Several days ago, I spent some time praying about what to write in this post. That night, just as I was laying my head on my pillow, several Bible passages came to mind. I jotted them down before I went to sleep. Here they are with some thoughts about each one.

The Kingdom of God and Desire

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; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened. (Matthew 7:7-8)

You don’t ask for something unless you want it. You don’t really seek unless you are hoping to find what you are looking for. Behind these actions—asking, seeking, knocking—is desire. Desire is important in the Kingdom of God.

Desire and Prayer

Through the prophet Jeremiah, the Lord said to the people of Judah:

Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. (Jeremiah 29:12-13)

Seeking the Lord with all your heart requires strong desire. Desire is important in the Kingdom of God.

Weak Desires, Competing Desires

Many times, however, we find our desire for spiritual things alarmingly weak. We might even wonder how strongly we ought to desire such things. C. S. Lewis clarifies the matter:

“It would seem that Our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.”
― C.S. Lewis, The Weight of Glory, and Other Addresses,New York, Macmillan, 1949, p. 2.

Desire and Spiritual Gifts

When it came to spiritual gifts, the idea I learned at the various churches I attended growing up was that one shouldn’t desire too much. If you have a particular spiritual gift, then great. If you don’t have that gift, then don’t get too bothered about it. After all, you don’t want to fall into error by wanting something that God hasn’t given.

I wonder if the Apostle Paul saw things differently.

Follow the way of love and eagerly desire gifts of the Spirit, especially prophecy. (1 Corinthians 14:1)

Yes, in the context, Paul is prioritizing edifying the church over edifying oneself. But still the principle remains: we can and should desire spiritual gifts.

Desire and Hearing God’s Voice

Learning to hear God’s voice also requires a certain amount of desire. You are probably going to make some mistakes along the way. You may get frustrated and feel like giving up. Desire to be in communion with Jesus will help you continue your journey.

Reflection

So, how strong is your desire? Do you desire to hear Jesus’ voice enough to spend some time learning to recognize how he speaks? Is developing sensitivity to the Holy Spirit a skill that warrants daily practice?

Let me know what you think.

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I was in a minivan with colleagues, traveling to a conference. On the way, I got a call from my lawyer about my work permit application. He said that my application had been forwarded to the authorities concerned and they would decide whether to grant it in their bimonthly meeting that was coming up in a few minutes.  Normally, an application of this type would be routine, but my file had some complications, and the lawyer told me that there was a chance that the authorities would raise an objection.

After the call, I messaged some friends and asked them to pray. I prayed as well. After about 15 minutes, I received an impression from the Lord that I should stop praying about this. Not only should I stop praying, but the Lord would be displeased if I kept praying about this matter.

I messaged the same friends and told them, “I believe the Lord is saying we’ll get it, and I don’t need to pray anymore.” Then for the next four days I was assailed by fears. My fears said to me: You won’t get the work permit and your credibility will go down in the eyes of your friends when they hear about it.

Four days later, I received the news that my application had been granted, and I had received my work permit. What was going on? Why did I have all the fears?

Praying for a Friend

Later the same month, a friend messaged me to say that his child had some health concerns and that they were doing some tests to see if their child had cancer. The following day I was fasting and praying about some matters on my heart, and I prayed for my friend’s child as well. As I prayed, a conviction rose up within me that their child did not have cancer.

At the end of my prayer time, I texted me friend to say, “I believe the Lord is saying that it is not cancer.” That evening, I was again assailed by fears: Neil, this time you’ve gone too far. You can really hurt people if you make mistakes in this sort of thing.

The next morning, I saw my friend’s response, thanking me for the comfort but telling me that the results wouldn’t be available for two weeks. Two weeks later they received the news: the cancer test had come back negative. I had indeed heard the Lord correctly.

Analyzing My Fears

What can we learn from these two stories? Why did I have such fears even after I heard the Lord correctly? Here are a couple of observations.

Observation 1

God speaks as we pray about the matters on our hearts. In these events, God spoke to me as I prayed. I wasn’t asking God to speak to me, I was simply interceding for matters that were on my heart. As I prayed, God spoke.

We see biblical precedent in this in Acts 13. The gathered body of believers were praying. I don’t think they were asking God to speak to them, they were simply worshiping and praying. As they spent time with him in prayer, God shared what was on his heart, “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.” (Acts 13:2) As we pray, either individually or corporately, we should be open to the possibility that God might have something to say to us.

Observation 2

When God speaks, we often face spiritual opposition in the form of doubts and fears. Satan, our enemy, does not want us to believe when God speaks to us. When you hear God’s voice, you may also have to deal with the voice of the enemy trying to get you to doubt that you have heard God correctly.

What’s the solution? I believe a good part of the solution is moving forward despite our doubts. This is what Peter did when he started to walk on the water. He wasn’t completely sure that it was Jesus who was calling him, but he took the first few steps anyway. Unfortunately, he gave in to his doubts and began to sink (Matthew 14:29-30).

