Ever wonder how to hear God speak? In this episode Gina and Stephanie Byerly talk about prayer, hearing God’s voice, discerning his call on your life and saying “yes”. Stephanie is an intercessor and leader who has served as a community pastor and led prayer ministry.
Click below to listen starting at 16:08 to follow along.
The School of the Holy Spirit
Stephanie:
There were various ways that the Holy Spirit started training me. First of all, at that point, I don’t even know if I knew what the gift of prophecy was. I hadn’t spent a lot of time learning about those types of things. Talking about the gifts was not something that you heard that much at church.
It was cool, because He started training me through my experiences and then I would later read a book that confirmed everything Holy Spirit had already taught me through these experiences. We don’t need all those books or conferences God puts them on people’s heart, they’re absolutely helpful. But know that He’s amazing at what He does. He is our Teacher.
If you don’t have access to whatever resources other people have, you have access to the greatest resource that anyone could possibly have, that’s Holy Spirit, if you’re in relationship with Him. There’s that intimacy piece that He started teaching me about, which has been a very long journey for me. Getting to know Him and understanding more.
It goes back to what we talked about a little bit as it’s all in your “Yes”. What are you willing to say yes to? I think that in the church, which often is our biggest barrier, we’re so busy looking around at what other people are doing and what their gifting is and what they’re being called to and what I should look like, in order to be called to something, instead of very simply practicing in our relationship with the Lord, hearing Him and saying yes, as much as you can say yes.
The way that manifested for me. I remember when you came out with your first CD and the Lord’s like, “Buy five.” and I bought five CDs at the release. It seemed a little odd to me, but I felt like I was supposed to buy five. What ended up happening, which freaked me out when it was going on, was the Lord said, “I want you to mail this to this mail. One of these CDs to this person.
One was to the wife of a person that I served on a board of trustees with, I did not know her, and I’d met her only once. I took the CD, I wrote a note. I wrote what I thought the Lord was telling me to write. I sent her the CD. Months later I found out that when she first got it, she was so angry at her husband, because she thought her husband must have told me about things that were going on in their marriage at the time, which I knew nothing of.
All I knew was “Buy five CDs. Send it to this one person.” And then He had me send it to another person, the wife of a litigator that I worked with. Another was the wife of a CEO of a large nonprofit that I’ve done a lot of work with. I think I met her once, shook hands with that woman once. I don’t remember who the fourth one went to. The fifth one was mine.
But what was so cool in that was feeling those things strongly and taking me completely out of my comfort zone, taking His chisel and hammering away at my own pride issues. It was so out of my comfort zone to do that, there was safety in it being in a note. I could package it, I didn’t have to go face to face, and mailed it to them. And then there’s a waiting period.
It was months before I ever heard anything from these people. So there’s that waiting period of like, “They all think I’m nuts. They must think I’m nuts. Did I hear from the Lord?” All of those questions we ask ourselves about, and people do it all the time. But it was so cool because in that time He did give me the benefit, and this doesn’t always happen, of hearing some of these stories.
The woman who was mad at her husband for a while, he kept saying, I haven’t told her anything. She didn’t talk to him for a week. Later they shared the story with me and we laughed hard. I’m like, “No, of course he didn’t talk to me about your marriage.” But whatever it was that I wrote in that note was something she needed to hear at the time.
As soon as she started understanding that this was God trying to touch her heart. And I don’t even remember what she gained out of it. There was something specific about what you released in that CD or what He released through you that touched their hearts. But each of those stories then down the line, months later, came back to me.
Gina:
Especially as intercessors, you rarely see the fruit of your labor. But again, the loving nature of God to build your confidence by confirming, giving you the gift of hearing back so that you would gain more courage and more strength and more assurance. Which gives you more confidence for the next time.
Hearing God Speak
Stephanie:
You definitely get much bolder in your prayer space. And for me being a little bit more of an introvert, it’s also how He’s structured me. I’m an advocate, that’s my litigation training. That’s very much who I am. There’s that role that you play out in intercession, you’re going on behalf of others, it can be a county, it can be an individual, it can be a family, it can be whoever.
You’re going to the Father on behalf of them and you’re advocating. You’re standing in the gap, advocating for something that’s going to touch the heart of the Father so that He responds kindly in that situation where He responds in a way that’s an answer to those prayers. It got me to be bolder in those quiet spaces.
I can be in my living room shouting out, it’s also less threatening. No one’s seeing, no one’s hearing, I’ve got nothing to lose. If I’m wrong on this, who’s going to know? But what started happening is seeing how often it was right. That made me understand the prophetic very differently.
He speaks directly to you about things that you can rely on, because it’s Him. When you know your Shepherd’s voice, you get to act with confidence. You don’t have to see the other side of things, because you get to act with confidence and boldly and persistently, and He’ll tell you when it’s over. The urge will stop.
