KNITTING HEARTS MINISTRY
Hearing God’s Voice Today
Message by: Joyce Sanders
Written by Sue Sanders
June 19, 2017
After Joyce’s welcome and Bhavna Patel’s opening prayer, Shelica Daniels danced to the song, “I Will Bless You.” Her praise dance opened up the windows of Heaven decreeing and declaring God’s blessings.
The praise team led us in declaring that the joy of the Lord is our strength because the Lord gives us joy down deep in our souls. We put our shouting armor on as we sang, “Hallelujah, Thank You, Jesus.” As we sang “Set a Fire,” we cried out for God to set a fire down in our souls—a fire so astounding that we would not be able to contain it or control it. We let God know that we were hungry and thirsty. We longed for more of Him.
After Linda Campbell introduced Joyce Sanders, Joyce shared from the depth of her spirit about how to hear God. She read Ephesians 1: 15-23 sharing about the Spirit of wisdom and revelation as well as His incomparably great power.
Joyce posed two questions:
- How does God speak?
- How are we to listen?
It is obvious that people desire to hear God, and He is speaking. We can hear His voice. Relationships are built through communication. Joyce shared that when she prays she stops frequently and listens to His voice. She shared the following Scriptures: John 17:3; Jeremiah 9: 23-24; John 10:27.
God speaks in various ways:
- Through His Word, II Timothy 3:16-17.
- His Son, II Peter 1:3, John 12:49.
- Nature, Romans 1:20.
- Other believers.
- Music.
- Circumstances.
- Holy Spirit (We need to pay attention to the check in our spirits—those whispers from God, the still small voice.
- Prayers—pause and let God speak when you are praying. Very often God says, “Pay attention. I am trying to show you something.”
God will never contradict His Word. The message He gives will always bring glory to God. The Holy Spirit speaks by giving us supernatural wisdom and sometimes dreams and visions. It is important to determine if a dream or vision is from the Lord. The dream or vision will not contradict the Word of God, God will give you an immediate interpretation, and you can’t shake it. Other things to consider concerning dreams are practical surroundings, peace, and decisions. The Lord can give us revelation knowledge, knowledge that flesh and blood did not reveal. God can speak through our conscience and imagination. We have to test the spirits to see if they are from the Lord. At times the Lord will give us words of knowledge and/or words of wisdom. He sometimes speaks through impressions. Some have even heard an audible voice in his/her mind—a sense of urgency, a bold command. This voice can be so quiet at times that you will miss it if you are not paying attention. God desires to use each one of us. We are supposed to deliver miracles, exhortations, etc. We should wake up saying each morning, “Here I am; use me today.” God will nudge your heart and prompt you with those divine assignments. It is important to pay attention to the patterns God uses in our lives.
The Bible is the bottom line of authority on all things, but some situations are not covered by the Bible in specific ways. Some examples are job choices or ministry turning points.
Joyce shared a dream that she had about her father-in-law shortly before he died and then another one about her prior mother-in-law. Both dreams gave her reassurance and peace.
By leading the group in a listening activity, Joyce activated our spirits to hear His voice. We were encouraged to open our spiritual senses and sharpen them.
Joyce shared different dreams that God has given her since July of last year. In the first one she was five months pregnant. When she went to the doctor, the nurse kept asking her if she had put cream on her belly twice a day. She felt that God was saying that He was birthing something new. She took this dream to KHM team to ask for additional insight and wisdom that the Holy Spirit was revealing to them. In October she had another dream. She heard a specific name. She looked up the meaning of the name, and it meant free man and strong. She felt that God was saying that for what He was birthing, we needed to walk in a greater level of freedom. The Lord gave her Galatians 5: 1.
In November she saw a pregnant belly in her dream. The message was that the baby was fine. There was an unusually long cord attached to the baby, and the cord needed to be severed. Sometimes we need to sever ties with things that are keeping us from running the race well. Hebrews 12: 1-2 shares the message behind her dream: “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, 2fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before Him, He endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” (NIV) Joyce feels that God is saying, “Now is the time to add or subtract as He directs, to say yes, and to answer His call.”
The second baby was taken out of the uterus; the brain was operated on and then put back in the baby. We need to have transformed minds and to bring every thought captive. II Corinthians 10:4-5 states,”4The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. 5We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.” (NIV) Romans 12:1,2 embellishes the message: “1Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God-this is your true and proper worship. 2Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is-his good, pleasing and perfect will.” (NIV) Philippians 4:8 tells us what to think on: “8Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable-if anything is excellent or praiseworthy-think about such things.” (NIV)
The third baby died. The baby was beautiful, and in her dream she seemed to be massaging the baby’s heart. We need to die to ourselves daily. We have to be dead to sin but alive to God. Joyce shared, “What you focus on orders your steps, gains power over you and flows through you. We need to ask the Lord to increase our awareness because whatever overshadows us overshadows others.”
Joyce was holding the fourth baby, and it was sucking on her face. She felt that God told her that many of us look to others for our source of nourishment. We need to ask ourselves: Where do I turn first? The Lord needs to be our source. She reiterated that God is our source. He desires to be the source of emotional stability by providing love, joy, peace and comfort. The world was created for man to enjoy but not to be man’s joy.
God gave Joyce John 3:3 as her Scripture for 2017: “3Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.” The focus is on salvation and being born again. We are living in a time of urgency; we must proclaim the message of salvation and redemption. God wants us to broadcast His message to others.
He will be great in the sight of the LORD. He is never to take wine or other fermented drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit even before he is born. 16He will bring back many of the people of Israel to the LORD their God. 17And he will go on before the LORD, in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the parents to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous-to make ready a people prepared for the LORD.”
We are forerunners. We must be filled with the Holy Spirit, must bring back sons and daughters to the Lord, and “turn the hearts of the fathers to their children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous—to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.” There is urgency. We need to apply our shield of faith daily and speak the Word of God out loud daily as declarations and prayers.
The praise team followed Joyce’s message with the song “The More I Seek You.” We were led to sit at Jesus’ feet, drink from the cup in His hand, lay back against Him and breathe, and feel His heart beat.”
Joyce shared her 2017 Proclamation: I AM SURRENDERED, FREE, AND EMPOWERED TO BE. . . Our theme for ministry this year is: Full Surrender to the Lordship of Jesus Christ. Romans 12:1-2, Hebrews 12:1-2
She exhorted us to surrender our all to the Lord: “Dear Lord Jesus, All I am, all I have, all I ever will be, and all I ever will have I give to thee. Absolutely, Unconditionally, Now and Forever (Romans 12: 1, 2). “I am surrendered; therefore, I’m free. Because I am free, I am empowered to walk in the call and purposes of God for my life.”
“’Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit’, says the LORD Almighty.” (Zachariah 4:6)
We are to surrender daily. DEAD TO SIN. . .ALIVE UNTO GOD. . .HEART SET. . . EYES FIXED ON JESUS.
“Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect” (Romans 12:1-2).
“Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God” (Hebrews 12:1-2).
We sat at Jesus’ feet, drank from the cup in His hand, and felt His heart beat. We melted in His peace as we experienced His love.
Hearts United Women's Ministry 