Living As a New Creation - Who do You say that I am (Wk. 4) (2)
First B Jackson
2015-03-03

Automatically transcribed. Where this and the recording disagree, the recording is the record.

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Okay. So so we are on the third kind of how to walk this out. And the first one was reading and studying and meditating on the word and just really finding out for yourself what God says about you, your identity and your position in Christ. The second one was embracing and taking ownership of your your new nature in Christ to really walk it out. Not just read about it, but embrace it and believe it and walk it out.

And then today, the third one that I wanna start talking about is learning to recognize and hear God's voice. This is so, so huge. I think I mentioned this last week. I mean, that was one of the very defining attributes of Jesus' walk while he was on earth, is that he didn't do anything that he didn't see or hear his father do. He was constantly telling the people around him, these are not my words.

These are the words that the father told me to speak. I'm only saying what he told me to speak. And so for us, if we're going to imitate him and Walk in his image and be who he says we are in him. It's so important that we learn to recognize and hear God's voice I wanted to establish first of all that it's actually that hearing God's voice is actually for today. Because I think there's some people that are still kind of like, well we have the Bible, we don't need to hear God speak.

You know? And and so I just wanted to give some some scriptural foundation that we do in fact hear we can hear God's voice. He's still speaking. I'm gonna go to John 10, chapter ten, first of all. Starting in verse one, I'm gonna read this story here for the first 16 verses.

It's Jesus speaking, John chapter one or John yeah, John chapter one ten verse one sorry And this is Jesus speaking, and he says he's talking to the Pharisees, and he says, I tell you the truth. Anyone who sneaks over the wall of a sheepfold rather than going in through the gate must surely be a thief and a robber. But the one who enters through the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep recognize his voice and come to him. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.

After he has gathered his own flock, he walks ahead of them, and they follow him because they know his voice. They won't follow a stranger. They will run from him because they don't know his voice. Those who heard Jesus use this illustration didn't understand what he meant, so he explained it to them. I tell you I tell you the truth.

I am the gate for the sheep. All who came before me were thieves and robbers, but the true sheep did not listen to them. Yes. I am the gate. Those who come in through me will be saved.

They will come in and go freely and will find good pastures. The thief's purpose is to steal and kill and destroy. My purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life. Some versions say my purpose is to give abundant life. That's a very well known verse.

Verse 11, I am I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd sacrifices his life for the sheep. A hired hand will run when he sees the wolf coming. He will abandon the sheep because they don't belong to him, and he isn't their shepherd. And so the wolf attacks them and scatters the flock.

The hired hand runs away because he's working only for the money and doesn't really care about the sheep. I am the good shepherd. I know my own sheep, and they know me just as my father knows me, and I know the father. So I sacrifice my life for the sheep. I have other sheep too that are not in this sheepfold.

I must bring them also. They will listen to my voice, and there will be one flock with one shepherd. And there in that last verse, he's talking about the Jews and the Gentiles. He's basically prophesying. Okay.

I'm speaking to the Jews right now, but there's other people in my flock, and they're gonna recognize my voice, and they're gonna come, and they're gonna join. I'm gonna have one one flock with one shepherd. And so we are part of that fulfillment of that word right there. We are part of that other flock that he if we're Gentiles, we're part of that other flock that he brought in and that will listen to his voice. I it just struck me as I was reading it this time, verse 10, because I always think of of John ten ten a lot.

You know, the thief comes to steal, kill, and destroy, but I have come to give abundant life. That's a very common verse. And all of a sudden, just read I mean, I've read this while I was preparing and everything a number of times, but for some reason reading it out loud, it struck me that that verse is right in the center of this story because it's like the thief is coming to steal and kill destroy, but I've come to give I'm the Good Shepherd. I've come to give you abundant life, and what is that part of that abundant life Is hearing his voice and following him. He says, if I'm the shepherd, the sheep know my voice, and they're gonna follow me.

So part of of having that in here in this translation says a rich and satisfying life is being able to hear his voice and follow him. Further on, he just repeats it in verse 27. He just reiterates it again, my sheep listen to my voice. I know them, and they follow me. Then looking in John three, I just wanted to give a couple other instances where it's talked about where we can hear God's voice.

John three twenty nine, this is John the Baptist, and this story is interesting because it's about when John the Baptist had followers and when his followers noticed that the people are starting to follow Jesus and they come to him They're like John they're following him. They're not following you and And John says I've always said I'm not the one. I am just preparing the way for the Messiah. I'm not the one And then in verse 29. I love this verse John the Baptist is speaking and he says he who has the bride is the bridegroom, and he's speaking about Jesus.

Jesus is the bridegroom and he has the bride us, the his his body. But the friend of the bridegroom who stands and hears him rejoices greatly because of the bridegroom's voice, so this joy of mine has been made full. So there's something that is so I remember it was probably in it was in 2001 when I went the first time to to Kansas City to IHOP and to a a worship conference there. And I was in this huge and I had been to conferences before, but this particular one, I just remember I was in this huge auditorium, and I was sitting kind of up on the side a little bit in this room. The floor was filled.

The stadium area was filled with people just worshiping. Just so focused on the Lord and worshiping. And I stopped worshiping for a minute and just looked around the room and my spirit I just smiled and my spirit was like, oh, God. You so deserve this. You so deserved it.

You just you if if there's anything that you deserve, this is it. I mean, you just deserve our just our focus and our worship and our adoration right in this moment, and that's sometimes what I think about when I read this voice speak or this verse because it talks about the friend of the bridegroom stands and hears God's voice and rejoices greatly because of the bridegroom's voice. But I think there's also there's this joy that comes over you as a friend when you're just seeing everybody else that's worshiping Him. You're seeing that He's the one that's worthy Because he speaks to us because he leads us because he is God You just are like you're filled with joy because he's the one that's getting the fullness and the attention and the the adoration so And John fifteen fifteen is where Jesus calls us his friends He says I used to call you my servants, but because I've told you You know I tell you whatever the father tells me I now call you my friends. So we are included in that in that company.

And then in Matthew and Luke, both places, there are are put Matthew 10 Jesus is speaking again, and he's he's telling the disciples some of the things that are gonna come That are you know some of the things that are in their future, and he's saying you know, there's there's gonna be times where you are going to be persecuted. You're gonna be brought before kings and rulers, and and he says, but do not worry. This is in verses nineteen and twenty. Do not worry about how or what you are to say, for it will be given to you in that hour what you are to say. For it is not you who who speaks, but it is the spirit of your father who speaks in you.

So at in the hour, there's gonna be times, and it happens even when we're not thrown into court. I mean, it just happens on a day if you're a parent, this is the most wonderful thing. If you're a parent, This is like a treasure in the hour when you need it, and you're in the midst of something with your kids or with a spouse or with anything, but it's when your parent is a treasure and in that hour the Holy Spirit speaks to you and says, this is what you need to say right now for this moment, for this issue, for this time. You know? Because sometimes our logic will take us one way, but God knows the heart of that child.

God knows the all the details of that situation, and he knows exactly what needs to be spoken or not spoken. Sometimes he I was telling the group of ladies recently, one of the most wonderful things about hearing the Holy Spirit is when he goes, so you don't end up causing more problems than sticking your foot in your mouth and then trying to figure out how to undo what you've just said. You know, sometimes he just tells you, don't say anything. Just be still and let me work. But Luke, twelve eleven and twelve, again, reiterates that he's he's, it's kind of in a different context, but he's still saying the same same truth.

When when they bring you before the synagogues and the rulers and the authorities, do not worry about how or what you are to speak in your defense or what you are to say, for the Holy Spirit will teach you in that very hour what you what you ought to say. A couple of verses in John, where Jesus is talking about the Holy Spirit coming and what he what some of what the the purpose of the Holy Spirit coming is. John fourteen twenty six. 14 verse 26 and Jesus is speaking and he says, but the helper the Holy Spirit whom the father will send in my name He will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you And that's huge. I'll tell you there are times.

I mean we just we I know we don't use our brain probably to the capacity that we could by a long shot, but there's just times It's like we don't remember everything and the Holy Spirit will bring it to your remembrance and say That's what it says or that's where you find that or you know, whether it's in the scripture or whether it's just in life. I mean, there's times it's like, I can't find something. I'm like, Holy Spirit, bring to our remembrance. Where I put that? Where did I and he he will direct you and lead you or and so that's huge part.

John 16 verse 13, Jesus is again speaking of the Holy Spirit, and He says, but when He, the spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth. For he will not speak on his own initiative, but whatever he hears, he will speak, and he will disclose to you what is to come. So again, Jesus is speaking about the Holy Spirit, and he said the Holy Spirit doesn't speak whatever he wants. He actually speaks whatever the Father tells him to speak. He speaks what he's hearing from the Father, and then he speaks it to us.

And then here, he even touches a little bit on not just hearing his word about what's going on right now, but he even starts to talk some about prophecy, and he will disclose to you what's to come. So, I mean, the Holy Spirit will give you wisdom about things that are coming up so that we can have wisdom about what to do now. Oh, go ahead and read it. It says people bring glory to me by taking from what is mine and making it known to you. So it just Yeah.

