Christian Family Services Ministry

6-23-2022 – A Word to the Wise – I need to pause here and address the issue of what I call relationship prayer. So, what does it mean when one says the Lord talks to me? I think most Christians would be surprised to know the Lord talks to them all the time and they never considered it. By the way two others talk to us as well besides the Lord. We talk to ourselves; Satan talks to us.

Often when one speaks of their conscience they really have heard from the Lord.

Example you are in a store you look down and someone has dropped an envelope with a lot of money say $823.32. Three voices respond. Wow, look what I found. Here I was needing $832 for rent and the Lord showered it from heaven. That is self-talk. The Lord says, this belongs to someone else you must find the owner, (When I use the term LORD it refers to Jesus, God and or the Holy Spirit.) This is the Lord. The devil says finders’ keepers. Do you recognize it now?

Other examples from my life. Given my background I am very sensitive to loss. When I first married Satan told me” Mary will die before 20 years have passed. I thought it the Lord, I believed it and emotionally responded to it. Remember Satan can appear as an angel of light.

Twenty-one years later the Lord ask me “Where is Mary? She is in the kitchen Lord. I thought she was supposed to be dead! I immediately saw Satan’s lie and the profound affect it had on the marriage. Satan does things like this constantly.

So, the question comes how do you tell the three apart?

If your intent on having a prayer life you must keep I John 4:14 constantly in your awareness. John tells us how to discern the spirit. Daily acknowledging that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and came in the flesh this John tell us is how we test the source of what we hear.

Now there are some very specific things it is best to practice with this type of prayer life to avoid confusion and grow in faith.

1. If you keep a prayer journal, then you have a running record of what you have ask for and what the Lord has given or said to you. My mother always told me it is wise to write down what the Lord tells you because you will forget and its 10 years later before he tells you again.

2. A simple way of telling the source of an answer, or statement is the feeling attached to it. There are three distinct responses that accomplish answers. If it is the Lord, we feel a sense of peace we may not like it but there is a peaceful feeling attached to the words. If its self-talk, then a feeling of disconnect or questionable experience is felt inside oneself. If it is Satan, there is always agitation and anxiety.

3. You doubt Satan lies to you. Check Genesis 3 with Satan lying to Eve. Or look at the three friends of Job. Satan quoted scripture to them to confront Job, but their correction does not apply to Job. The temptation of Jesus is another example. exploring scripture, you find examples of lies, and truths all through scripture. So, discernment and the I John challenge passage helps distinguish the Lord’s words.

4. So how do you deal with a highly emotional situations and you must be certain the Lord has put it on your heart? You ask the Lord to verify the answer. You must not do that to everything he says because that is a lack of trust. This however is different. Again, you find these same situations where a decision had to be made in scripture, II Kings 22 is one example. Once you ask the Lord to verify the answer, he will put in the mouth of another person, in an event or even a dream sometimes repeating the dream. This is your verification it is best not to ignore or discount it.

Now we will return to where I dropped out of church, stopped praying. This lasted about seven years. What a total waste. Again, it was not a matter of faith I did not doubt for a second God’s power or glory just wanted nothing to do with people. See how he drew me back.