HAVE WE SIMPLY JUST ASKED HIM?

HAVE WE SIMPLY JUST ASKED HIM?

  • Hearing God's Voice

HAVE WE SIMPLY JUST ASKED HIM?

We pray, fast, believe, declare, hope, meditate, quote Scriptures, seek medical help, strive, ask others to pray, do it of our strength and lean on our own understanding, but have we simply just asked Him?

Jeremiah 33:3 (MSG) – “This is God’s Message, the God who made earth, made it livable and lasting, known everywhere as God: ‘Call to me and I will answer you. I’ll tell you marvelous and wondrous things that you could never figure out on your own.’”

What do you need to ask Him today?

LASTING FRUIT

We had ministry students who would come to our home once a week. Our sweet Laura walked in and told us about a friend of a friend who was staying at their house from London. She was telling them about school and that once a week they are with our family. He says, “OH, Lisa Max, doesn’t she have an Airbnb?” and grabs his Bible and pulls out a prophetic card from Ellie from years ago. Teaching and training our children to love those around us bears lasting fruit because it is GOD’S heart we are releasing over them.

PLANTING SEEDS

I hosted a mom’s group and decided we would celebrate a different mom each week by showering her with gifts, words, and extra encouragement. It was a powerful time each week. One week I sensed I was to have my children write a prophetic word. Ellie, who is a fabulous artist, drew a detailed picture and wrote, “God is planting a seed deep within you that will bring life.” I asked Ellie to tell me about the picture, and she said, “Jesus showed me a picture in my mind of a tree that looked like that.” Yet it looked like a perfectly drawn male body part. I was contemplating whether I should trust it and give it to the mom or toss it. I was convicted that Ellie had a strong history of hearing with clarity, so I privately handed it to the mom and said, “Maybe you can look at this one later.” She looked at it anyway and burst into tears. She began to share the heartbreak and pain of not getting pregnant again after years of hoping and trying. We had no idea she was carrying this burden, which became a very tender ministry time for her. Fast forward a year later, and she is about to give birth to her second child.

STRENGTHEN THEIR HEARING MUSCLES

Fun ways for the kids to practice hearing. I STRONGLY encourage you to practice together in fun ways that empower their hearing in times of peace instead of only when they need to seek Jesus over a heart splinter. Also, doing it as a family is super helpful because it gives everyone a chance to learn from each other and takes the pressure off of being the only one. For example, if a child states they don’t hear anything, I simply ask them to listen again, and we come back to them after everyone else has shared. When you send out a birthday card, have the kids ask God what He wants to say to that person and then draw a picture (you can caption it based on what they heard). When you have extra time on your hands, have the kids ask God what you should do with your time. When you can’t find something, have the kids ask Jesus to show them a picture of where it is. When they are upset about something, have the kids ask God to show them what is bothering them. When you come up against something ‘different,’ ask Papa what He wants them to do about it. When you see a homeless man, have the kids ask God what He wants you to know about that person. When they are behaving poorly, have them ask God to show them what they did wrong (instead of YOU telling them). The ideas are endless! You can’t practice strengthening their ears enough.

FEEDING THE SQUIRRELS

Years ago, my world was falling apart as my marriage ended. I was responsible for the lives of four little ones, and all of the fears and unknowns made it difficult to breathe sometimes. Yet, despite the chaos around me, this insane hunger was starting to rumble inside me. I was desperate to teach my children who their Father was and began to long for them to hear and know Him through experience, not just head knowledge. At the time, I wasn’t in a church that supported children playing in the Kingdom, and my religious mind told me they were too young for such complicated spiritual matters. Yet my heart and soul were exploding with desire. I longed for the day they would be mature enough to participate in the Kingdom. 

We were all down in Denver eating shelled peanuts by the river. Lauren, then five years old, asked if she could feed the squirrels. Suddenly, to my surprise, I heard myself say, “I do not know if it is a good idea; go ask Jesus.” I admit I had zero faith that she could do it. A few seconds later, she jumped off the chair to play. To know Lauren is to know that she is quite strong and bright and will repeatedly ask and even repackage her question until she gets the desired answer. She doesn’t just let things go and run off and play without getting her answer. I called her back and inquired if she had asked Jesus or not, and what she said rocked my world to the core. She said, “Oh yeah, He said it wouldn’t be a good idea,” and again, she bounced off to play. For me, at that moment, the world stopped. Tears streamed down my face as I realized my baby had just heard the God of the universe speak to her. I knew at that moment that I was not a single parent but that my children have a Father who is eager to parent them. I took a mental snapshot of what just happened and vowed to the Lord that I would spend the rest of my days on earth tuning my children’s ears to His voice. 

