John White wrote this very helpful comment on a post I wrote a few days ago. It is worth repeating in the main blog. It is another great example of what can happen when a group listens to God together. There are many wonderful stories of what can happen when people listen to God on the blog he mentions at the end. John writes: "Rather than just talk about listening, we've found it transformational to actually do this with people at every opportunity. Mary Geegh describes this practice in her powerful little book "God Guides". (Experiential learning vs theoretical learning)... Felicity Dale

A few days ago I received an email that is a great example of what can happen when a group prays and listens to God corporately. So this is a brief break from my thoughts on how to hear God. The email is from Brenda Harkins. "I am chiming in on this kind of late, but would like to share what happened at our gathering Saturday night. We have been meeting for 15 months now and the first 10 months or so were very much like the passage you shared, David. We prayed and listened and weren't afraid of silence... Felicity Dale

God delights to communicate with us. He loves to answer our questions. He conveys His approval and acceptance of us. He guides us when we do not know what to do. He brings light when something is bothering us. There are no shadows in His goodness. He loves us to seek Him and pursue Him, and He delights even more to reveal Himself to us. There are many promises in the Word of God that highlight God’s desire to speak to us. The Scriptures say that He will guide us, give us wisdom, communicate with us (Romans 8:14; James 1:5;... Felicity Dale

John White wrote this very helpful comment on a post I wrote a few days ago.  It is worth repeating in the main blog.  It is another great example of what can happen when a group listens to God together.  There are many wonderful stories of what can happen when people listen to God on the blog he mentions at the end.

John writes:

"Rather than just talk about listening, we've found it transformational to actually do this with people at every opportunity. Mary Geegh describes this practice in her powerful little book "God Guides". (Experiential learning vs theoretical learning) Then, we reinforce it at every level. First, with our alone time with God each day. Then, with our daily CO2s (churches of two which includes marriages). Then, with our house churches. And, finally, with our regional leadership teams (MRTs). In each situation we are seeking to follow in Jesus' steps: "I do nothing on my own initiative. I only do what I see the Father doing." (Jn. 5:19)

It's been especially fun to see how this works out in house churches. We teach each church to simply ask the Lord one question each week: "Jesus, what do you want to say to your church today." The group takes 20-30 minutes to listen and write what they hear in response to that question. And, then, they come back together to share what they heard. New Christians and children often are the best "hearers" in this situation. What we are discovering is that Jesus is really quite good at leading individual churches. (Who would have thought?!) As we listen and obey, everything else seems to flow naturally - Bible study, prayer, intimate fellowship, mission, etc. And, it makes starting new churches quite simple.

Here's a short video on how one family is putting this into practice. Very fun to see how the 7 and 10 year olds are "getting it"! http://storiesfromtherevolution.blogspot.com/2010/02/c02-and-family.htm"

A few days ago I received an email that is a great example of what can happen when a group prays and listens to God corporately.  So this is a brief break from my thoughts on how to hear God.  The email is from Brenda Harkins.

"I am chiming in on this kind of late, but would like to share what happened at our gathering Saturday night.  We have been meeting for 15 months now and the first 10 months or so were very much like the passage you shared, David.  We prayed and listened and weren't afraid of silence and waited on the Lord to begin to orchestrate what He wanted to do during our time together.  I am not sure what happened, but somewhere we got out of step with that and the core team started having their own ideas about what we should "do" during our time together.  Everyone sensed a discontent and we all knew we weren't flowing in the Spirit as we had.  We kept saying, "We just need to make prayer the priority and not do anything until we pray."  But somehow we kept getting off track from even the simplicity of praying for guidance. Talk, talk, talk kept us from praying and seeking and listening. 

