Group 1 – Section 4

Note: The Lord speaks to us through the Holy Spirit who lives inside us. Hearing the Lord improves greatly when you trust that you are before the Lord, that He is before you here, that the Holy Spirit and angels are all around you, and you quiet yourself before the Lord.

… (Your name), listen to what you are saying. Let yourself believe, love, and be thankful for the truth!

…Lord God I delight that “..the Lord gives wisdom; From His mouth come knowledge and understanding” (Pro. 2:6). It is right and good for me to trust You to do that for me because “I know, O Lord, that a man’s way is not in himself, nor is it in a man who walks to direct his steps” (Jer. 10:23). I delight to repent and turn from trusting myself to know what is best. Lord, I love that I don’t have to trust myself because You are my God… (pause to hear, believe, and love it as the truth!)

…Father, it is a great joy to trust You to speak to me and give direction about what to do and say. It is right and good for me to tell myself, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight. Do not be wise in your own eyes…” (Prov. 3:5-7). I delight that I don’t have to do it on my own because You will direct my paths…

…Lord, I delight that I can trust You to speak to me in ways that are loving, kind, strong, and good. Lord God, I rest into confidently believing You are here and that You speak to me by grace and without holding back. Lord, I delight that I can be confident that You will speak to me through the Bible and all through the day… (pause to hear, believe, and love it as the truth!)

…Lord God I love Your promise that “I will instruct you and teach you in the way which you should go; I will counsel you with My eye upon you” (Psa. 32:8). I delight that it is right and safe for me to trust You to “Make Your face shine upon Your servant, and teach me Your statutes” (Psa. 119:135). I will confidently trust You to speak to me; “…Speak, Lord, for Your servant is listening…” (1 Sam. 3:9)…

…Lord God I am asking for wisdom and I rest into confidently believing that You are constantly giving wisdom and understanding—freely and without holding back…

“But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him. But he must ask in faith without any doubting, for the one who doubts is like the surf of the sea, driven and tossed by the wind” (James 1:5,6)…

…Father I humble myself into believing the truth about being able to hear from You. I turn from despair and hopelessness because God does speak to His people. I rest into confidently believing that You are here with me and that You have given me the ability to hear what You are saying. Thank You for Your written and Your spoken word… (pause to listen, believe, and love it as the truth!)

… (Your name), listen to what you are saying. Let yourself believe, love, and be thankful for the truth!

…I delight that God promises to give the words when I need them. The Bible says, “When they bring you before the synagogues and the rulers and the authorities, do not worry about how or what you are to speak in your defense, or what you are to say; for the Holy Spirit will teach you in that very hour what you ought to say” (Luke 12:11,12). I love that I don’t have to speak on my own initiative. Lord, I humble myself from having to daydream about what I would say if (give an example of the kind of thing you daydream about).

…Father, I delight that I can stand before You and that You promise that “…I will counsel you with My eye upon you” (Psa. 32:8). I choose to believe it, and I reject disbelief. I delight that You desire to “Make Your face shine upon Your servant, and teach me Your statutes” (Psa. 119:135). I trust You Lord to work in me so that I can hear You better… (pause to listen, believe, and love it as the truth!)

…I love that You have shown us clearly that the pattern is to watch, listen, and see what the Father is doing. “…‘Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, unless it is something He sees the Father doing; for whatever the Father does, these things the Son also does in like manner. For the Father loves the Son, and shows Him all things that He Himself is doing…’“ (John 5:19-20).

…Father I delight in the truth that “the Lord loves His people” (2 Chr. 2:11). Because of this truth I will confidently trust that You are speaking to me. I praise You for giving me the Holy Spirit who reveals “what is to come.”

“No longer do I call you slaves, for the slave does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I have heard from My Father I have made known to you” (John 15:15). “But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come” (John 16:13). (pause to hear, believe, and love it as truth!)

…Lord, it thrills my heart that it is Your full intention to show me what You are doing so that I can glorify You better. Heart hear this: it is the Holy Spirit’s job to glorify the Father—I don’t have to depend on myself.

“But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you” (John 14:26).

“He will glorify Me, for He will take of Mine and will disclose it to you” (John 16:14).

