In this Issue:

Article - Hearing God Speak- Part 3

Ministry News - Spiritual Awakening Conference, Survey, Blog search

Things you can do to help

Newsletter Special - Free Shipping on book combo

Free Helps for prayer leaders

Snow Pictures

Hearing God Speak

Master the Minors

In previous newsletters; we completed the first two segments of this series on Hearing God Speak. You can read them by clicking on the titles.

• Introduction: Examine Your Expectations
• 1. Come to Christ
• 2. Master the Minors
• 3. Consider the Content
• 4. Excuse the Excuses

In the introduction, Examine Your Expectations, we realized that God speaks to all of us, but may not be saying what we expect or want to hear. In Come to Christ, we looked at salvation as the first step of a conversational relationship with Him. Today we’ll consider some issues that may seem ‘minor’, but must be mastered before you proceed to higher plateaus.

To receive a clear signal, a radio must have a good antenna. In 1935, the famous Hotel Waldorf-Astoria in New York City installed an antenna between the two spires on their roof that was so high and so big that it could receive radio programs from Europe.

Wodorf-Astoria Hotel in New York City

Now that’s a big antenna and you may wish that you could install an antenna on your roof to hear God, but of course it doesn’t work like that. However, there are some ways to extend your spiritual antenna so you can hear God more clearly.

When you surrendered your life to Christ; the Holy Spirit moved into your soul. That’s part of the process of sanctification. The Holy Spirit doesn’t kick you out of your soul. It’s still you. In fact; it’s the real you. It’s the part of you that is now in harmony with God.

Most people have a hard time identifying their soul. More importantly, they have a hard time recognizing the difference between their soul and their subconscious mind. That’s the reason you struggle to know for sure if you’ve heard an instruction from God in your soul or just a suggestion from your own reasoning.

Think about your conscience for a moment. It’s not your soul, but was likely your first experience hearing the voice of God. Let me be clear. Your conscience is not your soul. I’m just saying that you’ve already heard God speak to you, but you may have thought of it as your conscience.

Keep in mind that we’re trying to learn to recognize the voice of Jesus apart from all the other voices that crowd our minds. That’s the reason it’s so important that you train your conscience. It's where your conversational relationship with God is most likely to grow.

To train your conscience and thereby extend the antenna of your spiritual radio; you need to master three basic disciplines: obey willingly, pray habitually, and learn continually.

Obey Willingly

• Obey your parents.
• Respect authority.
• Abide by the law.

The Bible teaches that we’re born with a rebellious spirit that must be subdued if we’re to experience the blessed life God created us for. A person who never learns to obey is a danger to themselves and everyone around them. That’s why disrespect to parents was a capital crime (Leviticus 20:9) in Old Testament law and honoring parents is the first commandment with a promise attached (Exodus 20:12).

Pray Habitually

• Give thanks before meals.
• Have personal and family devotions.
• Pray silently as you meet challenges during the day.

Who were the greatest men in the Old Testament? What criteria would you use to decide? Methuselah lived the longest. Abraham is the patriarch of three world religions. Moses wrote laws that are still the foundations of civilized society. King David was the most powerful. King Solomon was the richest. These men were used of God to do great things, but they also had glaring faults and huge moral failures.

What if you make Jesus the criteria? Who were the most Christ-like men in the Old Testament? The list begins to change doesn’t it? Now men like Joseph, Joshua, Samuel, and Daniel populate that list. These men lived their entire lives in faithful obedience to and conversational relationship with Almighty God. How? They started hearing and obeying God in childhood and continued in habitual prayer all their lives.

That’s not just motivation for your church to have a great children’s ministry. It should motivate you to the importance of habitual prayer at every stage of your life. There will never be a day when you don’t need to pray.

Learn Continually

• Attend a Bible teaching church.
• Practice daily Bible reading.
• Participate in ongoing Bible study.
• Seek out Godly teachers and mentors.

“You learn everything you really need to know in kindergarten - wait your turn and share the toys.” Did you ever hear someone say that? I went to high school with some guys who believed it and if that’s all you want in life; maybe it’s true for you, but I don’t think so.

I know for sure that God's not satisfied with that. He has big plans for you that require that you continue to mature and learn. There’s just no place for stagnation in the Kingdom of God. There’s another saying that goes like this, ‘An idle mind is the devils workshop.’ Now there is some truth in that.

Cultivating a good conscience should be accomplished in childhood, but many adults still struggle with it. These three basic disciplines help keep your spiritual antenna up and ready to hear from God so you can’t skip them. No matter your stage of life - if you haven't mastered these minors - you need to go back and do them now.

So the radio’s on and the antenna’s up, but there’s still the issue of tuning in to the right channel. We’ll talk about that next time.

