God Longs for Us to Know His Voice..... Craig Denison

 

God Longs for Us to Know His Voice

Craig Denison

Weekly Overview:

One of the most scandalous truths of the gospel is that our Creator longs to be encountered by his creation. God longs to meet with us. His greatest desire is for relationship with us. I can’t fathom why God in all his holiness and goodness makes himself available to us, but it is the powerful truth of Scripture. God is pursuing each of us with his relentless love, seeking out those who might respond to his open invitation by opening the door of their hearts to him. My prayer is that in response to God’s desire to meet with his people we would be those who say yes to centering our lives around his nearness. May your week be marked by the reality of God’s presence and love.

Scripture:“Call to me and I will answer you, and will tell you great and hidden things that you have not known.” Jeremiah 33:3

Devotional:           

I’ve spent so much of my life as a believer thinking that God was silent, or at least only spoke through the Bible, others, and situations. While God most definitely does speak in those ways, he also longs to speak directly to his children. Scripture is laden with story after story of God’s people hearing his voice and responding in obedience. From the Old Testament to the New Testament, God clearly speaks to his people. The question before us today is, will we make space to listen?

John 8:47 says, “Whoever is of God hears the words of God.” And John 10:27 says, “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.” We serve a God who desires his voice to be known. God is not silent. He is not quiet. Our heavenly Father longs to guide us, tell us his heart for us, and do life with us. He’s longing for a relationship with you filled with continual conversation.

Hearing God’s voice is not only for a select few. It isn’t only for the Christian elite or those who spend all day, every day meditating and praying. We as believers hear God’s voice first and foremost because he wants to speak to us. We can hear God’s voice by grace alone.

So what does it sound like to hear God’s voice? Through the Holy Spirit God is able to speak in clearer and more profound ways than a conversation between you and me. 1 Corinthians 3:16 says, “Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you?” The Holy Spirit is with you right now. And because he dwells within us he has the ability to speak to our heart. He can speak with words or give an intuition or knowledge about something. He can fill us with peace about a decision and give us a feeling of unrest when we’re doing something that isn’t his will. God can speak to us in ways more intimate and clear than any other conversation because there is nothing in the way of us and him.

But God will never force his voice on us. He is not a God who yells into the chaos and attempts to drown out all the other voices. He is a God of peace and patience who waits for us to open our heart to him and listen. Take time today to open your heart and acknowledge the voice of your Father. Make space in all the busyness to simply listen to whatever he would say. Ask him any questions you have of him and trust that he will speak perfectly whatever it is he wants to say to you.

May your day be filled with continual conversation with your loving, present heavenly Father.

Guided Prayer:

1. Meditate on the availability of hearing God speak. Reflect on all the ways he speaks and allow Scripture to fill your heart with faith to have a conversation with your heavenly Father.

“And your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, ‘This is the way, walk in it,’ when you turn to the right or when you turn to the left.” Isaiah 30:21

“When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come.” John 16:13

“My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.” John 10:27

2. Take time to quiet your soul and receive God’s presence. Ask him to reveal his nearness to you. Have faith that the Holy Spirit is with you right now.

“Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you?” 1 Corinthians 3:16

3. Ask God to tell you how he feels about you in this moment. Ask him to speak to you anything he wants you to know. Have patience and pay attention to any changes in your feelings or anything you hear in your spirit.

“Call to me and I will answer you, and will tell you great and hidden things that you have not known.” Jeremiah 33:3

“O Lord, in the morning you hear my voice; in the morning I prepare a sacrifice for you and watch.” Psalm 5:3

“Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and keep it!” Luke 11:28

While hearing the voice of God can sound a little “out there,” it is wholly biblical. Our God is alive and active. He is not distant, and he longs for us to truly know him. Allow Scripture to define your reality rather than past experiences or worldly perceptions. The spiritual is wholly real. God’s presence is real. The fact that he dwells within us, speaks, guides, gives revelation, heals, and saves is the reality all of us live in whether we acknowledge it or not. Open your heart to God today and allow him to guide you into a lifestyle of greater communion with him. Live today in the fullness of relationship available to you in the Holy Spirit. May you hear the loving, close voice of the Holy Spirit throughout your day today as you open your heart to him.

