My sheep hear my voice, I know them, and they follow me. (John 10:27)
As I learn to listen every day to the voice of my Shepherd, Jesus, I would like to share with you some of the teachings that I receive. I felt that the Lord asked me to read the Gospel of Mark, to write down what I perceive as the answer of my Lord, Jesus, and to share it. My hope and prayer is that this will help you be the Kingdom bearer, the temple of the Holy Spirit that God wants you to be.
Steps to Encounter Jesus
If you are interested in seeing Jesus and hearing him speak to you, the biblical steps I encourage you to follow are:
0. Find a place were you can relax and be safe. If possible, you can have one or two Christian friends you trust who pray with you during this time.
1. Forgive those who have sinned against you,[1] and ask God to forgive the sins you have committed.
2. Ask for the Holy Spirit to fill you with His presence and His peace.[2]
3. Consecrate your imagination to God.[3]
4. Imagine a place where you feel safe and peaceful, and once you see it (with your eyes closed), invite Jesus to come to meet you there.[4]
5. When Jesus comes, ask Him questions, beginning for instance with: Do you love me? And listen to His answer(s).[5]
6. Write down the discussion you had and the images you saw for further meditation and discernment.
Discernment, interpretation and application.
One tool very useful, to discern if a message received comes from God, is called the ‘Wesleyan Quadrilateral.’ This tool is used to help discern truth, with four key elements: Bible, tradition, reason and experience. When you receive a word that you believe comes from God, you can ask these four questions:
1. Bible. Is it biblical, or compatible with the Bible? (Here, your biblical knowledge is important, and can be complemented by the advice of your pastor or a mature Christian with good Biblical foundations).
2. Tradition. Is it in agreement with the experience of faithful Christians before me? (Again, your pastor or a Christian you esteem who has the experience of listening to God can help you discern).
3. Reason. Does it make sense? Is it coherent?
4. Experience. Did you experience the presence and peace of the Holy Spirit, the peace of Jesus in your heart during this time?
If the answer to these four questions is ‘yes,’ this is a good basis to believe that what you received comes from God.
As we learn to discern God’s will, it is of key importance to not let naive pride rule in our hearts, encouraging us to force our will on others with ‘God told me.’ This means that we should pray and ask the Lord who are the mature Christians who can help us in this process, who will accompany us as we learn to discern the direction of God in our lives.
Once you discern that a revelation comes from God, you still need God’s direction on how to interpret it and how to apply it. Often we are tempted to start with God and we continue with our independent interpretation and application, which can lead to painful results, for us and for others. This is why I would like to encourage you to stay humble while you learn to listen to the Lord, and to search for His direction also on how to interpret and how to apply the visions and messages you receive from Him.
February 2015, Johannesburg
Your brother in the Living Messiah
Stéphane Tibi
[1] Following the advice of Jesus in Mark 11:25, “Whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone, so that your Father also who is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses.”
This step is needed only if you sense that you need to forgive or to be forgiven for something, you don’t need to repeat it for the same sin (see 1 John 1:9). Also, to sin means to miss the mark, to fall short of God’s commandments as found in the Ten commandments (Exodus 20) or the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7).
[2] See Luke 11:13. If you already experience the presence of the Holy Spirit in you, you can simply thank Him/Her for this presence and continue.
[3] This does not need to be done many times, just when you discern the need. If we belong entirely to God, our imagination also belongs to Him and can be used by Him to meet us. As a Christian, I did not realize for a long time that if God was my Lord, my imagination also belongs to Him and that He wants to use it for His glory. See Ro 12:1-2.
You can start by imagining Jesus coming, to see what he does then. In the imagination you have a part to play and then to see how God takes the lead with the images and what Jesus says.
[5] At this point, you may hear a calm “quiet whisper” in your inner mind and spirit. This is the way God spoke to Elijah in 1 Kings 19:12-13.
Many are tempted to analyze and thus stop the communication. As long as it is peaceful and fits with what you imagine Jesus would do, I encourage you to continue.
If a dark image comes, invoke the help of Jesus to clarify what you see or hear. To go further, it may be helpful to talk to a seasoned Christian, who has experience in hearing the voice of God.
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