Well, Saturday night after our dinner and fellowship time we gathered in the living room and someone started to play some worship music, but our 14 yr. old daughter...who has been in on the conversations about our need to make prayer the priority...spoke up and said, "Can we just pray before we do anything else?"  So we prayed.  Boy, did we pray!  As we each began to just share our hearts with the Lord and ask for HIs guidance and pray as the Spirit was prompting us to pray, the Lord began to set the order for the night.  We were in and out of prayer for hours, being interrupted by a song someone would share, a tongue, an interpretation, prophetic words and specific prayer over individuals as the Lord led.  Then as one prayer was for the eyes of our heart to be enlightened, we turned to Ephesians and spent another hour...actually almost two hours...pulling treasures out from the first two chapters of Ephesians.  At midnight...six hours after we began...we started to feel the intensity of His presence lift, but a sweetness remained that kept us just talking and sharing in groups of 2 and 3 for awhile longer.  As the last person drove away Mike and I turned to each other and said, "Now THAT is what we've been missing!"  And it was all because of prayer.

 

It's not about our agendas or good ideas...whether agreed upon by all or not.  It's all about Jesus.  And if we can't get into agreement about seeking Him first before we do anything on our "list", then we will continue to settle for mediocre at best.  I have learned all over again the simplicity of prayer.  Why is it so easy to forget?  And even in saying this I know I am in danger of trying to replicate what happened Saturday night...and it's not about that either.  It's about seeking Him together...fervently...and not stopping until He begins to move.  What He does may, and probably will, look different every time.  But if we want HIM to be the orchestrator of our time together, I believe all over again that sincere, fervent, unified prayer is the key."

When we pray and listen to God together, He shows up!

tweetmeme_source = 'felicitydale'; tweetmeme_service = 'bit.ly'; tweetmeme_url = 'http://www.simplychurch.com/2010/03/how-do-we-hear-god.html';

God delights to communicate with us.  He loves to answer our questions.  He conveys His approval and acceptance of us.  He guides us when we do not know what to do.  He brings light when something is bothering us.  There are no shadows in His goodness.  He loves us to seek Him and pursue Him, and He delights even more to reveal Himself to us.

There are many promises in the Word of God that highlight God’s desire to speak to us.  The Scriptures say that He will guide us, give us wisdom, communicate with us (Romans 8:14; James 1:5; 1 Corinthians 2:10-12).

So how does God communicate with us today? 

1. His sheep recognize His voice.
   

Most of the time, as described above, God speaks to us through our own thoughts.  So how can we learn to recognize and identify His voice?  I could be in a room with a hundred people, all of them speaking out loud, and I would instantly recognize the voice of my husband, Tony (and not just because he would be the only one speaking with a British accent!)  What is the reason for this?  I love to spend time with Tony.  We spend hours enjoying each other’s company.  In human terms, there is no one else I would rather spend time with.  Over the thirty five years that we have been married, it has come to the point where we regularly think the same thoughts simultaneously and complete each other’s sentences. 

God longs for an intimate relationship with us too.  As we spend time with Him, we learn to recognize His voice.  As we read His word, we come to understand His ways and His thoughts.  There is no substitute for time spent in His presence, adoring Him, loving Him, meditating on His Word and His character and listening to what He has to say to us. 

I learned to recognize how God speaks to me many years ago.  At that time I used to do a lot of counseling.  Several times a week people would come to me with their problems.  In order to cut down on the amount of time it took to get to the root of their problem and to find a solution, I developed the habit of praying for them before they came.  I would empty my mind of my own thoughts by waiting on God, and I would pray for them, often in tongues.  Then I would write down the thoughts that came into my mind.  Later, after the counseling session was over, I would go back to my prayer journal and see if I had written anything relevant to their situation.  Most of the time I had.  Obviously not everything I wrote was relevant, but usually, 85-90% of the time, a good portion of it specifically addressed their problem.  I would note this down.  As this happened more and more frequently, I gained a confidence that God would speak to me in that way.

[Oral Roberts addresses this use of speaking in tongues in his book, A Daily Guide to Miracles.  In a section entitled, “I speak to God; God speaks to me,” Roberts describes that when we pray in tongues, we are speaking to God.  We can trust that the thoughts that we have while this is going on are God speaking back to us.]

