I will stand upon my watch, and set myself upon the tower, and will watch to see what he will say to me, and what I will answer when I am reproved.

And the LORD [Yahweh] answered me, and said, Write the vision, and make [it] plain on tables, that he that reads it may run.

I spoke earlier on about how words release the spirit within; how that while you are speaking, things pop up out of your spirit without you being aware of it.

Sometimes the things that pop up out of your spirit are a source of wisdom. You might be speaking to somebody about a problem that they have, and suddenly you find yourself saying something that you had never planned to say, or something that you had never ever thought of before.

As you speak it you know that you are speaking the solution to the problem. It occurs to you suddenly and unexpectedly. You just see it, and it pops out.

There is a branch of psychology called Rogerianism, formulated by a man called Carl Rogers who discovered this. Rogers found that most people have within themselves the resources and ability to solve their own problems.

They have just never thought it through properly. They have never identified it in their spirits. So he formulated a means of counseling that does not counsel. In fact his method of counseling is so marvelous that you can program a computer to do it.

I used to have a program on my computer called Doctor Eliza way back in the old DOS days. Doctor Eliza would start out on your computer screen by saying,

"What is your problem?"

You would write down,

"I am sick of my mother-in-law!"

The program would come back and say,

"Tell me about your mother-in-law."

Every time you said something, the program was designed to pick up certain words and phrases and throw a question back at you again to make you think some more. That is all the Rogerian counselor does. He asks questions. He says,

"Tell me about your mother-in-law."

"She is always interfering in my business and telling me what to do."

"So what do you do? How do you react to this?"

"Well, I get mad and I slam the door and stomp out."

"What happens then?"

"My wife gets all mad at me because I am getting on her mother's case, and we have a big fight."

"I see. And what do you do after that?"

It goes on and on, until somewhere in the middle of the counsel suddenly the counselee comes up with a solution.

He says, "Oh yes, I have it. I know exactly what I'll do! I'll buy a gun and shoot her. That's it."

You see you solved the problem yourself. You did not need counsel. Not!

Okay, that is a bit extreme, but what actually happens? I used to think that Rogerian counseling was a load of nonsense. But it has become one of the most popular forms of counseling today, because it doesn't take much training.

You do not have to learn anything about problems and counseling to help people in their problems. All you need to learn to do is be a mirror to reflect their questions and statements back at them again.

You never give counsel. You just ask questions. And eventually in the process of conversation, when the person has talked and talked and answered questions; talked about their problem and thought about solutions, as they talk, up out of their spirit pops a solution.

They solve their own problem without even being counseled. They do not feel that anybody has imposed on them and told them what to do because it was their idea. Hey, my idea is always the best isn't it? Do not question my idea. Question everybody else's.

It means that this capability has been built into man, because it works in unbelievers as well as believers. Unbelievers still have a spirit, but it is dead to the Spirit of God. So the counsel, advice and solutions that will come up out of them will not be godly solutions.

They will not be based on the Scriptures and on the Word. But for a believer it is different. The Scripture says,

Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.

Answers in Your Speech

If as a believer you have been filling yourself with the Word, eventually the Word is going to start to come out. As you are speaking, suddenly into your mind will pop a promise, a commandment, an instruction or something from the Word that you read years ago.

You forgot that it was there, but in the process of conversation, while you were pouring out within your heart, suddenly it pops back into your memory and you see it. You just grasp it and you know it, and you say,

"That is the answer. The solution is right there."

Now you can develop this. I spoke earlier about developing this by speaking in tongues and speaking in prophecy. If you are a child of God you have the ability to tap that inner resource.

If you are a prophet of God this capability has become highly magnified. You are more sensitive to the realm of the Spirit. You are more capable of hearing from the Spirit and therefore you are more capable of tapping the resource that is in your spirit through speech.

Now if you are to receive wisdom from the Lord, you cannot go about muttering to yourself all the time. It is known as the first sign of madness in many quarters. You might have somebody reporting you and they may arrive with handcuffs and say,

"The guy needs to be locked up to protect himself."

If you are to do this you will have to be alone. But it is possible for you to speak without speaking. How do you do this? You do it by writing.

What does a dumb person do if they cannot speak? You can still communicate outwards what is in your heart through writing. You can write on paper or type on the computer ‐ whichever form of writing you are going to use. When you are writing you are putting speech down on paper, or whatever other medium you are using.

Speaking Through Writing

So it is possible for you to speak by writing. And as you do this you can enter into a conversation with the Lord. As a prophet of God you can come into a place where you can speak to the Lord, and where He can speak back to you again.

This is what the prophet Habakkuk was doing. He was saying,

"I will stand upon my watch, and set myself upon the tower, and I will watch to see what He will say to me."

He was speaking about coming into a position of hearing the voice of God.

