Listen to His voice, not to your worries. Trust in Him, not in your fears. Allow the continual influence of His transforming Kingdom to flow through your spirit.

Clarity comes to the one who is willing to do the will of God. The willingness to obey attracts revelation, because God is the ultimate steward, sowing His treasures into fertile ground—surrendered hearts.

It is the most amazing time in the world to be alive in God — to hear his voice, to hear what he is saying, to see what he intends to do in the earth, and what his heart is like for the people. It is an amazing time.

Make no mistake, character is a supreme issue with God. But His approach is much different than ours. His righteousness/character is not built into us by our own efforts. It is developed when we quit striving and learn to abandon ourselves completely to His will.

Not understanding is OK. Restricting our spiritual life to what we understand is not. It is immaturity at best. Such a controlling spirit is destructive to the development of a Christ-like nature. God responds to faith but will not surrender to our demands for control.

In learning how God speaks to us I've also learned that besides unusual coincidences

God never fails to give you the tools you need beforehand. You can see this aspect of His nature in this episode of the Exodus story: Then it came to pass, when Pharaoh had let the people go, that God did not lead them by way of the land of the Philistines, although that was near; for God said, "Lest perhaps the people change their minds when they see war, and return to Egypt" (Exodus 13:17).

While he never contradicts His Word, He is very comfortable contradicting our understanding of it. Those who feel safe because of their intellectual grasp of Scriptures enjoy a false sense of security. None of us has a full grasp of Scripture, but we all have the Holy Spirit. He is our common denominator who will always lead us into truth. But to follow Him, we must be willing to follow off the map—to go beyond what we know. To do so successfully we must recognize His presence above all.

Faith is focused entirely on God and exists because of Him. Faith is active, and is completely dissatisfied with theories and ideals that cannot be proven, that do not bear fruit. It derives its life from the voice and nature of God. It is unto God, to bring Him pleasure and glory. Such a life is anything but a comfortable life of caution. It is bold, brave, courageous and risky.

Keep in mind that if you do not give up the right to understand, you will not receive the peace that passes understanding.

Those who restrict themselves to mere words limit their gift, and may unintentionally lead believers to pride by increasing knowledge without an increased awareness of God's presence and power. It's in the trenches of Christlike ministry that we learn to become totally dependent upon God. Moving in the impossible through relying on God short-circuits the development of pride.

His presence is not upon us to be commandeered or directed by us. Instead, we are tools in his hand. If there is a dove resting on my shoulder in the natural (and I love that phrase 'and remained') and I don't want it to fly away, how am I going to walk around this room? Every step will be with the dove in mind. Every movement I make will be to preserve what I value most.