HEARING GOD

A Guide on How To Hear God In Psalm 46, God tells us, "Be still and know that I am God", "Cease striving, let go, relax, and know that I am God." To hear God you first need to learn to be still. When you're still it's much easier to draw near to God and begin to hear Him speak in your heart. His promptings are gentle and if you're not still, you'll miss them. • Remove distractions • Find a place where you can be alone and undisturbed • Quiet the voices and thoughts fighting for your attention If you struggle with this and your mind's busy, try jotting down the thoughts that come so that they're out of your head. If you become conscious of sin, confess it so it's no longer in the way. If your mind is still busy, visualize Jesus there with you. The key is to be so focused on God that everything else fades into the background. When you become still you'll begin to sense God's presence. By being still, I mean not doing anything other than making it possible to be in touch with God and experience Him. When you become still it's easier to hear God. Spontaneous images will begin to come and you'll begin to hear God's voice in your heart as spontaneous thoughts. When you enter the quiet place, take the first few minutes to become still. When you're still, you'll begin to sense God's presence. Once you're still and you've quieted your thoughts, focus on the Lord. Visualise Him there with you and wait for Him to speak. The more you practise becoming still, the easier it gets and the more quickly it all comes together. God speaks in many ways and different people hear God in different ways. For many of us, God speaks through spontaneous thoughts, pictures, feelings or impressions. He rarely speaks in an audible voice. Mark Virkler tells us that "the definition of paga, the Greek word for intercession, is a 'chance encounter or an accidental intersecting.'" When God speaks to you, showing you what He wants you to know or pray about, He often does it through paga, thoughts that come spontaneously, interrupting your own thought processes. As you still yourself and wait, spontaneous thoughts will begin to flow and you'll find yourself having an inner conversation with God. Look for the Lord there with you, and watch Him as He speaks to you. You'll find that if you look, you'll see. You'll begin to see spontaneous images in the same way that you receive spontaneous inner thoughts. You might find that inner vision comes so easily that you want to reject it, thinking that it's just you. If you persevere and record what you see and hear, your doubts will soon give way to faith as you begin to recognise that what you're seeing and hearing is mostly from God. It's a good idea to have a journal with you and record what you see and hear. Your journal is your way of saying to God "I value what you say to me." It's also a step of faith, showing that you expect Him to speak. Write in faith, simply believing that it's God speajing to you. Don't censor what you're receiving. Let it flow. You can test it later, making sure that what you're hearing lines up with Scripture and even running what you've heard by a trusted friend. You'll be surprised at how much you hear when you start to journal. You'll probably realise that God has been speaking all along but you just didn't recognise it. Put aside any doubts you might have and trust that you really are hearing God. Trust that God is with you and speaking to you. Are you ready to wait, look and listen? Are you ready to discover the joy of hearing God? • Find a quite place and spend some time in worship. • Sit quietly, visualise yourself with Jesus. • Talk to Him and ask Him questions. Listen and sense His reply. • Write down His answers Afterwards, Test What You Hear Things to consider when evaluating what you've heard: • Is it biblical - does what you've heard line up with Scripture? • God hasn't given you a spirit of fear, His word tells you to be 'anxious for nothing'. If what you've heard causes fear and anxiety it probably isn't from God. • Is it convicting or is it condemning? He may convict you of sin but condemnation is never from God. • If what you've heard involves a major decision, look for confirmation and seek the counsel of mature Christians before taking action Father teach me how to listen. Help me to be like Samuel who said, 'Speak for your servant is listening.' Let me be one of those who hear you in their heart. Help me to get used to the sound of your voice so that I can easily recognise when you're speaking to me. Help me to still and quieten my soul so that I can hear you more. Give me eyes to see and ears to hear. Enjoy the adventure of learning to hear God's voice.

HOPE IN TIME OF CRISIS

A Place of Hope for Professionals in Crisis

by Christine A. Scheller

Shame is a burden for many people who struggle with mental illness, but for leaders it can be especially intense, says Dr. Michael Groat, director of theProfessionals in Crisis (PIC) program at The Menninger Clinic in Houston, Texas. Doctors, lawyers, entrepreneurs, and other high achievers, by definition, are driven, ambitious, and accomplished. They have high expectations of themselves and others have high expectations for them.

