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Hi, I'm Nikki. Hi, I'm Hope. Welcome to Equipped Fellowship, where friends become family through Christ.
We're two Jesus-loving friends on a mission to share personal stories, resources, and real talk about our triumphs, breakthroughs, struggles, and setbacks. Why? Because we believe you are called to live victoriously, and we're here to equip you with Holy Spirit-led tools and strategies to strengthen your faith, transform your mindset, and walk boldly in God's promises. Because here's the truth, you've been given a great and precious promise by God.
So grab your coffee, lean in, and let's grow together. It's time to step into everything God has for you. Amen, sister.
Every time we give an amen. I love it. So excited and just excited for what God does today and how it unfolds.
You know, I feel that it's going to be really encouraging to people to have in my mind, thinking about the intro of like resources and stories and really practical steps. That's what today is about, is practical steps and how to know God's voice, hear His voice, be led by Him, right? Just like our goal is with the podcast to be Holy Spirit-led. So I'm eager to go deeper into that.
I am too. And it's so important that we learn how to hear from God. And for some people, that might be such a foreign concept.
Like, how do I hear? And we put all these barriers in front of ourselves that block our hearing. But if we learn to take those barriers away, very simply, we're not going to complicate it. And you begin to hear God's voice, God's directing, God's prompting in so many ways.
And there's not just one way to hear from God. There are many simple, easy ways to hear from God. And I kind of want to go off into a tangent, but I want to keep this simple and to the point.
I hear you. I love the emphasis of there's so many ways because the beauty, and I guess the permission to extend to the listener, is every season of your life is different. And know that as you transition, how you hear Him will also transition.
But the key is just getting started, keeping it simple. And I think something that I want to share is kind of the first exposure to hearing God's voice. I believe for both you and I, Nikki, was the 60-day challenge.
And what that looked like, really, I mean, I don't even know that's a resource anymore, to be honest. But what that really looked like was getting in a quiet place, which we've talked about before, and asking the Lord a question. Be it like, is there anything blocking me from you, you know? And what I like to personally do is starting with yes or no questions, because it keeps it simple.
And I think people are more comfortable hearing quickly a yes or a no. And then you build your confidence and then go, okay, what is it, God? And you let that momentum build. And that's what we did.
And we were journaling what we heard or what we felt. And I remember in that journaling, we were each other's accountability partners for 60 days doing Marco Polos. I think some of the ones I sent you were like 25 minutes long.
They were so long sometimes. But it was amazing to see, because I still have that journal, that book, how it started, where it was just like this when I was learning. And then how it ended, where I was taking up pages or adding pieces of paper to the page.
So it ended up being like this long. And it got more and more detailed with time as I got more comfortable. And that's the key, is starting simple, letting it flow, and then making sure, like, if you're going in with the heart posture of, I want to hear you, Lord, trust your heart, and then go from there.
I always say it's a heart posture thing, and he'll honor your heart posture. Yeah. I learned so much from that 60-day challenge also about asking questions.
And a good way to hear from God, like I said on the previous episode about the billboard that I saw. And so if you didn't hear that episode, go on back, and you can hear all about the billboard story. But when you are going through your everyday life, and something out of the ordinary catches your eye, ask God why you saw that.
And a lot of times when I go on my run, I always run the same route. But God highlights to me different things on each and every run. I mean, one time it was like a hair tie.
Like, I kept seeing hair tie. That's such a random thing to see and be highlighted. I was so gonna mention that.
That's funny. And I did a whole, I got on, I did a live about this hair tie and what God had imparted. And it could be a crack, or a leaf, or a billboard that I see, or a sound, or a particular flower, or a car that drives by, and it has a particular license plate, or a bumper sticker.
And when you see those things that seem out of the ordinary, I'm just like, you know, like I said before, like, God, what do you mean by that? What are you highlighting to me through this? And I just get really quiet. And whatever pops in my head, I just start to process that with God. Sometimes a question leads to another question.
