Biblical Keys to Hearing the Voice of God Clearly
“I turned to see the voice that spoke with me. And when I turned, I saw seven golden candlesticks, and in the midst of the seven candlesticks was one like a Son of Man, clothed with a garment down to the feet and with a golden sash wrapped around the chest. The hair on His head was white like wool, as white as snow. His eyes were like a flame of fire. His feet were like fine brass, as if refined in a furnace, and His voice as the sound of many waters” (Rev. 1:12-15).
God not only wants us to know the historical Jesus, who came in human form and walked among men. He yearns for us also to know the living, resurrected Christ through the power of the Holy Spirit. The Father wants to enable us to hear, know and obey the risen Lord.
But often we don’t realize He is speaking to us. And no wonder we miss His cues—His voice is like the sound of many rushing waters. Revelation 1:15 says, “His voice [was like] the sound of many waters.” Notice the use of the word “many.” When it comes to many waters, there is the sound of a gentle, trickling stream; the sound of a thunderstorm, with rain pouring down; the sound of waves crashing in upon the shore and the overwhelming sound of a river at flood stage, clearing away everything in its path. God’s voice today is like the sound of these many rushing waters.
A Revealing Phone Call
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3 Keys to Tear Open the Heavens With Prayer
Blowing the Roof Off the House
Have you ever reached a desperation point in which you said, “I don’t care what it takes, I’ll do whatever is needed to get a breakthrough!” In Mark 2:1-5, four friends were looking for a breakthrough when they brought their paralyzed friend to Jesus. The house was so full that they couldn’t get in. That’s when they reached a desperation point.
Rather than giving up and going home, these men had a divine moment of inspiration, “Let’s blow the roof off the house!” So, they literally removed the ceiling and lowered their friend to Jesus. Moments later, their friend received his breakthrough and was totally healed.
This story is a remarkable parable for our day. It’s time to blow the roof off our old mindsets and limited thinking, believing the Lord for extraordinary works of grace.
Let’s look at this Scripture now together in Mark 2:1-5. As you do, ask the Holy Spirit to bring personal application to your life.
The Prophetic 2.0: Coming Changes in the Global Prophetic Movement
ver the past century, the Holy Spirit has been poured out in movements like Azusa Street, the 1920’s Signs and Wonders, in 1948 the Latter Rain Movement, and in 1967 the global charismatic renewal overlapping with the Jesus People Movement. Let’s also consider the Argentine revival, Chinese house church explosion, the Third Wave Movement in the 1980s and beyond. We can also add in the historic outpourings of the Holy Spirit in the Toronto Blessing, Brownsville Revival and so others.
Now, God Is Pouring Out the Prophetic 2.0
On the Day of Atonement in 2014, the Lord audibly spoke to me and said, “The seeds that the seers and prophets sowed a generation ago have now come into maturation and fruition. Therefore, I will release again the gift of a detailed word of knowledge creating an atmosphere of awe, wonder and the fear of the Lord.”
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How to Contend for Your Prophetic Promise
When God has given a prophetic promise, how are we to respond? Are we to wait for Him to bring it about in His divine timing, or are we to war for that which He has promised to see it speedily brought forth?
This is not really a trick question. Hopefully you will agree that the answer is—both! Scripture gives clear direction that we are to wait for the Lord and to war for His promises. But sometimes walking this out can be harder than it at first appears. So while both are important, today I want to emphasize the importance of contending for the promises of God and fighting the good fight of faith—both personally and corporately.
“This command I commit to you, my son Timothy, according to the prophecies that were previously given to you, that by them you might fight a good fight” (1 Tim. 1:18).
James Goll: This Is the Season of Suddenlies
A Recent Electric Experience
After returning home from a ministry trip, I was engaged at a weekend conference in my home city of Nashville, Tenn. The conference was simply titled “now.” Between sessions, I had come home on Saturday afternoon to rest and pray before I led the closing session on Saturday evening.
My intention was to simply lie down and rest for a few moments to regain some strength. But I quickly fell into a deep sleep and entered into a vivid dream.
