Today is Sunday, and I am sitting here with my laptop out on the picnic table, my mocha sitting on the table next to me, and the soft winds are blowing. What a great afternoon! I love what I’m hearing…quiet. So I thought I would share a few words about what I heard today in church. It really struck a chord in me and I hope it gives you pause for thought and changes the way you “hear” also.
I have heard many different ideas about hearing the voice of God. But today it really made me think about the hear AND the doing. We sometimes want that hotline to heaven to tell God what we want in our life. But the truth of the matter is, we need to answer the hotline FROM God when He calls us. He knows what is best for us. My pastor, Doug Cotton, talked about the fact that “the greatest thing we can do for God is to listen to Him.” Our reality is that we ask God to change our life, or circumstances, instead of listening for what it is that God may be asking US to change. He probably tried to tell us some things, but we didn’t hear it or didn’t obey it, and then we live out the consequences of those decisions or disobedience.
I have heard speakers talk about God pursuing us, and then I have heard some who say God doesn’t pursue us, we pursue Him. Well…do we??? Do we pursue relationship with Him? Do we spend time with Him? After all, how do we get to know someone if we don’t spend time in their company? We might be able to have a general conversation, but the deep things will not get discussed. Why? Because we don’t know the person well enough to trust them with our “stuff”. But what happens when we DO get to know them, or they have been our friends for years and years? We can talk to them about the hard stuff, the struggles, and the questions. We trust them. When your kids call, you know their voice. When you call your pet, your pet knows your voice and comes. We know when our friends or family calls us because we recognize their voice.
It is the same with God. We have to know Him, know He answers, know He cares, and know Him well
enough to recognize His voice, so that, we can respond to Him and what He may be doing in our lives or wants us to do in the lives of those around us. We need to recognize His voice in His Word. As Pastor Doug said today, “We need to listen and act on His behalf. We need to steward the Word of God. The closer you listen, the closer to God you get.”
So here is the kicker for you. We are responsible for how we hear. Pastor Doug said today, “We are responsible for manage what we hear and how we hear it.” I don’t know about you, but that was a light coming on in my mind that I have to be more diligent in that area. Here is an example: maybe God spoke to your heart to buy a person’s coffee, and you thought, “That’s kind of embarrassing to do that God. I don’t even know that person.” Or you might think, “Things are a little bit tight right now God. I don’t have a lot of extra.” But when we obey, we put our circumstances in God’s hands and trust Him to take care of the details.
So…we come back to that same question. ARE we listening to Him? And then the bigger question is, are we obeying what we hear? Boy! How many blessings have we missed out on because when God wanted to use us to bless someone, we didn’t obey.
There are many voices out there in the world to listen to. We can get tuned out to God’s voice too if we aren’t careful. We are either with Him or not. I am challenging you with this post to tune in. Dig deeper. Lean in closer and get to know the whisper of God. Let Him know you can be depended on. I will leave you with one last quote from today’s message from Pastor Doug, “One of satan’s names is ‘thought caster’.” Now if THAT doesn’t cause you pause, you better get to the end of this post and grab your Bible. He wants to interrupt our thoughts and messages from God and twist them all up. He wants to cause us to doubt ourselves and not move forward. He loves to render us ineffective. Watch out!
Challenge up!!! Unlock the door of your time schedule, to open the door to some great communications. I have found that the more time I spend with God, the more time I WANT to spend with Him. Get into some quiet time with God, so that, you can hear His voice loud and clear! However, then… the BIG step is, obeying what you hear God speaking! You will know through various ways that you are on the right track. What are a few? Here are a few I heard from today’s message:
- Circumstances change
- Counsel – seek out a few people to talk to
- You have peace
- Dreams and Vision
- The Bible
- Whispers from the Holy Spirit
- Asking God to confirm His message – this is one of mine but I ask Him to do that, He does.
We can get in the habit of listening to our own voice…that’s not good. Remember, God will confirm through some of the above ways, that you are hearing Him and not yourself. If we aren’t aware of where our thoughts come from, we open the door for satan to add his two cents, which is never good.
I am very thankful to be attending where I have the freedom to come and worship and get great timely messages to implement into my life. I always want to grow and become more and more of what God wants me to be. I hope that is also true for you.
What has God been whispering to your heart? Does this resonate with you?
Walking the journey with you…
PS I just enjoyed seeing a deer cross our back lawn, and two blue birds with black heads that were absolutely gorgeous walking across the yard to the trees! Yes…enjoying the moment.
PPS I have started writing over at http://www.heartandsoulescapes.com with a completely different format. I hope you will cruise on over and check it out!
journeysofmyheart.com 