Pursuing The Father’s Heart
”I love them that love me; And those that seek me early shall find me.“
Proverbs 8:17 KJV
”And I will give them an heart to know me, that I am the LORD: and they shall be my people, and I will be their God: for they shall return unto me with their whole heart.“ Jeremiah 24:7 KJV
”Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.“ John 8:12 KJV
How my journey started
My Journey
Allow me to share a life - changing experience that transformed my entire life.
One ordinary, night, as I was prepared for my usual social media browsing and gaming, something extraordinary happened. My bible lay on the nightstand, seemingly unnoticed. Yet, each night as I reached for my phone, a gentle whisper echoed in my heart - the voice of the Holy Spirit." I wish you would give me the same amount of time you give to social media." This divine invitation persisted for two years.
Amidst working two jobs and justifing my need for downtime after 12 hour shifts, I often chose entertainment over Jesus. But that fateful night, the Holy Spirit's plea struck a chord deep within me. I felt the sadness from Father God's heart, and it shattered my defenses. Tears flowed, and for the first time, I made a heartfelt commitment to Jesus. I vowed never to prioritize games or social media unless it was to share something for Him. In that moment, I surrendered everything.
Since then, my relationship with my Father God has blossomed into a passionate love affair. I've embarked on a journey to pursue His heart, seeking His presence and purpose in every aspect of my life. Through this platform, I'll share the remarkable blessings that have unfolded since I wholeheartedly embraced the path to pursue His heart.
May my stories inspired others to seek the Father's heart and experience the transformative power of His love.
LEARNING TO HEAR HIS VOICE
In the quiet chambers of my soul, I began a journey - A pursuit to know the Father's heart. No one had ever taught me how to listen for my Father's voice or engage in authentic conversations with Him. But by faith, I reached into the treasury of His heart.
I began to journal my innermost thoughts, penning them to Father God in the silence of the night waiting with expectancy, And then, like a gentle breeze stirring leaves, I heard Him. His voice resonated within me, bypassing mere words. As swiftly as my pen could move, He shared His thoughts, His heart - a symphony of wisdom and love.
These conversations with Father God transcended imagination. They were more exquisite, more profound than anything I could have conjured. Each encounter left me hungering for more - a longing to explore the depths of His heart, to unravel the way He truly loves his children.
I pray that your pursuit of His voice continues to lead you into this sacred dance of conversation - a dance that defies boundaries and invites you deeper into His devine embrace.
Embracing Stillness
In the sacred hush of my soul, I set out on a profound quest - to seek the heart of Father God. His beauiful words to me while journaling led me to the art of stillness. For hours I sat in patient anticipation awaiting His presence. And there, in the quiteness, I discovered a truth that resonates through eternity: "Be still and know that I am God." If you are willing to wait for Him, He will never disappoint you.
Father God arrives, His Holy Spirit envelops me - a love that floods my very being. It is a love beyond measure, beyond time, beyond the ordinary. In stillness, I find communion with Him - a space where the heart speaks and the soul listens. Our hearts commune together.
May your journey into stillness reveal the boundless love that awaits - a love that knows no disappointments, only grace.
Visions and Dreams
Spiritual Eyes
God is Spirit, and He can communicate directly with us through our spirit. He can speak to us through thoughts, with words, but also images and visions.
The prophet Joel, and the apostle Peter on the day of Pentecost, announced that in the last days, Christians would have visions. This is an experience that many biblical people have had. It is available for all those who have become the temple of the Holy Spirit after being born again.
The apostle Paul prays that the Ephesians open their spiritual eyes, which means that we have spiritual eyes that can be closed or open.
(Eph 1:18).
Matthew 13:15-16
This is also what Jesus shared when He said that those who have eyes see.
Our spiritual eyes allow us to perceive spiritual realities--what God is doing. They also let us see the images that God wants to transmit to us. They are called visions.
A vision is a mental image except that it is
spontaneous, it is not a figment of your imagination, and God is the source.
Would you like God to speak to you through visions too? I invite you to pray with me.
Heavenly Father, thank You for saving me and placing Your Spirit in me. I ask Your forgiveness for all the times I neglected what You showed me. Open my spiritual eyes so that I can see what You want to show me. Holy Spirit, what do You want to show me now?
“Look with wonder at the depth of the Father’s marvelous love that he has lavished on us! He has called us and made us his very own beloved children. The reason the world doesn’t recognize who we are is that they didn’t recognize him.” 1 John 1:3
“God, I invite you into this moment and ask that you open my heart to Your Word. Help me to know you deeply through it, and let your truth transform my heart, mind, and soul today.”
