Wow, That Was a Surprise

We went to a prayer conference this weekend. To be honest, I wasn't real excited about it. I know, and believe, prayer is an important part of the Christian's life, but Friday night and all day Saturday listening to somebody teach on prayer seemed like a long time.

When I got there, I found out the title of the seminar was "Communion with God" and the theme was more about how to hear God's voice. When we went to pick up Amanda who had stayed with my parents Friday night and Saturday, my Dad asked me if there was any "simple" thing they taught us about hearing God's voice. I told him "yes" and shared what we learned.

Hearing God's voice is as simple as:

1. Stilling myself
2. Fixing my eyes on Jesus
3. Tuning in to spontaneity (spontaneous thoughts)
4. Write it down

I learned a whole lot more, and there is more to the above four points, but the main thing we learned was that hearing God's voice is not hard. This is basically "two-way journaling".

I want to share just one journaling exercise we did. This is pretty personal stuff, and I don't think I will be publishing any more of my journaling time with the Lord, but I want share how awesome this is. The idea to this type of journaling is, keep writing and don't stop. When you are done, you can look at what you wrote and judge if it is from the Lord (or have some close personal friends help you judge).

Here is just one question I asked the Lord, and the response I believed I received from him. I pictured myself walking with the Lord along the beach. I asked him, "Lord, how do you want me to use what I am learning at this conference?" Immediately, I felt "spontaneous thoughts" and started writing. "Rob, you've been reading, thinking and journaling about loving me/living for me from your heart and not from rules. This is a way you can hear what I'm speaking to your heart. I have given you a new heart, I have come to live in your heart when you invited me in. You think too much when you pray, you don't give me an opportunity like this where you are quiet and let me talk. You are my son, and I love you. When you ask for guidance and direction in life, I am not going to ignore you. When Amanda asks you for a drink, even when you don't want to get up, you do it, don't you? Why? Because you love her and you know she is dependent on you. Guess what...I love you and I know you are dependent on me, too. If you will come to me, and sit with me, I will talk to you and answer the questions you have. How else can we have relationship? When you pray, you talk too much. I want you to bring stuff to me, but don't be like Amanda going to the park and talking so much you can't answer her questions or enter into the conversation with her. And it's good for you to picture these peaceful scenes with me. If you want to hear me speak, you need to get away from where you live your too bust life. Next time, let's talk about your busy life and what you can do to better know my peace. (then I pictured Jesus laughing) You had no idea what this conference was going to be about, did you? Guess what? I did! I love you and hope you will use this to spend more time with me."

- Rob