Filling Prayer Bowls – Accelerating Answered Prayer

In a previous article titled Frame It! Building a Vehicle For Answered Prayer we discussed how to frame up prayer using a model of golden bowls found in Revelation 5:8 and 8:3-5, with a promise of more to come, discussing how prayer bowls get filled and how we can accelerate the process with spiritual laws and principles. In the same way that the natural world full of visible matter has natural laws that govern its function, the spiritual realm full of invisible spirit-matter has spiritual laws that do the same. Where natural laws include things like friction, drag, gravity, and thermodynamics, spiritual laws include things like sowing and reaping, focus, and agreement. When we understand how spiritual laws function, we can make strategic use of them to enhance the effectiveness of our prayers. Spiritual principles are similar to laws in that they influence how things function, but are not as specific and targeted as laws are. Alternately, to look at why prayers often go unanswered, you can read our article titled Understanding Spiritual Laws and Forces: The Paper Airplane Model. Before explaining how we can use spiritual laws and principles to do this, I want to clarify something. None of this is us earning God’s favor or earning the right to have our prayers answered. We have already been made fully righteous in Jesus Christ, and instead of trying to earn the right to get our prayers answered, the scriptures tell us that because of our position as sons and daughters of God we are to “boldly approach the throne of grace to find mercy and grace to help in time of need (Heb 4:16).” We don’t pray from an earthly position of need, but from a heavenly position of birthright and authority, decreeing and legislating into the earth that which we already have access of in heaven. However, God also wants to bring us into maturity as sons and daughters which means learning how the spiritual realms work and the rules by which they operate. The good news is that doing so will help us to be more effective in manifesting heaven’s rule in the natural realm.

Spiritual Laws

The primary law that influences most of what happens in the earth is that of sowing and reaping. Galatians 6:7 tells us that what we sow or put out, we will reap or get back. Luke 6:37-38 speaks of a similar concept, saying, “Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven. Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.” Both of these verses show us that whatever we put out, and in the measure which we put it out, we will receive in like kind in return. In the natural that means if we plant corn seeds, we will grow corn plants. If we plant acorns, we will grow oak trees—and the law works the same way for things spiritual. What this means for answered prayer is that if we want to accelerate the speed at which we get things done, we can intentionally sow in order to intentionally reap. Using the idea of prayer bowls getting filled in prayer, that means we might choose to intercede for others who are dealing with the same things we are, knowing that as we sow on behalf of others, we will reap back the same for our own situation. You can read a little more about it in another article titled Is The Law of Attraction In The Bible?
The thing about using the law of sowing and reaping to accelerate answered prayer is that it isn’t necessarily a quick-fix. It is effective, but not always fast. Think about it—when someone plants a seed, it takes months for it to grow before it produces edible fruit. Sowing and reaping is effective, but it isn’t usually instantaneous. While there are situations and circumstances that can accelerate the “growth time”, as a whole using sowing and reaping to accelerate answered prayer works best in situations that are expected to either be long-term issues or recurring ones.
A second law we can use to accelerate the filling of prayer bowls is the Law of Agreement. Matthew 18:19 says, “Again, truly I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything they ask for, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven.” This verse explicitly states that when two people agree in prayer on something, God answers. Deuteronomy 32:30 expands on this principle, showing us that there is an exponential growth that occurs when we get multiple people involved in prayer. It says, “. . . “one man chase a thousand, or two put ten thousand to flight . . . (Deuteronomy 32:30)” When people align in prayer there is something about that joining together that causes not just a basic acceleration but has a synergistic effect in the spirit that propels answered prayer forward.

Spiritual Principles

Spiritual laws are not the only things that help accelerate prayer. There are other principles and spiritual functions that do not fall under the category of laws that can also help us accelerate prayer. Some of the primary ones include engaging and including angels, addressing atmospheres and praying under an “open heaven”, and inner healing and deliverance.
Angels are messengers, helpers, and warriors and some of their functions include helping us do all that God has planned in advance for us to do. Psalm 103:20 says, “Praise the Lord, you his angels, you mighty ones who do his bidding, who obey his word.” One of the functions of angels is to perform God’s word, and when we pray in alignment with God’s will and nature (considering Jesus *is* the Word made flesh), angels assist us. One means of accelerating prayer is to be intentional about involving angels. In fact, if we consider the prayer-bowl analogy, Revelation 8:3-5 even shows us that angels are actively involved in the process of answering prayer. In Daniel 10:12, an angel comes to Daniel and tells him that when Daniel first prayed to God, he was dispatched with the answer to the man’s prayer, which only further demonstrates this point. If we want to enhance the effectiveness of prayer, we would be wise to include our heavenly helpers (To learn more about how to partner with angels, enroll for free in our email list and you will receive a free e-book titled Engaging Angels).

Atmospheres are one of those subjects that it seems most are unaware of on a conscious level, but if we really think about it, we have all experienced the influence of an atmosphere. Have you ever walked into a room where two people were arguing? You can literally feel the tension in the air—a perfect example of a negative atmosphere. In the same way that we can both sense and create negative atmospheres, we can sense and create positive ones. A good way to do this is to literally verbally take authority over the atmosphere wherever you are and command it to shift in a way that is according to Heaven’s design, but spending time in worship or prayer are other ways to do this. The idea of praying under an “open heaven” is essentially derived from the idea that we can have a spiritual atmosphere that is highly conducive to prayer, angelic activity, and which restrains the function of the demonic. For a revelatory perspective on this, I highly recommend the article How Satan Stops Our Prayers: Combat In The Heavenly Realms by John Mulinde. Ultimately, whether one titles it something special like “open heaven” or not, the underlying point is that we can influence a time of prayer by addressing not just the spiritual forces of angels and demons during the time of prayer, but by setting up the spiritual conditions around us at the outset of that prayer time. By adjusting the spiritual atmosphere as we start to pray we can enhance the effectiveness of our prayer time and often can sense an active release in the spirit when the things we are praying for are being answered.

