Spirit-Led is one of the most common terms batted around in the modern church today. We even have it in our Mid-Cities Community Church Mission Statement. It has become part of our Christian jargon to the extent that we may say it without really having much understanding of the term. It is a biblical term. Paul wrote, “but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live, because those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God” (Rom. 8:13-14).

There is an encouraging move in most denominations today toward an understanding and acceptance of the ministry of the Holy Spirit. More Christians are becoming comfortable with the idea of God speaking to us through his Spirit (The View not withstanding), not just through the written word, and many are opening up to the possibility that all the gifts of the Spirit may be in operation today. So the term Spirit-led is gaining wider usage…which I think is a very good thing.

However, we need to be clear about what it means to be led by the Spirit. I sense that what many mean by Spirit-led is that they are responding to a voice or impression they have received in their mind or emotions. I agree that the Spirit does lead us by those expressions and others, but not every voice or impression we experience is from the Spirit. Because of that, John cautions us, “Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God” (1 Jn.4:1).

We should all want to be Spirit-led but we should also rigorously test what we are hearing or feeling. It is helpful to have a grid by which you can test the spirits so I want to offer a few bench marks for testing those things we hear, sense, or feel.

The first question should always be whether or not what I believe to be the leading of the Spirit lines up with scripture? All scripture is God-breathed (2 Tim.3:16) and the breath of God is his Spirit. Since the Spirit “inspired” the writers and since God is unchanging, then whatever we hear from him now will not contradict or disregard scripture. Everything we need to know for living a life pleasing to God is written in scripture. The first facet of being Spirit-led then is to live a life consistent with biblical principles and commands. If we are not willing to obey what is clearly written, we may not hear from the Spirit at all since only those who are faithful in little will be given more.

The written word is always our plumb line and first test for authenticity. Of course, we must know scripture in order to determine if what we are hearing lines up with it. If we don’t know scripture, then we should find someone who does. We should also remember that although God will never contradict his word, he may contradict our understanding of his word. If we are to be Spirit-led, we may need to be open to a fresh understanding of his word and his ways from time to time.

Secondly, does the message you are hearing reflect the Spirit of Christ who is humble, gentle, and loving…even in a rebuke? If the voice you are hearing as you attempt to be Spirit-led is angry, demeaning, threatening, or abusive in any way, it is not the Holy Spirit. If the voice is troubling rather than depositing peace in your heart, it is not from the Lord because Jesus said, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid” (Jn.14:27).

Another test is whether the voice is calling you to holiness or is giving you permission to satisfy the desires of your flesh. I have known too many believers who have determined that God told them to leave their spouse for someone they had developed an emotional relationship with at work, church, or the gym. Their rationale was that God wants them to be happy and the other person is what would make them happy. However, God is much more interested in our holiness than our happiness. I have also known too many who were “told by God” to find another church as soon as they experienced some disappointment or relationship problem in their current church. And I have seen too many take the higher paying job although it would leave them no time for their family – confident that they were being Spirit-led. All of those scenarios turned out badly so we need to be sure that if we do whatever we are hearing, it will honor God, draw us closer to Jesus, and call us to a righteousness based on God’s standards not the standards of the world.

Another important test is confirmation. God is fine with us asking him for confirmation that what we have heard is from him and not from ourselves or the enemy. When you are hearing a voice that is calling you to significant life change or risk, you may want to have other godly people who regularly hear from the Lord pray for that confirmation as well. You may experience that confirmation as peace in your heart or an unusual experience that clearly points you one way or the other. Gideon asked God for confirmation that what he was hearing was from God rather than his own fantasy about being a hero for Israel. He set out a ram’s fleece twice asking for a different sign each time. God provided the confirmation without rebuke. He will do the same for us. Asking for confirmation is not doubting God, but is rather the recognition that we are fallible.

To be Spirit-led we must be sensitive to his voice or promptings. It is not so hard to hear his voice in our quiet times, when journaling, or in worship. But for most of us, it is much more difficult to sense his promptings in the crowd, in the midst of a busy day, or in the heat of crisis. At those moments, we may not have time to search the word, call others to pray for confirmation, or scan our hearts for selfish motives. When we feel prompted to pray for a stranger, share what we hope is a prophetic word with someone, stand up and speak out in a meeting, or share the gospel in the checkout line at HEB we will have to respond quickly. The basic question then is whether what we are about to do might be something Jesus would do. If the answer is “Yes,” then do it. Willingness to act on the prompting of the Spirit is more important in heaven then whether you heard The Spirit accurately or not.   A willingness to risk embarrassment for obedience is highly valued in the Kingdom of Heaven. As long as you act in love, you probably can’t go wrong. As we “experiment” with those spur-of-the-moment promptings, we will learn better how to discern the Spirit’s leading in those moments.

Spirit-led is our goal. It begins by allowing the Spirit to lead us through the written word and then comes to maturity as we learn to hear his voice and know it so well that we no longer need to question what we are hearing or even seek confirmation. Jesus said that he would send us the counselor, the teacher, the one who would lead us into all truth, and the one who would reveal the secrets of the Father’s heart to us. What an amazing gift. I’m thankful that more and more believers are beginning to discover that life can be Spirit-led and when it is, it is amazing. Blessings in Him.

One of the great promises in the Word is that whatever we ask, according to God’s will, it shall be done ( 1 Jn.5:14-15). Knowing God’s will then is essential. Part of our prayer life must  involve not only speaking to God but hearing him as well. There are times we will have a burden on our heart and know that it reflects the heart and purposes of God as revealed in scripture. We should pray. But there are other times when we should ask what the Father wants us to pray about a given situation. As his representatives on the earth, we want to pray as he would pray.  To do so, we may need some more information which will come to us by his Spirit if we ask and listen. There is tremendous value in hearing God and praying according to his specific will about a situation. Let me share an illustration about this principle from Graham Cooke.

