Latest / Arise Women of God / Divine Dialogue: Learning to Hear God’s Voice in Troubling Times
Transcript
- 0:01What do you do when a tragedy like the assassination of Charlie Kirk rocks not only your world, but the world of everyone around you?
- 0:14How do you respond to that?
- 0:16How are we as Christian women supposed to respond to that?
- 0:19What does God want us to do?
- 0:21Stay tuned.
- 0:22That's what we're going to talk about today.
- 0:26Are you a woman who knows God is calling you to something more, but you're unsure where to start or how to grow it into something impactful?
- 0:35You are not alone and you're in the right place.
- 0:38Welcome to the Arise Women of God podcast, a show for Christian women who feel called to shine his light and step into their divine purpose.
- 0:49Each week you'll hear stories of faithful women, both from the Bible and today, who heard God's voice and chose to say yes even when it felt uncomfortable or uncertain.
- 1:00To step with faith into the unknown, away with encouragement, spiritual insight and practical steps to follow those holy promptings in your own life.
- 1:12So let's arise together as women warriors of light.
- 1:16Let's do it God's way, God's strong.
- 1:23Hello and welcome to another episode of the Arise Women of God podcast.
- 1:27I'm your host, Tamara K Anderson, and joining me today is my co host, Bonnie Randall.
- 1:32Bonnie, thanks for being here today.
- 1:34Thanks for inviting me.
- 1:36I had the thought earlier today that I needed to talk to Bonnie about all of the stuff going on with the assassination of Charlie Kirk.
- 1:47We've kind of been talking about how when something like this happens, you want to act, you want to do something, because there's been so much negativity and there's been some positivity coming from it, but there's a lot of
- 2:03grief and a lot of sorrow.
- 2:05Bonnie and I have been very mindful of all of the things going on in the world today and these perilous times that we live in.
- 2:14As talked about in 2 Timoth chapter three.
- 2:18It is such an interesting thing to read these prophecies of our last days.
- 2:24For it says this know also that in the last days perilous times shall come for men (And I'll say women also) shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud blasphemers, disobedient, parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection.
- 2:44Gosh, don't you see that in the everything going on right now?
- 2:48Truce breakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce despisers of those that are good, traitors, heady, high minded, lovers of pleasure, more than lovers of God.
- 2:59Today we see it all around us.
- 3:02We can see that we're heading into this second coming of Jesus Christ, that it's coming quickly and that things are moving more quickly towards that as we see wickedness increase.
- 3:16But we also see a lot of good people pushing back the darkness and bringing in light.
- 3:23We're going to talk a little bit about prayer and how Bonnie, when she heard about this assassination, she felt moved to pray and how you can learn to feel God's spirit and pray in that spirit powerfully.
- 3:42But not only learn to pray, but learn to hear so that you know how to act, how you know, you know how to treat those around you.
- 3:49You know how to be a voice of kindness and in a sea of discord.
- 3:55Will you share with us kind of the circumstance behind the prayer and how you've learned to pray in the spirit?
- 4:03So I don't really even know much about Charlie Kirk, to be totally 100% honest.
- 4:10I think there's a lot of people who are in my same boat.
- 4:13I had first been introduced to him by a video someone sent me a few weeks ago.
- 4:21He was talking about homeschooling.
- 4:23And so fast forward to yesterday.
- 4:26I'm in a business meeting and we're talking about some programs we're about to roll out, and one of our partners goes on mute for a few minutes.
- 4:36And a couple minutes later, my husband comes running into the room, tears in his eyes.
- 4:44And he says, charlie Kirk was just shot.
- 4:48And I can see he's really upset.
- 4:52And I'm like, who is Charlie Kirk?
- 4:55And then I remembered the conversation I had had the week before.
- 5:00And just in that moment, Andrea, our partner, comes on, she unmutes, and she's like, it is mass mayhem out here.
- 5:10And we're like, where are you?
- 5:12And she starts telling us about how she is driving through.
- 5:16She's on the freeway, just passing the UVU campus, and there was a rollover right in front of her.
- 5:24She watched it happen, bumper to bumper traffic.
- 5:28And all of a sudden, everywhere around her erupts into mass mayhem.
- 5:36There's police cars, there's a million sirens.
- 5:40People are going a million miles a minute.
- 5:42She can see people running all around, like on over by the campus.
- 5:48And she's like, I.
- 5:50I just heard Charlie Kirk was shot.
- 5:52I'm like, yeah, my husband just came in and told us that.
