God wants to reveal His thoughts to you. Learn how you can hear short clips of divine conversations that summarize life in general, as well as your current individual circumstances.
Recently the Lord has had me in more of a rest season, where I’ve been developing less content for things like full length articles, but where I’m getting more of what I think of as “heavenly sound bites,”—meaning it’s almost like I’m eaves dropping, or overhearing parts of conversations from heaven about aspects of everyday life as well as how God views human existence in general.
One definition of a sound bite I found explains that a sound bite is a short clip of audio extracted from a larger file that’s used to summarize a longer piece—often used to entice the listener to learn more. That’s true for the examples of heavenly sound bites I want to share with you.
Some Examples
Here are four examples of sound bites I’ve heard recently to give you an idea of what I’m talking about.
1. The first one I heard was in the first person—I don’t know if you ever hear the Lord like this, but I sometimes do. In other words, it’s like I’m saying something, but I know it’s not me—it’s a divine thought, or a thought inspired by the Lord. I was simply standing at the sink in my bathroom early one morning, and a clear thought suddenly ran through my mind. It was: “Every day is precious, because it brings me one day closer to going home to be with Jesus.”
I literally went, “Whoa, what was that again?” That is absolutely profound. I thought of checking days off on a large calendar with an “x” or something, and yet also contained in that thought is that despite our longing for heaven, we should regard each day on earth as precious because He has given it to us.
2. The second one came when I had had kind of an Elijah day—like when he ran from Jezebel and hid and complained to the Lord that he was the only prophet left that hadn’t bowed down to Baal (1 Kings 19). As I was lying in bed that night before going to sleep, I asked the Lord if He was going to keep using me, or if for some reason I wouldn’t be continuing to do His work anymore.
I’m being really transparent here—I was having kind of a low moment, in that it’s not easy for me to rest or not write, podcast or minister as much. I am still doing stuff, just not maybe as much as in the previous season. I was recently invited to speak at a conference in a neighboring state, for example, that went really well—stuff like that—but you know, we all have those days.
Towards morning I had a dream. I saw some people who were working (ministering) for the Lord. It’s like there were three groups. The first group was made up of people who only ministered for a very short time. Then they just fell away and were done, or gone. The second group of people ministered and worked for the Lord for like six years. Then they were just done, or gone. The third group of people work for Him forever. Then there was a pause, and even within the dream I was kind of holding my breath, thinking, “Which group am I?” Then I heard, “Doing His work forever.” I can’t tell you how much hearing that blessed me, for so many reasons.
There’s the fact that the Lord gave me this dream when I was in kind of a raw, low place—that He cared enough to do that. And to hear that I’ll be working for Him forever—I was honestly like, ”YIPPEE!!” There’s nothing I’d like to do more. Working for Him brings me such life—like nothing else does, really.
But there’s also some profound revelation contained in that sound bite about working forever. We can tend to think we only work for Him on earth—that when we get to heaven we’ll sit around on clouds playing harps, or something—but I don’t think it’s like that. Remember, Adam and Eve worked at tending the garden before sin, when it was a type of heaven on earth. That tells you something about how God designed us. He designed us to be busy and productive for Him, both in this life and the next.
3. In this sound bite I had another dream. This time I dreamed in the context of the recent circumstances of Bill and Beni Johnson. As I’m sure you know, Beni Johnson passed away recently from cancer. Here’s what I heard spoken about Beni’s passing, “Death has left her, and life has come.”
Again, that is so profound! Isn’t that exactly true concerning the death of every saint—every believer? Because of our inherited sinful natures, from the moment we’re born we’re dying. Only when we die does life truly come.
4. The last example concerns an area of injustice and betrayal perpetuated through the generations of my family where certain people have been passed over for things like land and other inheritances.
I dreamed I was watching a movie with my husband, like on Netflix or something. All the sudden a saw a person’s full name and personal information—a relative of mine—spelled out there on the screen. Part of their personal information was redacted, obviously for privacy/security purposes, but I was dumbfounded to see this person’s name and information clearly visible on such an enormous platform. I exclaimed to my husband, “We have to back up and find that clip so I can be sure I really saw what I saw!”
Here’s what I think it meant. I don’t think it was a good thing for that person that I saw their name in that context. Concerning some of the ongoing betrayal and injustice in my family line, the narrative gets confusing as to who did what to whom and who’s ultimately responsible.
But when the Lord highlighted this particular person’s name, it made me realize that this person—and this person alone—was the impetus behind something that has happened more recently. Other people collaborated and contributed to what happened, but once I really thought about it, it all comes back to that person.
In that simple way God gave me some heavenly insight—a sound bite. There’s a record in heaven somewhere of what that person did, and I don’t think it was taken lightly. The Bible says we’ll all give an account for our actions someday. 2 Corinthians 5:10 says that we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad. That should give each one of us pause.
Principles for Receiving Heavenly Sound Bites
Psalm 139:17 (NKJV): “How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God! How great is the sum of them!”
I treasure it when God reveals His thoughts to me. Here are some principles to begin hearing sound bites yourself:
• Ask – Your heavenly Father is waiting for you to ask! He’s an interactive God, who gives good gifts to His children and wants to reveal Himself to you. (Matt. 7:7-11)
• Walk in the fear of the Lord – Psalm 25:14a (NIV) says, “The Lord confides in those who fear Him.” We need to walk in awe, reverence—the holy fear of the Lord.
• Walk in humility and submission to the Spirit of the Lord – Isaiah 66:2b (NIV) says, “These are the ones I look on with favor: those who are humble and contrite in spirit, and who tremble at my word.” To walk in humility and submission to the Holy Spirit means when He does speak to you, you treat His word with respect—not only by treating it with reverence but also by being obedient to whatever He says. Then He’ll continue to reveal more.
God is no respecter of persons, and it doesn’t matter if you walk in the office of a prophet or not—each and every believer can begin hearing sound bites from heaven! (John 10:1-30)
Posted on Charisma Magazine.
Diane is a writer, speaker and minister ordained with both Christian International and Generals International. Her articles are regularly featured on The Elijah List, as well as platforms like Charisma Magazine, Charisma News, Intercessors For America and others. She and her husband, Allen, co-founded Starfire Ministries with a vision to see the kingdom established beyond the four walls of the traditional church. They host a podcast with Charisma Podcast Network, and serve as Church Mountain, Regional, and Montana Coordinators for the Reformation Prayer Network, and as Media Mountain Leader/Facilitators for C.I.’s Culture Influencers.