“My friend John had been diagnosed with a brain tumor, which had grown from the size of a pea to almost the size of a tennis ball…When I heard about the situation, I drove a hundred miles to see him. That night there was prayer meeting for him at his church. I walked in and slammed in to a wall of unbelief. There were more than 200 people in this prayer meeting, but no unity. Some were binding and casting this thing out, others were cursing it, and some were praying. ‘If it be Your will, do something.’ There was every shade of prayer that one could imagine. ‘Father, what on earth is going on here?’ I asked God. ‘They don’t know what I want to do,’ He answered. “Well,’ I said, ‘What do you want me to do?’ ‘I want you to walk around and just find out right now, just in your spirit, just discern those who are waiting and listening, by faith,’ He said.

I walked around the room and found thirty-five people who were just being still. I called John and told him that we needed to have a prayer meeting , with these people, in his house the next evening…The group gathered the next evening and I explained that we needed to do nothing but worship God in order to change the atmosphere in John’s house. ‘We’re going to come to a place where God will tell us what he wants to do for John and his tumor.’ We worshipped for more than two hours that night, starting with thanking God, moving into praising Him, and eventually stepping into a place of ministering to God. ‘Let’s meet again tomorrow night,’ I said.

Again, we met and began worshipping God. After an hour, I stood up and handed everyone a piece of paper and a pen. ‘Find yourself a quiet place in the house or the gardens and so on, and just sit still before the Lord and ask him what he wants to do for John,’ I said, givng everyone half an hour. ‘When you’re learning how to hear the Lord, He doesn’t speak to you in whole sentences but in key words and phrases. Just be still before the Lord and let God breathe on you. Whatever comes into your conscious mind, write it down.

When everyone came back, we went around the room and wrote the key words and phrases on a flip chart. As words were repeated, I put a checkmark beside them. By the end of it, some of them had as many as twenty-five ticks. Taking those oft-repeated words and writing them down again, I asked the intercessors to go back to their quiet place, meditate on the words, and form them into a prayer. An hour later, the group came back together, full of excitement and confidence. They marched in like an army, eyes bright, with faces smiling broadly…we wrote out a prayer and came to an agreement that this is what we would pray. This is very important: there is one thing to pray – and one thing only. What happens with most of us is that we start off praying in our fear and panic and we give God so many choices that the situation overwhelms us. We end up losing heart and quit praying at all. That night at John’s house we prayed the prayer once – just to keep people from exploding – and set another prayer meeting for the next evening” (Graham Cooke, Crafted Prayer. Brilliant Book House, p.49-52).

As Cooke continues the story, the group met and prayed the same prayer with faith throughout the evening. As they prayed, the atmosphere in the home continued to grow in peace and expectation. Faith arose because they knew they were praying God’s specific will for John. Their faith grew and John’s did as well. The day that his surgery was scheduled, he insisted on another CAT scan. The doctors reluctantly allowed it, but no tumor appeared on the screen. Believing that their CAT scan was faulty or that the machine was broken, they sent him across town to another hospital for another scan. It, too, indicated no tumor at all. John was healed.

This account illustrates the power and the need to hear from God about specific circumstances so that we can more precisely pray his will. So why didn’t God just heal John when everyone was crying out for it the first night since he was willing to heal him all along? Because he has appointed his people to release his will on the earth.

Your words have great authority whether you know it or not or whether you want the responsibility or not. God honors your authority for good or for bad. He is not a micromanager. Once he has given you the responsibility he does not keep taking it from you. He leaves it in your hands to release his will or not. He is anxious to run the race and, if he runs, he will win. But he waits on you to fire the starting pistol with your prayers. I believe if we understood our position of authority and influence in the kingdom of God, we would see prayer as a privilege and an adventure in which we get to partner with the Creator of the Universe (our dad) to change history and eternity. We need to see prayer as a pivotal ingredient in moments that have changed history and lives and will continue to do so.

If you believe in the gifts of the Spirit and the full ministry of the Holy Spirit, then you must believe in our capacity as Christians to hear the voice or receive the leading of God. For you that leading may come primarily from the Father, from Jesus, or from the Spirit. It doesn’t matter because each one is God and will give you the same direction and reveal the same heart.

When we start to hear God, we are also responsible for testing the spirits to see if what we are hearing or seeing is from God or another source. John is very clear about our responsibility when he says, “Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God” (1 John 4:1-3). To our and detriment and their’s, most believers don’t practice testing enough. Too often we hear a voice or sense a leading and because it feels good we take off on it without questioning its authenticity.

Brad Jersak tells a story in his book ( Canyouhereme?) that is instructive. “On another occasion, a young man came to me voluntarily to test whether he was hearing God accurately. He felt that the Lord was telling him to sleep with his girlfriend. The voice had even used scriptures to justify this direction. He asked me how he could know whether or not this was the voice of God. I felt like arguing with him, but I have learned the hard way how ineffective this is. So, I suggested we test the source directly.

I spoke out, ‘We take up God’s invitation and our authority in Christ to directly test the source of this revelation. If it is the Holy Spirit, we welcome you. If it is another spirit, we summon you to present yourself before the Lord Jesus for testing.’ The young man answered, ‘I see a large dark cloud with lightening crackling around it, and the voice is coming from there.’ In my mind, I thought it might represent the power and the glory of God (/Ezekiel 1) or else the darkness might be our hint. But before I could ask another question, this fellow jumped in his seat. ‘I just heard a voice from behind me say, ‘Nice try,’ and then Jesus stepped up and blew the cloud away, There’s just a little gremlin-looking thing where the cloud was … ‘and who are you?’ we asked. It shrugged in defeat, ‘The spirit of the world.’ This was the messenger who had tried to masquerade as the Lord.”

