Testing What You Hear & Quieting Your Mind

00:00 okay our names are Michael and Orville
00:03 Letinsky our ministry is called kingdom
00:06 partners and our topic is how to hear
00:09 God's voice this is session 2 and
00:12 tonight we're going to be talking about
00:13 how you test what you hear to determine
00:15 if it's really God speaking to you and
00:17 had it but like Lynn was mentioning how
00:19 to quiet your mind
00:21 so last a quick review from last week
00:25 how many of you were here from last week
00:27 almost everybody okay hopefully if you
00:31 weren't here you'll pick it up quickly
00:32 what we did we introduce mark burglars
00:35 method when he calls the four keys to
00:38 hearing God's voice and if you remember
00:40 the hand motions let's do them together
00:42 Oh before I mention that I did want to
00:45 make a comment we did talk about how
00:47 there's many ways that God speaks to us
00:49 he speaks to us through the scripture he
00:51 speaks to us through sermons and
00:53 teachings and life experiences and other
00:55 believers and open doors and closed
00:57 doors and all those kinds of things but
00:59 what we're going to be focusing on in
01:00 this series is how to hear the still
01:03 small voice of God that comes to us in
01:06 spontaneous revelation okay so that's
01:09 that's what the these sessions are going
01:12 to be about so the four keys to hearing
01:16 God's voice
01:17 the first one is stillness you have to
01:21 quiet your mind down this is our hand
01:24 motion stillness the second one is
01:26 vision you want to look to Jesus either
01:30 envision him in your mind or just focus
01:32 your thoughts on Jesus spontaneity you
01:36 want to tune to flow the flow of
01:38 spontaneous thoughts and pictures
01:40 they're getting kind of coming into your
01:42 mind you want it you know tap in to the
01:45 Holy Spirit within you and the last one
01:47 is journaling where you write down what
01:50 you hear or you see in your mind okay so
01:53 let's do it one more time it's stillness
01:56 fish yeah say it with let's do what back
01:59 up back up let's do it all together okay
02:01 stillness vision spontaneity and
02:06 journaling okay there you go so I want
02:10 it
02:10 Lynn and I actually
02:11 talking earlier this week about how we
02:13 both believed a lie which I would not be
02:17 surprised as almost all of us have heard
02:18 it the lie is that that person can hear
02:22 from God but you don't that sound
02:24 familiar I used to think that Mike was
02:27 the one that heard from God and I really
02:30 didn't so I would stand when we were in
02:32 a ministry situation where we were
02:34 praying for somebody I would just sort
02:36 of make myself invisible because I
02:39 thought he had the gift and I didn't and
02:41 it really wasn't until I learned this
02:42 approach that I got freed up from that
02:45 and so actually Lyn told me the same
02:48 thing she had she thought well because
02:49 the West was born again years before her
02:52 well he had the gift and she didn't so
02:55 she couldn't hear but he could so that's
02:57 a very common lie so what we're gonna do
03:00 now is we're gonna break the power of
03:01 that lie and so in the name of Jesus we
03:04 break the power of the lie that that we
03:06 cannot hear from God clearly because
03:09 he's promised us that we can hear his
03:13 voice over and done in the name of Jesus
03:23 all right so how many of you actually
03:27 practice last week oh great how did it
03:33 go as one good two three four
03:38 great five excellent six okay seven did
03:48 you have any did you have any
03:50 difficulties yeah
04:03 there'd be here that it was easier for
04:05 me my voice to speak to Jesus than the
04:08 feel that Jesus's voice was speaking to
04:10 users that definitely is a question of
04:14 believing that he's speaking to you
04:15 because I'm pretty sure he was
04:17 and does the concern is that they're
04:32 right that you're just sitting in
04:33 silence right okay
04:35 we're absolutely gonna deal with some of
04:37 that tonight in terms of stealing right
04:39 here right now
04:40 so you can hear because that's that's a
04:42 common problem not being able to slow
04:46 your mind down so you feel you're not
04:48 hearing any other difficulties yes but I
04:56 must say that this exercise first of all
04:59 I want to thank you
05:00 that you put it on aren't we on the end
05:03 that you put it on the email because I
05:06 was able to listen to it with a lot of
05:09 attention and it helped me a lot so
05:10 thank you for doing that the first time
05:12 I wasn't here before I tell you this
05:16 exercise freed me up so much that it was