Extended Reading: John 10

Not Our Strength, But the Lord’s..... By: Betsy St. Amant Haddox

 Not Our Strength, But the Lord’s

By: Betsy St. Amant Haddox

For it is you who light my lamp; the Lord my God lightens my darkness. For by you I can run against a troop, and by my God I can leap over a wall. - Psalm 18:28-29 (ESV)

I’ve always loved these verses in Psalm 18. They make me feel powerful because I know through the Holy Spirit, God equips me to be strong in Him. I can leap walls! I can run against a troop! While these examples aren’t necessarily directly relatable to today’s culture, we get the gist of what the psalmist is expressing. We are powerful in the Lord. When our hearts are right with Him, we feel like anything is possible.

Without Christ, though, I am nothing. I am weak. I am helpless. My own strength, be it physical, mental, or emotional, simply doesn’t last. Think about the last time you ran a marathon, went through a rigorous workout, or climbed a steep hill. We often start out feeling capable, right? Our blood is pumping, and we feel our muscles working to carry us through the race or to accomplish the tough physical goal. But at some point, during or after we achieve it, we’re exhausted. We want a nap and a big plate of carbs. We can’t sustain that level of energy for long without having to recharge and replenish our bodies.

The same goes for our spiritual life. When we start our day with a to-do list and social media instead of with the Lord, our strength will burn out—fast. We think we can be productive and conquer the day, and for a little while, we might deceive ourselves into thinking we did exactly that. But after a few hours go by, we realize we’re impatient. Irritable. We get aggravated and frustrated at little things, we snap at our families, and we lose it when we’re interrupted. Those are all signs that we’re working through our own strength, and not the Holy Spirit’s.

In 2 Corinthians, Paul talks about being content in all circumstances for the sake of Christ. He wrote, “for when I am weak, then I am strong”. This isn’t just a poetic turn of phrase. He means when we are weak, the Lord is strong in and through us. Our weakness only serves to give God glory. We don’t have to be ashamed or embarrassed in our lack of strength. It gives God joy to be strong for us.

For example—think how much a husband delights in being able to open a tightly sealed jar for his wife, mother, or daughter. He doesn’t mock her for not being able to do it herself (though there might be some lighthearted teasing!) He’s happy to do what she can’t. He finds joy in being strong for her. How much more does the Lord receive glory for being strong for us? Our frail flesh, our depraved hearts, and our struggles with sin and temptations are no match for His strength and ability to overcome through us, in us, and for us.

This is how it’s meant to be. It’s how God designed it. Because when we are capable on our own, we get prideful—quick. When we can do it all ourselves, we lose humility. Being constantly aware of our need for the Lord is what bears genuine fruit of the Spirit in our lives—love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.

The next time you’re tempted to skip your morning prayer and Bible time with the Lord, think twice. Remember you’ll get more done in Him than you will on your own—and your heart will be more at peace during the chaos of your day.

Why Paul Wasn't a Zombie..... by John UpChurch

 Why Paul Wasn't a Zombie

by John UpChurch

“We proclaim him, admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone perfect in Christ. To this end I labor, struggling with all his energy, which so powerfully works in me.” Colossians 1:28-29

Worn out. Exhausted. Please oh please oh please be Friday. Those words probably describe many of our weeks—often by Monday afternoon. The surge of the weekday tide sucks us under and spins us around and strips away our energy by making us swim to the surface over and over again. Gasp. Bills. Gasp. Long meeting. Gasp. Kids biting each other.

What more can we give than that? What else can God expect from us than just trying to keep from drowning in the mess of life?

Paul says everything and more. Yep, you read that right. We’re supposed to slap down every last ounce of ourselves to the cause of Christ. We’re supposed to surrender every modicum of ourselves to the purpose of “proclaiming Him” with our joy-filled words and our peace-in-the-midst-of-this-hurricane-called-life actions.

Everything. Every single bit. For Him.

Feeling tired yet? I hope you don’t. You see, there’s something in here that we too often overlook. It does take energy—loads of it—to live a life of surrender. We wouldn’t expect anything less from being a living sacrifice (Romans 12:1). That means using all that we are to make all that He is known to all. But even with all those alls, you won’t be using up your energy.

Look again at what Paul says here: “To this end I labor, struggling with all his energy, which so powerfully works in me.” He doesn’t say, “I did it all myself until I burned out and crashed into the dirt and hated my life and decided it was just too hard to do anything and wanted to move to Alaska forever and hide in a cave.” Instead, he tells us that the source of his oomph is Christ.