…I refuse to try and protect myself by holding back from putting my confidence in God—He does speak to me. Despair and hopelessness are enemies of living by faith and of my being able to experience intimacy with God. Lord, I grab my heart and I turn it from despair and hopelessness about being able to hear Your voice. The truth is that You do speak to your people. I turn from fatalism about being able to hear God — I confess fatalism as sin. The Holy Sprit will guide me into all truth (John 14:26)…

…Lord Jesus I love that You lead me in the way I should go, “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me” (John 10:27). It is safe for me to follow because “…he goes ahead of them, and the sheep follow him because they know his voice” (John 10:4). Father, I rest into hearing You speak to me…

…Father, I love that I don’t have to fight to protect myself from hearing from You. I can trust the word of God as something that is good for me. I can obey without hesitation because God has my best interest at heart. Lord, I delight that I can rest into confidently entrusting myself to You…

…Thank You, Lord, that I don’t have to wait as Daniel did in Old Testament times (Dan. 10:12-14). It is righteous faith to say and believe that the word of the Lord is near to me—even in my mouth and in my heart. (pause to listen, believe, and love it as the truth!)

“But the righteousness based on faith speaks as follows: “Do not say in your heart, ‘Who will ascend into heaven?’ (that is, to bring Christ down), or ‘Who will descend into the abyss?’ (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead).” But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart”…” (Rom. 10:6-8). (pause to hear, believe, and love it as the truth!)

“but we speak God’s wisdom in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God predestined before the ages to our glory…For to us God revealed them through the Spirit; for the Spirit searches all things, even the depths of God…Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may know the things freely given to us by God…we have the mind of Christ” (1 Cor. 2:7,10,12,16).

…When God speaks, I love that I don’t have to disobey even when it doesn’t make sense. I love that when God asks me to do something it is always a good thing to do…

…I love that I don’t have to reach and strive in order to bring your word down from heaven. Thank You, Lord! I rest into believing that Your word is here—I will not believe otherwise…

…God sees in both the visible and invisible realms. He always knows the best things His people can do to help. What He asks me to do is always best. I turn from self-protection because of worries and concern about what other people will think… (pause to hear, believe, and love it as the truth!)

…I don’t have to avoid listening for the voice of God because of fear that the enemy might deceive me. I need to turn my heart to receive His presence and kingdom around me so I can be protected from demonic voices and learn to hear what God’s voice sounds like…

…Father, it is with delight to turn from thoughts of disobeying the voice of God. When I hear Your voice, I love that I don’t have to fight to protect myself by disobedience. Lord, I rest into receiving and believing what You say. I make it my intent to receive Your word and mix it with faith…

“while it is said, ‘Today if you hear His voice, Do not harden your hearts, as when they provoked Me…And to whom did He swear that they would not enter His rest, but to those who were disobedient…So we see that they were not able to enter because of unbelief…For indeed we have had good news preached to us, just as they also; but the word they heard did not profit them, because it was not united by faith in those who heard” (Heb. 3:15,18,19,4:2).

…I love that I don’t have to agree with demonic pressure to harden my heart when I hear Your voice.

…I don’t have to protect myself from hearing God speak because He speaks out of love for me…

God is loving and good. I don’t have to think I know better when God asks me to do something that might seem rude or infringing on others. He knows what is most loving—far better than I…

The Power of His Word to Change Us

…Lord God I praise You that Your written and Your spoken word is alive and works powerfully in me to help me grow… (pause to hear, believe, and love it as the truth!)

“It is the Spirit who gives life…the words that I have spoken to you are spirit and are life” (John 6:63). “All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work” (2 Tim. 3:16,17); “Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you…” (Col. 3:16).

Father, I love that by believing the truth of Your Word, the Holy Spirit changes me into being more like Your Son. You have chosen me for sanctification by the Holy Spirit and by faith in the truth .. “and through Him everyone who believes is freed from all things, from which you could not be freed through the Law of Moses” (Acts 13:39). (pause to hear, believe, and love it as the truth!)

“Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth” (John 17:17).

“God has chosen you from the beginning for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and faith in the truth” (2 Thess. 2:13).

…Father I delight that I can trust You to cleanse and sanctify me by washing me with the LIVING water of truth that is Your word.

“…Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her, so that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, that He might present to Himself the church in all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that she would be holy and blameless” (Eph. 2:25-27). (pause to hear, believe, and love it as the truth!)

…Father, I love that Your word sanctifies me. It purifies me by burning away my filthy ways… “…the Lord has washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion and purged…her…by the spirit of judgment and the spirit of burning” (Isa. 4:4). (pause to hear, believe, and love it as the truth!)