We have spoken a little bit about this already. It means coming to the place where you quiet your senses. It means coming to the place where your body senses are stifled, and where the things that you see are not going to distract you. It means coming to the place where there is no noise and where there is quietness, because where there is noise the sound in your ears is going to distract you.

It means keeping away from nice smelling things, like not being near the kitchen when somebody is cooking. You have to put all the senses down and bring them under control. You have to come to the place where you are just in touch with the Lord and where your spirit is communing with Him.

As you do that you begin to hear the voice of the Lord coming from deep within. How do you do it? You concentrate on Him, you speak in tongues and you get the flow going.

Close your eyes and concentrate on Him. Get into worship, and if you are going to visualize anything, imagine the Lord standing right there in front of you, and you are speaking with Him and having a conversation with Him.

Writing Your Dialogue

Now pick up your pen and paper and write down your conversation. Write down what you are saying to the Lord like,

"Father, I need direction at this time. Lord, what is your plan and purpose for me today? What would you have me to do?"

Now you pick up your pen and write down His answer to you. Well how are you going to know His answer to you? You will hear it from deep within your spirit. You are going to have impulses and thoughts crossing your mind. You will have pictures coming into your mind. It will come just like prophecy.

There may be a thought, there may be a phrase or there may be an idea. But as you let your mind free and let your spirit bring that influence up from within, thoughts begin to flow and you start to write them down.

Do you know the amazing thing about writing? It is the same as speaking. I don't know about you, but if I am speaking on the phone and somebody else interrupts and tries to talk to me while I am speaking I get confused.

I have great difficulty listening to the guy I am talking to on the phone, and speaking and listening to somebody else at the same time. You can only do one thing at a time.

You see it is like a one‐way street. And so while you are speaking, there comes a control that pulls your thoughts, your emotions and everything in tune and in flow with the Spirit.

When you write it becomes more powerful because you are concentrating on what you are writing. And what you are writing is what is coming up out of your speech center, out of your heart and is being poured out in writing. While you are busy doing that you cannot be easily distracted. You cannot have other thoughts coming to your mind.

What is going to come into your mind are the pictures that will pour up out of your spirit while you are pouring forth that speech. What you will feel is the emotion that is stirred up as you are pouring forth that speech.

So as you begin to write a flow takes place and you find yourself saying things you didn't think you were going to say. Perhaps you asked the Lord for direction concerning a certain issue in your life, and in your mind you are thinking,

"Well this is the way I would like to go. This is what I'd like to do. I really hope that this is what God wants me to do."

Then you start to write. And as you do so a flow begins to take place, and you find yourself writing down a word of instruction and direction that is totally different to anything that you have thought about! It is totally opposite to the way you thought it was going to go.

You can be sure that it is coming from deeper than your mind, because your mind is taking the other route. Your spirit is taking a completely different route. Your spirit is pouring out a direction from the Lord.

As you write and write and pour forth, you find it starts to flow like a fountain and pour like a stream. And as you write it down, you capture the very prophetic word of the Lord.

As you learn to develop this, you will find that you can learn to use this while writing to people. This is especially the case if you are doing so by email, which is so common these days. As you begin to share and minister with somebody in writing, suddenly the flow starts to take place and up it comes out of your spirit.

You say, "And yes, the Lord would say this to you. God says this, and God says that."

You begin to prophesy even while you are writing. You have developed that capacity to pour forth from your spirit.

Use Journaling Daily

Do you realize that every day you can sit down and use this resource? It is a lot easier than speaking in tongues, translating it, recording it and transcribing it! It is a whole lot easier to write it down straight, and you have a permanent record immediately. I do this all the time. I have learned to tap the wisdom that is in my spirit.

There have been times where I have had people coming round for counseling. The appointment has been arranged and they are coming to me to give them counsel and advice. I know the Word and I know the counseling principles, but I do not know their circumstances exactly. I journal and say,

"What do I say to them, Father? What exact direction do I give them? Lord, what is happening in their life? You know Lord. Please give me direction."

I begin to write down in my journal and ask the Lord these questions. Then I begin to write down His words to me.

He says, "Les, this is the situation. These are the circumstances in their lives. These are the problems that they face. This is the situation that you need to address. This is the way you must advise them and counsel them, and this is my plan and purpose for their life."

I sometimes receive an entire breakdown of what kind of counsel and direction I need to give them. They arrive and I begin to counsel, and I follow it through. And oh yes, the Spirit was right!

It was right and it begins to flow. I begin to question them, and they come out with some of the very things God revealed to me in my journal. Then I begin to counsel and advise exactly in accordance with what God gave me in my journal.

When it is all finished, they have been ministered to and are uplifted and have the victory, I say to them,

"I just want to show you something."

