In this brief video, I share some important concepts that help us to enter into God’s rest as He tells us to …
Hebrews 4:11 Let us therefore be diligent to enter that rest, lest anyone fall according to the same example of disobedience.
1 Kings 19:12 And after the earthquake a fire; but the LORD was not in the fire: and after the fire a still small voice.
God wants you to hear Him. He calls you to seek His counsel, wisdom and guidance, thus you have to hear it … how do you hear unless you take time to listen?
God speaks in many ways and can use anything. There are two key mediums God uses to speak to us. One is through the Bible because in the truth is where we learn to hear the Voice of truth. He speaks when verses stand out to you, verses speak to your situation, and you learn truths of a passage that He confirms in other areas of the Bible and in your life.
The second significant medium God uses to speaks to you is through writing or journaling. In this dynamic, you receive powerful instruction, counsel and wisdom as you write with a listening ear. The two mediums complement each other, work together and feed upon one another.
God gives abundant wisdom and understanding, yet how can you receive those priceless life-altering gifts unless you are listening? How do you hear God who is spirit? How do you tune into that still small voice?
1. Create a quiet outward environment to be with God alone. If your area is full of distractions it will be very hard to hear. Turn off the phone, shut the door, shut down the computer, and give Him your full attention. Give Him nothing less than the best and your total focus. In that quiet space as you read and pray, focus on listening to God as you would a close friend.
2. Seek to know God as He is beyond ALL the images. Your motive during this time should be to know God in truth and spirit … beyond what you’ve been taught by others … beyond the images. When we filter our communion with God through false images of Him (from families, religion, false teachings, worldly teachings), it hinders our communication because it affects our understanding of Him. But if we seek to know God as He is realizing we have those false images, He rewards that desire with the truth. Hebrews 11:6 Little by little the lies and false images are discarded and replaced with the truth. The more truth you know of God, the more you experience Him.
3. Focus on having a conversation with God. This time is about fellowshipping with God; a back and forth interaction. Whether, you are reading or praying, remember you are having a conversation with God. This focus helps to move you into hearing His voice because you are tuning in. Therefore, it isn’t a task or “study”, but a relationship you are cultivating. Many are good at speaking, but not so much listening, especially in the spirit; yet hearing Him is invaluable for He is your teacher, counselor, and guide.
4. Write in a journal as you read and pray. Have a pen in hand during your entire time with God. Writing helps to focus your thoughts. Through that focus God can help you tune in to Him. As you write, He will use that writing to counsel you.
Write whatever comes to mind; thoughts about what you’ve read; impressions that come to mind; issues/concerns and thoughts about those issues; ask questions. Remember it’s a conversation with God so keep that in mind while you write. At first you’ll wonder if it’s your voice or God’s voice but continue the practice and in time you will learn to discern. God speaks spirit to spirit. His voice comes as thoughts, impressions … a voice in your head. But it speaks on a very deep level, directly to the spirit. His voice is gentle, confident, loving, patient, and authoritative. It always harmonizes with the Bible. If what you write or hear is from fear, angst, worry, guilt … it isn’t God’s voice.
5. Practice quieting your mind. To hear God, you need not only a quiet external environment but more importantly a quiet inner one. Most people need practice in quieting their mind. Here is a suggestion, at the end of your time with God, for 5-10 minutes focus on quieting your mind. When “to-dos” come to mind, write them on a piece of paper and refocus on God. Set a timer because for some 5 minutes will seem like forever at first. Focus on characteristics of God or verses that have stood out to you during your time with Him. Be still internally. Have a pen in hand and simply write whatever comes to mind. Don’t write to put perfect thoughts together, just let it flow, no inner critic. Then at the end read over what you wrote. Ask God to confirm things to you in His Word.
