Hi, I am Jenna Winston with Heartscaping Ministries. I just wanted to share a thought or a tool with you. How do you hear from God? Do you know that you hear from God? Do you question if you hear from God? Do you hear from God and disqualify it? Those are questions I deal with people in my sessions all the time. I know for me it was quite the journey. I didn’t even realize I actually heard God pretty well. And over time it just got stronger because I realized I could be one of those pesky kids that asked 10 million questions, even down to, “Why am I thinking this? Why do I feel that? Why is that my response?” And I would get feelings and visions and sometimes God even talks to me audibly.
One of the things I wanted to share is that a lot of people are so fearful of being deceived that they are like, “How do I know it’s God?” Or they need 10 million confirmations. I wanted to share the practicality of, what that looks like to be confident that you’re hearing from God.
First of all, if it is uplifting, loving, encouraging, and empowering you…because if it comes across as condemning, bringing guilt and shame, it is definitely not God. But for me, I was on a personal journey trying to learn how to connect to God as a daughter instead of a robot in ministry. It was years ago. And I was challenged to actually go after learning how to connect to God without worshipping and doing all the things to get in that spot. And so, I decided I was going to ask God a question. For the first time in my life, I think I was 41-years-old. I said, “Jesus, what is your truth about me?” And this flood of, “You’re my daughter, I love you, you’re beautiful…” And all these things. I was just like, “Wow.”
The next night I tried again. Same thing. “You’re my daughter, I am so glad you asked that, I love telling you how I feel about you.” I was like, “Whoa.” The third night same thing and my immediate response was, “Those are just my thoughts. I am just thinking good thoughts and saying it is God.” But the next thing I heard was so profound I knew it was God. There was no way I was that clever to come up with it. He said, “Jenna, there is not one amazing thought you could have about yourself that I don’t have a billion more. So think away. If you are sitting there having good thoughts about yourself, I am never going to come and go, “‘Nope, I don’t believe that one.’ Or, ‘You’re getting a little too big for your britches.’”
He was like, “Jenna, you sat in the lies for so long that I love you are thinking good things about yourself. And I love you know I am partnered with you. And that is how I talk to you.”
That really started my journey of stepping into my identity and being able to fully choose to believe and adopt what God was saying to me. Instead of constantly positioning myself waiting for God to prove to me that is how He felt. I actually made a conscious choice to ask Him how He felt about me and chose to believe it even if that is not how I felt.
I always call it “my season of choosing God’s Truth even when it opposed my own”. I want to pray for you guys because if this is a struggle for you, I want to release breakthrough in that. Challenge yourself and allow the space for Him to talk back to you and tell Him how He feels about you.
Jesus, I ask for anyone and everyone that is listening, Lord, that they would actually start to trust and believe and know they are hearing you. That your heart is always for them, to uplift them to prosper them, to grow them, to bless them. And that they wouldn’t have any questions on whether it is you, but literally be able to step into a supernatural kind of adoption of your truth, Lord. And as they step into your truth, that all the lies they have been believing, or old belief systems just disappear on their own. In Jesus’ name. Amen.