If Brad had not pursued this testing, the young man could have assumed that the voice was from God. After all, he quoted scripture and appeared as an Old Testament image of God. I’m confident that the young man had invited this spirit by nurturing his fleshly desire to sleep with his girlfriend, otherwise he would have dismissed the voice immediately because it was clearly contrary to God’s word. Even when listening for God’s voice, we must be careful not to simply hear what we want to hear and disregard the rest. When I was involved in campus ministry years ago, it was remarkable how many young men in our college group had received a “word from the Lord” that they were to marry the same girl in our college group – perhaps, because she was the prettiest.

In testing the spirits, we should not be paranoid but should be careful or at least give due diligence in confirming that something is from God. Paul warned the church at Corinth. “And no wonder! Even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. So it is not strange if his ministers also disguise themselves as ministers of righteousness” (2 Cor. 11:14-15). These “disguised ministers of righteousness” can work through flesh and blood as they speak through misguided teachers, counselors, divisive church members, false prophets, or mistaken prophets. They can also masquerade as the voice of God as we hear them in our thoughts or see them in our imaginations.

There are several guidelines for testing spirits. Does the spirit or voice reflect the character of Christ and the fruit of the Spirit (Gal.5)? Is it consistent with the Word of God – the whole counsel of God and not just a proof text here or there? Does it draw us to Jesus and point is to holiness and integrity? Does it display love and build us up rather than tearing us down? Does it create peace in our hearts?

One of the best tests is to simply and directly ask Jesus if the word we heard was from him or a source other than God, just as Brad did. We can ask the Spirit to judge the voice by giving us peace in our hearts or by troubling us about it. It is also a great idea to ask a mature believer, who has heard from God for years, if it sounds like God to them. If we are concerned that God might be offended if we question “the voice” or the “prophecy,” remember that he is the one who told us to do so. When we ask, we’re not doubting him or his character, we are simply being careful with our own discernment. It’s a good practice to develop and a good practice to teach young believers.

The hand of the Lord was upon me, and he brought me out by the Spirit of the Lord and set me in the middle of a valley; it was full of bones. He led me back and forth among them, and I saw a great many bones on the floor of the valley, bones that were very dry. He asked me, “Son of man, can these bones live?” I said, “O Sovereign Lord, you alone know.” Then he said to me, “Prophesy to these bones and say to them, ‘Dry bones, hear the word of the Lord! This is what the Sovereign Lord says to these bones: I will make breath enter you, and you will come to life. I will attach tendons to you and make flesh come upon you and cover you with skin; I will put breath in you, and you will come to life. Then you will know that I am the Lord.’ ”

So I prophesied as I was commanded. And as I was prophesying, there was a noise, a rattling sound, and the bones came together, bone to bone. I looked, and tendons and flesh appeared on them and skin covered them, but there was no breath in them. Then he said to me, “Prophesy to the breath; prophesy, son of man, and say to it, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe into these slain, that they may live.’ ” So I prophesied as he commanded me, and breath entered them; they came to life and stood up on their feet—a vast army. Ezekiel 37:1-10

There is an expression among some of our contemporary prophets that “prophetic words don’t tell the future, they create the future.” That may sound arrogant, but not if you understand how God has determined to do his work in this world through his people. Ezekiel is a prime example and the familiar story above illustrates the principle. In a vision, God took Ezekiel to a valley that had probably been the sight of a large military battle. The dead were not buried but simply left where they fell. They had been there a very long time and the elements had stripped away everything but the bones. In the story, God is illustrating what he plans to do with Israel, which by all measures has become spiritually dead.

God could have easily set Ezekiel on a high cliff overlooking the valley so that he could have watched God’s handiwork from afar and reported what he saw. Instead, God made him a vital part of the process. God had already determined what he wanted to do but, once again, would not do it until one of his prophets declared his intentions. It’s as if God is always ready to run a race and will always win, but he will not leave the starting blocks until one his people fires the starting gun. Our words are the starting gun. God told him the words he was to declare, but would not act until Ezekiel was obedient to declare the word of the Lord over the situation. As he did, the Spirit of God began to move and amazing things happened. Where there was once despair, hope emerged. Where there was only death, life appeared. In what was once a sight of defeat and desolation, an army stood.

Remember God’s word to Jeremiah as he called the young man to be a prophet. “Then the Lord reached out his hand and touched my mouth and said to me, “Now, I have put my words in your mouth. See, today I appoint you over nations and kingdoms to uproot and tear down, to destroy and overthrow, to build and to plant” (Jer.1:9-10). God’s method is to put his words in the mouths of his people and when they declare that word, he will empower his words to create the very thing that is decreed. God’s original intent was to rule the earth through his representatives to whom he had given authority over the works of his hands (Ps.8). I believe God honors that intent by waiting on those to whom he has given authority to release the word over their rightful dominion before he acts.

Since the Spirit of God lives within every believer, every believer can hear the voice of God speaking to him or her. One of our prime directives should be to listen to God intently to discover the very things he wants us to pray or declare or command over a given situation. We have been taught that prayer is our opportunity to persuade God to do what we want him to do. There is probably a time for that but I’m convinced that the rule of thumb is that we have been placed here to declare the words he puts in our mouths and on our hearts. Jesus is our example and he clearly stated that he only did what he saw the Father doing and only spoke what he heard the Father saying. When we do that, we can have absolute faith that our prayers will be answered.