05:21 an eye-opener because my thought was is
05:25 this really Jesus is it my voice and
05:28 then I thought you see I received the
05:32 Holy Spirit about three months ago and
05:34 and I said wait a minute
05:37 Holy Spirit is this jesus and the holy
05:39 spirit energy came and it was yes and it
05:45 was it it was it was like my chest open
05:50 I don't know how else to say it was like
05:52 oh my god
05:54 and I kept waiting and waiting and
05:56 writing and writing and then I was
05:58 wondering I don't know how you test this
05:59 I have no idea
06:00 that's wonderful that's exactly what
06:03 happens and we were talking tonight
06:06 the main things we want to talk about
06:07 tonight is how do you discern between
06:11 your flesh hear your voice or the voice
06:14 of the devil or the voice of the Lord so
06:16 that's one of the things we're going to
06:17 do tonight so I'm gonna start off right
06:20 there this is point two in your notes
06:22 and this is really important together in
06:26 John 10 verses one to five and I think
06:29 you have this in your notes I want to
06:31 make this out both loud I want you to
06:32 hear what Jesus says to the order
06:36 following him he says most assuredly I
06:39 say to you he who does not enter the
06:42 sheepfold by the door but climbs up some
06:45 other way the same as a thief and a
06:48 robber but he who enters by the door is
06:50 the Shepherd of the Sheep to him the
06:53 doorkeeper opens and the sheep hear his
06:57 voice and he calls his own sheep by name
07:01 and leads them out and when he brings
07:05 out his own sheep he goes before them
07:07 and the Sheep follow him for they know
07:11 his voice yet they will by no means
07:14 follow a stranger that will flee from
07:17 him for they do not know the voice of
07:19 strangers he here is my sheep hear my
07:24 voice doesn't say my sheep might hear my
07:27 voice doesn't say my sheep possibly can
07:30 hear my voice but it's definitive my
07:33 sheep hear my voice you're born again
07:37 well anybody but if you especially if
07:39 you're born again you hear his voice
07:41 that's a given that's a promise right
07:44 here and his sheep follow him now that's
07:50 something he's not to get kind of
07:51 cemented in our heart Jesus speaks to
07:54 his children and his children hear his
07:57 voice sometimes as things are given away
08:00 but you do hear his voice now when
08:03 you're journaling
08:04 the Lord will speak to you very
08:07 personally he's it's like you're having
08:11 a conversation with a person right there
08:14 with you so for example when everyone
08:16 he always saw it sit out by Michael my
08:19 son it doesn't call me Mike cuz his name
08:22 for me is Michael normally he says
08:24 normal my daughter it's extremely
08:27 personal and when he's speaking he's not
08:30 just throwing out words here and there
08:32 were fragments but he's speaking like
08:34 you having a conversation so you can
08:38 expect to have a flow of him talking to
08:42 you and you can talk back to him and
08:44 have a dialogue because that's how it is
08:47 it's personal and it's important is to
08:52 realize when you start listening to him
08:54 you'll soon realize it you may think
08:57 it's because it sounds like your own
08:59 thoughts but it's often so much better
09:03 than your own lives he's this clearer
09:06 more loving more caring more merciful
09:09 and he just has such wisdom and if
09:12 you're honest with yourself you know
09:13 this is better than I can ever think and
09:16 so you just begin to realize that it's
09:18 him speaking to you now I'm going to
09:21 read to you some journaling because
09:23 early on I was going through this whole
09:25 process of sorting out is that many of
09:27 you God
09:28 are you really speaking to me and I was
09:31 journaling on this and this is what he
09:32 said to me faith is expressed for
09:36 journaling without judging it comes to
09:39 the conversation it is coming to the
09:42 conversation with the expectation that
09:45 you are truly hearing me then writing
09:48 and childlike faith discernment helps
09:51 faith how by being able to sort out the
09:55 different voices you can learn where the
09:57 focus and what to write or not write the
10:01 certain that also comes into play when
10:02 you finish after journaling reread what
10:06 you wrote then evaluate it in terms of
10:09 the source by categorizing your feelings
10:11 your responses does the journaling give
10:15 you peace comfort assurance a sense of
10:18 well-being is it convicting but not
10:21 condemning is it easily understood did
10:25 you get it
10:25 does it bring peace or fear