In the dream, I saw myself walking down a road and was beginning to get tired from the journey because there was no clear end in sight. The road was long and hilly, and the sky was getting dark and cloudy. Then I came to the top of a hill and the entire sky burst open into color just as the sun was setting. It was an electric moment where vibrancy took over everything around it.
7 Powerful Blessings You Can Receive and How to Give Them Away
We are blessed to be a blessing! We are to proclaim blessings over our families, churches, cities and nations. Some of you may say, “My parents never spoke words of blessing to me. Nobody has ever given me any prophetic words. I don’t know what my blessings are.”
Be encouraged. Below I show you seven powerful and obtainable blessings that each one of us can receive from our Heavenly Father. You are blessed to be a blessing! The Father has placed you on the earth for such a time as this! It’s time for you to become an Ambassador of Blessing.
A Revelation That Altered My Approach
James Goll: How the Blood of Jesus Breaks Your Chains of Fear
“Don’t let your fears stand in the way of your dreams.”
Does that statement speak to you? It sure spoke to me the first time I read it. I had always been by nature a very quiet and reserved person. But until then I had also been bound by fear and intimidation, and I hated it.
There was so much in me that wanted to come out, but I felt tied down inside. I was like a runner who longed to run but couldn’t because heavy chains and weights hung on her ankles, holding her back.
For years, I cried out, “Lord, I want to be totally sold out to You. I want to be so consumed with You that my fear is completely annihilated.”
Eventually, God answered my prayer, granting me the grace to walk in places where I had never walked before.
No More Fear
James Goll: Can You Move God’s Heart?
Are there preliminary conditions that must be met in order for the prophetic promises of God to be unlocked? Are there things that believers can do to speed up the purposes of God? Are there clauses requiring man’s response, or is everything sovereignly predetermined? These questions have been debated throughout Jewish and church history, and have affected people’s world-views, with resulting practical applications in almost every area of life.
How do the lost get saved? Is it Arminianism or Calvinism; free-will or divine election? Ideas have consequences. What we believe about these things will ultimately play out in our actions, for good or for bad.
So what role do we play in revival and movements of the Holy Spirit? Can man move God’s heart?
Lessons from the Pool at Bethesda
5 Ways to Develop a Watchman’s Eye in Prophetic Intercession
Prophetic intercession is near and dear to my heart. I love the way God nudges me to pray about something so that He can intervene. I have seen so many amazing answers to prophetic prayer! Such prayers strike the mark much more often than those I invent out of my own limited heart and mind.
Here is how I usually describe prophetic intercession: Prophetic intercession is waiting before God in order to hear or receive His burden (a word, a concern, a warning, a condition, a vision or a promise), and responding back to Him with prayerful petition, sometimes with corresponding actions.
In the Old Testament, the priests pleaded the needs of the people before the Lord while the prophets pleaded the interests of God before the people. The two roles are combined in what we call “prophetic intercession”—a watchman-intercessor prays back to God an inspiration regarding a human concern that comes from God’s own heart.
7 Effective Spiritual Weapons to Cut Off the Enemy’s Attacks
Battle is part of the Christian life. There is a real enemy and you were born into a war. So seasons of struggle are a given.
But can you shorten your seasons of struggle? I believe you can, and I believe that the Bible is filled with good advice toward this end. You do not need to prolong the agony. You can arise and conquer.
One of the enemy’s ploys is to make you roll over into a passive position. When that happens, you are no longer actively engaged and the devil can roll over you. It is important to daily arise, speak to your inner man and remind yourself of the foundational truths in the Word of God! As you rise up, these truths become weapons that drive the enemy back and make quick work of the battle.
James Goll: Satan Fights Dirty—How You Can Prepare
You have to run over the devil before he runs over you. You are standing on a battlefield (perhaps a different one than you were last year at this time). You may be standing in the middle of an army or you may be standing all alone. Are you just going to stand there, waiting to see what will happen? Or are you going to do something that will allow you to get and keep the upper hand?
