Hearing the Lord

Larry Randolph and Steve Thompson, two men who clearly have ministries of prophet, believe that the process of hearing instruction from the Lord typically has three parts: revelation, interpretation, and application.

The revelation could be a dream or a word or a vision or a picture or a Scripture that seems to be presented to us in some way that might seem strange, like the bush that burned before Moses. The meaning may instantly come with the picture, but more often, there could be 2 or many possible meanings.

The second part of the process is the explanation or interpretation of the word or picture. An example could be that you see me in a casket, dead. The Interpretation of the picture might be that I am going to die, and you need to pray for my family. Or, it may be that you are being instructed to pray for me so that I don’t die. Another possibility could be that my prayer that I die to my flesh’s control of my life will be answered.

Even grasping that a picture refers to a certain situation or person or group doesn’t mean that I will know what to do about it. Should I pray for it to happen, or pray for it not to happen, or warn someone, or change some behavior?

It should be easy to presume that if we get the first part, the Spirit of God wants us to have the rest of it. If you see or hear something that seems to be the Spirit showing you something, or even if you are not sure what you just experienced, ask Him for help. If you have some certainty that you have revelation, ask for the rest. Convince Him that you want it because you know it is valuable.

Ask. Seek. Knock.