I pull out my journal and I give it to them to read. I say to them,

"I wrote this before you came. I asked God to give me wisdom and direction today as I counseled you, and this is what God said to me before you came."

Their eyes get big and they say,

"Wow, you must be a real man of God."

No, I am just an ordinary prophet. I am just a servant of the Lord. I have simply learned to hear His voice. This is not my wisdom and these are not my ideas. This is not my brilliance. I am just an empty vessel that has learned to let His wisdom come up and flow out of me.

You are able to do it, prophet of God. You are able to tap the inner wisdom. You try it. Now do not sit down and think,

"What am I going to say?"

Remember the illustration of the boat and the rudder. As you start to write you get your boat in motion. And as you write you find yourself writing things you did not plan to write. This is because somebody is there steering the rudder, and you are going in a different direction to what you expected to go in.

That is the way it must go. I find often as I offer people dream interpretations I begin to put down what I think is the interpretation. And as I write suddenly I find myself saying something different. Pictures pop into my mind and different thoughts arise, and I am led and directed.

You try it. Sit down with a pen and paper and just write. Do not think what you are going to write. Just write the first thing that comes into your mind.

You say, "What if I am making it up?"

That is fine. The first five or ten words you might make up, then something else is going to kick in. You just get the boat moving and the motor will start, don't worry. Just get moving. Practice it. Do it again and again every day. Eventually you will find that you can come to the place, where at any time all you need is a pen and paper for you to say,

"Father, what do I do here?"

You begin to write, and wisdom and direction pours out from within. You are hearing the voice of God coming up out of your spirit.

Practical Project for Journaling

Now you are going to learn to journal by writing your first journal. This is all that you will need.

1. Get to a place where you are alone and cannot be interrupted.

2. Find a place that is quiet, or put on some kind of 'white noise' like a loud fan or air conditioner nearby to drown out all outside noises.

3. Find a comfortable place to sit where you can feel relaxed and where you are 'in the mood' to meditate.

4. Have writing materials ready.

If you feel more comfortable with pen and paper, then sit with a pen, blank paper or book and nothing else. If you are comfortable typing on a computer keyboard, then sit with a blank document open in your word processor software.

5. Start out by praying in tongues for a few minutes or worshipping the Lord.

6. Imagine Jesus standing or sitting nearby. Imagine that you are about to have a conversation with Him.

Get Going

Now start a conversation with the Lord, not out loud in speech, but in writing. Begin by writing down something you would like to say to the Lord. Do not make this too long, and do not try to ask pointed questions until you have learned to hear His voice better.

Rather start out like you would in a normal conversation. If you were visiting with a close friend, would you begin by bombarding him with questions, requests or lots of words? No, you would probably say something like,

"Hello Lord, it is great that we could get together again for a chat. I have missed you and would really like to spend some time with you now."

Then immediately ‐ without trying to figure it out in your mind – write down what you imagine the Lord would reply to you. Even if you feel like you are making up the words, just write them anyway. You might imagine him saying something like,|

"Welcome Les, I am so glad you could set aside time to be with me. I have missed you and I would love to be here for you now."

Once you begin to sense the words flowing easily, just keep writing everything you 'hear' the Lord say to you. You will be amazed where the words are coming from, as you find yourself writing things you would never have thought of.

If you run dry, then simply take up the conversation again, and write down something else you would like to say to the Lord.

Take your time. Allow pictures to come into your mind, and just write the first thing that comes to mind, even if it does not make sense.

You might find Scriptures popping up into your mind as you do this. You might even find yourself writing words that you have heard other people speak. Or you may hear words that you heard someone prophesy in the Spirit.

Just keep writing without trying to figure it out. You will be able to go over it later and see which words came from your mind and which came from your spirit.

It is a lot like the project I gave you on praying in tongues, where you learned to sense which words you spoke came from the Lord. In actual fact, this project is a bit like prophesying on paper. The only difference is that you cannot flow out as quickly with it, because you cannot write or type as fast as what you speak.

Do This Daily

Do not worry if your first journal is short and does not say much. Just keep doing it each day for the next week, and keep all your journals so that you can watch your progress.

By the end of the week, you will find yourself getting better at it and hearing the Lord's voice more clearly. And you will find that you are able to journal more accurately the more that the practice.

Expect the Lord to address every question in your heart and to also give you great and wonderful promises – often beyond things you could hope for or believe for. He wants to bless you and loves you dearly.

Expect Him to say this to you and to meet the desires of your heart. Expect Him to say good things and not bad things. This is because in His love He is quick to see the good and not the bad.

If your journal is filled with condemnation and negativity, then you are listening to the wrong voice. Reject it, rebuke it and tell Satan to leave you alone. Then try it again. Soon you will be flowing daily in journaling, and the Lord will keep giving you promises and direction for your life.

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