King David gave us a psalm that we should graft onto ourselves so that we can be true overcomers: “I pursued my enemies and overtook them; I did not turn back till they were destroyed” (Ps. 18:37). Earlier in the same psalm, he expressed his utter dependency on God when his enemies proved to be too strong for him: “He rescued me from my powerful enemy, from my foes, who were too strong for me. They confronted me in the day of my disaster, but the Lord was my support” (Ps. 18:17–18).
He was a true overcomer—determined to make an end of his enemies, but always aware that he needed help doing it.
Why Is Satan Picking on You?
The Next Revival Can’t Happen Unless You Do This
Both Scripture and church history give testimony to this truth: Prayer always precedes revival. When a mighty outpouring of God’s Spirit is poured out resulting in a great harvest of souls and refreshing for the church, prayers have gone ahead to break open the way. Many prophets (including myself) have been declaring the coming season of harvest, and this precipitates the need for prevailing prayer. The greater the unity in prayer, the greater the outpouring. This means your prayers are essential as we cry to the Lord of the harvest for his refreshing rain of revival to sweep our world.
Scriptural Precedent: Prayer Precedes Revival
Why the Church Must Unite in Prayer and Fasting for the Great Harvest
Currently there is a global unprecedented call to united prayer and fasting unto the next great harvest. The prophet Amos stated plainly, “Surely the Lord God does nothing without revealing His purpose to His servants the prophets” (Amos 3:7). In our day, these prophetic voices include: Lou Engle with TheCall, Doug Addison with InLight Connections, Cindy Jacobs with Reformation Prayer Network, statesman Dutch Sheets and others.
Prayer and fasting precede the latter rain of the Holy Spirit—and the time to take action is now. I encourage you to participate through whatever application the Lord gives you.
Prayer and Fasting Precede His Coming
The Antidote to the Deadly Poison That Kills Prophetic Anointing
Clearly, the prophetic anointing manifests in diverse ways. All arise from the same Holy Spirit, who gives as He wills. With this in mind, a warning is in order.
There is a deadly poison that can kill our ministry and our ability to walk in our anointing: the poison of covetousness. Comparing ourselves to someone else and wanting what they have produces death. We should never judge or evaluate our anointing by someone else’s anointing.
It is vitally important to avoid jealousy and insecurity. God has plenty of anointing to go around. Let’s be satisfied to seek our own calling and walk in our own anointing.
Why You May Be Limiting the Flow of Holy Spirit’s Power in Your Life
“Ask rain from the Lord during the season of the latter spring rains. And the Lord will make the storm winds; and He will give them showers of rain; all will have vegetation in the field” (Zech. 10:1).
Ask for rain. Ask for more rain. And then ask again for, “More, Lord!” When the rain of God’s presence begins to fall in a manifested manner, you don’t just stop there, do you? No! You must persist and ask for more.
How much of the Holy Spirit do you want? How much of His presence can you handle? How hungry are you? The depth of your hunger is the length of your reach to God. Ask for rain.
One of the primary Scriptures prayed throughout the revival pages of history is this particular passage from Zechariah 10:1. This scripture urges us—no, it compels us—to believe God for something bigger than we have ever dreamed or conceived. God has a big dream in his heart. He wants to the see the earth filled with the “knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the seas” (Hab. 2:14).
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12 Common Dream Categories—How Many Have You Had?
Dreams are as diverse as the languages we speak, the clothing we wear, and the food we eat. Dreams are a communications expression of the creative heart of God. As the Master artistically paints each flower of the field, so dreams are individually, tailor-made for you and me.
What are dreams made of? Are they spiritual gifts given for us to unwrap? Revelatory dreams naturally fall under the spiritual gift of prophecy. Yet they are too broad to be confined neatly and strictly just to one gift. Dreams may also be an impartation of the gift of discerning of spirits. Like the colors in a rainbow in overlapping shades, difficult to tell where one stops and another begins, dreams are definitely unique and creative expressions of spiritual gifts. There are no clear lines of demarcation between spiritual gifts. The word of wisdom blends into a word of knowledge. The gift of faith overlaps with the workings of miracles. Yes, dreams are spiritual gifts that intertwine with various enchanting shades.