So it does. It just kind of puts the another hammer ahead on the nail, doesn't it? Sixteen thirteen and fourteen. I'll write that down. Okay.

And one last one in Hebrews three and verses seven and fifteen, both of those two verses repeat the same thing, and both of them are quoting, Psalm ninety five seven through 11. But the writer of Hebrews was saying today, when you hear his voice, don't harden your hearts as Israel did when they rebelled. So the writer of Hebrews was was telling the the people that he was writing to, when you hear the spirit's voice, don't harden your hearts. That's what the Israelites did when they were in the desert. They hardened their hearts and they rebelled and they didn't listen to what God spoke to them.

Because I mean, he was he was so there with them. That was the whole purpose of taking them into the wilderness was really to build that relationship with him where they would they would learn what it was like to live under God and hear his voice and see his his movement and follow him and and but they hardened their heart because they didn't understand they didn't understand the circumstances. So but so those are just some just some foundational scriptures that just really show us that we are supposed to hear God's voice. Some examples after g this is after Jesus ascended of either Jesus or the Holy Spirit speaking. These are just several that were in acts of course we all know about Saul Paul Saul in acts nine four where he's on the road to Damascus and and the Holy Spirit just our Jesus actually just speaks to him audibly and it was interesting because the men around him could hear What was that?

I have to they could hear like thunder or they could hear something they could hear a noise but they didn't hear the words themselves. It was only Let's see The men with Paul stood speechless for they heard the sound of someone's voice, but saw no one And then but but the voice was Jesus, and he was saying, Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? And so Saul actually heard him audibly speaking, why are you persecuting me? In Acts ten nine through 16, this is another story that we're real familiar with, but it was if you start in in first one, it's about Cornelius a Roman officer, and he had he had been, you know, faithfully giving and praying, and he was a Roman officer. He wasn't Jewish.

It's Roman or acts 10 So there was this Roman officer, and he was a devout God fearing man It said and as everyone was in his household, and he gave generously to the poor and all this stuff and And he had a vision where an angel came to him and said I want you to Get a hold of this man names. I'm a Peter in this certain house and whatever so meanwhile Peter is in this house, and and he has this vision. He goes up on the rooftop, and he has this vision where the sheets lit, you know, lowered down with all of these wrecked all these animals that he would never eat as a Jewish devout Jewish man, and He hears a voice that says Peter get up kill it and eat it and The thing was is Peter answered back. He's like no Lord. I can't do that I would never do that and that the voice answered him back and said do not call something unclean if God has made it clean and This vision repeated itself three times so Not not only did he hear an audible voice But he had a vision an open vision and sought and he was conversing back and forth with God God was speaking to him.

He spoke back God spoke back to him And then a few minutes later after it sunk in, the Holy Spirit said to Peter, there's three men downstairs that have come. Go down and and see what they want. And those were the three men that were coming from the Roman officer Cornelius is saying okay We've come to you know, we were sent here come tell us what you know, and she and he went told them all about Jesus and this is this was when the door began to open to the Gentiles and But it came through this vision and hearing God speak to him Another awesome example is in Acts eight and This starts in in verse 26 and It kind of goes it pretty much goes through the end of the chapter, but the main verses that I was looking at were 26 through 29 There's this Ethiopian eunuch, okay, and he has He has been you know, he went to Jerusalem to worship and he's riding in his chariot Reading the book of Isaiah has no idea what it means. He's not a believer. He doesn't know about Jesus He's just reading this So the Holy Spirit speaks to Philip and first of all he tells Philip go south Okay, he tells him where he's supposed to go so Philip goes south and then he sees this chariot and and the Holy Spirit speaks to me again And he says okay go and join yourself to this chariot.

Go run alongside this this chariot. So Philip ran alongside this chariot, and he overhears this eunuch reading out loud, Isaiah. And and so he's like, you know, do you know what this means? And he's like, you know? And so the eunuch invites him up into his chariot, you know, tell me what this means.

Was this about was the writer speaking about himself? Was he speaking about somebody else? And Philip had the total opportunity. It was the scripture was he was led like a sheep to be to the slaughter. And as a lamb is silent before the shearers, he did not open his mouth.

He was humiliated and received no justice. Who can speak of his descendants for his life was taken from the earth? Those are the words that Philip heard the eunuch reading and the eunuch didn't understand. So Philip jumps up in the chariot and explains to him. This is Jesus.

This is who this is about. This is Jesus the Christ the Messiah And eventually, the eunuch pulls like, let's pull over and get baptized. He gets baptized, and I mean, gives his heart to the Lord, but it was because Philip was listening and hearing and heard the voice of the Lord tell him, go south. Mhmm. Join, walk beside this chariot.

There's an opportunity coming. You know, I want you to be in the right place at the right time for this opportunity to lead this man to the Lord. He's ripe fruit. Mhmm. He is such ripe fruit.

I I remember one time I was doing when we used to do Wednesday night worship nights at back when it was Jackson Hole Christian Center. And when we do worship nights, do two or three hours of worship, just soaking worship on Wednesday nights. And I remember and it was just awesome because there were just people would just come in and just sit there, you know, just worship, not even really sing a lot of times. Just really just let the spirit minister to them. And and there would be a few people that that were kinda called to a a prayer ministry type ministry, and they would just sit and wait for the holy spirits leading, and then they would go and minister to people as as the spirit led them, you know.

And I remember one particular guy that was a minister the way he explained it. He's like, it's like the spirit just shows me this person is ripe fruit. He goes, I can just see it. It's like they're just like an apple or peach or something just hanging there ready to be picked. And he goes, and and so that's who that's who I approach.

I don't because some people are just not there yet, you know? And it's there's different times. Sometimes it's ripe fruit like this eunuch and it's ready for salvation, and sometimes at a certain point where it's not maybe not ready for salvation But it's ready for a word a specific word this moment, you know a specific you know touch a specific ministering to him just a specific serving them just loving on them You know so it's being conscious of that. But this story I love this story of Philip and how he just was listening and one other example, and there's there's many examples, but one other example is acts 13 And this is where some of the leaders in the church, some of the prophets and teachers in the church at Antioch had gathered together and they were worshiping and praying and fasting together and in the midst of their prayer and the midst of their worshiping the Holy Spirit spoke and said separate Barnabas and Saul or Paul at that time. I'm just separate them for a special work that I've called them to and so in that in that place of just being worshiping and before the Lord seeking the Lord's direction, the Holy Spirit spoke to him and gave him direction.

These two are the ones I want to go and dedicate them and and send them off for a special work. One of the questions when I was thinking about this last night is so God does speak, but the big question That we often have is how do we know it's him? You know, I mean, I've got my thoughts. I've got you know my opinions I've got you know, of course, there's the whole spiritual realm that's you know around us the enemy, you know, kind of trying to come towards us and whatever and and the Holy Spirit. How do we know?

How do we learn to hear his voice? And and this is a very simplified two words, but it really comes by doing we learn by doing It's sort of like with walking when you're a little toddler. How do you learn to walk? You learn to walk by walking You know and you're gonna fall down and you're gonna make mistakes, and you're gonna get it wrong sometimes But you can't just think about walking and Study it and study somebody I mean you do study you are around other people and you said you're in the word so and we're gonna get into this in a minute But the word is foundational because this is gonna be your plumb line if things don't line up with this and not just one verse in the word, but the whole word You know because Jesus there were times that even the pharisees were like you're breaking the law You know it says not to do that and you're doing it. He says no for this moment This is what the father is saying to do you know He was very it was like I'm following the father's character in this I'm not necessarily following his you know laws the the Jewish laws that they had set up, but So the word is so foundational, but I read a quote the other day in another book that I'm doing and it says by trusting we learn to trust Okay by hearing we learn to hear and Sometimes there's just we just have to get out there and say okay, Holy Spirit.

I'm putting myself out here I'm trusting you you say that you would not give me a snake if I asked You know for a blessing you're not gonna and and so I'm trusting that you are indeed greater than anything You're greater in me than what's outside of me. What's in this world. You're even greater than my own thoughts. I'm gonna submit them to you. Will you teach me, and will you show me what's your voice?

And I was gonna read the forward a friend of mine wrote in my in my second book is so good about this. This Brian is just a precious friend of Matt and I's, and he is a pastor, and he's a worshipper, and he is a real strong prophetic apostolic gifting, and has just really been a mentor and a friend to us for years. So I asked him if he would write a forward for for this book, and this sort of really kind of puts it in a nutshell. He quotes Stephen r Covey first. He says, to know and not to do is really not to know.

What is it again?

To know it, but not to do it is really not to know it. Okay? It's really in the walking out. We talked about that last week, the different ways of learning, and there's knowledge, there's revelation, and there's experience. And experience is the deepest.

