It’s as if we’re coming before the Lord with our prayers and leaving them at His throne. We’re saying, “God, this is what I believe You want done in this situation. I trust you to answer as You see fit. I trust You! Show me if there’s something I’m not seeing. This is all about You.” That, my friend, takes both faith and hearing from Him, as we lift our requests to the Lord.
I believe every person who serves Christ should hear from Him. I have seen this principle misused, however. I was in one meeting where “the voice of God” spoke through nonbelievers giving direction for the church. This was not only accepted but encouraged. I’ve been in other meetings when a person was “spoken to from God” and frankly humiliated in front of the church body. There have been times when a brother or sister has shared a “revelation” they’ve received from God that I knew was not His voice. I knew this either from the content of the message or because of the details I knew about the person’s life. I have to tell you I seriously doubt the validity of these “messages from God.”
Barbara Ho is the author of Ultimate Connection: Eight Principles That Will Transform Your Prayer Life (PrayerShop). She is also a marriage and premarital counselor, and a very active pastor’s wife. After ministering in a vibrant, multi-ethnic church in Queens, New York, for 25 years, her husband, Daniel, and Barb became church-planters in Houston, Texas. The Hos are also very active in ministering in orphanages in Ukraine. Barb and Danny have two married sons.
