Hearing His Voice #181

Faith is the confidence that what we hope for will actually happen; it gives us assurance about things we cannot see.

Hebrews 11:1

Rees Howells, a man known for his life of intercessory prayer, found himself on a train platform without any money to get to his next destination. He was led there by faith, believing God would provide, yet the time had come to catch the next train, and he still had no means to buy a ticket. At that moment, the Holy Spirit spoke to him: “If you had money, what would you do?” Howells responded that he would go ahead and get in line for a ticket. The Spirit then said, “Have you not been preaching that My promises are equal to current coin? You had better take your place in the queue.” So Howells obeyed.

There is nothing ambiguous about this conversation. It was a clear exchange of words. As Howells waited in line, he also had a clear conversation with the enemy, the tempter; apparently Howells was well versed in the language of the spiritual realm, regardless of his conversation partner. In our age, we might be inclined to call this an imaginary discussion between competing thoughts in our own minds, yet there was nothing at all imaginary about the fruit of this discussion. God provided money for Howells’s ticket at the last moment through a bystander who had no knowledge of the need. Howells’s faith was rewarded rather concretely. The conversations about the terms of his faith had been very real.

Many of our thoughts are more than just thoughts. They are an exchange of words between us and the Holy Spirit, or sometimes between us and an unholy spirit of darkness. Far from “just our imagination,” they are concrete communications. Through eyes of faith, we can recognize them as such and act on them. Our minds very often think the thoughts of God, and our hearts can learn to discern them.

Spirit of God, You’ve told me I have the mind of Christ. Teach me to recognize which thoughts are His. I wholeheartedly invite You to be thoroughly present in my mental conversations.