Fellowship Verses Relationship Before we continue you must know this one important factor of God's kingdom. Once you have been born again, you are in relationship with God our Father through the sacrificial offereing of our Lord and brother Jesus Christ. Who is the First born of many bretheren. You by the new birth are born into the family of God and there by have access to the throne of grace. What we are and have been talking about is cultivating intimate fellowship with God and by His invitation. He desires the fellowship and creates if you are willing, the longing in your heart for Him. This is by his invitation to draw near to His heart and place your head upon His chest so that you may hear His heart beat for you. If you sin forgive yourself Jesus to forgive you and go o. The only thing sin does because God is holy, is separate the fellowship not the relationship. Your relationship with Him is based soley upon the work of the cross and His drawing you. Beloved this is His design and He will maintain it Just let Him. Say yes to His will and desire for you and your life you will never be disapointed. "Hearing Jesus Speak""If ye abide in Me, and My Words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you" (John 15:7). I am not exaggerating when I say many Christians are threatened by the idea that God speaks to us here and now. Why is that? They go along thinking they have God tucked securely into their theology, believing they hold the key to knowing Him in their doctrine, and it unnerves them to hear reports that God is speaking to people they know at work, at church, or right next door.  It is normal for God to speak to His people. When you’re in trouble; it is normal for you to expect God to send His messengers to help you. He sustains you. It is normal for God to comfort your heart and speak to you so definitely that you can stand in the middle of trial and tribulation and boldly proclaim what God gives you to say, or do what He empowers you to do. The entirety of Scripture witnesses to this. Think of Elijah, David, Nathan, Ezra, Jeremiah, Hosea, Isaiah… Think of how God arranged for Philip to meet up with the Ethiopian eunuch. Think of Priscilla and Aquila enlightening Apollos. Think of John in exile on Patmos. God speaks to and through His people. There are some people who are afraid to open themselves to the spirit realm; the very mention of words like presence of God alarms them. The Bible does have plenty to say to any who fear evil. Fear should not motivate what you do or don’t do. Whenever people in the Bible are approached by an angel, they have to be told first not to be afraid. It is natural to fear the supernatural because God's holiness is frieghtning. But, the Holy Spirit indwells us; We are His temple. How are we to commune with Him? The church is not made up of people who maintain archives on the subject of God; the Church is the living Body of Christ. The true Church is made up of members who maintain an ongoing, personal walk with Christ. They are empowered by His divine eternal energy step by step, hour by hour. Unless we know the vital voice of God in our spirits, unless we have that filling Bible-fed fellowship with Him by His Spirit, we are nothing. Unless we are dispensers of His love and grace, we are empty vessels. When we gather together and share how God has impressed our hearts, we find that what He has said to us is in keeping with what others have learned. There are four gospel accounts: Matthew’s, Mark’s, Luke’s and John’s, but there is only one gospel. Why four versions? Because together they make the whole. That’s why we should not forsake the assembling of ourselves together. When we worship Him in Spirit and Truth, everything fits together. It is by His functioning love in us for one another that we know, and others see, we are of Him. Jesus the Author of Communication There are two essential truths in the Bible that are never explained. They are always assumed. The first is the eternal existence of God; the second is the fact that God speaks. There is an unbroken chain of communication between God and His people all through the Bible, but it is never discussed or proven, it just is. All that exists arose out of the womb of nothingness and the Voice of God. At the end of creation God created man in His own image. Whatever else that means, it means God made man able to talk and God, in the very beginning, introduces Himself as the Voice-Maker, the Communicator. He, the Original Communicator reaches out to the lesser communicator, Man. Do you ever stop and ask yourself, "Who am I?" Most people question existence; but few marvel that they have the means to question it: speech. Go back to the events in the Garden of Eden and see this is what we’re made for: to communicate with God. When God made man, the first thing they did was talk; they had a conversation together. After man sinned, when God came to Adam and Eve, they still understood what He said and they were still able to reply. Even when the fall took place, this aspect of the relationship between God and man remained. Throughout the Bible those spoken to by God evidence not just a passive feeling, but a response. Sometimes their response is joy. Sometimes it is anger. When God spoke to the murderer Cain, Cain was resentful. That was his response. When God spoke to Moses, He met with resistance. There are people who