Gina:
You taught prayer training for a long time at Rock Harbor. You were interceding for a prayer ministry at the church that I was at, because there wasn’t one and it was something I was laboring for, for a long time. And then I got to call you and we both cried that first time you walked in the building. We got to see it.
And again, I noticed that so many people can be believers for 20 plus years who say “Well it’s the pastor and the staff and the spiritual people who hear God’s voice. I don’t hear God’s voice. I’m not qualified to hear God’s voice. I’m not even qualified to pray. I’m uncomfortable even praying out loud.” Not understanding the access and the authority and the privilege.
I challenge people in prayer training, “Worship alone, not just on Sundays. Go in your living room and close the door and sing, dance, yell, get on your face, cry, go before Him.” But then also as you’re alluding to, in the privacy your own home, being obedient to even the posture He’s calling you to.
If it’s yelling and taking authority over something, or I hadn’t experienced years ago at home in San Diego before I lived in Orange County. I was home, the kids were taking a nap, I was overwhelmed, burdened for the wife of someone. I know I don’t know her that well, they lived in Kansas at the time. And I was on the floor sobbing for probably 20 minutes interceding for this woman I barely know and it was overwhelming.
I couldn’t move. I had to stay here and intercede and then I was released. And eventually, I spoke with her husband and they had marital struggles and she had been battling with alcoholism and her life was in jeopardy at that time. I’m across the country in California. Why me of all people? But that’s the harvest, the laborers.
God is going to rally the troops for His purposes. And to be willing to be obedient if I’m in my car, if I’m in my living room, whatever it is, to pray, to take that step, to make that call, to send that text. The gravity and the weight and the authority that comes behind that and how that brings the kingdom into situations. If the Body of Christ could be emboldened and encouraged and recognized the gravity and the power that you can carry in that. It’s so significant.
It isn’t reserved for you. You’re not this magical unicorn of a Christian that you have this gift. If we’re willing, these gifts are for all of us. Now it may look differently for you. The gift that I have is different than the gift that you have and vice versa. But would we be willing to hear the whisper? To say, “Yes.” To say “Lord, here I am. What do you want?”
And then have the courage to take that little step, because He’s going to meet us. You say yes, He’ll meet you at that yes. And with each step and yes, your confidence is going to grow. You have the Holy Spirit. You have the Word of God. You have discernment.
Does this lineup with His Word, His character, with what He says about Himself, with what He says about me? And as you lean into trusting Him, abiding, as you continue to nurture that, the beauty that’s going to be birthed out of that, the harvest that’s going to come to that.
Stephanie:
I remember this one time we had a friend who had cancer badly and I’ve shared this story so many times, because it still blows my mind. This was someone who was into new age stuff. There were a lot of people that were saying, “If we project positivity out that will bring healing.”
I was challenged in how I was to pray for her healing, because it was important to me that God got the glory, that probably wouldn’t have happened in that situation had she been healed at that phase. And I said, “Lord , I want her healing. How do I pray for this? What do I do?”
I remember wanting to pray for her and saying, “I don’t know how to pray right now.” And then I remembered that the Holy Spirit tells you how to pray. I said, “Holy Spirit, how should I pray?” And I heard “Pray for their salvation. Pray for her husband’s salvation.” The husband is a super intelligent man, logic, reason. And I was like, “What does that look like? He needs a crazy encounter with You, Lord.”
I started praying for a crazy encounter. And the Lord reminded me of the scripture that talks about the Harvest being great and asking for labors in the field and He will provide you the laborers. And it indicates that there’s laborers that can help with the Harvest. So I started going on this thing saying, “I pray for a divine encounter. That this individual has a divine encounter.
Lord, I’m calling on You and I’m asking for laborers in the field. That there would be people who know You. You are in all believers’ hearts and that You would rise up on those people that are walking on the street with him, that are in cafes with him. I ask for You to rise up in them, give them a word, make them bold to say yes.
Help them to speak your truth, help them to share, help them to witness to this person.” About two or three weeks later, I’m at an event and this individual’s sister-in-law was at this event randomly. And she says, “You’re not going to believe what happened to my brother-in-law. You’re not going to believe what happened.” He’s walking on a sidewalk, downtown LA and stopping, looking at something in the sky that he thought looked cool. This limousine pulls over.
This guy gets out and it’s a former Christian-hating Muslim who had a divine encounter with Jesus Christ and accepted Christ. He felt called to pull over, speak to my friend and share his testimony. I couldn’t even respond to this person telling this story. That was a direct answer to my prayer. I still get chills every time I share the story.
I asked for labors in the field, strangers on the sidewalk, someone to walk up and out of the blue, share their testimony. And it isn’t just that I prayed it. The whole prayer ended up feeling so crazy. And I’m like, “Where did all that come from?” But I could picture in my mind, him walking on the street and that there were laborers there that would speak truth to him.
