My Sheep Hear My Voice.

I have never been more confident in the voice of God than I am right now. Confident in His power, authority, and gentleness. (John 10:27-30)

“My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.””

Before you keep reading, grab your Bible or open the Bible app on your phone. I want you to encounter the Lord in this moment as you hear and see how God is moving in and around me. As I reference scripture, give yourself some time to ask God to speak to you, and look up each verse and passage yourself.

Who He is, and Who I am.

Since coming on The World Race I have experienced a lot of things that are new to me. I didn’t grow up hearing much about the spiritual realm or Holy Spirit, but over the last couple years God has slowly been revealing to me more about this, revealing more of His character and who He says I am. Now I’m getting to experience all of this first hand.

Spiritual Realm.

Before leaving home, I was genuinely curious about the spiritual realm because I knew going overseas for an entire year gave me a likeliness of more intense spiritual warfare. (Ephesians 6:12) I heard stories of demons cast out, miracles happening, and people being healed, but part of me still had this little thought that I wasn’t gonna be in those situations. If you have been keeping up with my blog then you already know I got to physically experience God as a healer, so I can testify that indeed He is The Lord who heals. (YHWH Rapha) God is all powerful, and capable of doing all things.

Spiritual Warfare.

Over the last week I have experienced spiritual warfare here in Romania like never before. As a team, we have felt the presence of the enemy, seen the enemy, and been attacked by the enemy. The spiritual realm is real. My team spent hours between the time of 2am and 5am praying over our room, casting out demons, anointing each other and our beds with oil, and sealing off the enemy from having a way back in. This might sound bizarre to you, if I was reading this a year ago I probably would’ve thought the writer was crazy and doubted the truth of it a bit. It was still a little wild to me even just a month ago. Now though, I know without a doubt not only how quick and full force the enemy can come to steal, kill, and destroy, (John 10:10) but I also know without a doubt how big my God is and the authority and power that He has. (1 John 4:4)

The Lord is our Shepherd.

You may have heard that phrase before in the classic Psalm 23, but do you really know what that means? For the last month I have been captivated by Psalm 23. I thought it was just one of those “one week memorize and move on” kind of things but even after memorizing it and studying it, this passage of scripture hasn’t left my mind. I’ve studied and read that passage over and over again and still find myself learning more daily. Just the concept of a shepherd alone is so interesting. Just like a shepherd provides for his sheep, God provides for our every need, with food, water, rest, safety, and direction. He is the Good Shepherd who laid down His life for His sheep, us (believers). (John 10:11) He also is a Good Shepherd who knows His sheep (us), and His sheep (us) know Him. (John 10:14). Right now, I am one of those sheep, a sheep who has heard the voice of God and followed the Good Shepherd. (John 10:27)

Whoever is of God hears the words of God.

(John 8:47)

Take a moment to read Psalm 23 and John 10. Let those passages rest in your mind, not just the one or two verses I mentioned already, let the whole passage of scripture sit with you. Ask God what He wants to say to you. If you are His sheep, He will speak to you, just take a minute and listen.

Hands that heal.

Now, with all of those scriptures, with all that God has spoken to you, I hope that your heart and mind are sitting in a place of openness. That you would hear this testimony I am about to share and see the power of a God who truly speaks! The Lord is our shepherd! He really does speak to us! (Amos 8:1-2) So “gear up, listen, and be still.” (That’s not word for word scripture but a friend back home spoke that over me almost a year ago and it just came to mind. Thanks, Lynden!) So here we go! Hands that heal! Man. God is so cool y’all!