It's where you take your revelation, you take your knowledge, and you walk it out. That's in the that's where the real knowing comes. Kinda like, you know, like we were talking about walking as a child, you know, You can study it, but until you get out and do it. Okay. So I'm just gonna read this to you.

When God wants to teach his son something, he takes them for a walk. From the time of Adam to Enoch to Abraham and Moses, God has revealed himself revealed himself on the way to somewhere. Pilgrimages are at the heart of the biblical witness because that is the vehicle God uses to raise his sons. Jesus said, follow me, and I will make you fishers of men. A person learns by doing.

The unveiling of God's nature and consequently, the transformation of ours takes place in the journey. Along the way, one begins to see things and people through different eyes. Attitudes get challenged, prejudices exposed, and hearts unveiled. These are the places where altars are built, sacrifices are made, worship is offered, decisions are recorded, and heaven answers. Transformation ensues through choices to let go of one way of understanding and to embrace another.

The Lord's heart woos us into new revelation and understanding, and the journey becomes more like a dance, an interface between heaven and earth. It is the walking out of that experience that causes one to be known by God and gives one authority with God. True authority does not and this is talking about spiritual authority. True authority does not come from being powerful or gifted or witty or charming or clever. It comes from vulnerability.

Your authority comes when you allow God to take you and shape you through the journey. God wants to write all of us into his story, but you have to go there. You have to take a walk with him. There's no faking it. You cannot keep choosing your own way and still go with him.

You cannot keep your life. You have to let go of it in order to find it. Each one must choose to follow. And if you do, you will not remain unchanged. Unchanged.

Don't be afraid to release your heart and your trust into the care of the father. He knows who you are and what you need. Put your hand in his. Volunteer your vulnerability and go on the journey. You will not be sorry.

I just love that picture because it I hadn't know, it's like one of those things you you know it, but when somebody puts it in a different set of words, it just like it just so deepened it in me again. I was just like, it's so true. Everything is learned on the journey, the walk with him. So that's how we're gonna learn how to hear his voice. It's just by by giving ourselves to him and say, Lord, I want to pursue you in this.

I want you to start teaching me how to hear your voice. I want to give you some examples of different ways that God speaks. There's so many ways. It's literally, it's as vast as the done probably, but these are some of the different ways that I've experienced myself, and that you can see in scripture, and that a lot of people I know have experienced. The first one we talked about already is through scripture.

It's where he just and and we talked about this last week when we were talking about the difference between knowledge and revelation. And there's there's times that, you know, that we're reading through this and and we're gaining knowledge and that's awesome. And then there's times when the spirit just and he just like pierces your heart that moment with that word for you know, and you just know, okay, that was for me right now. That's not just a truth that we're all walking in. That was something you're speaking to me for this moment, for this situation.

So he definitely speaks through the scripture, and again, it's my heart my husband teases me so much because he he tells me I'm the it is also written. That's my nickname. It is also written because I'm the person usually when I'm in a Bible study and somebody's sharing one side of it, I'm like, but it also says, but it also says. And it's so important to me. In Psalms, it talks about the whole of his word is truth.

You know, I mean, that's really where we get off. That's I mean, if you look at most religious groups or Christian groups or cults or whatever that are just way kind of trailed off on that. It's they've taken one or two verses or maybe three or four verse whatever, and they just camp on them, and they don't bring it into the whole picture of the whole word. So it's just it's so important just to bring it all in. Another way that God speaks is just through impressions, through thoughts or pictures that he gives us in our in our mind, in our spirit.

We'll talk a little bit more as we go further through this of recognizing how you know when it's him and when it's you. Mhmm. And it all ties into I mean, really ties into what we talked about last week with our body, soul, and spirit. That's why that's so important that we're learning to walk in the spirit and know what the spirit says, what the word says, and bring our soul, our mind along with us and renewing our mind. But he will give us thoughts and pictures in our in our mind.

He talks a lot through nature. I mean, he talks to me through nature all the time if you Most of you who know me know that I mean it's like every time I go outside. It's like you know He's just every everything is proclaiming who he is. It really is it just proclaims him Just as an example of that, just so you kind of have an idea, is like one time I hear it's been a while ago. I was doing worship for a conference that was up at Snow King, and it was we were doing worship like Friday night two or three times on Saturday Sunday morning, so Usually when you're in a conference, you know it starts out You're like you're so excited to be there and by about Saturday afternoon You know you're physically you're just drained you know and so it was Saturday afternoon And we had a break before the evening session and I came home and grab something to eat and and Was just went for a walk because that's what I do a lot just to hear the Lord.

Went for a walk, and I'm walking down our road, and I just I just was kind of just watching and looking, and all of a sudden this shadow just went over me. And I looked up and there's this eagle that had just flew just flew right over me. He goes, just you're under you're under the shadow of my wing. Just rest. Just rest.

Don't don't try to push your way through this. Don't try to make something out. You know, don't don't all of a sudden slip into your soul and your strength right now. It's going okay. Just stand in my shadow.

You know? And so many times when he says that, either he'll give me a new infusion of strength and we rise to our our that next session is just one of those soaking resting sessions where we just sit back and just everybody let's just let's just soak for a while and just rest and worship him in a gentle place So that was just one you know Example of how he just speaks all the time to me through through nature, and I'm sure he does to you too Numbers he speaks a lot to me through numbers. That was like the example I gave you with the seven fifty seven the first week. And they just come a lot. I mean, it sometimes is like, I mean, many many many times a day I get numbers.

And sometimes, they are scripture references. Sometimes they are references like in the Strong's to a Greek or Hebrew number. Sometimes there is something else totally different that has to do with what the numbers themselves mean. Sometimes it's something totally just totally different. One time I kept getting one zero one, one zero one, one zero one, and he's and I was like, Lord, what is it?

He's like, it's a hole in one. When I give you that, you're at the right place at the right time. I'm like Mhmm. Okay. Thank you.

You know? So every once in a while, I get that. And I'm like, okay. Thank you, Father. I'm in the right place at the right time.

Sometimes they're like, if they're mirrored numbers, like 12/21 or 2772 or something mirrored, all of a sudden, it just rise up in my spirit to pray. Your kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven. Mhmm. You know, that it would mirror earth would mirror heaven right now. Come with your kingdom.

Mhmm. But it's really, it's all of these all of these are about relationship. Mhmm. Okay? The purpose in all of this is it is not just for us to have a lot of knowledge.

It's like it's because he wants he wants us. He wants our friendship. He wants our heart. He wants us walking with him and talking with him and hearing him. It's it's for myself, I know there are certain the next thing that I was gonna say he speaks in his dreams.

He's very common dreams, and he he tells us, you know, in in the last days in Joel, he says in the last days, I'm gonna pour out my spirit, and you're gonna dream dreams, and see visions, and prophecy. And and I know there are very common things that often mean the same thing in your in dreams. Okay. When you see this in a dream, it it means this a lot of times. But I all I usually step back from that a couple paces, and I say, okay, Lord, is that what it means in this dream?

Because I I am a little hesitant about any kind of formulas in our walk. You know, whenever there's a formula, it really it takes the relationship part out of it, and all of a sudden, it's like, oh, I can just. Yeah.

I think the perfect example of that is in the old testament with all the different wars. Uh-huh. And that whenever Yes. You

go forward,

maybe in the way it was last time?

It did work the next time. Yeah.

It's like each time.

Yeah. Just taking the rock and so it's Yeah. Exactly.

Yeah. But that yeah. It just

It's you just yeah. It's it's not yeah. God's not into formulas. He's into relationship. That's why I also think

of just the the example of the unclean animals. It's like he's using something that Paul completely took hold of and understood in his language, in his culture, in his time Uh-huh. Just the unclean animals. And it'd be no different than if somebody of the nations. Yeah.

But it's like using what he would totally know in the context that he would totally get that. Then all a sudden the nations are ringing his door. He's thinking,

I'm like, clean. Yeah. Like really? You're is

it okay to come into my house? Exactly. So, uniquely, just relationship wise,

where we're

at, how He speaks so uniquely.

He does speak very uniquely to us. I mean, are times that I've heard people where the Lord speaks some picture that would have absolutely no there'd be no reference for me, no meaning, no anything. But to them, it is the absolutely the one thing, the one word, the one picture that totally just tears the wall down. Mhmm. And just it's like Mhmm.

God is real. He knows I'm here. He knows my name. Mhmm. You know?

It's just that one.

Mhmm.

But as far as dreams, I've had I mean, I I dream a lot. It I really recommend that you just keep a journal by your bed

Mhmm.

And write down dreams. Write them when you wake up, if you wake up in the middle the night, take a minute and write them down. Mhmm. A lot of times, you forget them by morning, and it's like they're gone. But if you start writing them down, you'll start it's like all of a sudden, they start to you start to remember.

And most of the time, not always, most of the time, the Lord gives me the interpretation even as I'm writing it. And just really, you know, gives me understanding. And sometimes they are just teaching me more in-depth about what he means in his words. Sometimes a lot of times they are warning me of something to come or preparing me for something to come. So, I want to give you a couple examples.

