Bend down, O Lord, and hear my prayer; answer me, for I need your help. Protect me, for I am devoted to you. Save me, for I serve you and trust you. You are my God. Be merciful to me, O Lord, for I am calling on you constantly. Give me happiness, O Lord, for I give myself to you. Psalms 86:1-4 (NLT)

Here is my challenge for you today:

1. Look down the 1st list and find one thing to thank God for!  For me, it is the great happiness & joy that He has given me!
2. Look down the 2nd list and find one thing You need His help with.  For me, it is to serve and trust in Him alone.

We serve a great and glorious God that is worthy of our praise!  Let’s thank Him for who He is and ask Him to change us into true worshippers of Him!

Consider that our lives are meant to be a perpetual “show and tell” for the next generation.  Through our actions and our words, the next generation will see and hear what God has done for his people over the centuries and for us today.  Not only is this a great privilege, it is also a great responsibility.  Knowledge of the wonder and power of Christianity is always one generation away from extinction.

After that generation died, another generation grew up who did not acknowledge the Lord or remember the mighty things he had done for Israel. – Judges 2:10 (NLT)

The generation spoken of here is the generation right after Joshua, one of the great men of the Old Testament.  How could it be that this generation had no memory of what God had done for their parents?  Because they did not see it or hear about it.  The older generation was silent.

So everyone, not only can we do this perpetual “show and tell” with our families and friends, we must!  We must let the next generation see God working in our lives.  We must tell them about the great things God has done for us (and for them)!  We must tell them of His great love, His great power, His great action throughout history!  This isn’t an optional activity…we must do it!

O my people, listen to my instructions. Open your ears to what I am saying, for I will speak to you in a parable. I will teach you hidden lessons from our past— stories we have heard and known, stories our ancestors handed down to us. We will not hide these truths from our children; we will tell the next generation about the glorious deeds of the Lord, about his power and his mighty wonders. – Psalms 78:1-4 (NLT)

So, what do you say?  Want to have a “show and tell” today?

As soon as I opened it, I found some thoughts that are absolutely amazing.  Each of these deal with lessons the author learned about seeking out and remaining in the presence of God.  Where do we go wrong?  What should be the goal?  How do we seek and find His presence?

We should establish ourselves in a sense of God’s presence, be continually conversing with Him.  That it was a shameful thing to quit His conversation, to think of trifles and fooleries.

Do I not spend too much of my time distracted by things far less useful, far less noble than the God of all creation?

That we should feed and nourish our souls with high notions of God, which would yield us great joy in being devoted to Him.

Do I not tend to minimize God, rather than allowing the truth of who He is and what He has done nourish my soul?

That we out to quicken [activate, invigorate] our faith.  That it was lamentable we had so little; and that instead of taking faith for the rule of conduct, men amused themselves with trivial devotions, which changed daily.

Do I not replace a simple faith in God with a preoccupation with the complex rules of man?

That we ought to give ourselves up to God, with regard both to things temporal and spiritual, and seek our satisfaction only in the fulfilling of His will, whether He lead us by suffering or by compassion, for all would be equal to a soul truly resigned.

Am I truly resigned to His will or am I not?  Am I willing to do anything He asks of me or am I not?  Have I truly given myself up to God or have I not?

Oh, there is great joy, abundant peace and overwhelming power when we find ourselves basking in the presence of the Lord our God!  He is worthy to consume our thoughts!  He is greater than anything we can imagine on our own!  He will take a little faith and move mountains with it!  He will change us in ways that glorify Him and benefit us!

If we can only practice His presence TODAY!

