Growing in God Exercises

The Lord has been giving me a couple exercises to help me grow in intimacy with Him as well as growing in love.  The first exercise is to grow in discernment of His voice.  Hearing God's voice is something that must be practiced regularly.  If the concept seems foreign to you, I highly recommend How to Hear God's Voice by Mark Virkler.  His book accustoms you to one method of hearing God (He speaks to us in a plethora of ways).  The exercise I have been doing is as I wait upon the Lord, I journal everything He says to me.  I ask open ended questions about my life/circumstances and note His responses as they light upon my spirit.  Then after I've written down the conversation, I ask the Lord to confirm it through His word.  This practice has actually changed the way I study the Word, it is a much more dynamic relationship since the Lord continues a conversation with me through the Scriptures.  Sometimes I'll ask Him where I should study, but most of the time I wade through the various bookmarked chapters I am going through (I usually read several chapters and have bookmarks in the Torah, the Prophets, SoS, Psalms, a Gospel, an epistle, and Revelations).  If I heard His voice correctly, He always confirms it with His Word!  Doing this validates what we hear and gives us confidence in what we hear Him say.

The next exercise is one the Lord suggested to me this morning, but I have yet to practice.  He said, "This is my 5 step plan: go to a public place and every 5 steps talk to a stranger."  Before I proceed, a major part of my calling is to publicly minister in power and love (I believe this is the calling of every Christian, but some have more of an aptitude for it than others).  Myself and a few others will regularly go to malls, hospitals, supermarkets, flea markets, etc. to find the sick and pray for them or just give prophetic words to strangers.  The Lord's 5 step plan is a new challenge for me, since I have historically waited until I had a complete revelation & interpretation from the Lord before approaching an individual.  Alternatively, I would approach people with visible illness/injuries.  This exercise will propel me out of that comfort zone, away from relying on the gifts, and into moving more in love.  Not everyone needs healed.  Not everyone will receive a prophetic word.  Everyone needs Jesus and the love of Christ is what we have that others do not, if we don't share it... the salt is losing it's saltiness.