When we were in The Philippines, and I may have shared this with some of you when we came back from The Philippines, it was so awesome because it was our it was our first trip over there. We had been in relationship long distance with this church and with this local. I mean, there it's all there's not like an American over there that started this church. It's all the Filipino people and stuff. We had just connected online and for years and years had been in contact and praying with them and supporting them and whatever.

And we finally went over there to to visit them a few years back. And we were every day was different. You didn't know what today was. They would come pick you up first thing in the morning, and you would get home at night that night. But there and then in the daytime, you just traveled through the mountains and through the rice paddies, and we're just ministering all day.

You could preach a dozen sermons a day and pray for people all day long. It was just constantly going. And so we never knew what our days were gonna be like, but there was there were two times that where dreams where people had dreams about us coming. There was one time where we we stopped at lunchtime, it happened to be lunchtime, at this one pastor and his wife's house. And these are like little little little shacks, little huts with dirt floors in the middle of the jungle, out in the middle of nowhere.

And and so whenever we would stop, these are very poor people, they would run down with their last few pesos and go get a fish or, you know, get some rice or something and cook us a meal. And so we were sitting there eating with them, and this pastor's niece who was probably like 20, 21, was at the table as well. And most of them did not speak English. Most of them we had to Jared was interpreting. The pastor could speak English and was interpreting.

And the at one point during the meal, this little young girl was sitting across from me and she just she starts whispering to her pastor, her uncle, and they were talking back and forth, they were all excited, and interpret, Jared interpreted, and he said, like, I don't know if it was a day before or two days before or whatever, this girl had a dream, and I was in the dream and she saw me standing in the church teaching and preaching to them. And she's like, that's the lady. That's the lady who was in my dream. And it was just like, yes Lord, I'm where I'm supposed to be. I'm where I'm supposed to be.

And then there was another time where we were out. It was another day. We we just were driving through the rice fields and happened to stop at this one lady's house. She did not know we were coming except we had not called her or anything. There was no way to call her or tell her we were coming.

But when we got there, she was ready for us. And she's like, I had a dream last night that Jared was coming with some people, some white people, and so I was prepared

for you.

So she's just

waiting for us,

you know?

And so we spent the afternoon and evening with them and whatever. It's just, I mean, God is very alive and working and moving. Like I said last week, it's like if we had satellites to catch all of His many words and thoughts, it would overwhelm us. We could never contain it all. But another way that He speaks is visions.

And visions are basically they're like an impression, they're they're stronger and more clear. An impression is just like where you get just a little kind of a little impression. But a vision, it can be internal or external. You can have a vision that's really just clear in your mind. Or you can have a vision, I've had visions before that are open visions where like overlaps whatever you're seeing in front of you.

It's just an open vision. It can come in a still picture. It can just be a a a picture, or it can be like a movie. Mhmm. You know, it can be moving things.

The first open vision I had was years ago. I was laying in bed in the middle of the night, and I woke up, and right in front of me was a life-sized white horse. Mhmm. Right there, moving in my room. And I turned my head, and I'm like, shit.

No. I want it to be real. You know? I don't wanna I don't wanna think I'm seeing something and and pretend. I want it to be I want to know it's real.

I'd rather know it's fake if it's fake. You know? And so that was the first one. And I still that is so clear to me and I still think about it a lot. But there's been other ones.

But so you can have open visions. God can speak audibly as He did with these people. He definitely speaks audibly still. There was one time when I was leading worship. It was at that same worship time here.

In fact, I think it was that night after I had the eagle go over me that night. It was after the teaching and they had just they asked if I would just come up by myself and do some worship. I the band we didn't the whole band didn't come up. I was just up there and I was just quietly worshiping as they were praying and ministering for people. And I was singing a song that I had written out of Song of Solomon, and it was in the tense of like the personal tense of Jesus singing it over the people.

It was Jesus singing the song over the people out of Song of Solomon, you know, come away to the, you know, and to the cliffs on high. And and I'm just singing it quietly and worshiping as they're ministering. And all of a sudden I hear a male voice singing with me out loud. And I'm like, first of all, knows this song. How do you and there's this man, there was one man standing right in front of my keyboard, just like a foot in front of my keyboard, praying for a lady.

And I'm like, how does he know the words to this song? I thought he was singing it. And I'm like, how does he know the words to this song? It's so weird, you know. It must have hurt somewhere.

And I'm this is all going through my

mind because I'm worshiping, you know.

And pretty soon, he was done ministering to that woman, and she walked away. And he turned and started to walk, and he's not singing, and I still hear it. And it literally was Jesus singing this over these people as they were getting ministered to and just calling them to come away. So sometimes we do we can He still speaks audibly. Sometimes He speaks through other people Uh-huh.

Whether it's a believer or believer. Uh-huh. I mean, sometimes he just he will direct the words of

somebody to speak to you what you need

to hear at that moment. And then sometimes, another way is just in everyday life. I mean, sometimes you'll just see a headline and it will pierce you. And God says, it has nothing to do with the story. It has nothing to do with what the headline's about in that story, but those words will speak to you.

Or you'll see a sign, or you'll see a movie, or you'll see the circumstances around you will speak. God will speak through them. But a verse that I was thinking about last night when I was just laying there praying in the middle of the night was, Isaiah forty five three and this is what I love this verse. And in context, God is speaking about Cyrus and Israel, but just as a metaphor, as a picture, met metaphor here. Isaiah 45 verse three.

I love just the metaphorical picture that's here as well as the as the actual, happening of what happened through Cyrus and Israel. But, verse three says, I God is talking and he says, I will give you treasures hidden in the darkness, secret riches. I will do this so that you may know that I am the Lord, the God of Israel, the one who calls you by name. And I think a lot of this, when we're learning to hear his voice, that's what it's kind of like. It's kinda like getting these treasures in the darkness.

It's like we're stepping into a a realm as we are truly as children of God, as as inherit living in the inheritance of Christ, we are really we're more of a of a resident of the spiritual realm than we are the physical realm in some ways. I mean, we really that's our true identity. There's gonna be a time when Jesus comes back and we'll get to step into it in fullness. But we really are residents of that realm right now. And that's what it's kind of like as he's teaching us how to hear his voice.

It's like, I have these treasures, these secret hidden things. And the reason I'm showing them to you is I want you to know that I'm the God of Israel, the one who knows your name. I call you by name. I know who you are. I know you individually.

You're not just one in this massive wave of people. You are very individual to me. If we leave out the reality and the experience of hearing God, if we have all the other stuff but we leave out and say, you know what? It's too hard. I just don't want to deal with that part of it.

We really can we just fall into a religious rut. It's what we do. We fall into where we're just kind of following it by rote. Is that the right word? Mhmm.

You know, where it's just like, okay. This is what we're doing and we're it says to do this and we're doing it. But it's not a living, breathing relationship where you're you know, it's kind of like, you know, being in a marriage where everybody knows what the rules are and the boundaries are and Mhmm. You take care of your stuff and I'll take care of my stuff, but we really have no communication. We don't talk.

We may live in the same house, but there's no relationship. Right. So that's that's kind of a picture of the difference. Okay, there's one more thing that I want to go over, because I think this is important, and then we're gonna do some little exercises to hear God speak to us.

Okay, just one quick thing. Yes. Could you have, like, a physical?

I mean, could there be

I I just remember when I was in that healing service that one time, and I mean, I literally I mean, I know I felt his arm all around my shoulders. Oh, absolutely. You know, like, like, comforting me and saying, you know, that Absolutely. I mean, I I mean

There

there's nobody around me.

You can absolutely feel his presence. There was a there was a testimony I recently saw and heard, and it was of, somebody that's in the persecuted church. He'd come out of Egypt. And, and just the quietest, mildest, meekest spirit on this man. Just this gentle man.

He is Egyptian, I believe. But and he didn't speak English. He had an interpreter. But he showed his body and there were burns all over his body. And he had been persecuted for his faith in Christ.

He had escaped his country and now was living in a country where he had nothing. He gave up he was a businessman, had a family, had a home, all of that. He gave it all up and escaped. But he showed his his burns where they had burned him. But he said, every time they burned me, Jesus came up to me and hugged me and hugged me.

He held me every time they burned me. And he said and so even with that persecution, even with giving up everything that he gave up, he did it because it was real to him. He knew Jesus was real. He's like, I there's I don't care what you do to me. I know he's real because he held me.

Mhmm. He spoke to me. He was with me in those moments. So absolutely. Yep.

You can feel him. Okay. What I wanna talk about is our imagination. Because I think this is a really big deal because because like everything that Satan does, he takes the original and he twists and distorts it and tries to ruin it. He does ruin it.

I mean, that's his his goal is to steal and destroy, kill. And so so we are so, as the body of Christ, for the most part, are very wary of our imagination, Very careful of our imagination for good reason because in our soul, our imagination can be the seat of some very bad thoughts. I mean, we can really go some wrong places in our imagination. And it can I mean, over and over again in the letters, all the different epistles, I mean, Paul warns about our thoughts and our mind and our imaginations and what are we setting our thoughts on? So it's very it is important.