6. Above all ask God to show you how to listen and hear Him. Your time with God is about a relationship, and developing a trust and ability to directly learn from and commune with God. He wants to show you. It’s easier than you think, but different than what most are use to. Be patient and give Him the space and time to teach and show you. Persist; never give up. In time, you’ll be amazed at what you hear.
Journal Speaks
Through my pen flows words of life
Setting my soul free from strife
So sweetly You speak to me
Feeding me from the Living Tree
A jot focuses my distracted mind
Bringing it to submission and I find
Counsel and wisdom filling my awareness
Breathing in life; manifesting Your fullness
Your voice I’ve learned through communion
Spending time forming our union
Your Word taught me to recognize
A still small voice once disguised
Ears masked by abundant lies
You opened to hear Your voice on high
Daily I write to hear from You
The Voice of Truth; all others subdued
Gently in righteous love You renew
Setting my thoughts on what is true
What a joy to hear
The voice I hold most dear
For it creates true life in my soul
A power long ago foretold.
~ Rachel DiPaolo
March 4, 2012
Below is series talking about how to draw near to God … about walking the narrow path, defeating sin and moving into righteousness, trusting God as our Teacher, and coming to Him in spirit and truth. There are some powerful truths stated, I hope you check it out.
1 Thessalonians 4:3-4 For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you should abstain from sexual immorality; that each of you should know how to possess his own vessel in sanctification and honor,
The same power that raised Christ from the dead is at work on those who believe in God. Ephesians 1:19-20 This power enables us to be sanctified; which is to live in righteousness. It frees us from the sin/death in our lives and brings us into abundant life here on this earth. John 10:10 Sin creates hardships, afflictions, pain, addictions, and suffering in our lives. Many feel bound by sin; even many professing believers. They know they are forgiven, yet still suffer bondages to sin and its consequences. There is a way out, the full gospel.
Hebrews 4:2 For indeed the gospel was preached to us as well as to them; but the word which they heard did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in those who heard it.
1 Thessalonians 4:7-8 For God did not call us to uncleanness, but in holiness. Therefore he who rejects this does not reject man, but God, who has also given us His Holy Spirit.
We are no longer have to be slaves to sin/death; Christ made a way out of this bondage. He is the way, the door, the Word of God. The path out of sin/death in our lives is the narrow path, the path of truth. Its one few find because few truly seek truth from God Himself. Matthew 7:13-14 But for those who do travel the narrow way, they seek God in truth and learn spirit to spirit, He writes His truth on their hearts and it changes them, sanctifies them, He fills them and makes them into new creations. As a new creation, they have a new mind, new desires, new thoughts, and above all desire to be totally governed by God’s Spirit inside-out. 2 Corinthians 5:17 They walk the path of life, thus experience abundant life.
The purpose of going the narrow way of truth is receiving God’s spirit, which is the gift of life, eternal life, and abundant life. When He is directing us, He leads us to the fulfillment of the desires of our hearts as He intended to fill them. We experience joy, peace, rest, blessing, comfort, and righteous love because God’s spirit resides within us manifesting Himself in our lives.
Our part is to seek. Matthew 6:33 The lies and deception of the world has filled our minds, so we must seek for the truth and as we do it sanctifies us. John 17:17
Our part also is to cultivate trust in God above all things. Luke 14:33 We do this by trusting Him to be our Teacher and Counselor. We seek and listen to His instruction, act on it, and witness His faithfulness. In time, as we learn to trust His wisdom and will, we forfeit our self-will in every way and embrace His will. On this journey of the narrow path, we let go of our self-will and desire God’s will as He shows us His righteous love and goodness. Luke 17:33
This narrow path journey has been ignored by many. Ephesians 1:4 The doctrine of grace has been misunderstood. It’s by grace that we are able to live as new creations; a life we must seek and learn from God as how to walk. As we seek, He empowers us to walk it for it’s Him making His home in us. John 14:23 When it is Him working through us, His commands aren’t burdensome, but easy, a delight, and our desire. 1 John 5:3 They are how to live and are life, so we live an abundant life. In grace, we have tremendous power working for us and freeing us from the bondage of every sin. Ephesians 3:20.