James Goll: 15 Essential Keys for Dream Interpretation
Walking in dream language and tapping into the mind and heart of God can be an exciting and exhilarating journey. But understanding and interpreting the revelation He gives in dreams can often be a complex and even confusing process.
These 15 keys will help you to simplify the process of dream interpretation:
- Most of all, dreams should be interpreted on a personal basis first (John 10:3).
- Most dreams should not be taken literally. They need interpretation (Dan. 1:17; Gen. 40:8).
- God will use familiar terms that you know (Matt. 4:19).
- Ponder on the dream or revelation and ask the Holy Spirit for insight (Daniel 7:8; 8:15-16; Luke 2:19; 1 Cor. 2:10-12).
- Ask the Holy Spirit what the central thought, word or issue is in the revelation. Reduce the dream to its simplest form. What is the main thought?
God Is Speaking in Your Dreams—Do You Understand What He’s Saying?
Did you know God uses a language that is tailor-made to speak directly to you? After all, He created you, so that shouldn’t come as too big a surprise. The inventor of language is a master communicator. Not only does He reveal Himself plainly to all of mankind in Scripture, but He also speaks to us personally in dreams and visions. Do you understand what He is saying?
Dreams and visions are often the language full of emotions and therefore contain much symbolism. We must learn to take our interpretations first from Scripture and then from our own lives. Throughout Scripture God is consistent with His symbolic language. The symbolism He uses in Genesis will be similar to that found in Revelation. In fact, one of the fundamental principles of biblical interpretation is the “law of first use.” This simply means that how a word or image or symbol is used in its first appearance in Scripture is a key to how it should be interpreted throughout the Bible. This consistency in symbolic language runs true in our own lives as well.
The Language of Symbols
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James Goll: You Must Choose Today—Fear or Faith?
In today’s global society with violence escalating, rampant shootings, riots, tumultuous economic times, wars and rumors of wars happening on an almost daily basis, we have some basic choices to make.
What guides me? What directs you? Fear or faith? Which way will our nations head?
“Then the disciples came to Jesus privately and said, ‘Why could we not cast him out?’ Jesus said to them, ‘Because of your unbelief. For truly I say to you, if you have faith as a grain of mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, “Move from here to there,” and it will move. And nothing will be impossible for you'” (Matt. 17-19-20).
Many people live in the past. (Ask me how I know!) I honor the past and I trust you do as well. But faith is not present there. Many believers live in and for the future. They have great revelation about what is coming. (I trust we all do.) But faith is not activated in the future. Faith is in the present tense now! Hebrews 11:1 says, “Now faith is…”
Recently I posted on my social media a quote from Corrie Ten Boom, “There is no panic in heaven! God has no problems, only plans.” If the church is pushing the panic button instead of faith and trust, prayer and confidence towards God, what do we expect the world to look like? Will we create a culture of fear or faith? Which will it be? Does the culture of the church affect the culture of society? The way I read the Good Book, it sure does! We need the gift of faith to be fully operational in the church and in our lives today and every day.
James Goll: What Are the Next-Generation Prophets Saying?
In every generation, God raises up dread champions who have a “Voice that Can Be Heard”—these messengers carry a clear sound, marked by integrity and the operation of the gifts of the Holy Spirit. Revelation, favor and authentic authority rests up on their lives and words.
I remember clearly when ministering on Dec. 12, 2015, at Life Center in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, that the Holy Spirit apprehended me and stated, “This is not your season to birth, it is your season to father.” As I continued to worship He continued to speak. “You must identify, empower and release other leaders into spheres of your ministry.” I knew I had just heard the Holy Spirit give my next marching orders, and instantly, I knew some of the action steps to take.
One of our clear goals must include the joining of the generations. This is when the wisdom of the older generation is joined with the resources of the middle generation, which is then coupled with the zeal of the younger generation. In other words—three generations in one generation working together. Words and phrases such as “lineage,” “legacy,” “heritage,” “divine inheritance” and even “going for the double” are not just the latest spiritual buzzwords. They are an authentic burden from the Lord to see progressive momentum take place.