argue with God. He is real; we are real. However you look at it, the Bible doesn’t describe people experiencing mere ethereal thoughts; what is going on is solid, authentic communication between Creator and creature.Enoch Walked With God Do you remember Samuel? There was no word from God in the land at the time Samuel was a child. The priest Eli was an old backslider, a tired old man who had let his children get out of control. The tabernacle was a mess; the goings on there were more like a mafia ring than a priesthood. Then, Samuel was given by his mother to the tabernacle to serve the LORD. And one night when he was falling asleep he heard someone calling his name. He jumped up and ran to the high priest and asked, did you call me? That tired old man, the backslider, remembered something about how God speaks. He told Samuel, go back and when you hear that voice again, say, "Speak Lord, your servant hears." And that’s how Samuel began an incredible career of listening to the voice of God and being a navigator for the nation of Israel through those terrible days. In Samuel 9 it says that God whispered in Samuel’s ear. As Samuel matured, God whispered and Samuel heard Him. Hebrews 1:1-3 God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds, who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, having become so much better than the angels, as He has by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they. The truth is not just facts God wants conveyed. The Truth is a person. Jesus is the Truth. God’s voice, God’s Word, God’s Truth are all summed up in the LORD Jesus Christ. In all that He is, all that He says, all that He did, in His finished work, you have the final Word from God. There’s nothing left to be said. Everything from the beginning correlates into Jesus. He is the message they all were given. This means our creed, our doctrine, our theology, are only shadows. Jesus is the reality.How did they recognise God's voice? Jesus said His sheep know His voice. The early Christians burst on the world announcing that the Final Word from God had been given in Jesus Christ. They lived in a functioning communication with Him. Jesus was alive among them, in them, speaking to them. By His Spirit He led them and directed them in the furtherance of His Kingdom. Take Ananias in Damascus. The LORD told Ananias, go to the house of Judas on Straight Street and you’ll find there Saul of Tarsus. You don’t find in that story that Ananias was astonished he was being spoken to by the LORD. Jesus is alive; what else should he expect? But he was astonished at what the LORD said. It was the content of what He said that shocked Ananias, not hearing Him. Think about that a moment. Here is Ananias living in New Testament times after Jesus’ resurrection and ascension. He is spoken to by God, the occasion is mentioned in Acts, but we aren’t told how Ananias heard Him. We just know he did hear and responded. He did what God told him to do. Through the obedience of Ananias, Saul learned what God had in store for him, and through Paul’s response, we are given a plumb line to measure what we believe the LORD is saying to us. Then, we have the incident when God revealed something almost inconceivable to Peter. Peter was a good orthodox Jew; he’d been taught he shouldn’t associate with gentiles. God came in while Peter was praying in the Holy Spirit, and through a combination of a vision and direct communication, He told Peter to go to the house of a gentile. The voice of the LORD swept away all of Peter’s prejudices and propelled him to the house of Cornelius. The book of Acts is packed with occasions when God gave instructions to His people. At a critical board meeting in Jerusalem, after much dispute, the elders and deacons were brought to peace by the Holy Spirit and it’s written into their church minutes. The church in Jerusalem wrote to the "brethren who are Gentiles" saying, "for it seemed good to the Holy Spirit, and to us, to lay upon you no greater burden than these necessary things…" Because of His Presence among them they made a decision which affected the course of history for the Christian church. The Holy Spirit was chairman of their board. That’s how they operated; I’m just reporting. The Holy Spirit was so clear to them that when they wanted to go to Ephesus, He said, "No." So, they turned around to go to Bithynia. He forbade them to. Then when they landed in Troas, He came to them in a dream and changed their heading. God was the vital directive influence in their lives. When Paul was in Corinth in the pits of depression, the LORD came and stood in his bedroom and said, "Paul don’t give up, keep on preaching; I have many people in this city." And He comforted him and strengthened him with the fact that even though he hadn’t preached there yet, God had already chosen many people to listen to the Word and believe. He encouraged Paul by coming to him and talking to him personally.How will I hear Jesus? When Jesus speaks, you know it in your spirit because He speaks in your spirit. You don’t make it happen; He does. God is the initiator. When God speaks in your heart it doesn’t matter where your mind has been going; He blocks and overrides all circuits. You are captivated by His voice speaking to you. He commands your undivided attention. There is absolute certainty in what He says. What He says is right. His word