The voice of the Lord is powerful; The voice of the Lord is full of majesty. (Psalm 29:4 AMP)
Sunday at church I asked a friend to pray for me because I was struggling with a spiritual “storm,” of sorts. One of the first things we talked about in that conversation was discernment. To have discernment is to be able to tell what is of God — and what is not of God. When God’s Word and his Spirit reveal this to us, we then are to communicate and act upon that discernment.
While I am by no means an expert at discernment, I would like to think I’m growing in this area. I started to read a book by Jane Hamon, Discernment: The Essential Guide to Hearing the Voice of God, and came across a verse that spoke strongly to me. I expect I will have other “nuggets” to glean from this book, but, for today, I want to focus on Psalm 85:8. In the NKJV, this verse reads:
I will hear what God the Lord will speak, For He will speak peace To His people…
Hamon explains that the Hebrew words behind “hear” and “speak peace” mean so much more than a narrow understanding of aural or oral good wishes.
When we hear what God the Lord speaks, we shama, or “listen intentionally and hear intelligently.” We must take time to pause, pay attention, and intentionally listen for what God has to say. Then we will be given intelligent answers for our questions.
When the Psalmist says God will speak peace over his people, he uses the phrase dabar shalom which means to command with authority “peace, prosperity, favor, wholeness, health, wealth and rest.”
Hamon says that because she took time to listen intentionally and hear intelligently, God gave her a strategy for prayer for healing that tapped into the deep well of God’s shalom.
Today, may we be people who are growing in discernment, listening intentionally, hearing intelligently, and proclaiming with authority the Lord’s peace, prosperity, favor, wholeness, health, wealth and rest.
AMEN.
I will listen to what God the Lord says;
he promises peace to his people, his faithful servants… (Psalm 85:8 NIV)
I listen carefully to what God the Lord is saying, for he speaks peace to his faithful people. (NLT)
I will hear [with expectant hope] what God the Lord will say, For He will speak peace to His people…(AMP)
Discernment: The Essential Guide to Hearing the Voice of God, by Jane Hamon (c) 2019, Chosen Books, p. 34-35