Mark Virkler also talks about God speaking to us.  Many years ago I read his book entitled Dialog with God.  In it he describes a way of learning to listen to God.  One of the things he writes about is the art of journaling.  If we deliberately quiet our hearts before God, waiting in His presence, God will speak to us.  When we have entered that place of knowing we are in His presence, where our minds are not distracted by a myriad of thoughts about the affairs of our day, then we write down the thoughts that come into our minds without attempting to make any sense of them until we have finished writing.  When the stream of thoughts comes to an end, we then go over what we have written.  Does it make sense?  Is it in accord with Scriptural principle? 

I use this pattern frequently.  Usually I have spent time in the Word and time worshipping God.  I will then quiet my mind by waiting on God, bringing every thought captive to Him so that I am no longer working with my preconceived ideas.  Then I will write down a question.  It may be as simple as, “Is there anything want to say to me today?”  Or maybe it will be more specific—“What do you want me to do about this situation?”  Then I start to write down the thoughts that come into my mind.  Usually I will write for several minutes.  When the flow of writing stops, I go over what I have written to see if it is relevant.

My experience is that much of the time, what I write is in general good, but fairly non-specific.  It is Scriptural, but not life-changing.  But sometimes it brings clear revelation from the Lord, often about the Scriptures I have been meditating on.  And occasionally it is a very specific word.  For example, a few months ago, I wrote that it appeared as though He was warning me that I was going to experience a very specific kind of spoken attack that I would not be expecting and from someone that I thought was a friend.  He also stated that it would rebound to His glory.  Within three days, the contents of a phone call absolutely shocked me.  But I was prepared.  It meant that I was able to deal with the situation it represented in a more godly fashion.

Quite often God speaks through a picture.  At a personal level, I tend to be more auditory than visual.  I tend to think in words rather than pictures.  But often I will catch a glimpse of a picture as I am praying.  As I think about what I have seen, concepts come into my mind and the meaning becomes clear and relevant.

It does not take long interacting with the Lord in this way before one becomes familiar with the way the Holy Spirit speaks and learns to trust the quiet whisper in the heart.

 

Jesus told His disciples that it was better for Him to go away because if He did so, He would send the Holy Spirit to them (John 16:7). Could anything be better than having the physical presence of Jesus with us? Jesus thought so, because the Holy Spirit is not limited in time and space but can indwell each of us. Jesus lives within us by His Holy Spirit. Living from the Spirit within is living a life in close fellowship with Jesus, knowing what He is saying and doing. But there is also another factor to consider. There is... Felicity Dale

In the last post, we saw that we are composed of three parts--body, soul and spirit. Each of the three parts of us is not independent of the others. For example, most of us have experienced times when we get physically sick. Sometimes this causes us to feel emotionally depressed. This is the body impacting the soul. If this in turn prevents us from spending time with the Lord, then it has impacted our spirit too. A beautiful sunset impacts our senses; it may arouse a sense of joy that overflows in praise to the Creator. Or maybe we have... Felicity Dale

Many believers are under the mistaken idea that when it says, “God spoke” or “the Holy Spirit said” that the people heard an audible voice. But if you ask people who clearly hear Him on a regular basis, they will tell you this is not the case. Let’s take a look at how humans function when it comes to interacting with the spiritual. It is helpful to visualize a person as consisting of three parts which can be diagrammed as three concentric circles. Although the Scriptures usually just refer to an inner and outer man, 1 Thessalonians 5:23 details this... Felicity Dale

It is notable that Jesus did not begin His earthly ministry until the Holy Spirit had come upon Him at His baptism. From that point onwards, the Holy Spirit led Him. Philippians 2:7, 8 says “When the time came, he set aside the privileges of deity and took on the status of a slave, became human! Having become human, he stayed human. It was an incredibly humbling process. He didn't claim special privileges. Instead, he lived a selfless, obedient life and then died a selfless, obedient death… (The Message) When Jesus went to be with His Father after His resurrection,... Felicity Dale