has perfect balance and proportion. Everything He shows us fits together seamlessly. The word He gives us is complete. Everything He says compliments everything He’s been showing us. His Presence fills us with well-being.When does He speak? When you are immersed in His Word and in knowledge of Him and are waiting on Him, He makes Himself known to you. What I’m talking about is His Presence; not just an emotional experience which suggests He’s around, but He, Himself, manifesting His Presence. As we abide in Him, He comes and makes His Presence inexplicably known. God first impresses us with His Sovereignty. This aspect of the voice of God causes us to drop all that we’re doing, so we just stand in wonder, in worship, awestruck before Him as He shows us Who He is: Holy, un-begun or uncreated, infinite, eternal. By contrast He reminds us of our creatureness or being the created; He awes us into place. Then once we are ready to hear Him in humility, He comes to us personally. He speaks His Word of wisdom, of direction, of comfort, of assurance, of strength. We recognize that all we need comes from Him, not from ourselves or any other source. He proves He is with us. His Presence speaks to our spirit just as it did after His resurrection. Although they knew He was gone, they also knew He was there.How do I listen for His voice? We must have an attitude of childlike openness. Remember little Samuel? To have functional fellowship with a living God we must develop the habit of stillness. We can’t hear God speak when there is a din of noise inside us. He doesn’t speak to our flesh and our emotions. We must learn to be still and know He is God. Jesus said, enter into your closet and shut the door. There is a closet inside of you where you can shut the door while life goes on around you. And so often, when you shut that door, you get direction about how to proceed in the midst of what’s going on. You must practice being present to God. It is very little comfort to know that God is present everywhere if you are not present to Him where you are. That’s stillness. We are to wait on Him, worship Him, recognize it is Him we want, not His blessings. It is Him we want, not the experience of Him speaking. (See our album on Being Present to God.) Remeber god created you for communion, fellowship He wants you to hear Him! How do we discern the difference between our own thoughts and His Voice? When we are quiet there are many thoughts that come; but our task is to hear Him in the midst of those thoughts. It’s like tuning in a radio to a particular frequency, you have to ignore the whole mass of static and strange voices coming in, and zero in on the one you are searching for. He’s speaking, we’re just not always listening. At work, you puzzle over a problem and then He comes and you know the answer to it. You only know it because He told you. He gives you wisdom beyond your own. There are times when you are wallowing in depression, there seems no way out, but He’s there. Just as He was with Paul. And He speaks a word and suddenly a peace that passes all understanding comes over you. Nothing in your circumstances has changed, but you now have His perspective on them, you are learning like Paul to be content in whatsoever state you are in.How do we tune my spiritual ear in? First we must remember that GOD IS SPIRIT and worshiping Him comes from and through the Holy Spirit and truth. When Jesus is going to be heard clearly, we must live in a habitation and attitude of worship and mediation upon His person. We must immerse ourselves in the Scriptures, basing our thinking upon His Word, filling ourselves with it; letting His Living Water wash our minds clean of the world’s distractions. Then, when through His Word He speaks to us, we are in the right state of mind to receive what He says. Hebrews 4:12 For the Word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts an intentions of the heart. Those words describe Jesus’ dealings with us as the Word of God. The first test of whether I’ve really heard God speak to me is to check what was said against the written Word. The first two screening questions must be: does this add to the written Word of God? Does this contradict what He has already said? If it disagrees with the Scriptures, it is not of Him. When we go about our day rather than to focus on all the things around us try to keep your mind and thoughts stayed upon Jesus. When troubling thoughts come let the words of your mouth be reassuring to your own soul of God’s mercy character and what he has said concerning His own. So does God ever speak outside of His written Word? Well, if you consider there are countries where no Bibles are allowed, I would dare say God has ways of speaking to His people who are in those dark places. They don’t have a Bible. But isn’t it interesting, that those people who first hear God without the Scripture, will risk their physical lives to lay hands on a Bible. God reveals Himself through His Spirit. In the actual experience of hearing God speak to us, He may speak to us in an inner voice, or while we are listening to teachers, or He may say something to us deeper or not even connected with the sermon we are listening to, but although He can speak to us through circumstances, collectively and individually, anything we hear which we attribute to Him must be in harmony with His objectives and living Word.