Inner healing and deliverance don’t really seem like the kind of thing that would help accelerate prayer, but Hebrews 12:1 gives us a key as to how they can help. It says, “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 . . . (Hebrews 12:1)“ Soul wounds and demonic baggage are perfect examples of things that hinder, and they also push people toward entangling sin. Going through inner healing and deliverance helps us throw them off, as the verse recommends, so we can run forward with perseverance. While this might not seem to help with prayer at first glance, demonic resistance hinders prayer, and inner wounds eat at our faith. By addressing both of these, we remove things that erode the effectiveness of our prayers, which in turn increases effectiveness.

Whether working with spiritual laws such as sowing and reaping or spiritual principles such as atmospheres and open heavens, we do not have to live at the mercy of our circumstances when it comes to prayer. We can take an active part in when and how our prayers get answered, and can use Godly wisdom to partner with heaven to see God’s Kingdom manifest on earth as it already exists in heaven.

Unmasking the Lie of Premature Death

Raising the dead is an un-touchy subject—in that most people don’t want to touch it. For those of us who aren’t afraid to engage what Jesus commanded us to do, there are a lot of theological roadblocks that often get tossed in our way. A few of the more prevalent ones are “Is it God’s will?”, “Is it the will of the deceased to be raised?”, “Are they unsaved?” (as though we should only raise them if they are, and if they are saved then let them go). All of those have very rationed, biblical answers (all of which end with “be obedient and raise the dead). We’re going to tackle a different one today, unmasking the lie of premature death.

There is a belief out there that says “It’s okay to die, but only if it is not premature.” The other side of that coin is “We are only supposed to raise the dead when it is premature death, and the rest of the time we should let them go.”

What even is premature death?

In theory, premature death is when someone dies before their “appointed time”—so let’s look at that. What does the Bible say about our appointed time to die? Scripturally speaking, the notion that any of us have an appointed time to die comes from Hebrews 9:27-28 which says, “And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment, so Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many. To those who eagerly wait for Him He will appear a second time, apart from sin, for salvation.” Now, when read in-context this passage is saying that Jesus died once for us, as us, in place of us to bear all of our sin. However, most people like to quote verses 27 without the second half of the sentence (v27 ends with the word “judgment”) and in so doing entirely skew the meaning. For believers, we did die once, already, through Christ in baptism (Romans 6:1-7 elaborates on this quite clearly). So even if we ignore the context of this passage and just focus on the “appointed time to die”, as a result of Jesus’ sacrifice we no longer have an appointed time to die—as Jesus already took our appointment.

Furthermore, the entire “appointed time to die,” scripturally speaking, has always been in context of the wages of sin being death (Romans 6:23), not that God needs us to die in order to exit the earth. Nevertheless, people still like to believe that we are required to die, and incorrectly use Hebrews 9:27 as their proof-text. The other references that are less-commonly used, those of Ecclesiastes 3:2 and Psalm 90:10, are based on the writers’ observations about the lives of people, much like how a scientist would observe things and then write down what they saw. Those passages are not a prophetic pronouncement about what all humankind is destined for, but simply a recording of observations. In fact, the entire book of Ecclesiastes is written from the context of Solomon sharing his earthly observations and temporal wisdom, not that of a divine seer who has delved into the mysteries of God.

How do we know if someone died prematurely?

Normally, the notion is that someone has had a premature death if they died young. And if you thought “wow, that’s pretty ambiguous,” that’s because it is.

Profoundly ambiguous.

Most people who believe there is a “time to die” apply it to situations in an extremely illogical manner. They pretty consistently say that if someone is young then it wasn’t their time and if they are old (which usually means 65 or older), then it probably was their time to go. This entire idea is illogical in nature, not to mention incredibly arrogant. I mean, who is the person who gets to decide whether it was “someone’s time” or not? It’s pretty arrogant to think that we get to decide when it is other people’s time to die. When Job, in his arrogance, was accusing God of not being just, do you know what God’s response was?

“Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind, and said:
“Who is this who darkens counsel by words without knowledge? Now prepare yourself like a man; I will question you, and you shall answer Me. “Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Tell Me, if you have understanding. Who determined its measurements? Surely you know! Or who stretched the line upon it? To what were its foundations fastened? Or who laid its cornerstone, When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy? (Job 38:1-7)

God did nothing for two whole chapters except throw questions at Job that he was incapable of answering because he was a human with the limited knowledge, power, and capacity that humans have, and not the Almighty Creator-God of the Cosmos. God basically spent His time saying “And who exactly do you think you are??”

Once we start breaking down the “time to die” concept, it is applied in an incredibly arbitrary manner based completely on supposition and not on some sort of knowable information that can be consistently applied. In fact, it is pagan belief systems that believe our life-length is determinable, not Christianity. For example, in Greek mythology, the Fates (or Norns in Norse mythology) determine the length of your life by spinning a string, your “life line”, and when they decide your string gets cut, you die. It is entirely arbitrary based on whatever those god-beings feel like at that time, and if they feel like cutting you off in your twenties, they are fully within their rights and powers to do so. Good thing we don’t belong to their kingdom!

What does the Bible say about death and age?