10:27 an agitation aerosol or spirit does it
10:31 bring hope do you feel loved and valued
10:34 these are the hallmarks of my words the
10:38 devil never speaks this way and you
10:42 wouldn't put patting yourself on the
10:44 back with regularity so that's kind of
10:48 characterizes what is speech sounds like
10:51 now Norma's going to go on and talk
10:53 about how we test it I hope you all have
10:55 the notes if any of you don't you should
10:58 be referring to them because a lot of
11:00 this you'll want to see as well as
11:02 seeing it okay part three testing what
11:06 you hear this is what you do after
11:08 you've done your journaling you want
11:11 these are some of the tests that you can
11:12 apply the first one is the love test
11:15 since God is love isn't consistent with
11:18 the qualities of love from first
11:20 Corinthians 3:13 rather four through
11:23 eight here's the very famous verses love
11:25 is patient love is kind it does not envy
11:28 it does not boast it is not proud it's
11:31 not rude it's not self-seeking it's not
11:34 easily angered it keeps no record of
11:36 wrongs love does not delight in evil but
11:38 rejoices with the truth it always
11:41 protects always trusts always hopes
11:44 always perseveres love never fails
11:47 so there's many of the characteristics
11:49 here in that passage that you're going
11:51 to be finding in your journaling if it's
11:53 really coming from the Holy Spirit and
11:55 also in James 3:17 the Apostle wrote for
11:59 us the qualities of wisdom that comes
12:02 from above but the wisdom that comes
12:04 from heaven is first of all pure peace
12:07 loving considerate submissive full of
12:10 mercy and good fruit impartial and
12:13 sincere and then in contrast the verse
12:17 before that James 3:16 says that ideas
12:20 that are earthly unspiritual and from
12:23 the devil may reveal envy and selfish
12:25 ambition so those are some of the things
12:28 to look for now the other thing to think
12:31 about is how does it make you feel when
12:33 you're reading it alright it should make
12:35 you feel good because if it's coming
12:38 from the Holy Spirit it's going to have
12:40 the Koala
12:41 these of the fruit of the Spirit and
12:42 those are love joy peace patience
12:46 kindness goodness faithfulness
12:49 gentleness and self-control
12:51 I think as you get into the habit of
12:53 doing this two-way journaling you're
12:55 gonna be amazed at how patient God is
12:57 with us he keeps telling us the same
13:00 things over and over and he doesn't seem
13:03 to get irritated with us it's amazing
13:05 that's how you know it's God and not to
13:07 you not you by the way okay this is a
13:09 actually I got this out of Facebook
13:11 believe it or not there is some good in
13:12 Facebook this is a little comparison
13:15 between God's voice and Satan's voice
13:17 there in your notes God's voice stills
13:21 you it calms you makes you feel at peace
13:23 where Satan's voice is going to rush you
13:26 God's voice leads you and Satan's voice
13:29 pushes you God's voice will reassure you
13:33 that Satan's voice will frighten you
13:36 God's voice will enlighten you Satan's
13:40 voice will confuse you God's voice
13:43 encourages you Satan's voice does the
13:47 opposite it discourages you God comforts
13:50 you Satan worries you God calls you
13:53 Satan obsesses you God convicts you
13:58 Satan condemns you now let's talk for a
14:02 second about the difference between
14:03 conviction and condemnation because
14:06 Satan is really good at condemnation and
14:09 God is a really good at conviction
14:11 condemnation is to pronounce to be
14:14 utterly wrong to disapprove to censure
14:17 and to blame it's very accusatory you
14:20 know that the devil is Satan is the
14:22 accuser of the Brethren and his voice is
14:25 going to make you feel bad about
14:27 yourself and then that Jill and it's
14:30 gonna bring feelings of shame and
14:32 unworthiness if that's how you feel when
14:34 you're reading what you're doing what
14:36 you've Gerald you can just throw it out
14:38 and say that is not God and in the
14:40 beginning I'm gonna be honest you'll
14:41 probably have a little bit of a mixture
14:43 between the Holy Spirit and your own
14:45 flesh hopefully you'll be able to
14:47 discern when it's the enemy pretty
14:48 quickly and then just turn it off
14:50 conviction however is the work of the
14:52 Holy Spirit where a person
14:55 able to see himself as God sees him
14:57 conviction in the believer brings an
15:00 awareness of sin and results in
15:02 repentance confession and cleansing and
15:05 so I'll just share from my own