1. Our Motive: Too often, we want to hear from God to determine the correct course of action in a specific circumstance.  In these cases, we can be overly concerned with helping ourselves rather than helping others or honoring God.  The goal of hearing from God should be the transformation of our minds, lives and hearts.  When this happens, we will know and do the will of God quite naturally!
2. His Word: God speaks in many ways, but He always speaks in unison with His written Word.  Do you want to hear from God?  Do you want to be transformed by Him?  Figure out a way to regularly read and meditate on the Bible.  You must do this.
3. Our Experience:  In addition to the Word, God can and does speak through prayer, our own “inner voice”, experiences and other people.  When we promote these secondary methods of communication above His Word we can get into trouble.  However, when all of them combine into a unified message, we can be reasonably assured of God’s desired direction.
4. Our Hindrances:  Think he doesn’t speak to you?  Consider some possible reasons you don’t hear from Him when He speaks.  First, perhaps you aren’t listening.  Second, perhaps you don’t really want to hear what He is telling you.  Third, maybe your life revolves more around you than it does around Him.

As Jesus Himself promised, if we seek Him, He will be found!  I know of many cases where His voice was clearly heard by His followers.  My prayer for all of us is that we would seek Him with the right motives, through His Word in our everyday experiences.  My prayer is that we would find Him, become more like Him and therefore do what He would do!

Good questions…I wonder if God ever asks the same thing?  There is only ONE of Him…but we often mistake Satan’s, other people or our own ideas for God’s ideas.  How can we tell who’s talking?  In chapter 8 of “Hearing God”, Willard suggests that there are typically three ways God speaks to us in His “still small voice”.  These include circumstances, impressions of the Holy Spirit and passages from the Bible.

I loved this quote from his book…you’ll probably want to read it 2-3 times to really let it sink in: “The circumstances of our daily life are to us an infallible indication of God’s will, when they concur with the inward promptings of the Spirit and with the Word of God.  So long as they are stationary, wait.  When you must act, they will open, and a way will be made through oceans and rivers, wastes and rocks”. 

I have tried to explain this same thing a little differently.  For me, the experiences of life, prayer, thoughts, passages of Scripture and conversations with others all combine to form what I can only describe as a “cloud” or “fog”.  It is a hazy, unclear picture of what He is trying to tell me.  I know He is trying to tell me something, but I can’t necessarily make sense of it.  The haze may linger for days, weeks or even months…but it is persistent and unmistakable…God is trying to tell me something.  But then one day the cloud and fog blows away and the picture is as clear as can be.  His direction to me is unmistakable.  From that point on, if I am faithful to take a step in His direction, He is faithful to remove obstacles, clear paths and make the next step clear.  These are the most amazing, humbling experiences of my life!

But how do I know that what the fog reveals is His picture.  How do I know it isn’t mine, or Satan’s or someone else’s?  We are still left with the question of how we distinguish the voice of God, especially the “impressions” we get, from the others that compete with it.  How do we recognize the voice as His?   Three ways:

1. The weight or impact an impression makes on us.  Here is a great test: The voice of our own subconscious argues with us, tries to convince us; but the inner voice of God does not argue, does not try to convince us.  It just speaks, and it is self-authenticating.  It has the feel of the voice of God within it.
2. The spirit an impression makes on us.  God’s voice will have a spirit of peacefulness and confidence, of joy, of sweet reasonableness and of goodwill.
3. The content of the impression itself.  The content of God’s voice will always conform to and be consistent with the truths about God’s nature and kingdom that are made clear in the Bible.  Always.  Always.  Amen to that!

Let me add to this whole discussion a suggestion that all of this becomes more clear the longer you walk with God, the more you are in His Word and the more you allow Him to transform your heart.  If it all seems like a mystery to you, I would encourage you to find someone to help guide you along your walk.  Find someone who has has already walked the path you are on, knows the way, and is willing to show it to you.

My last post discussed the role of the Word of God in cleansing our hearts and minds so that we are people that can hear from God in a natural way.  This post is going to discuss some practical ideas to do this from Willard’s “Hearing God” book.  Here goes:

First, we must remember to come to the Bible with a submissive attitude.  We really must read it with a readiness to surrender everything about us – our plans, opinions, possessions and positions.  We must study the Word to learn, but never merely to find the truth or to prove something.  Rather than reading just to find the truth, we must read prepared to act on the truth we find!

