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Knowing the voice of the Shepherd

– Part 3
So we have the prophetic word confirmed, which
you do well to heed as a light that’ shines in a dark
place (2 Peter 1:19).

Enoch and Elijah were two prophets, people with

natures like ours that walked with God. They never
tasted death but by faith they were bodily taken
into heaven so that they did not see death. They
were not found among the sons of men, because
God had taken them. Since the transgression of
Adam to Christ there were none that walked with
God as these two prophets did. It is evident that
everybody that ever had a deep walk with God
prophesies. Prophecy does not necessarily involve
predicting the future, but speaking for God. Many
today are speaking the word of the Lord not
knowing that they are prophesying.

The Lord is the Word and to become sensitive to

the Lord is equivalent of becoming sensitive to the
Word. His sheep know His voice, and they follow
Him not just His words. To seek the words of the
Lord separately from the Fountain of life, Source of
light and Foundation of all truth refers to
independence from Him, which is death.
Independence is to partake of the tree of the
knowledge of good (law or legalism) and evil
(lawlessness). Good is better than evil but it is still
death. To relate to Him as the Truth, the Way and
the Life is to partake from the Tree of Life which is
planted in the middle of the Garden on the banks of
the River of Life, which flows from the throne of
God. God never gave man a choice between good
and evil but between life and death. Life is to know
(like a good man knows his wife) God and Jesus
Christ whom He sent.
Those who know the voice of the Lord will become
the most sought after people in the coming times.
Just like Joseph and Daniel who became leaders in
their day because they knew the voice of the
Shepherd, those who know His voice will be the
leaders of the church at the end of this age. True
leaders are those that know the voice of the
Shepherd and follow Him closely. It is worth
mentioning that these are the humble ones that the
Lord will exalt in due season into places of
authority.

The Lord is a gentleman, which will not impose

Himself on nobody, movement, city or country. He
stands at the door and knock and if anyone hears
His voice and opens the door to Him, He will enter
and dine with him. The Lord is standing outside of
His own church and knocks on the door to see if
anyone will invites Him in the house, His house.
Unless the Lord is invited in, He will not enter! It is
not those that hear His knock but those who heard
His voice that let Him in. Jesus will not impose
Himself where He is not wanted. When we hunger
and thirst after Him we will invite Him into our
churches, our homes, our businesses, and our lives!

The Lord must be welcomed into our country. The

United States was born as a nation and the
constitution was written based on the Bible. The
first leaders of this nation repeatedly believed that
a government could not last long unless they walk
in the fear of God and to adhere to biblical
principles. History is changed to imply that the
founding fathers were either unbelievers or
atheists. Their writings prove the opposite. Since
the 1960’s America has indicated that God has no
place in their social order; deciding to eradicate
memories of God’s grace in their past and His
remembrances in their public spaces. This was the
doing of a small percentage of a minority of the
population but the overwhelming majority, thought
to be Christians choose to be uninvolved. The
departure of the Lord from their government is
reaping more devastating results as every day
past. The command of the Great Commission of the
Lord is to make disciples, not just converts. Is
America, the greatest disciple nation on earth,
going to allow that this legacy disappears?

This nation would not have backslidden if the

church kept its course and had not regress into a
lukewarm state. Lukewarmness is an unconcern
birth out of selfishness, the worst state that any
believer of a church or citizen of a country, could
ever fall into. It is a lack of interest and that is one
of the most insulting states of heart a person can
fall into. That is no wonder that only a few
relationships and marriages lasted the test of time.
It is no wonder we are unconcerned about our
babies that are slaughtered on a massive scale.
Only a few Lot’s are tormenting their righteous
souls, lamenting the abominations of sodomy,
human trafficking, pornography, prostitution,
idolatry, etc. in the country. The Church of the Lord
Jesus Christ is the only living organism that can
stop the tidal wave of evil. If the church is
lukewarm the Lord will vomit them out of His
mouth. If the Church return to the Lord He will heal
their land.

The prophetic voice of the Lord was the instrument

that He used since the transgression to awaken the
people to warn them against the impending
dangers of sin and to urge them to turn away from
their evil ways. God is still using His prophetic voice
today to reconcile His creation to Him. There is no
reason for anybody to choose destruction.

An awakening is happening in the church of

America. My endeavor is to help to prepare the
current generation to turn the tide for this nation
and other nations of the world. You can do it by
getting closer to the Lord and to resolve that we
are going to know His voice better, so that we can
obey Him better.

The church is the vehicle that God had chosen to

restore our earth to its former glory that Adam lost
in the Garden because of sin, his sin and the
world’s sin. The Lord gave His church, the bride of
Christ, five equipping ministries to bring her to full
maturity. And He gave some to be apostles, some
prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and
teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the
work of ministry, for edifying of the body of Christ,
till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the
knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to
the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ
(Ephesians 4:11-13). There is presently no account
anywhere on earth that a church has matured to
the stature of the fullness of Christ. Before the end
of the age all of the five equipping ministries will be
restored to the church in a much greater measure
that the early church has ever experienced.