- 5:56And in that moment, listening to her describing this scene, I stop and I pause and I'm like, heavenly Father, what do you want?
- 6:05And I hear very distinct voice, stop and pray.
- 6:11Which I'm in the middle of a business meeting, not exactly the Most appropriate place.
- 6:16But I don't question.
- 6:17I just stop.
- 6:18And I'm like, ladies, we need to stop, and we need to say a prayer.
- 6:22I assumed this was going to be a.
- 6:26A prayer for him, for the people on campus, for my friend who was in an accident.
- 6:32I did not realize that the prayer was going to turn into this very long and very beautiful prayer.
- 6:41But what unfolded was a very heartfelt plea.
- 6:48Ladies, this podcast episode, I think, is going to be more about prayer and what we do in these situations.
- 6:58As I was praying, as I began my prayer, the Spirit whispered, speak what I tell you to speak.
- 7:07And I said, okay, I'm.
- 7:09I'm open.
- 7:10What do you want me to say?
- 7:12And I have found that when I allow myself to be open to whatever God's will is and whatever he wants, the words that come out of my mouth are not my own.
- 7:27I don't know how to explain this, but I'm sort of transported into a different frame of mind and heart.
- 7:37And I honestly don't remember most of my prayer.
- 7:40The people who were with me had to tell me what I said.
- 7:44It was that kind of a prayer.
- 7:47And I don't say that in, like, a boastful way.
- 7:49I say that in an instructive way to explain that when we allow God to speak through us, you can be confident.
- 7:59Confident that when you are aligned with him and you are truly just trying to proclaim his word and trying to be in alignment with him, that the things that you say and the things that you are feeling, no
- 8:15matter how weird and no matter how strange, are his will.
- 8:21And I encourage all of you to practice that.
- 8:26To practice being in alignment with him while you are praying and practice saying whatever comes to you.
- 8:34And initially, it's going to feel foreign.
- 8:37It's going to feel different.
- 8:39But as you practice this and you work on it and you ask God as you're praying, is this right?
- 8:46Am I understanding you correctly?
- 8:49You will get confirmation and it will just flow.
- 8:53I don't know how else to explain it.
- 8:54Does that make sense?
- 8:55Tamara, do you.
- 8:57Before I keep going, I want to pause and give you a chance to say something.
- 9:00No, I 100% agree.
- 9:02And I've had prayers that I have said that are exactly like that, that it's.
- 9:08You're like, I don't even know how what I said or how I said that, or it just flows, and, you know, it's God speaking through you.
- 9:17You know what I mean?
- 9:19So I totally.
- 9:20I totally hear you on that.
- 9:21But not every prayer that.
- 9:23Right.
- 9:23Let's just be honest, like 99.9% of my prayers are not like that.
- 9:28Yes, but when he is calling you to pray and he's calling you to pray over something, right?
- 9:36To pray for someone, to bless something, to bless someone, you feel this urge to pray.
- 9:44Those are the times, I think, when we are invited to have this kind of prayer.
- 9:50There's a book called Releasing Prophetic Solutions by Christy Johnson.
- 9:55It is such an amazing book.
- 9:57She's a, I want to say, an ordained minister.
- 10:00I believe she's from Australia.
- 10:03I don't know exactly her church affiliation, but this book from her has changed my life.
- 10:08This book in in particular is all about this kind of prayer, about releasing your will and aligning your will with God's will.
- 10:19And when we do that, the things that we say can produce miracles.
- 10:26You guys, you can literally move mountains with your faith when your faith is in alignment with his will.
- 10:40The book goes on to cite so many different scripture stories and scriptures.
- 10:46Her book gave me the confidence to start really leaning in to prayer more and, and leaning into this idea of I first need to learn how to hear him.
- 11:01The first step, right, is to learning how God speaks to you, right?
- 11:06Learning how you, you receive revelation or receiving His Spirit.
- 11:10And that's different for everybody.
- 11:12But I can tell you from experience and being a life coach, and I've had many opportunities to help clients discover how God speaks to them.
- 11:23In fact, he recently gave me a sort of a formula on how to do it.
- 11:29But the first thing is knowing that the.
- 11:33Usually I would say nine times out of 10.
- 11:36And Tamara, I'm curious to hear if you agree with this.
- 11:40Nine times out of ten, it feels like the very first voice that you hear is God and the second is the opposition.
- 11:50Because if you think about it, in the scriptures, it's always like truth and error, God and Satan, like God always comes first in every scripture.
