In the first chapter of the book of Hebrews, the author quotes the following passage from Psalm 45:6-7 as a Messianic prophecy concerning the Son of God:

Your throne, O God, is forever and ever. The scepter of your kingdom is a scepter of uprightness; you have loved righteousness and hated wickedness. Therefore God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness beyond your companions.

As is made plain here, the oil of gladness is an anointing that flows from the very throne room of God onto…whom? Christ! What is contained within this anointing? The Hebrew word used here, sasown, refers to a welcoming state of cheerfulness, mirth, rejoicing. I could imagine waking up in the morning full of excitement and happy anticipation to go spend a wonderful day of merrymaking with close friends — sasown!

But what about Jesus being a man of sorrows, acquainted with grief, stricken, afflicted? That was the essence of Jesus’ sacrificial mission to bear our sins and suffering on the cross, but that was not the final purpose of his ministry. It’s helpful to consider Paul’s reference to the “ministry of reconciliation” in II Corinthians 5:18 that God gave to us through Christ. Reconciliation is where two parties come together and set aside past differences to come to a common accord, an agreement, harmony. The parable of the prodigal son that Jesus so beautifully illustrates is a great example of this reconciliation ministry. And what do we find happening when the father is reconciled to his wayward son? A celebration of joy! Gladness! Mirth! Rejoicing!

The ministry of Jesus is the ministry of reconciliation — between us as former sinners now saved and sanctified by Jesus’ blood and God the Father. We are no longer separated by a gulf of iniquity, chaos, and death. The chasm has been crossed, by the power of the cross, and that is truly something to be glad about!

The other passage in the Bible that talks about the oil of gladness is in the book of Isaiah, and interestingly enough, it’s also within the context of a Messianic prophesy. We’ll delve more into that on the next post in this series. Until then, may God fill you with sasown!

One of the things I’m glad about is that I’m still alive! I know that may sound silly, but bear with me. There is a sort of depression, whether extreme or subtle, that can creep up on us and rob us of the joy of living. That nagging sense that my life is all out of whack, that nothing really matters, that everything is just a little bleak around the edges. Certainly it’s possible to find moments of pleasure in the midst of all that, and I’m not necessarily talking about a suicidal mood — although certainly prolonged periods of gripping depression can edge dangerously towards that.

The question is one of quality. As a Christian, I’m called to a higher state of being than simply “going through the motions” and seeing one dreary day of drudgery pass by after another. If being in a love relationship with the Creator of the universe and the Savior of my soul is not enough to stave off weariness and frustration, than something’s seriously amiss. Frankly, I don’t buy the oft-spoken axiom that happiness is a fleeting emotion and we shouldn’t bother chasing after it. Balderdash! I absolutely want to be happy, and I believe that Jesus wants me to be happy. But perhaps happiness isn’t what we think it is.

I’ll define happiness this way: I know who I am, I know Who loves me and I love Him back, I know what I’m supposed to be doing, and I’m doing it. Following after that God-given sense of purpose and direction, no matter the odds, no matter the cost, no matter the hardships that might come along with the territory, that’s what brings true happiness. That’s what makes you glad to be alive!

God wants to anoint each of us with the oil of gladness. We were never meant to live in a world of dull gray. We were meant to live in a world of radiant technicolor, full of excitement, danger, adventure, romance, and creativity. Chase after this mighty, awesome God, and let Him fill you with His joy, His pleasure, and His gladness today and every day!

I’ve been wondering what I should blog about coming out of this period of time. So much to talk about…where do I begin? Then all of a sudden it came to me…write about the oil of gladness. For that is what I believe God has given me as a reward for my struggles. Contained within this oil of gladness is an element of favor, an element of revelation and understanding, an opening of the “eyes of the heart” and a seeing into one’s purpose and destiny. I’ll be writing about this much more in the coming weeks. It should be good.

In the meantime, a couple of relevant passages in Scripture are Psalm 45:7 (quoted again in Hebrews 1:9) and Isaiah 61:3. Wonderful verses to meditate on!