I had such faith that it was going to happen. The Holy Spirit filled my prayer time and directed my prayer completely. He had the grace, and the intention for me to later learn that story. This forever changed how I pray, because I will never not pray with that faith that it can be.
When I pray for the labors in the field, I’m excited to hear, because since then there’s so many more stories of praying for laborers in the field someone’s husband was driving on a freeway and a friend of his happened to be driving next to him and they haven’t talked in a year and then he called them up and said, “I’d love to mentor you.”
Giving God your “Yes”
Gina:
I want to encourage people. How often are you at Costco, at the gas station, walking through target and this weird thought will pop in your mind to say hi to that person or pray for that person and you brush it off? It’s an opportunity. It’s an invitation to be that laborer in the field. What would happen if the next time, instead of brushing off that thought, you confirm “Holy Spirit is that You?”
Because He will confirm it. You’ll get that yes. Then if you step out, the joy, the miracle, the energy and the excitement that will bring to then be a part of it. I’m not saying that in a condemnation way “How many times have you ignored Jesus?” The Lord’s going to accomplish His purposes, whether we are ready or willing or able at that moment or not.
But how much better would it be and how much fun would it be if we were listening, and not disqualifying ourselves. But the next time that that happens, we actually would take the risk. That’s what spiritual community is. That’s the body of Christ working in action, seeing the fruit of what He’s doing.
Stephanie:
I used to lead parts of prayer ministry at my church. And one of the things that we’ve done are home visits. We wanted to be mindful and prayerful about the team that we brought in. When people are at their most vulnerable, having the right people with the right spiritual gifts for the occasion.
I’d always say, “Who do You want me to invite to be part of this prayer visit?” And I would always get names and I would reach out to people. I remember in the beginning, when people would say, “No”, I would get so frustrated, because I’d think, “I must have gotten that wrong? I could have sworn I heard that person.” But they weren’t interested in coming at all.
So then I started questioning, “Am I hearing from the Lord? Am I hearing His voice?” And He reminded me that, “You heard me right, but you assumed why I was telling you what I was telling you. All I told you was reach out to that person. Reaching out to that person has started them on a process and a journey that’s going to have them step into prayer differently.
They’re not ready yet. But this is part of the catalyst. This is the seed. You asking them started the process. Later they’re going to come back and say, I remember that time. I realized how fearful I was. So I started realizing how much fear I had. I started going on a journey, asking the Lord to help me overcome that fear. Because I was too scared to say “yes.”
We need to be careful of assuming we know why God is saying something to us, because the enemy wants to use that to tell us that we didn’t hear. “God’s not speaking to you. This is all in your head. This isn’t God’s voice.” Also it makes you not project things into situations that He never intended for you to project.
It could be easy for me to go and say, “That person’s not being obedient with them being there.” He’s like, “I needed you to start a process. I’ll take care of that process. Let me be the Holy Spirit. You be you. Do what I say and stop projecting things into situations.”
Gina:
Abandon the outcomes to Him. All He’s asking for is obedience.
Stephanie:
That was huge for me to be able to confess that. And there was so many times where I had to say, “I’m so sorry. I made it something that it wasn’t. I started putting my human skin into it more than relying on You.” And we’re not going to get it a hundred percent right every time. That’s part of the growth process.
His desire is for us to recognize His voice so we can trust that if we step into the process with them, we will recognize His voice. We are able to hear from God. Every single one of us is able to hear from God. It’s about cultivating that relationship with Him. So much of it is about saying, “I choose to believe the Word of God to be Truth, even if I haven’t experienced it.”
Faith is about believing in which you haven’t seen. In my personal journey of overcoming self-hatred, I had to look at what Scripture said about who I am. And many of those I didn’t connect with. But I went through a journey of saying, “I choose to believe this to be true. Lord, would You give me the experience of this one day? But I am declaring this as truth, because I choose to believe.”
It’s my faith journey. Applying that to knowing that God speaks to all of us, knowing that He calls His sheep to know their Shepherd’s voice. He’s not going to then leave us stranded for a way to figure out our Shepherd’s voice. He’s going to take us through that process. A lot of us need to declare that to be true.
“My Father speaks to me. He wants me to hear His voice, therefore I will. Teach me. Come to me, show me Your voice. Help me understand it. Give me those experiences.” He’ll take you on a crazy fun journey of figuring out what He sounds like to you. Sounds like him, but he speaks to all of us in different ways. And the key is for each one of us to understand and to hear and to know for sure. His voice.
Closing Thoughts
Gina:
I so love talking to Stephanie and I have a couple of questions for you to ponder. How do you hear God’s voice? What’s He been stirring in you? What are the things He’s been calling you to? It’s my prayer that you would have eyes to see and ears to hear all of the things He’s invited you to as His kids.
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