How do we come at the Word with a submissive attitude and right desire?  Here are some suggestions:

• Pray that your desire would be for His will (as revealed in Scripture) would be true in your life.
• Begin with the parts of Scripture you are most familiar with, remembering that your goal is not to read a great volume of Scripture or necessarily learn lots of new Scripture, but “to nourish your soul on God’s Word”.
• Don’t try to read a great deal at once.  There is certainly nothing wrong with Bible reading plans, but it is better to have ten good verses transferred into the substance of our lives than to have every word of the Bible flash before our eyes.
• Come to your chosen passage as you would come to a place where you will have a holy meeting with God.  Expect to find Him there.  Ask Him to meet you there and to teach you what you need to know about Him and yourself.  Believe that He might have something uniquely suited to you in His Word.  Dwell on that Word.  You may find several things as you dwell in the Word, including: 
  • Information that you may not necessarily transfer to your own life.
  • A longing that what you have found could be true in your life.
  • An affirmation that what you have found must be true in your life.
  • A call to God for Him to make what you have found true in your life.
  • The knowledge that what you have found has been made true in your life.

I would encourage you to try this right know with a familiar verse:

The Lord is my shepherd; I have all that I need. Psalms 23:1 (NLT)

Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. Ephesians 5:25-27 (NIV)

I love this word picture Willard paints…check it out:  “Just think for a moment about what happens when you wash a dirty shirt.  The water and laundry soap move through the fibers of the shirt material and carry out the dirt lodged within those fibers.  When we come to God our minds and hears are like that dirty shirt, cluttered with false beliefs and attitudes, deadly feelings, past deeds and misguided plans, hopes and fears.  As we open our entire life to the washing of the Word, it moves into every part of our personality, just like the water and soap move through the shirt’s fibers.  God’s word pushes out and replaces all that is false and opposed to God’s purposes in creating us and putting us in our unique place on earth.”  Amen to that!!!

I know I keep going back to Romans 12:2, but read it again:

Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect. Romans 12:2 (NLT)

In short, even though we call on Jesus as our Lord and Savior, we are likely not ready to hear from and respond to Him.  In order for that to become natural for us, our minds must be scrubbed clean by the Word of God.  Our minds need washed so badly that we “rarely understand what life would be like if they were cleansed, and many of us do not even sense the need for cleaning”.  Amen.  Through the Word of God and the power of the Holy Spirit, Christ allows us to be transformed into His likeness.  We can think His thoughts, have His attitudes, believe what He believes, see what He sees. 

In the process, we are moved from having faith in Christ to having the faith of Christ.  We then have the character that makes listening for God’s voice natural, moving us from communicating with God to communing with Him and living in union with Him.

The Word of God is absolutely, positively, completely essential in enabling us to hear, understand and respond to His still small voice.  The Word of God changes us from the inside out, transforming our nature more and more into His.

The next post will discuss some thoughts on how to be transformed by His Word…look for it!  Meanwhile, here is a question to consider:

Can you picture your life if you mind was truly cleansed by the washing of His Word?  Do you even sense the need for cleaning? 

We’ve all said it or thought it, but I would agree with Dallas Willard (“Hearing God”) on this when He says that God isn’t much in the business of speaking in LOUD, DRAMATIC ways.  Rather, He speaks most commonly through the Bible (the written Word) and Jesus (the living Word), and that He does so with the “still small voice” spoken of in 1 Kings 19:11-12.

The Lord said, "Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the Lord, for the Lord is about to pass by." Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake came a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper. 1 Kings 19:11-12 (NIV)

God speaks very, very clearly.  However, God typically speaks very, very quietly, in a voice diminished almost to the vanishing point.  Willard contents that this is the “preferred and most valuable form of individualized communication for God’s purposes”.  Again, think of it in terms of your human relationships.  Would you rather talk quietly with someone you are close with or come up with big, dramatic ways to get their attention?

