How Do we Hear God

How do we hear God?  Seems like a simple question, but it seems to be getting more & more difficult.

I didn't always understand that, God talking to me. Though, when I think back to my teenage and even childhood years, I can remember God talking to me. I remember Him telling me to stay away from certain situations, or how I really shouldn't be where I was at the time, and I remember doing things my way anyhow and suffering the consequences, wishing I would have listened to that still small voice inside me. I don't think I always recognized that as God, but I believe it was and is. 

I have been in a few too many conversations lately that have Christians questioning if God talks to them at all. They don't hear Him, or haven't heard Him lately. People have said to me, "God's not talking to me, or at least I am not hearing him." 

 I am convinced that God speaks to us all the time. He may be silent at times, when He is testing us. Not when He is trying to get out attention, which I believe is more often than we think. But, what does that sound like, how does He communicate with us. How does He communicate with you. Do you know.  

For me, it mostly sounds like my own voice, or just my thoughts inside my head. For some it's dreams, some a word of knowledge, that is someone else says exactly what God told you, or even visions. These are just some examples of the way God may talk to you, but we don't always recognize this as God. 

I believe we hear God all the time, but it is not always clear to us, because we are not thinking about God, and what He wants. 

When God talks to me, if I am thinking after the flesh, then His commands are frightening to me. Some examples of this might be, start a new ministry, or lead a bible study or leave that job, or witness to those people. I know that some don’t find this hard at all, but for me, it is. For me these commands are usually something I struggle with. 

The question becomes what should I do?   What would you do?  God is giving us a command.  I hate to admit this, but I usually procrastinate. I usually want to run away from the responsibility. The worries of the world become overwhelming to me. I have so many other responsibilities, when could I fit that in?  I start to make excuses:  I am not the right person to do this anyway, I am weak in my faith, I am not confident in my speaking ability.  Are you sure about this?  I hope that last one made you smile.  Like God doesn’t know what He is doing. 

I don’t know if that’s you, but I believe there are definitely others that have the same thinking reeling in their minds. I believe we all hear God, but we don’t want to hear Him, because He asks too much of us. He tells us to give up something, we don’t want to give up.  He tells us to do something, we don’t feel comfortable doing. At least in my mind, with my own thinking, with a fleshly outlook, that is how I see it.  What about you?

The funny thing is, none of this is a problem for God. He is going be right there with us. Giving us words to say, and then He will do the work that needs to be done, but He needs us to walk in obedience. If I remember correctly, my Pastor said once, God doesn’t need us for anything, He is all powerful and can do whatever He wants. But what He wants, is to do it through us. All through the Bible He does His will through His people. He sends Moses to bring the Israelites out of Egypt, He sends Jonah to warn the people of Nineveh, He sends Nehemiah to rebuild the wall around Jerusalem.  Do you believe He could have done all those things, without their help?   I sure do.  But He chose to use His people.  

God is talking to all of us, I am convinced of that. I as grow in my relationship with Christ, I am learning to listen and do more quickly than I used to, the things He commands. I still struggle with my selfish spirit, with my flesh, but as I grow in my walk and die to myself more and more, it becomes easier. 

The Bible says in James 4:1-3 “What is causing the quarrels and fights among you? Don’t they come from the evil desires at war within you? You want what you don’t have, so you scheme and kill to get it. You are jealous of what others have, but you can’t get it, so you fight and wage war to take it away from them. Yet you don’t have what you want because you don’t ask God for it. And even when you ask, you don’t get it because your motives are all wrong - you want only what will give you pleasure.” 

I cringe when I read that. Because it’s me. I want to be more like Him. It is a constant struggle, but as I spend more time in His word, and in prayer with Him, it gets easier. 

Listen, He’s calling you. He speaking to you daily, just listen to that still small voice. 

Reference to read: John 10:1-9 and Psalm 95:6-11

Just Because He lives

The other morning I was eating breakfast and a hymn came to me.  I love the old hymns, wish we sang them more in church. But this one really spoke to me and I had not heard it in so long.

It's called "Because He Lives." It goes like this..... "Because He lives, I can face tomorrow, because He lives, all fear is gone, because I know,  he holds the future and life is worth the living just because He lives."

I was stunned. I know that hymn and yet it blew me away. I felt the Lord's urging. Shouldn't it be that simple. Shouldn't it be just like that. Just because He lives.

I know it's not like that for me. I stress, I over think, I worry, I lose sleep.

I know, He holds the future. Why am I worried?. Why am I over thinking everything He tells me to do?  Especially the things He tells me to do. It usually goes like this.  Really Lord, couldn't someone else do this?, why would anyone listen to me, who am I?  Didn't I just blow it a minute ago, I mean, is that really who You want doing your business?.

Ever been there?

Funny, in the prior post, I said, God knows what he is doing. That is so true. But I don't always get it. I don't always walk with that truth shinning bright in my mind. But I always end up with that truth being revealed. It is the truth I can't run from, know matter how hard I try.

He knows best. He knows the future. He knows the outcome. He is perfect.

Yet in my flawed thinking, I try and do things my way. When I think about that, meditate on it, it makes me laugh. I am trying to make the decision based on my own thinking. I have been down this road before. When I do my own thing...... DISASTER!

