Meditation – Sons of Issachar

392. Training Your Spirit | Practical Steps to Engage with God

Mike Parsons

It is a journey to come into a dynamic where you’re able to engage with God and feel His presence, sense His presence, and know His presence in different ways. These ways vary, and different people have different experiences, so you can’t rely on someone else’s experience—you need to find what works for you.

That being said, there are things you can do. The Engaging God programme, which we run, helps people journey from the beginning to mature experiences as sons of God. It delves into practices and exercises to build your spirit, train your spirit to engage, and teach it to sense and discern. Hebrews talks about training our spirit through practice—repeatedly doing something to make our spirit active.

In my own journey to seeing in the spirit, which I’ve shared online, I can trace it back to around the year 2000. That’s when God began speaking to me about meditating. At the time, I didn’t have any concept of meditation, but He guided me through it, teaching me how to hear His voice. I would encourage everyone to focus on hearing before trying to see.

By hearing, I don’t just mean an audible voice, but also sensing God’s thoughts within your mind. The mind is where everything is received—natural vision and sound are all interpreted by electrical impulses in the brain. Similarly, spiritual information is processed by the mind and decoded into things we see, hear, feel, sense or know.

I spent four or five years learning to hear the voice of God, initially through the Bible. I meditated on Bible verses, sometimes even on one word, mulling it over in my mind, repeating it and focusing on it. For instance, I meditated on the verse, “Be still and know that I am God.” I would focus on the word be: “Be… be still… be still and know…” As I did this, I found that thoughts came into my mind that weren’t mine—thoughts from the Holy Spirit. It took me years to become confident in this practice.

Eventually, I began to speak to God directly rather than relying on the Bible. I would picture Jesus sitting opposite me, ask Him a question, close my eyes and wait for His thoughts to enter my mind. His thoughts were distinct from mine, and over time, I learned to hear Him clearly. After mastering this, I eventually learned to see, although now I no longer need visions to know where I am, what I’m doing, or what I’m engaging in spiritually.

It’s important to come to a place of rest before pursuing anything. I now use a meditation called “Meditation for Rest,” which is just five to ten minutes long. It helps me calm down, stop striving and relax. The harder you try, the harder it becomes. You need to let go of your own agenda and allow the Father to set the direction. Rather than asking for specific outcomes, just come into His presence and share your heart, asking Him to reveal His presence to you.

To activate your imagination, you can use a physical object. I often use a door. Think about a door in your home—its colour, material, handle, and details. Picture it in your mind. You can even stand in front of the door, look at it, then close your eyes and visualise it. Imagine opening the door and engaging with Jesus or the Father. This is not about forcing your imagination to create something, but about perceiving what happens.

The word “see” in its root meaning is to perceive. Communication and engaging with God is about perceiving, not just seeing. Perception can come through seeing, hearing, sensing or simply knowing. Many people feel impressions or just know things intuitively. Practice and allow your senses to lead you into deeper connection.

If you find yourself falling asleep during meditation, that’s fine—your spirit is still engaging. Often, our minds get in the way, and sleep helps the mind step aside, allowing the spirit to fully engage. Eventually, your spirit will communicate with your soul, and you’ll begin to understand and experience what you’ve engaged with spiritually.

Jesus said, “My sheep hear my voice,” so it is always your time to hear Him. God isn’t holding anything back. The process is about training your senses and coming to a place of rest where you can receive. Sometimes, blockages can come from our own pressure or desperation. Instead of striving, desire His presence and trust that He will meet you.

Jesus is the door to the Father, and that door is already open. If you struggle, it might be due to a mindset shaped by tradition or past experiences. These can be renewed so you can engage fully with God’s unconditional love. You don’t need to earn or perform for His love—just let Him love you. The key to entering rest is to allow God to love you in the way you need to be loved.

As you practise this and come into a deeper awareness of His presence, things will begin to open up. Let God guide you, and over time, you will find it becomes easier. You are unconditionally loved, and God is not holding anything back. Just rest, relax, and let Him lead the way.

