How to hear God when you feel dread

Have you ever walked into a room and the hairs on your arm stand up? Or you are talking to somebody and you feel darkness all around them?  Or have you imagined a situation in your future and felt all kinds of alarm and caution?What did you do when you felt those feelings?Fear evokes two responses. Fight or flight.Some of us run from those types of situations and assume these feelings are telling us to "not go" or "get out". Some of us decide beforehand that we will face every problem head on and see these feelings as a call to fight it out.In both cases, the response has become automatic.I have been living overseas in what people tend to describe as a "dark place" for almost ten years. Most kingdom workers in these areas tend to talk about how "difficult" or "dark" the place is that we work. The reason is that we are working in unreached locations, where there are few believers.I used to come back from America and feel a sense of dread or darkness when I arrived in the place where I live. When I went to villages, it would get even worse, as there were usually no known believers in these villages.My response used to be automatic. If I felt fear, I would pray against the darkness. I would call out from heaven to come and do something about it.Seems like a good response. But the problem is that the more I focused on the darkness in prayer, the more the darkness seemed to grow. I might spend the night in a village and feel like I had to keep on praying, warring with whatever darkness that was there in the village.Then one day, I had a thought. Los Angeles is dark (I'm from LA). There are all kinds of evil things being produced in Los Angeles every day. Many people talk about how dark it is. And I sensed the Holy Spirit say, "Jonny, the place where you live is only as dark as much as you focus on that darkness."All of a sudden, I realized that I didn't necessarily have to fight with every dark feeling I had. I wasn't necessarily called to intercede every time I felt the heaviness of a village. There was a third option, the option of "ignore and focus on Jesus."I was freed from the automatic response of engaging in spiritual warfare every time I sensed the spiritual climate in a particular location.Spiritual sensitivity and discernment are gifts from God, but if you always respond in one particular way to what you are sensing, you can miss what God has for you.When David faced a battle, he would inquire of the Lord. In 2 Samuel 5:17-25, he inquired twice of the Lord about how he should face a battle. In the first situation, he was told to go straight into battle. In the second situation, he was told to go up from behind. In both cases he was given victory.This habit of inquiring of the Lord when you face a feeling of darkness is key in order to have victory. Here is how to do it:

1. Stop and relax. Most situations don't require immediate response (unless you are being mugged in an alley). Tell yourself that you have time to decide what to do. This can be a five-minute timeout in the midst of a busy day, or it can be a time set aside during your morning prayer routine. But allow yourself to disengage from your automatic response to a situation.
2. Press into listen. Getting beyond your automatic responses requires focus and concentration. Drop all of your assumptions and press into "inquire of the Lord."
3. Don't assume that a particular outcome is more noble than others. Jesus fled a crowd that was ready to stone him and then later faced the cross.  Fighting or fleeing are only noble when God calls you to do them. Surrender yourself to multiple outcomes.
4. Ask God what success looks like in this situation. You are asking God for a positive picture of what He wants to release into the situation. This is different than just asking what you should do. You are trying to open your eyes of faith to see what God is doing rather than focusing on the darkness you feel.
5. Ask God what your role is in accomplishing what He is doing. He might instruct you to pray all night. He might instruct you to worship. He might tell you to sit and wait for Him. You are trying to discern Your role in partnering with Him to do what He wants to do.
6. Do what he tells you to do and assume that God is going to do the rest.

You might find that as you go through this process, that dark or fearful feelings won't feel as dark in the future, because you will begin to focus every time on God. But you will be relieved from any automatic responses that have driven you in the past.What do you tend to do when you feel darkness around a certain situation?