15:07 experience is that when I first started
15:09 doing the 2-way journaling
15:11 it tended to be very instructional well
15:14 you should be doing this and you should
15:16 be doing more of that and I think a lot
15:18 of that was really coming from my flesh
15:20 and so as I began to do it more and kind
15:23 of feel more like I was in tune with the
15:26 Lord it was much more personal it was
15:28 more loving it was more kind it was more
15:31 forgiving you know because those are
15:33 really the qualities of God he'll be
15:35 honest with you but you're going to
15:38 you're good you're not going to feel
15:40 shamed by it you're gonna feel convicted
15:43 in a nice way if that if that makes
15:46 sense okay so he will commit he will
15:48 correct us but like for me he's I can't
15:51 tell you how many times he's told me you
15:53 really need to get into the word before
15:54 you go to the electronics you know
15:57 before you look online you really you
15:59 really need to tune into me and I do
16:02 that now but it took a while of him
16:03 remembering reminding me but I had to do
16:06 that okay point D God's voice will have
16:09 the qualities of true prophecy which are
16:11 edification exhortation and comfort I'm
16:15 going to throw out a couple of comments
16:18 here and then I want you to use your
16:19 discerning muscles here and you tell me
16:21 if it really is from the Lord is it from
16:24 God or is it not okay here's the first
16:26 one you screwed up again I'm so
16:28 disappointed in you what do you think
16:31 that one came from the accuser of the
16:36 Brethren right okay how about this one I
16:39 love it when we spend time together
16:41 that's right okay how about this one I'm
16:45 not spending enough time alone with God
16:46 so he's probably angry at me copy your
16:51 flesh it could be the devil yeah or a
16:54 mixture
16:54 you know how about this one I hate
16:56 writing so I won't be able to do two-way
16:58 journaling
17:00 probably your flesh yeah right how about
17:03 this one
17:03 you're my beloved child and I have
17:05 wonderful plans for your life yeah of
17:08 course
17:08 okay one more you don't read the Bible
17:11 enough so no wonder you can't hear God's
17:13 voice very clearly right that's a demon
17:16 right okay so I want it we want to
17:19 caution you to about things do not
17:21 journal about all right do not guess ask
17:25 God to give you investment strategies
17:27 okay because they may not pan out he
17:30 likes us believe me on that one yeah
17:32 don't talk to God at this point in time
17:34 I would say about who you're going to
17:36 marry if you're not married and it's
17:39 really not a good idea to talk to him
17:41 about pregnancies and births and things
17:44 like that because it's just you know too
17:46 much of your own but flesh can get in
17:49 there okay
17:50 when you're more advanced in the
17:52 prophetic it's it's I wouldn't say don't
17:54 do that but just be really cautious
17:56 about those things you just want to kind
17:58 of do softball questions like God what
18:00 do you want to say to me today
18:02 Oh God what do you want to talk to me
18:04 about my work today you know just stuff
18:06 like that that's real general to start
18:08 with you he's good at that now sue
18:22 mentioned mark burglars website and
18:24 there is a lot of material on his
18:27 website that's free you can just
18:28 download it from the website and many
18:31 books and he has one book on communing
18:33 with God that is really in-depth and if
18:37 you really look at it that this topic
18:41 that's a place you could go
18:42 but I'm we're gonna recommend another
18:44 book this book is called hearing God's
18:47 voice made simple and it's been out a
18:49 couple of years in spite a man who goes
18:52 by praying medic praying PRA bioenergy
18:55 medic and this book is excellent we
18:59 really recommend it it's very
19:02 straightforward he was an atheist he got
19:05 saved he didn't believe he could hear
19:08 God and God
19:09 here and he's assured his stories of his
19:12 experiences praying pr8 why IMG and
19:19 invented em Edic
19:22 that's the name he goes by the style
19:24 that's not his real name okay but if you
19:27 go to goofy but if you go to Amazon you
19:29 can just just Google that and look at
19:31 all his books will come up yeah and he
19:35 has several books and they're all really
19:36 interesting this is a serious hearing
19:40 made simple walking in the spirit made
19:43 simple etcetera they were excellent now
19:46 in your notes you should have some extra
19:49 extras from his writings and I'm gonna
19:53 let you on your own read the first two
