Hearing the Voice of the Lord...

I had a great time in Virginia with Stephen Bell from Riversong Church in Springfield. We taught in a YWAM School and in a Korean Discipleship School. Our topic How to hear the voice of the Lord. A great topic. One thing is certain, we are uniquely wired as individuals and we all hear differently. Frustration usually occurs when we compare ourselves with others. We need to learn how we are wired and how the Holy Spirit speaks to us.

 A few months ago I met a man who was frustrated. He wasn’t hearing the voice of the Lord clearly. I asked, “Where do you go or what do you do when you feel closest to Jesus.” He replied, “When I’m out taking a walk. I love nature.” I replied, “Go there. Become aware of what you are seeing, what you are feeling. Open your heart and listen. Most likely it’s there you will begin to hear His voice.”

John Wesley’s mom would go to her place when she felt overwhelmed. She would sit in her rocking chair, flip her apron over her head to meet with Jesus. Remember? She had many children running around needing to be cared for. She found her place of connection in the midst of chaos, sitting in her rocker with her apron over her head. Where is your place?Dew upon the ground. One lady was standing away from the group watching what was happening. (An amazing outflow of the Holy Spirit touched the group. A lady in a wheelchair was receiving a huge measure of healing; others were receiving emotional breakthrough, One lady had experienced depression for 10 years and was being set free.)

We prayed for the lady viewing the action. We told her every person receives and responds differently. Some laugh, some praise, some clap, some are silent, some cry etc. As we were talking with her we noticed the Holy Spirit was indeed upon her, yet she was not aware. He was landing upon her gently, like a fresh dew landing upon the grass. He knew her emotional need. She needed a gentle touch. When we explained what we saw she relaxed, and she received. Later during the testimony time she began to weep as she shared how much her encounter with the Holy Spirit encouraged her. He knew her. He knew how she was wired and He knew what she needed in that moment.
 
The whole purpose of hearing the voice of the Lord is to know Him better. When we hear Him, we can have a relationship with Him. Having a relationship with Him, we can then make Him know to others. Freely we receive. We can then freely give.
 
I keep asking that the God of our  Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father may give you the spirit of wisdom and revelation so that you may know Him better Ehp1:17-19
 
Youth. 
Stephen spoke at a youth event.  Sharon, the leader, has been gathering young Korean teens together for many years. The fifty teens come from many different area churches. They are trained, encouraged and sent back to their local church. One of the leaders has trained many guitarist and worship leaders. It was an amazing meeting!


Korean People.  
Teaching in the Korean school was really fun. Most of the students being trained were over sixty. There was a lot of hunger and humility in the group. The last night was powerful. Korean men usually do not show emotion and are rather reserved. We received several accurate words of encouragement for the men. They were very encouraged and had tears running down their faces. The Korean people are a wonderful people.
Not many people know I had trained many Korean pastors and leaders while working at Cincy Vineyard. I started a weekend intensive. They would come for three days, be trained and head back to their area. They would always bring gifts for Pattie.


Phillips Temple. I’ll be starting to train the leaders at PhillipsTemple in Trotwood in November. The leaders have a great foundation of prayer and the Word. Pattie and I have popped up to worship with them a few times. We always come away encouraged. I believe they are shifting the atmosphere in Trotwood. They have a desire to reach out to their community. This should be an exciting season for me and for the church.


If your group would like to have a session learning about hearing the voice of the Lord. Let me know on the connection section.

Pattie and I are seeking to become missionaries again, hopefully by May. We don’t know what it looks like or how we will raise monthly support. We value your partnership and care for us.

UK Trip Prophetic... fun.

While in England preparing before a meeting I wrote, page, writer, stuck. 

In the meeting I asked if anyone was in the room named Paige, not a common English name. The Paige person didn’t show a hand. I told everyone that I was practicing and sometimes I get things mixed up, or I am just wrong.

Noticing is important.

I had a word for a girl and I asked her to stand. The word was about dreaming a new dream and she was in process of moving into the dream. I later found out she was moving into developing some strategy for their group. I received the word for her because I saw a girl that day who looked like her and had "dare to dream" tattooed on her neck. 

I then moved on to find the writer who was stuck. The stuck writer was the girl sitting next to the girl I had just had the word for dreams. I thought that was interesting.

When she stood, there was suddenly an amazing flow of Jesus love for her. Seems she uses Mac to write her poetry, songs, on... pages. She felt stuck. Some who knew her were laughing and crying as I spoke over her. She was crying and laughing. it turned into an impartation and a very encouraging word to her for what was ahead. 

There was a sudden shift in the atmosphere and I knew I had tapped into Jesus’s heart for the people in the meeting. A few other encouraging words flowed.

Later, the dream girl came up to me and told me her middle name was Paige. So, Paige, dream girl, was sitting next to the writer who was stuck. How good is that? Bye the way, they had traveled the longest to get to the meeting.