- 11:59And then Satan's mentioned.
- 12:02That's a pattern.
- 12:04Would you agree with that, Tamara?
- 12:06Yes, I 100% agree.
- 12:07And that's why I always encourage people to write down what God tells them to do.
- 12:11Because almost immediately after you're out of that kind of space of God speaking to you, the adversary comes in and is like, no, you can't do that.
- 12:20That's so dumb.
- 12:21Why would you do that?
- 12:22Just act.
- 12:23It's one of the.
- 12:24You learn, you learn to hear the Spirit and recognize and act.
- 12:28So if you're wondering if it is the Spirit, ask God to teach you to recognize when he's speaking to you.
- 12:36Because Sometimes I often think we're getting downloads all the time.
- 12:41But it's just learning to recognize, okay, this is God telling me to do something, right?
- 12:46Yes.
- 12:47And, and the.
- 12:49That's like step two, right?
- 12:50Is recognizing knowing that he speaks to you.
- 12:54There's a belief there, right, that he can speak to you and he does.
- 12:59And then recognizing how he does it and knowing that the opposition is going to come.
- 13:06And let me explain why this is a good thing.
- 13:09Okay.
- 13:11Oh my gosh, so many cool things to share.
- 13:14So we need that opposition.
- 13:16It is a law.
- 13:17It is a universal law.
- 13:19When Adam and Eve fell, right, God said in the garden, now you will have opposition.
- 13:26Now there will be hard things in your life.
- 13:28And what's cool is those hard things.
- 13:31The opposition is proof that God is speaking to you.
- 13:37And here's how you can know that that is true.
- 13:40Not just because of the scriptures, but also because the opposition is going to come in with doubts.
- 13:45And those doubts are going to be targeted towards your weakness, towards the things that you are insecure about, which is a sign that you have something to work on and also a sign that you are headed in the
- 14:03right direction.
- 14:04Because if you weren't heading in the right direction, why would Satan try to stop you?
- 14:10So true, right?
- 14:14Exactly right.
- 14:15And we know that the opposition is there to prey on our weakest things, our insecurities.
- 14:24To keep us in doubt, to keep us in shame, to keep us stagnant, to keep us paralyzed, to keep us in fear.
- 14:34So if the second voice has anything to do with fear, anger, a weakness, an insecurity, if it makes you feel as if you can't move forward, something that is.
- 14:49Give me some more words that kind of describe the opposite of God.
- 14:53We'll go to what God is in a second here.
- 14:57For me, often I feel blocked, like paralyzing.
- 15:01Right?
- 15:02Satan wants to keep us paralyzed and stuck.
- 15:05It's interesting to me that the word in the scriptures often is damned.
- 15:09You know that our progress has been halted like a dam going across the river.
- 15:14Satan does not want us to progress.
- 15:17So God's goal for us is the exact opposite.
- 15:20It is that he wants us to progress.
- 15:22He wants us to move forward.
- 15:23And sometimes moving forward is.
- 15:26Requires us to do things that are not what we're comfortable with.
- 15:31Right?
- 15:32And Satan is limiting, Right?
- 15:36He's going to show you in what ways you're limited, in what ways you can't do something.
- 15:43Right.
- 15:44Notice that all of these words are negative and they're fear based.
- 15:50They're grounded in falsehoods.
- 15:53Because God's way is always forward moving, it's always progressive.
- 15:59It's always showing you your potential.
- 16:02It's always giving you hope.
- 16:04It's giving you faith to propel you.
- 16:08You may receive a warning, but you will not receive fear from God.
- 16:15Notice those are two very subtle feeling differences, but in the magnitude of them, they're very different.
- 16:24So when Tamara invited you to have God teach how you hear him and how you receive him, notice to the feeling that you are feeling.
- 16:34And notice the difference between the subtle difference in that feeling.
- 16:39Right.
- 16:40Excitement is not necessarily God.
- 16:44Peace, calm, harmony, joy is God.
- 16:51Excitement, Twitter Patentedness.
- 16:55I'm trying to think of how to explain excitement that.
- 16:58That fascination.
- 17:01Fascination is Satan.
- 17:05I'm sorry to say that, but it's something that he has been teaching me over the last year, that if I become fascinated with something, it's often a distraction to what I should be focusing on.
- 17:21Do you.
- 17:21Have you had that experience?
- 17:23Oh, yeah.
- 17:24Yeah.
- 17:25Well, because I have a little bit of add, so I get distracted easily.
- 17:29You know what I mean?