If we wanted to know what the Bible says about death and age, we would find it says the opposite of most people’s beliefs on the subject. According to 2 Timothy 1:10, God has abolished death in Christ. Abolished it! It is no longer legal. Romans 8 goes into great length to explain that we no longer live under the law of sin and death but rather the law of the spirit of life. As explained above, the OT verses that refer to a “time to die” are not pronouncements of that-which-shall-be, but scientific human observations of what they saw happening around them. In fact, there is a prophecy that is a pronouncement of things to come which states:

“Never again will there be in it an infant who lives but a few days, or an old man who does not live out his years; the one who dies at a hundred will be thought a mere child; the one who fails to reach a hundred will be considered accursed. They will build houses and dwell in them; they will plant vineyards and eat their fruit. No longer will they build houses and others live in them, or plant and others eat. For as the days of a tree, so will be the days of my people . . . (Isaiah 65:20-22a)

The prophet Isaiah foresaw a day when death would be extremely uncommon, as people would be living multiples of hundreds of years long at minimum. Furthermore, this falls entirely in line with the teachings of Jesus. There are numerous verses in scripture that speak of this reality of long-life, but that isn’t all. There are many verses where Jesus explained that those who followed him would, in fact, never die (John 6:50, 51, 54, John 8:51, John 10:10, 28, John 11:26). Actually, get this. Do you realize that the most-quoted verse in the entire Bible speaks of this? John 3:16 says, “God loved the world so much that he gave his only begotten son that whoever believed in him would not die but would live forever (emphasis mine).” John 3:16 literally states that we are not supposed to die!!

So what should our response to all of this be?

Honestly, it’s quite simple. All death is “premature death” because according to scripture, we aren’t supposed to die. John 10:10 says that it is the enemy who brings death, and 1 Corinthians 15:26 also refers to death as God’s enemy. If we truly believe what the Bible says, the only response we can have to death, regardless of age, is one thing:

Raise the dead.

Don’t complicate Jesus’ simple command in Matthew 10:8 and add provisos or conditions such as premature death, if the person wants to come back, or any of the other highly spiritual-sounding but highly religious and extremely disobedient excuses people come up with. If we truly want to do the will of God, then it is time to move past the lie of premature death and simply be obedient to Jesus’ command to raise the dead.

If you are interested in learning more about how to step out in faith and raise the dead, I recommend the following:

Read my book Faith to Raise the Dead and Tyler Johnson’s book How to Raise the Dead, or for a quick-reference guide, grab a copy of Practical Keys to Raise the Dead.
Attend a training with the Dead Raising Teams led by Tyler Johnson of One Glance Ministries.
If unable to attend in person, buy his School of Resurrection audio series, invite some friends over, and have your own virtual DRT training.
Start looking for opportunities to pray to raise the dead. As you put yourself out there, opportunities will open up to you (pets included!).

Frame It! – Building a Vehicle for Answered Prayer

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One of the areas of “study” that I have a personal interest in is that of spiritual laws. And when I say “study” in quotes, its because it isn’t exactly something you can easily find books about (which is why I plan to write one at some point). Nevertheless, I do find that as I go, I tend to discover certain keys and principles that explain the underlying functions and influences that alter the world we live in. At the end of the day, we all want our prayers answered. In this case, I want to share something about prayer, and how we can make use of what I refer to as “framing” to work as a vehicle for answered prayer.

Revelation 5 and 8 shed some light on how framing in prayer works, so we are going to look at the verses and then I will break down how we can put this principle into practical use.

“And when he had taken it, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb. Each one had a harp and they were holding golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of God’s people (Revelation 5:8).”

“Another angel, who had a golden censer, came and stood at the altar. He was given much incense to offer, with the prayers of all God’s people, on the golden altar in front of the throne. The smoke of the incense, together with the prayers of God’s people, went up before God from the angel’s hand. Then the angel took the censer, filled it with fire from the altar, and hurled it on the earth; and there came peals of thunder, rumblings, flashes of lightning and an earthquake (Revelation 8:3-5).”

To summarize, these verses show us that in the spirit there are golden bowls that collect our prayers. Each bowl has a defined size, which we know because it is possible to fill the bowls. If something can be filled, then it has a quantity associated with it—which means prayer can in some way be quantified, which is its own discussion for another time. However, what this means for us here is that we can release a certain amount of prayer that will fill up a bowl, and the result of filling the bowl is that the answer to our prayers gets sent from heaven back to the earth.

If bowls get filled in response to our prayers, and we are the ones who get to decide what we are praying, then *we create new bowls based on our prayers*. It’s kind of profound, actually, that we have the ability to make spiritual containers in response to the things we pray, both individually and corporately, and that again opens up an entire other line of understanding about how we co-create with God, but I digress. Knowing that we have the ability to create containers to obtain answered prayer, we can make use of this fact to intentionally make new containers. The benefit of intentionally making a new container is that we can intelligently design the parameters for when and how that bowl gets filled.

Certain types of prayers, especially those that are to obtain or develop something new, are of particular benefit for this sort of task. I will give an example that I encourage the ministries I have been involved in to make use of, but this has applications for business, home life, and more.

Pretend that someone is starting a ministry, and they want that ministry to be prepared to grow into everything God has intended. We can assume there will at least be a president/founder/leader, and depending on the organizational structure, other subsequent positions. If a ministry wants to make intentional use of this framing strategy, they will develop job descriptions for all of the potential ministry positions, even if they don’t have a need for it or even room for it yet. For example, let’s say that one eventually wants to have a Prayer Director to lead intercession and prayer strategies and various intercessory positions, a ministry school with a School Director and instructors, a Worship Director with worship leaders, a Chief Administrator, Financial Officer, and more, then one should begin by writing out a job description and qualifications for each of these positions. By doing so, it creates definition.

