A great shortcut to a successful prayer ministry is what I call “The IJO Hack.”
What is IJO?
It stands for “Instant Joyful Obedience.”
Obedience to what you believe is the voice of the Holy Spirit must be instant.
And when it is the voice of the Lord, it turns out joyful.
The Holy Spirit lives in our hearts and not our minds.
This is why there is a difficulty in recognizing God’s voice.
We are confused as to what should we be hearing.
We have been taught to listen for the obvious, what can be calculated, the loud, the brash and the black and white.
The Holy Spirit speaks in us twenty four seven.
We say that we don’t hear Him when we should say that we don’t recognize Him.
A radio station is blaring a signal continually around us.
We don’t hear it, not because it’s not present, but because we don’t recognize the frequency.
Our mind is essential to the walk in the Spirit.
The function of our mind is to recognize what the Spirit is saying.
Our hearts or our spirits, though not exactly the same, are used interchangeably to identify the home of the Holy Spirit.
Our spirits are the home for the Holy Spirit to live in
A home has no other role than to house.
It does nothing,
Our mind is what recognizes what the voice of God says, and tells our will to obey the Holy Spirit’s voice.
And our will pulls our human bodies to obey.
However, our minds must be submitted to the Holy Spirit.
The mind cannot be disconnected from what the Holy Spirit is saying, to do its own thing
This is where we meet difficulties.
The devil is a master at interjecting his voice into our thoughts.
A mind which functions independently from what the Holy Spirit says, is an open door for the devil to interject his thoughts, and deceive.
The spiritual person trains himself to use his mind to recognize what the Holy Spirit’s impressions are in his spirit.
His mind is in submission to that voice.
It’s not inventing its own plans somewhere.
From our hearts, the Holy Spirit speak in different ways.
ONE, IS THROUGH A GENTLE DELICATE VOICE WHICH ARISES DEEP WITHIN YOU.
THE OTHER IS WHAT I CALL, “GOING WITH YOUR GUT, OR GOING WITH YOUR GUT FEELING.”
ANOTHER WAY THAT THE SPIRIT SPEAKS IS ‘TO GO WITH THE NUDGE!
A nudge in your heart during a ministry time, frequently is the voice of the Spirit.
“DO WHAT IS IN YOUR HEART,” IS ONE WAY TO PUT THIS.
WHAT YOUR HEART DESIRES OR WHAT IT MOTIVATES IT TO DO DURING A MINISTRY SITUATION, IS ANOTHER WAY THAT THE SPIRIT SPEAKS.
If you notice, these are all features of the heart.
NOW, TAKE THESE METHODS THAT THE HOLY SPIRIT SPEAKS AND LEARN TO INSTANTLY OBEY THEM.
You will rarely go wrong when attempting to obey the Holy Spirit’s voice and God will amaze you with His results.
But forcing yourself to learn how to minister in prayer instantly, not from a barrage of reasoning and calculating thoughts speeding through your mind, but by the nudge, gut feeling, heart’s desire, or a delicate voice, is not an easy matter.
It’s all a matter of practice makes perfect.
Ministry in the Holy Spirit cannot be taught in a seminar or course.
WE SPENT TOO MUCH TIME AT CHURCH DOING CLASS ROOM TRAINING SESSIONS.
MUCH IS A POOR INVESTMENT OF TIME.
It’s all hands on!
Step out, step out, step out.
Make a way for yourself.
If your church does not provide prayer ministry, go to people on your own.
Frequently, I am on a prayer ministry team where no one comes up prayer.
Unexpectedly I’ll get a quick thought or nudge from the Spirit to go to someone who is sitting down.
I waste no time and do it, leaving my prayer post
The breakthrough always comes in instant obedience to what the Spirit tell you.
The results are always incredible,
If I waver too much, fear and uncertainty come, and I blow it.
One of your greatest enemies will be passivity and complacently.
This is a demon which paralyses the Body of Christ so that it doesn’t instantly obey, but rather calculate and vacillate until fear and lethargy take over.
The Holy Spirit is always moving.
He is not passive and complacent.
You must battle and overcome this demon by instant joyful obedience.
Jose and Mary Alvarez 