A Timely Topic: We are committed to listening to the Holy Spirit
We interviewed All Nations International Team Member Monika Kramer about what one of our values — listening and obeying the Holy Spirit — and she shared what it looks like in her journey:
How this value shows up in my life and ministry
What could we ever do without the Holy Spirit? I lived many years without Him because I didn't know Him. And when I finally got to know Him, I was blown away because some things happened that I thought never would happen.
I didn't even know that the Holy Spirit existed or talked or helped. I just knew that I loved Jesus. And since then, I've learned that every single day, I need Him. How could I follow Jesus without the guidance of the Holy Spirit? I mean, it is just impossible.
Paul said, "The good he wants to do, he doesn't do; but the bad he doesn't want to do, he does." (Romans 7:19)
Without the Holy Spirit, we can't live the life following Jesus.
Sometimes, it's been very surprising. Sometimes it's been the very quiet things. God loves us so much that He has such a desire to be with us. He longs to be with us and to have a relationship with us. So, it's such a privilege.
I think we have to have our antennas up daily. This afternoon a woman came here, and we talked about some questions. She said, "You know what happened today to me? Somebody stole money from me."
She continued and said, "I was there helping that family, and there were some people doing maintenance. I had the feeling, ‘don't leave your bag there,’ but I did as always and just left my bag at the entrance."
Later, the woman wanted to go shopping, and she took her purse out and there was no money. She knew she should have 50 Euros.
It was too shocking to her, and I said, "This is exactly what we need in our daily life." We need to have our antennas up. And when the Holy Spirit says, 'don't leave your purse there,' we need to recognize that it is His voice.
Because this idea came out of the blue, she didn't even think about it, because she always leaves it there. So, in that moment comes this idea — a warning. He's there. We need to be aware.
Later, I went shopping, and there was a lady in front of me. She said "hello" to me and a few more sentences. I ran and got my groceries and was on my bike headed home. Then this idea comes, "No, you have to go back just to tell her about me."
I thought, "But Lord, I'm in a hurry. People are coming, I need to feed them." Of course, I turned around and I found her in the parking lot. I told her that I needed to come back to her because I didn't know if she knows about Jesus, and I needed to see how she is feeling and what she's doing. She was in tears. She learned that God always sees her.
It's those little things in daily life.
There’s a part that comes naturally in my life
It comes naturally when we have a sick person and we want to pray and see him/her receive healing. I think we always have to do it when the Holy Spirit speaks to us. We have to spend time with Him. Yeah, we just need to pray and seek, present and ask Him to lead us. I think we have to be active. He will always be with us with some discipline. I always say I want to be like Paul. He says he’s speaking in tongues all day long. I'm not there yet. I would love to be, but I know that you can speak to people and at the same time you can pray and listen to the Lord. It's something to discern and actively train ourselves in it.
There are challenges
It's very important that we spend time with Him and we have to be still. We need to listen, and it's very good to write down what we are hearing. Sometimes we can then go to some friends or partners and talk with them about it and pray together and see if we heard right if God was really speaking. Then, sometimes we jump over our own shadow. We feel like, "Oh, I can't do that. I can't go to that person now and just talk to them."
So, we should leap forward, even if we don't know how. We just should leap forward. Early, early in my Christian faith, we were at a huge conference in Arizona. There were thousands of people there, and it was really noisy. It was in the evening, and I felt in that moment, “Go and pray for that person.” It was a man, so I said, "okay."
So, I went, and I didn't feel really comfortable. I felt so insecure. It's a man, he's American and I'm German. I went and I said, "Can I pray for you?" He said, "Sure." So I prayed for him and then the conference started. I didn’t realize it, but he happened to be the main speaker.
The next morning, everybody's there again, it's noisy and there's a lot going on. I hear the same voice, "Go pray for him." I said, "Oh Lord, he's the main speaker, who am I?" I felt like I couldn't go. But then my heart was beating too fast and I just knew that I had to go. I went and I said, "I'm sorry, can I pray for you again?" He said, "Please do." So, I prayed again. This happened again a third time during the conference.
Then, the speaker said, "You know what? Every time you came and prayed for me, I had strength.” He shared that he had been pain and felt so bad and he thought he could never stand there and speak. He said, “But when you came and prayed, I felt good and knew I could do it."
When the speaker went to the doctor on Monday, and he told everybody he had a heart attack. Somehow God really helped him. I realized how important this prayer was. Of course, I'm very happy I listened and obeyed.
Trust me, I felt really bad. Who am I to go? So, I think sometimes we need to just do it. Even if we think people will laugh or reject us, just do it.
I think the Lord has given us a privilege that we can come into His presence. It's incredible that we can talk about Him. We can hear His voice, and we learn from Him.
About the author: Monika Kramer and her husband, Juergen, live in Hamburg, Germany, and are part of the International Leadership Team of All Nations International. Dr. Juergen founded the All Nations Hamburg Hub. Monika is a gifted evangelist and was instrumental in the start of a small movement in Hamburg. Monika and Juergen have two daughters and three grandsons.
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