Jesus wants you to hear Him speak! If you had a relationship with a man or woman which has turned into a romance in that you are in love with that person. How did it happen? One meeting and now you are in love planning toward marriege and happily ever after? Even if it was love at first sight you will spend time afterward getting to know them. Before marrige you will spend time with them cultvating a relationship that grows deeper with each moment until they are your beloved. Jesus is already in love with you as we have discussed earlier, but you are not in love with Him! How can you fall in love with someone whom you can not see or hear? Good question isn't it. God first of all is a lover and is looking for lovers, the whole bible is God's love story "a Father desiring children and in search of a wife for His Son". We look into the names fo God as He revealed Himself to man and are left with a bread crumb trail that leads to Jesus. we are instructed by many teachers and still have not found Him in that love relationship. We have been given insight into who He is and still found ourselves empty. Only to run after the next conference for another fix. Jesus the Lover of your soul is in love with you dear one, stop all the striving for a moment and begin to just wait upon Him. Turn some gental worship music on that will not distract you and close your eyes and ask..... Holy Spirit will you reveal Jesus love for me? I need Jesus you said you would help me I believe that, come Holy Spirit you are Lord here right now. Jesus will you fill me a fresh with your spirit? Now be quiet for a moment and wait. If your mind starts to wander pray Jesus I love you, have mercy on me. You can also speak the word of God as well. Our enemy does not want you to find the lover of your soul and will try to resist your efforts. Stick with it don't get discouraged. Remeber He wants you far more than than you want Him at this point. The bible says "submit yourself to God resist the devil and he will flee from you." This can take some time the devil will not give up the areas in your life where he had access easily. This is going to require effort on your part of spending time in prayer and waiting upon Jesus. In time if it did not happen right away you will be in His presence and He will love on you. Continue after this manner and you will fall in love with Him. This verse in the Amplified I chose for above and here. Although it is refering to godly wives with ungodly husbands. The words here struck me as our devotion to our betrothed husband Jesus. *1Pe 3:2 When they observe the pure and modest way in which you conduct yourselves, together with your reverence [*for your husband (subsitute Bridegroom King Jesus); you are to feel for him all that reverence includes: to respect, defer to, revere him--to honor, esteem, appreciate, prize, and, in the human sense, to adore him, that is, to admire, praise, be devoted to, deeply love, and enjoy your husband]. If you are not experiancing God's presence after a time or know you may have hinderances or hurts that may be blocking you. Look below at hinderances and healing of the broken hearted this may help. Some people just need a break through mostly because of pain lodged in the heart.

Some hinderances to Hearing God's voice We love you and Jesus wants you to be free.... Jesus will enable you to forget those things that hurt and those people that spitefully used you. By bathing you in His love. That is how He did it and does it still in me. I am not saying that I am 100%. But forgiveness is more than just saying I forgive you. It is the place where the heart lets go of what wrong done to it. Mainly because you don't want anything to impede your relationship with Jesus nor cause Him to reach past your will to get to your heart. If a person is full of pain, then that means walls and barriers...pain = barriers. Thorns which surround them like a cactus. Jesus will have to traverse those, just to have a deeper relationship with them. So that He may open them up and share Himself with them more fully. He must dismantle the walls and barriers, which requires our trust. If you do not allow Him to reach into those areas of pain you then you will neverfully trust Him.  Also you can with hold parts of you from Him, because of mistrust and hurt. What is even sadder still is the epidemic of soul sickness. The soul of the bride that Jesus died for is still sick, because we do not fully trust in Him to be our all in all. When our eyes are on man expectation arises. Man fails to measure up then we blame them for their shortcomings, all the while forgetting the pit from whence we came. Blame is the same trap the devil used to snare 1/3 of the angels. I saw it in a vision; I saw the congregation of the mount of God, with Lucifer down below on the sea of glass. He was accusing God of being unfair, not allowing the angels to make their own choices, blaming our Lord and pointing his finger. Before those angels understood what was happening their hearts were turned against the Lord. They forgot His goodness. Then I saw a fire ball belch out from the throne of God. Gather up all those angels and Lucifer (now the devil) and propel them out of heaven....The devil does not have the ability to create he is not the Creator. He only perverts that which Jesus created for His pleasure. The devil is nothing more than a fallen angels that was anointed by God to lead worship. The devil got jealous of the worship offered to our Lord and coveted it. This is what caused the whole mess covetousness, greed, envy and jealousy, in a nut shell "lust" and then blame. Same traps he uses today against mankind. All lies and deception. You I am sure know all of this but the Lord caused me to write this to you. There is a reason Ephesians 3. He wants to fill us with His fullness but cannot until we are like Him, full of love. This is the revelation of the sons of God. This is also why we are pressed with others sinning against us. It will keep happening until we overcome. If He filled