Hey Y’all
After several trips and many crazy days and lots of adjusting to new medicines (maybe I’ll be inspired to write about all that sometime) I am back. I have noticed that many of you faithfully visit so thanks for that. I’ll continue to write when I can.
Enjoy.
I do hope we will pray faithfully for our friends in China and Myanmar as they struggle to make sense out of the tragedies that have occurred in their countries
Thunder
John 12
So when does God speak, and why and how and to whom. Wow, wouldn’t it be great if someone could answer those questions. As I write this I am trying to recall some of the ways God has spoken to me during my life. I remember the awe and the joy early in my developing relationship with Jesus of thinking that I could “talk to God” and believe that he would hear me and respond. I was very new in my faith but I wanted desperately to know this God who had spoken to me and raised me from my dead existence. Someone told me that the best way to know God was to begin reading His word regularly. Thank you who ever you are. God used you to save my life also. So, I was in my room many years ago and very early in my new faith, reading from I John 5. I remember it well. I had just read verse 11 that says, “God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his son. He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life.” I was amazed and overwhelmed by this simple but awesome truth and I closed my eyes and thought about that statement for a few minutes. Then I said something like this to God. “God why did you write this?” Please believe me when I say that I had never read the bible in my life so there is no way I would know what the next verse said. I opened the bible to begin reading again and the very next verse says, “I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know you have eternal life.” My heart, my faith, my joy were catapulted to new levels of life. God speaks! And he speaks to me. I learned an invaluable life principle that day. God speaks and he has spoken and he continues to speak; primarily through his word. But when and why and to whom are also important questions to consider and answer. There have been a lot of terrible things done, some by well meaning people and some by charlatans, under the banner of “God told me.” I wish I had a perfect record when it comes to the issue of hearing from God. Many times I have read from the scriptures and come to conclusions that were, well, shall we say, not very wise or practical. Some of the results were hilarious; others, I sadly confess were disastrous. One time in my young and reckless faith days (how I miss those days) I decided that God wanted me to live by faith – completely. I have since learned that there is no other way to live by faith. It is either completely by faith or not at all. I think that may be why Jesus said if you only have faith in the amount of the size of a mustard seed you can do incredible things. Anyway, I decided that to really live by faith I should quit working and devote myself to studying and serving as much as possible. That was great until I ran out of money. But I continued to write checks believing that, by faith, the money would come from somewhere. And just to make sure God knew what I was doing I would write “Philippians 4:19” in the memo line of all the checks I wrote. That is the verse that says, “My God will supply all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus.” At the time I think it was either my way of declaring, “Hey, I am living by faith here.” or maybe I was thinking that the people I was writing the checks to were believers and they would recognize the scripture reference and have pity on a young man trying to live “by faith.” I got a rude awakening when; of course, the checks bounced and came back to me. On one of the checks just above the memo line where I had written the secret code, “Philippians 4:19” someone in the accounting dept of the billing company wrote, “What’s this?” So much for the “have pity on a young man trying to live by faith.” These people didn’t even know the verse or the secret code numbers.
Since that time I have learned that living by faith is more than developing a great idea or strategy and assuming God will cover all my “check writing” madness in the effort to accomplish my goals. I have learned that living by faith is living in obedience to God’s desires and dreams and directions. There is a fine line between our presumption upon God and our obedience to him, so I must give myself to understanding God and learning how to discern His voice. His voice comes in many ways: through his word; through his people; through the events and relationships of our lives and sometimes from all the above simultaneously.
I have learned some important principles to hearing and discerning God’s voice from John chapter 12.
In this chapter is a story of when Jesus, during a moment of reflection upon his impending torture and death by crucifixion, and out of the anguish of his soul, cried out to God with these words. “Father, glorify your name!” Astonishingly, in response to this petition, God answered the son He loved so dearly. And He answered audibly. At least that is what is inferred in the story. But this is where it gets tricky. Somehow this interchange was captured and recorded, so someone heard it. Others however, said it sounded like thunder. Perhaps like an inaudible rumbling throughout the heavens. Still others, it says, heard what they perceived to be the voice of angel, whatever that may sound like. The point is that there was some confusion caused by this God announcement. It is clear that Jesus heard and understood it so I like to review his listening attitude to learn how I can be a better listener which will allow me to live more obediently.
I think the first principle is that Jesus lived to hear God’s voice. It was his joy and strength and source of life. It was the priority of his life. The thing he loved more than anything else. That is crucial to hearing, discerning and obeying. He wanted God’s word to be fulfilled. That is why he exclaimed, “What shall I say, Father save me from this? No! It was for this purpose I came….”
Jesus listened with a heart devoted to God’s glory; regardless the cost to himself. He had just rehearsed in his mind what that cost would include when he described for his followers that, “Unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies it remains only a single seed. But if it dies it produces many seeds” He had no self agenda except to honor and glorify God. That is why God honored him and trusted him with a word from heaven.
God loves to speak into the life of those who devote themselves to seeing his word accomplished and to those who devote themselves to yielding personal, selfish agendas to His purposes.
Just a thought.
Gotta go.
Sounds like rain.