That doesn’t mean that we never initiate a need or a concern. But after having laid our concern or a crisis before the throne, the best approach would then be to ask the Father how he wants us to pray or what he wants us to say over that situation. I must confess that too often I act as if God is there to represent my interests rather than me being here to represent his.

The truth is that we approach just about every situation or need with a very limited view of all the issues and variables that will affect the outcome. We have no idea of what will transpire six months from the time we decide what should be done in a situation. We usually pray for the easiest road rather than the most beneficial road. We have a very short-term view of life rather than the eternal perspective of the God who has no beginning and no end. It stands to reason then that what he would have us do, pray, or declare would be very superior to what we would try to convince him to do.

All of this is why it is so critical for us to learn to hear the Father and to take time to do so on a daily basis. When he puts his words in our mouth, our prayers and declarations can change entire nations. How much more can they affect the individuals and smaller issues most of us deal with? Paul taught us that “those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God” (Rom.8:14). So what does it mean to be led by the Spirit of God? It simply means that we do and say what the Spirit directs us to do and he tells us what he hears the Father saying. That is what makes us sons and daughters of God. You have heard the expression, “like father, like son.” A true son reflects the father in his words, actions, and motives. A father can be seen in a true son so when we pray or declare what the Father gives us, then we are most like him and accurately represent him on the earth. Let’s listen for him before we pray or declare. It is the way of the prophets and the Son and should be our way as well.

Over the years, I have discovered that anyone who begins to press into the power of God will garner his or her share of criticism and suspicion. Most believers like a tame God and a Holy Spirit who always colors inside the lines. We want God to act in predictable ways so that we can order our lives based on past performance and so that God makes no unexpected demands on our faith or obedience.

When you begin to press into the power of God, things can get unpredictable. That makes you unpredictable and a source of discomfort to all those who don’t want God “acting up.” Miracles put a demand on our faith. First of all, the demand is expressed in terms of whether we believe that God is a God of present-day miracles or not. The second demand that miracles make is expressed in terms of whether we have faith to join God in those miracles or not.

Living with an expectation of miracles or, at least a hope for miracles, is both exciting and challenging. It is exciting when we see God move. It brings the Bible to life and our faith is confirmed experientially. If we have seen God move in response to our prayers or declarations, we feel affirmed and are excited by that partnership. The challenge comes when we don’t see God move as we expected. Then the questions flood in. Why was our friend not healed? Why did we see no deliverance when we were certain a demonic presence was infecting the person to whom we ministered? Why is the man we’ve been praying for still unemployed? Why is our son or daughter still addicted when we have done all the right things? When we don’t see the manifestation of God, we can struggle with our own faith, our own sense of “being okay” with God, and our own understanding of how God works.

Believe me, life was easier when I was a cessationist. When I believed that God no longer moved in miracles and that he essentially did whatever he wanted to do regardless of my input, life was easier. Live a decent life, go to church, pray for the children in war-torn Africa, give a little to missions, serve a little, then die and trust Jesus to take you to heaven. I felt little responsibility for God’s purposes on the earth and I never had to struggle with the theological questions surrounding the miracles of God. When I believed that God only spoke through the Bible, I never had to struggle with discerning his voice from my own or the enemy’s voice.

When you start pressing in to the power of God and asking others to do so with you, you get push back. Suddenly God is not so predictable. Suddenly, men and women have to wrestle with questions of faith and their view of God that were never unearthed before. Suddenly, they become responsible for most of what God wants to do on the earth. Suddenly, you are asking them to step into unfamiliar territory. They push back…at least emotionally. Often that push back will come in the form of criticism, suspicion, and even accusation. The enemy will fuel that criticism, trying to discourage your walk into greater realms of the Kingdom.

You will most likely be told you are being deceived; that you are spiritually arrogant; that you are rejecting sound teaching; or that you are causing division in your congregation. Friends may distance themselves from you and leadership may offer you fewer opportunities to serve. All of that may create self-doubt for you personally and cause you to question the direction you are moving. If it helps, remember that Jesus was accused of the same things – even being in league with Beelzebub.

Without exploring everything attached to this, I want you to consider what to do with the criticism. I like what Stephen Mansfield has to say about this and I hope it will be hopeful to you. Let me quote from Stephen’s blog.

One of the maxims that has helped me is from the great missionary/statesman E. Stanley Jones. He said, “My critics are the unpaid guardians of my soul.” Now, these weren’t easy words for me to hear. Jones wanted me to look fully into what my critics and my enemies said about me to see if there was any truth. Then, he wanted me to get busy changing what needed to be changed—based on the hurtful words of people who wanted to hurt me.

 When I heard Jones’ words, I decided to try. I wanted so badly to be an exceptional man. I began listening to what people said to me. Sometimes, they were angry. Sometimes, I heard that veiled criticism we pick up in the humor of friends. There were also the side comments from people I hardly knew. Once in a while there was kind, direct, hard-hitting correction from someone who wanted to help me.

I got in the habit of writing down the core of each bit of criticism I received, and then I would write what today they would call an action statement from it. I don’t want to give you the wrong impression. It wasn’t as though I was constantly criticized. I also hadn’t descended into some type of self-abuse that had me addicted to the pain of harsh words. Instead, I had simply come to accept three possibilities for any harsh words said about me. First, they weren’t true and needed to be discarded. Second, they weren’t true but needed to be addressed. Third, they had some truth in them that could help me be a better man. The benefits of thinking like this changed my life.