May we be people who continue our conversation with the Lord despite our doubts and fears. In week 3 of the Listening to God Course we talk about doubt.

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Last month I was reading the book of Zechariah during my devotions. Zechariah had to ask a lot of questions before he could understand the visions God showed him. Here are some examples:

What he saw: A man on a horse in a ravine with red, brown, and white horses behind him. (1:8)
What he said: What are these, my lord?

What he saw: A man on a horse in a ravine with red, brown, and white horses behind him. (1:8)
What he said: What are these, my lord?

What he saw: Four craftsmen. (1:20)
What he said: What are these coming to do?

What he saw: A man with a measuring line in his hand. (2:1)
What he said: Where are you going?

We would think God would just give his message to Zechariah plainly. Or at least tell Zechariah the meaning of the visions he was seeing. But no, Zechariah must ask questions before the meaning is revealed to him.

As we progress, we find that the angel starts asking Zechariah questions.

Angel: What do you see? (4:2)
Zechariah: I see a solid gold lampstand with a bowl at the top (4:3)

The angel doesn’t explain further. Again, Zechariah must ask.

Zechariah: What are these, my lord? (4:4) Still, the angel doesn’t explain. Instead the angel asks, “Do you not know what these are?” (4:5) Zechariah: No, my lord.

If this isn’t bad enough, by the end of chapter 4, Zechariah has to ask the same question twice before he gets an answer.

Zechariah: What are these two olive trees on the right and the left of the lampstand? (4:11) Zechariah again: What are these two olive branches beside the two gold pipes that pour out golden oil? (4:12) Angel: Do you not know what these are? (4:13) Zechariah: No, my lord.

What is going on here?

God, through the angel, is encouraging Zechariah to press in for deeper revelation. The more he seeks, the more the angel reveals. In the same way, God rarely tells us everything all at once. He wants us to press in to seek him more regularly and more deeply.

Here is what happened to me eight days after I read Zechariah 4.

A Vision of Swords

I was visiting a church’s small group meeting. One of the members suggested we all pray for another member who was going through a hard time due to difficult family dynamics. When it was my turn, I put my hand on her shoulder and began to pray. As I prayed, I saw a mental picture of swords sticking out of her back. It was like someone had plunged them in and left them there.

I was surprised at the vision. If her family members had caused her emotional pain, I would have expected to see swords piercing her heart, not her back.

I asked, “Lord, what does this picture mean?” Unfortunately for me, the meaning did not immediately come. Remembering Zechariah, I kept asking, “Lord, What does it mean?” Finally, I clued into part of the vision: swords in her back was a pictorial representation of “backstabbing.”

The dictionary defines backstabbing as follows: betrayal (as by a verbal attack against one not present) especially by a false friend.

The Lord was showing that this woman had been betrayed. After my prayer was over, I told her what I had seen. She had indeed been a victim of backstabbing.

As I spoke, further revelation came: if the flesh into which the sword has been plunged clings to the sword, further injury will occur. The flesh needs to release (i.e., forgive) and let go of the sword. Then it can be withdrawn and healing can occur.

Here are my lessons from this story. Perhaps you have others.

The Lord may give us a picture but not immediately tell us what it means. We shouldn’t be content with the picture; we should press in and ask the Lord what it means. As we speak out what God has given us, he frequently gives us more to share. Finally, if we are going to heal, we need to let go of the thing that has wounded us.

May you press in deeper, and ask God questions when he speaks to you.

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My friend, Xaver, writes…

Recently I traveled by bus between two cities in Asia. During the journey, I checked my bag and couldn’t find my smartphone. The man sitting next to me was my colleague. He prayed for me and then asked me to look in my bag again. I emptied my bag completely but still couldn’t find it.  I started asking God, Why did this happen? Where is my phone? Was it stolen when my bag was unattended? I was really distressed and thought about all the trouble and cost involved in setting up a new phone. After asking God about my phone, I heard him say, Relax and get some sleep. When you arrive at the rest stop, you will get your phone back.  So, I calmed down and slept until the bus arrived at the rest stop. Then I asked my colleague if he would come with me to the restaurant. As we stood up, we saw that the phone was trapped between our seats.  My colleague said to me, “See, prayer works!” I was very encouraged because events happened exactly as I heard God tell me they would. 
—Xaver              

Well, I am encouraged too! And I am pretty impressed that Xaver could trust God enough to leave the matter in the Lord’s hands and fall asleep.

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My wife and I were staying with some friends over the Eid-ul Fitr holiday. During my devotions one morning I asked the Lord what he wanted me to do that day. I heard the Lord tell me to pray for the family we were staying with—with them present.

Later that morning I had breakfast with two men in the household. As the food was being served, I asked if I could pray before the day began. They agreed. I prayed for good sales at their business—a stall in a food court at a nearby mall.

After the prayer, I thought to myself, Maybe that prayer wasn’t so wise. Their business has been losing money ever since it started.

At the end of the day, we got some news. They just had their highest sales ever!

Listening to God is easy and we can learn to hear his voice.

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