1 John 3:24 Now he who keeps His commandments abides in Him, and He in him. And by this we know that He abides in us, by the Spirit whom He has given us.
Many have been taught that the resurrection of Christ is the end. It’s just the beginning. His resurrection and life and the power it demonstrated are what God pours out on us. It’s the power that moves us from the pit of sin/death and into an abundant life here and now. Yes, it’s a journey, but every seeking step brings us more into life and out of death. People aren’t living an abundant life because they are living in sin. They believe it is what it is until they die and go to heaven. Conversely, God is offering us His righteousness and His Kingship in our souls if we will seek.
Matthew 6:33 But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.
1 Thessalonians 5:23 Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely; and may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Would you rather be operating by God’s mind or by your own? God is giving you the choice.
The Choice
Deuteronomy 30:19 “I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live;
The pilgrimage through this earth comes down to a singular decision. Will you choose to be TOTALLY governed by God or self? What you choose depends on the life you will have; the first manifests true life and the second death. It’s one or the other because God is life and anything contrary is death. Most people unknowingly choose death because of the lie that has kept people from God; that life fully governed by God is less than what they can give themselves. When in reality, the only things you miss out on are the things of death.
The life we desire; peace, joy, righteous love, truth, rest, contentment, and blessing, comes when our souls are united to God’s Spirit so that His spirit operates our being in every way. This life is manifested when our self-will is literally dead, silenced, and God’s Spirit takes the reigns. Galatians 2:20
The ultimate blessing is to be completely directed by God so that our every desire, thought and word is of Him, by Him and through Him; a place where we are fully governed by the Spirit of God and nothing of our self-will. Lamentations 3:24 In this state abundant life is manifested in us and in our lives.
Isaiah 58:13 If you turn away your foot from the Sabbath, From doing your pleasure on My holy day, And call the Sabbath a delight, The holy day of the LORD honorable, And shall honor Him, not doing your own ways, Nor finding your own pleasure, Nor speaking your own words,
The eternal Sabbath is being at complete rest, so that you are totally powered by God’s spirit. When you are governed by Him, you are at rest because it’s all Him and nothing of you. John 15:5 In rest, you do nothing of yourself. You give up all your ways, pleasures and words to God and He drives your life. If you aren’t working, efforting, striving or exerting your will, then His will can prevail. You cultivate no trust or confidence in anything of this flesh existence. The exterior life is nothing but the shell that is powered by God. In this state, you are a complete slave to God and His righteousness and know no other greater delight, for He is life. Acts 17:28
Romans 6:18 And having been set free from sin, you became slaves of righteousness.
Imagine if ALL you did was directed by God who knows everything … the outcome and ripple effect of every action? All you do would be done in truth and righteous love. Imagine how your life would blossom into all it was meant to be. This is what Christ came to create, God’s spirit abiding within souls of mankind, Immanuel.
How to silence your self-will?
What is the path to make this choice; to be completely governed by God?
Jeremiah 7:13 And now, because you have done all these works,” says the LORD, “and I spoke to you, rising up early and speaking, but you did not hear, and I called you, but you did not answer
In our limited awareness, we have no idea the outcome of what we do. If we hold onto our own judgments about what is good (essence of religions), we’ll make errors (sin) leading to pain and suffering in our lives and others. No matter how good our intentions, we don’t know the beginning and the end. Thus, anything done of ourselves, no matter if we judge it good or not, is sin. Sin equates to death. Therefore, we need to be at rest and letting God flow through us as He wills which is accomplished by forsaking every aspect of our self-will and letting His will rule. John 5:30
Seeking God and His truth with all our heart, soul, mind and strength, abiding in rest, and experiencing the fruit of His Spirit testify that we have chosen His will over ours; a life we can start experiencing now. When we come to this point, we are ruled by God’s Spirit thus walk in His commandments, because He is living through us and His righteousness taking us over.