Pray (out loud) – “Father, open my eyes to see my children the way You do. I invite You to flip, change, arrange or rearrange any old religious mindsets that do not align with You! Father, teach me to be a teacher of the next generation. I take back ownership of MY home and declare that it will be a place of peace, rest, and connection. It is through hearing You that I really know You and begin to trust You. Bless my parenting journey, and in all I do, may I lead them to You – a loving, caring, and involved Father. Help me lead them to listen well. Amen.”

HE WORKS

A father in class shares: “This thing is working, man!! Last night our kids got into it; it ended with our daughter crying and son trying to defend himself. I asked him what had happened, and he told me everything that had happened except leaving out what he had done. Instead of continuing to question him for the truth, Holy Spirit told me to tell him to go to his room and ask Jesus what happened. Five minutes later, he came back, and this time he told me the entire story, including his portion of it! Then I asked him what did Jesus say, and he said, ‘Jesus told me to talk to her instead of pushing her and making her fall.’ Yay!”

WHAT DOES JESUS HAVE TO SAY?

Often, we focus so much on the struggle instead of the victory. Take a piece of paper and draw a huge heart. Spend some time being quiet before the Lord, and then ask Him to show you what HE has written on the heart of your child (do this separately for each child). What are the passions, dreams, desires, and strengths HE has put deep inside of them? Write down whatever you hear, then deliberately partner with God to call that out in them. Be the parent who says, “Guess what God told me about you today?” When you think it’s just your mom’s opinion, it’s easy to dismiss the validity, but knowing who we are to God is breathtaking.

GOD WANTS TO SPEAK TO YOU!

Too many believers have limited their relationship with God with the written Word (which is very important and must be our anchor of truth), but He wants us to relate to Him, hear Him, feel His love, and experience Him. I liken the difference to wives whose husbands are overseas; while they may exchange beautiful love letters, it is not the same as the wife whose husband is there every night holding her, kissing her, and protecting her. The latter is the kind of love Jesus wants to have with us. We all know no marriage would be healthy or survive without communication. That is how personal God wants our relationship with Him to be. How could anyone find that level of intimacy with someone without talking, listening, and responding to each other? I have often heard people say that they believed God loved them in the “He loves the world” sense but had never fully understood how much He loved THEM personally until they heard Him speaking to them. 

Let’s invite Holy Spirit to do what He does best. Pray out loud: “Holy Spirit, I invite You to come and remove everything and anything acting as earmuffs. I want to hear my Father’s voice more and more. I grant You permission to teach me anything You want about my Father’s voice. Come and have Your way with me.” Do we think that after all He went through to get us to come to Him, He suddenly has nothing more to say to us? God wants to speak to YOU!

HEARING GOD

The first thing I ever recall hearing the Father say to me was, “The deaf can hear.” I laughed. And then I argued, “No, they can’t. They are deaf.” But I heard that statement many times. I just assumed that all believers heard God speaking the way I did; after all, that IS what the Word says – His sheep will know His voice. I vividly recall talking to a family member one day about hearing God, and while she loved the Lord, she said she had never heard Him speak. That blew me away. It opened my eyes to the fact that so few children hear their Father’s voice. I started teaching classes on it, and it has been a life mission of mine to help connect young and old to their Father’s voice. I am so passionate about it that I created this resource to help others. In Conversations with Our Creator, you will grow in your ability to hear Him and learn how to teach your children.

Conversations with our Creator eBook – Let the Children Fly

HE GOES BEFORE US

I hear this testimony often and it is so much fun. People will take the class, but before they get to the lesson, Holy Spirit has already taught it in His own way.

A mom shares: “Lisa, last week without me teaching her, my daughter got up one night and told my husband she needed to draw me a picture Jesus gave her. She went on to draw two more over the next few days for me and they were all so prophetic and encouraging to me. She’s never done this before, so once again, it felt like the Holy Spirit was teaching my daughter the lesson I had just learned.  He is so pleased with your ministry, Lisa! It’s been amazing to experience Him and see what He has done in my family and me as I have been going through this course. Thank you for allowing Him to use you in this way. I am extremely grateful.” 

Our class is not about intellectual parenting information. It is about TRANSFORMATION!

Register now: Journey – ONLINE CLASS – Let the Children Fly