So much of answered prayer is relative to our intentions toward what we are praying about. If the leaders of a ministry set out a bunch of definitions for positions in advance, even before the need is fully there, this accomplishes a few things, both practical in the natural and functional in the spirit. In the natural, it helps the leadership get an idea of the type of person they are looking for to fill the position, which means that when that person shows up, they will be likely to notice (more about how this works with the Reticular Activating System works here). In the spirit, however, this definition influences the conditions for when and how the prayer bowl gets filled, and as a result how the position gets filled.

By “when and how”, what I mean is that by defining what a particular position should look like, and the characteristics needed of the person filling it, the prayer bowl that gets created will work to answer prayers toward filling that position using that definition. In other words, let’s say that we need a Prayer Director who has leadership qualities for leading prayer teams, administrative qualities for keeping prayer needs-lists updated and other related organization-relevant stuff done in an organized and timely manner, sensitive spiritual perception to be able to tune into the ministry’s needs, and also high levels of faith, power, and authority in the spirit to accomplish much in prayer. If one does not pre-define what they are looking for, then they will end up with someone in that position, but that person may or may not have all the skills needed for the job. On the other hand, by defining all of those as needs under the Prayer Director position in advance, when praying for God to send a Prayer Director, what one is then praying for is for God to provide someone that checks all of those boxes. When the prayer bowl gets filled, the end result is going to be a person coming alongside the ministry who can meet all of those needs.

While not every situation needs definition, there are some things that definitely do. If you are a business owner and want to grow your business, define the areas of growth in as much or little detail as you like, recognizing that the level of detail you give will influence how your prayers get answered. If you are looking for a new home, or a vehicle to buy, or anything else at all that involves “new” or “change”, then framing up your needs in advance will design a prayer bowl to more specifically fit the needs you have anticipated. As far as what it takes to fill a prayer bowl, and how we can use spiritual laws and principles to accelerate that process, we’ll have to take a look at that in another article.

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Understanding Spiritual Laws and Forces: The Paper Airplane Model

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Many people wonder why prayers don’t get answered in the time or way they are asking. Other times, people have listened to a preacher state a single “guaranteed” method to have prayers answered, but when put into practice, they only work a small portion of the time. There are a number of reasons for this, but I think they are best explained through an example I was telling my wife the other day: the example of throwing a paper airplane.

Throwing a paper airplane seems like an incredibly simple process: You fold it, you throw it, done.

Yet, if you think about all the variables and factors that go into how that airplane flies, it is much more complex than it first appears.
In order to throw a paper airplane, there first has to be a paper airplane. The airplane could be made with a variety of sizes and thicknesses of paper, each of which has its own weight. There are a variety of airplane designs that involve folding the paper different ways to arrive at a flying object, and while each is unique in its appearance and design, all of them are still paper airplanes. To add even more variation, while it doesn’t influence the function of the object, the airplane could be a wide range of colors or designs as well.

Once the paper airplane is folded, it is now time to throw it. While this seems straightforward, there are many things that influence how it flies. Aerodynamics of the plane design show their influence here as both lift and drag exert their influences. Then there’s the force used to throw the object, which is gradually slowed by friction in the air but the momentum behind the plane works to counteract that. Gravity is part of drag that works to bring the plane down to the ground, but that doesn’t fully account for the level of atmospheric pressure exerted when at sea level versus a higher elevation, meaning that at different elevations, the pull gravity exerts is different. Furthermore, there are other external factors such as wind speed and direction that will influence the airplane’s flight.

So how does all of this relate to spiritual laws and answered prayers?? First, let’s take the example of the airplane and pretend it is the person. Each person is designed uniquely by God, and each of us are wired to function optimally in certain ways. The reason personality profile tests work is because there are still main “types” of people, but at the end of the day no two people are fully alike. This is exactly like making a paper airplane. Paper size, shape, thickness, and even color are like the differences between people and personalities, but there is more. Each of us have different life encounters which also cause us to have different beliefs and inner wounds. We each have certain areas where we either understand or misunderstand God’s nature, our nature, and that of the world around us. There is the influence that our spirit and soul exert on various aspects of our lives as well. These are like the differences in the paper and folding of the airplane. Those unique perspectives (whether healthy or unhealthy) and subsequent inner soul and spiritual influence, shape who we are and how we interact with the outside world, and, akin to the flight of a paper airplane, they affect how spiritual laws influence us as well.

Now let us bring in external forces: demonic resistance and the curses of others, angelic assistance and the prayers of others, and bloodline blessings and iniquity, all of which influence how, when, and if prayers get answered. There is our faith, the faith of other people praying in that situation as well, as well as our and their doubt and unbelief. There are regional atmospheres influenced in part by angels and demons and other spirit beings but also by the collective consciousness of the people living in that region.

Then there are other spiritual laws such as sowing and reaping, focus, honor, impartation, blessing, and more. All of these various factors act upon us simultaneously, and each one exerts its own influence on how, when, and if our prayers get answered. It is only when we don’t understand that there are multiple factors at play and do things to actively enhance or mitigate their effects that we lose out.

With a paper airplane, we can do something that adds weight (usually a paperclip) to help it fly better/longer, we can increase the force of the throw, move somewhere without wind or turn so we are throwing with the wind current, and stand on a higher elevation so it takes longer to reach the ground. Each of these actions address some of the opposing forces that negatively influence the paper airplane’s flight. Likewise, when we understand the various spiritual laws and spiritual forces at work in our lives, we can make conscious choices that promote the outcomes we desire. Both inner healing and mind renewal decrease the ability of demons to influence us. They also can decrease doubt and help enhance our faith. As we pray to engage the angelic host and bind demonic forces, we will experience a greater measure of spiritual assistance. As we sow with our thoughts, words, and actions over time we will reap the benefits of those choices as well. If we gather in a group with others, we can purposefully extend a targeted influence over a certain situation, problem, etc. that affects our region and that is influenced by regional collective consciousness, shifting the atmosphere our way. All of these are examples of a great number of things that can be done to influence prayers and outcomes in our lives, but it all boils down to a simple concept: At the end of the day, our input decides the output and if we want a different outcome, we need different input.