Hearing criticism is hard but sometimes God speaks to us even though our enemies. If we are to move in the greater things of the kingdom we must guard our hearts and humble ourselves before the Lord. Consider Stephen’s approach and the wise sayings of Proverbs. “Do not rebuke a mocker or he will hate you; rebuke a wise man and he will love you. Instruct a wise man and he will be wiser still; teach a righteous man and he will add to his learning” (Pr.9:8-9).   If you chafe at criticism, you might also consider Proverbs 3:11-12, 10:17, 12:1, 13:8, 15:12, 15:32; 27:6).

Don’t worry, if you are doing anything noteworthy in the Kingdom of God, criticism will come your way. View it as a tool God will use to deepen your character and guard your heart. Discard what is unjust and receive what the Holy Spirit confirms. Like a ship sailing across vast waters being pushed by winds and currents, our path will need constant correction. Welcome it, even if you don’t enjoy it. It will bear great fruit in your life. Be blessed today.

One of the most memorable events in the life of Hezekiah occurred when Jerusalem was besieged by Assyria and faced almost certain defeat. The Bible says, “In the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah’s reign, Sennacherib king of Assyria attacked all the fortified cities of Judah and captured them” (2 Kings 18:13). To understand the gravity of that statement we must remember that at the time of this attack, Assyria was the most dominant power in the Middle East and the Mediterranean. We are told that Sennacherib sent a vast army into Judah to lay siege to all of her fortified cities with Jerusalem being the last. The modern day equivalent would be for Russia to surround the cities of Israel without any resistance or allies to come to Israel’s aid.

The King of Assyria sent a commander to Jerusalem with a message for Hezekiah. Essentially, he told them that resistance would be futile. They had just marches across the Middle East and no nation had been able to stand against them. That was a true report and Hezekiah knew it. He also went on to say that none of the gods of these defeated nations had been able to stand against their gods and the God of Israel would be no different. In fact, the commander claimed that the God of Israel himself has sent Assyria to destroy Judah as they had destroyed Israel (the northern kingdom) just months earlier. The demand was open the gates and surrender immediately or die while Jerusalem was destroyed.

There are a few lessons for us in this account. First of all, Hezekiah was a godly king who had done right in the eyes of the Lord for fourteen years. Yet, trouble showed up on his doorstep – not just trouble but overwhelming, massive, unsolvable trouble. God does not always spare the righteous from trouble but his promise is to deliver them from trouble.

In response to the threat and the demands of the enemy, Hezekiah does three things: He puts on sackcloth and commands his other leaders to do the same, he prays, and he asks for a word of the Lord from the prophet Isaiah. Sackcloth represents godly sorrow for sins and repentance. His first response was to take a personal inventory of any sins that might have brought this calamity on him and the nation and then he called his other leaders to do the same. In essence he called for a national day of repentance and prayer.

Secondly, he took the written message delivered from the King of Assyria into the temple and laid it before the Lord. He prayed, “      “O Lord Almighty, God of Israel, enthroned between the cherubim, you alone are God over all the kingdoms of the earth. You have made heaven and earth. Give ear, O Lord, and hear; open your eyes, O Lord, and see; listen to all the words Sennacherib has sent to insult the living God. It is true, O Lord, that the Assyrian kings have laid waste all these peoples and their lands. They have thrown their gods into the fire and destroyed them, for they were not gods but only wood and stone, fashioned by human hands. Now, O Lord our God, deliver us from his hand, so that all kingdoms on earth may know that you alone, O Lord, are God” (Isa.37:16-20).

In his prayer, Hezekiah rehearses the greatness of God and confesses that Jehovah is the only true and living God. He doesn’t deny his circumstances or all the victories that Assyria has had but he does defy his circumstances in the name of the Lord. Notice that not only was Hezekiah concerned about his impending defeat but he was also concerned about the name of God. When David faced Goliath, he also declared defeat over the giant because he had slandered and defied the name of Jehovah. A sincere concern for the name of the Lord to be known and held in honor goes a long way in heaven’s courts.

Thirdly, he sends for a word from the Lord through Isaiah, the prophet. He does not take a poll about the odds of victory or call a meeting of his military experts or economic advisors. He ignores the reports of men and seeks the report of God as to whether victory or defeat will be Jerusalem’s lot. Isaiah answers, “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: Because you have prayed to me concerning Sennacherib king of Assyria…this is what the Lord says concerning the king of Assyria: “He will not enter this city or shoot an arrow here. He will not come before it with shield or build a siege ramp against it.      By the way that he came he will return; he will not enter this city,” declares the Lord. “I will defend this city and save it, for my sake and for the sake of David my servant!”    Then the angel of the Lord went out and put to death a hundred and eighty-five thousand men in the Assyrian camp. When the people got up the next morning—there were all the dead bodies. So Sennacherib king of Assyria broke camp and withdrew” (Isa.37:33-37).

Even the worst or most powerful of men or no match for God and the power of heaven. God did not keep Hezekiah from trouble but delivered him from trouble because Hezekiah served God and sought God in the crisis. He had faith to listen to the reports of God through his prophet and had genuine concern for the name of God. Scripture says that those who honor God, God will honor (1 Sam.2:30). Hezekiah honored God with his life and prayers and God honored him with deliverance.

