to oppose that which sets 614 00:59:36.520 --> 00:59:43.280 out to seek and destroy and kill, Father God, and that they will be hands and feet 615 00:59:43.280 --> 00:59:47.320 of compassion and love for those that are hurting. 616 00:59:47.320 --> 00:59:49.120 Bind us together, Father God. 617 00:59:49.120 --> 00:59:50.720 Bind us together. 618 00:59:50.720 --> 00:59:52.080 We love you. 619 00:59:52.080 --> 00:59:53.560 We thank you. 620 00:59:53.560 --> 00:59:56.440 We give you all glory and honor and praise. 621 00:59:56.440 --> 00:59:59.040 In Jesus' name, amen. 622 01:00:00.000 --> 01:00:04.880 Well, thank you so much for being part of this. We'll see you same time, same 623 01:00:04.880 --> 01:00:11.000 place next week. God bless you. Bye-bye.