Previous Sessions:
     1.   You are equipped to hear God speak to you. You have a spirit; God is Spirit; God
     communicates with you spirit-to-spirit.
     2.   God wants to have continuous spiritual dialog with you. But we saw that sin separates,
     and if you're nurturing some favorite sin, it will interfere with your ability to
     communicate with God.
     3.   If you rely on others to hear God for you, you will not have intimate relationship with
     him.
     4.   Last week: examined thoughts that originate with your spirit, recognized by your mind
     as thoughts, words, phrases, mental images, feelings, impressions, hunches; these are
     mental interpretations of input from your spirit; boat on pond.
     5.   Also, saw that when God communicates with your spirit, your mind interprets same
     way as inputs from your spirit.
     6.   Later in this session: consider other sources of spiritual input

First, consider the following:
     1.   Isaiah 55:8-11

          "For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
                    neither are your ways my ways," declares the Lord.
          "As the heavens are higher than the earth,
                    so are my ways higher than your ways
                    and my thoughts than your thoughts." (vs 8-9)

     2.   vs 8-9 especially true of the “cerebral” (carnal) Christian
               a.   limited to his own understanding; can never grasp God’s thoughts or his ways
               b.   inferior existence & relationship with God
               c.   must continue trying to achieve on his own

          "As the rain and the snow come down from heaven,
                    and do not return to it without watering the earth
                    and making it bud and flourish,
                              so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater,
          so is my word that goes out from my mouth:
                    It will not return to me empty,
                    but will accomplish what I desire
                              and achieve the purpose for which I sent it." (vs 10-11)

     3.   What God communicates will accomplish what he desires!

Class Activity
     1.   pencil, paper. Write on paper, “Why is it important for me to hear God speak to me?”
     2.   develop a relaxed attitude, not struggling to accomplish anything.
     3.   focus attention on the Lord, imagine yourself sitting in front of him, listening. Expect
     response to the question; wait & listen, don’t try to figure it out yourself.
     4.   record whatever spontaneous thoughts come to your mind, especially those that are like
     someone speaking to you. Expect impressions, feelings, images, words, phrases.
     5.   Everyone write something, even “I didn’t hear anything.”
               a.   Important because helps put psyche in its place, rather than dominating
     6.   Ask someone to read what they wrote. Class:
               a.   Is it possible this was from God? Self? Satan?
               b.   Does it conform to scripture?

This is a skill to be developed, will take practice.
     1.   Most common problems:  intense preoccupation (mind working hard) or skepticism
     (mind is prejudiced).
     2.   That’s why you must focus on positive image of him, appreciate your relationship with
     him; creates a positive psychological and spiritual environment for spiritual
     communication.

Thoughts generated by Satan (or demons)
     1.   God communicates with us spirit-to-spirit, so can Satan also communicate with us?
     How?
     2.   Characteristics:
               a.   Review
                         i.   sequential thoughts: A to B to C
                         ii.  how your mind thinks; one thought/experience leads to next thought
                         iii. spontaneous thoughts: unrelated to current train of thought
               b.   Thoughts from Satan: Spontaneous or sequential? Either
               c.   same form as thoughts from your own spirit (Satan is spirit, as God is):
                         i.   thought, idea, single word, feeling, impression, hunch, mental image.
                         ii.  dream or vision? possibly.
               d.   Speaks in first-person (like your own thoughts) or second-person (“you” and
          “I”)
               e.   What kinds of mental/emotional reactions?
  excitement, depression, fear, anger, selfish determination, etc.
     3.   What is Satan’s purpose in speaking to you?
               a.   reinforce sinful nature (self-centeredness in every form; example?)
               b.   isolation from God (anger, fear, indifference)

Thoughts from other people?
     1.   Every person has a spirit, regardless of their spiritual condition
               a.   I suggest: we interact with people spiritually, maybe without realizing it
               b.   Have you ever known intuitively what someone’s attitude was or what they
          were about to do? Just knew it, maybe didn’t know why.
               c.   One of spiritual gifts God gives is gift of discernment, ability to distinguish
          between spirits (1 Co 12:10)
                         i.   in part, is the ability to identify the spirit of a person or situation,
               whether the spirit is divine, human or Satanic.
                         ii.  Even if you don’t have gift of discernment (distinguishing spirits), still
               have intuitive abilities which include detecting spirits
                         iii. Every one of us detects spiritual activity; may not know what kind of
               spirit
               d.   Have you ever had an instantaneous reaction to someone you just met; felt very
          comfortable with them, or nervous, or sensed anger; spiritual interaction.
               e.   Have you ever felt drawn to someone, couldn’t keep your eyes off of them or
          couldn’t stop thinking about them, yet couldn’t explain why?
               f.   Have you sensed someone’s presence before you could see or hear them?
               g.   Do you believe love at first sight is possible? Something “clicks” and the person
          “knows” they’re in love.
               h.   I suggest: we interact spiritually, sense each other spiritually; know
          “intuitively”
     2.   Is it then possible someone’s spirit can cause you to think or feel a certain way?
     3.   Not mental telepathy; spiritual interaction, which your mind detects as an impression,
     feeling, hunch, thought, and so on.
     4.   I’m not suggesting you develop ability to communicate with your spirit
               a.   Warn you not to, because demonic spirits would love for you to try that.
               b.   They will deceive you, mislead you.
               c.   When Adam sinned, man lost much of his spiritual capacity; to try to redevelop
          those abilities in a sinful world and with a sinful nature is extremely dangerous.
     5.   I’m simply alerting you to reality: people affect each other spiritually.
               a.   If I come to church with a bad attitude, I affect you even if we don’t talk.
               b.   We are spiritual beings and our spirits interact.

Seeing how your spirit, God, Satan create thoughts in your mind helps us understand:
     1.   It can be difficult to identify source of our thoughts/feelings.
               a.   may feel guilty, when thought/feeling comes from someone else
               b.   may blame others, when need to accept responsibility for own thoughts/feelings
     2.   You cannot assume that every spontaneous thought/image is from God.
               a.   major problem for many Christians
     3.   Must use Bible as absolute standard for judging content.
     4.   Wise to talk to other believers, especially if it seems important.

My theory regarding functions of your mind
     1.   Your spirit might cause thoughts or feelings or understanding, just as your body does.

     2.   If you see a beautiful scene, smell wonderful aroma, or someone hugs you, do you
     have feelings or thoughts resulting from the experience? Of course.
               a.   Physical sensations (sight, touch, smell, taste, sound) cause mental/emotional
          reactions.
               b.   In that sense, a hug makes you feel good; a physical experience causes an
          emotional reaction.
               c.   Likewise, if you are physically sick, you feel bad mentally/emotionally, too.
               d.   Husbands, when your wife’s body chemistry changes every 28 days, does her
          attitude or outlook on life change?
               e.   You are highly integrated being; your spirit, mind and body work together and
          interact.
               f.   Not all mental/emotional activity originates in your psyche.

     3.   Similarly, when we interact with God at spiritual level, we may have feelings or
     thoughts or understanding, but they are results of spiritual experience.