Hurricanes, floods, tornadoes, fires, plagues and wars can leave us in helpless situations. How do we prepare for the unexpected?
We can’t entirely trust the news, weather forecasts, or vaccines to get us where we need to be. God is the only one who has sovereign knowledge of what’s happening, when and where. No weather radio is going to give us the guidance that God can.
There have been times in my life, when God had me prepare in unusual ways for unexpected events. Mostly it was hindsight that illuminated how His direction provided security or escape. One scenario comes to mind because it was so obvious when the situation played out. It’s been more than a decade ago since this story took place but it was clearly divine provision that has become a memorial stone for me. One day, God told me to make an extra set of all my keys: car, home, and office and to put the keys in my car. It was a simple enough direction from God, and of course I did it. The very same week, because of an unexpected once-in-a-lifetime occurrence, I was thankful that God had given me that exact instruction. God foreknew what would take place and that His provision would be an obvious sign to me that He was leading me. God knew in advance that I would be falsely accused and that the person holding my keys would refuse to return them on my release. I had a spare door key to my car in my wallet and a full set of new keys to everything else hidden inside my car. God’s advance instructions provided an escape from the enemy’s plans against me and proof that He was on my side.
God provided much more for me during that very difficult time in my life and I know I could never thank Him enough for His watchful care. But I know too that my obedience played an important part in my safety. I would be lost without hearing God’s voice. Are you hours or days away from your biggest trial? Are you constantly listening to and obeying God’s instructions? Will you be ready for what’s ahead?
Blessings to my Christian siblings! The title above is not introducing a knock-knock-joke. It’s truly asking a relationship question introduced in the book of Revelation.
* “Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me.” (Revelation 3:20 NIV)
Christians believe that those red-letter words are from Jesus as God. But who do the Jews say that Jesus is/was? In the Jewish religion, Jesus is not accepted as God. Like the Triniterians, the Jews do not understand the divinity of Jesus. The Jews long for the third temple to be built because they do not believe that Jesus was the long-awaited Messiah. Some Jews even expect for there to be a return to animal sacrifice or burnt offerings when the third temple is constructed in Jerusalem.
So who do you pray to? Who do you say that Jesus is? Do you believe that Jesus is the one and only God or do you believe that Jesus is 1/3rd God in a trinity of other 1/3rd Gods? Do you believe like the Jews that Jesus is not God? Who is Jesus to you? Knock, knock! Who’s there?
* “So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.” (Luke 11:9 NIV) Is this Scripture about prayer? 1) Ask for forgiveness, and it will be given to you. 2) Seek God’s will and you will find it. 3) (Figuratively) knock and the door will be opened to you to be invited in for sweet fellowship with Him which includes hearing His voice in prayer.
* “My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me.” (John 10:27 NIV)
Attached are the two remaining pages of the four pages that are the Mark of Excellence Newsletter, dated September 2021, “Prayer” Edition. Please seek God for His wisdom and discernment.
For the past week, we have looked at “Pastor Report Card” doctrinal areas for review. So far, we have covered 1) Hearing God’s voice vs. the Bible speaks; 2) One God (not three); 3) Jesus is God vs. Jesus is God’s Son; and 4) The Covenant relationship requires hearing God and obeying. Today, we will talk about prayer intimacy.
Attached are the first two pages of four, of another of the Mark of Excellence newsletters that were sent to select local pastors and prayer ministries to teach true doctrine. The remaining two pages will be included with tomorrow’s post. Each of the newsletters that were mailed to the pastors included a cover letter. I thought you might like to see a glimpse into my one-sided conversations with the pastors.
*** Excerpt from Letters to Pastors *** Dear Pastor,
Subject: Mark of Excellence Newsletter, September 2021 Edition, “Prayer”
How’s that prayer list working for you? I only ask because if God were really granting your every wish, you would certainly be promoting that as a reason for people to seek you out (with financial favor). But that’s not how it works. Is it? Since God wants His children to come to Him personally, to seek Him, to ask for forgiveness, and to hear Him and obey, you probably won’t successfully compete with Him. But that won’t stop some from trying. As for me, I wouldn’t want a God that needs our advice.