And and again, going back to the body, soul, and spirit, that's why that is such important piece of this puzzle is where are you walking from? But we have to remember that in the beginning, imagination came from God. Mhmm. Okay? It was the way he made us.

Okay? To have an imagination. I mean, we've really he gave us our imagination at conception. I mean, it's a part of our who we are as our makeup as human beings is our imagination. I'm gonna give you a definition of what imagination is.

It's the ability to visualize. It's it's the action or faculty of forming mental images or concepts that are not present to your senses. So you're you're visualizing some concepts or images that you don't see right now with your five senses, you know, with your other senses. You can't touch it or smell it or see it, but you're visualizing it. You don't even see it with your physical eyes.

Okay? You only see it in your mind. It's the creative part of our mind where ideas, thoughts, and images are formed. So it's that part of us that's creative. It's in the imagination that we have the ability to think of ways to deal with difficulties or problems.

Okay? It's in our it's in that's the part of us that can think of ways to work through problems or difficulties. And the last one is and I got these literally just right out of the dictionary. The last one is the act of creating a semblance of reality. Okay?

So it's like sort of like you have a little model home that you build compared to the big home that you're gonna build. Okay? Our imagination can build a semblance or an image of something that can happen in reality. Okay? Some examples of of just everyday people that use their imagination all the time, athletes.

I mean, we talked about this, I think, kinda touched on it with other things that we talked about but I mean, are constantly I was talking to a friend of mine last night who was a volleyball coach, you know, and she's just like, if you can see yourself doing it, you can do it. You know? If you don't see yourself doing it, you'll never get there. Mhmm. You have to visualize yourself doing those movements and practice them in your mind and see yourself doing them over and over again.

And and so athletes absolutely use their imagination to visualize themselves doing something. An architect, I was just saying that about the small plan versus but an architect, it even starts here. I mean, know, husband is a stonemason and does huge stone, you know, in houses, huge houses and fireplaces and floors and everything. And a lot of it, you have to see it in your mind Mhmm. Before before you do it.

And then even as he's laying it. Mhmm. You know? Yeah. You know, it's so funny because he'll get all these jobs and and he'll have the homeowners come in and say, okay.

Can we help you lay out the rocks? You know? He'll have pot just pallets, like semi loads of rock. And and they want to lay it out on the ground before then he puts it on the wall. And can we pick that rock?

We really like that one and put it here and that one. And and he's just like, oh my word. Know? But for him, he's been doing it for almost about thirty years now. And so he's been doing it so long and it's a it's a artistic creative thing where literally when I help him sometimes when I just am on side jobs or I have time and I'll go to a job and hang out with him, I think I'll help him and I'll run go pick up a rock and he's like, no.

And he'll point to a specific rock and nine times out of ten, ninety nine times out of a 100, he will pick the rock that will fit that hole. He just can see it. He visualizes it in his mind. He sees it before he picks it up and puts it in the wall. It's just, you know?

So it's very much a artistic thing, painter who paints. You know, a lot of times you have visual things in your mind when you do your stained glass, you know, you have things in your mind. A writer, often, you know, they have stories in their minds before they write them out. A teacher, you know, like today. I was visualizing in my mind going through this before I actually do it.

You know, so there's a lot of ways that we use our imagination in very good ways every

day.

Proverbs twenty three seven says, for as he thinks within himself, so he is. Okay? In this particular verse, that's half of the verse, and the verse is talking about a selfish man, you know? And and and as a selfish man thinks in his heart, that's the way he's gonna be. So Mhmm.

Just be prepared. Okay? He may say he's gonna give you something, but in in the end, he's gonna take it back from you because as he is in his heart, that's the way he is. So as we are thinking and imagining in our minds and in our hearts, that's what's gonna come out of us. So our imagination is so very important, what we are imagining.

Okay? That and and how this goes along with our I'm gonna get into it in a minute here, Bohr, but how this goes along with us walking in our true identity is how do you imagine yourself as far as your character traits?

Mhmm. Mhmm.

Are you constantly in your mind seeing yourself in your imagination, in your mind, and in your thoughts? Do you have a picture of yourself as being weak and insecure and frustrated and impatient? Or do you see yourself are you are you gonna start telling yourself, no. In Christ, I'm kind. I'm giving.

I love the story you told about Janice where and that kinda goes back to some of the tips that we were talking about last week. But she she would say, you know what? I'm a giving person in Christ. You you've given us all. In Christ, we have a generous heart.

It's more blessed to give than to receive. But she saw it herself, maybe that she didn't have that trait working out as much as she wanted to. So she started mumbling it to herself and meditating to herself, I'm giving. I'm a giving person. I'm a giving person.

And then she would go through her days looking for ways to do that. Whether it was like at the four way stop, letting that person go first. Or at the grocery store, letting that person go first. Or, you know, I'm gonna get the last thing. Well, wait.

No. I'm a giving person. I'll let you take it. And just practicing it out and walking it out. But it starts up here and how, you know, how are we imagining ourselves to be?

How are we seeing ourselves? It's so important. We even have imaginations and thoughts about God.

Mhmm. Mhmm.

And how we visualize about God. I mean, that's one of my favorite quotes that I've used before from AW Tozer is the the what you think about God is the most important thing about you. Mhmm. The first thing that comes to mind when you think about God is the most important thing about you because it's the picture that you have in your mind. Do you have a picture of him being a loving father, of an all merciful, almighty leader and rule.

I mean, what are the pictures that you have in his of in your mind of him? And how is he renewing those

Mhmm.

And lighting them up with scripture and changing them? Another part of of your imagination is what not only what do you imagine about your character, but what do you imagine yourself doing? That kinda lines up with the tips ten eleven twelve that I gave last week just about, we all start dreaming with the Holy Spirit. Start how how would you start seeing yourself as being in Christ and he's working his character in you and nothing is impossible for him to do through you by his spirit and work within you. What are some of the things that you see yourself doing that you, at this point, don't think you would ever do?

Mhmm. You know? It doesn't

necessarily related to religious thing.

Maybe not.

But, like, a better life Mhmm. That is ahead of you.

Yeah. Yep. Because a lot of times we make always. We always make choices out of, you know, what we believe and what we think and how we perceive things to be. Mhmm.

So if we change the way we perceive it and the way we're thinking and believing it to be, we're gonna make different choices. Mhmm. We just really are. Mhmm. And absolutely, some of them are just that, you know, like I was saying last week, okay, I started goofing around and starting paint and have some fun and that's not real spiritual at this moment, but and yet it is.

Mhmm. Because it's allowing I've always said I've always spoken over myself. I'm not creative. I'm just not a creative person. Because I'm not I don't see myself as crafty.

You know, I don't go to the craft things and sit down and make things. And I'm just like, you know, those I mean, seriously, those give me like heart palpitations. I'm like, oh, you know. And because and and then all of a sudden, the God's just unfolding me. He's like, I am the creator.

And I

I created you in my image. I live in you. You are creative. All of us are creative. It will it will manifest itself in different ways, but we are all creative.

We're made in the image of a creative God. So

That's an awesome exercise. Just, I mean, that alone. Was it? And exercise just of, you know, how do you see yourself in Christ and what is it you're doing? Yeah.

Because if I could actually somehow, like, show you guys the motion picture,

Yeah. It is quite awesome. Fucking awesome. I mean, I'm just on this I mean,

not just one white horse, but I've got seven. And I ride with just the finest Italian linen. I've got this big awesome mantle or robe with velvet and like a blue I mean, I could totally see myself riding over the years We and need

to do image boards. Yes, We do. Wish I could appreciate

that. It's awesome. Well, I'll tell you. Did you are you guys writing these questions down? Yes.

Okay. The last one is where is Jesus in your plans? Okay. That's a huge that's a that's a I mean, that's really a foundational bottom line how we're imagining, how we're seeing ourselves, and what we're doing. But where is He in this?

Okay? How is He involved in it? And and sometimes, like I said, it's not necessarily what we think of as a real spiritual activity. Right. And yet he's right there in the middle of it going, go.

Mhmm. Go girl. This is who I see you to be. Go. Enjoy it.

Yeah. You know, get to know me in this. See You know, he's like cheering us on. So I would love for you, if you would actually have those three questions kind of in in next week.

Can you run down again?

Yep. How do you imagine yourself? As far as character traits? What do you imagine yourself doing?

Okay. Yeah.

And where is Jesus in your plans? And then next week, I'm gonna hand out some journals. Next week, you guys can you can kinda mess around with that, and we will come back, and you guys can share some of them. It'll be awesome. You'll have all week to let it sort of marinate and build.

Question that we have to

think about. Imagine. Imagine. Yeah.

And

you know what? This is something that's going to grow and change and expand. Okay? Just as our relationship with the Lord is a growing, expanding, moving you know, I love the picture of how our universe is expanding at so many million light years every second. It's not static.

