Pat Answers Your Questions About God's Guidance

By Pat Robertson
The 700 Club

CBN.com - Question: Is it possible to receive a specific answer to a prayer directly from the Scriptures? Many times I've asked the Lord for answers to questions in my heart or problems in my life, and I've been led to the Bible. A friend of mine said this isn't true, and I shouldn't hear God audibly for my answers. What are your thoughts?'

Pat Robertson: I receive a word from the Lord that way all the time. I was reading in the writings of John Wesley, he said, quote, "We sought counsel from the oracles of God." That's the way they sought them. Sure, the Lord speaks to you out of the Scriptures. Specific things just leap out of the page and come to life. I had a couple of them this morning, so thank you very much. So tell your friend that he or she doesn't quite know what he's talking about.

Lisa Ryan: I think the Bible is a reliable source of the voice of God.

Pat Robertson: Well, the thing of it is that you can't force the Bible to say, `Judas hanged himself; go thou and do likewise.' You know, that's the big joke. But God will bring something to your heart. The Holy Spirit will quicken it to you. He will also speak in the inner man if you're sensitive to him, but it's nice to have objective confirmation.

Question: `How can you tell if the little voice that you hear inside your head is God, or just your own thoughts and ideas?'

Pat: You read Hebrews and it says, `Those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern good and evil' (Hebrews 5:14). There is no substitute for working and practicing and practicing the presence of God. And when you do that after a while, you know what's God and what isn't. But our voice is very deceiving. The voice of Satan is very deceiving, so you have to be careful in this. But God will speak to his children. He says, `You'll hear a voice in your ear when you turn to the right or left saying, this is the way. Walk you in it.' But as I say, objective confirmation, circumstances and so forth, along with that sure does help. But God will speak to his people.

Question: Pat, ever since I was young, I've had prophetic dreams. Things that I've dreamed have come to pass sometimes within days. Do you think I could have the gift of prophecy?

Pat: Prophecy in the Bible is not prophetic dreams. The gift or the manifestation of prophecy is for exhortation, edification and comfort. It is an exhorting type of thing. The word of wisdom is something where God opens the future and lets you see into it. Normally it's a word of the Holy Spirit who speaks to you. I mean, I've had that happen to me where the Lord has said such and such is going to happen and lo and behold, it happens.

But God does speak to people in dreams. Look at Joseph. He had dreams and they made fun of him. His family made fun of him. Behold the dreamer. And then he became an interpreter of the dreams, and the next thing you know, he was in charge of all of Egypt under Pharaoh. So there's a long history of God speaking to people in dreams. Nebuchadnezzar had a dream and brought it to Daniel. God gave him an interpretation of the dream. The Lord laid out for him the things that are going to happen.

So God, who knows everything, who knows the end from the beginning, can indeed reveal that to people. That is not the, quote, "gift of prophecy." It is a revelation from God at a particular point of time. Now you could say that's the word of wisdom, but God speaks in visions, God speaks in dreams, God speaks in a still, small voice, he speaks from the Bible, and he speaks from circumstances.

And so I don't know what to say except in a sense, if that's you, enjoy it, be humble with it, but be careful that you don't get yourself into some psychic thing that will take you away from the Lord. As long as it's God-centered, you take it as a gift from him and rejoice. But usually so many of those dreams, though, it's some, you know, black hand floating through space and then somebody dies and it's always something eerie. But if this is the case, the fact that God shows you something in advance, that's Him. It's His prerogative.

Question: `Does God consider it a sin to pray for money? If someone really needs it desperately, is it o.k. to pray for it and not feel bad about it?'

Pat: You better believe it's o.k. You're looking at somebody who has prayed desperately. I tell you, there was one time I was in a situation that -- I mean, it wasn't just bad, I mean, it was desperate. I was hiking in a mountain and I just said, `God, I've got to have it.' I mean, there's not any fooling around, I've got to have it. And God answered my prayer.

I don't think there's anything wrong with praying for money. It's the question of what are you going to do with it? You know, there are people that have desperate needs. They have to eat. They have to have shelter. They have to pay their bills. There are problems that arise. But I don't see anything wrong with that. But obviously God isn't some great slot machine in the sky where you pull a lever and put in a prayer and out comes three bell fruits and you hit the jackpot. I mean, it doesn't work that way. But God gives to his children.

Jesus said, `Ask and you shall receive. Hitherto, you've asked nothing in my name. Ask and you shall receive that your joy might be full.' I was reading today in the 81st Psalm. It said, `Open your mouth wide and I will fill it.' But he said, `Israel will have none of me.' So if we're walking before the Lord, we're His child.

As a matter of fact, I have an example. Some years ago I was in relatively strained circumstances and I gave some money to CBN. And I was driving along in my car to another city and God spoke to me. He said, `Ask me for something.' And I said, `Lord, I think I've got everything I need.' He said, `Ask me for something.' I said, `O.K., Lord. Give me $1,000.' And that was it. And lo and behold, here comes $1,000. And then my daughter needed to have orthodontic work done on her teeth, it cost $1,000, but He'd already asked me to ask for it and then He supplied the need before I needed it.

Terry Meeuwsen: He wants us to know that he's there.

Pat Robertson: That he's there. He's a provider. That's Jehovah-Jireh, the Lord, your provider. Yes.

Question: `My husband works out of town for long periods of time. While he's gone, I receive and pay all of the family bills. Last month when the phone bill came in, there were several 900 numbers listed. They were billed from his hotel room to our home phone. I mentioned them to him and he admitted he had called the sex phone line. He said it was better than going out and cheating on me while he was out of town. How should I handle his reasoning on this subject?'

Pat: Telll him it's flawed. It really is a serious thing that people are on the road for a while and they have an active marriage and maybe they're in their 30s or what have you, and every hotel room has got all of these X-rated movies, the blue channel, or whatever they call it. The availability of prostitutes is extraordinary. There are bars around with women who are easy pick-ups and not to mention what's on the Internet. Now there is this so-called phone sex stuff of some kid on the other end of the phone breathing into the receiver. The truth is, we've got to keep our minds on Jesus and we can't let the basic nature take over, and this kind of thing leads to fantasy and it's the equivalent of adultery.

Jesus was talking about it, and he said even if you look after a woman, to lust after her, you have committed adultery. It isn't a question about the physical act. It's a question of what you do with your mind. So this man says, `Well, I'm not cheating on you, but I've got some kid on the other end of the phone and I'm going through all these motions with her.' It's the same thing. It is a mental, and in a sense spiritual act of adultery because the greatest sex organ that anybody has, ladies and gentlemen, is your mind. And so he's exercising his mind and who knows what is happening with the rest of him? But that is not a good substitute. I'm sorry.

The other alternative for this one is if it's at all possible, either get him to get another job or see if maybe you can't accompany him on some of those trips, because being out there alone week after week after week is not a good situation for anybody. But they need to be reading the Bible, they need to be getting together with Christian fellowships, they need to get their minds on other things, and if they start focusing on this particular thing, it will take them over and it's going to damage your relationship.

Terry Meeuwsen: I think women feel very used in situations like that.

Pat Robertson: Well, of course, because who are you now having a relationship with? Me or that girl who's on the phone?

Lisa Ryan: And the Bible says if you've sinned in your mind, you've sinned. You don't have to follow through on the act.

Pat Robertson: There's no question about it.

PatRobertson.com

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