391. Living in the Supernatural

Mike Parsons

When it comes to experiencing the presence of God in the supernatural, we tend to have a perspective on what we think the supernatural is. Therefore, it’s anything above normal, everyday life. What I would say to you is that God wants us to live as though the normal is what is called the supernatural. But it’s not a suspension of normality; rather, it’s living in the presence of God within the life that we live. And that is a relationship, and the relationship takes time to develop. You know, although you say, “Well, I want the reality rather than just knowledge or information,” that’s fine. That’s what God wants us to have. But what that looks like must be how He has designed it to look for us, not like anybody else. You can’t look at my life and compare my life to yours because we are different. I have a journey; I’ve come from a place, and I’ve gone through processes in my life to bring me to the place where I now am, and I have a purpose in God in that.

I would encourage you to develop your relationship. Forget about what you think the supernatural is. Just start to develop a relationship with God, which is in the reality of your life.

Now, that can start with what’s inside. God is in you. Start with engaging God in you. Don’t start with, “I want to go to heaven,” “I want to do this,” “I want to go to this dimension,” or “I want to do that.” Start with God every day. Jesus said that within us is a fountain of life in John 4, from which we can drink. That’s a source of life of the Spirit. That is supernatural because it’s not coming from the natural, but it’s coming from a heavenly, spiritual dimension.

So, living a spiritual life in the natural world, you can draw and drink from that source, which is what you’re saying: “I am not going to go for any of these worldly sources for my life. I am going to engage in that reality with You.” And don’t put an agenda on it. The key is not to put an agenda so that you are determining what that process will look like and what it will look like to live in the spiritual dimension within this natural world. Let Him lead you on that journey. Let Him dictate it. But I would encourage you to spend the time developing the relationship, and in the relationship, allow Him to lead you on the journey. So, spend time with Him without an agenda.

Just enjoy His presence. Ask Him to reveal His presence, show Himself, so you can feel His love. Do the meditation for rest exercise that we have available. It’s a very simple exercise. I do it in the Patreon sessions. Close your eyes, and you can do it right now. Close your eyes, just come to a place of peace and rest. Get comfortable, start to think about the presence of God the Father. Start to think about love. Start to think about joy and peace, and just focus your attention and your thinking on the presence of the Father.

You can then think about a river or a fountain within you and turn inwards with your thinking to the presence of the Father within you, within your spirit. Just choose to drink from that fountain. Picture the fountain if you can, or just choose with your imagination to say, “No, I’m going to drink from the fountain. I’m going to receive spiritual life. I’m going to receive spiritual energy. I’m going to receive love.” Love is filling me. Love is filling me. It’s bubbling up, it’s increasing in me. Joy is filling me. Peace is filling me.

And as you drink deeper and deeper, that becomes your source. Then, whatever the experience is, whatever you’re feeling about the experience, just practise. Just train your senses through practice every day. Just turn inwards, thank God for His presence in you. Thank Jesus, thank the Holy Spirit, thank the Father for them being within you. Thank them for placing within you a fountain of life, of energy, of spirit that you can draw from. Be grateful, be thankful, and just bit by bit, begin to develop.

And, you know, I’ve done lots of stuff about hearing the voice of God and being still. Generally, it’s being still, so you can know God.

Be still and know that I am God.
Be still and know that I am loved.
Be still and know that I am peace.
Be still and know that I am joy.

Sometimes we have to stop trying and just rest and be still. Then begin to focus our thinking, our attention on Him, so that we can begin to feel and sense what it is to be connected to the presence of the Father within us, and then let it go from there.

When it comes to angels, you know, I only do what the Father shows me to do. You have your own angels. So, again, what I would encourage you to do rather than me trying to send my angel to you so you can have an experience, is that you’re reliant on me. That isn’t going to teach you how to do it for yourself. So, what I would do again is close my eyes. I would begin to think about the angels that are behind you. They’re with you. They’re your angels, they’re assigned to you. Begin to think about them. Focus your thinking on them.

Then, thank them that they’re there and thank them for helping you in your life. Talk to them and ask them what their names are. See if any thoughts come into your mind. Every day, after you’ve engaged God, just engage those angels. Thank them that they’re with you. Ask them to help you in the day, help them to go forward. If you’re travelling, ask them to do things for you. Just become conscious so that you can begin to experience that reality. But don’t strive and stress for it. Just gently practice it.

