LITMIR.BIZ

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Just beyond the veil of the world I could see, He was holding me close like a Father who couldn’t stop hugging a wayward son who’d returned after being gone for a long time. I was being loved by Him.

      And His voice, oh, His voice was magnificent in my spirit.

      When I heard it for the first time, I was shocked by the clarity and majesty of it invading my entire being. During the first week after my conversion, I encountered a difficult situation and was questioning His character and sovereignty in my heart. I certainly never expected Him to answer, but He did in what I can only describe as a deep impression upon my soul that was both patient and profound.

      It wasn’t audible, or accompanied by lightning and thunder, but it had that effect. It was unexpected, unforgettable and unmistakable. I was blown away.

      Imagine a deaf person hearing sound for the first time. That’s what it was to hear God speak for the first time. It was so matter-of-fact, yet so different than my normal thoughts, so strong in its conviction, yet so incredibly kind. I was captivated by His voice.

      I suddenly understood Elijah’s reaction when he didn’t respond to the earthquake and fire God had sent him, but Elijah exploded out of his self-absorbed state when he heard the “still small voice” saying, “Why are you here?” (1 Kings 19:12-13).

      I had heard the “still small voice.” It might have been still, or quiet, but to me, it certainly wasn’t small.

      I heard His voice not with my ears, but rather my heart. It appears mad and marvelous at the same time. His words paint pictures of peace and calm on the canvas of my mind. His voice stimulates my emotion, intellect, and will, all at once, as if they rise in honor of who is speaking. Even before my conscious mind can catch up to what happened, I know what He said. How I know is unexplainable, but the clarity is unmistakable and the conviction it produces is palpable.

      I’ve since grown to understand the nuances in His tone as well. If it’s a call to obedience, my busy thoughts are silenced, and I am lost in the fulfillment of His word. If it’s an affirmation, it empties all my ambition and bids me toss the glory at His feet. If it’s a correction, my soul is arrested, and His mercy floods my failure. No matter what direction His voice takes in me, I cannot stay the same when I hear Him.

      At times, His voice can be so quiet and so considerate that I will dismiss it out of hand. To my shame and utter foolishness, I believe the kind and wise thought my own, rather than give glory to whom it’s due.

      We must never become so accustomed to God speaking to us that we diminish one moment of that wonderful expression of His grace.

      To hear His voice is among the ultimate privileges purchased by Christ in our inheritance as the children of God. He paid an incalculable debt we could not pay, bridged a distance we could not measure, and plumbed a depth we could not fathom.

      Scripture and the Voice of God

      There is no competition between the supremacy of Scripture and God’s voice. His Spirit dwells in me, and speaks to me the unchanging truths of Scripture, which etch their way deeper and deeper into my unsanctified mind.

      Though I have an imperfect mind and a corrupt temptation to sin, I am still bid to interpret His voice. That makes Scripture the greatest tool with the highest authority to confirm what I believe I hear from Him. There will be no conflict. However, as I listen more and more, the Holy Spirit takes Scripture and applies it to my life, identifies my heart in it, and edifies me with it. He echoes its essence in my heart and mind and is always making more of Jesus in me with it every day of my life. He speaks plainly, not always in verse, but never in contradiction to Scripture, and always directing me deeper in it.

      The voice of God is, and always has been, speaking to men’s lost hearts, from the beginning of time when He called out in the garden, “Adam, where are you?” He draws men to Himself, reveals Himself to them, and transforms them by His Spirit.

      The Essence of Prophetic Ministry:

      Bringing the Eternal into the Temporal

      I have walked in the Holy Spirit for many years; I have seen many different prophetic manifestations. Regardless of content or style, one thing that has remained constant in my own prophetic experience is an unrelenting sense of urgency from the Spirit regarding His love for the gathered people of God.

      He absolutely and unreservedly loves His people, and He enthusiastically reminds me of that every time I ask how I can serve them. Like I didn’t hear Him the first time, He recounts for me His undying passion for His saints. His energetic anticipation of any setting where He intends to bless His gathered people is the first thing I prophetically sense. I do not possess that care and compassion for His people on my own; therefore it is an excellent way to confirm I’m hearing God—if I feel greater love for His people than I am capable of, it’s God.

      True prophetic ministry exists to trumpet His deep affection for His Church. Like the groom declaring over and over his unswerving devotion to his bride in preparation for their wedding, we must meet each moment of His compassion through the prophetic as if it were the first time.

      There is no way to exhaust the love of God for His Church prophetically. We will run out of breath to speak long before He tires one iota of telling the Church how much He loves her.

      Every true anointed prophetic moment has been saturated in power that opens my eyes to the depth of His love for His people. Even in Jesus’ most stinging rebuke of the Pharisees, you hear His love pouring forth, “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were not willing” (Matt. 23:37 niv).

      The Church needs to be regularly reminded of Christ’s unchanging love, as we are prone to drift away in busyness, idolatry, and the cares of life. At times, we are stubborn, unwilling children who must be brought back by the overwhelming kindness of the Father. Jesus took upon Himself the lethal rebuke of God’s wrath we fully deserved for our sin, and He has forever removed any condemnation in the Father’s voice toward us (Rom. 8:1).

      The Father’s Voice Always Sounds of Pure, Unreserved Kindness

      In the Old Testament, prophets often took a harsh tone (coupled with the most tender expressions of compassion you’ll ever hear). Before the cross, God’s Wrath had not been satisfied. Today, after the work of the cross, there should never be a harsh tone in true prophetic ministry. Because of Christ, condemnation has been completely eradicated and all we should hear in the Father’s voice is kindness that leads us to repentance.

      Any harsh assessment of the Church and her obvious weakness is flawed and self-righteous. We should be regularly and wonderfully swept up in the new mercies of God pouring forth from the gospel of prophetic anointing.

      This doesn’t mean we never address sin, but a harsh prophetical tone for the Church is from our uncharitable and impatient hearts. But God is charity and patience personified; should we grow harsh, He will patiently lift our eyes to see what He sees—not a flawed people as they now are, but as the faithful people they will become by His grace, a glorious and unified Church!

      Through anointed prophetic ministry, He’s going to use His eternal perspective of our glorious future to wash away the temporal perspective of our circumstance and failures that steal our joy.

      This is the essence of prophetic ministry—to continually, through His unimaginable kindness, redirect the Church’s temporal perspective toward the eternal.

      Why Do Spiritual Gifts, Especially Prophecy, Matter?

      The gifts mentioned in Scripture, especially prophecy, exist as manifestations of the indwelling Holy Spirit to herald the heart of God among His people in the most intimate way possible, meeting our deepest needs, and speaking to our deepest selves about who He is in our lives.

      The Holy Spirit is manifesting the grace of Jesus Christ through the gifts. The point is never to make much of the spiritual gifts, but of Jesus. That

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