us and we were not walking in love we could destroy ourselves, everyone on the planet and the whole planet for that matter.....We can't test out of this one we have to overcome....love you Beloved God does have a hit list because He is jealous for your heart's freedom so you may love Him fully. Your freed heart has the ability to satisfy His desire and hunger to be loved wholeheartedly. God is love so the only thing that can satisfy that His heart is your love and affection poured out toward Him. so He will break through every wall that hinders love. You can count on it. On sept. 22, 2005, the Lord said "I want to show you what hinders my children from hearing Me and interferes in my fellowship with them." The hinderances are unbelief, stubborness, disobedience, disrespect for authority, unforgivness, immorality, unrighteousness of every kind, lying and deceit, offense, division, control and manipulation, judgement, blame, and gossip. When it ie the devil You have authority in Jesus name to cast out the devil, and all forms of mind binding spirits of confusion, fear, intimidation, doubt and unbelief. But if this is not just a devil problem but it is your old man nature that you are giving into . Then you need to pray and fast as in Isa 58 so that you may brake the bonds of wickedness and be delivered, so that you can obey. Jesus never needed to learn obedience in Heaven because he was always in agreement with His father. But as a man He learned what it was like to have a choice, His will or His Fathers will. He chose His Fathers will because of love and devotion to His Father’s will, we also choose our Lord's will because of love and devotion to Jesus. That's what the word means you do not love your life unto death {your own life, your own will, your own conveniences, your own way}. But you love your Heavenly Father, Jesus and the Holy Spirit more than your self preservation. God will never disappoint one who's heart is fully turned toward Him, or even someone who is trying. He will satisfy him with long life who's trust is in the Lord. If you do not know who He is you will not be fully convinced that He is trust worthy. The reason we meditate upon who He is because we must constantly be reminded of His goodness and that He is ever present. We study the names of God so that we can trust in His character, integrity and truth of His word. Which is displayed in "The Son of God" and declared by the the Holy Spirit. "He is our rock and salvation in Him do we trust" it is the word of God revealed in the Son of God. He changes not, like the rock of Gibraltar immovable, unshakable, unchanging, unfailing, reliable, dependable and faithful. I think you get the message. To study Gods character is to learn about Him and His divine nature. That in His names you will not find a how to book or a step by step set of instructions to get to him. You may want to pause in all your efforts (striving) and ask yourself why you want to reach out for God if you have no idea what He is like. The motives for your search may be the issue He has with you. My purpose for saying this is.... If your reason for wanting to hear his voice is because of fear or self centered, so that you can get him to do something for you or tell you the future concerning the purchase of a house or car or even a possible future catastrophe. Maybe He wants you to grow in maturity in a love relationship with Him so that you can be used as a Father or mother reflecting Him in the church becoming a great blessing to others. Then He may be witholding His voice from you simply because you must see that it must be His way not yours. This is the systematic breaking of your will not because He is angry or is punishing you in some way but He is firm about His dealings with His sons and daughters, "chastens those whom He loves". You are His son (daughter), and belong to Him, because of the Spirit of adoption, as a purchased possession. Really He has been merciful in that He has not exacted from you His rights over your life, you are blood bought! But because the times are what they are He is not going to allow us to slide anymore. He is requiring something of us this time if we want to draw near to Him. That is the final surrender our willingness to Him. This is not a how to methodology it is simply you saying yes to him and will you help my unbelief! The sin of unbelief is what we are committing when we do not trust in Him. Remember "Abraham belived God and it was accounted to Him as righteousness". Which is why we meditate "selah" upon His wonderful works "The heavens declare His glory" and name which reveals His character. When we know His character we can trust in when He says IAM that IAM, He is! I can not stress enough that there is no how book on how you can draw you near to Him THEY ARE more like GUIDE LINES, but it is always His will and His choice to draw you. Whether you accept it or not that is not going to change God and His choices. He can be moved though by one who is of a contrite and humble heart. Translated.... one who accepts His rule and authority over their life and humbly submits to the will of God. When we are finally fed up with the condition of our life, we will throw up our hands and say (here comes the how to): I surrender Lord please forgive me for my sin I repent of stubbornness (and what ever else He is convicting you of) and will you help me. My will constantly gets in the way but I desperately need you, but I don't know how to reach you. Your word says you dwell with them of a contrite heart and I believe you have been resisting me because I have been resisting you. I repent now of my pride and ask your forgiveness for striving. I acknowledge your Lordship and rights to my life Lord Jesus. Please will you fill me a fresh with your Holy Spirit. I really want you in my life Lord I am yours. If you are sincere and really mean what you have prayed God who searches the hearts knows and will answer if your hear is truly willing. You don't have to be perfect without mistakes or weaknesses.