Warren D. Carter
African Fellowship
Wien, Österreich
20.4.97
God Speaks
We all know the story of George Mueller, the 19th
century British pastor who built four orphanages (with a capacity of 2,000
children) and distributed over
$8,000,000 that had been given
to him – all through the power of prayer!
He didn’t send out or publish his financial needs, he just relied on the
Lord to provide. (And when he died at
the age of 93, he had a personal net
worth of about $800!)
George Mueller mentioned these things that helped
him:
č He sincerely sought God's
direction.
č He waited patiently on God
until he had a word from God.
č He looked for the Holy
Spirit to teach him through the Word.
He knew the following things
led to his making mistakes:
·
Lacking honesty of heart.
·
Lacking uprightness before God.
·
Impatience to wait for God.
·
Preferring the counsel of men over the
declarations of Scripture.
Here is how he summed up the
way he entered into a
"heart" relationship
with God, and learned to discern God's voice:
1. I seek at the beginning to get my heart into such a state that it
has no will of its own in regard to a
given matter. 90% of the trouble with
people generally is right here. 90% of
the difficulties are overcome, when our hearts are ready to act on the
knowledge of what His will is.
2. Having done this, I do not leave the result to feeling or simple impression. If so, I
leave myself open to great delusions.
3. I seek the Will of the Spirit of God through, or in connection
with, the Word of God. The Spirit and the Word must be combined. If I look to the Spirit alone without the
Word, I lay myself open to great delusions also. If the Holy Spirit guides us at all, He will do it according to
the Scriptures … and never contrary to
them.
4. Next I take into account providential
circumstances. These often plainly
indicate God's Will in connection with His Word and Spirit.
5. I ask God in prayer to reveal His Will to me, as He chooses.
6. Thus, a. through prayer to God,
b. the study of the Word,
c.
reflection,
“I come to a deliberate
judgment according to the best of my ability and knowledge, and if my mind is
thus at peace, and continues so after two or three more petitions, I proceed
accordingly.”
God
Speaks through Prayer
Memory verse – try to
memorize this short verse right now:
He who belongs to God, hears
what God says. The reason you do not
hear, is that you do not belong to God. John 8:47 (NIV)
Prayer is a relationship,
not just a religious activity.
If you are not keeping a
spiritual journal or diary, you may want to consider starting one. If the God of the universe tells you
something, you should write it down.
When God speaks to you in your quiet time, immediately write down what
He said before you have time to forget.
Then record your prayer response.
You could write down the verse of Scripture He uses, and what God has
said to you about Himself from that verse.
Write down the prayer response you are making; so you have in place a)
the encounter with God, b) what God
said, and c) how you responded to
Him. You could also write out what you
need to do to adjust your life to God, so you can begin to experience Him
relating to you in this way.
Note:
If you are not keeping a spiritual diary,
you may want to use MasterLife Day by Day: Personal Devotional Guide by Avery T. Willis, Jr. It gives brief instructions on how to
cultivate a daily quiet time, how to memorize Scripture, how to take sermon
notes, and how to use various kinds of prayers. Using it will provide you with a day-by-day record of your
spiritual life.
Truth is a Person.
Carefully read the following paragraphs and fill in the blanks in the key statements that follow.
The Holy Spirit reveals
truth. Truth is not just some concept
to be studied. Truth is a Person. Jesus did not say, "I will teach you the truth." He said, "I am … the
truth" (John 14:6).
When God gives you eternal
life, He gives you Himself (John 17:3).
When the Holy Spirit reveals the Truth, He is not teaching you a
theoretical concept to be thought about.
He is leading you to a relationship with a Person. He
is your life! When God gives you
eternal life, He gives you a Person.
When you became a Christian, Jesus didn't give you some thing;
He gave you Himself.
Fill in the blanks with the correct words from the
previous paragraphs.
1. The Holy Spirit reveals
_____________.
2. Truth is not just some
________________ _____________
to be studied.
3. Truth is a _______________.
4. The Holy Spirit is leading you to a __________________ with a person.
Here is a summary of how I
have tried to live out my relationship to God:
·
God
creates in me the desire to participate in His mission to reconcile a lost
world to Himself.