It is actually still growing and expanding and moving. And that's the way our life should be. It should still be expanding and growing. So, this is something even throughout this week, you're gonna probably see it kind of grow as you go through the week. Yes?

So, I just wanted to share because this whole, you know, just topic you're on this morning is and I was trying to think in your ways that you said, how do we know

if we're hearing God

or not? And one of the ways I wrote down, and it probably goes under yours, is just that you might have thought you heard the Lord, but then confirmations. Mhmm. Like, throughout the day. So so as I've been here, I've been thinking, that's a confirmation because so I was driving another school bus this morning.

You can imagine where one's mind might go as they're driving to school.

And and but

this morning, was just really recognizing that it's like, you know, I'm like, well, Lord, I've been walking with you for twenty five years, whatever, and and just recognize that place of I think one of the words you brought up this morning was distrust. What are the you know, it's kinda like, what do I really think about you, God, and, you know, and my trust levels? Because I've been recognizing it's like, you know, I wake up a lot of mornings almost like the picture you gave me this morning was like, I hand you a gift every morning to unwrap. And and I expect there's gonna be well, Amy says, if you ask for grace, I'm gonna give you a snake. And he sort of said that to me this morning because it's like, a lot of days, it's like, I'm expecting a snake.

Mhmm. And he was just, like, speaking to me today going, you know, I give good gifts. I give you a gift every morning, and when you unwrap it, I want you to be unwrapping it with joy and with expectation. And and even said, like you said to me, he even said, sometimes it's gonna be a hidden treasure. Yeah.

Sometimes it'll be right there, ready for me to present it to you that day. Sometimes you'll have, you know but it was it was like he was speaking that to me just this morning in love. Yeah.

Just kinda like, you know, I'm a

I'm a giver of good gifts. Mhmm. You know? Yeah. I need you to believe that Yeah.

You know, every morning, it's you know? That and it was kinda like and even if it doesn't look good at the time, it's like it's because it's a hidden treasure.

It's something

that's that I wanted I need you to seek out. I need you to find, you know. And it's like, okay. So so this has been working. So as we've been teaching this morning, it's like to me, it's like, that's how God speaks too because he confirms it.

Mhmm. If you feel

like Absolutely. Yeah.

Confirms it through different, you know

Yeah. Will. He'll say it in yeah. From several different sources I'm voice, and and I'm really really glad glad you you brought brought up up that that confirmation. Confirmation.

We'll We'll talk talk about about different different ways. Ways to know, you know, to more recognize that it's him. I did talk about, you know, it's scripture. You know, I mean, that's go back to scripture for sure. And it's interesting because he is using the scripture as he's talking to you.

You're not necessarily in the scripture.

Right. Exactly.

You weren't reading it while you're driving, and yet he's bringing it to your remembrance, which goes back to the verses we were talking about before the Holy Spirit brings it to your remembrance. You know, and the Holy Spirit's speaking and talking. But and for me and and just and we can talk about this more in coming weeks. But for me, still, after all of these years, I still I I ask him when there's times when it just doesn't just resonate in my spirit right away. I just in my spirit, not even out loud, I just say, Father, is that you?

Mhmm. Mhmm. And he answers. You know? The enemy can't hear my thoughts and know to answer me and say, yes, it's me.

God's gonna you know? God's big enough to say, yes, it's me or no, that's not me. Mhmm. And he's done both. He says, no, that's not me.

Like, okay. So I ask him a lot. Father, is that you?

Do you think that the peace inside you always also a confirmation of what you know, like, you make a decision and, you know, you think about the decision or things, and then you're like, you know, like and then there is another decision that just give you peace.

Uh-huh. Is that another decision? It can absolutely be. You I mean, absolutely peace is a is but I have also had times in my walk where I'm just I am very much following the Lord's spirit, and I don't have peace because I'm reacting out of my soul and out of my fears and out of my insecurities. So I don't have peace yet in my spirit because I'm not lined up with you know?

But it's very much the right path. And then there's been times that I thought I had peace and it's because it was feeding what I really wanted to do and it was my soul until later. Kind of like we talked about the brochure and I saw the full picture and all the dead dump over here and I was like, okay. That was my soul that was very happy and it was kind of a fake peace. I wasn't really the Lord.

So peace can be, but it's really, again, it's walking it out and learning. Okay, is this your peace Lord or is this my you know? And it and if if I imagitate it, is it because this isn't you, or is it because I'm not walking?

Or I'm reacting to what you want me to do.

Yeah. Exactly. Mhmm. So but just one more verse is Proverbs 16 verses one through three. And these are common verses that most of us will probably be able to quote, but, this particular translation says, we can make our own plans, but the Lord gives the right answer.

People may be pure in their own eyes, but the Lord examines their motives. Okay? And that's again, that's where it reminds me of the scripture where it says that His word is like that sharp sword that can cut between Right. The soul and the spirit. So sometimes if we're wrestling, that's why it's so important to go back to that the word because it will cut through and go, okay, this is your soul.

This is the spirit. The word. But and then the verse three says, commit your actions to the Lord's Lord and your plans will succeed. So just committing your day and say, okay, Lord, give this to you. Okay?

I give this to you. Okay. I am going to hand out. Give it to

you. Mhmm.

I have all colors, green, red, blue, black, and yellow. But we're gonna actually probably be coloring them and covering them over. So you guys pick whatever you want. Everybody, cut up. You

have a cut?

But then I already do. I've got the foundation. Oh, really? On them. I didn't know when I would

That's alright. So everybody grab one. Yeah. And I don't know if you have already done this. We talked about last week one of the things, one of the practical ways of walking this out is to have a journal that's exclusively for who I am.

Okay? Who do you say that I am? And it can be made up of scriptures that He shows us. It can be made up of words that other people have spoken over us. Things that the Holy Spirit is just speaking to us through any of these different ways that we looked at today, whether it's dreams or whatever.

Was that? I'm sorry. A journal exclusively that's

This is

just stuff that who do you say that

I am? Yeah. This so all what we're gonna put in this journal is just all of the things that God is saying about who we are. So but I wanted to I think we were talking some of us last week, and then Christine and Laura and I got together. And I think what we're gonna do next week is if you want to this week, this is this is a journal that I did.

This is like when I panicked when I was in in Dallas last this time last year and they said, we're gonna decorate journals. And I'm like, I'm

not creative, Lord, I'm not creative.

You know what, I'm in a room. Is like a condensed, there's eight of us in this room, condensed creative week week together. And I'm like, yeah. And so literally it was one of those things where I made the choice. Okay Lord, this moment, I'm gonna let you do this.

Walk me through this. Okay? I'm not I I need to step over this hurdle. This is ridiculous. Okay?

I'm 51 years old. This is ridiculous. And so

the the the lady was Rita Springer, who's a worship leader. I was down at at her dive school and and so she had, I mean, just shelves and tables covered in magazines and fabric and stickers and glue and lace and ribbons and wood burning stuff because there was one man in the room. She burned stuff and whatever. And we just had an hour or something just to, you know, go grab whatever you want off this pile Uh-huh. And just go off and and and just decorate your book.

But it was really about what we were saying is, Lord, for this one that and we wanna do this next week. But what what we wanna do is, Lord, show us how to decorate this to show me what you're speaking over me right now, what you wanna emphasize, that you want to bind these words in. Okay? What what is the cover that you wanna put on this this book that you're doing for me? What is it that you're saying about me?

What are you saying about this next season in my life? Okay? For me, I grabbed one magazine and a pair of scissors and went outside, and I was like, okay. And it wasn't even a magazine. Was a catalog.

It was like a outdoor furniture catalog. But and I was just like Amazing

doctor Patty, you're

Stone Mason Hudson. But but, you know, it ends up I'll tell you, this book is just precious to me. This is what I ended up with. These are all layers. These are all separate pictures that I cut out and layered.

But it says source book in this issue, King's collection. You know, mean, it was just like words that I pulled out of this catalog and then glued them together. But it's the King's collection. And it says something new fueled by a deep love. And I just saw him just it was just like this invitation to come deeper.

Come into this place. Come deeper in where I am. And on the back, there's all these layers of all these different things that just stood out to me. Was just like the spirit would just kinda go that, that, and that. And then after I had this pile of stuff on the floor, I'm like, okay, what do I do?

And he just started showing me how to layer it. And it says handmade pots. Every single piece is completely handmade. It's that picture of who we are. Mhmm.

You know? And there's the fountain, and there's the cushion, the red cushions, and the chairs, and the all this stuff, the lion. And I had so many

I had to do inside.

And there's the ocean, and again, the cushions, and the the weaving. This to me, was just that weaving of the body together and how God's knitting us together. That's cool. There's fire tables and columns, fire bowls, you know, just the purification and the fire of his presence. And then this one was really cool because this word says dining.

And that word stood out to me, so I cut it out. And when I went to glue it in, I turned it over, and it says dining in the same letters, the same shape on both sides.

Oh my God.