More Discussion on this Topic
I have many wonderful things to tell you. Some will be sweet to your soul and others stirring to conviction and repentance, but all will feed your soul to bring true life.
The lies and deception run deep through the fabric of our being causing blindness to the truth; to God and who you are in Him as His beloved child. Ears have been muted to the voice of God and tuned in to the voice of death begging for the audience of our every thought.
Yet amidst the darkness a seed of truth is planted, the Word; a flicker of light that for those who seek will lead them to truth. It’s the light that guides seekers along the narrow path of truth drawing them away from this world bound in death to a resurrected life. Matthew 7:13-14 Few find and traverse this path, will you be one?
The path leads to a life beyond your imagination, because all you’ve known prior to this search is death. The difference between life and death on the earth is the difference between living in this life I’m speaking of and the life you live now. Many have been falsely told they are spiritually alive. Yet, until now there’s only been the promise of a resurrected life.
Psalm 119:105 Your word is a lamp to my feet And a light to my path
God’s love is abundant for His children, yet few have truly sought Him as He is. Most have given up their vast inheritance of true life for a morsel of bread. Genesis 25:30-34 They’ve worshiped what is dead, images masquerading as life. They’ve been captivated by lies which prohibit them from seeing the path of life, thus entering into God’s abundance. But the light is here, in the earth, to be found by you.
There is another way to live in this earthly life that leads you out of the pit of death, hell, and to live a resurrected life; a way that requires you to be a complete slave to God. It requires you to forsake your ways, you desires and pleasures, and your very words; to be replaced by what God has in store for you. Isaiah 58:13. It’s being completely governed by the Spirit of God in every possible way. Galatians 2:20 In this complete abandonment is found power, healing, peace, thanksgiving, rest, bounty, blessing, wisdom, joy, and righteous love. The abandonment comes from knowing God and as you do you are willing to give up all for what you have found, for He is life and the rest a masquerade of death.
Matthew 13:44 Again, the kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and hid; and for joy over it he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.
It’s a path of seeking the truth FROM God through the Bible each morning. Through intimate conversations with God, He reveals in grace the error in your life. In the awareness of the goodness of God, the error is forsaken and you turn to live as God instructs. It’s a path of the true fast that God calls His people to, a fast of the self-will, in exchange for being consumed with His spirit. Isaiah 58. Its end is far better than what we can imagine because our minds have only known death. Ephesians 3:20 God is life. Seek Him and live.
Jeremiah 19:13 And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart.
This week God called me to give it completely to Him, so I’m unplugging from the routine (in case I’m slow on approving and responding to comments). It’s a time of celebration, a feast, of delighting in Him as He transitions/transforms me by His hand. There is much going on spiritually, I pray you diligently seek Him this week above all else for He has the words of life.
Come Walk with Me
Take a break, come walk with Me
To feast from the living tree
Your spirit is ready to bloom
To destroy darkness and doom
It’s been a long journey of strife
Letting go of death and embracing life
Awakening as from a hazy dream
To become for all a gushing stream
All things are formed from a new cast
First fruits of love created to last
Steal away with Me into the stillness
In faith you’ll see manifestation of My fullness
This is My desire, let it be
Have no doubt, come walk with Me
~ Rachel DiPaolo
February 5, 2012
In this video I talk about the importance of truth and expectations in relation to prayer.
Proverbs 28:9 One who turns away his ear from hearing the law, Even his prayer is an abomination.
Any important video on the meaning of Hebrews 10:22-26 … and not forsaking the assembling of ourselves .. in otherwords, getting ourselves together for the coming Bridegroom.