Items from our store to help your prayer life and ministry:

New Ministry Brochure

Prayer Guide eBook

The Prayer Guide book that you can download to your computer or electronic reading device.

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Conference CD Set

This CD-Set has the Five main sessions of the Journey Into the Presence of God Conference of Prayer, plus five prayer times. Click here to go to our store.

Conference on DVD

Here's everything you need to help your congregation or small group experience prayer that encounters God.

DVD Viewing Guide

This is the Viewing Guide that comes with the prayer conference DVD Kit on sale below. It walks you through the preparations and presentation of the video conference in your church or small group.

Click Here to see all sixteen pages of the DVD Viewing Guide.

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Ministry news:

Prayer for Spiritual Awakening Conference

(follow up to the 'Journey' conference)

I’ll be leading this conference for the first time March 12-14, at Sang Ave. Baptist in Fayetteville, Ark. where Dr. T.O. Spicer is pastor. He has been an enthusiastic encourager since the early days of this ministry. God used him to help me finalize the vision for the 'Journey' conference and now for this Spiritual Awakening Conference. Thank you T.O.

You might want to do the schedule differently in your church, but here’s what we’re doing at Dr. Spicer's church:

Friday:

• Evening session: “Hearing God Speak”

Saturday:

• 5:00 p.m. Session, “Prayer of Intercession”
• 6:00 p.m. supper
• 7:00 p.m. Session, “Real Prayer Ministry”

Sunday:

• Morning service Sermon, “Praying With Purpose”
• Evening service: Sermon, “Praying Down Strongholds”

Session Contents:

• The Hearing God Speak session is a follow up to the Talking With God sermon from the ‘Journey’ conference. (The article in this newsletter is from this sermon.)
• The Saturday sessions provide practical training on how to be a church that really prays for its own and the world around it.
• Praying With Purpose on Sunday morning ends with a 10-10-10 commitment to family devotions.
• Praying Down Strongholds is an in depth look at spiritual warfare on a personal level.

If your church has already hosted the Journey Into the Presence of God conference of prayer; consider this as the next step.

Click Here if you’re interested in hosting the Spiritual Awakening Conference.

Conference Attendee Survey

I’m often asked about the long term effectiveness of the Journey Into the Presence of God conference of prayer. Numerous pastors have told me that they’re still using what they learned, but I need a more definitive answer so I’m conducting a survey of folks who’ve participated in the conference.

I’ve sent an email to those who I knew had attended, but I’m sure I missed many. If you attended the conference, but haven’t filled out the survey; please do so now. It will be a great help to me and it's anonymous and easy.

Click Here to take the survey.

Prayer Leaders Blog – Do you have suggestions?

Do you use blogs when you need help? I do. I had a camera problem not long ago and went to the manufacturer’s web site. I typed in my problem and sure enough they had an answer to my camera’s symptoms – send it in for repair.

It did seem like some kind of internal problem, but I decided to dig a little deeper before I spent all that money. I Googled my problem and came up with several blogs. On one of them I found instructions, complete with photos, on how to fix the problem: remove this little thingy, blow the dust out of this spot, be sure this little button moves freely, put the little thingy back on. Less than five minutes and my problem was solved.

I’m looking for blogs that serve the needs of prayer leaders like that. Basic how to stuff that I can link from the help pages on my web site. I’m not looking for blogs where somebody like me publishes articles about prayer. I’m looking for blogs where Sunday School teachers, worship leaders, etc. blog back and forth about practical how-to stuff. ‘How to deal with someone who talks too much; how to involve a brand new Christian, etc, etc.

Click Here if you have found a blog like that and give me there web address. Thanks

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Dr. T.O. Spicer

pastor Sang Ave. Baptist Church, Fayetteville, AR

Pictures from our recent 'snow' days:

Click on pictures to see enlargements

Peggy in back yard

Me taking video of kids sledding

Grandchildren Natalie and Kale

Daughter Meredith & her husband Keith

Our daughter's family and others sledding by our house on 1/30/2010 Click Here for larger format.

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Newsletter Special

Prayer of Jesus Journal

Through this 7-week experience, Ken Hemphill, author of the best-selling book The Prayer of Jesus, offers you his daily insight and encouragement, as well as Scriptures and journaling questions to help you keep the Lord's Prayer top-of-mind all the time. Click here for more information.

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Prayer Conference Promotional Videos

The Journey Into the Presence of God conference of prayer is so unique that many struggle to understand what it is. If you're considering hosting the conference or purchasing the DVD Set; the following videos should help.

1. Click here to view the one minute publicity video suitable for promotions during a worship service
2. Click here to view the seven minute preview of the conference that's great for showing to church leadership.
3. Click here to view the seven minute explanation of the conference by Lowell Snow.

These are the videos from the Promo DVD which is available at the web site and comes with the DVD Set.