How can I know what God wants from me? How do I hear him?

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1 How can I know what God wants from me? How do I hear him? Brendan Mc Crossan

2 How can I know what God wants from me? How do I hear him? Brendan Mc Crosan

3 How can I know what God wants from me? How do I hear him? 1 Take time with him Many Christians ask me, how can I know what God wants from me? And my answer is always the same. Ask him! And he will tell you, to some he will indicate through their thoughts, to others he gives it in dream form and to others he tells them by his Holy Spirit within them. To others he tells them by the prompting of the Holy Spirit, a feeling comes over you and you just know for fact it is God speaking, telling you what to do. But all this is irrelevant if you do not take time out with God every day; making him the most important thing in your life, over and above everything else, then you simply will not hear the voice of God in any form, unless God chooses to speak. I can never limit God in telling him what way to speak to us. Here are some ways that you can hear from God, I don t have all the ways that God can and does speak to people because there is no limiting God in how he wants to talk to us all individually and in many ways. Hebrews 1-1 Long ago God spoke in many different ways to our fathers, through the prophets, in visions, dreams, and even face to face, telling us little by little about his plans, but now in these days he speaks to us by his Son to whom he has given everything. When I first came to God he spoke to me audibly, I heard his audible voice, and though many have tried to tell me it was the voice of the Holy Spirit and not really God, who is the Holy Spirit if not God? I never knew God before I came to him, and when I came as he drew me he spoke loud to me in an audible voice, probably because I was as thick as two planks and he needed to speak clearly in a capable of being heard voice, nowadays it is different, I find it difficult to hear God in the same way because he has changed his way of speaking to me, maybe I am not as thick as two planks anymore, just thick as one. For an example of him talking to me in an audible voice; I worked at a place in Derry called Columba House, run by a Father Neil Carlin, it was a place for ex IRA men, a house of prayer and reconciliation. I was at work helping with the renovations in the back basement room and I was sawing a plank of wood, when I heard an audible voice say to me, Stop working, put down the saw and go and pray. Because I heard the voice speak aloud I immediately stopped working laid down the saw as commanded and went into the prayer room and began praying. I prayed for about two hours in tongues because I didn t know what I was supposed to be praying for and tongues is the best way to pray anyway, because it is the Holy Spirit in you that is praying. Then I heard the voice say aloud to me, You can stop praying, go back to work, I immediately left the prayer room and as I made my way down the stairs some of the men that worked in Columba House were coming out of different rooms silently and each knew we had been summoned to pray separately, and just nodded to each other, and went back to our different tasks. Later on that evening as we were preparing to go to Magilligan prison, to the prayer meeting for the prisoners that was organised by Prison Fellowship, Greg Hendrickson and I went out to his van to start it up and then get everyone who was going to the prison with us and head off. When Greg tried to start the van it wouldn t start, and when he checked it he said there was nothing physically wrong with the van, then he laid hands on it and prayed in tongues asking the lord what was the problem with the van, and the lord answered him and said, There