I also, found out the writer had written and presented some pretty amazing poetry in the church. Which, when presented was powerful, not just in the writing, but how she presented her poetry.

Scotland, prophetic was also flowing again. 
I found myself moving down a intuitive prophetic path as I was speaking and suddenly knew, "Oh know( it was an... oh know) I knew spoke too fast and too far." If you've been doing this for awhile you will know that feeling of how do I correct myself in this situation. I had to back up, apologize and reminded the person of the first part which was the main Father's love connection. 

Yesterday, I emailed the person and asked for forgiveness.

Shawn Boltz book Translating God is so helpful. I've read it twice so far. 

The book has a section about being accountable for our words, attitudes, actions. He encourages the reader, when we give direction, times, or dates to track what we have said and see if what we have said comes into being. If not, then we may have some cleaning up to do. He encourages people to have self-awarness, to be emotionally intelligent and to ask for honest feedback. John Paul Jackson was the forerunner of this concept and made moves to establish this in the prophetic movement. 

So glad I asked the leaders for feedback. I knew in my knower I was heading in the wrong direction. Self correction, is so important.

3D Rendering
Joel Menken Imagine Media Facebook did an amazing job videoing and 3D photo of Overtounhouse.com.

Use Crome and this link https://my.matterport.com/show/?m=LKm2aTYeep3 
a 3D rendering of a castle we shot. 

I think churches will begin to use this as a virtual window for websites. Cutting edge technology. If you are in the Dayton Area grab Joel. He'd be glad to give you a price for your business, church etc.

Here is a short video of my time in the UK. 

All in all it was a great trip. Thanks to all who support us.

Is He more than enough? Bowen update.

Hey just wanted to write a brief update…

It’s rewarding to see the potential for missionaries using the film we gift to highlight who they are and what they do. Two short video's have been completed. We are waiting on completed edit. While in Costa Rica we filmed Thebackwardsmissionaries.com

Our heart is to equip, train and encourage wherever we are located and go. We are practitioners not just theorist. I do more than travel to encourage missionaries; this is just a part of what we are doing. We are learning and growing even at our age.

Worship a key that unlocks our hearts...
I was worshiping and felt so small, so young, I asked Jesus, "Why?" Reply, "Because you are eternal." Yep, much pondering on this statement happened.

Stunned...
I was worshiping a while ago, and I felt a nudge, a whisper… “Steve, if this was the only thing you did …. would it be enough?" 

I sat in silence for some time then replied, “I want you to be enough. I’m so driven. I don’t know. Help me to allow you to be enough.” 

I walked away from that moment forever changed. 

Worship is our number one way of expressing our heart to Jesus. As we worship He appears. Sue Ranaldi, a worship leader in the UK once said, "Worship is the scene of His appearing." 

Those who worship, touch the Father's heart 

as they glorify Jesus. The Holy Sprit loves to glorify the Son.

 As we worship He shows up.

 Number two way, is serving others. Both sacrifices are pleasing to HIm. (Hebrews 13)

We sing … more than enough… but really, is He? When I remember this encounter I cease striving. I pause. I reflect. In eternity He will be more than enough… I’m learning to practice making Him so here.

More to follow.
I head to the UK Monday for 3 weeks, and yes another video guy is going, thanks to the partnership support I’m receiving. His first out of the country mission. Excited for him. 

He will be filming Overtoun House and Bob and Melissa Hill. 

I’ll be in Warrington, England for a couple of weeks with Mike and Jane McMahon training and encouraging before heading north.

Last thought. Times are a changing: partnership and support come from relationships with ones being sent.This includes churches and individuals. We are grateful for those we know, or we have known, who help us do what we do.

We are so grateful,

Steve and Pattie
for more
www.eyesoutward.com  

If you'd like to give use donor box at the top side bar of eyesoutward.

Bowen update amazing story... Costa Rica

To partner with us use Donor Box

Intention... His Kind Intention

God is kind...His is intentional...
The kind intention of HIs will. Kindness is part of his overarching will for man.


Ephesians 1. NASB
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, 

In love

He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, 

which 

He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved.
 

In Him 

we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, 

according to the riches of His grace 

which 

He lavished on us.

In all wisdom and insight He made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His kind intention which He purposed in Him Jesus (God was in Christ Redeeming the world to Himself)

with a view to an administration suitable to the fullness of the times, that is, the summing up of all things in Christ, things in the heavens and things on the earth.

In Him

also we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to His purpose who works all things after the counsel of His will,
 

to the end that we who were the first to hope in Christ would be to the praise of His glory. 

In Him, 
you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation—having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise, 

 who is given as a pledge of our inheritance, with a view to the redemption of God’s own possession, to the praise of His glory.