Oh my And I'm like, what? And I flipped it over,

and I'm trying to figure

out which side to glue. And then he says, we're gonna be dining going in and going out. Mhmm. We're going in and going out. We're gonna be dining.

We're gonna be eating. So anyway, so this was my hurdle over my uncreative my lack of creativity. And afterwards, was like, oh, wow. So I brought that just to kind of, you know, spring on. But there were other people that were totally different.

They would have magazines and they would just cut out like 50 words. All these just fun words that were just in this and they would just glue all these words all over. There were people that took fabric and kind of made it like a, I don't know, package. There's just different ways to decorate and each one of them was kind of just what the Lord was showing them about their season. Okay?

So with your next week, we wanna kinda come together and spend some time just having fun and decorating our our mag our journals that I just gave you. I want you to spend this week looking for stuff yourself. Okay? As you're going, if there's something that just catches your eye, even if it's a photograph of yourself, you know, with your family, if it's out of a magazine, if a word catches your eye, if there's a piece of fabric, if there's a sticker, if there's a whatever, you know? Just start kind of collecting stuff Mhmm.

You know, this week of things that the Lord's speaking about you, speaking about the next season that He's taking you into. Mhmm. You know? I I remember some of the some of the journals that I saw, they just had words like exciting, you know, whatever, compelling, did did it, you know? There was just words that just would fill them with visions of what where God was taking them.

So so that's what we're gonna do next but we're gonna do some exercises in your journal right now. We're gonna practice. Practice using our imagination.

So, Amy, so next week we just bring all

the stuff that we've been led to.

It, yeah, bring it next week. Okay. And then I'll have some extra stuff. I'll probably throw it, grab some magazines and I

have like so much scrapbooking stuff.

Do you? And yeah.

I can bring mine. I don't scrapbook anymore. But I have like stamps and and or not stamps, but the The diapers. The cutters. Cutters.

Okay.

So the cutters. Lunches.

All kinds of stuff. So we'll bring stuff next week, and then we'll just have some fun and just and then we'll share some of the things that we're you know, some of the things that the Lord's speaking to us and some of the things that we're starting to put into the journals about where he's taken us.

Mhmm. I do you want me to jump in in some recycle for some magazines?

Yeah. That's right. You can because that's where I grab mine.

I dumpster dive all the

time. Yep.

Okay. I'm gonna I'm gonna

get you do you guys have just a couple minutes to do a couple of these exercises? Mhmm. Okay. I will will send this, Laurie. I will it'll be on the tape.

So if you need to go, you could just do it during the week. Okay. Okay. The first one, we're gonna just use some use our imagination a little bit here. Okay?

And just see some of the ways that God speaks to us through our imagination. First of all, I want you to imagine when you were a child. Okay. Under 10, probably. You pick pick an age.

Uh-huh. Pick a memory that you have, a favorite place that you used to go hang out. Just you can just close your eyes and think about it for a minute. Just one particular setting. Now think about, just the basic, five senses.

What do you see? What do you smell? What do you hear and feel and taste taste in that particular setting? And you can write some of these down as you go if you want just to kinda Can you write down what you're doing in that setting?

Just whatever brings back the memory when you're a kid.

Yeah. Yeah. If you just, you know, just kind

of if you

just close your eyes and imagine being back in that place and just kind of like you're sitting there outside of it. You know how sometimes you have a dream and you're outside of your dream looking at yourself? What do you see? What do you hear? What do you smell?

And then I want you to look for a minute and see picture. Because he says he never leaves us. He's always with us every moment since we were conceived and born. So and if you you don't right off see him, ask him. Show me where you are.

Where were you in that picture? Would anybody like to share?

Remember here. Okay. So when I was a kid, we had this huge backyard in this one house that moved a lot with this house we stayed in for longer than I remember staying anywhere else. Mhmm. And it was the most awesome backyard.

It had a big yard, and then it had all these fruit trees Uh-huh. And a little guest cottage Mhmm. With a little path leading to it, and it was lined with trees. And we would always have all the neighborhood kids over, so there were massive amounts of kids in our backyard. Mhmm.

And we have major games of hide and go seek and tag or climbing trees and we even strung a tight rope across the two trees. I remember falling and getting my foot caught in it, which is the only thing that saved me. But just laughter and the smell of the fruit trees and and the fresh air, the sun throughout the whole backyard, but the cool breeze when you go under the walkway there, and it would just kind of you could just feel the cool breeze. It was always right there. Mhmm.

And just tons of laughter. Mhmm. Tons of laughter. Lots of laughter. Lots of running.

Lots of and I just said Jesus was right there with the love, the laughter, joy, family, because I there are five kids in our family and plus all the friends and the

cousins and Mhmm.

And he was just right there.

Just a great family. What remember a couple weeks ago when I said that God always speaks over us present future? So he speaks over us and then draws us to it. Mhmm. Okay.

That that doesn't just start when you come to him. I mean, that is starts when you're conceived, when you're born. I mean, he's constantly speaking. And I just think about that picture. That is such a prophetic picture of who you are and where you are, what you do.

You it's like that big yard with the fruit trees and the shade and the sunshine and the breeze of the Holy Spirit and the laughter. You are surrounded. You're constantly your life is surrounded by people. It really is. I mean, and friends come to your garden, to your yard a lot to eat the fruit and enjoy the sunshine and laugh and be together.

But what a picture even then of who you are, you know, and where God was, where Jesus was in the midst of that. Mhmm. You know? Mhmm. Now you're sleeping.

For for myself, I mean, I the first thing that came to my memory was when we lived at this one place. It was way up it was way up on the Canadian border of Montana. It was we were on an Indian reservation up there. My dad had a small farm. And we lived lots of trees and a really neat place.

And I always like to go. I still am a I I love forts. I just am a sucker for any kind of a little fort. I mean, I get under my bushes to weed, and I'm like, oh, this would be a great fort under here. You know?

A major fort, fort person. I love small places. I love hidden places. I love getaways. And I remember one time in particular where there was this old kind of garage shed something on the property that was full of stuff that probably was there when we moved there.

It was kind of what, you know, when farms people leave their stuff and and I don't know that we ever used that garage or shed. It just was full of old tools and full of greasy stuff. And I would go in there. And I remember probably when I was probably seven or eight years old, I made a I got some wood and some nails and some tools, and I made a toolbox for my dad. And I hid in that garage building that little nailing that little toolbox, and, you know, and and there were windows so that, you know, there was no lights.

And so I remember the sunshine coming through the window. I remember it being very dusty and dirty and you know, that greasy smell from oil. And and I I just remember that whole thing. When I asked where Jesus was in all this, I just saw him standing beside me with a smile. Mhmm.

Because he was teaching me how to build. He was teaching me how to come away to quiet places. I'm still that way spiritually. I love the hidden place. I love going to be alone with the father.

You know? I love the secret hidden places. He was just excited about my learning. He was excited about my excitement to give this gift to my father. He knew how that was gonna be something he was gonna build in me, the excitement of giving gifts to my heavenly father.

You know? So it's just amazing how Mhmm. These all these things from when we're kids, we start realizing, oh, Lord, you were I I connected with with a a lady the other day that I've gone a couple times to Nevada to just minister at their, they have a ranch where they, have minister to people coming out of addiction. And I've been down there a couple of times and just was talking to her line the other day. And and she was just so agreeing with that whole thing of she sees it in those people all the time once they start remembering

Yeah.

When they were children, God was already speaking over them who they were and how he saw them, and was trying to draw them to that. Even in the midst of some pretty horrible growing up situations, he was still there Mhmm. You know, speaking to them. Mhmm. But is there anybody else that wants to

I I I almost have almost I think every kids likes to play climate change. Mhmm. I remember the first thing that comes in my mind is I always stuck along with my mom in our we have a rice field. Uh-huh. So I I always I'm one of the kid that always go ride a caribou, and then we go you tag along, you you know, while while the little village people start harvesting the rice field.

But you, you know, you climb a tree. You but it's like that time, there's no worries. It's like you're always happy. Yes. You're always sad.

Uh-huh. You play in the moonlight and, you know, you which

I will never do that now.

You know, you go in the rice field and start looking for some bird with nest. Uh-huh. Yeah. Yeah. And our house is always lots of people.

My mom will always did you eat? Did you eat? Uh-huh. It's always

like there's always a food. Yeah. Even if

a rich or a poor, my mom always have either a Coke and a a little crackers or anything that we have. We always offer food. I don't know why. Yeah. Yeah.

I did remember when I was a kid, you know, I will pray to resurrect one of our national heroes. You know, you always it's like you worries. Yeah. Yeah. Same as I think everybody Yeah.

Feel. But I like to travel. I think that was always like, I always, oh, can I go? Oh, can I go? I mean, we don't have an opportunity to go I somewhere know.

Mhmm. So isn't it isn't it I mean, just those pictures are so telling about how Jesus why Jesus had such a heart to say, come as a child. Yeah. Yeah. Come as a child.