As we change the input coming through our lives toward heaven, then the output of heaven toward us will alter accordingly.

Four Simple Steps To Hear From God

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Everyone needs to hear from God. However, while in theory it should always be easy to hear God speaking to us, sometimes this can be difficult. Some factors that make this more difficult are when we are stressed or tired, but we can also hit demonic resistance that attempts to block our ability to hear God. Sometimes the problem is that we haven’t learned how to recognize God’s voice speaking to us whether in words or images. There are, however, some keys to help us hear Him more easily. We will look at four simple steps to hear from God that may help ease this process.

Step 1) Set aside uninterrupted time to focus on hearing God.

This time is meant for listening to God, which also means not doing anything else. Demons like to create distractions when we set aside time like this to keep us from honing in on connecting with God, so plan in advance to reduce distractions. Turn off your phone if needed. Go to a quiet location, whether that is sitting in your car, the library, or your room. Take the pets out to the bathroom before you start so they don’t start whining at the door. If you have kids, you may need to find an activity that will keep them both occupied *and* not fighting with one another. Naptime is especially good for this, but a movie can also be helpful.

Step 2) Write down your thoughts, questions and concerns.

Some prefer pen and paper, but I prefer to use word processing software on my computer. One could also use a tablet of some kind with a writing app. I have a friend who doesn’t know how to type but writes all the time, so he uses a text-to-type software. However works best for you, write out the things on your heart, sort of like journaling, but with intention and expectation on hearing God’s thoughts as answers for the questions and concerns that you bring up.

Step 3) After asking a question, stop writing and listen.

This can be the hard part if you aren’t used to it, as often you are waiting for responses to enter your mind. Write down the thoughts or images that come to mind. Usually this is God communicating with your spirit, which then flows down into your soul/mind and is processed by your brain as thoughts. The difference is that these aren’t your thoughts, which is usually evident because at this point you really aren’t thinking anything at all other than being still and listening. Repeat steps 2 and 3 until you feel you have covered everything on your mind.

If you don’t have anything specific in mind, ask the question “God, what do you want to say to me today?” We may have our own questions, thoughts, and agendas, but often God has things He wants to say that are unrelated to what we are asking. When we take time to hear not just God’s thoughts for specific situations, but open ourselves up to whatever He wants to tell us, we will often be surprised by what He says

Step 4) When you feel you are done writing, read back over what you wrote.

See what feels like it resonates. If something doesn’t feel like it fits, ask yourself why. This final step involves discerning what we feel is and is not what God is saying, and is an important step. Sometimes the things we hear come out of our own fears, questions, hopes, and concerns. Sometimes we get conflicting voices speaking to us. Sometimes, we are both hearing God and getting things muddled up with our own thoughts at the same time. Discernment is important, and taking time to review what we feel we have received helps us to develop that skill.

While not foolproof, this is a method that I often use to hear from God. As a tradition, I also take time to do this around Christmas each year with no agenda other than to hear what God wants to share with me about my life, that of family and friends, and even sometimes things in the world in the coming year. I will sometimes get prophetic words for a few friends and family at that time as well. This simple four-step process is an easy way to get into a mental space to hear from God, and helps to clear all the emotional clutter out of the way by setting aside purposeful time with God. Life gets busy, but we never should get so busy that we can’t take time to listen to God’s thoughts toward us.

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Resting in God’s Presence

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I got an unexpected phone call the other morning from a brother in Christ, and we began talking about resting in God’s presence, a practice also known as “soaking”. He began to share about times of worship he has enjoyed where the Presence of God would come strongly upon him, but then at some point he would feel that strong atmosphere around him lift off and go away. He said something interesting, “Brother, I don’t like it when it goes away, and I haven’t figured out how to make it stay.” This statement brought further discussion, and we continued to look at the factors involved in resting in God’s presence.

The thing we have to remember about soaking is that when we do this, we are engaging a person, not a thing. The reason this brother couldn’t make Holy Spirit remain is because we don’t have the ability to control Holy Spirit, nor should we. God is God, and He will do what He chooses to do when He chooses to do it. However, while we cannot force God to do anything, that doesn’t mean we don’t have the ability to influence His choices.

James 4:8a says, “Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. (ESV)” While we cannot force God into remaining near us with His presence when we soak, we can always engage our relationship with Him to encourage Him to remain, and if not remain, to return. When we are in a time of resting in God’s presence and we will feel His presence “lift” or leave or lessen in some way, many times people think “well, I guess that’s it then.” They end their time of enjoying God and continue with their day. What some don’t realize is that if we feel His presence lift, if we re-engage Him, He will usually return with His presence and we can continue to enjoy Him longer.

God is a person, albeit a Divine Person, and we get our human emotions and responses from Him. When someone reaches out to us, we tend to be favorably disposed toward engaging them, and we get this from God. We like being liked, and so does God. If we choose to spend our time in adoration and/or worship of Him, we will find that He graces us with the “with you” presence spoken of in John 14:17. If we want God to come, we simply have to draw near to Him first, and He will respond. If we want Him to return, we simply have to draw near again. This is both the what and the how of soaking prayer. The practice of resting in God’s presence is incredibly simple and is all about engaging Him until His external presence comes, and then enjoying Him once He comes.