Everything that we know about God teaches us that He desires to communicate with us. It is a part of His very character. Romans 1 tells us that God speaks to us even through the magnificence of His creation. John 1:1 describes Jesus as the Word: In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God. Words communicate. God desires to communicate with His people. In Matthew 4:4, Jesus tells Satan, “Man does not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.” The verb “proceed”... Felicity Dale

One of the main paradigm shifts within this movement of simple churches is the belief that ordinary men and women hear God. They can be entrusted with the affairs of the Kingdom. It does not need specially trained people to manage the church. The Holy Spirit is able to run the church by speaking directly to His people. He will do a far better job of it than our organizations and denominations ever can. Within simple church, we like to say that church is as simple as knowing God, hearing His voice and responding to what He tells us. Jesus... Felicity Dale

A few days ago I posed this question on facebook. "What does the infrastructure of a starfish look like. Neil Cole was one of those who replied. His comment: "Self-building and self-replicating, internal and decentralized." If we apply these principles to anything we try to put in place in terms of infrastructure, we won't go far wrong! What would this look like when applied, for example, to training? Or to resources? Any thoughts? Felicity Dale

Jesus told His disciples that it was better for Him to go away because if He did so, He would send the Holy Spirit to them (John 16:7).  Could anything be better than having the physical presence of Jesus with us?  Jesus thought so, because the Holy Spirit is not limited in time and space but can indwell each of us.  Jesus lives within us by His Holy Spirit.  Living from the Spirit within is living a life in close fellowship with Jesus, knowing what He is saying and doing.

But there is also another factor to consider.  There is someone else who would like to penetrate our thoughts.  “Satan is prowling around like a roaring lion seeking whom He may devour.”  He can impact us in a number of ways.  For example, maybe we are watching the news on television, and feel too lazy to turn it off when the news is over.  All of a sudden, we find ourselves watching semi-pornography.  The enemy has used our sight (physical) to get to our mind.  Or maybe we are concerned over a situation—finances are difficult, for example—and we find ourselves becoming depressed and anxious. Daniel 7:25 in the NASV says of Satan, He will speak out against the Most High and wear down the saints of the Highest One. The word translated “wear down” means to harass constantly. 

The main spiritual battleground occurs in our soul.  Satan tries to gain control of our thoughts and emotions.  In John 10:10 it says that the thief, (Satan) has come to steal, kill and destroy.  He steals our joy and gives us depression; he steals our peace and gives us fear; he condemns us and lies to us (John 8:44).  Praise God, Jesus has won the victory over Satan for us.

 So our thoughts can come from three different sources, ourselves, Satan or God.

The majority of our thoughts are our own ideas and ramblings.  Most of us have a constant stream of them running through our heads.  All of us are familiar with this.  We think about the task we are doing, we mull over something that happened yesterday, we plan our next vacation.  These are our normal thoughts.

However, sometimes our thoughts might take a darker turn.  Maybe we imagine a certain scary scenario occurring, and fear enters our minds.  Or we rehearse something that has offended us and we become angry. Usually, if the reaction that a thought produces is negative, we can reckon that it comes from Satan and we should refuse to entertain it. Jesus told us that we know the source of something by its fruit.  If the fruit of a thought is negative, then we can reckon its source is certainly not from God and is probably from Satan. In 2 Corinthians 10, we are told to take every thought captive to Christ.  There is a battle going on for our minds.  The weapons that we are to use in this battle are spiritual ones; praising or using the Word of God will send those thoughts running.