19:55 but I want to be go back the third one
19:57 out loud I want you to stick here
19:59 because it kind of sums up what Nora was
20:02 concerning he says we must remember that
20:05 although God's voice is external to us
20:08 his spirit resides in us because of this
20:12 when he speaks we perceive his external
20:15 voice to be an internal experience we
20:19 perceive his thoughts as our own boss
20:21 the way in which his thoughts come to us
20:24 is so subtle it's often hard to
20:27 recognize that they had their organ
20:30 outside of us but these brilliant loving
20:33 compassionate thoughts are the thoughts
20:35 of God being spoken by the Holy Spirit
20:38 the same is true for visual images that
20:41 we receive from him many times we think
20:43 an image came from our imagination when
20:47 it actually came from God so we just
20:52 want you to practice and this to trust
20:55 that God loves you and he wants to speak
20:58 to you and you can hear his voice now
21:01 often the Holy Spirit will speak to you
21:05 and give you scriptures you may give you
21:07 a specific scripture verse or even a
21:09 passage of scripture that will help you
21:13 in your situation and
21:16 one example was years ago number of
21:20 years ago now in 2011 I was diagnosed
21:22 with multiple myeloma which is an
21:24 incurable bone cancer and as you might
21:28 expect I was concerned about that but I
21:31 wasn't too concerned because I pray for
21:33 many people he got healed only trouble
21:34 is got beside the healing in his own way
21:36 not my way and I kept getting proverbs
21:41 3:5 over and over again when I journal
21:44 about my situation
21:45 trust in the Lord with all your heart do
21:48 not lean on your own understanding and
21:51 do not lean on your own understanding
21:53 and that became my verse was tripped to
21:57 trust in him no matter what no matter
21:59 what my mind was saying what I was
22:01 thinking but to trust in him so there's
22:04 a first that really made a difference
22:06 now whatever God says to you the journey
22:12 will be consistent with Scripture but it
22:16 may not necessarily be found in the
22:18 scripture
22:18 now many people teach you probably put
22:21 this teaching that if what you hear
22:23 isn't it in the Bible you can't
22:25 disregard it because you can't be God
22:27 well there are many things that God can
22:30 talk to us about that aren't in the
22:31 Bible about a relationship so God you
22:34 know your family by your job situation
22:37 there may not specifically be mentioned
22:39 in the Bible but they're consistent with
22:42 the general counsel of God and the
22:46 revelation of the word and then I
22:48 honestly give you some examples one is
22:51 to life experience from me Norma would
22:57 ask me to do something around the house
22:58 and I was more than willing to do it but
23:02 I want to do it in my time not enormous
23:05 time and of course then sometimes I
23:08 would forget or I put it off for a day
23:11 or two and that will make Norma man
23:13 nothing yeah I know it's hard and one
23:18 day when I was journaling and I asked
23:22 that question what do you want to say to
23:23 me bored because I wasn't talking about
23:27 this specifically he says do
23:29 now he said whenever enorme asked me to
23:34 do something just do it and don't
23:37 procrastinate I wonder what she was
23:43 brave but he said if you're really in
23:47 the middle of something you can't stop
23:48 then to help her you can't do it this
23:51 moment but tell her when you will do it
23:53 and then do it then so it was very
23:56 specific but this is completely
23:57 consistent with the word it's only your
24:00 wife being a servant this was totally
24:03 consistent but there's nowhere in the
24:05 Bible that says do it now first more
24:15 mother our interceding for our children
24:19 what we have found is that when we're
24:22 praying for our kids and one of our
24:23 children's going to talk to us going
24:25 through a very difficult time in his
24:26 life God has given us very specific
24:30 prayer strategies on how to approach the
24:33 situation in prayer it none of this is
24:36 in the Bible but as completely
24:38 consistent we're praying for your family
24:39 and talking to the Lord in being
24:42 specific or sometimes you'll get images
24:45 when you're praying way to win your
24:48 journaling and I thought many images of
24:50 people wrapped in spider webs like
24:53 member Schewel I've alerted the Rings
24:55 you know and then when I asked what that
24:58 mean easier this person is all bound up
25:00 or I'll be driving in the car and I'm
25:02 not driving someone's driving in the car