The greater part of the modern church of today

recognizes all of these ministries. I cannot see why
anybody should debate it, because it is clearly and
unambiguously explained in Scripture. Those who
are anointed for these ministries should function
together for the sake of the church that they may
be equipped and grow into the stature to which she
is called.

Ephesians 4 is the only place in the entire Bible

where the ministry of the pastor is mentioned,
without a description of what it really is. The word
pastor (“pŏimēn” in the Greek) means, to protect, a
herdsman, he to whose care and control others
have committed themselves and whose precepts
they follow (The New Thayer’s Greek-English
Lexicon, 1981; p. 527, no. 4166).

The general title “pastor” that most people use to

address the presiding bishop of a church
congregation is not correct. Most “pastors” carries
the anointing of one of the other equipping
ministries. It is not possible that every equipping
ministry is a pastor. If all are pastors where are the
apostles, prophets, evangelists and teachers? If the
whole body were an eye, where would be the
hearing? If the whole were hearing, where would be
the smelling? (1 Corinthians 12:17). If the “pastor”
cannot discern his own anointing how can he
function effectively? This needs to change, and it
will. All of the ministries will go to a higher level of
effectiveness when they function in the boundaries
of their anointing instead of trying to be something
outside of their anointing.

During the Old Testament times, prophets

functioned mostly alone, though some, like Samuel,
Elijah and Elisha, presided over schools of the
prophets. In the New Testament context, the
prophet is only one in a team of ministries and
besides speaking the word of God they also help to
equip the saints, just as all of the equipping
ministries are called to do. How does a prophet
equip the saints? Prophets are called to help equip
all of God’s people to know the voice of the Lord.
They teach you how to understand yourself that
you may walk and live in the realm of God’s Spirit,
how to see visions, how to prepare your spirit to
dream anointed dreams, how to hear the voice of
the Lord, waiting on the Lord, meditating on the
word, visualizing dreams and visions, interpretation
of dreams and visions, how to move in the gifts of
the Spirit, how to move in anointed signs in the
body, how to prophecy, prophetic worship,
prophetic intercession and prayer, etc, etc. A
prophet alone cannot fulfill it all. The mantel of a
prophet is more than what one man can carry. A
prophet can function on his own but is normally one
member of an anointed prophetic company or
team.
It is great to know what God has said in the past
but our need today is to know what He is saying
right now. Man shall not live on bread alone, but on
every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.
The emphasis is on the present tense that is why
He said “proceeds.” Yesterday’s manna got worms
in. We need fresh manna each day of our lives. The
Lord is known as I Am and not as I Was, or I Will Be.
A healthy relationship is a never-ending event with
constant changes of occurrences and scenes that is
only kept alive by the present. It may have sweet
memories of the past and great dreams for the
future but only the present keeps it alive. If we do
not know Jesus in the present, we do not really
know Him. He was Jesus of Nazareth but now He is
the risen Lord who sits on the right hand of His God
and Father in heaven. It is important to know about
His life on earth and what He accomplished for us in
His death and resurrection as well as the coming
glories that we will share with Him. However, in our
relationship with Him, He is much more real in our
hearts, right now. The Bible was never intended to
replace the Lord’s voice to His people. Then again
prophecy was never intended to replace sound
doctrine and teaching. Both the Scriptures and
prophecy have their place.

The quality of a relationship is determined by the

quality of communication. The quality of
communication is the basis of the quality of mutual
understanding between parties. The more quality
time you spend with the Lord, the sharper your
spiritual senses become.

If you think that the Lord is no longer speaking to

us through prophecy or other ways you are taught
by people who were deceived in this regard. Surely
the Lord God does nothing, unless He reveals His
secrets to His servants the prophets (Amos 3:7).
Surely we exalt the importance of the Bible, and
should acknowledge that it alone has been given
for us to establish doctrine, for reproof, for
correction and for instruction in righteousness. All
Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is
profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction,
for instruction in righteousness (2 Timothy 3:16).
However, a book can never replace a living
relationship. Imagine you give your wife a
“marriage manual” on your wedding day explaining
how she should relate to you in future as you will
suspend all future communication with her. You
may say “I am praying.” Good for you but a one-
sided communication will be equally detrimental to
your relationship as no communication. You need to
speak one minute and listen ten. We need the
Bible as one leg and knowing the voice of the Lord
as the other leg. Either one without the other
leaves us crippled, at best. Jesus answered and said
to them, “You are mistaken, not knowing the
Scriptures nor the power of God” (Matthew22:29).
The power of God refers to the working of the Spirit
of God, which includes all gifts, including the
revelatory gifts of the Holy Spirit (interpretation of
tongues, interpretation of visions and dreams,
discernment of spirits, word of wisdom, word of
knowledge and prophecy).

God has veiled His wisdom in Scripture in plain

sight from men. Jesus, in His ministry, used
symbolic language as He taught by the parabolic
method. Why is God veiling the truth? All these
things Jesus spoke to the multitude in parables; and
without a parable he did not speak to them, that it
might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet,
saying, “I will open My mouth in parables; I will
utter things kept secret from the foundation of the
world” (Matthew 13:34-35).