Sometimes he imparts something. And it links these events together. It's like, oh, that makes so much sense.
Like that led to that led to that. And this is why I'm here. And this is why I saw it.
And this is why I am hearing this from God right now. And it's not an audible voice. It's not like I'm struck down with this.
It's just this knowing inside of me. It's this thought that is inside of me, but I know that didn't come from me. I totally get that.
And I think that even complements something we've said on previous episodes about like where thoughts are coming from, and it's very rarely yours. And if you are entering into a moment, so let's say before you run, right? And you're like, all right, Lord, I'm running with you. Holy Spirit come and you run.
You're protected. You're aligned with him. What enters in because it's very rarely you and the enemy ain't going to give you any encouragement.
I'll tell you that. Trust that. Let it flow and go with that.
It's beautiful. And I think that's where people often do question it because it kind of sounds like them. And you have to be okay with that and just keep pressing in and being in scripture to know the character of God, to be comparing that with that and just trusting that process and knowing that, you know, Nikki does it in a run.
Her and I both journal, and I have found for me, I always start with a question, even when I'm journaling, just like the 60 day challenge. But like, let's say I'm thinking of my most recent one, I'll be fully transparent, like I've been pretty sick. So I've felt very overwhelmed lately.
And I sit down, it could be on my phone. I have like 500 notes on my phone of journal entries over the years, or it can be a physical one, which we've talked about. And I'm like, God, I'm overwhelmed right now.
Yeah, that one. I'm overwhelmed right now. What do you say? And a lot of times for years, he would tell me just to breathe.
And that would actually aggravate me if I'm honest. But he knows what I need. And I don't, I want to like, go do this.
And you know, go, go start. I wanted a to-do list for the overwhelm I already had. That's kind of funny.
But just breathe. And it's taken me all this time to rest and to learn, I'm still learning that. And then from there, I'm like, okay, breathe.
Well, then what do I do? Do I like, how do I do that? Close my eyes, whatever. And just ask more questions. And it just starts to go and go and go.
And then he just starts giving me downloads. It is not, I've never been into deep new age stuff. But I've heard people that have gotten delivered out of really deep, dark stuff.
There's like a thing called automatic handwriting. It's not that. You are not giving yourself over to some entity.
You're communing with God. And you're asking questions. And then you start getting familiar with that voice and writing that down.
And it's encouraging. I mean, I'll be right. And I'm sure you can say this, Nikki too.
As I'm writing, I hear him call me daughter. I'm loved. You know, all this stuff that only a loving father can say about me.
Yes. Yes. I've had those thoughts too.
And when I'm writing, you're absolutely right that you're communing with the father because it is words that you generally wouldn't say to yourself. I know. Right.
Especially if you have any kind of background that's like very, you're hard on yourself, right? It just, his love, even if you don't hear it, you feel it. And even if it's not lowly, like loving hearts and flowers, sometimes God corrects you. He gives you that loving correction.
And I know that's not for me. And I know that's. And then when I think about why I got that loving correction and ask him, what was the root of that? It usually is revealed.
And I'm like, repentance. And we did an episode on that. And that leads me into that.
Yeah, I think that's so true. And that's so good. That gentleness of loving correction.
That also makes me think about going to that repentance episode. If someone hasn't listened to that yet, definitely encourage that. Because there's so much love wrapped up in it.
But knowing that his voice also is that little nudge. I probably shouldn't have done that. That's him.
That's him using Holy Spirit to knock on your heart. That's his voice too. And as you're talking, it brought up to me that it's not always just one thing.
It's not always asking a question. It could be you are just broken or going through something that's difficult or in a situation where you don't know how to get out. And you turn on your playlist and all of a sudden this song comes on.
And it may not even been the right order in your playlist or just a coincidence you turn on the radio. There is no coincidences. But you turn on the radio and God had put that song at that right moment in time for you to hear.