·
I
respond and come to God seeking to know His will.
·
When
God reveals a truth to me, I know He is trying to alert me to what He is doing
in my life.
When God reveals truth to me
through His Word, that doesn't lead
me to an encounter with God – that is
the encounter with God. When He does
reveal truth to me, I sit in the presence of a living Person. He is the Author of the Scriptures. The Author is telling me what He is doing in
my life, and He uses His Word to do it.
The Spirit of God knows the
mind of God. He will make the will of
God known to me through the Word of God.
I must then take that truth and
immediately adjust my life to Him.
I do not adjust my life to a concept or a philosophy but to a person.
Have you ever read a
Scripture you have read many times before, but suddenly you see something in it
for the first time? That truth is not a
concept for you to figure out how to work into your life. God is introducing you to Himself and
alerting you that He is wanting to apply this truth to your life right
now. When God is ready to do something
in your life, the Spirit of God uses the Word to make that known to you. Then you can adjust your life to Him and
what He has just revealed of Himself, His purposes, or His ways.
Prayer is a Relationship
Prayer is a two-way
fellowship and communication with God.
You speak to God and He speaks to you.
It is not a one-way conversation.
Your personal prayer life may primarily be one-way communication –
you talking to God. Prayer is
more important than that. Prayer
includes listening as well. In fact, what God says in prayer is far more
important than what you say.
Prayer is a relationship,
not just a religious activity. Prayer
is designed more to adjust you to God than to adjust God to you. God doesn't need your prayers, but He wants you to pray. You need
to pray because of what God wants to do in and through your life during your
praying. God speaks to His people by
the Holy Spirit through prayer.
Here is a diagram of how God
speaks through prayer.
MAN HOLY SPIRIT MAN MAN ADJUSTS MAN OBEYS
PRAYS - WORD HEARS TO
GOD GOD WORKS
-
TRUTH
This diagram illustrates an
encounter with God. When the Holy
Spirit reveals a spiritual truth to you in prayer, He is present and working
actively in your life. Genuine prayer
does not lead to an encounter with
God. It is an encounter with God.
What happens as you seek God's will in prayer? The sequence is like this:
1. God takes the initiative by causing you to want to pray.
2. The Holy Spirit takes the Word of God, and reveals to you the will of God.
3. In the Spirit you pray in
agreement with the will of god.
4. You adjust your life to
the truth ( to God).
5. You look
and listen for confirmation or further direction from the Bible, circumstances, and the church (other believers).
6. You obey.
7. God works in you and
through you to accomplish His purposes.
8. You experience Him,
just as the Spirit revealed, as you pray.
Praying in the Spirit
The Spirit of God will take
the Word of God to guide you in the area of your praying.
Read the following passage and answer the questions.
"The Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray
for, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot
express. And He who searches our hearts
knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the
saints in accordance with God's will."
Romans 8: 26-27.
1. Why do we need the help of the Holy Spirit
when we pray? ( v.26)
_____________________________________________________________________
2. What advantage does the Holy Spirit have
that we do not have? ( v.27)
_____________________________________________________________________
3. What does the Holy Spirit do for us? _____________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
We are weak and do not know
how we ought to pray. The Holy Spirit
has an advantage over us – He already knows the will of God. When He prays for us, He is praying
absolutely in agreement with the will of God.
He then helps us know the will of God as we pray.
What happens when you
pray? The Holy Spirit knows what God
has "at His disposal." It is already there. The Holy Spirit’s task is to get you to want
it –
to get you to ask for it. What
will happen when you ask for things that God already wants to give to you, or
to do? You will always receive it. Why?
Because you have asked according to the will of God. When God answers your prayer, He gets the
glory and your faith is increased.
Is it important to know when the Holy Spirit is speaking to
you? Yes! How do you know what
the Holy Spirit is saying? I cannot
give you a formula. I can tell you that
you will know His voice when He speaks (John 10:4). You must decide, however, that you only want His will. You must dismiss any selfish or fleshly
desires of your own. Then, as you start
to pray, the Spirit of God starts to touch your heart and cause you to pray in
the direction of God's will.