It never fails. I do my best, I do what makes sense to me. Here it comes, crumbling down and down and down. Hmm, maybe I should have heeded that stop sign, must have been a million of them on the way. But no, I just go plowing through, and surprise, surprise, there's a brick wall!

That is always going to be the result of me, doing my own thing, listening to my own wisdom, reasoning it out.

YES! We should know that which the Holy Spirit reveals to us. Yes, we do have the ability to discern things of the Spirit, because He lives in us. But sometimes I hear the spirit and think, "No, that can't be right?"  I can just hear the Lord, "REALLY! OK, then this ones on you".

Why oh why would I do that!

Fear, the flesh, my pride, my stomach, the guy in the book I read. So many things distracting me from God.  But shouldn't it be, maybe not simple, but normal to us, who call ourselves Christian.

Because He lives, I can face tomorrow. Because He lives, all fear is gone.  I know He holds the future, and life is worth the living, just because He lives. . . .

Because He lives within my heart.

Isaiah 55:8 & 9  Says "“My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts,” says the Lord. "And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine." "For just as the heavens are higher than the earth, so my ways are higher than your ways and my thoughts higher than your thoughts.“ (NLT)

Scripture quotations marked NLT are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189, United States of America. All right reserved. 

Don't Muddy the Waters

I love the Lord with all my heart, with all my might and with all my Strength. He is my rock and my fortress, in Him do I trust.

As a Christian I strive to understand Gods word. I am not always faithful. I am not always in his word. But God has shown me much about myself through his word. He has revealed my weakness's, my wrong thinking, my selfish heart. But in spite of all that, He loves me. So much that He allowed His Son to die on the cross for me. So I would no longer be under condemnation, that by His sacrifice, I am made Holy. That is a hard one to swallow, but amazing at the same time. His sacrifice on the cross has made us who believe, the very righteousness of God. Once again, not easy to swallow.
But it is true. We are his perfect creation. Hmm, ........that is wild. I am such a mess, a broken pot. I like to tell my wife I'm a cracked pot. She smiles and says, "Boy, don't I know it."

As a believer in Christ Jesus of Nazareth as my Lord and Savior, I believe the Bible is the infallible word of God.

This morning the Lord brought to my attention Job 42:1-6. I was amazed by it. I have read it before and never was it so clear, so poignant. It was a small snapshot of us as Christians. How we muddy the waters. How we make what God is saying to us, so difficult to grasp. How we let our own thinking cloud God's plans and take us down the wrong path. I have done this many times. Letting fear, my own thoughts and my own plans, take precedence over God's. I always end up in over my head. You ever been there?

I use multiple versions of the Bible in my study of God's word. It helps me to see what is being said in plain english as well as a more literal translation. I read Job 42:1-6 in the New King James version of the Bible first, but the Message Bible really brought it home for me.


^1-6 Job answered God: "I'm convinced: You can do anything and everything. 
  Nothing and no one can upset your plans.
You asked, 'Who is this muddying the water, 
   ignorantly confusing the issue, second-guessing my purposes?'
I admit it. I was the one. I babbled on about things far beyond me, 
   made small talk about wonders way over my head.
You told me, 'Listen, and let me do the talking. 
   Let me ask the questions. You give the answers.'
I admit I once lived by rumors of you; 
   now I have it all firsthand—from my own eyes and ears!
I'm sorry—forgive me. I'll never do that again, I promise! 
   I'll never again live on crusts of hearsay, crumbs of rumor."

God knows what He is doing. We have a hard time understanding that or making sense of our situation. Why don't I have a job yet. Why did my mom have to die. Why is that family having success and ours is not. Why have you told me Lord that you will provide, yet I see nothing. Why am I so lonely. Why doesn't anyone love me,....  Why are my kids giving me so much trouble, where are you in all this. 

Job had everything taken away from him. His family, his possessions, his health, everything. Yet he never stopped loving God. He never stopped talking to God. He never forsook God. He came to wrong conclusions about why these thing were happening to him, but he never gave up, never said this is just too hard, I quit.  

And God will never give up on you. 

In the darkness, the trouble he was in, Job never gave up. And God totally restored him, giving him double what he once had. 

The words of Job 42 speak to me of how I put my own thinking, my own understanding on what God is doing in my life and why. And when I do that, I really mess things up. I really muddy the waters. I start to second guess God's purposes and ignorantly confuse the issue. I admit, it is me who has done this. 

I don't always understand God. I know his ways are not my ways. But I know that even if I don't understand Him, His promises are true. I have seen them in my life. 

But you can't give up. Don't give in, don't try to reason it out.  Read the Bible and ask God to reveal Himself to you..... He will. 

I will leave you with this truth from Proverbs 3:5 & 6 (NLT) 

⁵ "Trust in the Lord with all your heart;

      do not depend on your own understanding.
 ⁶ Seek his will in all you do,
      and he will show you which path to take."

The New King James version says "And He shall direct your paths"

I love that. God knows what He is doing.

Don't Muddy the water.

“Scripture taken from THE MESSAGE. Copyright © 2003 by Eugene H. Peterson. Used by permission of NavPress Publishing Group.”

Scripture quotations marked NLT are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189, United States of America. All right reserved.