In the first post in this series, I introduced the biblical process of Activation. Activation makes what God has appropriated active and operational in your life. What’s true about the ministry of the Holy Spirit in your life does not automatically become active and operational in you; these truths, graces, and gifts must be activated.
We learned that the four steps of activation are: HEAR the Word, BELIEVE the Word, SPEAK/CONFESS the Word, and finally TAKE ACTION – fully activating the Word. The first three steps are the preparation and foundation, and the fourth is the real act of activation.
In this post, let’s look at the first step: HEARING the Biblical word of truth on a matter.
Can You Hear Me Know?
Holy Spirit takes the written Logos Word and opens our spiritual eyes so the written word becomes a spoken and living rhema word. Hearing God’s voice is like a seed that you receive by revelation of the Holy Spirit that is brought over into the natural realm.
Faith comes by hearing God’s word [rhema = spoken, living, a revelation] of truth (Rom. 10:17). You can then know the truth and the truth makes you free to believe and receive.
“The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” – that is the word [rhema] of faith which we are preaching. Rom. 10:8 (brackets mine)
Here are some of the ways that God personally speaks to you:
- The Holy Spirit causes a verse of Scripture to “leap off of the page” that is a truth or a promise to you personally
- You receive an idea or strategy that comes “out of the blue”
- You receive a prophetic word from another believer that is personally directed to you from God
- You have a prophetic dream in the night this the Lord is speaking to you
- You see a vision (snapshot or short video) from the Lord in the daytime when your eyes are open
These are all legitimate ways that you “hear” the word of the Lord to you personally.
When God gives you a word – a rhema, a prophetic word, a prophetic dream, or a vision – it means He trusts you to receive and faithfully carry that promise or word to full activation. If the Holy Spirit does not trust you to receive and carry the word or promise, then He would not give it to you. So spend time with the Lord and be receptive to the word He wants to plant in your heart today and carry it with faith and patience!
An Assignment
Each word from the Lord to you has an assignment on it. This means that each word the Lord entrusts to you to carry to completion has an assignment on it. This applies to each rhema word, prophetic word, prophetic dream, and vision which the Lord gives to you.
So will the words that come out of my mouth not come back empty-handed. They will do the work I sent them to do, they complete the assignment I gave them. Isaiah 55:11 MSG
Any prophetic word or promise which God makes is impregnated with the seed of His life. When you receive the word from God, this begins the conception phase. God is saying, “My prophetic word to you will complete the assignment I give it if you will cooperate and partner with it to activate.”
When you receive a word from the Lord, it assigns something to you that you must believe and decree, pray, and strategize-about with the Holy Spirit and take it to the completion (full activation) phase. You must live in that word, be fueled by it, steward it, grow it, and believe it. Don’t abort it or let the passage of time rob you of God’s promise or quench your faith. Don’t let that word “fall to the ground.”
As you receive a word from the Lord, write it down! Keep a journal which you prayerfully revisit and speak forth in prayer.
Let me ask you a question: Is God’s voice the loudest voice in your life?
That is the question.
If the answer is no, then that is the problem.
Chronic noise may be the greatest impediment to your spiritual growth. When your life gets loud, with noise filling every frequency, you lose your sense of being. And when your schedule gets busy, you lose your sense of balance.
The Lord is asking you today, “Can you hear me now?”
Commit to make God’s voice the loudest voice in your life.
Prayer
Lord, I want Your voice to be the loudest voice in my life. I choose to dial in to hear Your voice most clearly. I choose to have a greater awareness and sensitivity to the ways you speak to me. I want to be a hearer of Your word. Sometimes You speak to me directly as a still small voice – a rhema word. Other times You speak to me through another person — a prophetic word. In these last days, you are speaking through prophetic dreams and visions. I want to be open and receptive to all these ways You want to speak to me. As you give me a personal word, I know it has an assignment on it. I choose to receive that word and carry it to full manifestation so that word fulfills its assignment. In Jesus Name, Amen!
From my new book, Activating the Present-Day Ministry of the Holy Spirit. Available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Xulon Press.