I have discovered a love that transcends human understanding - a love that is both mysterious and knowable. This love is recognizable. The pinnacle of this love is evident in the sacrifice of Jesus. His death and resurrection made it possible to intimately know the very heart of Father God.
The Father's Heart has limitless space for all his children
”He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him.“ John 14:21 KJV
John 14:21
Gallery
Worship and Praise
Worship: A Key in Spiritual Warfare
Let the high praises of God be in their mouth,
And a two-edged sword in their hand.
Psalm 149:6
Let’s be reminded, worship has a key role to play in spiritual warfare.
When we worship, breakthrough takes place in the heavenly realm that can miraculously change circumstances in our physical realm. Yes, worship can do this. There are just too many Bible stories that record this and too many life experiences to discount it.
Our enemy, the devil, and his demons can’t stand it when we worship. It is genuinely the worst sound in their ears. Our praise sends them running. Psalm 149 further tells us that the demonic entities are bound up. In addition, when we get our eyes off our circumstances and turn them to the One Who is Almighty and reigns supreme, our situations appear minuscule in His hand. Worship aligns our hearts with His heart to hear His battle commands for us. Worship humbles us to know that only He can fight on our behalf. And worship positions us to win the battle of whatever we are facing.
- Instead of getting angry, worship.
- Instead of allowing anxiety to rule, praise.
- Instead of succumbing to self-pity, lift up the One Who uplifts you.
No, we don’t worship to get. Nevertheless, when we do genuinely worship the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, fears cease, the enemy falters, Jesus is glorified, and His presence transforms us.
So, whatever you are facing right now, instead of contacting someone else, first go to the throne room. Remember who God is and lift your praise. Stay until you have touched heaven. Listen for the Holy Spirit’s direction. Ask for scriptures to strengthen and arm you for battle. Then, see what He does next. Because truly—worship is a key to triumphant spiritual warfare.I
Worship Invites God’s Presence
But You are holy,
Enthroned in the praises of Israel.
Psalms 22:3
As our praises enthrone Him—literally make a seat for Him—we experience His felt presence far surpassing mere head knowledge. And wherever King Jesus is, just as we read in the Gospels, there is salvation, healing, and deliverance.
In other words, turn on His light and the enemy’s darkness is overcome
Who Are We Battling?
You were the seal of perfection…
The workmanship of your timbrels and pipes
Was prepared for you on the day you were created.
Ezekiel 28:12-13
As we look at worship in spiritual warfare, it’s important to realize who and what we are battling.
Although we can’t know this conclusively, many Biblical scholars believe that the adversary of our souls, Satan, was once a beautiful, beyond compare angelic being created by our Father. He was likely the chief worshipper, leading the heavenly hosts in praising the Most High (Ezekiel 28:13). Nevertheless, the devil’s hideous pride in his own beauty caused violence and profanity in God’s presence. Simply stated, the enemy wanted to be God; therefore, the Lord Almighty cast him out of heaven along with those angels who rebelled with him (Ezekiel 28:14-17).
We are introduced to the devil in his fallen state in the Garden of Eden, as he tempts Adam and Eve with lies that God is holding out on them. The couple’s decision to listen to the serpent and their choice to turn from the Father ushered in a whole host of calamities:
- Humanity’s separation from God and spiritual death
- Violence and evil unleashed upon the earth
- Adam and Eve’s dominion over planet earth was given over to Satan
But God…
Those two Bible words change everything. Jesus—God incarnate—came for our rescue. Through faith in Him, we are restored in relationship to the Father, and our once-dead spirits are born again of the Holy Spirit—spiritual CPR.
Although violence and evil are still stalking the earth until Christ’s return, we, as believers, now have God’s Spirit dwelling within us and His spiritual gifts to overcome. We have also been given the power and authority of Jesus’ name to bind and cancel the works of the devil, a finite being, and his minions – the fallen angels now termed demonic spirits (Luke 10:17-20, Philippians 2:9-11).
What gifts we have been given by our loving Abba-Father! We also see why the devil hates our worship of our beloved Savior as we turn the enemy on his head with our praise. The position of worshipper that he once held in God’s courts is now a key to vanquishing him and his demons. What a mighty key it is!
His Kingdom Come
In this manner, therefore, pray:
Our Father in heaven,
Hallowed be Your name.
Your kingdom come.
Your will be done
On earth as it is in heaven.
When we worship, God is exalted, and heaven comes down. And, when heaven rules – hell flees.
When Lord Jesus gave us a blueprint for praying effectively, He told us to begin by declaring who God is.
