Journey Into The Eyes of Your Heart

 

Pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, Ephesians 1:18

You have decided to stop running and you are allowing Jesus to take over the controls to your life. You have surrendered your life to Him and forgiven all those who have hurt you. You have determined to ask others to forgive you and you have walked away from your self-life.

Now it is time to open the eyes of your heart. So, sit very still and close your eyes. What do you see? What you see with your eyes closed, is your heart. The real you –your soul. God desires that you know Him intimately in your heart. With your eyes closed, ask Him to open the eyes of your heart.

Pray ~ Lord, I want to see you more clearly. Open my eyes so that I may see you. I want to feel your presence. I want to know what it is like to walk with you and talk with you. And, I desire with all my heart to become your friend.

When you close your eyes, you enter into the spiritual realm. You may close your eyes and you don’t see anything. So, this is the place where you wait on God. This is the place where you begin to ask Him questions. This is the place where you enter the garden of your heart. It is your secret place. It is the place where you are going to cultivate your secret garden with the Lord. It is the realm of spirit. The realm where God exists – where all spiritual things exist in your eternity past, present, and future.

With your eyes closed, begin to sense the spiritual realm that exists all around you. It surrounds you, yet you cannot see it with your natural eyes. The natural mind cannot know God or see in the realm of the spirit. Your spirit is alive unto God. The Spirit of God lives inside your physical body, and yet there is a veil – a barrier called the flesh clouding your spiritual vision. The flesh cannot see the magnificent spiritual world that surrounds you. If you sense this barrier, then ask God to lift the veil so you may see Him more clearly.

Next, using your senses, tune your ears to hear His voice. Have you heard the voice of God? What does God’s voice sound like? If you heard the voice of God, it most likely would hold great power. His voice may shake and rumble. Our spirits may not withstand the power the voice of the Father might carry. You may hear the voice of God in that manner; however, God will most likely speak to you through His gentle Holy Spirit that is within you.

Have you heard His voice? How does the voice of the Holy Spirit within your heart sound? What does it sound like? How do you know it is His voice? And, if you were to hear the voice of the Holy Spirit within, how could you be certain that it wouldn’t be the voice of Satan or demonic voices? How could you know it was God speaking to you, and not your own voice? How can you tell the difference between these three voices – your own, the demonic, or God’s Holy Spirit?

In 1992, I attended Bible School at the Messiah Biblical Institute in Gaithersburg, Maryland. One of my instructors was, Messianic Rabbi, Dan Juster, who taught us a word that I will never forget. He said something like this: “You hear the voice of God when you meditate on Him through your imagination.” And, then he said you could combine the two words, imagine and meditate, and make the word “Imaginate” because this is how you enter the realm of spirit.

Here is an exercise to help you begin to meditate through your imagination.  Read a portion of scripture or listen to a worship song. While you are meditating on the words on the page or listening to the words of the song, an image will begin to form in your mind. God will begin painting a picture for you of the words going into your spirit. His Spirit through your spirit combining the images in your mind while meditating in your heart on Him.

There are three voices you hear in your soul or your spirit.  Your own voice, the voice of God, or demonic voices.

Hearing your own voice would be something you thought up yourself. There would be no spontaneity to it. It would be like having a daydream where you make it up in your own mind. As you begin to imagine something, a picture may begin to form in your mind. For example, if I said to you, “picture in your mind an ice cream cone.” You would not have any difficulty picturing an ice cream cone in your mind. Does it have a sugar cone? Is it chocolate or vanilla or cookies-and-cream? Does it have a double or single scoop? Does it have whipped cream and a cherry on top? When you form a picture in your mind using your imagination, it is a picture that you began–you started it.

God will speak to you in your spirit with a voice that is spontaneously filtered through your imagination. Spontaneity is the key to hearing the voice of God. Neville Johnson, taught that all three voices have their own personalities.

Have you considered that the world was created using imagination? It was! God spoke what he imagined, and it was so. “Let there be light.” And there was light, where there was once darkness and void. Everything you can see that was made by man was first conceived in the imagination. The wheel was imagined and then formed. A chair was imagined and then formed. The parts of an engine were imagined and then formed. We are creative beings with imaginations, because our Creator has an imagination.

Imagination can also originate in your spirit. If something imagined originates in your mind (your soul), then you initiated it. However, if it originates in the spirit, then either God or demonic forces initiated it. When imagination begins in the spirit, it flows from your spirit to your mind very quickly – it is a spontaneous action. (Neville Johnson)

When Satan or demonic forces are speaking to you, your imagination takes on a whole new personality. These attacks may come to you by way of accusation or condemnation about you or someone else. Attacks could come through pornographic or immoral materials, and you know where that is coming from, and it is not coming from God. And you did not initiate it in your mind; it was initiated from your mind first, and then to your spirit. When you are listening in your imagination, is it the voice of yourself – something you started to imagine; is it a demonic voice – something that has a personality of accusation or destruction; or is the voice humble and loving, and pure? Does the voice build you up? Now Imaginate on Philippians 4:4-8.

4 Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! 5 Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. 6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7 And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. 8

Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. 9 Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me— put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.

These verses in Philippians can be used as a guide to help you determine the difference between the voice of God, the voice of Satan, and the voice of yourself.

Practice listening. Discern if the voice within you is like a time spent day-dreaming. If it is like a day-dream, then you started it. If you didn’t start it, ask yourself if it is coming from another source. If it is not coming from a day-dream, then it is coming from the spiritual realm. The Holy Spirit will speak to you internally. His words will flow, and as you allow them to flow through you, you will begin to see things in the unseen realm – the realm of the spirit.

The more you exercise hearing the voice of the Holy Spirit within you, the more God will communicate with you. The more you listen and discern, the more you will begin to recognize the voice of God.

In John 10, Jesus said, “My sheep hear my voice and they follow me.” Jesus is the Good Shepard and his sheep (you) hear his voice and follow his directions. You can trust him to lead you.

There is a simplicity on how to hear the voice of God. Quite simply, all you need to do to begin is to ask God questions and then you wait and listen for the answer. Use the following technique yourself and then you help others who have never heard words from the Lord, or who may have difficulty hearing His voice.

Begin by asking Him questions like this: “Lord, I want to hear your voice today. I ask you to still any other voice and to hear only you. Help me to learn to know your voice, Jesus.” Amen.

Then ask, “Lord, is there anything you want to tell me?” (Wait a few seconds and listen—what did you hear?) If you didn’t hear anything, ask again. Ask other questions, “Lord, how can I get to know you better?” (Wait a few seconds and listen.) Did you hear an answer? Keep asking questions after you have received an answer from the Lord. For example, if your answer from the Lord is “Read My Word”, then ask, “Where in your Word, Lord?” Continue to practice until you recognize and hear the small still voice of God with in your spirit.

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