And you just become overwhelmed with emotion. Whether it's joy or sadness or just weeping. I don't know how many times I've turned on a song or a playlist and I just weep.
And I listen to those words and I hear something. Again, hear something that I've heard a million times but I hear it in a new way. Oh my gosh, that happens all the time to me.
So like that, turning on the radio or playlist or you don't know, the Bible is very overwhelming to a lot of people. I think it's been spoken that it's confusing and overwhelming. And so we've come into agreement with that which if you're listening to this, just break agreement with that because it's living.
He's gonna have that communicate to you, to your understanding, to apply it to your life. So just open it up, random page. The amount of times that people that barely know, actually I'll call them, I won't say barely know him because we've known him for so long as just before time, but that are just beginning to walk with him, open it up and they're blown away by the scripture that speaks to them.
I've seen that time and time again in my life and other people's life. They're like, whoa, he's talking, he's real. It's like, yes, keep doing that.
There might be a season where you just flip it open every day. And if it's something that's like, I don't know, Leviticus or something. You're like, what's that about, Lord? Ask him, right? Just like that.
And see what he's telling you. Transition that language or that communication now to asking him questions. All of it's an open door to more.
It truly is. And speaking about a Bible, I was going to show a tool that I use with a lot of my clients who are unfamiliar with the Bible and what God has to say with them in relation to the Bible. And so this is just one of my clients in the past.
So we kind of talk about words that they might be feeling. So there's like peace or release, shift, sovereign, pride, spirit, healing, regret, wholeness, whatever it is. And we make a list together, 30 words.
And each day I have them put the sheet in front of them and I'm like, ask the Holy Spirit to highlight a word on here for the day. So say it was a wound. So then I go, just take your phone, Google, where is wound found in the Bible? Bible verses that talk about wounding.
A couple will pop up, read them over, look towards the one that's highlighted to you, clip open your Bible or your Bible app or whatever, read the whole context of that verse. Because a lot of times it's just a short summary when you Google and then ask God, what he's saying about you. That's perfect.
Through that verse. Super simple, but I've never had a client that hasn't gone through the 30 days of that and not heard from God on each of those 30 days. I love that.
All in different ways. Yeah, right. It's like you open the scriptures and then maybe you get an image in your mind.
I mean, it's crazy when I think through all the different ways I've heard his voice over, I'm thinking of timeline here, eight years. It's all your senses. It's what you hear.
It's what you see. It's what your mind sees. Some people can't even taste things.
I don't know. You don't want to limit that, but it is that open door of just taking that step and believing that he'll show up. Because what you just shared reminds me of one time.
I don't know who this was. It might have, I don't know who. It doesn't really matter.
But I took a calendar and just wrote random words on different days of the year. And boy, did he show up each time a new word came up. One time it was so funny.
The day was almost over. I'm trying to remember what the word was. I screen recorded the video.
And wouldn't you know it, the video had that word on it. And it was hilarious. And soda pop, the word was soda pop.
And it was so funny. It gave me so much joy. And I'm like, that was you, God.
That was you, soda pop. I believed he would show up. Was it deep and really revelatory? Not really, but guess who needs joy all the time? Because the enemy tries to kill, steal, and destroy that.
Soda pop, I'm from the South. We don't say that. So it's just, I think what we can take away is it's serious.
Because your relationship with him is serious. But he's a fun father. And know that he talks in fun ways.
Even in the loving correction ways. It's not gonna cause the type of pain that you're used to. If it's painful, it's because you're so attached to what it is that he's trying to free you from.
That's it. It is it. Yeah, that spoke to me.
But he's so fun. I mean, I love that you and I come on this podcast. And we share really serious things.
But we laugh throughout the whole thing. Whether we're saying, we messed up. Or we're talking about his character.
The joy of the Lord is my strength. Right. And he does that by talking to you.
Right. And I was journaling this yesterday? No, the day before. And John 10, 27.