Our Father…
Our Abba-Daddy loves us beyond reason. When this truth becomes rock-solid heart knowledge for us, our faith is pretty much invincible. Yes. OUR Father. Yours and mine. You see, when we fully engage in worship of our King—with all our being—our preoccupation with ourselves diminishes, and we position ourselves to be led by the Holy Spirit and not our flesh.
Hallowed be Your name…
His Name—no other name—is HOLY. His name is exalted above all names—over every demonic spirit or anything our enemy would throw at us (Philippians 2:9-11).Jesus invites us to begin all spiritual warfare and prayer by worshipping the holiness of His name and all that His name entails, represents, and for its sheer majesty and authority.
Your kingdom come…
Because our praise brings heaven down, asking for His will to be accomplished is not passive acquiescence but spiritual warfare at its most potent and dynamic. We are declaring God’s rule and reign, usurping any and every plan of the enemy or flesh that is waging war against us. Here we receive His invitation to partner with Him in battle prayer for our lives, our homes, our communities, and the nations (1 Corinthians 3:9).
All prayer and spiritual warfare should begin with worship and thanks. When we get that right, our prayer requests often take care of themselves. Should more specific instruction or discernment from the Holy Spirit be needed to smite specific tactics of demonic activity in the authority of Jesus’ name? In that case, the focus of our worship will release the clarity we need to pray more effectively.
His kingdom will come; His will—will be done.
Prevailing Worship
“You will not need to fight in this battle"...
And Jehoshaphat bowed his head ...worshiping the LORD.
...he appointed those who should sing to the LORD,
and who should praise the beauty of holiness,
as they went out before the army and were saying:
“Praise the LORD, For His mercy endures forever.”
2 Chronicles 20:17-18, 20-21
This favorite Bible account speaks directly to our brief study that worshipping the Commander of Angel Armies has a role to play in successful spiritual battle prayer.
Israel is about to be creamed by the onslaught of enemy attack. King Jehoshaphat leads the nation to seek the Lord, and God speaks, giving them out-of-the-box instructions. Nevertheless, the Lord promises complete victory. The nation responds and humbles itself, calls the worship team to the front of the line, and heads out to meet the assaulting army.
Pure and simple, the enemy is absolutely defeated. Better than defeated. The enemy turns inward and annihilates itself.
We must remind ourselves of this truth when we are engaged in spiritual warfare over situations, individuals, communities, or nations. Worship is our battle cry. Worship is the standard we raise to face our adversaries Isaiah 59:19. When we worship the Name above all names and genuinely let Holy Spirit adoration arise from our being, hell is stopped in its tracks. Really. Truly.
We can take our cues from this victorious record of the enemy’s defeat from God’s Word.
Worshipping in Truth
Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. ... Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth…
Ephesians 6:10-11, 14
When we encounter situations where we discern a demonic component to them or folks afflicted by the enemy’s strongholds, we must ensure our protection by putting on God’s armor Ephesians 6:10-18.
The Apostle Paul describes the various aspects of this armor when we wage war in prayer against the enemy. How does this apply to the role of worship during these times of battle? The first piece of armor is the belt of truth. Let’s align that thought with Jesus’ words in John 4:24 when He said that those who desire to worship God must do so in spirit and truth.
Yes, all worship must come from our spirit deep within, which is the dwelling place of the Holy Spirit. And, worship that touches heaven must come from a first-love place in our hearts enhanced by inviting the Spirit’s leading. As Jesus quoted from Isaiah 29:13, we can say all the right words, but if our heart isn’t in it, our worship is in vain Mark 7:6-7.
We must also worship in truth. Let’s look briefly at two reasons why this is important regarding the belt of truth.
First, we worship from the truth of where our own lives are at the moment. In other words, we must be real with ourselves and Jesus about where we are. No trying to hide anything from Him—as if we could! Owning up to our failings and weaknesses in truth as we worship aids us in receiving His powerful grace that is always more than enough 2 Cor. 12:9. Spiritual victories depend solely upon Him and not our efforts.
Next, we enter spiritual battle declaring what we know from the Scriptures: the truth of Who He is, who we are in Him, and the truth of His Word. Expressing these truths in worship helps fasten the belt of truthsecurely around us.
So, the next time we head into battle-prayer, let’s be sure to secure the core of our being with the belt of truth. Doing so in authentic adoration exalts the Most High, clears our minds from falsehood and lies, reminds us of our position in Jesus, and puts the enemy on notice as to Who is Boss!
This study can be found on the Bible.com app
Worship a key in Spiritual Warfare