Personally, soaking is one of my favorite things to do. I greatly enjoy the sensation of feeling Him on my skin. It’s hard to describe, but there is this sort of weightiness combined with this feeling of air currents on my skin combined with this slight electric sensation. After a while, I simply can’t handle laying in His presence any longer because it becomes too intense. I rarely have an issue with His presence leaving, but when I do, it is often because my own focus wanders elsewhere. When that happens, I simply refocus on Him and His presence, and those sensations that mark His presence return once again.

Sometimes when we take time to do this, at first we may sense and feel nothing. However, as we engage Him time and time again, we will find, often within just a couple weeks or even a few days, that we begin to sense His presence. Resting in God’s presence is incredibly easy, but it might not have instant results. Then again, it may. As we continue to engage God in this manner over time, it usually speeds up the process. What used to take me 15-20 minutes of worship to sense His presence so I could then rest in Him now takes just a few moments of resting and focusing in on Him. Resting in God’s presence is a wonderful way to draw closer in our relationship with Him, and a beautiful way to fill the hunger that we have for Him in our hearts.

If you want to read more about this subject, give a read to another article titled Cultivating His Presence.

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Stop, Drop, and Pray

While I was driving to work the other night I was listening to a podcast, I had this strong impression that I needed to pray. I turned off the podcast message and went into prayer. After a few minutes, I felt impressed to call a certain friend. When I did, she let me know that she was glad I called because she had literally just asked the Lord for help in a situation, and moments later I rang her cell phone. I prayed with her and helped her work through the immediate issue. I learned as a Cub Scout to “stop drop and roll” if for some reason my clothing ever caught on fire. Sometimes, putting out spiritual fires can be similar—we need to stop, drop, and pray.

I once heard prophet Larry Randolph say something at a conference I attended that has stuck with me. He said, “In the midst of the mundane, the supernatural happens.” Often I think we are looking for big spectacular displays of divine power, but more often than not God works supernaturally in subtle ways. Think about it—before my friend had even prayed, God alerted me I needed to pay attention to what He was doing, and then even as she was praying, He impressed on me to call her. In Scripture, this could be characterized as a manifestation of the gift of the word of knowledge, but more often than not I just think of it as God communicating with me. Sometimes God lets us know things not through a spiritual gift, but through our relationship with Him.

Prayer is a crucial part of our spiritual lives, and it has the ability to change any situation. While I believe that cultivating a lifestyle involving intentional prayer is important, I also believe that random times of prayer are also vital. It isn’t enough to just have metered times of prayer complete with prayer lists because some life situations don’t fit the mold. Don’t get me wrong—I believe that using a list can be a valuable means of intercession because it provides focused reminders about people and situations that need ongoing prayer. However, we must also cultivate sensitivity in our hearts to the Holy Spirit so that we know when it is time to stop, drop, and pray.

One of the best pieces of advice I can give someone who wants to grow deeper in their relationship with God is to become more sensitive to both the voice and leading of the Holy Spirit. It says of Him in John 16:13-14, “But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. He will glorify me because it is from me that he will receive what he will make known to you.” Holy Spirit loves to reveal the will of God to us, and He does it in full concert and cooperation with Jesus and the Father, so we can trust that all directions we receive from Heaven come with a unified will and purpose.

I plan to eventually write and release one or more books on the prophetic, including wisdom and guidance on how to hear the voice of God and recognize the various ways He leads us, but until then, here are some other resources that may be helpful to grow in hearing God’s voice:

My buddy Praying Medic has written two books on the subject that I highly recommend. They are
Hearing God’s Voice Made Simple and Seeing in the Spirit Made Simple.

There are many others out there, but two good ones are Spirit Talk by Larry Randolph and Translating God: Hearing God’s Voice For Yourself And The World Around You by Shawn Bolz.

You might also be interested in reading about how I learned to first listen to God and then pray what He desires in my article titled “How I Received Mentoring In Prophetic Intercession“

Reassigning Angels

Just the other night I was driving with my stepdaughter to a local open Thrive meeting. We were about 30 minutes early, so we decided to stop in at a Trader Joe’s grocery store that was on our way and grab a bite to eat. We were hungry and it was going to be written off as a business expense anyway, so we figured we might as well. As I pulled into the parking lot, I realized I had been here before, but it had been a while. The building on the far side of the parking lot from the store was a place where a ministry I used to be on staff with hosted conferences a number of years prior.

Feeling like this was a God-timed moment, I drove over to the building and parked the van. My stepdaughter was confused, and I probably didn’t explain clearly, but we got out and walked up to the door. I then prayed something to the effect of “I lay claim to every heavenly deposit that was left here from the previous events that we did and for every angelic assignment that has been left untended and remains here. I lay claim to those blessings and angels and attach them to the ministry of The Kings of Eden in Jesus’ name.”

I turned around to walk back to the van, but suddenly was hit with the power of God and instantly became what is known as “drunk in the Spirit.” As I walked to the vehicle, I could sense a roughly fifteen-foot-tall angel following right behind me, and by revelation I knew that there were in fact three angels that had come with me. While one of them is called To The Nations, I’m not certain yet what functions the other two serve.

The encounter itself was somewhat profound and entirely unexpected, and the next fifteen minutes of being drunk in the spirit while shopping for snacks was also fun, but as I reflect back upon this event, there is more to it than meets the eye.

How long would those angels have waited there for someone to give them something to do if God hadn’t brought me by that night?

The Bible says, “Are not all angels ministering spirits sent to serve those who will inherit salvation?” (Hebrews 1:14). Angels, and the heavenly host as a whole who have been sent to earth at God’s command, have been sent to serve us in a myriad of ways. When God gives them an assignment, it doesn’t end because we neglect them. Rather, they are still waiting for us to engage them again and to partner with them to fulfill their heavenly mission. Some assignments are sent to specific people, but other angels are assigned to fulfill a particular mandate. While the gifts of God will not be removed from us, mantles and mandates can pass us by if we remain stagnant or fail to move into all that God has for us.

