“I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come. He will glorify Me, for He will take of what is Mine and declare it to you. All things that the Father has are Mine. Therefore I said that He will take of Mine and declare it to you.” (John 16:12-15)

Leaning on God for the wind in our sails is the most important thing in the Christian’s life.  We can try forever to make things happen or we can rest in the assurance that God is going to make things happen.

Many years ago the Lord said to me “You see that chair over there?”

I said, “Yes, I do Lord.”

He said, “I want you to go and sit in it until I tell you to get up and go do something.”

I was stunned. I was not used to obeying the voice of God. To tell you the truth, I was a bit of a workaholic.  I was used to doing, doing and doing some more.  So when God said to me “Go sit in that chair and wait”, it felt like He was saying that I would never do anything ever again.

Well, that was many years ago now and I continue to learn the lessons from that experience with God.  There are many times I have done things where I wonder if it was me or if it was God who chose to do it. But then there have been many times that I have stepped out in His voice and have seen great fruit.

We have heard it said many times that Jesus did only what the Father told Him to do.  I used to struggle with this scripture in John 5:19.  I have heard many preachers try to explain this to me.  One preacher said, “Jesus used to spend many hours on the mountain top on His knees in prayer.”  His assumption was that from this place of reverence the voice of God came into Christ’s ears.

But the truth is we don’t really learn too much about the internal life of Christ in Scripture.  We don’t really know how He heard from the Father.  We certainly know that He prayed and fasted.  We pick up bits and pieces from the stories that were told of Him.

We know that He responded to the enemy with the word of God in the wilderness, therefore He must have meditated upon it (Matthew 4:1-11).  The word of God He hid in His heart that He might not sin against His God (Psalm 119:11).

He also taught His disciples how to pray (Matthew 6:9-13).  The “Our Father Prayer” is a wonderful prayer that I have heard many preachers say is a synthesis of the way Christ prayed.  It is simple and to the point but it must be a prayer with intention and understanding.  It is a prayer that we can meditate upon the rest of our lives and still only glimpse its foundations. Yet, its perfect simplicity even a child can understand.

What I have come to learn through the word of God is that we come to understand the mind of Christ through the Holy Spirit, who is the Helper leading us into the thoughts and imaginings of our God (John 16:12-15).  When we are filled with the Holy Spirit, the lights come on and God’s voice becomes clearer in our hearts.  We recognize God by the way He speaks, which lacks confusion and is imbued with peace.

As I remain in the vine, obeying the voice of God, and as I lay down my right to “do”, and only do what I am told by God to do, then His peace and glory weighs more heavily on my life.

God will speak in many ways and it is too much for me to include my understanding of this here.  My book, “The Science of Prophetic Ministry” covers this topic well.

I pray that you will be filled afresh today with the presence of God and His voice becomes clearer in your heart.  May the peace of Christ weigh heavily upon you and may God’s glory shine through your very eyes.