This week I spent part of a Tuesday afternoon walking through deliverance. To keep things short, it was a time my squad leader guided me through questions asking Holy Spirit to speak and reveal anything not of Him. While listening, my team leader also interceded for me, praying for me and against the enemy. After praying for hours, spending time in confession, repentance, and forgiveness, Holy Spirit revealed a root. A spirit of suicide. This seemed a little strange to me because I have experienced healing from this past stronghold, but I didn’t realize how much it was still rooted in my identity deeper down. So my squad leader asked if I was ready to come out of agreement with this and my answer was yes. So I tried to do this, I tried to speak, but I couldn’t. I honestly felt silenced, the words wouldn’t come out. She asked Holy Spirit to reveal to me how to come out of agreement with this, so I listened, and He told me “give them to me”. She told me to ask Holy Spirit what I need to give him, and He told me “give me your hands”. So I told her that and she told me to ask Holy Spirit how I need to do that, so I listened and He said “wash your hands.” Y’all. Wash my hands?! This sounded so silly to me! So I obeyed. I got up from the couch and walked to the sink and just washed my hands. After rinsing them off I just turned to towards the wall and heard Holy Spirit say “these hands aren’t meant to hurt but to heal”. I fell to my knees on the kitchen floor and wept. Jesus cleansed my hands. He wiped away all of the sin, all of the self harm and destruction I caused with those hands. I knew I was forgiven. He told me “these hands aren’t meant to hurt but to heal”.

Hands that glow yellow.

I heard His voice so clear! “These hands aren’t meant to hurt but to heal.” Y’all, He had already been showing me this for two days! For two days prior when I closed my eyes I would see my hands glowing yellow! It was so weird and I didn’t know if it was real or what it even meant but that was the voice of God!! So I turned to my leaders with tears running down my face and just shared this revelation with them. God had been speaking to me and in that moment of sitting on a couch for hours, seeking His voice, listening, and obeying Him, I heard Him loud and clear and for the first time was completely confident in His voice.

Breaking ties.

We walked out of the kitchen and sat down on the couch and this time I was ready without a doubt to break ties with this voice of the enemy, I was ready to come out of agreement entirely with the spirit of suicide. In full confidence I spoke, the words flowed from my mouth and I broke that agreement. Then I got to fill that space with what God says about me. Holy Spirit told me that I am fearfully and wonderfully made, I am chosen, loved, and fully forgiven. He told me that night that He will carry me and protect me. He told me to not give up on this, to keep my eyes fixed on His eyes, to trust Him and to walk in freedom.

It’s a wild story, I know.

Had I heard a year ago that someone saw a vision of their hands glowing, I would’ve probably doubted it to be true. Had I heard a year ago that if you listen, God will actually give you an “audible” answer, I probably would’ve doubted that too. Had I heard a year ago that confession, repentance, and forgiveness can actually lead to deliverance and give you real freedom, even physically changing you, I probably would’ve doubted that too. In just the past month I have doubted that. I have seen so many people on my squad be delivered from different strongholds and come out of those “sessions” looking and feeling like a completely different person and to tell you the truth I kind of thought they were exaggerating a little bit. But when I tell you that after experiencing deliverance and freedom that is exactly what happened to me, I speak this in truth. I felt so much joy and freedom, I just laid in bed ready to fall asleep with this smile on my face, completely in awe of God. In awe of His power, authority, and gentleness. In awe of how patient He was with me to clearly hear Him speak.

Gear up, listen, be still.

I share this story knowing some of my friends and family back home may think this is exaggerated, not true, or something that doesn’t happen today. Again, take it to God. Whether you believe in the spiritual realm, and spiritual warfare or not, whether you believe God can speak through visions, dreams, a voice, or not, God has shown me how real all of this is. Now, I get to gear up, putting on His armor (Ephesians 6:10-18) listen to His voice, as one of His sheep (John 10), and be still, trusting in His plan (Psalm 37:5-7).

Are you one of His sheep?

Do you know His voice? Have you heard Him speak? Have you seen Him move? If you haven’t, first ask yourself this question: is Jesus your Lord and Savior? If He is not, let’s start there. (Romans 3:23, 5:8, 6:23, 10:9-10, 10:13) If He is, then ask Him to speak to you. (Matthew 7:7-11).

He knows you.

(Psalm 139)

As believers, the Lord is our Shepherd. He calls us by name, he speaks to us, leads us, and provides all that we need. Holy Spirit is calling you by name, He wants to speak to you, He wants to lead you, He wants to provide for you. He wants you to experience His goodness and mercy, He wants you to dwell in the house of the Lord forever. Humble yourself and seek His face. Don’t allow the enemy to take a seat at your table, set your eyes on His eyes. Gear up, listen, and be still.