The Essential Guide to Hearing the Voice of God

GIFT OF DISCERNMENT
For more than 35 years, Jane has operated in discerning of spirits, which is one of the nine gifts of the Holy Spirit given to believers. As a young prophet she recalls that there were really no books on this subject to help her identify things she was seeing and sensing. In the 80s, Jane and her husband, Tom, started a church in Florida under the covering and direction of her father-in-law Bishop Bill and Evelyn Hamon. During this time, she met a person in the church who seemed to love the Lord and be gifted in many areas. But there was an uncomfortable feeling Jane got when she was around this lady. She would later learn this woman had wanted to start her own ministry. In the process she convinced others to join her but told lies about the church leadership in Jane and Tom’s church. In an effort to learn from this experience Jane met with Bishop Hamon and other team members to discuss the situation. She expressed how uncomfortable she was around this woman. Bishop Hamon asked why she had not expressed her concerns previously. Jane shared how she grew up with the mindset, “If you can’t say something nice, don’t say anything at all.” Therefore, she said nothing. God had given her discernment about what was happening so she could pray and help other people not be hurt or led away by the woman’s lies.

Another time, Jane shares how their ministry was facing a number of difficult challenges: financial, sickness, and bouts of discouragement. Bishop Hamon encouraged her to “go behind the veil” in the spirit (press in to see if the Lord would give her the specific name of the demonic assignment coming against the ministry). One rainy day, she was driving her children to do some shopping when she prayed that God would give her the name of this demonic assignment. She suddenly heard a name, “I did not hear it audibly, but I heard it very clearly with my spiritual ears.” She wrote the name she heard in the fog on her windshield. She pulled into a Christian bookstore to see if she could find any reference to this unusual name in a concordance. The name she heard was Tokamene. When she looked it up, she found a combination of two Hebrew words: tok, which means to injure, to oppress, to deceive, to divide and to defraud. And mene, which means appointed or assigned. God was telling her the name of the demon assigned to injure, oppress, deceive, divide, and defraud the ministry. That week the ministry team fasted and prayed against this demonic assignment. The tangible results of breakthrough occurred immediately.

A STRATEGIC ADVANTAGE
The gift of discernment is a gift meant to be used as a blessing and a building tool for the Church. Some shut down this gift in their lives because they grow frustrated with seeing things in the Spirit when they have no idea of what to do with that information. Jane cautions, “We are living in such critical times today that it is imperative for believers to learn to know the voice of God and be able to function in every tool given to us by the Holy Spirit.” The church has been directed to declare God’s power and wisdom to the principalities and powers in the heavenly places through our actions of demonstrating the Kingdom of God on earth. God has given us everything we need to partner with Him to see His Kingdom come and His will be done on earth as it is in heaven. As we encounter every demonic foe, we are assured of victory in every endeavor. We are called not only to discern angels and demons but also to: (1) discern the presence and power of the Holy Spirit; (2) to discern the times in which we live; and (3) to prophesy His words as He directs us.

Spiritual discernment gives you a strategic advantage to win every battle. When coupled with wisdom discernment enables you to perceive the move of the Holy Spirit and align yourself with His Kingdom purposes. When God reveals something to a believer through discernment, He also wants to give them a strategy of what to do with what they see. Here are seven guidelines Jane provides to help you process things you discern:

• Enhance the gift of knowing that Jesus operated in discernment – Jesus set an example for how you are to discern the thoughts and evil intentions of the human heart.
• Study the subject of what you have discerned – when Jane discerns something in her spirit, she then seeks greater understanding from the Word of God and other resources to understand what God is showing her.
• Realize that discernment is not based in the soul – discernment is a function of the spirit, not of what we see with our natural eyes or hear with our natural ears. Jane shares how she met a minister who was being considered for ordination. He seemed to have a strong ministry, but when Jane met him, she felt sick in her stomach. She discussed her reaction with her leadership team and they prayed that anything hidden would be revealed. Within weeks, the man confessed to having an affair. That was what she had been discerning. The minister submitted to a restoration process and is still happily married.
• Recognize that discernment can be cloudy – sometimes God might be showing you something about yourself, yet you think your word of discernment is for everyone else. Humility and accountability are key to spiritual health and clear discernment.
• Guard your heart from being judgmental or critical -operate with a merciful heart towards people and pray God sets them free.
• Guard your heart from false responsibility – when Jane was learning how to process all the revelation information that came from having the gift of discernment, she felt overwhelmed. God reminded her that it was not her job to fix what she discerned was wrong.
• See it, say it, and pray it – when you discern something, you have a responsibility to do something with what you see. Then define the discernment as clearly as you can and write it down. Then God might ask you to share your concerns with others.

ISSACHAR ANOINTING/DISCERNING THE TIMES
The Issachar anointing is having the ability to discern and identify spiritual times and seasons and know how to respond. In 2011, Jane preached about overcoming the “spirit of Egypt” which represented the oppressive world systems that keep the people of God and even nations in captivity. She felt there was something stirring in the earth that was signifying a time when people would cry out for deliverance and change, the way Israel did after four hundred years of Egyptian bondage. During this time, she heard the Lord say to her in a pre-service prayer meeting that the Church is entering a tipping point moment in history. Two weeks later, Africa, Egypt and the Middle East broke out in revolution that came to be known as the Arab Spring. The unrest was captured in the paper’s headlines: Egypt at a Tipping Point. The rise of ISIS and the Muslim Brotherhood and the fall of Libya caused that area of the world to continue to destabilize. Even in America a greater darkness increased with a decline in morality and religious persecution on the rise. But in the midst of darkness a light of reformation and spiritual revolution began to shine from God’s people in His church. As we enter the Third Great Awakening it becomes vital for every believer to operate in an Issachar anointing, to understand God’s prophetic times and to know what to do in order to align with His divine purposes.

JANE’S STORY
Jane is a pastor and she is married to a (Tom) pastor in one of the foremost prophetic churches in the nation, Vision Church at Christian International in Santa Rosa Beach, Florida. This is the home church of Bishop and Prophet Bill Hamon. Jane is married to Bill’s son Tom. As the senior leaders of Vision Church @ Christian International, Jane and Tom have given their lives to investing in people and building the kingdom. In their more than 30 years of ministry together, they have built a thriving local church, traveled to more than 50 nations, and helped to lead Christian International Ministries. They have each been awarded honorary Doctorate of Divinity degrees from Christian International School of Theology, and both are featured instructors at Bible colleges and institutes around the world. As a husband and wife team, they utilize their complimentary gifts and abilities to serve the people of God with practical wisdom, spiritual revelation, and inspiration to fulfill destiny.