Dallas Willard has long been able to explain the mastery of the spiritual life, and in Renovation of the Heart he clearly lays out what true spirituality is, and how we can attain it.
Frankly, this book has been on my desk for several months, and it took me a while to muster the strength to push into it. Once I did, I was encouraged, challenged, and delighted by what I found. He is answering questions that people are asking, and questions that I myself continue to face in my own spiritual walk.
Here is a continuation of what I shared in my last blog post. Go here to read the first part. It is an excerpt from my book, The Glory of a Wasted Life.
This is probably a good time to talk about the different ways God might speak to you. I have already mentioned the Bible, so I will not include this on the list. An audible voice. Throughout scripture God spoke to men and women through an audible voice, including Moses, Samuel and Jesus. Although I have not had this experience, a few friends of mine have. This may be the rarest way God speaks. An internal voice. In my experience, this has become the way God speaks most often. The internal voice is much like the “still small voice” that Elijah experienced after the confrontation with the prophets of Baal. When God speaks to you in this way, you may sense a thought or word form in your mind. Very often, God speaks in a conversation within the context of prayer. You pray, and God speaks. God speaks, and you pray. The goal is an ongoing conversation with God, where you are interacting with him, and he is guiding you. After praying for a house for six months, God spoke to me and showed me the house. It came to me as a thought that was clearly not my own: “This is the house you are praying for.” A dream. God spoke to the patriarch Joseph in dreams, to Jacob, and to Joseph in the New Testament. God often speaks in dreams to people today, but many dismiss them or fail to remember them.
In the period when I was first consistently walking out of the homosexual lifestyle, I had a dream that I was walking down a city street late at night. I was walking through a cool neighborhood lined with cafes and nightclubs. On the corner was a very handsome man who was cruising, and who propositioned me. In the dream, I kept walking, and then glanced back. On the corner was a huge wolf with fangs, licking his chops. I then awoke, remembering the dream. God was showing me that some of the habits I had developed seemed outwardly innocent, but really were deadly for me.
Before bed I ask God for a spirit of wisdom and revelation, and I keep a notebook on my nightstand. If I am awakened by a particularly vivid dream, I try to write it down. God can speak to us while we sleep. I also pray for protection from evil dreams and nightmares in the night. Visions. One day I was praying for my friend Alice. While I was praying for her, I saw a picture of her in a red dress, and she was beautiful. I could have dismissed the picture, but instead, I prayed into it. God was giving me insight into the desires of my friend’s heart. This was a vision.
There are two kinds of visions. The first is an internal picture, almost like a day dream where you might see something or imagine a picture in your mind. This happens to me often when I pray, or when I pray for others. It is one way that God speaks and guides your prayers.
The second, is an “open” vision. This is like the vision I had of heaven described in the first part of my book. Open visions are sometimes dramatic, and are used by God to give you clear revelation of his will or his direction. There are many times in scripture where men and women experienced visions. Two significant visions occurred in Acts. The first was when God wanted Peter to expand his ministry to the Gentiles in Acts 10:9-16. Paul had a vision in Acts 16:6-10 that directed him to go to Macedonia.
Visions are an important way that God speaks and clarifies other directions he gives to his people. The Prophetic. In November 2005, three members of a prophetic ministry team prophesied that I was about to experience a great transition, that I needed to stock up on groceries, and that was about to start something big. This surprised me, but I knew that God had made promises to me about a future ministry that had not been fulfilled.
Often God speaks his word from one person to another. When he does this, it is called the prophetic. Usually, when a person has a prophetic word for you, it is confirmation or an expansion of what God has spoken to you in other ways. In looking over the past decades when God has spoken to me through others, I can think of possibly twice where the prophecy was something God had not already told me. Prophecy is rarely directive, but more often confirmation. Unusual Circumstances or Signs. In 2004 I began finding pennies in odd places– really odd places, like balanced on their side on restaurant tables, on gas pumps, in my shoes, and on the ground outside my car door every time I opened it. It happens so often, that for a while I thought I was going a little crazy. It was not until the fall of 2006 that I heard Patricia King start talking about people who find pennies everywhere. She said that the pennies, “ONE CENT” were a sign of an apostolic calling—the Sent One. Since that time, the pennies no longer annoy me, but are a sign that God is encouraging the call he has placed on my life.
Unusual circumstances can be a way that God speaks. Any time something happens repeatedly, begin to ask God if he is trying to tell you something.
Whenever you begin to think God may be talking to you, write it down in your journal. Make the things that God is speaking to you a matter of your prayers. Ask God to give you confirmation in multiple ways. God can give you clarity, and help you have greater understanding of what he is saying. If God begins to give you direction, ask him how to obey the word that you have been given.
In terms of the red envelope idea, that came to me initially as a strong mental picture during my prayer time. As I prayed into it, I felt that my next step was to send my friends an email about it. It was not for about two weeks until I began to see the unusual response to the idea that I was sure that it was an idea from God.
In my next post, I would like to talk about how God uses the imagination.