25:04 like he has no face what's going on
25:07 well it turns out for me cars absolutely
25:09 ministry and the faceless person driving
25:12 the car is the Holy Spirit okay well the
25:15 Holy Spirit does leave your life then
25:16 the Holy Spirit is apparently these long
25:18 citing write highly consistent with
25:21 Scripture but you would never find
25:22 anything in scripture about a faceless
25:24 person driving a car so just remember
25:27 that you want to test against the word
25:31 that's fine and it's always good to make
25:33 sure that when your period is consistent
25:36 and if we
25:36 hearing is a completely opposite and
25:40 it's definitely something that is not
25:42 consistent just throw it out now the
25:47 last point that I want to make is it's
25:50 really important to have spiritual
25:53 counselors Norman I each share our
25:57 journaling with one another and we asked
26:00 is that the word because sometimes
26:02 because it's a personal thing you always
26:04 doubt is this me speaking is this the
26:07 Lord speaking because I have a vested
26:09 interest in it and sometimes a normal
26:12 come back and say well that's definitely
26:13 God because much better than you right
26:16 that's consistent with me and so it's
26:20 good to have people in your life that
26:22 you trust that are mature that you can
26:25 be honest with and they'll be honest
26:27 with you when you get journaling now you
26:30 even have to do this for everything in
26:31 journal but for anything important it's
26:34 really good to have spiritual councils
26:39 okay
26:40 let's talk about becoming still because
26:43 that's really hard for a lot of us we
26:49 live in such a noisy busy world and it's
26:52 really hard to shed out all the
26:54 distractions isn't it that's usually a
26:55 big problem so let's talk about it now
26:59 if you read the Psalms David seem to be
27:01 particularly good at this he in psalm
27:04 62:5 he says my soul wait in silence so
27:07 he was really telling his soul his mind
27:09 to be quiet and I think it probably a
27:11 lot easier in those days he was out
27:13 there in the sheepfold with the sheep
27:14 and they really weren't a whole lot of
27:16 distractions like we're dealing with and
27:18 the in our in our current culture
27:20 I love the verse I didn't look up at the
27:22 exit reference but it's where I have
27:24 quieted my soul like a weaned child and
27:28 so we have to learn how to do that
27:29 here's some ideas for what you can do to
27:32 quiet yourself down so you can hear the
27:34 voice of God because if there's a lot of
27:36 racket going on in your head you're not
27:38 going to be able to hear him very
27:39 clearly first of all you want to do is
27:42 you want to remove the outer noise as
27:44 best you can
27:46 right so you want to get away from
27:47 people you want to turn off your phone
27:49 maybe even leave it in the other room
27:51 turn off the TV get rid of as much noise
27:55 as you can in your environment go into
27:58 your own room lock yourself in the
28:00 closet I don't know whatever it takes
28:01 okay maybe go to the bed no don't do
28:04 this in the bathtub that's not a good
28:05 idea because you'll get water all over
28:07 your journal never mind that idea but
28:09 someplace where you can just really get
28:11 away from from people and noise then you
28:14 want to relax and sit and be comfortable
28:17 don't try doing this on your knees
28:19 because you'll be uncomfortable in just
28:21 a few minutes so just some place where
28:23 you're comfortable you want to choose
28:25 the best time of day when you're the
28:27 most alert and awake for me I'm a
28:29 morning person so I really need to spend
28:31 my time with the Lord first thing in the
28:33 morning but for some of you that doesn't
28:35 work and so maybe you know just find a
28:37 time during the day maybe you have a
28:39 long lunch break and you can be alone or
28:41 or in the evening when it's really quiet
28:43 but whatever works for you sometimes I
28:46 use earplugs if there's a lot of noise
28:48 out outside foam earplugs what you want
28:51 to do is establish a place where you're
28:53 going to consistently be alone with
28:56 Jesus and then you go to that place and
28:58 you just that's our place that's where
29:01 we hang out together you might have
29:03 mellow background music for me that's a
29:06 distraction but for other people it's
29:08 not I find that most people I think find
29:10 em use acquit lyrics is too disruptive
29:13 and so just something like soaking music
29:16 or you know just just very like light
29:18 jazz or something like that
29:19 that won't be distracting okay so you