There is another biblical theme that also runs through Hezekiah’s life. God often allows his people to be placed in impossible situations that require supernatural deliverance so that after the victory, man will honor God rather than himself. Only God could have delivered Hezekiah and he did. Only God could have delivered Goliath into the hands of a teenager and he did. Only God could provide a child to Abraham and Sara when their bodies were long past the age of childbearing and he did. Only God could have brought down the walls of Jericho for a ragtag army of former slaves and he did. You see the theme and that theme is still likely to play out in the lives of his people today. Too often we take the lesser solutions offered by the world rather than seeking the supernatural solutions of God first with faith and with concern for his name to be exalted through our circumstances. Hezekiah points us in that direction – a direction we would do well to follow when the odds against us seem overwhelming.

One of the gifts I am praying about and trying to develop is the gift of discerning spirits. I believe this gift, if well developed, would make me more effective in the ministry areas the Father has called me to. I also believe that this is a gift for all of God’s children and that he wants us to live with a greater awareness of the spiritual realm than even the natural realm. The Bible is full of accounts in which men and women saw and heard in the spiritual realm. Those moments are described as dreams or visions and sometimes are simply described as experiences. Let me catalogue of few of those incidents to jog our memories.

Remember Jacob dreaming of angels ascending and descending on a ladder from heaven? Remember Moses perceiving God on Mt. Sinai? And then there was Gideon’s encounter with the supernatural. “The angel of God said to him, ‘Take the meat and the unleavened bread, place them on this rock, and pour out the broth.’ And Gideon did so. With the tip of the staff that was in his hand, the angel of the Lord touched the meat and the unleavened bread. Fire flared from the rock, consuming the meat and the bread. And the angel of the Lord disappeared” (Judges 6:20-21). Elisha prayed and God opened the eyes of his servant to see the hills surrounding Dothan filled with chariots of fire that were already in place in the spiritual realm. Daniel, Ezekiel, and Jeremiah all saw things in the spiritual realm that were realities or that became realities. Balaam found himself talking to his donkey and then seeing an angel of the Lord standing in his path (Num.22). David saw an angel of the Lord standing over Jerusalem with a drawn sword. In the New Testament both Mary and Joseph had angelic visitations. The apostles had angels lead them from prison and Paul had a conversation with an angel one night as he stood on the deck of a storm tossed ship.

At times, God spoke out of the spiritual realm. Some heard his voice while others only heard thunder. Others felt things from the spiritual realm even though they could not see what was there. Daniel reported, “ On the twenty-fourth day of the first month, as I was standing on the bank of the great river, the Tigris, I looked up and there before me was a man dressed in linen, with a belt of the finest gold round his waist. His body was like chrysolite, his face like lightening, his eyes like flaming torches…the men with me did not see it, but such terror overwhelmed them that they fled and hid themselves” (Dan.10:4-7). All of these experiences and many more recorded in scripture reveal that God wants to show his people things in the spiritual realm for faith, understanding, and direction.

But isn’t that just for a few or for the super-spiritual? I used to think that but now I believe it is the Father’s will for all his children. The reason I believe that is because God has equipped each of us to hear, see, feel, and more in the spiritual realm.

We are all to be led by the Holy Spirit and we are all directed to hear God. Therefore, we all have spiritual ears that, at least, have the potential to hear the Spirit as he leads us and to receive a rhema (fresh word) from God. Paul prayed that God would enlighten (open) the eyes of the hearts of the believers in Ephesus. He did not pray that God would give them spiritual eyes but that he would open the eyes they had (Eph.1:15-18). In addition, we are also promised that the pure in heart will see God (Mt.5:8).

How often did Jesus or the prophets declare that God’s people had eyes to see and ears to hear but neither saw nor heard? I believe he was speaking about spiritual eyes to see and spiritual ears to hear so that we might receive things from the spiritual realm. I believe that just as we have five physical senses to discern things in our natural environment we also have five spiritual senses with the potential to see, hear, smell, touch (feel), and taste in our spiritual environment. The capacity is there, be we have to believe in that capacity by faith and then begin to exercise those senses. We do so by paying attention to our own spirit and the Holy Spirit rather than filtering out what we could otherwise perceive or attributing the sensations we are having to natural or psychological phenomena rather that spiritual realities.

I believe all humans have these senses, not just believers, and that the devil uses them in some who distort them and operate in them as psychics, mediums, witches, etc. We are probably attuned to these spiritual senses as children although we many not be able to interpret what we are seeing. The “monster under the bed” may be simple imagination or the awareness of something evil in the room that parents could easily take care of with the authority of Jesus. Children who just “saw an angel” may have just seen an angel. As the adults in our lives discount these childhood experiences we may learn to filter out the input from these senses.

Think about it. If the idea of being born with spiritual senses as well as natural senses resonates with you, then you may want to start praying that the Father would open your spiritual eyes and ears to see and hear in the spiritual realm as a beginning place. Then start to pay attention to all your senses not just those you tune into in the natural realm. Of course, ask the Holy Spirit to lead you into all truth as you tune in. He must govern all of spiritual experiences to keep us from wandering off, but if our lives, as children of God, are to be anchored in the spiritual realm more than the natural, it seems we must have spiritual senses along with wisdom that every believer needs to develop.

But solid food belongs to those who are full of age, that is, those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil (Heb.5:14, NKJV).

“Prophesy to these bones and say to them, ‘Dry bones, hear the word of the Lord! This is what the Sovereign Lord says to these bones: I will make breath enter you, and you will come to life. I will attach tendons to you and make flesh come upon you and cover you with skin; I will put breath in you, and you will come to life. Then you will know that I am the Lord.’ ” So I prophesied as I was commanded. And as I was prophesying, there was a noise, a rattling sound, and the bones came together, bone to bone. I looked, and tendons and flesh appeared on them and skin covered them, but there was no breath in them…Ezek. 37

When asking God to breathe life into a situation, a relationship, or a disease riddled body we must always remember that our faith and action will play a part. God had already decided to raise this army of dry bones from the valley floor but would wait on Ezekiel to declare his word before the power flowed. Notice that Ezekiel was not declaring his own word or his own will but the will and the word of God.