John 10:27 says “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.”
We have been in a period of history where hearing God’s voice has either been de-emphasized or actively discredited by the larger Christian community. There is no time in history where listening to God and doing what he tells you is more important. For the creative person, this is an even more important skill.
In the next few pages, I will describe the process I have walked through to learn to listen to God. I made mistakes along the way, but also have learned to recognize when I am listening to God, to my own human weakness, or a spiritual voice that is not from God—the devil.
When I was a student at Houghton, my German professor, Gudrun Stevenson, used to recite a proverb to us: “I would rather have a “C” student with “A” character than an “A” student with “C” character.” That is the core of learning to listen to God. If you make mistakes, but have a pure heart and desire to do God’s will, those mistakes will help you grow and actually become a better listener. If you hear God clearly, but your gift does not match your character, or if your heart is divided between God and some other agenda or thing—watch out! You will run into trouble. Your heart attitude is where listening to God begins.
Dr. Dennis Kinlaw once told me that God is speaking all the time, but it’s a miracle we hear anything. It is important to keep an open attitude about how and where God might speak to you. God speaks in many different ways: through thoughts, through visions and dreams, and through external circumstances.
Once you get these two basic principals down, you can start to begin the process of learning to listen to God.
Begin with finding a place of quiet where there is no distraction. Even if you get to a quiet place, it might be hard to find internal quiet. Sometimes my mind or emotions are going so fast that I need time to unwind before I can let God speak to me.
If this happens, I place my hand on my heart, and begin to acknowledge the Presence of Jesus in me. I pray the following prayer: “Jesus, I believe that you are in me, and I am in you. You are in your Father, and your Father is in you. I am in your Father, and your Father is in me. Thank you Jesus for your Presence. Give rest to my soul and help me hear your voice.”
It may take some time, and I might need to take a few deep breaths and exhale. My goal is to be receptive to what God wants to say to me.
The second step after getting into a place of rest and receptivity, is to become full of the Holy Scriptures. A regular daily discipline of Bible reading is crucial. There are several reasons for this. First, it is important to know what God has said in the past, and to learn how God has spoken to people throughout time. If you think you hear God and he tells you something that is in violation of a clear word in Scripture, you know you are hearing another voice. The Bible creates the pathway in your soul for the ongoing conversation you can develop with God. Second, filling your mind with the Bible will help counteract the thoughts and attitudes you have learned as a fallen human being. This is part of letting your mind be renewed day by day. Third, the Bible is a living book, and beginning there is a great way for you to begin interacting with God. Daily structured Bible reading will help cause you to see the dynamic way God desires to interact with us.
For about twelve years I have been using a prayer book that has a one-year cycle of Bible readings. In a year I read about 85% of the Bible, and repeat most of the psalms several times a month. This has helped me make the Bible not only an informational book, but also the backbone of my life of prayer. Even after two degrees in Bible and theology, I am still learning new things everyday. This is a humbling and awe-inspiring process.
The next practical part of listening to God is keeping a journal. It is imperative that you begin writing the things you think God is telling you. In the beginning is might be simple. Many people I have taught over the years only hear a few words in the beginning. Often it is “I love you” or “Be not afraid.” God might give you insight into the Bible reading for that day, or insight into events that are happening around you.
In the beginning it is important to keep track of these things. Do not despise small beginnings or simple words. Sometimes they are the most significant. Often when I am about to face difficult situations, God will speak the same word over me: “You are my son, and I love you.” Since I struggle with being God’s son, this very simple word is often the comfort I need to make difficult decisions.
In my next post, I will describe the various ways that God speaks to us, and give some more practical thoughts.
Three weeks ago I was doing my usual routine of prayer, Bible study, and quietly listening to God. Usually I begin the day with “Lord, what’s on your agenda today?”
That day, my mind wandered a little, and I imagined hundreds of red envelopes in the mail room of the White House. On the back, a simple message stating that each envelope represented an innocent life lost. I took that idea, and sent it in an email to my 120 ministry supporters. They in turn, sent it to their friends.
In the past few days that simple act of obedience to what I thought God was telling me to do has been described as “a phenomenon,” and an “act like the Boston Tea Party.” There are now three designated websites, countless blogs, and two Facebook groups based on my idea. From the sketchy information I have found, I am estimating at least 100,000 have been sent so far.
Who says one person can’t make a difference?
I am humbled, and amazed by what has happened. I am staying with friends, and they have said “this really is AWESOME.”
There have been some funny things, too. Like all of the emails from people asking me “why do you call yourself ‘Christ’?” There have been a few folks who have made it like they started the idea, telling others when they should send the letters. And my favorite, the people who have changed the email, made me a “she” and their friend.
I am really grateful to the new friends that I have made in this too, especially Edie and Brad, who “get it.” This is not about politics, it’s about changing one man’s heart. And if that one man can CHANGE, then maybe others can too, and maybe there still is HOPE.
Antonin Scalia once said that he wanted to end abortion, but he could not do it alone. “Where is the moral outrage?” he asked.