Christ didn’t save us so that we could barely keep going, dragging our way like zombies down the road of life. Instead, we’re operating with power—His. He jumpstarted our lives with a spirit of power (2 Timothy 1:7), cranking up the juice through the Holy Spirit (Acts 1:8). After all, like Paul, we’re wrestling with the tasks God’s called us to do. We aren’t supposed to do this by tapping into our own reserves. God takes these fragile clay pots that we are and supplies His power so that He gets the glory (2 Corinthians 4:7). He adds the zing, and His zing is potent.

Intersecting Faith & Life: When you try to make it all work on your own guts and grit, you’ll eventually drain down and sputter out. Instead, take Him up on His “by my Spirit” (Zechariah 4:6) thing—that is, not your own strength. That doesn’t mean you’ll never get tired or weary. You will. But you can be sure that He specializes in renewing the worn out and exhausted (Isaiah 40:30-31).

For Further Reading

Isaiah 40

A Prayer to Forgive Wrongs..... By Meg Bucher

 A Prayer to Forgive Wrongs

By Meg Bucher

“Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, ‘Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother or sister who sins against me? Up to seven times?' Jesus answered, ‘I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times.’” - Matthew 18:21-22 NIV

“Mom,” my oldest said in her most mature voice as she walked up to my pool chair, notebook in hand.

“What do you want to talk to me about?” I asked, already knowing the answer was either a ploy to get something she didn’t already have, or a surefire way to get her little sister in trouble.

“I just think you need to be aware of what she has done at the pool today.”

Though no alerts had pinged my momma radar, my eldest daughter proceeded to rattle off a very nit-picky list of things that annoyed her about her little sister.

As today’s verse instructs us, we are not to keep a running list of wrongs in our heads, but to forgive and release who and what has hurt us. (Of course, boundaries are important… very, very important… but they do not negate forgiveness.)

In Peter’s defense, there was an actual number of times Judaism taught it’s followers as “enough” to forgive. But Jesus spoke of a “more excellent way.” We are not to withhold forgiveness… ever. We forgive, and leave the one who hurt us in God’s hands, who is the only one capable of judging a heart accurately and allowing just consequences for sinful actions.

Peter was seeking to do the right thing, and we can all relate to a desire not to be taken advantage of. The NIV Application Commentary actually describes his generosity to lend more than twice the previously allotted amount of forgiveness: “His offer to forgive the person seven times, more than double the above-mentioned statements, is magnanimous, reflecting a desire for completeness that the number seven usually evokes."

How often do we seek to do the right thing, but misunderstand? Jesus clarified Peter’s confusion by telling him to extend forgiveness without keeping count. The sisterly poolside spat was easy for me to defuse because I’m their mediator. However, I admittedly find it hard to extend an unlimited amount of forgiveness to those who repeatedly and unapologetically cause hurt and pain in my life. Injustice continues to run rampant in our world, yet we are to maintain a forgiving status. Why? Because God is our Defender. God is never asking us to be a doormat. But to forgive authentically from the seat of our hearts? That’s a no-brainer for Christ-followers. Why? Because He did.

“What would happen if your sister kept a list like this of all the things you’ve done to her?” I asked my oldest. “Be quick to forgive, give the grace you want to receive, and remember Jesus did not … and will not ever … present you with a list of what you’ve done wrong in your life. He went to the cross and died for you …because He loves you.”

She camouflaged her eye-roll, but I relate to how hard it is to apply this note of wisdom to our lives when we don’t feel like it. Paul wrote to the Colossians, “Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.” (Colossians 3:13-14 NIV) Prayer and time in God’s Word will give us the strength to stop jotting down wrongs and instead lend forgiveness more authentically and automatically.

Let’s pray now for soft hearts that are ready to quickly forgive.

Father,

This is the day You have made, we will rejoice and be glad in it. Father, you hold the key to every heart on earth, we do not. Judgment for others is not in our hands, and shouldn’t be on our resumes. As we seek You more each day in prayer and in Your Word, show us how to be forgiving, in Christ. Cleanse us of our tendency to keep records of wrongs and reasons for blame.

Let us not become people who shame others, but show them how to be free through Christ. We want our lives to reflect Your brightness, Your grace, and Your love.

In Jesus’ Name,

Amen.