Only it’s a sham. Success is a moving target. Every time you get “there”, it’s not good enough. You want more. You need a new dream. You need further challenges. Once something becomes easy, it becomes boring. My grandfather was a brilliant and passionate man who could accomplish almost anything he imagined. Yet he died having truly accomplished nothing. His legacy was of a life spent always pursuing the next big thing while abandoning the previous thing before its time.

I never met my grandfather, as he died just before I was born, but I see that same tendency in me, and it scares me at times. Yet I know for certain that I am not the little boy that I saw in that home video any more. My identity has changed, or rather I have discovered my true identity. I am not defined by what I own, or where I live, or who I’m networked with, or how I dress, or the things I do. My identity lies in who God says that I am. For I am His child, precious in His eyes, bought with a price, hidden with Christ and seated with Him in heavenly places, destined to rule and reign with Christ for eternity. My Father loves me and I love Him. Jesus said “I and my Father are one” and Jesus brings that same depth of relationship to me. He can bring it to you, if you desire it.

I know God has big plans for me, and great things are in store. Yet that’s not my focus anymore. I grew up believing I was an Artist. Now I may be an artist in the sense that God has given me artistic talents to use for His glory, but I am not an Artist. Nor am I a “Computer Geek” (well… ). I am a disciple of Jesus. And that gives me great comfort, because success is always at hand! Empowered by the Holy Spirit, I can live each day in a love dance with God, doing His will with joy and abandon, and some day when I look back on my life, I can see that the more I spent my time submitted to Him, the more fulfillment and true success I achieved in my life. And that’s not just a legacy left here on earth but is something I can take into eternity with me!

I know this is an oft-used verse, but I think it is one of the most awesome statements Jesus ever made. We would all do well to keep this close to our hearts.

“Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.” — Matthew 6:33

Chilling is hard for me. I’m not the kind of guy that just goes and hangs out to yak it up, have a few laughs, have a good time, do the work, get paid, go home. Don’t get me wrong, I certainly know how to enjoy myself, but my normal tendency is to be always living in tomorrow, planning, pondering, thinking about the future, wondering if I’m actually accomplishing anything I’ve set out to do. Some people worry, worry, worry about everything that could go wrong. Not me — I worry about not doing anything at all. Nothing stresses me out more than inaction on the things I care about.

Mark Batterson talks about sins of “omission” — the right things that we fail to do, as opposed to sins of “commission” which are the wrong things that we do. Sins of omission frighten me. There’s a riveting scene in The Two Towers where Aragorn asks Eowyn: “what do you fear, my lady?” Her reply: “A cage. To stay behind bars until use and old age accept them and all chance of valor has gone beyond recall or desire.”

My grandfather on my mom’s side died before I was born, so I never got to know him. One thing I know about him, however, is that he never finished anything. He married multiple times, he made and lost several fortunes, and then he died. His legacy? Nothing, expect for the fact that he did love my mom, his daughter, and was a much better authority figure for her than her dysfunctional mother. Aside from that, though, it was largely a waste of effort all those years. Every time he “conquered” a mountain, he moved on to the next one. He never learned how to occupy the territory he had taken.

In my quest to chase after my dreams, nothing scares me more than to imagine myself at the end of my life looking upon an empty legacy. But there’s a subtle lie that creeps in when you are driven by this kind of fear-based motivation. The lie is that you are defined by what you accomplish. In the past, my identity always lay in my artistry, which meant that I was unfulfilled and unsuccessful unless I was making art and being recognized for my talent.

But as I’ve come to understand more about who God says I am and how he values me and defines me, I’ve come to realize that my identity lies in my relationship with God. I may be an artist, but first and foremost I am a child of God. And therefore, as long as I am loving on Daddy and listening to His voice, I am successful, and I am fulfilled.

Which brings me back to my original topic. I need to chill. I need to stop striving so hard, always looking towards the “next big thing” that I need to accomplish. I need to learn how to be content just…being. Being at one with God and my fellow man. What I do is a by-product of who I am, which actually means the less I try doing the right thing and the more I try being the right me, the more likely it is that the right things will get done.