My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. We know his voice. We just have to tap into it.
We have to open the door to hear it. Yes, that's it. Which is all throughout scripture about like opening the door, right? Asking, seeking.
Like, I guess I was thinking of that scripture too before today. But I hadn't really thought about it in the context of we already know it. Even though that's what that scripture says.
But now that I think about it, I think about other scriptures where like, he knit you together in the womb. It says he's always known you. If there is a knowing at all that has already existed, then it's still there.
And it made me think of when our child's in our womb, they know our voice. They react to our voice. Like I used to read to Josephine in my womb, and she would move around and do these.
But other people would talk to her in my womb, and she wouldn't move. And again, when she's born fresh out of the womb, she knows mother's voice, her father's voice, whoever has been speaking her to her through that. It's the same with God.
That's so beautiful. That brings so much comfort in a world that feels so like disheveled. And you know, if you keep your eyes peeled to everything around you, like you feel like where's the comfort? Where's all the fruit of the spirit? And it's there.
It's right in his voice. And we can tap into it anytime. You don't have to go through these ritualistic things or steps or be in a certain place in your life to be able to hear God's voice.
No. Ask for it. You open that door.
You surrender fully. He will answer you. Yeah.
I love that so much. Because you know, I never want to overwhelm people. To your point, like he'll just show up.
And I feel like I have so many examples of that. But something that's just been really fun lately, just to kind of validate further, like just take the step, listen to the nudge or whatever, the highlighting, like you do on your run. Lately, when I'm in the shower, random worship songs pop in my mind.
Random. And I start singing them. And I'm like, okay, Lord, why is it this song? What is it that you're speaking to me? And sometimes it's just him stirring my heart back to my first love.
You know, that literally happened this morning or last night. I can't remember. But I was just like singing.
I'm like, this is a really old worship song. Lord, I haven't heard this in years. And I'm just singing it.
Because if I stir that admiration of him back in me, I'm back in. We always talk about alignment. I always do this.
I don't know why. It makes me a chiropractor. I'm back in alignment.
Yes. So I'm more clear with my ears and my eyes. And he's just been doing that so much.
And it's so wild sometimes, like the songs. And I just start it, you know? It's so life-giving. Similar to me.
When I wake up in the morning, a lot of times like a worship song will just pop in my head and just start going off. And all day today was the Holy Spirit by Francesca. I don't know her last name.
Oh, yeah. I know who you're talking about. This is all about welcoming in the Holy Spirit.
And I asked God, why am I hearing this? What do you want to say to me through this? And he was just like, for your podcast today, just welcome us in. Welcome Holy Spirit, God the Father, Jesus into the podcast. Simple.
But we have to ask them what these things mean. Right. And I love that because we always welcome him in, but he highlighted specifically today, which I think is really cool because specifically today we're talking about hearing him.
You know, it's not so much like we usually invite him in to make sure we're in alignment, which is important. But today it was really important because we're highlighting and sharing to others how to hear him. And we do not want to be misleading in what that looks like.
We want him to share. This is how my kids can know me. This is how I speak.
It carries a different weight today of that welcoming in of the Trinity. It truly does. I love that so much.
I'm trying to think. I don't know. What I want to encourage the listener with is as you step out in obedience and just, again, opening that door.
Think about that as your history book that you're going to start writing in. So you have that history to keep building on moving forward. And that just popped into my mind as I'm looking over to the left, where I have homework from my biblical counselor.
And wouldn't you know that every time? And I mean, it's a decent amount of reading. And I sometimes I'm like, Lord, I'm five days behind. I see her every Thursday, and I haven't started.
And it's Wednesday. But wouldn't you know, I open it up, and it speaks to what just happened two days ago to bring me comfort. And it builds that history further and further.
And like Nikki was saying, it removes the ritualistic aspect of it. Because in my mind, she gives me homework. It's supposed to be one a day.