Philippians 2:12 Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out YOUR OWN salvation with fear and trembling;
2 Corinthians 5:17 Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.
Ephesians 1:19 and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power
As we buy and sell with God, which moves us to living by faith in Him in ALL things, we experience the manifestation of God in our lives …
For years, I’ve been buying and selling with God and as a result gaining deep rest and power in my life. One specific area I want to share with you (because it’s often overlooked for the death trap it is), is in the area of s l o w i n g down in life.
In my life a part of the old things was functioning as a Grand Master Taskmaster. I lived by lists, schedules and managing my time efficiently because I got a lot done (in my estimation) and felt internally & externally rewarded for it. Sure my body was tense and my life stripped of the rest, peace and enjoyment that could have been, but I was blind to all that. I didn’t realize there was truly a better way.
I would rush here and there … rush to relax. Letting the world govern what “needed” to be done, I was a slave to its demands that became my demands upon myself and my life. So who was I really serving? To accomplish all I “needed” to, I had to be efficient, highly productive and that meant being the ultimate taskmaster. But as I continued to buy and sell with God and gain faith in Him in all areas, this aspect of my life had to be purged for it was the world’s way of living, not His, thus a sin that manifested death in my life.
As a previous Master Taskmaster, this transformation was no small habitual rut to change because this mentality was deeply imbedded in me affecting most areas of my life in some form. When God first opened my eyes to this area, it seemed like a small issue, but as He showed me the ripple affect, the impact was vast and deadly. Obedience in the small things matters a great deal, because in reality what we may judge small isn’t when it plays out. If a plane is off course a few degrees from its desired endpoint, after miles of travel it ends up hundreds of miles from its destination. This was happening to me. The more I strived the further I got away from the abundant life God wanted to give me. Being in that state was the opposite of trusting Him.
In my alone time with God, He showed me how my spirit needs to remain in that same state that I am with Him in the morning; peaceful, trusting, connected and at rest so He could move through me as He willed. If I wasn’t at rest, I wasn’t in His will. The rushing around, as I use to do to fit in all my plans and lists, put me in a mindset of being focused on my effort instead of His. It’s a state where it’s difficult to hear Him, thus follow His lead. Did Jesus ever rush around? No, when you are walking in the power of God, you don’t need to.
As God showed me how my spirit needed to be in a calm state, I started to slow down, literally. On the flip side that meant I needed to trust Him with all that “needed” to be done. When I started to rush, in faith I stopped and functioned according to His power. As I did it His way, He rewarded my faith. Not only did I get done what was truly needed, but I was in a peaceful and enjoyable state the entire time, I more deeply engage others instead of rushing off to the next task, and I was more productive and had more downtime because I trusted in His power moving through me and not my efforts. …. But as you abound in everything–in faith 2 Corin 8:7
As I was faithful in one area God moved me to the next; to forfeit my extensive planning and lists and trust His guidance. Being encouraged by the result of His previous counsel, I had the faith for this next step, again buying and selling with God. I stopped with all the lists. Again, He blessed my activities and time, and I accomplished more of what was important. Again, it seemed like a small thing, but I learned I was being driven by my will instead of His, which is HUGE.
A hurried and frazzled lifestyle, accepted as normal and even necessary in today’s world, is contrary to abiding in God’s rest, which is a central aspect of a believers life. God is Lord of our lives, not us. For this to be the case, we have to be in a state of trust which leads to a literal mindset of rest. It’s a state where we forsake our effort and let Him move through us as He wills in His power. In this state, God governs our thoughts desires, words and actions, which are paramount to living a life of faith in Him and having Him manifest Himself in our lives.
Hebrews 4:11 Let us therefore be diligent to enter that rest, lest anyone fall according to the same example of disobedience
Instead of being hurried and frazzled, I’m now dazzled by the perfection of His counsel and how His power moves through us when we trust Him and do it His way. When we do everything in faith (trusting in Him to performs all things for us and in His ways of working) then we find a life we’ve yearned for, we enter into His rest as He calls us to, and our lives glorify Him and His power.
Hebrews 11:6 But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.
Living Light 