This begs another question: How many others of the heavenly host are waiting for someone to help them complete their assignments here on the earth? And if angels are waiting for us to come and pick them up, what are we waiting for?

I firmly believe that God has many more angels assigned to us than we realize, and probably many who are waiting for us to release them to get things done! Pray this prayer with me:

Heavenly Father, we thank you for the multitudes of the heavenly host that you have sent out on our behalf to bring your light, life, and love to the world. Wherever there are unused and abandoned angels whose mission is aligned with ours, we ask that you would transfer them to us and to the things you are doing in and through us, our lives, family, work, and ministries. We apply the full armor of God to ourselves and our angels. In the name of Jesus, we activate and release every angel who has already been assigned to us to go and accomplish all you have sent them to do. We ask that you would assign additional angels to us according to your will and perfect design, and that you would open the storehouses of heaven to bring us every spiritual blessing that has been stored up for us in heavenly places in Christ, and we ask all of this right now in Jesus’ mighty name! Amen.

Faith and Patience Inherits The Promises

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As a nurse, I take care of a lot of sick and injured people, and that can be emotionally hard sometimes. Much more difficult, however, is having a family member who has health problems. After years of dealing with a gradually worsening health situation, with some recent interventions that looked extremely hopeful but have been much more disappointing than expected, it has been difficult to stay encouraged, especially when my loved one suffers daily.

What is possibly even more upsetting is the fact that I have prayed many, many times for her healing, and it’s not like I am a novice at healing the sick. I have prayed for many people to be healed of a range of conditions, with a decent measure of success, and there are times when it feels like it is far easier to heal a random stranger (whom I care about far less than my family, although I do care) than it is to heal my family members. There also seems to be an irritating trend among faith-healers that we seem to be able to heal many people, but with our own families, things don’t seem to work as they should. And while I don’t accept that as an immutable rule, it does appear to be a trend that I have yet to understand the full reason behind.

So, for those reading who think they have the “simple, easy solution” for this healing problem, and I “just need to do this or that”, when I am feeling discouraged about a loved one not getting healed, I’m willing to bet that 99% of the time, I have already tried whatever the faith-filled suggestion is. The present situation has been after years of prayer and fasting combined with medical interventions, and an awful lot of faith. To me, when all of this has gone into the situation and still no results, it seems pretty reasonable to be discouraged when it feels like I can do very little to solve the problem. And let’s be honest, at the end of the day, right or wrong, we all want results.

Well, after some very recent setbacks, and feeling pretty down, I spent some time crying, basically hiding from my family in part of the house so they wouldn’t see me crying and get more upset themselves. Then I connected with a close friend by phone who was, as always, super encouraging, and who was entirely unable to fix the problem too, but just continued to love and encourage me during my struggle. As all of this was happening, I was also spending time in prayer and asking the Lord to give me wisdom on how to move forward, because I know a few things pretty clearly:

1) This problem is not the will of God, because He is good and this is evil.
2) This problem was not given by God, but by the enemy.
3) Jesus already said “yes” to healing the problem 2000 years ago on the cross.
4) God already has a plan to fix the problem in the here-and-now.

As I was praying, I felt God tell me something, and remind me of something else. First, He just kept telling me what a good job I was doing. While it sounds lovely, I find it frustrating at times when He tells me that, because I can get extremely results-oriented and when I am doing everything I know to do to solve a problem and it still isn’t getting fixed, being told how great I am doing can be maddening. However, as I thought about it, Him telling me this reminded me to be less results-focused and to just continue to love well through the process, something my buddy also pointed out. Second, I was reminded that it’s not just faith that gets the job done, but patience.

In Hebrews 6:10-12 Paul wrote to the church and said, “God is not unjust; he will not forget your work and the love you have shown him as you have helped his people and continue to help them. We want each of you to show this same diligence to the very end, so that what you hope for may be fully realized. We do not want you to become lazy, but to imitate those who through faith and patience inherit what has been promised.”

Sometimes it can be hard, very hard, to pray in faith and not see an answer. And sometimes that can go on for years, and it still feels like nothing is happening. But there has never been a single prayer prayed in the history of humanity that God has not responded to in some way, so even when it feels like nothing is happening, we have to look at things from a heavenly view and ask God what He is doing. Next, we have to be patient.

My friends know that especially when it comes to healing prayer, I’m not particularly patient. I expect results now, and if they don’t happen now, then I pray again and expect them now. And again right now, and again right now, until it happens . . . right now. And patience in healing prayer is something God has been gently teaching me about, and I am gradually learning. However, I still firmly believe that instant results should be our preference.

Even while expecting instant results, we have to be people who are invested in a long term view of things. When it comes to praying for healing, or salvation, or really, praying for anything else, do we have a long game? Anyone can be faith-filled for five minutes. Anyone can pray a powerful-sounding prayer and then dash away, onto the next thing to pray about and/or problem to solve. It takes a lot more perseverance to stick things through and week after week, month after month, year after year continue to believe God for the things He has already promised to give us. It takes another level of character to do all of this and not get angry with God or blame Him in the process.

I wish that things happened much faster in the spirit realms than they sometimes do. I am fervently looking toward the day my family is healed and whole with no pain and problems, and continue to hope, pray, and stand in faith for that outcome. Nevertheless, am I willing to stick it out with both faith and patience? The truth is that faith without patience simply will not inherit certain promises. Faith for a short time that then wavers and dies is insufficient to obtain certain things from God. Not because God is withholding from us, but because the enemy is. Not because God is being stingy, but because some results require far more than a one-time prayer to obtain.