Willard suggests that this “still small voice” is primarily heard in two ways:

First, God speaks to us through other people.  There are boundless examples of this in Scripture, as well as in modern experience.  It is not uncommon for me to recognize God’s “voice” in conversations with close friends that are walking closely with God.  They do not necessarily intend to speak for Him, and they may not consider themselves eloquent or particularly enlightened.  But God has spoken clearly through them in spite of their humble opinions of themselves…or perhaps because of those humble opinions.

Second, God speaks to us in our own spirits.  This comes in the form of “thoughts that are our thoughts, though these thoughts are not from us”.  As we grow in our relationship with Him, “we are able to use his knowledge of himself – made available to us in Christ and the Scriptures – to understand in some measure his thoughts and intentions toward us and to help us see his workings in our world”.  It is the essence of what Paul meant in Romans 12:2.

Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect. Romans 12:2 (NLT)

Willard goes on to write that “as we grow in grace, God’s laws increasingly form the foundation of our hearts; his love is our love; his faith our faith.  Our very awareness of our actions, intentions and surrounding then bears within in it the view that God takes”.  Willard promises more direction on how to discern which of our thoughts are from God, but suggests this practical tip for now:  when thoughts recur, always stop prayerfully to consider whether the thoughts may be from Him.

In other words, when you just can’t stop thinking about a course of action, or specific person or a passage of Scripture…prayerfully consider whether He is trying to get your attention!  Don’t automatically push it aside and dismiss it.  Stop and consider whether it lines up with what you have been reading in the Word and with conversations with the people around you. 

I can tell with 100% assurance that God can and does speak to us this way.  His still small voice was a huge part of my call into ministry.  His still small voice is often how Michele and I have come to similar conclusions on God’s desire for our lives.  His still small voice often directs my phone calls and conversations.

God’s still small voice.  Expect it.  Listen for it.  Act on it.

How do we hear God’s voice? How can we be sure that what we think we hear is not our own subconscious? What if what God says to us is not clear?

Being close to God means communicating with him, and this communication is a two-way street—telling him what is on our hearts in prayer and hearing and understanding what he is saying to us. It is this second half of our conversation with God that is so important but can also be so difficult. How can you be sure God is speaking to you? The key is to focus not so much on individual actions and decisions as on building our personal relationship with our Creator. Hearing God is but one dimension of a richly interactive relationship, and obtaining guidance is but one facet of hearing God.

I believe this is an important topic and a good book, but it is a challenge to summarize.  While I’m going to finish the book, I don’t need to finish blogging through it.  I want to make sure it is something you find beneficial and that it is making sense to you. 

So…I’m taking this chance to tap the mike and say “Is this working”?  Please give me your feedback!  Would you like me to continue?  I would love your thoughts!

1. He can speak to us.  I know, I know…how can God hear and speak to millions of us at the same time?  God is not limited by His creation.  There IS a spiritual reality that is just as ‘real’ as the physical one we can touch and see.
2. He would speak to us.  The greatness of God is not to be likened to the greatness of a human figure.  Great people do not typically speak with ‘ordinary’ people.  Even if they wanted to, there are simply too many of us for them to interact with.  On the other hand, God’s greatness is precisely what makes Him able, available and ready to speak to and hear from us!
3. He does speak to us.  Think he doesn’t speak to you?  Consider some possible reasons you don’t hear from Him when He speaks.  First, perhaps you aren’t listening.  Second, perhaps you don’t really want to hear what He is telling you.  Third, maybe your life revolves more around you than it does around Him.  Think about your kids.  Sometimes they simply aren’t listening and sometimes their minds are so made up that you don’t waste your time trying to communicate with them.  And sometimes they are so wrapped in their own world they don’t give you the time of day!

Here is a great nugget of wisdom I would agree with: If you believe God has told you to do something, ask Him to confirm it to you several ways: through His Word, through prayer, through circumstances and through other people who may know nothing of the situation.  He can speak, would speak and does speak…but we can also be deceived when we rely too heavily on any one of these ways He does so.

Here are some questions to consider:

Do you believe God can speak to you? Do you believe God would?  Do you believe He does?  Which of these three might be keeping you from hearing from Him?