Our first step in changing an impossible situation is to make sure that what we are asking is aligned with the will of God. Are we praying something or declaring something that has his stamp of approval on it? You would think that principle is a given but I have known Christians who were praying for things far removed from the will of God. For instance, I met with a woman once who was frustrated with God because he hadn’t answered a long time prayer for her “boyfriend” to leave his wife and children to marry her. I’ve met with a Christian whose greatest desire was for a former spouse to die and burn in hell. I’m not sure that follower of Jesus prayed for that particular outcome but I know she hoped for that outcome because she told me so in no uncertain terms. I believe she had prayed for it.

Our first assessment should be whether the thing we are praying for or declaring lines up with the will of God as revealed in scripture. We can always pray, declare and command for the sake of someone’s salvation because we know that God desires that all men should be saved. We can always pray, declare, or command on behalf of a failing marriage, a person in bondage to an addiction, a nation that needs to turn back to God, or for a woman not to choose abortion because we know God’s constant heart on those matters. We already have his unchanging word on the matter. Other issues may be a little trickier so we simply need a “rhema” or direct word from God on the issue. Ezekiel didn’t get his command to prophesy over dry bones from the Torah but from a direct word from the Lord.

The key is in praying, prophesying, or declaring the word of God over the issue. God said, “So will My word be which goes forth from My mouth; It will not return to Me empty, Without accomplishing what I desire, And without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it” (Isa.55:11). When God’s word goes forth it fulfills its purpose. In the case of Ezekiel, God’s word was placed on Ezekiel’s lips and he sent it forth by declaring God’s word over an entire valley of dry bones. Jeremiah experienced the same dynamic. “Then the Lord reached out his hand and touched my mouth and said to me, “Now, I have put my words in your mouth. See, today I appoint you over nations and kingdoms to uproot and tear down, to destroy and overthrow, to build and to plant” (Jer.1:9-10). Jeremiah would build and tear down nations by declaring God’s word over them. As I said before, God loaded the gun but his prophets pointed the gun at the target and pulled the trigger which released the power of the Holy Spirit into the very situation God was willing to effect on the earth.

Those patterns of how God works in the earth were given for our learning. Just as Ezekiel, Jeremiah, and a host of others in scripture declared God’s word over a matter, we are to do the same. When God’s word goes forth from our lips, it also fulfills its purpose. That is how we speak life over dead things that God wants to make live again. That is how we tear down strongholds and set people free. The desired result is not always immediate. It takes years to build some things as each prayer and declaration adds a brick and months or years to tear down other things. At times we are laying siege to the enemy and every prayer, declaration, or command releases more of the power of God into the situation we are dealing with. When enough spiritual artillery has pounded the walls of a demonic stronghold, the wall will fall like the walls of Jericho. God wants to build up and tear down and he wants to use us to do both. He uses us by placing his words on our lips so that we might send forth the words of God that in due time will fulfill their purpose.

Next Blog: More lessons from dry bones.

One of my favorite authors is Philip Yancey. As far as I can tell, his theology would not at all be charismatic but he has insights into the word and into spiritual things that are fresh, honest and thought provoking. One such insight is found in his book, The Jesus I Never Knew. As Christmas is upon us I want to share a lengthy quote from his book and then make a few observations that come to me as a result of his thoughts.

Sorting through the stack of cards that arrived out our house last Christmas, I note that all kinds of symbols have edged their way into the celebration. Overwhelmingly, the landscape scenes render New England towns, buried in snow, usually with the added touch of a horse-drawn sleigh. On other cards, animals frolic: not only reindeer but chipmunks, raccoons, cardinals, and cute gray mice. One card shows an African lion reclining with a foreleg draped affectionately around a lamb. Angels have made a huge comeback in recent years, and Hallmark and American Greetings now feature them prominently, though as demure, cuddly-looking creatures, not the type that would ever need to announce “Fear not!” The explicitly religious cards focus on the holy family, and you can tell at a glance these folks are different. They seem unruffled and serene. Bright gold halos, like crowns from another world, hover just over their heads. Inside, the cards stress words like love, goodwill, cheer, happiness and warmth. It is a fine thing, I suppose, that we honor a sacred holiday with such homey sentiments. And yet when I turn to the gospel accounts of the first Christmas, I hear a very different tone and sense mainly disruption at work. (Philip Yancey, The Jesus I Never Knew, p.29; Zondervan)

As I read this chapter again, I am reminded by Yancey and my own thoughts about how intrusive God can be and should be in our lives. Most of us like life to move along at our pace, according our plans and our prayers simply ask God to pave the way for our desires. However, the biblical pattern is somewhat different.

Mary’s world was turned upside down in a moment by an angelic visitation announcing that she would soon be pregnant by the Holy Spirit even though she was only promised to Joseph. Joseph, having decided to divorce his “unfaithful fiancé,” had his plans abruptly reversed by an angelic visit of his own. He would share Mary’s “shame” with her. Sleepy shepherds spending another uneventful night in the fields around Bethlehem were jarred awake in a moment and terrified when the heavens exploded with the glory of God and angels sang. Even wise men from the east were shown a star that somehow compelled them to take a long, difficult journey to find this new king and then to sneak quietly out of the country to avoid Herod’s wrath that had been stirred suddenly by the unexpected announcement of the birth of a new king in Herod’s territory.