You have to enter as a child. Yeah. You know? With that no worry. No just the curiosity and the wanting to go and explore and find and to believe.

Expecting. Expecting. Yeah. Just believe. Yeah.

Know? And just expect God to be bigger than we can imagine. You know? Yeah. Mhmm.

Those are Well, we will share more of those next week, but I wanna do another I wanna do another one here. Psychology is always not always, but a lot of times psychologists advise people to have a happy place. Okay? So when you're in a bad situation, just go to your happy place. Go to some place that makes you feel good.

Know? And you're like, you're just okay. I'm be a child.

Yeah. Exactly.

So we are going to imagine a God place. Okay? And in case we're wondering if this is okay, are we getting out on some edges of something? Is this biblical? Think about Jesus on the cross.

Okay? How do you think he endured that pain? When he was being whipped, when he was being I mean, he went through torture. Torture. We think about the people, you know, like the testimony that I just gave about the the man, you know Mhmm.

That was burned. And so many, the the the people that were recently beheaded that you were talking about last week. You know, how did Jesus endure that pain? How did how did the New Testament church, the and the current persecuted church, how do they survive their circumstances? He focused on his father.

He he practiced God's presence in that place. All during his thirty three years of his walk, I mean, especially I mean, we didn't really we from the Bible, we don't see much of his childhood, but definitely as an adult, when he was leading the disciples, he would sneak away constantly to be with his father. Mhmm. Okay? He was constantly going away, spending time with his father.

But he had planted in his in his heart and his mind and his met you know, he knew what it was like to be in his father's presence. So even though he was in those horrible places and being tortured and whatever and being hung on the cross, he knew. Mhmm. He knew what it looked like to be in his father's presence. And who knows what he was thinking during those it says he was for the joy set before him he endured.

You know, he could have been looking off into the distance and thinking about us, thinking about what it was gonna be like on the other side of it, but he definitely was practicing his father's presence. Philippians four six through eight, you know, is a very well known verse and let me get it here.

Do anyone else have a question that we're gonna try?

We're gonna imagine a god place here in just a minute. We're gonna have a place

in our in our imagination that's kind of our God place. Mhmm.

But Philippians four oops. I'm in Colossians. Philippians four six through eight, it says, don't worry about anything, but instead pray about everything. Tell God what you need and thank him for all he has done. Then you will experience God's peace, which exceeds anything we understand.

His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus. And now, dear brothers and sisters, one We're able to to We're and worthy of praise. It's very scriptural to set our minds, set our thoughts, set our imagination on those things.

Mhmm. One also goes and starts saying that, you know, I can do all all things through Christ who gives me strength. Mhmm. I think that's, like, 13, I think, goes down into there. So it's like

Yeah. Yep. So what we are gonna do here is and this is gonna be very individual and very different for you. It may come from some place that you currently get away to be with the Lord, get away to to spend time in prayer and worship, or it may be just something that's in your mind if you could go anywhere. But if you could meet Jesus anywhere, where would you where would it what would it look like?

And again, just kinda think about the five senses. What would you see? Where would you be? What would you hear? What would there be a smell?

Would there be a taste or a feeling? So just kind of write on that for a little bit. Wherever you would meet him, what would be your favorite place? Okay. If you could meet with Jesus anywhere Okay.

Cool. Where would it be?

Where would

it be? Okay. Awesome. So and it could be something that is a place that you go to now, or it could be someplace totally, like, if I could just go anywhere to be with him. Okay.

But just, again, kinda thinking about the five senses of what you see, hear, smell, taste, feel. Guys, can you can work on these and kinda finish them up later. Is there somebody else that wants to share? Pleasure.

Yeah. Was it was pretty interesting because I think kind of my imagination took me to sort of the oh, what I would expect expect to be the place at the most. Sort of the Yeah. You know, the flowers and the tropics and the birds and the little bits walk on the beach or whatever. And it was kinda like, no.

And then

just kinda was like, okay. Where where you know, where's I like I love that you explained that because I think that is sometimes we have what we think we're supposed it's supposed to Yeah. Or we'll think we'll want. Yeah. Yeah.

And he just simplifies it right now to, like, know, if it's Yeah. Something so different. Yeah. Is there anybody else who wants? Well,

well, I have two images.

Okay.

I can't have

but the beach has always been Yeah.

Yeah.

It I mean, that's just when I'm laying in bed at night or I'm listening to meditations, you know, I always have to have the waves or the birds or the, you know, the whole water

Yeah.

Thing. And there's just something about the healing process of that. But I do have this image of I don't know if it's my safe place or it's I'm I'm not sure what it is, but this that I'm sitting on a swing set, and I'm crying. And Jesus is standing next to me, and he's handing me a white bird. He's just handing it to me.

And that's and I'm not you know, I've so there are times when I just picture that, just him standing there next to me, you know, kind of handing me the white bird. Maybe that's

the carefree. Don't worry. Yeah.

You know? You had

the Holy Spirit. Uh-huh. You know, the peace, that kind of thing. But, you know, the ocean, there's just something about just, you know, the smells, the breeze, the the waves crashing. Because sometimes it's so loud you can't hear anything else Yeah.

When you came. And then sometimes you can hear the birds flying over, you know, and then sometimes, you know, they you look at some of those pipers, it's different things, they make you laugh. You know? I mean, they do.

You just watch them. Feels like

you know? And and looking out forever and just looking on the horizon for whales

or Yeah.

You know, there's a whale someplace where there's and you're just always looking, you know, for the anticipation and that, you know. And then and then, you know, and then then all of a sudden you look down and there's, whoo, looks like a, you know, sand dollar. I mean, those are very hard to find and then of a you find one you just find that you have just found. Yes. The

I mean, you

run back to the house and you're all like, pulling all the stuff out

of box. You're like, what

is that?

You know? Yeah.

And there's just something that's really healing and really just I'm gonna be there someday.

I'm gonna

be looking on the options. Yeah.

Yeah.

Well, I mean, this may seem like it's kind of just a fun exercise, but it can be so much more than that Yeah. Really. I wanna give you a a testimony that a lady gave because our thoughts and imaginations not only affect us, but it can affect the atmosphere around us. Especially when we are well, either direction, whatever. If we're you know, whatever we're focusing on, we're gonna manifest it around us.

Okay? In the physical and in the spirit realm, in the atmosphere around us. But God's presence changes the atmosphere around us. And there was a friend of mine who had just been teaching and did this exercise with some ladies actually at the women's prison in Lusk a few years back. And there was this one young lady that was a new believer and she just, you know, had done this exercises of of just teaching you, okay, when you're when you're in hard circumstances and when you're battling, when you're whatever, and and for her especially, she can't just leave it herself.

She's

there, you know? Go to that place in your imagination of where you go to when you meet with

the Lord.

Okay? Just go there and be with Him, okay? In your thoughts. And so, she happened to have a roommate that was dealing with some probably some mental issues as well as demonic issues. Mhmm.

Okay? So she really had some real issues. And that was her roommate. There was two of them in a cell. And she at the at night, a lot times when they would go to bed, this girl would just just go crazy, you know, and just screaming and just doing different things.

And it was just very scary, and it was hard. You know?

Oh,

yeah. And so this first night, after she learned this, she's like, okay. Okay. I'm gonna do this. And so in her heart, she's just laying on her bunk and in her imagination, her mind, she just went to that place where she had imagined earlier just going and being with Jesus.

And she just went there in her mind, and she's just laying there just going, okay, Lord. I'm here with you. And all of a sudden, that girl stopped. Her screaming and her whatever, and she was just silent. And she and she goes, what did you just do?

This other girl Mhmm. Said it to the girl that was she's like, what did you just do? Wow. What whatever you just what did you just do? Because it it it what it did is when we focus our attention on the Lord, it just it just invites him to come in kinda like where he said, I saw I was you were high and lifted up.

I saw your train filling the temple. Yes. Where God just comes and he just fills the temple. He just fills the room. Mhmm.

Okay? And so it affects not only us, it affects it can affect the atmosphere around us. Mhmm. You know? And so it's just one of those things that I think is so important just for us to realize, not only is it something that, okay, we're doing this out of discipline to discipline ourselves to focus on what is true, what is pure, what is right, but it's much more than that.

It's this beautiful thing of where we can communicate, commune, have communion with the Lord Mhmm. Within ourselves, but it also fills the place. It makes it okay. You're welcome here. Fill this place.

Mhmm. Mhmm. K? So are you guys up for one more? I am, but I got I got two.

You gotta run? Yeah. Okay. We'll do it next week.

Okay. Cool. We'll it too.

Yeah. Okay. We'll do it next week. I want to.

I'm late for

the choir. No. I know. I know. These are it's like so much.

That's why I was telling you. It's like, ah. I know. It's good. But we will look over these, you know, this week and think about them and think about those questions and start writing in your journal, you know, what you're doing.

I even was hoping that you would put these pictures in your journal. Mhmm. Because those are pictures, you know, those are part of this whole process of of seeing it ourselves and our who we are in him. So