There are times for fighting and times for looking ahead, but sometimes, it’s time to stop fighting and just, well, chill. And believe me, whenever I am able to get into that zone and chill out, it’s the best way to live. So, dude? Chill.

For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, Abba! Father! The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God.

Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.

Matthew 5:3,6,8

Something is happening to me. I can feel it. I can see it operating in my life. I hear it whispering to me. I know it’s there. It’s my spirit — someone’s gotten ahold of my spirit and has quickened it…made it come alive. My spirit is invading my thoughts, my emotions. My troubled soul is getting a makeover, and my spirit is taking over.

The question isn’t why, it’s how.

How can I exist in two different states at the same time? How can I be still be living in fear, in complacency, in depression and selfishness, and yet I am living in love and in truth, a free man, a victorious king, a warrior who has vanquished powerful foes, an agent of kingdom transformation, an inheritor of a royal priesthood, a child of the almighty God?

I became acutely aware of this strange phenomenon this week. I kept being invaded in my sleep and my daydreams. I’d be caught up in the busyness and stress of the week, ready just to drop dead in weariness and fatigue, and then it’d happen. I’d start singing praises to Jesus! I’d fall asleep on the bus, feeling like something the cat dragged in, and all of a sudden I’d wake up with songs of love to the Lord on my lips. Or I’d be on a break outside, my mind racing and my body aching, and then love for my Creator would begin to wash over me and my spirit would connect with His Spirit and the thanksgiving would begin to flow. Oh, what is happening to me?

My spirit is growing, and its getting aggressive. I’m not talking about the Holy Spirit, I’m talking about MY spirit. The one that was born again into the Kingdom of God many years ago. It was a little baby for so long…but no longer. It is a man. And it is growing. And I am growing, and I can’t escape one simple fact:

God won’t stop until my spirit, intimately intertwined with Holy Spirit, has completely consumed my entire being — my thoughts, my emotions, my dreams, my desires, and my identity — so that it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me.

The Misty Edwards song is absolutely true: God won’t relent until He has it all. And I am falling, falling under His glorious spell; His love turning me into something so amazing, so profound, that sometimes it scares me. But it shouldn’t, because God, above all else, is good. And that is a good thing.

I am forever changed.

For your reference, the previous posts in this series are:

• 1: Paths
• 2: Immanuel
• 3: Direction
• 4: Voices
• 5: Prophecy

So let’s get down to it. You’ve realized that you want to venture forth on the adventure of a lifetime and that you need God’s help to get to where you’re going. You want to make sure you’re hearing His voice and obeying His command. You need supernatural revelation to give you the keys to unlocking your destiny. That’s all very well and good, but how do you actually do all that? Just thinking about these ideas is not enough. It’s time to put your money where your mouth is and take that first baby step.

Based on my own experience thus far, an overall strategy has emerged that I believe can aid you in your quest. I’m not saying that this is a magic formula or appropriate to your stage in life, but it’s generally a pattern that I’ve seen repeated over and over again and has been tremendously helpful in my life. I hope it blesses you and gives you newfound confidence that God is going to do great things in you and through you!

So what is this strategy? It is this:

1. Walk away. The first step in following after God’s own heart is realizing you have to repent. To repent means to turn away, to change course. It’s easy to get fixated on repenting from outright sin and forget that in many cases we need to repent from desires, affections, ambitions, and pursuits that are holding us back from what God has for us. Don’t just mumble “sorry” and then fall right back into it all. Don’t hesitate. Just walk away. Say goodbye and never look back. If you want to reach your God-given potential, then Jesus has to be The Boss.

2. Give up your ideology. When you start living life for Jesus with passion and zeal, expect Him to smash your ideology, crush your theology, and demolish your philosophy. When I rededicated my life to Christ a few years ago, it began a chain of events which ended up redefining almost everything I thought I knew about God and what it meant to be a Christian. The key is to make yourself vulnerable to the corrections and convictions of the Holy Spirit. Trust me, it’ll be good.