“Were not our hearts burning…while He was explaining the scriptures…” (Luke 24:32).

“’Is not My word like fire?’ declares the Lord, ‘and like a hammer which shatters a rock’” (Jer. 23:29)?

“And I saw something like a sea of glass mixed with fire, and those who had been victorious…standing on the sea of glass…” (Rev. 15:2).

“You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you” (John 15:3).

Abiding IN His Word

…Father, I love that it is by the anointing of Your Holy Spirit that I can abide in Your word…

“But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and you all know…the anointing which you received from Him abides in you, and you have no need for anyone to teach you; but as His anointing teaches you about all things, and is true and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, you abide in Him” (1 John 2:20, 27).

…Father, I love that Your word is here and that Your word abides in me. But I also love that even right now Your words “…proceed out of the mouth of God” (Mat. 4:4). It is my great joy that the words that “proceed” from Your mouth come down to me from above…

“…bitter jealousy and selfish ambition…This wisdom is not that which comes down from above…But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, reasonable, full of mercy and good fruits, unwavering, without hypocrisy” (James 3:14,15 and 17).

“For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven…So shall My word be which goes forth from My mouth…” (Isa. 55:10,11).

“When He utters His voice, there is a tumult of waters in the heavens…” (Jer. 10:13).

“…His voice was like the sound of many waters” (Rev. 1:15).

“…He will sprinkle many nations…what they had not heard they will understand” (Isa. 52:15).

“Make Your face shine upon Your servant, and teach me Your statutes” (Psa. 119:135).

“Light is sown like seed for the righteous…” (Psa. 97:11).

“…the seed is the word of God.” (Luke 8:11).

“And I shall lift up my hands to Thy commandments, Which I love; And I will meditate on Thy statutes” (Psa. 119:48). (pause to hear, believe, and love it as the truth!)

…Lord God I love that I can see and hear what the Father is doing by abiding in Your word—poured out upon me freely by Your grace…

“I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me, and I in him, he bears much fruit; for apart from Me you can do nothing…If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it shall be done for you. By this is My Father glorified, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be My disciples” (John 15:5,7-8).

“But who has stood in the council of the Lord, That he should see and hear His word? Who has given heed to His word and listened?” (Jer. 23:18).

“…If you abide in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine” (John 8:31).

…Lord God I love that I can confidently trust you to “Make Your face shine upon Your servant, and teach me Your statutes” (Psa. 119:135). I delight that I can abide in You by the shine from Your face upon me. Lord, I delight that I can trust Your grace; “Who is among you that…walks in darkness and has no light? Let him trust in the name of the Lord and rely on his God” (Isa. 50:10). (pause to hear, believe, and love it as the truth!)

…Lord, I “…receive the word with joy…” (Luke 8:13). I receive Your word, and I “…hold it fast, and [will] bear fruit with perseverance” (Luke 8:15). Father I rest into listening to what You say with a solid intent to unite what I hear with faith (Heb. 4:2). (pause to hear, believe, and love it as the truth!)

…the pleasure I long for most is not to feed myself with my own human intelligence. The understanding of God and knowing His character and ways, is far greater. Lord, I lift my hands up to Your word (Psa. 119:48). I wait while resting in You with confidence that you are speaking to me…(pause to hear, believe, and love it as the truth!)

…I don’t have to be so afraid of being deceived by the Devil that I prevent myself from hearing and obeying the word of the Lord to me. God spoke to Abraham, he believed it, and God credited him with righteousness; “For what does the Scripture say? ‘Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness’” (Rom. 4:3). It is right and good for me to trust God in the same way…(pause to hear, believe, and love it as the truth!)

…I don’t have to glory in what I say or in my human influence. What God says has power and will not return void… (pause to hear, believe, and love it as the truth!)

…when God warns me about something, I don’t have to take it as His disapproval toward me. He speaks because He cares and wants me to pray. The word of God is sure. The calling of God is irrevocable… (pause to hear, believe, and love it as the truth!)

Of Angels and God’s Word

“He sent His word and healed them, and delivered them from their destructions” (Psa. 107:20).

“He makes the winds His messengers, flaming fire His ministers” (Psa. 104:4).

“And of the angels He says, ‘Who makes His angels winds, and His ministers a flame of fire’” (Heb. 1:7). “Bless the Lord, you His angels, mighty in strength, who perform His word, obeying the voice of His word!” (Psa. 103:20). (pause to hear, believe, and love it as the truth!)