You’re going to engage your angels. If you engage them, you’re not likely to experience them if you don’t engage them. So, choose to engage them, even if you can’t see them or can’t feel anything. They’re there, so engage them as if they are there. Talk to them, thank them, communicate with them, and they’ll begin to communicate with you. It might be a thought, it might be an impression, it might be a word in your mind, but they will begin to communicate, just as the Father will communicate. Just draw from the right source.

Practice, practice, practice. Don’t get frustrated. Don’t set the agenda for what it looks like. Just choose to give yourself the time as a priority in your life to make room to experience these things, and things will grow and develop. You can live in a spiritual dynamic in everyday life as God intends you to do.

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384. Spiritual Senses | Learning to see beyond the physical

Mike Parsons

I think practice helps, but ultimately it’s about desire, relationship, and intention. Discipline often gets framed as just trying harder or forcing yourself to practise even when you don’t feel like it. But in reality, it’s not about effort; it’s about relaxing into it. When it comes to ascending or engaging spiritually, the easiest and best thing to do is relax. Meditation and engaging with God are always better when you’re relaxed.

Don’t approach it with an agenda. Don’t force it or try to control it. Just set your heart’s desire on the Father, on Jesus, and let them lead the encounter. Whether the encounter comes as a vision or just an impression doesn’t really matter. When you talk about engaging through the eyes of your imagination, think of it as the screen where everything happens in your mind. That’s where you perceive, hear, see, smell, or otherwise sense things. It’s the place where both natural and spiritual stimuli are interpreted.

The brain processes spiritual senses in a similar way to how it processes physical senses—through electrical impulses. These impulses come from stimuli, whether physical or spiritual, and the brain learns to interpret them. Just as a child learns language through repeated exposure to sounds, we learn to interpret spiritual senses over time. It’s a process of practice, repetition, and intention.

If your desire is to engage with the Father, start by simply ‘being’, relaxed and present. Don’t put an agenda on it. Let him set the agenda. When you open yourself up to him without a specific goal in mind, you create space for him to reveal what you need to know and experience. It becomes a journey—a walk with him.

For example, when it comes to things like portals, I’ve never tried to force my way through one. The Father led me through them when the time was right. Early on, I didn’t even go through portals; I just observed things coming through them. Later, when the Father led me to a portal, I went through it because he took me there, not because I pushed my way in. It’s about letting him lead instead of striving to figure everything out on your own.

I used to be the kind of person who always needed to know, to understand, to push through and figure things out. But that was me operating in my own strength, trying to validate myself. When God separated my soul and spirit and then reintegrated them, it set me free from that need. I didn’t have to pursue knowledge or understanding in the same way anymore. Now, I can simply be open to whatever experience he wants to give me.

Sometimes my experiences aren’t visual at all. They’re more like a deep knowing or perception. For example, I’ve journaled encounters with my eyes open, writing down what I was experiencing as if I were seeing it, even though I wasn’t seeing anything physically. The encounter was real—it was just perceived differently.

When it comes to engaging spiritually, start internally. Focus on the garden of your heart, your spirit, and your first love for God. Let the rivers of living water flow, lie down in green pastures, rest by quiet waters. Let the Father set the agenda—what he wants to show you, talk to you about, or take you into. Then, as you follow him, those experiences will naturally unfold.

Don’t try to force things. If he wants to take you through a portal, great! If not, that’s fine too. The key is not to push for an experience just because you want one. Instead, ask the Father to open up what that experience is meant to be and then learn to listen and sense his voice. When you go with his voice, you don’t need to set or force an agenda. Just relax and enjoy the journey he’s taking you on.

That journey will lead you to discover who you truly are. And as you step into that identity, you’ll begin to express it naturally, living out the Father’s heart in your everyday life and circumstances. It’s about being who you were always meant to be and letting that flow out into everything you do.

