| In the first part of this two part article, I wrote | | | | my ability to hear God's voice and see His vision, I |
| about overcoming hindrances to hearing | | | | review the above questions concerning living the |
| God’s voice by drawing near to God in an | | | | tabernacle experience. Often as I go through this |
| approach based off of the tabernacle experience. | | | | checklist, I identify the block and remove it. If the |
| | | | block still remains, I ask myself the four questions |
| 1. 1. Enter through the gates with Thanksgiving, | | | | found in Hebrews 10:22 - Is my heart sincere, |
| clothing ourselves with Christ’s righteousness. | | | | honest, and committed? Am I free of |
| 2. 2. Offer our lives as a living sacrifice. | | | | reservations as I approach God? Do I have a full |
| 3. 3. Look intently upon the Word and cleanse our | | | | assurance of faith that He is within me and welling |
| lives in Bible meditation. | | | | up through my spirit (which is joined to His Spirit - |
| 4. 4. Fellowship with Others and let our will submit | | | | I Cor. 6:17)? In addition, I must ask whether I |
| to God’s will. | | | | have been obedient to the previous words which |
| 5. 5. Examine the Word under the illumination of | | | | God has spoken to me. |
| the Holy Spirit finding revelation and knowledge | | | | These two patterns, the tabernacle experience, |
| and transforming our lives. | | | | and the fine-tuning dial of Hebrews 10:22, (when |
| 6. 6. Offer continual praise. | | | | coupled with the example of Hab. 2:1,2) offer |
| Now we are ready to ascend directly into His | | | | ready access for most of us almost all of the |
| manifest presence, fixing our gaze upon His glory | | | | time, so we can readily hear God's voice within |
| and speaking face-to-face and mouth-to-mouth | | | | our spirits, and write down the spontaneous flow |
| with the Most High God. (Heb. 10:19,20). When | | | | of thoughts, visions and feelings which bubble up |
| storms and gales hinder our access before the | | | | within us as we seek the face of God. Thus, we |
| King of Kings, we can go back and re-walk the | | | | find that many of the most common blocks and |
| path which He has prepared for us. | | | | problems to hearing the voice of God are |
| You can find the first part of this article at: | | | | removed as we follow these biblical patterns. |
| Usually, I find that if I walk through the tabernacle | | | | Once we begin recording the things we sense |
| experience, any block I may have as I approach | | | | God speaking to us, we may still find errors, or |
| God in prayer is erased. If not, God has provided | | | | "supposed errors," in our journals. This can come |
| a fine-tuning dial in Hebrews 10:22: | | | | from many things. I will list very briefly only a few |
| "Let us draw near with a sincere heart in full | | | | of the most common situations. |
| assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled | | | | One problem is that when we pray, we often fix |
| clean from an evil conscience and our bodies | | | | our eyes on the thing we are praying about, |
| washed with pure water." | | | | rather than on Jesus, the Author and Finisher of |
| In this verse are found four more keys for | | | | our faith. Therefore, the answer comes back |
| removing blocks to effectively hearing the | | | | from the thing, rather than from our Lord. The |
| Master's voice: | | | | solution to this problem is to be very careful to |
| 1. Have a Sincere Heart: | | | | fix our eyes on Jesus (Heb. 12:2), rather than on |
| The first key is that we must have a sincere | | | | any thing, or person, or issue. If we are bringing a |
| heart. There can be no hypocrisy, no | | | | person or issue to God in prayer, then we should |
| double-mindedness, no halfheartedness. Only total, | | | | actually see ourselves presenting this before Him |
| pure, childlike dedication to the desires and | | | | and watch what He does or says concerning it. |
| purposes of Almighty God. | | | | Then the spontaneous flow will be more pure. |
| 2. Have Full Assurance of Faith: | | | | Positioning |
| Secondly, we must have a full assurance of faith. | | | | A second issue is that some of God's commands |
| In other words, we cannot doubt that there is a | | | | are simply positioning moves and are never |
| river flowing within us. (Jn. 7:38,39) Therefore, we | | | | meant to be fully carried out. Instead, God |
| must believe that He is a Rewarder of those who | | | | re-directs us in midstream. An example of this |
| earnestly seek Him, and receive in faith that | | | | may be seen in Genesis 22, when God asked |
| which is flowing within us, trusting that indeed it is | | | | Abraham to sacrifice his son. However, as |
| the Spirit of Almighty God (Heb. 11:6). | | | | Abraham began to act in obedience to this order, |
| 3. Clean Our Hearts of Sin: | | | | God changed it, telling him not to sacrifice his son. |
| Thirdly, we must have our hearts sprinkled clean | | | | Now, was Abraham's first word from the Lord |
| from an evil conscience. If there is sin, it must be | | | | wrong? No, God was simply positioning Abraham |
| brought before the cleansing flow of Christ's blood | | | | in order to fulfill one of God's goals for his life. |
| and removed as far as the east is from the west | | | | Once the test was completed, God discontinued |
| (Ps. 103:12). Then it must be forgotten, as all of | | | | the action midstream with new orders. I find this |
| our attention is turned upon our Maker. | | | | happens often in my journal. Many orders are |
| 4. Be Cleansed With the Word: | | | | simply positioning moves, both for me and for |
| Finally, we must be cleansed with the washing of | | | | others. |
| water of the rhema word, or the voice of God | | | | A third, and final, problem which we will discuss is |
| (Eph. 5:26). Those things which God is speaking to | | | | the problem of improper interpretation. It is very |
| us must be acted upon and obeyed, or our ability | | | | easy to interpret the words of your journal to |
| to go on with God is destroyed. | | | | say what you think they mean, rather than |
| When I come before God in prayer, I begin by | | | | simply seeing them for what they are. Often, as I |
| quieting myself in His presence. I use the eyes of | | | | have gone back to my journal, thinking my |
| my heart to see Him present with me. I tune to | | | | journaling had been wrong, I have been amazed |
| the inner river (i.e. spontaneous flow), and I begin | | | | to see that the actual words of the journaling |
| writing down and recording the flow that is welling | | | | were fulfilled. It was my inner interpretation of |
| up within me. (See this pattern in Hab. 2:1,2.) If I | | | | these words that was not correct. Let us be |
| am stuck and some block seems to be hindering | | | | careful to hear that which the Lord is speaking. |