Key #4: Two-way Journaling

Assignments to be completed

• Prayerfully read Chapter 9 of 4 Keys to Hearing God’s Voice.
• Prayerfully read Chapter 5 of Dialogue with God.
• Watch Session 9 of the teaching, following along and taking notes in your LEARN notebook.
• Answer the exercise questions for Lesson 9 found in the Quiz section of the Kairos portal.
• Memorize John 5:19, 30a.

Additional Requirements

• Submit two-way journal assignment #4 found in the Quiz section of the Kairos portal.

Subjects to be explored

• Key #4: Two-way Journaling

Related objectives

• You will quote John 5:19, 30a.

  Jesus therefore answered and was saying to them, “Truly, truly I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, unless it is something He sees the Father doing; for whatever the Father does, these things the Son also does in like manner …I can do nothing on My own initiative.”

• You will state the four keys to hearing God’s voice.
• You will define “two-way journaling” as used by the authors.
• You will discuss three benefits of journaling.
• You will discuss the difference between questions of personal guidance and predictions of the future, and be careful to ask the right questions in your journal.
• You will discuss at least four reasons why you might make a mistake in your journal and solutions to them.
• You will discuss at least five ways by which we can test our journaling to know for sure that it came from God.
• You will discuss the six pillars and the foundation of the Leader’s Paradigm.

1. Seeing the Father

   1. Write out John 5:19, 30a.

   2. Ask the Lord through journaling what He wants to say to you through these verses and how He wants to apply them to your life.

      The Father has revealed himself through Jesus. The voice of Jesus reverberates through the Holy Spirit and illuminates the hearts of even those who are dead in their trespasses coming to the knowledge of the truth. His strength will be perfected in my weakness as I seek to do His will.

      Virkler:

      Jesus had not gone beyond words and pictures and emotions. Instead, He stepped from Himself and His own will to God’s words, pictures and emotions — to living out of His Father’s initiatives. (p. 156)

      The veil is torn, access is available, fellowship with the Holy Spirit is possible. Will you enter in? Will you seek the way? Will you go within the veil and experience God in direct encounter, or will you be satisfied to experience Him secondhand through the Book He has written?

2. Write out and memorize Key #4 as stated on page 213 of 4 Keys to Hearing God’s Voice.

   Write down the flow of thoughts and pictures that come to you (Two-way Journaling)

3. Personal guidance vs predictions of the future

   1. Discuss the difference between questions of personal guidance and predictions of the future.

      According to the author, a question of personal guidance leads in the direction of a decision, whereas prediction of the future seeks to know the future and can influence another person's free will.

   2. Based on this discussion, do you now recognize any times when you strayed into seeking God for forbidden information?

      Before 2000, when I traveled and ministered with a company of prophets, personal predictions for others were the norm. Seeking knowledge of the future is unavoidable because I live in a world of dreams. However, when I pray, I seek His will and guidance.

4. Give at least six ways by which we can test our journaling to know for sure that it came from God.

   1. Check with my spiritual advisors
   2. Is my heart right when approaching God?
   3. Does the Logos confirm the rhema?
   4. Are my eyes fixed on Jesus?
   5. Is what I journal in harmony with the essential nature of God?
   6. Is the tenor of the journal line up with the character of God?

5. In your own words, discuss the six pillars and the foundation of the Leader’s Paradigm.

   1. The scriptures as the foundation of truth
   2. God's illumination of the thoughts in mind to the truth
   3. God's illuminated witness of the heart to the truth
   4. The truth discerned through the councils of others
   5. Understanding the nature of life reveals the truth
   6. Dreams, visions, prophecy, and journaling reveals the truth
6. Stages of journaling

   1. In your own words, discuss the three stages of journaling suggested by the author.

      According to the author: The beginner stage is where you are guided through the process. The intermediate state is where you flow in the prophetic and can function in your calling and ministry. The advanced stage is where you're leading others in the matured office of a prophet.

   2. Hopefully by this point you are operating in the intermediate stage, in the gift of prophecy, able to come to hear from the Lord whenever you quiet yourself, fix your eyes on Jesus, and tune to spontaneity. Do so now, and ask the Lord if He wants you to aspire to the office of prophet. What does He want you to be doing now to prepare yourself for whatever call He has placed upon you?

      The Lord does not want me to return to a prophet's office.

7. Meditate on Ezekiel 33:13-16 and journal about this passage, asking God what He wants to speak to you concerning the verses and their application to your life.

   The Lord will clothe me in the righteousness of Christ as I trust in the finished work of the Lord on the cross.

8. Journaling mistakes

   1. In your own words, summarize the common reasons for journaling mistakes and their solutions.

      1. Wrong focus. Fix your eyes on Jesus.
      2. Wrong interpretation. Ask God to interpret.
      3. Wrong conducts. Obey and do what God says.
      4. Too small for God to use. Pray and meditate more.
      5. Spiritual illiteracy. Wait for the grammar to come.
      6. Smallmindedness. Open the mind up to limitless possibilities.
      7. Bad advisors. Tell them to seek the Lord.
      8. Misreading God. Hold onto Christ and nothing else.
      9. My will, not God's. Accept it.
      10. Murderous thoughts. Please don't do it.
      11. Lust. Kill it on the cross.
      12. Hubris. Don't journal your pride.

   2. Do you believe there have been mistakes in your journaling so far? Are you able to recognize the source of these mistakes in any of the reasons given in the text?

      I haven't experienced any of these in my journal so far. I might unknowingly miss a few and, therefore, might violate mistake 12.

   3. If you find you have made a mistake in your journaling in the future, how are you going to respond?

      If I find errors, I'll look them up to find if they're in the scriptures and the correct context.

9. In Lesson 8 you were asked to become more aware of the pictures you see in your mind and heart, testing them by their spirit, their ideas, and their fruit. (See exercise #3 in Lesson 8.) Discuss your experience and what you have learned. (Note: This same question will be repeated in multiple sessions.)

   I have many experiences seeing visions throughout my ministry. Most visions amount to nothing, or I forget what I have seen. What was most helpful for others were biblical stories that illustrate present predicaments. For example, a few decades ago, I told the story of Eli being blinded to the spiritual depravity of his sons, which painted a vivid picture of a minister who was considering not confronting his daughter living in adultery in his home.

10. Do the Personal Application at the end of Chapter 9 of 4 Keys to Hearing God’s Voice.

    As you come and seek my face, let my Spirit guide you into all truth and comfort your heart. Journal these thoughts as a diary so you can look back and be reminded that I have been with you.

Interesting Expositions

• 4KHGV, p.109

  All predictions are flexible, because God changes His mind if we or another person in the prophecy changes their heart (see Ezek. 33:13-16; Jer. 18:7-10). Therefore predictions are changeable.