- 17:30And so my prayers, especially where my focus should be, it's almost like I have to keep praying.
- 17:38Okay, what should my goal be this week?
- 17:40What should my goal be this month?
- 17:42Because there are always things to pull me off that aren't as important.
- 17:46They're still good.
- 17:48Lots and lots and lots of great ideas and good ideas and things that just sound so amazing and fantastic and, you know, kind of like in the movie, I'm like, squirrel, I'm totally distracted now.
- 18:04So it.
- 18:05It takes constant realignment, especially in this world that we're in.
- 18:11I mean, I wish we all lived on this constant spiritual high, but the truth is we don't.
- 18:16You know, we'll have those spiritual highs, but we come down from it, and then we get distracted, and God's like, no, no, come on, Cameron, stay focused here.
- 18:24Stay focused.
- 18:25Remember, this is what I need you to do.
- 18:28I'm like, oh, yeah.
- 18:31So it's tiny object over here looks so much fun.
- 18:35It's so interesting.
- 18:36I want to go down this rabbit hole, whatever it is.
- 18:40So we, we talked about that.
- 18:42The other thing that he showed me is that some people, not everybody is this way, but some feel it in their body.
- 18:49They feel God in their body, and they can feel like a difference between the spirit and the enemy.
- 18:58And so I have had really cool experiences with clients where when they feel the spirit, I'm like, okay, that's it.
- 19:06That.
- 19:06That first voice that you heard that let's take, let's Focus on that first voice.
- 19:11Now, where is it in your body?
- 19:13How does that feel?
- 19:14It feels warm.
- 19:15It feels like a glow.
- 19:16It feels.
- 19:17I have chills up and down my body.
- 19:19My hair is standing up on, like, I hear different things.
- 19:23Right.
- 19:24And then as we focus on that, Kate, we maybe focus on it for a couple of minutes, inevitably, the opposition comes in, which is exactly what it needs to do.
- 19:36It's.
- 19:36It's so cool how this happens.
- 19:38So the opposition comes in.
- 19:40I'm like, oh, good.
- 19:41What is it saying?
- 19:43Well, it said the opposite of what I just heard.
- 19:45Or it said this or it said that.
- 19:47Okay, now where do you feel that in your body?
- 19:49I have a pit in my stomach.
- 19:51My heart hurts.
- 19:52I have a headache.
- 19:54I feel sick to my stomach.
- 19:56I feel anxious, noxious, anxious.
- 20:00I feel fearful.
- 20:01I now want to crawl into a hole.
- 20:03I feel darkness.
- 20:05I feel.
- 20:06Oh, my gosh, so many different descriptive words.
- 20:08For those of you who are listening, I would love to please, please, please, please, please put in the comments the feelings that you get when you're feeling the spirit versus when you're feeling the enemy.
- 20:22Okay.
- 20:22Because this is going to really help people who are listening, who are maybe not really sure, get different descriptions to help them put into words what's going on inside of them.
- 20:35Okay.
- 20:36And then after you feel the enemy, we go back to the spirit.
- 20:40Okay.
- 20:40We don't want to stay there, right?
- 20:42We don't want to give them the time of day to, like, you know, have place in our hearts or in our minds.
- 20:47But we.
- 20:47You do need to recognize what the juxtaposition between the two.
- 20:53This is really important because then if we go back to praying, a prophetic prayer and praying over people and learning how to pray, it's important to know that while you are praying, you might be going through this back
- 21:09and forth.
- 21:10Okay.
- 21:11And as you practice, I truly believe that receiving the spirit is a skill, that this is something that we practice.
- 21:20It has taken me several years of concerted effort to get to a point where when I am in my grounded space, okay.
- 21:32When I'm not in a really heightened emotional state, it's easier when I'm in, like, anger or really hard grief.
- 21:42Like, anything that's really heightened, it's a lot harder for me.
- 21:45I have to kind of calm myself down first.
- 21:48That's why I love meditation so much.
- 21:50Deep breathing helps me get into a more calm state.
- 21:53And when I'm in that calm state, I can feel the spirit easier.
- 21:58Are you the same way, Tamara?
- 22:01Oh, definitely.
- 22:02But I don't use meditation, I actually have learned to cast out the negative emotions.
- 22:07And so I'll say something like, in the name of Jesus Christ, I cast out the spirit of anxiety and fear.
- 22:14And I.
- 22:15Anytime you cast something out, you have a void.
- 22:18And so you need to fill that with what you desire.
