HEARING FROM GOD - Part 2. Lessons from 2011

How do I know I've heard from God? In my blogpost yesterday, I outlined practical steps to hearing from God and how to be sensitive to His guidance in our lives.

But how do I know that the direction I perceive to be God really is God and not just bad pizza?

Here are more practical steps to discerning the voice of God:

1. Tune Your Ear to His Voice. We must get used to listening to God. His voice isn't a thunder from heaven, and usually not audible (read of Elijah's experience in 1 Kings 19). God's voice is the unshakable mind-voice. His voice is clear, persistent, and always good. The more your listen, the more you will hear God speak.
2. Biblically-sound. God never contradicts His Word, so anytime you believe you've heard God speak, compare it with the full counsel of Scripture. Study to make sure that it is consistent with the Bible. If it matches the Bible, then it's probably God's leading in your life.
3. PEACE. For me, peace is the most powerful and obvious indicator of God's direction in my life. Like driving down a highway, we may not always see far or even around the bend, but we know when we're on the road or off. If you drive off, you feel the car shake and the rumble strips rattle your bones. Peace is the calm sense of God's presence with us in the midst of the journey of life. A lack of peace, like hitting the rumble strips, disrupts our status quo and gets our attention. A lack of peace usually feels unsettling, upsetting, and keeps you up at night worried or frustrated.
4. Counsel. When seeking God's direction, it's always wise to ask other God-fearers to confirm or encourage you. Be teachable and open to their leadership, however, also be careful who you seek after. Don't talk to dream-stealers or negative faith-robbers. Consult with people who are mature, faithful, and godly.
5. Prophesy. As I wrote yesterday, prophetic words are only conformational, never directional and MUST always be consistent with and line up with the Bible. These words don't have to be prefaced by "thus saith the Lord." In fact, often, God will speak through people with a hunch, or simply have a thought to share with you. They don't even know, at times, that their word is from God. Be sensitive to give ear to people who are sensitive to God. Conversely, be cautious of those who are claiming to hear from God all the time.
6. Circumstances. Probably, the hardest of this list to discern. At times, God leads and circumstances seem to contradict what God has spoken- in those moments, persist and press on. Other times, God will shut one door to open another. In those moments, we must be sensitive to God to understand that He is ordering our steps through our circumstances. The key to discerning our circumstances is constancy in prayer. If we are confident God is ordering our steps, then we take events as from the Lord, and we follow Him rather than being led by our circumstances. 

In what area of your life, do you need to say YES to God?

How can you adjust your schedule to listen to God?

HOW TO HEAR FROM GOD! Top Lessons from 2011

Hearing from God is key to walking in God's design and purposes for our life.


Obviously, as a pastor, it's essential that I walk in the confidence that God is leading and directing me, our elders, and the vision of Lifehouse. Since God's plans are not always as clear as reading a roadmap, it is critical that we know how to hear from God. In 2011, we hit up against some obstacles in the course of leading the church that required that I, and the elders, hear from God. So, how do we do it (you know, hear from God)?

Here's as straight-forward a process as I know in hearing from God and discerning His will and plans for life and His Church:

1. Pray Daily. We can't expect God to lead if we're not regularly discuss life and matters with Him.
2. Dedicate and commit our days and ways to Him. Surrender our daily activity to God.
3. Read the Bible Daily. God leads and directs through His Word. As we read, study, meditate, memorize, and apply the Bible, it becomes alive in our hearts. God can speak directly through us reading His Word, and most often does.
4. Repentance. Clear disobedience to God will hinder His guidance and our sensitivity to His leadership in our hearts. Once we get sin out of the way, then we are more apt to hear the quiet voice of God.
5. Fasting and Prayer. There are times when I/ we need to quiet ourselves and the other appetites in our life, leverage them to focus on God, and seeking God by laying aside other distractions. During times when we most need to hear from God for the church, I set aside a day or days to fast and pray, and at times I invite the elders and even the pastoral team to join in. We pray for God to speak to us, direct us, and guide our decision making.
6. Confession and Reflection. During fasting and prayer, I have a 3-step process to hearing from God and discerning His direction: 1st- repeat and ask God to reveal any hidden sin that might be hindering His will in my life or the church; 2nd- lay down "our" agenda for God's plans, and I ask God if the direction we were planning to go is truly His desire; 3rd- ask, "is there a door that God has opened that I/ we have not walked through, so that is why He has not opened another?" At times, God opens a door, but since it's not the door we wanted or expected, we don't walk through. Meanwhile, God desires obedience. And He won't open another door, because He's waiting for our submission and obedience to His desires.
7. Confirmation. God will only confirm His desires through others- whether it's simple encouragement or a prophetic word or counsel. These words are never directional but ONLY conformational. We only listen if they match what God has already spoken into our hearts. If not we tuck them away, like Mary (mother of Jesus) did when she "pondered them in her heart."
8. Live Obediently. There are times when we don't necessarily hear a direction from God. What do we do in those moments? We do all of the above, then we trust and obey God, and follow Proverbs 3:5-6, and trust that God will direct our thoughts, decision-making, and actions. We believe that God does order our steps.

I could probably write a blog about each of these. If I get strong feedback, I will! Let me know.

ASK YOURSELF: 

How can I adjust my disciplines to clearly hear God's desires and will for my life?

In what area of my life do I need to trust and obey God and follow through on what He has already spoken?

Top Lessons from 2011- Be Faithful in Little

My next several posts will be lessons I learned or re-learned (the hard way) in 2011. All of them were learned through experience not books or in theory. Hopefully, I can save you the pain of learning them through difficult, so learn from my brokenness.

BE FAITHFUL IN LITTLE BEFORE BEING ENTRUSTED WITH MUCH

I started out 2011, leading Lifehouse with a vision to plant one new church this Fall and start 2 multi-sites, one on Saturday evening and the other as a 2nd campus on Sunday mornings. To be frank, I even shared with our team and thought privately that it was very ambitious and seemed impossible. I suggested that it's not really how churches function, even a thriving, healthy church like Lifehouse.

Then, I figured, "our vision for the Church should be overwhelming and seem impossible."

We planted Lifehouse- Hedgesville and it publicly launched in Sept. 2011! We're very excited about what God has done and is doing through Pastor JD and LHC-H.

BUT the lesson: we didn't start 2 multi-sites in 2011. We are still working on getting a multi-site service up and going and have it in the works for 2012. We very much plan on making this happen with God's help. However, we did learn a hard lesson: Be Faithful in Little BEFORE being entrusted with much!

God entrusts us with little so we can prove faithful and fruitful. Once, we've learned the necessary skills, lived the experiences, and developed the character needed to thrive in much, God will entrusts us with MORE. Then, MUCH!

We had not proven that we could launch ONE multi-site or plant ONE new church! So, it was not only ambitious to plan to launch 3 in one year, it was unrealistic. Not because God is unable, but because Kingdom- wisdom requires us to learn, be faithful in little THEN be entrusted with more.

We are planning on launching a multi-site this year. We hope to learn all the necessary lessons and gain all the necessary experience so that we can launch another.

What lessons do you need to learn in your area of "little" so that God can entrust you with "more"?


How can you prepare yourself rigorously for the dreams God has put in your heart?