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377. Living in Rest

Mike Parsons –

The Active Spirit

Your spirit is active all the time. What God wants most people to realise is that their spirit is always doing the Heavenly work, allowing us to handle the earthly things without needing to think about it, plan it, or programme it. Living in that state of rest is the key to everything. When Jesus walked the earth, he existed in a state of rest with the Father, knowing the Father’s heart. The Father did not have to tell him to “do this” or “do that”; Jesus simply knew the Father’s heart through relationship and intimacy. When Jesus came across the Widow of Nain’s son, he was moved by the compassion of the Father’s heart to raise that person from the dead. He did not need a predetermined list of things to do; he simply followed life.

Being and Doing

You do not have to be doing nothing in order to “be.” Being is a state of consciousness and awareness; it does not reflect what you are physically doing. You could be taking a long walk, working in the garden, or doing practical things. I love gardening, and when I am tending to the garden, I feel close to the Father, who planted gardens. I enjoy being actively engaged in gardening and feel the pleasure of the Father’s heart while doing it. It is not that I am doing nothing; rather, I am simply not driven to perform an action for spiritual reasons. Meditating and engaging with the Father’s heart can happen while I am in the workshop, making something from wood, or on a walk in the countryside, or even lying in the sun and resting.

Gratitude and Thanksgiving

Rejoicing, gratitude, and thanksgiving express one’s attitude towards God simply for who He is. I love to thank Him—for all the wonderful things in my life, for the garden I tend, for the sunshine, and even for the rain that waters the ground. Such an attitude fosters fellowship and a sense of peace. I am at peace with myself and enjoy life. If the Father desires to show me something or guide me, I am available; He can do so whenever He wishes. Even while physically resting or sleeping, my spirit remains active, contributing to the present moment. God is present in everything, wherever I am or whatever I am doing. He wants us to enjoy life, not out of obligation or duty, but in gratitude and celebration of His creation. The joy of our spirit actively brings forth an appreciation of life in all its moments, allowing us to live with peace and purpose.

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344. Training Your Senses to Engage

Mike Parsons

When you do an activation, there’s more happening than you realise!

Video Summary

When you do an activation, there’s more happening than you realise! Beyond just seeing or feeling, your spirit is engaging. These spiritual experiences form a foundation for your life, guiding you, even if you’re not consciously aware of that. If you struggle to picture or sense things, start simply and practise.

Most people haven’t learned to open the eyes of their heart. Your physical eyes receive information, and your brain interprets it, but ultimately, you’re seeing with your brain. As babies, we learn to focus and interpret visual information gradually. This information is stored in our brains for life. Similarly, in the spirit realm, we need to learn to see with the eyes of our heart—our imagination screen. Dreams are images projected by our soul, and whilst we don’t have to learn to dream, we do need to learn to remember and interpret them.

Training your spiritual senses through practice is necessary for engaging the eyes of your heart. Training your imagination starts with simple exercises, like visualising a door. By repeatedly thinking about familiar objects, you store this information in your memory; similarly, with practice, you can store and recall spiritual information. Some people are natural seers who can easily picture things with their eyes closed, but it’s not that simple for everyone. Many people get impressions rather than clear visuals. For example, if I think about my front door, it’s not a full-colour picture, but the impression is clear: the porch, wood on the right, the house name ‘Robins’ on the left, and so on. The more I focus, the clearer it becomes, but whether it’s visual or not doesn’t matter—it’s the information that’s important.

When you experience God, you might not see a whole vision, but you will receive something. Focusing on what you’re seeing helps it form. Perception is key; it starts simple and builds. During activation exercises, don’t strive to see—just be still and go with the experience. Then, reflecting on experiences helps store them in memory, forming a framework for future experiences. Repetition is crucial for ingraining these memories.

For example, I couldn’t describe a hotel I visited once years ago, but I could navigate my house with my eyes closed because I’ve walked around inside it many times. Exercises need to be repeated to fully develop the experience in your memory. Meditation helps by mulling over the experience, not by seeking an instant result like much of our world today. Extraordinary experiences, like my first visit to heaven, get etched in your memory because they’re so different.

Learning a new skill requires practice and patience, which many people lack. You need desire to persevere. If you have an agenda during engagement, it can limit what you receive from God; relaxing and just being helps the process. Find a comfortable position, maybe a favourite chair where you feel peaceful and can calm your thoughts. Keep practising and building on your experiences, taking time to assimilate information into experience. Racing through material like Engaging God without practising engagements over and over doesn’t work well; it takes time and patience.