29:22 don't want to remove the outer noise and
29:24 I think more importantly you want to
29:26 remove the inner noise now here is a
29:29 really wonderful thought I always when I
29:31 have my quiet time with the Lord I
29:32 always have a pad of paper right next to
29:34 me and you know how you sit down to try
29:37 to journal and a thought pops in your
29:39 head about something you have to do
29:41 write it down and I and I and I
29:44 guarantee you the thought will disappear
29:46 okay just write it down I always do that
29:48 and and it'll just just get out of your
29:51 head as soon as you write it down and
29:53 you'll be able to move on and they could
29:55 be really useful so don't just ignore
29:57 them you know but
29:58 don't dwell on them now if you're
30:00 feeling thoughts of being sinful or
30:02 unworthy you just want to confess it and
30:04 repent and move on because you know God
30:07 is faithful to forgive us as soon as we
30:10 confess right and cleanse us from all
30:13 unrighteousness if your mind races from
30:16 one thought to another you do what Mark
30:18 Berger calls a you want to switch to a
30:20 right brain function where you're
30:22 getting out of your rational logical
30:25 mind and getting into what they call
30:27 more right brain function so you can
30:29 sing you can sing a worship song in
30:32 English you can sing in tongues I
30:34 strongly recommend you pray in tongues
30:36 even before Mike has gotten in the habit
30:38 of praying in tongues for about 10 or 15
30:40 minutes don't you before or even longer
30:42 before he has this quiet time and I do
30:45 it for not as long but it's really a
30:48 good way to just quiet your mind and
30:50 just switch from from that right bit to
30:52 left right to right right
30:54 use your godly imagination you can as
30:57 you if you're reading the Bible you can
30:58 picture put yourself in the Bible scene
31:00 and that's really a fun way to read the
31:03 Bible do it when you're doing your Bible
31:04 study if you can you visualize yourself
31:06 with Jesus in a special place like maybe
31:10 a beautiful garden or something like
31:12 that
31:13 like I said music could help you quiet
31:15 your mind it may or may not work try it
31:18 and here's a good hint you want to smile
31:20 okay because you want to have a good
31:23 time with Jesus because he's really
31:25 gonna have a good time with you I
31:26 promise you and then you want to see
31:29 striving and know that I am God Psalm
31:32 46:10 okay if you're like you know
31:35 gritting your teeth and trying to be
31:37 quiet and trying to quiet your your mind
31:39 it's not gonna work you just have to
31:41 chill you just have to let go you know
31:43 how they say let go and let gone and
31:45 this is gonna take practice for some of
31:48 you some of you are good at this already
31:49 others of you are not so remember that
31:53 everything worth doing takes practice so
31:56 if you didn't have a great experience
31:58 last week with with 2-way journaling
32:01 just keep trying you know it's it's like
32:04 everything else it's like the first time
32:06 that you when you were baby that you got
32:08 up to walk were you successful now you
32:11 probably fell
32:11 your Aryan didn't you okay so you got to
32:14 fall down a few times but you just keep
32:16 practicing and you'll get better I
32:18 promise
32:18 here's a couple of quotes from Jesus
32:20 calling and then we're going to do our
32:21 activation you know the Jesus calling
32:24 devotionals by Sarah young but what
32:28 though one of the things the Lord two
32:29 things the Lord said to her is he said
32:30 an overly busy lifestyles my spirit and
32:33 silence is my voice so the Lord may have
32:37 you eliminate some things from your life
32:39 that are not productive when he journals
32:41 and you journal with him so you may have
32:44 to do less and cut some things out of
32:45 your schedule he also said to her a
32:47 deeper relationship with me cannot be
32:50 obtained by striving but rather through
32:53 a posture of rest and receptivity so
32:56 what we want to do is to learn to just
32:58 dial it down quiet yourself and just be
33:01 in his presence because the goal of this
33:04 is just to have a sweet encounter with
33:07 the God who loves you okay so get out
33:11 your journals and your pens and we're
33:16 gonna have some fun alright first thing
33:20 I want you to do is to spread out yeah
33:31 move through the whole auditorium okay
33:33 you don't want to have anybody next to
33:35 you you want to be thinking about God
33:51 and once you find the place
33:53 paper out your journal out and and I'm