Since the fall of man God conceals truth in

parables, dreams and visions which need
interpretation to seal the understanding thereof to
the heart. The first biblical example is where
Joseph’s brothers interpreted Joseph’s dream about
their sheaves bowed down to his sheaf. Jacob
interpreted Joseph’s dream about the sun, moon
and eleven stars that bowed down to him (Joseph).
Joseph interpreted the butler’s, the baker’s and
Pharaoh’s dreams. A man interprets his
companion’s dream in the camp of Gideon about
the barley loaf that tumbled into the camp of
Midian. Daniel was the interpreter of dreams and
visions to some kings of Babylon (e.g. the vision of
King Belshazzar that saw part of a hand that wrote
him a message on the wall of his palace).

The prophecies contained in the books of Ezekiel,

Daniel and Revelation is expressed in symbolic
language. Why is God speaking in parables? Why is
He veiling His messages to some and reveal it to
others? And the disciples came and said to Him,
“Why do You speak to them in parables?” He
answered and said to them, “Because it has been
given to you to know the mysteries of the kingdom
of heaven, but to them it has not been given
(Matthew 13: 10-11). Because His language is
about much more than just conveying concepts His
language speaks to the spirit, not just the mind.
The words that Jesus have spoken to you are spirit
and life. It is basic to prophetic ministry to discern
the spiritual purpose and nature of a message.
Words can mean more than just what they are
saying in human language.

Sarah, Abraham’s wife, and Hagar, the concubine of

Abraham, represent the Old and New Covenants.
Their life stories are much more than part of Old
Testament history but God used it as types to
convey a message. The Scriptures mean much
more than that which is obvious at first. The
tabernacle of Moses is a shadow of heavenly things
and the law is a shadow of good things to come. A
picture is worth a thousand words. The Holy Spirit is
using the Tabernacle of Moses as a type to convey
the spiritual truths about the nature of the church
His dwelling place. The high priest’s garments are a
prophesying concerning Jesus, and it contains
mysteries concerning the true High Priest of God.
Jesus said, “The law prophesied until John”
(Matthew 11:13). The Law of Moses is full of
prophesies concerning the Messiah, the church age
and the Messianic kingdom on earth.

The Scriptures should interpret dreams and visions,

and not theories of people or superstitious believes.
The Word and the Holy Spirit are one and will never
contradict each other. Jesus answered and said
unto them, Ye do err, not knowing the scriptures
[written word] nor the power of God [Holy Spirit]
(Matthew 22:29).

If one does not study the language of the symbol

and type of the Bible some of its grandeur will be
missing and dreams and visions cannot be
interpreted. It is the glory of God to conceal a
matter, but the glory of kings is to search out a
matter (Proverbs 25:2).

The Bible indicates that an object may obtain a

specific meaning by its inherent character. So
animals, birds, fish and even objects, not referred
to in Scripture, can be interpreted by their
characteristics, habits and uses.

Scriptures to support above statement are as

follows: But now ask the beasts, and they will teach
you; and the birds of the air, and they will tell you;
or speak to the earth, and it will teach you; and the
fish of the sea will explain to you (Job 12:7-8). We
can use the following example to explain the above
scriptures. The hyena has extremely powerful jaws.
It is a scavenger, although it will also attack and kill
life prey. It scavenges the leftovers from other
predators with little effort and become very
aggressive when other animals want a share of its
prey. A hyena speaks of a person that takes
advantage of others.

The heavens declare the glory of God; and the

firmament shows His handiwork. Day unto day
utters speech, and night unto night reveals
knowledge. There is no speech nor language where
their voice is not heard (Psalm 19:1-3).

For since the creation of the world His invisible

attributes are clearly seen, being understood by
the things that are made, even His eternal power
and Godhead, so that they are without excuse
(Romans 1:20). Paul said to us that the natural was
first and then the spiritual. However the spiritual is
not first, but the natural, and afterward the spiritual
(1 Corinthians 15:46).

The interpretation of dreams and visions is included

in the gift of interpretation of tongues (dark
sayings), and it is a gift of the Holy Spirit. As for
these four young children, God gave them
knowledge and skill in all learning and wisdom: and
Daniel had understanding in all visions and
dreams (Daniel 1:17, emphasis added).

There is also hidden revelation in the meaning of

the names of people or places where events took
place. God’s wisdom can also be seen in these
parts of Scripture. If you understand the meaning of
the names of the sons of Jacob, the patriarchs of
the nation of Israel, and then relate their stones on
the breast plate of the High Priest, and prophecies
over them given by Jacob and Moses, we can have
an understanding of the Urim and the Thummim
and apply in today’s life. All things that happened
to Israel were examples that were written for our
admonition, upon which the ends of the ages have
come. To understand the full message of God we
need to understand both spiritual and natural
Israel.

God reveals to us His mysteries through His Spirit;

for the Spirit searches all things, even the deep
things of God (1 Corinthians 2:10). Those who are
led by the Spirit of God search out the deep things
of God, as they press on into a deeper relationship
with Him. A true relationship with the Lord is
listening to the Word Himself. It is not a search for
knowledge but a journey of change into His
likeness.