But if I can't do it, I can't do it. And there's grace in that. And he still shows up when I'm five days behind, trying to do five days worth of homework.
And I'm highlighting. I'm like, oh my gosh, I can't believe I almost didn't care about this. Oh, thank you, Lord, for speaking through it.
And then I add it to my book of history. And now here we are talking. In my mind, I feel like I have filing cabinets of ways he's shown up when I just pressed in and spoke to me in all kinds of ways.
He spoke to me. I have a coffee cup here. I have an Instagram post from eons ago, because that's how long ago it was that I was posting a lot on Instagram.
And I had put my mug, said hope, and I put it on a blanket. And he spoke to me that way because it had like text on the inside and the front. And this part was blurry.
And this part wasn't. Bam. He spoke to me because I happened to put it on this blanket to go to the bathroom or something, you know, and it just hit.
And I was like, oh, I think that's good encouragement for other people. And then I was done. And he showed up like that, you know.
He always does. He really does. He really does.
And I want to encourage the listeners, just get started. Just get started. Before you turn on the radio or playlist or podcast today, just ask the Holy Spirit to come in and show you revelation through whatever you're going to listen to today.
Just see what happens. Take a small step. Trust that God will show up because he will.
Trust that he'll show up. And Nikki, you're a mom. I am not.
Your schedule is very different than mine. I don't like to say busy, but you have a very full schedule. And something you said earlier that now is coming back to mind because of what you just shared is you mentioned like going on a run and then like getting quiet to hear.
To the listeners that have a very full schedule, especially the moms, know that it's possible to get quiet inside while your life is still going. I did not believe that was possible for so long. And I'm not even a mom.
But because I had so many years of chaos in this, in my brain, I didn't believe it was possible. And Nikki, you are proof of as you share stories that it is possible. And I just want to extend that out to the listeners as well.
That as you just get started, you can quiet in here just while you're taking care of the kids in the car. Toting them around to whatever activity. You can hear him in the nuances of life.
Yeah, yes. There was a time with Josephine where we were just, you know, part of the nighttime routine. We would ask God to reveal anything that he wanted to us in this moment, whether we would, a vision, a sound, a song, a highlight, a memory from the day.
And we would just sit quiet for 30 seconds. It's not long with kids, you know. And I would share what I heard.
And she would share what she heard or saw or whatever. And then we'd switch roles, you know, the next day. But it's just as simple as just get started.
Get started where you're at. Get started in the moments of your life. Do it with your kids if you have to.
Do it on a run. Do it in your car. Do it in your shower.
Anywhere. Just carve out that time. It is so worth it.
It is so, so worth it. And I'll end with this from my personal of how, you know, I mentioned the 60 Day Challenge with us, but I think I might have been after. Timelines, man.
They're wild. But I did do this with some clients of mine. And I want to encourage anyone that Nikki has talked about in the past.
I think it was in our episode zero where we do our introduction about, you know, father wounds. So having the walls up. And you briefly mentioned that today too.
One of the most beautiful things that I had done to me when I was working with someone and then I extended it out to my clients was getting quiet. This makes me tear up every time. And saying, I like to say it out loud because it just, it feels different.
I love you, God. And see what you hear back. Because every time, every person, including myself, heard, I love you.
And that does something to your trust. Like you're saying, Nikki, trust him. He shows up.
But that trust is hard. And I understand that. Nikki understands that.
It does take time. Again, you're writing a new history book. And so that takes time.
But that still to this day blesses my heart when I think about saying, I love you, God. And that takes what, five seconds? It did. Immediately when you said that, and I just got quiet for that second.
And I just heard, I love you, daughter. And I'm just like still overwhelmed by it. And it sounds like your voice, but it's not.
You would not be saying that to yourself. None of us would because we are so hard on ourselves. So if you're like, well, guys, that was great.
You gave a lot of ways that you've heard. I'm wonderful. You want me to get started now? I'm overwhelmed.
Tell him you love him and see what he.
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