3. Get connected. You can’t do the Christian life alone. Christianity is not an individualistic spiritual path, it is a Spirit-filled community. You are not just some organic robot that needs the right software to work right, you are a vital member of the worldwide Body of Christ. You need help! You need to be loved! You need people to pray for you and prophesy over you! While I don’t believe in the “any church is good church” doctrine that says you must go to church to be a good Christian, I do believe that God has a place for you in His body — though it may take some time to find that place. Don’t give up — once you get there, it’ll be like coming home. It’ll be like Heaven on earth.

4. Ask, seek, knock. Start consuming books, podcasts, videos, etc. of godly Christian leaders with a proven track record in humility, pure faith, and spiritual fruit. No, these people aren’t perfect, and not everything they say is going to be The Truth, but they may have more experience in walking with God and following His ways than you do. Wisdom is worthy to be sought. Also, if you have the ability to travel, invest your time and money in attending some awesome conferences or revival meetings to get a feel for what God is doing around the earth. They will open your eyes to things you never dreamt were possible!

5. Face time. You can pray and read the Bible on a daily basis, but sometimes that ain’t gonna cut it. You need to get down on your knees before Almighty God and remove every other distraction for a significant period of time. Here’s a challenge: spend at least two full hours by yourself in a room with nothing but a Bible, a journal, and water. Don’t allow yourself to be interrupted by ANYTHING or ANYONE. Give a couple of hours of your life to God. And if you want a REAL challenge, try spending eight hours with God. I’ve done it once, and I can tell that just doing it once was life-changing. I’m looking forward to doing it again. It was incredibly hard at first, but believe it or not I was actually sad to leave His Presence after a while! (BTW, don’t feel bad if you snooze a little bit. God can speak to us through dreams, remember?)

6. Take action. Once you’ve repented of sin and unnecessary pursuits , given up your prideful presumptions about God and your destiny, gotten connected with fellow believers who can pray for you and prophesy into your life, sought out important spiritual truth and ways of worship that others have discovered, and spent meaningful and consecrated time alone in the Presence of the Lord, then it’s time to act out the faith that’s stirring in your heart. The things that the Holy Spirit has been showing you, the person that He’s called you to be — you need to take steps to move in that direction. Perhaps that means seeking out someone to mentor you. Perhaps it means changing jobs. Perhaps it means talking to your family about some serious things you have been keeping to yourself. Perhaps it means seeking counseling or prayer therepy to deal with past issues that must be dealt with. Perhaps it means launching out into a new endeavor. Perhaps it means simply going out into the world and ministering to people in need just like Jesus did! Whatever “action” represents in the context of your life, you need to step out in faith and believe in what God has shown you. The Christian life isn’t talk, it’s walk, after all.

Rinse and repeat as necessary. I’ve gone through this cycle more than once, and probably every time that God leads me into a new season, I have to go through the process. Don’t feel bad if you falter at any one of these points, because it’s never, ever too late to try again! Remember, God’s grace and mercy is fresh and new every day. He will give you the strength to overcome your weaknesses and fulfill your destiny!

Thank you for embarking on this voyage of discovery with me. I was greatly blessed myself just writing it, so I truly hope it blesses you as well. If anything here has raised some questions or perhaps led to some testimonies, please let me know in the comments. May God richly reward you in everything that you do in Christ Jesus!

Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to exhortation, to teaching. Do not neglect the gift you have, which was given you by prophecy when the council of elders laid their hands on you. Practice these things, devote yourself to them, so that all may see your progress.

Welcome to the fifth installment of God is the Ultimate Travel Agent! We’ve learned a lot in this series already, such as what it means to devote yourself to following the path that God has for your life, comprehending the wonderful “good news” of Immanuel…that God is with us everywhere we go, and humbling yourself to receive direction and insight from the Holy Spirit. It isn’t enough to be moving fast in one direction, because if that direction is leading you towards destruction, it’s better to stand still and wait on the Lord to hear where your real destination lies. Last time we discussed how to position yourself to receive revelation from God; now we will delve further into the ways that God speaks to us and imparts knowledge into our souls.

