Time with God

I was driving down the road the other day and realised just how much I missed having the kids around. Our son had an incredible opportunity to go to a horse riding and adventure camp for the week. It was his first time away from home without us. Our daughter was at a friend’s for a sleepover. I had been enjoying the break and catching up on all I needed to do. As I was driving to pick our daughter up and it suddenly hit me how quiet it was and how much I missed hearing their constant voices and conversation.

As I pondered that, I questioned whether or not there was a lie I was believing about myself and our family. I home school and have the kids around constantly. I enjoy having them around and was now missing them. It is not a normal life style. Was there something I needed healing from? (When something unusual comes to mind or I feel an emotion is suddenly triggered or I react in an unusual manner, I then stop and take the time to ask God, “Is there a lie I am believing?” or “What lie am I believing about either you God or me?”. God is amazing and will always answer me. If there is a lie, then I follow that by asking God to show me when I first started believing it and what was the basis for that lie. I then forgive anybody concerned, repent and then ask  God “What is the truth I need to hear?”. I believe that doing this on a regular basis whenever I am alerted to myself reacting to a situation, that it helps me keep ‘clean’.

At that moment, God’s voice broke through my thoughts and said, “That is how I feel when I don’t have special time with you.” This hit me. I spend time each day praying and meditating on the things of God, love reading His Word, worshiping God, but it is easy to just not have the time to ‘chill’ with God, to just hang out with God, to ask questions of God with no hidden agenda. To just take that special extra time to sit and enjoy God and His Presence.

How about you? In this Christmas season, I find it so easy to get caught up on how we celebrate the event rather than celebrating the person of the event. I encourage you to give up something today and spend that time just enjoying God’s Presence in a fresh, new way.

Prophetic Activations / Exercises to incorporate into your week:

The purpose of these exercises is to help us hear God’s voice in a clearer manner. They sharpen our senses to hear and recognise God’s voice and His way of communicating with us. This enables us to grow in our relationship with God and also to impart to others what God tells us for them. Feel free to use as many of these activations each week as you can. The more you practice, the sharper you become at hearing God’s voice. Enjoy!

Remember that whenever you give another person a prophetic word or picture etc, please make sure that it is encouraging, edifying (strengthening) and comforting (1 Corinthians 14:3) and that it comes from a place of love.

1. Children / Families Activation: Put a variety of small objects in a bag eg toy car, feather, ball, small doll etc. Get each person to choose an object and to say how applicable it is to their partner/person on their right.

2. Group Activation: Get into groups of 6-8. Have a pack of UNO cards each group. (If only one pack of UNO cards, you could divide the pack into the number of groups). Everyone has a turn at turning over the top card and completing the required action. Remember to keep it fast. Red card- you give a prophetic sentence to the person on your left, Green card – you give a prophetic sentence to the person on your right. Blue – person opposite. Yellow – choose someone in the group to give a prophetic word to you. Wild card – Every person in the group gives a prophetic word to you. Draw 4 – choose 4 group members to give a word to you. Skip – the next person misses a turn. Reverse – the order is reversed. Draw 2 – you give a prophetic word to two group members.

3. Beginner Activation: Spend time listening to God and what His heart is for you at the moment. Write it down and meditate on it. Pray through it. Turn it into a declaration by changing the words to “I declare….”

4. Intermediate Activation: Ask God to show you a person you could bless spiritually and what to say. Write it down. Find time to pray those words over that person. Start with “I call forth your spirit and bless you with..”

5. Advanced Activation: Ask God to show you  a new way of enjoying Him this week and of hearing Him and His heart for you and for others. Explore different ways of hearing God eg with pictures if that is not your normal way of hearing from God, through nature, dreams, etc