So, as I bring this to a close, I want to challenge the reader with this: in areas of your walk with Jesus Christ that you are struggling, do you have what it takes to walk out a long game if needed? If not, what do you need to do to get the patience, perseverance, and endurance so that you can?

“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened. . . If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!” Matthew 7:7-8, 11

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Partnering with God: Putting Faith Into Action

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There is a lot of debate about what faith is and how we partner with God through faith to see things come to pass. In some cases we do things out of faith that God hasn’t specifically told us to do, but there are other times where God has shared something with us, either by a knowing in our hearts, speaking to us directly, or through a prophetic word. Regardless of the method by which we receive the revelation, there are a number of ways the promise can come to pass. The confusing part is knowing which method is in store for us and how we need to respond. We are going to look at the various ways we can step out in faith to become partners with God’s promises.

Prophecy Is Usually Conditional

Most promises from God, whether received through prophecy or otherwise, are conditional. This means that it’s not “God said it, I believe it, that settles it.” Instead, it means that the choices we make and the things we do influence whether or not the prophecy comes to pass. An example of this is the difference between Mary and Zechariah in the Bible. Mary agreed with the word about Jesus but God had to strike Zechariah mute so he wouldn’t disagree with the prophecy about John and prevent it from coming to pass. If prophecies are conditional, then we can either help them along or prevent them from happening.

Sometimes, simply choosing to trust God is the faith-answer, but that’s usually when actual faith is applied to what God said, not simply a head nod and then going on our way and forgetting about what God said. When someone truly trusts God deeply in their heart to do what He said He will do, immense faith is released to partner with that prophetic word to cause it to come to pass. However, based on observation, I believe that kind of faith is uncommon.

Pray It Through

The first thing we can do to partner with a prophetic word is to pray into it. What I mean by this is to pray for the thing to come to pass. If God says, “I have a bigger house for you,” then start praying for a bigger house. If God says, “I have a certain ministry for you,” then start praying for that ministry and for all God wants to do in and through it. Most things in the Kingdom are birthed through prayer, so spending time praying for what God said to come to pass is wisdom, and it is the very least thing we can do, not to mention the easiest. The acronym PUSH was made by someone regarding how we are to pursue things in prayer. It means Pray Until Something Happens—and that’s what we should do to partner with the prophecy.

Do Something

A next step to take after that is to actually do something to put things into action. For example, let’s say that I got a prophetic word about writing books (I have had multiple words to that end). If I am going to partner with God to write books, then I have to do a few different things to see that promise come to pass. First, I have to decide what to write about, then I have to actually take time and write it. Then I have to edit and revise the book, develop a cover design, and publish it—and if I want the book to sell, I probably need to do some marketing too. All of these things don’t just happen on their own. It’s not like I woke up one day and found some books on my shelf with my name on the cover. No, I spent time deciding what to write, writing it, and then rewriting it to make it better. Partnering with God means actually setting time aside to do the things He has said I will do, and in the area of book writing it has involved considerable time and effort on my part. Mind you, I enjoy writing so I do enjoy the process, but the fact is that it doesn’t just happen on its own.

The point here is that if we want to see a word come to pass, we often need to do practical things in real life to make that happen. Have you received a word about having some massive healing ministry? Well, probably you need to identify what that is supposed to look like. Take some time with God in prayer and draw up a plan. Do you need to start a 501©3 nonprofit and rent out a place to start hosting meetings, or do you just need to start praying for people in the grocery store? Do you even know how to pray effectively for people for healing? Maybe you need to take some time to learn about divine healing methods and figure out how God wants you to go about praying for the sick. Maybe you need to sign up as a volunteer chaplain at your local hospital. Do you see where I am going with this? A massive healing ministry won’t happen on its own. If God wants to do something like that through you, it is going to take time and effort on your part.

One of the biggest weaknesses of the modern prophetic movement, in my opinion, is the “sit on my laurels” attitude. Everyone wants a prophetic word, and of course they do! The prophetic is amazing! It encourages you and gives insight into God’s heart for you, and can often provide wisdom in challenging situations. You can get perspective on things God wants to do with you in the future, and by revelation receive direction on how to proceed forward in life. Nevertheless, if we don’t do something to put wings to prophetic words we receive, they will rarely come to pass. It is easy to blame someone else, a ministry, an organization, etc. for not helping you in your calling, but at the end of the day it’s not really their job, it’s yours. If God opens up favor for you in an area, then that’s great. But if He doesn’t, then He is still planning on doing what He said, but it may not be the way we are expecting it to happen.

In the end, partnering with God in regards to prophetic promises is a must if we want to see them come to pass. Sometimes it is as simple as praying. Sometimes there is a small action to do. Other times there is a long series of actions to do on an ongoing basis. Whichever the answer, it is very uncommon that a prophecy will come to pass with no involvement on our part. Not impossible, mind you, but rare, uncommon, infrequent. Ultimately, the wisdom step here is to remember to engage the things God says to us. If God tells us things, and we keep our hearts open and obedient, then as we pray for those things we can trust that He will lead and guide us in His timing to step out in action. The book of John tells us that faith without works is dead, not because we are trying to earn our faith by our works, but because the natural response to putting faith in what God says is to step out in action.

If you have things God has promised you that have yet to come to pass, I encourage you to put them on a list and begin to pray about each one. Ask God what He wants you to do to partner with Him in those things, then write down the answer He gives you. As you identify the “next step” for each one, take that step and see what happens. Once you have done those steps, if you are ever unclear you can always revisit them in prayer again to get more insight on how to move forward. As you do practical things to partner with God, I believe you will begin to see more and more of God’s plans and purposes for your life take shape around you.

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