Given to You by Prophecy

Possibly the most dramatic way God can give you direction and meaning in life is via the prophetic gift in others. When godly people under the anointing of the Holy Spirit speak words of knowledge (divine awareness of current or past truths) and prophecy (divine foretelling of future truths) into you, the course of your life may be forever altered.

In the verses cited above, Paul instructs his young protégé, Timothy, to remain steadfast in his calling to be a teacher of the Word and to instruct his fellow believers in the faith. What I find fascinating is that Timothy’s gift was not something he just happened to have when he received Christ but was given to him by the laying on of hands by the church elders. Paul also mentions the prophecies for Timothy earlier in chapter 1 verse 18, and the laying on of hands in 2 Timothy 1:6. The elders, including Paul, saw in Timothy the ultimate person that God had created him to be, and Timothy very likely had little awareness of this spiritual reality. A wise man once said that the spiritual reality is always superior to the physical reality, and that’s essentially what prophecy is all about — taking that which is true in the Spirit and declaring it forth into the world around us.

I encourage you wholeheartedly to seek out sincere Christians who believe in the gift of prophecy and words of knowledge and allow them to lay hands on you and speak into your life. The blessing you will receive from hearing those words spoken over you is incalculable. Many facets of my life at the present time only came to pass because of a prior prophetic word. I can honestly say I would still be floundering around trying to figure out what to do without that inspired direction that flowed from the throne room of God.

Dreams

Another huge, though tricky, area of revelation is in dreams. Dreams are funny things. We dream by day and we dream by night. Our daydreams reflect the missing aspects of our lives that we long to acquire, and our dreams in the night reflect our most intimate fears or aspirations. The key is discerning where in the midst of dreaming God is. Because God most assuredly is there.

A few years back, my mom bought a book that talked about the ways God speaks to us through dreams when we are asleep. I’ll be honest with you: I thought it was a load of horse manure. Yeah, a few people in the Bible heard from God via dreams (sometimes via angels in dreams), but come on. Give me a break.

Then I had what I can only describe as a God dream. I woke up with a conviction in my spirit like nothing I’d ever felt before that this dream was holy and was from God. I then proceeded to have a series of dreams, dozens of dreams, over the course of only a few months that were all filled with spiritual insight and direction. I have yet to experience such a season of revelation as I did at that time.

If you are interested in placing your sleep and your dreaming under the authority of the Holy Spirit, here’s what you can do. Ask God to give you revelation in your dreams. Don’t be discouraged if you still have the usual wacky or bizarre dreams for a while that we all have. Keep asking Him to touch you, and sooner or later I believe you’ll wake up from something profound — possibly even Biblical or ministerial in nature — with a feeling that God wants to tell you something. Write down the dream immediately, even if the clock reads 3:17 AM, and then go back to sleep. In the morning, you can pray and ask God to give you an interpretation of what the dream meant. Sometimes it’s good to go to someone else with a gift of dream interpretation via the Holy Spirit and see what they perceive. In my case, I usually find that there is a knowing in my spirit of what the dream meant literally the moment I wake up from it — that’s often how I know the dream was from the Lord.

Day-to-Day Walk

This is probably a post all its own, so I’ll try to keep it short, but one of my favorite ways to hear from God is just talk to Him. Talk talk talk. Don’t ever give up. Ask Jesus to show you a picture of Himself in your mind, and then just focus on Him and talk. Tell Him what you love, what you hate, why you’re happy, why you’re sad, why you’re lonely, why you’re enthused. Talk about the weather. Talk about your health. Talk about your job. Talk talk talk talk talk. You see, we as Christians have been beaten down into thinking that God only communicates to us through Scripture, and therefore all we can do is pray in some kind of pseudo-spiritual manner and then try to read the Bible to get an answer. Oh, of course that will work. But it’s not the only way. You can also just talk. When you talk, listen. Don’t just speak words, but pause and wait for an answer. Sometimes the answer comes as words (and don’t be surprised if you don’t hear some huge gigantic voice like in the “Ten Commandments” movie), sometimes as just a “knowing” in your spirit, sometimes as images or impressions, sometimes even as music or a song. Other people get strange sensations in their body. I often just get a feeling of overwhelming peace and serenity.