However, often God speaks to us.  He too will generally speak through our thoughts.  The fruit of His speaking is always good—it brings peace or clarity to a situation.  Even if He is speaking something negative, for example, convicting us of sin, it is specific rather than general and convicts rather than condemns.  So, for example, if Satan is speaking, he generally offers a blanket condemnation.  “You are just too bad.  If you lived a better life, this would not be happening to you.”  In general, when Satan condemns, he is not specific and offers no way out.  And the way to deal with his thoughts is through spiritual warfare.  On the other hand, when the Holy Spirit convicts, He will tell you of a specific situation you need to put right, and He will tell you what to do about it.  And the fruit of obeying Him brings great peace and joy.

Many believers are under the mistaken idea that when it says, “God spoke” or “the Holy Spirit said” that the people heard an audible voice.  But if you ask people who clearly hear Him on a regular basis, they will tell you this is not the case.

Let’s take a look at how humans function when it comes to interacting with the spiritual. 

It is helpful to visualize a person as consisting of three parts which can be diagrammed as three concentric circles.  Although the Scriptures usually just refer to an inner and outer man, 1 Thessalonians 5:23 details this more fully. 

Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely; and may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

The outermost circle represents the body.  This is obviously the physical part of us.  It receives stimuli from the world through the five senses.  The middle band is the soul or psyche.  Traditionally people think of it as the mind, the will and the emotions.  It is the basis of our personality.  This is where our thoughts reside.  It can receive stimuli from both the body and the spirit as well as generating its own thoughts and ideas.  The inner circle is the spirit—that part of the person that becomes alive when a person becomes a follower of Jesus.  This part of us is where the Holy Spirit dwells.

 

We can choose to live under the control of any of the three areas. 

• Some people choose to live from the flesh, from their body.  Maybe they are fixated on food, or on sex.  They are controlled by their bodily desires. 
• Many more people live from their soul.  Perhaps their emotions control them.  Their lives are dominated by the emotion of the day and how they feel directs how they live.  Or maybe their intellect is in control.  They will not believe or do something unless they can understand it and analyze it, unless there is scientific or philosophic rationale for it. 
• We can choose to live from our spirit and allow the Holy Spirit to be in control of our lives. As we surrender to Him, He affects every part of our lives including our soul and our body.  As we yield our lives more and more to Jesus, we find ourselves just naturally living more and more in accord with the Word of God.

For the Christian, the aim is to live from the Spirit within—that is, from the inner circle.  The Bible tells us that it is very difficult to distinguish between the soul and the spirit.  In fact it takes the Word of God to do so (Hebrews 4:12).  We will know if we are living by the spirit if our lives line up with the Scriptures, but our motivation in doing so isn’t to keep a set of rules, but to learn to live from the life of the Spirit within us. 

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It is notable that Jesus did not begin His earthly ministry until the Holy Spirit had come upon Him at His baptism.  From that point onwards, the Holy Spirit led Him.  Philippians 2:7, 8 says “When the time came, he set aside the privileges of deity and took on the status of a slave, became human! Having become human, he stayed human. It was an incredibly humbling process. He didn't claim special privileges. Instead, he lived a selfless, obedient life and then died a selfless, obedient death…  (The Message) When Jesus went to be with His Father after His resurrection, He asked the Father to send the Holy Spirit to us (John 7:39; 15:26).  The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of truth.  He leads us into all truth (John 16:13). He helps us to communicate with the Father (Romans 8:26-27).  When we become a Christian, the Holy Spirit makes our Spirit alive and dwells within us.  He awakens within us a God-given ability to hear what the Father is saying.

So how does God speak to us?  Is He limited to speaking through His Word?  Can we learn to recognize His voice?  Does God speak in an audible voice?  Does He speak through our own thoughts?  If so, how do we distinguish between our own thoughts and what He is saying?

A quick read through the New Testament shows that the early disciples expected God to speak to them.  In Acts 2, Peter knew that what they were seeing on the Day of Pentecost was a fulfillment of the prophecy in Joel.  How did He know that?  In Acts 13, the Holy Spirit spoke to a group of prophets and teachers and told them to set apart Saul and Barnabas for a specific work.  How did they hear Him say that? 