He bestowed grace upon us in the Beloved.(Jesus)... and He lavished grace upon us according to His kind intention.

What does bestowed grace and lavished grace look like? 

 




I think it looks like this.

                   


                     But it really looks like this!  











Kind intention... flows from His grace, from His nature.

The Point:  Kindness is more than a principle. Kindness is an attribute that flows from the very nature and character of God. 

God is Love... God is kind.

Not surprising... The word kind, is a humble word...

Bible dictionaries often define kind... by simple word, like good, gentle, easy, useful and gracious.

Kind Intention...
Kind: being of a good or benevolent nature or disposition; characterized by or expressing goodwill or kindly feelings:a benevolent attitude; desiring to help others; charitable; patient, considerate, or helpful; to be kind to another; mild; gentle; loving; affectionate; having an intention to benefit another
 

Intention: purpose; an aim or plan; a goal to accomplish; what a person intends to do; a moral decision; an attitude to propose to benefit another; a mental state that represents a commitment to carrying out an action, in the present or in the future; an aim that guides ones actions.

British Dialect. loving; affectionate.

Kindness is an action.  

She is a kind person. 

He is a kind man.  

Why? How do you know when a person is kind? There is evidence... There is something  about their character that is reveled by their actions. 
They are defined as being kind by what they do: what they say, and how they act.

God is kind to all...

Ps 145:17 NASB
The LORD is righteous in all His ways And kind in all His deeds.
 
But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return, and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, for he is kind to the ungrateful and the evil. (Luke 6:35)

God is Love...

Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. (1st Corinthians 13:4)

Kindness draw us out of our stuff and into His light and love.
 

Romans 2:4 NAS
Or do you think lightly of the riches of His kindness and tolerance and patience, not knowing that the kindness of God leads you to repentance?
   
Hosea is an amazing study of the goodness and kindness of God.

Hosea 2:14-15 NASB
His previous statements of Israels waywardness leads Him to respond in a way that reveals His mercy and kindness.

What am I going to do?
 
“Therefore, behold, 

I will allure her,
Bring her into the wilderness
And speak kindly to her.

Then 

I will give her her vineyards from there,
And the valley of Achor (trouble) as a door of hope.
And she will sing there as in the days of her youth,
As in the day when she came up from the land of Egypt."

Joseph, in spite of his difficulties, experiences the Lord's kindness... 
Here is the repeated phrase that followed Joseph...
But the LORD was with Joseph 

and 

extended kindness to him. 

The act of kindness expressed to Joseph, was the blessing of extreme Favor upon Joseph's life... He found favor where ever he went. Pit, Palace, Prison, to Prime Minister.

Kindness, Loving-kindness was the foundation of all David understood and knew about God. 

When he committed unthinkable sin, and was exposed, in the midst of his greatest failure he knew (by experience) God was kind. He humbled himself and prayed asking forgiveness (according) to what he knew about the goodness and kindness of God.
 

Ps 51:1 NASB 

According to your loving-kindness have mercy on me.
Be gracious to me, O God, according to Your loving-kindness;
According to the greatness of Your compassion blot out my transgressions.


A lot of people are boasting about many things. Jeremiah discovered what to truly boast about.

Jeremiah 9:23-24 NIV

This is what the Lord says:
“Let not the wise boast of their wisdom

or 

the strong boast of their strength

or the rich boast of their riches,

but

let the one who boasts boast about this:

that they have the understanding to know me,(that he knows me)
that I am the Lord, 

who 

exercises kindness,

justice and righteousness on earth,

for in these I delight,”declares the Lord.

He exercises, releases the action of His grace and kindness on earth... or in our earth.

Lord's prayer... Your kingdom come, your will be done, on(in us) earth, as it is in heaven.

Kindness is found in our earth, in our being. We have the fruit of the Spirit... Love, joy, peace, kindness... within us.

Kindness is so important...

Proverbs 3
1My son, do not forget my teaching,
            But let your heart keep my commandments;

      2 For length of days and years of life
            And peace they will add to you.

      3 Do not let kindness and truth leave you;
            Bind them around your neck,
            Write them on the tablet of your heart.
  
      4 So you will find favor and good repute
            In the sight of God and man.


The Point:
As believers we should be reflections of the kindness and grace He has bestowed, and lavished upon us.  
How?

By practicing being kind and doing acts of intentional kindness; by having kind attitudes and speaking kind words.  

We need to have intentionality. 
 
His kind intention is for His world.  

We can join His intention by being intentional to reach the people He loves within our sphere of influence.

Take a selfie

What is God Space? It is a space that we create by faith. It’s an atmosphere or an environment where God’s goodness, power, presence, love, and kindness can touch another human being...

Take a selfie. What do you see? Who do you see?

It's interesting that God chooses to reveal His nature through imperfect people. He always will, and He always has. He chose messengers to embody and to reveal His message. 

Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Ester, Daniel, Jesus, the Disciples, Martin Luther King, William Wilberforce, John Wesley, John G. Lake, Billy Graham, Mother Teresa, and people like you and me embody the message. 

Amazing is this grace. Awesome is the responsibility. Joyful is the privilege. 

We are stewards, entrusted ones, and great is His investment in us. He invests His love and grace into us in order to flow through us.

Acts 1:8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

Notice, He didn't say we would do witnessing, but we would be...and be His witnesses.


A witness: a person who has seen, heard, or experienced something: to have personal or direct cognizance of a fact, a situation, an event or a person.

A witness is one who attests, authenticates, testifies (to), vouches (for), one who certifies as true. A witness is one who sees, declares what they have seen, heard and experienced.

The Disciples were experiential witnesses. 

When is the last time you had an experiential connection to Whom you believe?


1John 1:1-3 

That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched—this we proclaim concerning the Word of life. 

The life appeared; we have seen it and testify to it, and we proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and has appeared to us. 

We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard,  

so that you also may have fellowship with us. 

And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. 

We write this to make our joy complete. 

Jesus reflected the Fathers love. 

He was the Light, the Revealer. The disciples walked with Jesus for three years; at the end they still didn't understand. They saw and heard what Jesus said and did. They saw His compassion, His anger, His love, His friendship, His power, and were soon to see His agony, then His glory. 

Bottom line if we really see, behold, and experience Jesus, we see, behold and experience the Father's love.

 Scenario:
Last discourse with the disciples. A last meal. Last words of encouragement. Last action before the cross... Washing the disciples feet. Last command... Love well.

He states, "If you had really known me, you would know who my Father is. From now on, you do know him and have seen him!”

Philip said, “Lord, show us the Father, and we will be satisfied.”

Jesus replied, “Have I been with you all this time, 
Philip, and yet you still don’t know who I am?  

                                  Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father!                                                              

Just believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me. 

                        Or at least believe because of the works you have seen me do.“                                                        John 14:7-9 (NLT)

Jesus came to reveal the Father. 

All He was and all He did revealed, reflected and pointed to the nature and character of the Father through the power of the Holy Spirit. See Jesus, you see the Father.

They, (the words and works of Jesus) were written to encourage people to believe Jesus was the Son of God and pointed toward the nature of a loving Father.

Jesus reflected the Father because He was with the Father. He only did what the Father asked Him to do. He only did what He saw the Father doing. Jesus reflected His love for His Father in His final act on earth by going to the cross. See the cross, you see the love the Father has for the world. You also receive a glimpse of Jesus's great love for His Father. He loved His Father so much that He gave it all. This is amazing love!

Jesus often went to a garden in the Mount of Olives to talk to His Father .  

It was His custom... He went to the Mt. of Olives... He would leave crowds, slip away, spend time alone in His Father's Presence. 

Pattie Bowen Bible Journal

 

In the same way our life disciplines / habits / customs are stepping stones that move us forward toward knowing the Father's heart.

Good habits build a bridge to help us move from where we are, toward where we want to go.

The importance of Being. 

The messenger is the message. We reflect who we are, and who we have been with. This is why it is so important to spend time in the Fathers presence and learn to be. As we experienced Him, we then become His witness.

When we serve someone we reveal the love and care of our Father. 
When we pray for someone we reveal the love and care of our Father. 
When we encourage someone we reveal the love and the care of our Father. 
We in a very real way reveal the Father's nature. 

Our good deeds reflect the Father's love.

For a couple of years I prayed daily. "Jesus, you reveal the Love of the Father, please reveal the love of the Father to my heart." I also prayed, "Father,  no one can come to Jesus unless you draw them. Father please draw me closer to Jesus."

I was expecting an encounter that would come upon me and give direct revelation of the love of the Father. I thought the revelation would come during my worship time, or my prayer time or at a special meeting. 

Over time I realized as I was praying for people, I was seeing the love of the Father reflected through what He revealed and what He gave to the people I was praying for. 

Recently, I've had several people stop me and thank me for praying for them. One lady told me I prayed for her over a year ago and she has had no pain or issues since. Amazing!

I marvel, "Wow! Father I see your nature. I see your love. You loved her so much that you met her need abundantly beyond all we could ask or think! You are truly a loving Father."

God's love for me was revealed not by some mysterious experience, (I'm all in for those) but by her need being met through an answered prayer... through me. He reveals His love as I serve someone, or when I stop for the one. Sometimes He reveals His love as I encourage someone with prophetic insight or by giving a gift to someone.

Here's the deal. God almost always reveals His love and grace toward people... through us, His imperfect people. This is both amazing and most humbling.

The message is the messenger. The messenger is the message. If you are in doubt, take a selfie.