How do you know you’re hearing from God, and not just demons or your own head? Ah, the big question. My only reply is that the more you submit yourself to the Spirit of God and stay steadfast in His Word (that’s why it is very important to know Scripture!), the more you will know the peace and comfort of His Spirit that accompanies any revelation He gives you. Remember, if you ever receive anything that contradicts Scripture, you will know it is false. Remember the famous “love” chapter of 1 Corinthians 13? Read that. God is Love, therefore, what you receive from the Holy Spirit always rides on the back of love. So if you receive revelation that denies who God is, who His people are (the Church), requires you to hurt or deceive your fellow man in any way, or that gratifies your flesh or ego regardless of the welfare of others, then it is not of God.

Stay true to the faith, and weigh every prophecy carefully. There have been many abuses in the Church over the last several decades due to the egregious misuse of the prophetic gift, so use discernment, wisdom, and sound judgement as you seek the Lord for revelation. Some people snub prophecy because of abuse, but that’s like outlawing cars because they can run over people and kill them. Cars are simply vehicles that carry things to their destinations. It’s how they get there that counts. Prophecy is simply a vehicle that carries a supernatural word. It’s what we do with the prophecies we receive that counts.

Conclusion

We have more access to divine insight and counsel than most Christians are willing to admit. Let’s not shirk our responsibilities out of fear or religious traditions. Remember, God is speaking to us, all the time. Maybe if we had the courage and the humility to listen to what He has to say, we would discover the incredible, miraculous, and awesome destinies that He has for our lives and for the worldwide Christian Church.

Next week’s installment will be the last one in this series, and I want to focus squarely on how to put all we’ve learned into practice. You may want God to hold reign over your life, you may be willing to let Him lead you on a grand new adventure, you may be seeking Him for spiritual revelation, but how do you take all that and translate it into concrete change in your life? Good question. Let’s find the answer together!

“For a people shall dwell in Zion, in Jerusalem; you shall weep no more. He will surely be gracious to you at the sound of your cry. As soon as he hears it, he answers you. And though the Lord give you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, yet your Teacher will not hide himself anymore, but your eyes shall see your Teacher. And your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, This is the way, walk in it, when you turn to the right or when you turn to the left. Then you will defile your carved idols overlaid with silver and your gold-plated metal images. You will scatter them as unclean things. You will say to them, Be gone!”

There is a lot of prophetic content in this passage and the text surrounding it, but I would like us to focus today on a promise that I believe is for all of God’s people at all times: if we strive to listen to the voice of the Lord and hear His decree in our spirits, He will be gracious and give us the knowledge and the strength we need to walk in His ways and in the destiny He has for our lives.

Last time in this series, I shared my testimony of God’s grace and mercy in my life and how God oriented me in the right direction to step forward into the journey He created for me. It is a process that is still ongoing, but the point I must emphasize above all others is that this process can only work to its fullest potential when two conditions are met: God speaks to you, and you are willing to humble yourself and receive what He shows you.

The first condition is of far less concern than the second, because the greatest revelation I’ve discovered in my short life is that God is speaking all the time! When we receive Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, and He sends the Father’s promise of the Holy Spirit to indwell in our bodies and souls, we gain access to a treasure trove of divine knowledge, insight, and wisdom — far above anything the world has to offer. If we are having trouble hearing from Him, perhaps we’re just not tuned into His spiritual frequency. Or, in many cases, we are receiving communication but we don’t know how to interpret it. In Luke 12:54-55, Jesus expressed it like this:

“When you see a cloud rising in the west, you say at once, A shower is coming. And so it happens. And when you see the south wind blowing, you say, There will be scorching heat, and it happens. You hypocrites! You know how to interpret the appearance of earth and sky, but why do you not know how to interpret the present time?”