I visit several churches via online access nearly every week. So, I can say with confidence that most of you are promoting prayer intercession (interference) rather than prayer intimacy. Some of you even have prayer lines, with 50 intercessors, waiting to pray for your congregation. Really? That’s sickening. I grew up in the church and learned that prayer foolishness from others like you. Oh, I had the best prayer lists of anyone. I could summon up God, demand His favor and hold Him accountable better than most. I hope you hear the sarcasm in that statement. There’s anger there too, because I was 40 years old before I understood that I was supposed to hear God in prayer. That’s what growing up in the church provided?
Prayer is NEVER meant to be one-sided. If you’re NOT listening to God in prayer with the intent of obeying Him, then you’re not doing it right. I realize that’s hard to hear because it takes ALL the power from you and puts it rightly with God. If you’re doing all the talking in prayer, then it must be because you expect God to submit to you. Let’s face it. The only way you can submit to God in prayer is by hearing His voice and obeying. But what’s modeled instead is that God is supposed to hear your prayers and obey.
Most of you would agree that Christians are not to pray to Mary or to dead saints as the Catholic church promotes, but aren’t you doing the same type of thing by asking to intercede for other Christians? Do you really know the heart of God? I didn’t. All my one-sided prayers to the Creator, were useless for the Kingdom and so are yours. Let’s face it. The sovereign LORD knows our every need. Why are “we” doing all the talking? And how many people does it take to overrule the will of God? Do you need 1,000 people or more? That’s sarcasm again. Obviously, you can’t out vote the sovereign God.
This newsletter about prayer has been the most difficult for me to write. I’ve had times of great grief as I’ve studied with God on how to present this. The grief may have been my own, but it felt as if it were coming from the heart of God. Of all the perverted theologies, distorted prayer doctrine must be the devil’s favorites tied with “mute God” or the “God locked in a book” doctrines.
***End of Excerpt***
At the beginning of the year, and this process of doing church assessments, a woman commented on one of my posts insisting that I needed to privately discuss these matters with the pastors before airing their dirty laundry publicly. My response was that I have tried to discuss these doctrines with the pastors via email, private messenger contact, and mail correspondence. That didn’t seem to be enough for the lady who was publicly (not privately) telling me that I needed to do things differently. That’s ironic.
The church leaders do not want to hear a message from God, either by directly hearing from Him or by Him sending a messenger. They seem to believe that they are doing things exactly right despite knowing that all the churches who doctrinally teach contrary to them believe the same thing. So, I’m taking this message right to the congregations. Please seek God to know Him. Hear His voice in prayer so that you can obey Him. Ask Him questions about the doctrines at the church that you’re attending. Want His will above your own.
Source: Mark of Excellence Newsletter, dated September 2021, “Prayer” Edition
The first step to learning to discern God’s voice is to identify the competing voices, both in the physical realm and in the spiritual realm. The devil, demons, and evil spirits have a voice in the spiritual realm. Their voices can seem like your own thoughts if you don’t know yourself well enough to assess your unshakeable values. (Read about Adam and Eve talking with the serpent in the Garden in Genesis 3.)
When I first started hearing God’s voice in prayer, I made the mistake of telling those closest to me that God was speaking to me. They jumped to conclusions that I was delusional and that I would hear “god” tell me to kill them. So, for the record, God has never told me to kill anyone. He’s perfectly able to speak it into existence and make it happen without my involvement. So if He wants you dead, well that’s what will happen. He doesn’t need me to do it.
Why did I write that paragraph? Well, it’s unfortunate but even your most trusted friends and family can turn against you for hearing God. Read the story of Joseph and his brothers (Genesis 37). Joseph had dreams from God. He made the mistake of telling his family the content of those dreams. Their resulting jealousy made them throw him in a pit, leaving him for dead, and then selling him into slavery. Really, there are not many people that you can trust to talk to about hearing God. Even many pastors will demand that you’re not hearing from God (because they don’t). Secular psychiatry will most certainly condemn you because in their minds God isn’t real.