Most of us are committed to comfort and doing things for God when the doing is convenient. We like to plan our steps and then enlist God to smooth the way. But in my experience, the big things God wants to do in each life usually require an intrusion that challenges us to drop what we are doing, shelve our plans, and go with God – or simply miss our destiny. Think of how intrusive Jesus was. “Come and follow me!” Leave your boats, your career, even your family on a moment’s notice to take up the call on God has placed on your life. That seems to be God’s approach. A burning bush for Moses. A voice in the night for the boy Samuel. A prophet calling David out of the pastures and pouring oil on his head. A staggering light for Saul of Tarsus at midday. Each was unexpected. Each was intrusive. Each was incredibly inconvenient and in some ways made no earthly sense. Each changed a life and the world forever.

The Christmas story is a series of intrusions that often led to hardship before it led to glory. Here is the question Christmas raises for each of us. Are we open to God’s intrusions or do we turn Him down? Would we be willing to let God have his way in our own lives and at a moment’s notice start down a road never contemplated – even if it is just a five-minute journey to pray for a stranger or to tell someone about Jesus? And before we think about God’s inconvenient intrusions into our own lives, think of God’s own intrusion into the peace and order of heaven when suddenly the Word of God laid aside his glory and his deity and became a small and helpless child who parachuted alone into a world of poverty, danger, disease, sin and persecutions for our sake. That intrusion pointed toward a cross. And yet each of these intrusions led not only to moments or days of hardship but also to world changing encounters orchestrated by the Father.

If we have any hunger for greatness or significance in the kingdom of God we must be open to intrusions – sometimes taking a small bite out of our day and at other times changing the entire course of our lives. My dual nature wants to do something great in the kingdom of God for Jesus while at the same time wants comfort, predictability, and security like a hobbit in the Shire. The question for the day is always which part of me will I follow. Will I embrace God’s surprising intrusions or turn them down as I continue on my own agenda. Christmas dares me to go with God.

I have frequently made the point that power and authority flow from the top down in any organization or government and it flows best when we are aligned with our commander’s purposes and strategies. That is also true in the kingdom of God. The more aligned we are with the heart of God – his values, his purposes, his vision, and his ways – the more his Spirit will speak to us and manifest his power through us. One of the ways in which we stay aligned with the Father is by recognizing the leading of the Spirit. Paul tells us, “because those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God” (Rom.8:14).

That statement prompts the question, “What does it mean to be led by the Spirit?” Being led by the Spirit is actually the process of discerning God’s will in any given situation and responding to that will. The Spirit is not so much leading us as he is conveying the Father’s lead to us. On several occasions, Jesus said that he only spoke what he heard the Father speaking and he only did what he saw the Father doing. Since Jesus operated as a man I don’t think that he heard God directly (except on rare occasions) and I don’t think he literally saw the Father doing something. Rather, by the Spirit he heard from the Father and by the Spirit he sensed God’s activity, direction, and purposes in given situation and participated in what he sensed God was doing.

For instance, in his healing ministry there were times when hundreds of people converged on Jesus asking for healing and the gospels tell us that he healed all who came. That situation seems fairly easy to read but there were other times when Jesus walked through a crowd of sick and disabled people and picked out only one for healing. That required sensitivity to the Spirit who directed his eyes and heart to one person out of many. After healing the one, he would usually move on even though all the rest needed healing as badly.

One thing I have noticed about Jesus throughout the gospel accounts is that he never seemed in a hurry even though he only had three years to teach, demonstrate the kingdom, and to save the world. I believe he was never in a hurry because he was being led by the Spirit and engaging only in the things presented to him each day that were part of God’s strategy for him. Many of us who serve the Lord often feel overwhelmed by the amount of ministry opportunities that land on our plate everyday because we think we are responsible to take every opportunity to speak or minister. My guess is that we are not very Spirit-led and are engaging in many things that are not on God’s agenda for us. The things we undertake are all good and even consistent with the values of the kingdom – evangelism, good works, helping marriages survive, feeding the poor, etc. but they may not be on God’s strategic agenda for us. I’m betting that our days and lives would slow down while being more effective if we sensed more clearly the leading of the Spirit in our day-to-day lives and only did the things that were on God’s To-Do list for our day.

If that is true, then the next question should be, “How do I develop that kind of sensitivity?” I don’t have it all figured out but let me suggest a few things. First of all, we should pray for that kind of spiritual discernment on a daily basis. We should ask God to teach us to hear him even in the crowds and in the business of our day. Many of us have learned to hear him in our quiet times and in the midst of worship but what about during all the other times that comprise most of our waking moments?

Secondly, we might practice being led by the Spirit by stopping five or ten times a day in the car, at the mall, in the grocery store, or on the job and asking God what he wants us to know or see or sense about that moment. Then listen for the small, still voice of the Spirit. Any gift or ability is only developed through practice.

Thirdly, when we sense that he wants us to do something we should do it – even, and especially, if it takes us way out of our comfort zone. Have you have ever had a friend or family member who would frequently call you late in the evening to ask advice but then always went his or her own way and never followed through on your counsel? When that pattern emerges, it’s usually not long before you lose your willingness to give any more advice or to pick up the phone late in the evening. I think God may feel the same way when he speaks to us and we never follow through on his urgings. Obedience is critical even when we “mishear” God. Our consistent willingness to follow his lead will bring more leading.

Fourthly, fill up on God’s word daily. Sometimes we become lazy about Bible study and simply depend on the leading of the Spirit when we want to know God’s will. The Word is the constant plumb line for knowing whether the leading you are sensing is from God or from another source. When we honor God by studying his Word he will honor us by speaking to us.

So…..practice being Spirit-led this week and have fun!