CAN YOU HEAR GOD PROPHETICALLY?

Hearing, according to dictionary.com, is to perceive by ear, to listen to or give or pay attention to.

Hearing is extremely important when you want to know what the Lord is speaking over your life, when you want to know what God’s will is for your life….you need to be able to HEAR what thus saith the Lord.

So my question is, have you been paying attention to what the Lord has been saying to you in this season?

I just came out of my 3rd annual Speak Lord Prophetic MEGA Conference. It was so powerful it’s hard to put in words! Nevertheless, I want to share with you a brief nugget of what I preached on the finale night.

In 1 Kings 17, the Lord God gave the Prophet Elijah a word. Elijah “heard” the word of the Lord. The Lord spoke to him in verse 9 and said “9 Go at once to Zarephath in the region of Sidon and stay there. I have directed a widow there to supply you with food.” 10 So he went to Zarephath. When he came to the town gate, a widow was there gathering sticks. He called to her and asked, “Would you bring me a little water in a jar so I may have a drink?” 11 As she was going to get it, he called, “And bring me, please, a piece of bread.”

Notice that I underlined what the Lord told the widow to do. He said that I have “directed” her. To direct means to give a command or instructions to do something.

Elijah heard the Lord. He told him to go to her, so that’s exactly what Elijah did. That’s called obedience. He heard what God said, and he did what God said. He wasn’t just a hearer of the word. but a doer! So hold for a minute because we are going somewhere…

So, when Elijah comes to the woman a few verses down, he asked her for the food that the Lord told him He had directed her to give. Here is what the woman said to Prophet Elijah:

12 “As surely as the Lord your God lives,” she replied, “I don’t have any bread—only a handful of flour in a jar and a little olive oil in a jug. I am gathering a few sticks to take home and make a meal for myself and my son, that we may eat it—and die.”

The woman responded with doubt, frustration, depression and with suicidal thoughts! But wait! Didn’t God say that He had directed the woman??? Listen to how Prophet Elijah responds to her negativity:

13 Elijah said to her, “Don’t be afraid. Go home and do as you have said. But first make a small loaf of bread for me from what you have and bring it to me, and then make something for yourself and your son. 14 For this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘The jar of flour will not be used up and the jug of oil will not run dry until the day the Lord sends rain on the land.’”

Notice how I underlined the first thing Elijah said. Elijah told her to NOT be afraid! He spoke to the spirit behind the woman– the spirit of fear which was the strongman! God had told her what to do already, but she couldn’t hear God because she was operating in the wrong spirit! She had a spirit of fear, doubt, depression, suicidal thoughts, abandonment….so many different spirits running through her that she couldn’t even hear from God if she tried!

Elijah recognized that. He knew that he had to open up his mouth and speak to her on behalf of God. He had to be the God that she couldn’t see or hear at that very moment!

Have you ever been in a position like the widow of Zarapheth? You had so many things going wrong in your life that it was hard for you to hear God?

I think at some point in our lives, we’ve all been in that position; however, one thing that I want you to remember. God will always send an Elijah in your life to help you along the way. Embrace your Elijahs. Don’t be afraid to do what they are saying especially if you KNOW they are a man or woman of God. The reality is….we all need people. If all we needed was the Holy Spirit, there would be no need for reproduction. God could have just left Adam by his lonesome in the Garden of Eden!

When you can’t hear God, make sure you do the following things:

1) cut off all forms of distractions (people included)

2) find scriptures pertaining to the issues that you are facing and meditate on them

3) pray and prophetically declare the vision that you have for your life

4) Write the vision, make it plain; even though it lingers, wait for it for it shall surely come to pass. Never stop believing.

5) Seek wise counsel from those walking in an Elijah anointing. They can hear from God and speak into your life what the Spirit is saying even when you can’t.

6) Never stop believing and trusting that God can bring you out!

Hearing from God is critical. Don’t allow yourself to go through a spiritual drought. If you see yourself heading in that direction, began to fight and change your direction quickly. The more you linger, the more the enemy will try to entangle you in isolation to make you think that God’s not speaking, that God doesn’t care, and that God’s not with you. Remember, the devil is a liar. Don’t let him win! Position yourself so that you can always hear from God by the spirit, through the word, or through somebody that God sends.