The majority of Christians here in the West rarely experience this vibrant and alive walk with Jesus.  Most struggle to know when God is speaking.  Probably 90% of us are not sure if we hear God clearly. We have learned to rely on others hearing God’s voice for us, whether that is through the Sunday sermon or a Christian book.  And our walk with the Lord is the poorer for it.

tweetmeme_style = 'compact'; </script <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><a href="http://felicitydale.typepad.com/.a/6a00d83515923c53ef012877b065cc970c-pi" style="display: inline;"><img alt="White dove" class="asset asset-image at-xid-6a00d83515923c53ef012877b065cc970c " src="http://felicitydale.typepad.com/.a/6a00d83515923c53ef012877b065cc970c-320wi" /></a> <br> </p> <p>It is notable that Jesus did not begin His earthly ministry until the Holy Spirit had come upon Him at His baptism.<span>&nbsp; </span>From that point onwards, the Holy Spirit led Him.<span>&nbsp; </span>Philippians 2:7, 8 says “<em>When the time came, he set aside the privileges of deity and took on the status of a slave, became human! Having become human, he stayed human. It was an incredibly humbling process. He didn't claim special privileges. Instead, he lived a selfless, obedient life and then died a selfless, obedient death…</em><span>&nbsp; </span>(The Message)<span style="font-size: 10pt;"> </span>When Jesus went to be with His Father after His resurrection, He asked the Father to send the Holy Spirit to us (John 7:39; 15:26).<span>&nbsp; </span>The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of truth.<span>&nbsp; </span>He leads us into all truth (John 16:13). He helps us to communicate with the Father (Romans 8:26-27).<span>&nbsp; </span>When we become a Christian, the Holy Spirit makes our Spirit alive and dwells within us.<span>&nbsp; </span>He awakens within us a God-given ability to hear what the Father is saying.</p> <p>So how does God speak to us?<span>&nbsp; </span>Is He limited to speaking through His Word?<span>&nbsp; </span>Can we learn to recognize His voice?<span>&nbsp; </span>Does God speak in an audible voice? <span>&nbsp;</span>Does He speak through our own thoughts?<span>&nbsp; </span>If so, how do we distinguish between our own thoughts and what He is saying?</p> <p>A quick read through the New Testament shows that the early disciples expected God to speak to them.<span>&nbsp; </span>In Acts 2, Peter knew that what they were seeing on the Day of Pentecost was a fulfillment of the prophecy in Joel.<span>&nbsp; </span>How did He know that?<span>&nbsp; </span>In Acts 13, the Holy Spirit spoke to a group of prophets and teachers and told them to set apart Saul and Barnabas for a specific work.<span>&nbsp; </span>How did they hear Him say that?<span>&nbsp; </span></p> <p>The majority of Christians here in the West rarely experience this vibrant and alive walk with Jesus.<span>&nbsp; </span>Most struggle to know when God is speaking.<span>&nbsp; </span>Probably 90% of us are not sure if we hear God clearly. We have learned to rely on others hearing God’s voice for us, whether that is through the Sunday sermon or a Christian book.<span>&nbsp; </span>And our walk with the Lord is the poorer for it.</p> <script type="text/javascript"> tweetmeme_source = 'felicitydale'; tweetmeme_service = 'bit.ly'; tweetmeme_url = 'http://www.simplychurch.com/2010/02/how-did-jesus-hear-god-speak.html';

Everything that we know about God teaches us that He desires to communicate with us.  It is a part of His very character.  Romans 1 tells us that God speaks to us even through the magnificence of His creation.

 

John 1:1 describes Jesus as the Word:  In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God.  Words communicate.  God desires to communicate with His people.   In Matthew 4:4, Jesus tells Satan, “Man does not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.”  The verb “proceed” is in the present continuous tense.  A better translation might be “Man does not live by bread alone but by every word that is continually proceeding out of the mouth of God.”  