4 is nothing wrong with the van. So Greg got back in again and tried to start the engine again, but with no result. He asked the lord aloud, why won t van start if there is nothing wrong with it, but got no reply. Then I asked him if he had a set of jumper leads so we could get someone to help us connect to their car or van and get it started that way. Then I took this notion to step out into the street and stop the next car that came along and ask for help. No sooner had the thought entered my mind when a small white van came around the corner, and I stepped out into the street and waved it down. To my surprise it was two of Derry s most wanted IRA terrorists, two friends of mine. They stopped and asked what s wrong and I told them we were going to the prison and the van won t start. I didn t say we were going to a prayer meeting, just the prison and let them presume we were visiting relatives or IRA friends. The driver said we don t have time we have a job on, were on our way to kill a UDR Soldier, but Paddy Deery said it will only take a minute, and we have some time to spare, so the driver agreed, and pulled their van into the laneway where we were parked. No sooner had they pulled up alongside of us and began connecting the jumper leads when the street was filled with the British army, and police vehicles. And soldiers and police jumped out of their respective vehicles and took up positions of safety all around us. The two IRA men stared at all this activity and knew that the police and army had been tipped off by an informer that they were in the area to kill a UDR Soldier. As the driver and Greg Joined up the jumper leads and tried to start the vans neither worked, and the vans sat there chugging away. Then two police special branch officers who knew both men by sight walked towards us looked directly at us and then walked on. {Both these IRA men had an order on them to be shot dead on sight} And they froze when the special branch officers looked directly at them, then moved on, they couldn t understand why they didn t recognise them, as they recognised both officers. After about twenty minutes of trying to start the van it finally started but then the IRA men s van stopped dead and simply refused to start from our jumper leads, so they said to me quietly that there is a machine gun in the back of the van, and they were on their way to kill that UDR soldier and now they were abandoning their mission as it was obviously the Army knew about the mission, so could we push the van further up the lane and into another side lane out of sight, In the meantime the same two special branch officers kept walking up and down the street causally passing us every few minutes and looking at us each time, but never recognised the IRA guys. As soon as they said they were abandoning the mission the soldiers and police jumped back into their vehicles and began pulling out of the area. They said to me they can t understand how the soldiers and special branch men couldn t recognise them as they knew both men personally. Then I told them the lord had called us all to prayer and that we were in fact going into Magilligan Prison to a prayer meeting, and they just started at me and said they were leaving but would be back later for the machine gun, don t let anyone touch the van. They left and we went on to the prison where we had an awesome time with the prisoners and with the lord, that same evening the lord worked a private miracle for me in the prison. So out of that voice that said, stop working put down the saw and go pray, the lord stopped three men from getting killed, the UDR Soldier, and the two IRA men who were obviously informed on, and prevented the two special branch officers from seeing Paddy Deery and John Brady

5 {years later killed by a bomb they were making. RIP.}And he worked an awesome private miracle for me. That was one way the lord used to speak to me Love I have gotten used to his small quiet voice but sometimes a hefty shove will let me know when God wants me to say or do something. And it s only occasionally these days he speaks audible to me telling me things relevant to my walk with him. To hear the true voice of God is difficult, it is discerning whether it is God or if it is your own mind. But one true fact is if you follow the voice of love then you will be hearing from God direct, because love is always the voice of God in you; love directs you to do things unconsciously, because it is now part of your new nature, and the new nature is the nature of God inside you. If I follow love then I can be sure that it is God prompting me. For example; in Turkey, Kadier my daughter s waiter at her restaurant, came outside and he was dragging his leg obviously in pain and discomfort. As I looked at him I felt compassion well up in my heart for him, he is a little frail looking man with many problems, and as I looked I felt love for him well up inside me and compassion for him, so I went to him and took him aside and asked him if he would like a little prayer for healing, {he is a Muslim} he said he would love a prayer and I sat him down and prayed with him and the lord healed him instantly, he got up and began walking and said all his pain was gone and I told him God loved him and he replied; I believe you, and his face was glowing with joy and relief from pain. He took this pain every winter as he had a metal pin in his leg after he had a car accident, now Jesus healed him as I prayed in his name. Love healed this man; love directed me to ask him if he would like a prayer, compassion welled up in me as I looked at his frail body and saw how badly he was in pain. I followed the voice of God in Love and compassion. Just as Jesus followed the voice of compassion, which led him to heal people, he always followed this feeling or emotion of love and compassion, compassion is empathy for someone. Sadly Kadier was raped and murdered last year 2009, by three young men high on drugs. RIP Don t go looking for a big voice calling out, oh my son or daughter listen to me it is God speaking. God speaks through love and compassion and feelings of love. God is love and so following love is following the voice and directions of God. Another time I heard from God s spirit was when I thought about selling a new guitar I bought for someone, who before I gave it to him done my family a terrible wrong, I forgave naturally but I could not give him the guitar I bought for him as this would indicate that I was ok with what he done, so the guitar being mine I kept it, then one day I thought about selling it to a second hand shop. As I was driving down the hill towards the shop, I got this strong urge, do not sell them the guitar, and felt that they would offer me buttons for it. I said to the Lord, Lord I know this is your voice, but so that I will know for sure in future when you speak this way to me, I am going into the shop with the guitar and see what they would offer me, but I would not sell them the guitar no matter what. And I felt that was ok with the Lord.

