June 22, 2026

Introduction

Today’s post is from my friend Dale Mast’s new book, Secrets to Hearing God’s Voice, something we all long to do more effectively. I had the honor of writing the foreword. Today’s title is:

The Best Thing Within Fifty Feet

There is no relationship without communication. That’s why the disciples asked Jesus to teach them how to pray. They saw Jesus return from His early-morning times of prayer and understood that spending time alone with God was a key component of His powerful life and ministry.

The God Who Hears

If Father God doesn’t hear us, it isn’t really prayer. That would simply be us speaking. Prayer, however, is communication with a God who hears. And the God who hears speaks. He responds to our prayers with verbal answers; they don’t always align with our requests, but He talks to us. He also loves to start conversations with us. He loves to talk with His children. Open the door of your heart to receive His voice.

Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me. (Revelation 3:20 NKJV)

He also likes to speak through us. The time Moses spent in the presence of Father God transformed him from a reluctant prophet to a friend of God. When we yield our lives to be available as a voice for Him, no matter our occupation, it is a high form of honor to Him that creates a deep friendship with Him. This attracts His anointing, the miraculous, and angelic activity.

Moses told God at the burning bush that he couldn’t speak well and asked Him to send someone else. Father God met him where he was. But He meets us where we are, to take us where He is. And our decision to be available brings Him joy, even if we struggle in the journey.

He Doesn’t Just Tell, He Teaches

I love what God said to Moses: “I will be with your mouth and teach you what you shall say.” He is with our mouth (Exodus 4:12 NKJV). He is not just telling us what to say; He is teaching us what to say. There is a world of difference. Remember, He is not searching for the perfect, but for the available.

The Best Option Within Fifty Feet…

Let me give you a real-world example of discerning God’s thoughts and giving voice to His words. I was in an airport waiting for my flight, and I was not having a good day. The Lord pointed out a woman and asked me to minister a prophetic word to her. I repented of my ungodly attitude as I started walking toward her. I felt no anointing, but a simple short word came to me as I started walking, and His peace flooded me. To this day, I cannot remember the exact prophetic word I gave her — but I will tell you what I cannot forget: she started gently weeping while lifting both hands and whispered, “Thank you. Thank you.”

As I walked away, I started a conversation with Father God. “Why would You ask me to minister to her? You saw the attitude in my heart.”

He responded, “Dale, I knew you would do it for Me.”

I felt His love and His delight in me. Then the smile on my face was interrupted by His voice again. And “Dale, you were simply the best thing I had within fifty feet.”

My smile turned into internal laughter.

Sometimes He uses us because we are His best option within fifty feet! We must be available at His call, even when we need to repent before we minister. He desires to use those who are after His heart and who will do whatever He asks, even if they feel less holy in the moment. Remember, He works with the willing and the available, not the perfect.

The Voice of God Doesn’t Wait for Perfect Conditions

Another story. I will never forget this experience as long as I live. The hostess had seated us in a packed restaurant during a busy lunch hour. About three or four tables away was a young server with a stack of dirty plates. As I glanced at her, I heard the Lord say one word: “Prostitute.” It was not judgmental or condescending — yet it was the only word I heard.

When she came to our table, I stepped into the anointing. “I’m a Christian, and when I look at people, God shows me things,” I told her. What the Holy Spirit gave me next was stunning: “I see that your relationship with men has been like a mystery to you, and you feel bought and sold.” The tears began to flow from her eyes, and the stack of plates began to shake in her hands.

Then the Lord showed me a picture of her heart, with a crack running from top to bottom. While I described to her what I saw, I was also asking God internally, “What are You doing for her cracked heart?” As soon as I asked, He showed me His finger moving gently over that crack, healing it. While motioning with my index finger, I told her, “And the finger of God is healing it.”

“Are you a Christian?” I inquired.

She shook her head: no.

“Would you like to be?”

She nodded yes — tears still flowing — and in moments, she whispered: “Jesus, come into my heart.”

All of this took less than thirty seconds. One word from God — received in prayer, released in love — and a life was changed forever.

This is the lifestyle that prayer produces. Not just personal peace or spiritual maintenance. Prayer positions us to be carriers of His voice into the world He loves.

A prophetic word in church will edify someone. A prophetic word outside the church can turn a heart toward God and bring a whole town to Jesus — remember the woman at the well in John 4. There are people near you right now — in a restaurant, an airport, a grocery store aisle — who are carrying questions they have never been able to ask out loud. They are within fifty feet of someone who hears God's voice. You don’t have to be the most trained or the most anointed. You simply have to be available, and willing to do it for Him.

You might just be the answer He is sending.

Pray with me:

Father, enable us to be vessels for Your voice. What an honor, joy, and privilege to be entrusted with Your very words: words that release life, salvation, and transformation.

When we’re tired and our attitudes are poor, may we surrender to You afresh and obey anyway. Speak anyway. Be Your ambassadors… anyway. We are grateful You don’t need us to be perfect; You use the available and the willing. Lord, may we be that “best option within fifty feet” to those around us.

Father, as this revival intensifies, You desire us to be available for supernatural releases of Your heart, love, and power. Give us the boldness to do so. Use us to give hope to the hopeless, strength to the weary, and health to the sick. In Jesus’ name we pray this. Amen.

Our decree:

We are available, willing vessels — and because the God who hears also speaks, His voice flows through us to a desperate and hungry world.

Click on the link below to watch the video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=42ZaehphUrY

Today’s post was taken from Dale Mast’s new book Secrets to Hearing God’s Voice. This book can be purchased on Amazon. You can find out more about Dale Mast at DaleMast.org.