 

In John 8, Jesus says that He only did what He saw the Father doing and only spoke what He heard the Father saying.  Jesus Himself continually heard from His Father.  He was in constant communication with Him.  His life demonstrated a total dependence on hearing from the Father and then obeying Him. 

 

Was Jesus able to do this only because He is part of the Godhead?  If that is true, hearing God speak in this same way is outside of the realm of our capabilities.  Or was Jesus dependent on the same Holy Spirit who now indwells us. 

In the last post, we saw that we are composed of three parts--body, soul and spirit.

Each of the three parts of us is not independent of the others.  For example, most of us have experienced times when we get physically sick.  Sometimes this causes us to feel emotionally depressed.  This is the body impacting the soul.  If this in turn prevents us from spending time with the Lord, then it has impacted our spirit too. A beautiful sunset impacts our senses; it may arouse a sense of joy that overflows in praise to the Creator. Or maybe we have spent a prolonged time in waiting on the Lord.  We feel uplifted in our emotions and we seem to have fresh strength to tackle the tasks that face us.  This is the spirit impacting the rest of us.   Our soul impacts the other parts of us too.  A person who is consistently stressed may develop physical symptoms such as an ulcer, or may become spiritually lukewarm.

We can often choose which part of us is in control.  For example, maybe we have a bad night’s sleep and wake up feeling a bit under the weather.  We can choose to live from the body: “I have to take a nap—my body needs more sleep.”  Or we can choose to live from the soul:  “I had a bad night’s sleep and so I’m kinda cranky today.”  Or we can choose to live from the spirit:  “The Word of God says, ‘I will bless the Lord at all time and His praise shall continually be in my mouth.’  I will praise Him despite a bad night.”  In choosing to live a life full of praise, even when we don’t feel like it, we are choosing to live from the spirit within and it usually does not take long for our emotions to come in line with our spirit.

One of the ways in which Christians often unwittingly live from the soul is by reducing the Christian life to a set of rules—a set of do’s and don’ts to live by.  It is similar to a marriage where the romance and fun has gone out of the husband/wife relationship and it becomes a dutiful partnership, dull and dry.  In contrast, living by the Spirit is a glorious journey, an epic adventure through life with a friend who walks alongside (the literal meaning of parakletos often translated “counselor” or “advocate” and used to describe the Holy Spirit).

As we spend more and more time in Jesus’ presence we will find it easier and easier to live from the spirit within.  Romans 12:1, 2 says, “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.  And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.”  As our mind is renewed, it becomes more and more attuned to the Spirit within.

One of the main paradigm shifts within this movement of simple churches is the belief that ordinary men and women hear God.  They can be entrusted with the affairs of the Kingdom.  It does not need specially trained people to manage the church.  The Holy Spirit is able to run the church by speaking directly to His people.   He will do a far better job of it than our organizations and denominations ever can.

Within simple church, we like to say that church is as simple as knowing God, hearing His voice and responding to what He tells us.  Jesus is head of His church, and if we believe that we are to take this literally, it means that both at an individual and at a corporate level, He desires to communicate with us.  It also presupposes that we have the ability to recognize His voice when He is speaking to us.

Imagine the adventure of hearing God speak and recognizing His voice.  We might hear Jesus say to us, “Go and sit down next to the person on the bench and get chatting with him, He needs to hear from Me today.”  Imagine a community of God’s people that knows when God is communicating.  God might tell them to get involved in a certain apartment complex.  He would tell them where their finances were to be spent.  They would know what they were to do with their children during the times they meet together.

I know the photo accompanying this blog as "His Master's Voice."  To me it says that God is speaking loudly and clearly.  Are we listening?

A few days ago I posed this question on facebook.  "What does the infrastructure of a starfish look like.  Neil Cole was one of those who replied.  His comment: "Self-building and self-replicating, internal and decentralized."

If we apply these principles to anything we try to put in place in terms of infrastructure, we won't go far wrong!

What would this look like when applied, for example, to training?  Or to resources?  Any thoughts?