6 In the second hand shop the guy behind the counter offered me for this brand new guitar which I had previously had bought off them for just six months ago. Who was right? God knew what they would offer me, and so told me not to sell it to them, because he cares about trivial little things like that for us; later I gave the guitar away to a Christian friend who longed to learn the guitar so he could worship the lord in services. 3 Word of knowledge When praying with people I would at times get a word of knowledge or a message from God for them, telling me that something they have to deal with is blocking their healing, some of them accept what God has told me and ask how did I know this secrete thing about them, and I tell them God knows everything about them even their most secrete thoughts, and they would be grateful and repent when necessary or plan to change things. Not everyone I spoke to about God message for them accepted what I was led to say, some rejected it completely out of hand, and others couldn t contain their mockery, sneering and saying they could heal themselves by the power of their mind. I have yet to see this happen for anyone. I try and am guided by love these days more and more because when I follow the leading of love then I know I am hearing the voice of God in me. Love sometimes leads me to speak out forcefully, correcting and admonishing people who are doing something wrong, but it never criticises or condemns, that is not the voice of love or God. God never condemns, so if you hear a voice condemning you, that is not the voice of God it is more than likely your own guilty conscience or even Satan condemning you, as I said, God never condemns or criticises you, he chastises you and he corrects you but never condemns or criticises you, that is not the voice of God. 4 Just ask and make a decision James-1-5- if you want to know what God wants you to do, ask him, and he will be ready to give you a bountiful supply of wisdom to all who ask him, he will not resent it. But when you ask him, be sure that you really expect him to tell you, for a doubtful mind will be as unsettled as a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind; and every decision you then make will be uncertain, as you turn first this way then that. If you don t ask with faith, don t expect the lord to give you any solid answers. This scripture tells it all, how to ask God what he wants you to do, and then making the decision to do it to act on what you were told. Let s break down this little piece of important scripture. {1}If you want to know what God wants you to do ask him? That s the first thing you must do, ask him! Notice the response to asking. He will be ready to give you a bountiful supply of wisdom to all who ask him. And see the next few words, - he will not resent it. God doesn t resent us asking him for advice or direction, in fact it is just the opposite for he is ready to give a bountiful supply of

7 wisdom to you. Not a skimpy bit of wisdom but a bountiful supply, bountiful means, numerous, lots and lots in other words. Sometimes the Devil will try and tell you to give God s head peace he has enough to do with running the world rather than answering your silly little questions. But God wants us to ask and then he wants to give us a bountiful supply of wisdom. Wisdom is the answer we need to any question we need answered from God; wisdom will tell us everything we need to know. And the direction we need to take. God knows everything about us and he knows the plans he has for us, and it s all laid out in front of us and God knows exactly where each part fits, so ask him. {2} But when you ask him, be sure that you really expect him to tell you, for a doubtful mind will be as unsettled as a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind; But when you ask, expect an answer immediately, because when you talk to someone, say for example, your close friend. You ask him or her something, how would you feel if they stood there looking right at you and never spoke for a long, long time? You would feel awful, and embarrassed, totally uncomfortable. Well God never makes us his children feel like that when we ask him something he immediately answers us, we just need to learn to trust him to speak to us, in whatever form he chooses. But he will answer; he won t leave you standing there looking like a fool, he loves you dearly, and will speak to you, but you must expect him to speak and answer your question. You may ask God a question and find yourself answering it in your mind or even speaking it out, I have many times. For example I may have asked God, lord do you think I should go to someone s house and start a prayer group there? then I would say right back to myself, no that s not what he wants at the moment. And I would wonder at myself for answering this question, then realised this was just another way of God speaking to me. Just now I am being prompted to stop writing and do something else, so I am going to be obedient and come back to this later on. One year later I have continued writing this booklet; this is now Many times I have asked God questions only to find myself answering them. And I have come to the realisation that it was God answering me only I spoke aloud the answer. You know I never ask God something without expecting him to answer, and he never fails to answer, sometimes I don t listen close to the answer or I don t like the answer I get so I would tend to try and block that answer out, but eventually the answer wins through. And every decision you then make will be uncertain, as you turn first this way then that. After asking God a question, and he answers, then I have to make a decision to do what I asked God about. But did you notice that the decision part was mine to make. I had to decide to obey God s answer, in faith. If I asked God, should I go to the church prayer meeting tonight as Rose wasn t feeling so good? And I got an answer back what would love do? Then I have to make a decision to go or not go, you see the decision to obey God s voice or not lies heavily with us. Love told me Rose needed me and I didn t really have to ask God, I already knew the answer deep in my heart, and many times over the years I chose to disobey the answer I received selfishly going to the church prayer meeting; I was really escaping from whatever was happening. But you see it was my decision, and when you make a decision after asking God something, the one true certainty that it is God answering you is you have a peace comes with God s answers. The one thing Satan, the Devil, cannot copy is peace, he does not have

