Co-Creation

Partnering With The Voice of God

"I found I had less and less to say, until finally, I became silent, and began to listen. I discovered in the silence, the voice of God." ~ Soren Kierkegaard

Today we explore the functioning of the prophetic gift in kingdom leadership. When Jesus began to tell the woman at the well things about her life that he could not have known in the natural, she said, "Sir, I perceive you are a prophet..." And so He was. The prophetic function is about downloading the mind of God for specific situations. This is more than the general will of God which you will find in the Bible. These are specific instructions for situations or messages for people that God shares with His children as they obediently carry out His mission. For example, in Matthew 10:19-20, Jesus tells His disciples that when they are arrested for the sake of the gospel, "...don’t worry about how to respond or what to say. God will give you the right words at the right time. For it is not you who will be speaking—it will be the Spirit of your Father speaking through you."

Leaders should be actively and intentionally accessing the mind of Christ for their ministry, business, job, and family. I believe this is what Jesus would do when He retreated into silence and solitude early in the mornings. Jesus also only spoke what the Father told Him to say as He taught and healed and spent time with the disciples. We must do the same. Setting aside daily time in silence and solitude to hear from God helps us to be able to hear Him on the fly during life's events.

When we listen and obey, success is guaranteed. Many emphasize the prophetic as a gift to be used to give others words from God that guide and encourage (which is good and necessary) but in my opinion, the most important function of the prophetic gift is to hear from God for yourself.

As leaders when we have not developed our ability to hear from God we often turn to logic, reasoning, and common sense and call it wisdom but that is the wisdom of men not the wisdom of God. Sometimes we even make it religious and try to find a Biblical scenario that fits our circumstances. Sometimes we rely on other people to advise us (pastor, priest, parent, prophet). However, the Bible says that once you are a son of God you are to be led by His Spirit.

Still, it takes practice to tune into the voice of God. To tune into God you have to practice tuning out all the noise and distractions and listening to the still small voice that comes as gentle stirrings in your heart or as innocuous as your own thoughts and images in your mind. By trial and error and lots of practice, you will come to know when it is God speaking to you. I know we are sometimes afraid that we follow our own thoughts or worse yet the enemy's voice but God assures us that His sheep know His voice so we need not be afraid. The alternative is not an option. If we do not learn to listen and obey then we will be like the foolish man who built his house on the sand and when the storms came it was destroyed.

Anything that we build that is not in obedience to God's voice will be destroyed. If we want to be effective for God in advancing His kingdom then you must become an expert in listening and obeying. The only ventures that God has resourced are the ones for which His word has gone forth to accomplish what He has spoken.

Journal with Holy Spirit: What is your relationship with the voice of God?