“A lot of our folks are used to being successful in various endeavors and having a sense of mastery. When they come up against something that overwhelms their ordinary capacities to cope, we often see the sense of failure...They describe worries about the stigma, and I think stigma is a code word oftentimes linked to shame, because of worry about the way status or reputation is going to be marred or tarnished because of the experience of mental illness,” said Groat.

Leaders, especially prominent leaders, are so demanding of themselves that they don’t allow for illness and psychiatric illness in particular, added Menninger Clinic senior staff psychologist Jon G. Allen. “They’re very resilient people, but we all have limits in how much we can be self-reliant and manage on our own. They hit those limits and then they are out of luck in a way, because they’re so used to managing on their own that they’re deficient in being able to rely on other people.”

Many leaders entering PIC are dealing with social isolation, said Groat. “Those are the people I worry most about. I worry when someone says they’re suicidal, but I worry most about the person who is alone in their despair,” he said.

PIC is unique, both men said, in that it allows professionals adequate time to immerse themselves in a therapeutic community. Residents receive individual therapy, medication management, and group therapy during their six-to-eight week stay.

In group meetings people are taught “shame resilience,” Groat said. They learn that shame is an experience common to all human beings and are taught how to move out of it and into a state of belonging. “As we’re vulnerable and we’re received by other people with empathy and compassion, that is the route whereby we move out of shame, because being received with empathy, being understood, and being cared about helps us become reconnected,” he said.

Some professionals must overcome family or community cultures that hold negative views of psychiatry and mental illness, Allen said. “In a sense, we’ve sort of won the battle once they’ve walked in the door. But we struggle with ambivalence and resistance. ..The patients have a huge role in … allowing themselves to be vulnerable...When one person moves along, that brings other people along with them,” he said.

Therapists also encourage people to repair and/or reconnect with their primary relationships at home. “We help them use relationships outside of work to give them the sense of security, confidence, and well-being that is essential for them to sustain that work,” said Allen. “When you can depend on other people emotionally, then you’re more able to be self-reliant.”

Reevaluating priorities while in treatment is common, as it would be for anyone facing a health crisis, Allen said. “Patients really need to rethink their careers. Of course, that is a major, wrenching process.”

Finding safe people with whom to share struggles at work can aid in recovery for those who do return to their former vocations, said Groat. “I don’t expect, nor is it reasonable, for the patients to be vulnerable to everyone. In terms of the workplace, we have frank discussions about identifying those individuals with whom they can be vulnerable,” he said. For example, a physician who went through the PIC  program remembered an anesthesiologist who had described himself as “a friend of Bill.” This phrase can be code for members of Alcoholics Anonymous. The physician reached out to this AA member and was introduced to other coworkers who provided support.

“Those kinds of experiences of people finding allies, people finding safe havens, people finding a secure base to turn to does involve discernment. It does involve taking a risk and having it flop, then picking yourself back up and realizing that there are people who can benevolently and compassionately relate to you,” said Groat. “Recovery involves risk and I don’t see how any of us can grow without it...But, the more connected people are, the more likely it is that they’re going to have a solid recovery and the more likely it is that they’re going to remain healthy.”

While The Menninger Clinic is not a religious institution, it was founded by Presbyterians, and a chaplain is available for those who want spiritual guidance. Last year, Mark Roberts and other Foundations for Laity Renewal representatives visited the clinic to learn more about the PIC program. “The facility is beautiful, peaceful, and welcoming. The staff includes top professionals in several disciplines (psychiatry, chaplaincy, nursing, internal medicine, social work, psychology). Their teamwork approach maximizes the benefit for the people they serve,” said Roberts. “What impressed me most of all during my visit was the quality of the staff: highly-trained, experienced, deeply caring, collegial, and committed to an integrated approach to healing that includes psychological, relational, physical, and spiritual elements.”

Asked what he would say to a struggling professional who is ambivalent about investing six-to-eight weeks in the intensive PIC program, Groat said, “Ambivalence is very normal, and so I would expect that most people come here with ambivalence. The reason to consider The Menninger Clinic is that we can start with where you are, work with your ambivalence, and try to improve your life.”