God Speak

We have been doing this very interesting series at Church about hearing God's voice. Not so coincidentaly, we have also been doing a study on prayer with our life group. They both seem to fit together perfectly in the lessons that we are learning. I encourage everyone to do this prayer study with John Eldriedge. It is AMAZING!!! to say the least. A few things he talks about are prayers of intervention, praying with authority, and he communicates the seriousness of prayer in our lives. After every chapter I feel the need to fall to my knees and have an hour long conversation with God. What is interesting is that in the series at Church, we have been learning to hear God's voice in a few different ways. Through His Word, through others, and through prophecy (now don't freak out, stay with me!).
I think we have all experienced this is some way or another. Maybe someone says the exact thing you have been needing to hear or praying about. Or, God puts it on your heart to say an encourgaging word to someone and you had no idea how much pain they had been dealing with. In these small ways God speaks to us and allows us to interact with each other in Kingdom building ways. I remember one time when I was going through a very rough patch and questioning God in several ways, someone came up to me that I had never met and said 'Don't worry, God loves you'. These simple words, which we know and have been taught for so long have a HUGE impact on someone, like me, who was questioning God's love. I have been able to witness and experience so many encouraging examples of this over the past few weeks.
Now, what John Eldriedge has to do with this is that our communication with God is directly impacting the people around us. We must realize that our walks are not separate, but they intertwine and connect. Each interaction we have with someone is an opportunity to welcome the Kingdom of God or invite satan to have more footholds in our lives. It is a profound thought, and very heavy...but also very true. Our prayers allow us to receive direction from God and if we aren't walking step by step with Him we are missing out on opportunities to further His Kingdom on this earth. I appreciate how these studies have opened my eyes to the seriousness of spiritual warfare going on around us. My views on prayer, and even how I pray have seriously changed. This is just a snipet, so please go do the study. Can you imagine the difference we can make in the world if we all walk with the authority that God gives us through Jesus! Jesus told us we would do more miraculous things than he did, so what's stopping us!?!?!