So, are you courageous enough to step into an unfamiliar realm of listening to God in prayer? Can you shake off all the secular lie-labels of mental illness? Can you stand strong against the giants, like young King David did? What is your faith level? You’re not going to get to a place of hearing God daily if you shrink away every time the devil sends his minions to accuse you.
If you’re ready, then step 1 is to situate yourself in a distraction free area. No phones; No television or music; No panoramic views to draw your attention away. Nothing should compete with your ability to listen to God’s voice. God sees everything. He knows if you have a phone set on vibrate so that you don’t miss an “important” notification or call. If you aren’t all in, then He isn’t either. Earnestly seeking Him means to earnestly seek Him. He’s always looking for wholehearted investment. If you can’t do that, then you aren’t going to hear God. I’m sorry but you are going to have to make God priority. And that might mean that you are going to need to get off your self-made kingdom throne.
When you are positioned to really listen for God in the physical realm, then you are going to need to thwart the enemy’s voice in the spiritual realm. This is a good time to ask the Lord to silence the enemy. It’s that simple. You don’t need to be a spiritual warfare “freak” or a deliverance expert. All you need to do is ask the Lord to bind the enemy so that you can hear from Him. If He truly is your God, then He will silence the enemy for you. Remember God wants you to be able to hear Him so that you can know Him and walk intentionally with Him. The devil doesn’t want you to hear God because he loses all power to deceive you when you can fact-check with God.
In earlier posts, I have talked about the need for covenant relationship with God. If you have pledged on oath to God that He is your only God, then you have initiated the covenant relationship. If you’re not sure if you have asked God to be your God, then do it as you begin the conversation with Him. It never hurts to restate your allegiance. In step 2, we will review how to restore a broken covenant through having a sincere forgiveness conversation.
Did this answer any of your questions? Do you want to privately ask me about this? You can contact me at TammieEdwards@therogueprophet.com. I want to help you learn to discern God’s voice. I do know that it can be scary to approach this subject. But listen, I’m not the most courageous person ever, and I did it against all the maneuvers of the enemy. So you can too.
Attached are two pages from The Rogue Prophet Magazine, “The Covenant Voice of God” (pages 29-30, dated August 2024) that outline Step One of Discerning God’s Voice in Prayer.
“However, if the watchman sees the sword coming but doesn’t blow the trumpet, so that the people aren’t warned, and the sword comes and takes away their lives, then they have been taken away because of their iniquity, but I will hold the watchman accountable for their blood.” (Ezekiel 33:6 NIV)
You can’t be everyone’s buddy and be right with God. Sometimes it’s in the person’s best interest for you to be firm, speak a hard word, caution or warn, or harshly criticize to help them know truth. Those things may not look or feel good in the process but it is the loving thing to do. It may save them from future difficulties, expanded trials, hindered relationships, heartache and loss. Always point them to seek God with priority.
If God has given you insight to see what the watchman sees, then you will be held accountable by God if you refuse to warn. It doesn’t seem loving at all to stand by and watch their defeat when you could have easily spoken a word. A word of caution is much more important than a word of encouragement. Seek God yourself before speaking but speak truth!
What is it going to take for God to get your attention?
Whatever it takes, He can do it. I don’t like seeing these areas ravaged from a hurricane. And as many want to think that the destruction comes from the hand of the enemy, that’s wrong. God is very aware that there is an election coming up where the fate of our nation is at stake. He knows exactly how many of our citizens have come to Him in prayer, and asked for His direction … and exactly how many haven’t.
I’ve spent the last two decades teaching people to learn to listen for God’s voice in prayer. What I overwhelmingly see is that MOST everyone refuses to listen to God because they want to be their own god. What other reason could there be? Tell me. Why wouldn’t Christians want to hear God’s voice in prayer? I’m right here. I haven’t moved. Still offering and still ignored. Maybe I’m the crazy one for still being willing to be ignored and equally ready to help.
God is very aware of your excuses. He can get your attention! But don’t believe me …
The Rogue Prophet 