Hearing His Voice #202 - The One Year Hearing His Voice Devotional

To another the same Spirit gives a message of special knowledge.

1 Corinthians 12:8

“Do you have pain in your right knee?” one man asked another for no apparent reason. “Yes, as a matter of fact, I do,” said the other. The man who asked the strange question then offered to pray for the pain to go away, and permission was granted. When he prayed, the pain began to subside.

The gentleman who received prayer for his knee marveled that anyone might be able to pinpoint his aching joint. He hadn’t mentioned it. They had both been sitting, so the stranger couldn’t have observed a limp. “How did you know?” he asked. The first man explained that he suddenly felt pain in his own knee. Having well-trained spiritual sensitivities and no history of knee problems, he assumed that God was giving him a message. He had learned that when something began to hurt for no apparent physical reason while he was talking to someone else, that person might have physical issues there. God was prompting him to pray for healing.

Most of us instinctively begin to wonder what’s wrong with us when we have a physical symptom or a sudden mood change, and our focus turns toward ourselves. But when that happens, we may be picking up a signal from the Holy Spirit. He isn’t limited to words, after all; He can speak through our senses. He has alerted many prayer warriors to other people’s symptoms by giving them a brief, mild, and otherwise inexplicable pain in the area of need—a neck, a heart, an eye or ear, or anything else. “God told me your [neck, heart, ear, etc.] needs healing” is not an appropriate approach to the situation, but a polite query followed by an unassuming offer to pray is never out of line. When we invite God to speak this way, He uses us to show His goodness to people in need.

Lord, alert me to Your gentle nudges to represent You to others. Make me aware of the creative ways You speak. Teach me to ask, “What are You saying?” before I ever think, “Why is this happening?”