The very manifestation of the Son of God had come working miracles, signs, and wonders and preaching the Good News to a lost generation, and yet many people completely missed the boat and were unable to discern what was happening all around them. And so it is even with us today: we see God working all around us, we see His handiwork in our very lives, and we miss it. Perhaps we’re too focused on our own needs, our own desires. Perhaps we have plans that we aren’t willing to submit to God’s authority. James says it best in chapter 4 starting at verse 13:

“Come now, you who say, Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit — yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. Instead you ought to say, If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that. As it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil. So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.”

Let’s unpack this for a moment, because I think there is something very telling in James’ example. I am probably safe in saying that everybody has a very detailed idea of what they expect to do in life. Some people even have names, dates, and places all mapped out in their heads. Such dreaming is not without its usefulness, but the danger lies in expecting our imaginations to dictate reality. Only God has the power to do that. Jill Austin warns of living in a self-made fantasy world and missing out on the true destiny that God has which always starts wherever you are right now on your life’s journey.

James warns of such foolishness. We are only to move forward in God’s will. We can make plans, but only if the Lord wills it do we accomplish it with His favor and blessing. To do otherwise is arrogance and conceit and will only come to an evil end. I find the end of this passage of James’ very interesting: “whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.” That begs the question: how do we know what the right thing is to do? How do we know what God’s will is? How do we know we’re walking forward in His plan and His timing?

Again, if we take it as a given that God is always speaking, yet we can’t hear Him, then something is wrong on our end. Jesus says that His sheep hear His voice and follow Him. We are very precious to our God, and Jesus reminds us that He will leave the nighty-nine sheep safely penned up to go pursue the hundredth sheep who has strayed. So He is coming after us, hard. What should our response be?

There are three sources of information feeding into you at all times. The first is the devil and the evil kingdoms of the world. These voices are loud, persistent, and never let up. Every time you turn on the TV, read the paper, surf the Internet, or just chat with people not walking with God, you are inputting this sickly information stream. You can’t get rid of it, for God told us to go out into the world to be His hands and feet and to be the salt of the earth. But as soon as you forget these voices are to be kept at a safe distance, you are in trouble.

The second source of information is your own voice. I talk to myself all the time, and I know for a fact that I can logically rationalize almost any behavior I care to. I can easily fool myself into believing everything’s cool when it’s not. Conversely, I can fool myself into believing that God is mad at me and I’m a bad boy when in fact God loves me and thinks I rock. Really, my own voice can’t be trusted — unless I submit to the authority of the Holy Spirit.

Which brings me to the third source of information: the Holy Spirit! When we are born again and receive the Holy Spirit, we have a direct RSS feed from Heaven’s throne room, and we can send e-mail to god@heaven.eternity at any time we choose. And guess what? He actually answers! I have an inbox full of messages that have given me strength, solace, knowledge, and a heart of love that I never could have conjured up in my own power. I honestly don’t know how anyone can live the Christian life without apprehending this incredible connection we have with the Spirit of God that gives us everything we need in order to follow in the footsteps of Jesus!

At that time the disciples came to Jesus, saying, Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven? And calling to him a child, he put him in the midst of them and said, Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.

Matthew 18:1-4

Children are utterly dependent on their parents for protection, nourishment, instruction, and loving guidance. Children know that when danger looms, the refuge of the open arms of their fathers and mothers is the place to be. And so it is with our Heavenly Father! We must not listen to the voices of others but only the Father’s Voice which speaks to us and equips us to set forth on the adventure of a lifetime. God gives us protection, God nourishes our bodies and refreshes our souls, God gives us lawful instruction and wise counsel. Only if we humble ourselves, like a little child, will we be exalted and live forever in glory in the Kingdom of Heaven. What an awesome promise!

In part 5 of this series, I will elaborate a bit on how we can “dial in” the right frequency to hear God’s voice and not any other. Blessings be upon you! See you then!