33:57 gonna give you a choice of one of three
33:58 questions that you're going to ask the
34:00 Lord during this time Journal now why
34:04 should I write it down so all we see our
34:05 personal mention of these questions that
34:07 all go swim against this little lady
34:09 the first one is Lord would you talk to
34:12 me about becoming still or how can I
34:15 best quiet my mind to hear you or Lord
34:20 this is the standby question whenever
34:23 the pulse fails Lord what would you like
34:24 to say to me so the first possible
34:27 question is more would you talk to me
34:30 about becoming still Lord would you talk
34:35 to me about the coming of still and you
34:36 can write it down at the top of the page
34:38 that's the question you want to ask me
34:39 or the second question which you could
34:43 write down and ask him is how can I best
34:46 quiet my mind to hear you how can I best
34:50 quiet my mind to hear you or a third
34:54 question the YouTube right now is Lord
34:59 what would you like to say to me you
35:05 always has things that are good to say
35:07 like do it okay so don't answer all
35:12 three just ask just choose one of those
35:14 all right so that's written on the top
35:16 of your page now I want you to use your
35:20 imagination your sanctified anointed
35:23 imagination to visualize yourself in
35:25 your favorite place to take kind of
35:29 Jesus close your eyes for this okay
35:31 close your eyes or you can ask Jesus to
35:35 take you in the spirit to some place
35:38 that he wants to speak with you but the
35:40 point is you want to be somewhere that
35:43 you're comfortable that you really like
35:45 this could be if you're an outdoor
35:47 person that might be at the beach it
35:48 might be
35:50 or in the forest it could also be at the
35:53 Sea of Galilee but it also could be in
35:55 your living room I have a tier of a
35:58 living room that's kind of my chair that
35:59 I spend time with a Morgan and there's a
36:01 couch right across from it
36:03 so use your sanctified imagination to
36:07 imagine yourself in that comfortable
36:09 place and then you want to begin to
36:16 visualize Jesus there with you he's
36:21 right there with you and you want to see
36:24 and he has got this great big smile on
36:28 his face because he is so happy to be
36:32 with you and you have a smile with the
36:35 year and the presence of your lover of
36:37 your soul you're who Jesus so just rest
36:42 in his presence and then you ask him
36:44 that question and then you wait for his
36:50 thoughts to come into your mind his
36:52 words and then you start to write what
36:55 you hear and remember you want to write
36:58 this with childlike faith and you don't
37:01 want to judge what you're writing you
37:03 just want to write just like with
37:07 childlike faith now he may give you a
37:12 picture may give you a vision if you get
37:15 a little vision watch the vision play
37:18 out before you write and then you could
37:21 write down a vision and then you could
37:22 ask him what does this mean work what
37:23 are you trying to show me the full point
37:28 is don't strive just relax be in the
37:31 presence of the Lord and write what he
37:33 gives you because he's the lover of your
37:36 soul and he loves being with you
37:42 so we gave you about five minutes okay
37:46 now to stop and reread what what you
37:48 wrote and test it you decide using the
37:55 various criteria that we shared with you
37:57 tonight if it sounds like God or not
38:06 some of you wrote that maybe didn't most
38:08 of you were writing you know even if you
38:12 didn't write a lot
38:13 hey just getting one sentence from God
38:16 is worth it isn't it you're not being
38:18 we're not judging on quantity quality
38:26 okay how many of you feel like you've
38:28 heard from God tonight raise your hands
38:31 high
38:32 okay most did you did I'm gonna say over
38:35 50% probably more like 75% that's really
38:38 good okay if you did it what do you need
38:41 to do practice that's all comes with
38:45 practice all right and the important
38:47 thing is not strive just chill there you
38:51 know I asked God a question visualize
38:54 tune in to spontaneity and then just
38:57 write what you what you what flows into
38:59 your mind
39:00 and you'll be the thoughts maybe just be
39:03 one thought might be pictures might be a
39:06 whole paragraph might be a whole page
39:08 might be several pages you know he's God
39:11 and he's gonna speak to us what whatever
39:14 he chooses and however he chooses so
39:17 just keep at it keep at it keep at it
39:19 yeah it's gonna really change your life
39:22 when you get good at this