- 22:22And I invite in the spirit of peace, of love, of tranquility, all those things that I'd rather have.
- 22:32Meditation works, and sometimes you need to do several things to get rid of, you know, that negativity.
- 22:38If I've been angry, I often have to repent before I can feel the spirit.
- 22:43Let's be honest.
- 22:44If I've just been yelling at my kids or been in, like, a really stressful situation where I'm kind of, like, bugged or frustrated, I often have to repent first before.
- 22:54And that's kind of like casting out, right?
- 22:57Yeah.
- 22:58Yeah.
- 22:58Well, it's getting rid of the negative that's holding you captive at the moment so you can move forward.
- 23:03Yes.
- 23:04And it's just practicing that daily repentance and coming back into alignment.
- 23:11And I don't mean to say I have to repent in, like, this judgmental way.
- 23:15It's just life.
- 23:16Right.
- 23:16Like, I make mistakes.
- 23:18So, long story short, let's go back to the prophetic prayer.
- 23:21So yesterday with Charlie, feeling so much pain for him and for the community, I prayed for calm and for order to be restored on the campus, for order to be restored in the community.
- 23:36I remember feeling this strong sense that his passing would be a catalyst for both good and evil.
- 23:47And if we're not careful, it's going to set off a chain of events.
- 23:55And what I have realized since then is that situations like this, where there is so much emotional energy and so much polarization, has the opportunity to either bring us to our knees in prayer and supplication, or it has
- 24:16the opportunity to bring us to our knees in despair, or it has the opportunity to bring in hatred and disorder and chaos.
- 24:28And what I feel God is asking and calling all of us here at Women warriors of Light to do is to decide to take the opportunity to choose how you want to react, to choose if you want to
- 24:47be on the side of love and peace and unity, or if we want to continue in division and hate and discord and disharmony.
- 25:00Speaking for myself, I choose to be a beacon of light.
- 25:06I choose to not focus on the negative, to focus on what unifies me with my sisters.
- 25:15We may not all be of the same denomination, the same faith, the same religion even, but we have something in common.
- 25:25We have this desire to love, this desire to serve and to serve God and the best of our capability.
- 25:36And we best do that when we have love in our hearts.
- 25:41Without love, it is really hard to find the truth.
- 25:45And in these days we need truth more than anything and we need our ability to discern truth with the world of AI and misinformation.
- 25:58I mean, think about all of the reports that were going on yesterday that were just false, right?
- 26:03And that happens all the time in today's world.
- 26:06We need the ability to hear God.
- 26:10There will come a day, sisters, when we will be cut off from each other and the only thing we will have to rely on is our relationship with God.
- 26:25He will tell us how to find safety.
- 26:28He will tell us where to go, what to do, who to talk to, what to eat, what not to eat, what medication to take, all of those things.
- 26:40Now is the time to practice our ability to hear him and to move forward with confidence.
- 26:50And I say that in his name.
- 26:53Thank you so much, Bonnie.
- 26:54That was beautiful.
- 26:56And I 100% agree.
- 26:58I have found that God most quickly answers prayers.
- 27:03I pray for someone else, not for myself, and that I will most often feel guided in the spirit when I'm praying for someone else very, very specifically.
- 27:16So if you're wondering what the spirit feels like, try praying for someone else in front of them, with them.
- 27:23It.
- 27:24It's a powerful experience.
- 27:26A good idea.
- 27:28We'll just close this off saying, ladies, learn how God speaks to you.
- 27:34It's important.
- 27:36And once you learn how God speaks to you, begin acting on those little promptings and then teach someone else that same lesson.
- 27:46Thanks for joining us today, and may you be able to hear the voice of the Lord more clearly in the days ahead.
- 27:55Thanks for tuning in to the Arise Women of God podcast, brought to you by Women with Warriors of Light.
- 28:01If you're feeling unsure how to move forward in your calling or just tired of doing it alone, visit womenwarriorsoflight.com you'll find resources, accountability, and a community of women who get it.
- 28:16Sometimes the calling feels bigger than you.
- 28:20That's when you need steady reminders of the powerful God who called you.
- 28:25Subscribe now for weekly inspiration and the courage to keep going.
- 28:30Because with him, nothing is impossible.
- 28:33And you're not the only one.
- 28:34God is calling that friend on your heart right now.
- 28:38Share this episode with her.
- 28:40Your small act of obedience could be the breakthrough she's been praying for.
- 28:45Until next time.
- 28:46May you arise, walk God's way and stand God strong.