8 peace within his nature, so if you feel peace then it is God talking and answering you, and so you should follow the prompting of peace, remembering the devil has no peace within him. I know from experience that you have asked God things like I have, and you got an answer, a quiet answer, but an answer all the same; and you like me didn t obey the answer because you wanted to go to a conference or meeting or some football match or something you wanted to do, and after making your decision to go, you didn t enjoy what you were doing, you tried blanking the thoughts from your mind, but deep down inside you knew you done wrong, you made the wrong decision. In your heart you knew you done the wrong thing because you had no peace within yourself as you did your own thing, and it was your own thing, not God s thing. I have made many mistakes over the years and right up to this moment, in my discernment of God s answers or word to me, I have failed to hear or obey his quiet voice. I have made wrong choices and decisions, with disastrous results, now that wasn t the voice of God I listened to but my own voice or judgments. As I said earlier love gives direction better than anything else, if I had listened to love within me guiding me then I would not have done the things I did, that resulted in my embarrassment and humiliation. Being wrong is not easy to accept, but when you re wrong it is better to say, I M sorry, I was wrong, than sitting wallowing in misery and self pity; get up change your attitude and repent and start again asking God for more clarity the next time he speaks to you. 1-John-4-7-dear friends, let us practice loving each other, for love comes from God and those who are loving and kind show they are the children of God, and that they are getting to know him better and better. But if a person isn t loving and kind it shows that he doesn t know God for God is love. Loving others draws us closer to God and is helping us get to know him better and better, and the more you know God the more you will know his voice within you. God is love and following love in our lives helps understand the quiet voice of God within. In everything we should weigh it up against love first, and ask is this word I hear filled with love or condemnation or judgment. If it has love at its roots then it is a word from God, if it does not have love at its root then it is ourselves we hear or even the Devil speaking to our minds. Not every good sounding message is from God. First does it build a person or church up? Does it condemn them? You have to ask yourself that question. You can get a message of correction for someone or even a church as a whole, but unless the message is led by love and not from deep envy or pride or judgment, that message is not from the Lord. God does correct his people, directing them on to the right path, if they have lost their way Angels and donkeys Sometimes God uses angels to speak to us, like he did to Mary and Joseph, and to some of the great men and women of God. Men like Daniel who God foretold the future world that we live in now. He told him by his own person and by the person of an angel. God spoke to mosses not as a roaring wind but in a gentle breeze.

9 And in one case he even used a Donkey s voice to speak to one of his prophets who was going in the wrong direction and was in danger of getting killed by an angel. So man cannot limit God as to how he should communicate with us. Dreams Many people these days try and discern dreams and understand what they mean, for the most it is just the brain stacking memories from films TV or things happening around us into an understandable order, making order out of the millions of things the eyes see and the ears hear, even though we don t see a millionth of what the eye sees and the ears hear, but everything around us registers with the brain, we have selective sight and hearing. If three people witness a car accident from different angles all three people will give a completely different story about what caused the accident. Just look around you right now and see what around you, see how many things there, and your eyes registers all this and the brain puts it in order while you sleep hence dreaming while asleep. But God also speaks to us in dreams, he spoke to Joseph, Marys fiancé and told him to take Mary as his wife that the baby she was carrying was from God and was not from some human source, so Joseph wouldn t think Mary was unfaithful. And he spoke in dreams to many others in the Old Testament. Nowadays we have the Holy Spirit within us so God speaks through his spirit to us more than anything, simply because he is alive within us, and we need to be in tune with the Holy Spirit and be in constant prayer between you and the spirit of God in you so that you can discern the still quiet voice of God. Communication daily is what you need to having with God to hear him speak. He can speak to you in visions, I have one or two of those, little ones for me, but I normally hear from him when I am praying with people, and it s a prompting in my spirit, a knowing the right thing to say, and so far thank God it has been almost 100% accurate. I can write on and on about different ways, but unless you are in direct communication with yourself and God it is a waste of time you won t hear or hear with difficulty, unless God chooses to make a liar out of me lol. God is always free to speak as he pleases and it pleases him to speak to his children, take time out every day at the same time, and make a practice of this and then God will speak to during your time together. Amen

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