"It is God who works in you to will and to act according to His
good purpose."
Philippians 2:13
When you pray, anticipate
that the Holy Spirit already knows
what God has ready for your life. He
does not guide you on His own initiative;
He tells you only what He hears from the Father. He guides you when you pray.
"He will not speak on his own;
He will speak only what He hears, and He will tell you what is yet to
come."
John 16:13
I try to write down what God
is saying to me when I pray, and as I read His Word. I write down what I sense He is leading me to pray. As I begin to see what God is telling me
about Himself, His purposes, and His ways, I often see a pattern begin to
develop. As I watch for the direction
the Spirit is leading me to pray, I begin to get a clear indication of what God
is saying to me. This process calls for
spiritual concentration!
You may be asking the
question: But how do I know the
thoughts and directions I am praying are the Spirit's leading and not my own
selfish desires? Do remember what
George Mueller said he does first in seeking God's directions?
Look back at item #1 on the first page. What did Mueller do in the beginning?
______________________________________________________________
Empty yourself, deny selfish
desires/thoughts – first.
In all honesty with yourself and before God, come to the place where you
are sure that your only desire is to know God's will alone. Then check to see
what the Holy Spirit is saying in other ways.
Ask yourself:
* What is He saying to me
through His Word?
* What is He saying to me in
prayer?
* Is He confirming it through
circumstances?
* Is He confirming it
through the counsel of other believers?
God will never lead you in opposition to His
written Word. If what you sense, in
prayer, runs contrary to Scriptures, it is wrong. For instance, God will never, never lead you to commit
adultery. He is always opposed to
that. Watch for God to use the written
Word to confirm what you are sensing in prayer. Don't play games with God, though. Don't just look for a Scripture that seems to say what you
selfishly want to do, then claim it is God's will. That is very dangerous.
Don't do it.
Look back at the diagram and try to summarize what
it illustrates.
Write a summary of how God might speak through
prayer.
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
Write the following key words in the correct
sequence:
adjust, confirmation, Word, initiative, agreement, obey.
If you need help, look at the list following the
diagram.
1. God takes the ____________________ by causing me to want to pray or need to
pray.
2. The Holy Spirit takes the
__________________ of God and
reveals to me the Will of God.
3. I pray in the Spirit in
___________________ with the
will of God.
4. I ____________________ my life to the truth.
5. I look and listen for ___________________________ or further direction from the Bible, circumstances, and the church (other believers).
6. I _________________ .
7. God works in me and through me to accomplish His purposes.
Has God spoken to you by the Holy Spirit through
prayer? Yes or No
If He has, describe below what you sensed He was
saying in one of the times He has spoken.
If you do not think He has spoken to you, ask Him to
reveal to you the reason.
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
Has He given you any confirmation through the Bible,
circumstances, or the church (other believers)? Yes or No
If so, what did you sense He was saying?
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
Review this worksheet.
Pray and ask God to identify one or more statements
or Scriptures that He wants you to understand, learn, or practice.
Underline it/them.
Then respond to the following:
What was the most meaningful
statement or Scripture you read today?
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
Reword the statement or
Scripture into a prayer of response, from you to God.
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
What does God want you to do,
in response to this worksheet?
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
Review your Scripture memory
verse, and be prepared to recite it to another member of the African Fellowship
sometime this week.
He who belongs to God, hears
what God says. The reason you do not
hear, is that you do not belong to God. John 8:47 (NIV)
Summary Statements
·
When the God of the universe tells me something important, I should write it down.
·
Truth is a person.
·
Prayer is two-way communication with God.
·
Prayer is a relationship, not just a religious activity.
·
I need to make sure that my only desire is to know God's will.
This study was excerpted from:
Experiencing
God: Knowing and Doing the Will of God, by Henry T. Blackaby & Claude V. King; LifeWay Press, Nashville, TN (revised
1993); ISBN 0-8054-9954-7
God Speaks
19.4.97
God Speaks
19.4.97