322. Spiritual Listening: Beyond Biblical Meditation

I find joy in spending time in God’s presence. I have moved beyond the need to only meditate on the Bible, because interpreting it can be complex and subjective. Instead, I allow God room to speak to me in various ways. I relax, clearing my mind and focusing solely on the Father or on Jesus. I open my heart and mind, ready to receive communication from Him.

This can take various forms, whether it’s a thought, a picture, a vision, or simply a knowing. I have had visions that were vivid encounters, although they weren’t visual in the traditional sense. When we perceive spiritually, it’s not about light bouncing off objects into our eyes; it’s about tuning into a different wavelength and interpreting the impressions received by our spiritual senses. Just as different tastes or smells can be unfamiliar until we learn to recognise them, spiritual experiences require us to train our spiritual senses to filter out distractions and focus on what the Father is communicating. Whether it’s ascending into heavenly realms or standing before the Arc of the Presence or whatever else it may be, I am not seeing any of it with my physical eyes because I always journal these experiences with my eyes open. Yet, I am there. I am an active participant, but I am also translating my spiritual perceptions into descriptions of my experiences.

I have found that it’s more about enjoying being in the presence of God. Instead of focusing on visualising or hearing something in a specific way, simply relax and see what unfolds. Talk to God and listen for His response, asking Him to reveal something to you in His own way. For me, understanding doesn’t always come through visual or auditory experiences.

Even the word ‘see’ can refer to more than just visual perception: it can also mean to perceive or understand. The main idea is to grasp the concept, regardless of the method. In the early days, there was often a strong emphasis on ‘seeing’ as a prerequisite for spiritual experiences. Ian Clayton, for one, was quite insistent about this. But no-one else knows what exactly he sees or how he sees it. He shares what he has seen, just as I too share my own experiences! For me, it is about a deep knowing – an intuitive perception that comes from engaging with God repeatedly over time. I sense and feel His presence, and my emotions are often deeply intertwined with these experiences, with moments of intense emotion when I feel the waves of His love rolling over me.

Analysing or dissecting spiritual experiences can make it more challenging to receive them. If you rely heavily on logical, analytical thinking, you may struggle with this. It’s understandable to want to understand and control the process by seeking a set protocol or method to follow. However, spiritual connection is inherently relational, and it’s best to allow the relationship with God to unfold naturally.

I made a conscious decision to let go of my own agenda and simply ‘be’ in God’s presence, with no particular expectation of seeing or hearing anything specific. Every night before I go to sleep, I intentionally connect with God in the garden of my heart; surrounded by green pastures, beside quiet waters, with the Shepherd by my side. As I drift off to sleep, my spirit remains open and receptive to experiences in the heavenly realms, while my soul is restored as I rest securely in the Father’s embrace. When I wake, I may sometimes retain memories from my time in God’s presence. But if there are mornings when nothing comes to mind, that too is perfectly okay.

Key Takeaway

Find joy in spending time in God’s presence, and allow your relationship with Him to unfold naturally.

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291. Can Yoga be ‘Christian’?

Mike Parsons

This is a question someone asked me in an online mentoring session: “Can yoga be Christian?”

We would do well to ask God for guidance and discernment, and to look at the heart and motive of the person doing yoga or any sort of healing.

Seeking the guidance of the Father and discerning the frequency of truth through spending time with Him is crucial. While some argue there is a ‘righteous real’ that is counterfeited by various practices, the key is understanding the heart and philosophy behind it. If someone approaches yoga as a stretching exercise or a means of finding a quiet place from a Christian perspective, it may not be inherently wrong. Checking the practitioner’s motives, philosophy, and whether they align with Christian beliefs is essential.

Meditation also is itself neutral, but can be positive or dangerous based on whether it invites positive focus or an open mind. Questioning practitioners about their perspective is a sensible precaution – but beware of dismissing anything based solely on others’ opinions of it. Asking questions and seeking peace and rest through personal discernment is key.

Key Takeaway

Don’t just believe what I say – or what anyone else says – develop a relationship with Father, Son and Holy Spirit in which you can ask and receive revelation for yourself.