Who are you? Who do you want to be? Do you know, really?
Or are you like many others, and just feel a lot of confusion about that?
Not only do you not know who you are, but you can’t help but listen when others try and convince you who THEY think you should be.
I did it backwards. It took forty plus years to get here. I’d love it if I could save you all that time and trauma by helping you to start in the right order.
I spent a lifetime trying to figure out what I was and where I was. What I didn’t realize is that I first had to know WHO I was.
So won’t you join me for the next five posts, where we’ll look at some different personality types, and how they apply to you.
Finding out about these was a super helpful step for me.
I know exactly who I am; I also know that I keep growing and changing into a more fully developed me.
I invite you to come along for Cliffs Notes version look at your personality.
I’ve gotten out of the habit of hearing His voice.
I have some questions here;
First of all – Who is “He”?
Nehemiah 9:6 from the Holy Bible says this;
“You are the Lord, you alone. You have made heaven, the heaven of heavens, with
all their host, the earth and all that is on it, the seas and all that is in
them; and you preserve all of them; and the host of heaven worships you.
If that’s the case, and I believe it is, then
that is a voice I really want to hear!
Why do I want to hear His voice?
Beginning to hearing His voice, for me anyway, began with an intense longing inside of me to find out what more there could possibly be to my life.
You know, the life that goes through the same cycles of disbelief,
low self esteem, caring so much what others think, at my own expense.
Expensive, because the voices I was hearing were telling me just
how worthless I was. I had a longing to hear just one good thing about myself
that I could hang my hat on. Something I could believe and hold on to.
That longing wanted to know who I was; all the while knowing that
I could believe a lie, just as easily as I could believe the truth.
To avoid the lie, I had to find the right voice. There are cacophonies of voices out there just trying to be heard. Which one is the right one?
I believe
it’s the maker of heaven and earth!
How do you hear His voice in the first place?
In order to sort through that longing, there
has to be quiet.
Now MY quiet, will likely be different than
yours.
When I want to get to this place of hearing,
I require three things.
Absolute
quiet.
My Bible.
A pad of
paper and a writing utensil.
The absolute quiet is to get my mind off of everything that distracts. Even lovely music can be distracting. (I’m finding that now even while writing this)
I need my Bible. It has a great concordance (an
alphabetical list of the words present in a text, usually with citations of the
passages concerned.) in the back, so I can look up scripture by words or
topics. I can search out any topic that is on my heart.
Then I can meditate on this word.
This meditation is not the same as emptying
the space between my ears. Instead, it fills up all the empty space inside, by
telling me the truth; about me, about God, about my life; past, present and
future.
The pad of paper? My brain is notorious for running me off in a different direction while I’m trying to concentrate on being quiet. Anything that pops into my head and interrupts gets written down.
It’s safe on that paper, I won’t forget. I’ll pick it up later.
It’s calming, when you know you won’t forget
every little nuance at it passes by your brain.
How do you continue to hear His voice?
I hear his voice by being quiet enough to let the words I’ve read roll around in my heart and mind.
I let them roll until they make sense. Until
they become real to me.
I really dislike the way the word meditation is
used in some forums. I’m speaking of the meditation on God’s word,
and what it means to me. Not meditation that is emptying my mind. That
is a whole different thing.
Instead, I prefer a meditation that asks; What
do these words say? What do they mean to me? How can I put them into practice?
Once you have hear His voice, you will recognize it when you hear it again. John 10:27 says clearly; My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.
Wow. He knows me – I want to know His voice!
How do you get back to it again after being away?
The dangerous part is in the drifting away. You release the habit for a day, and then a week, and then a month. No big, drastic changes.
You still hear His voice. But here’s the
catch; after a month, the voice gets quieter, and you realize (maybe) that you
have been going on memory, and that you haven’t “heard” anything new
for quite some time.
Memory, like muscles, can get flat after
periods of not being used.
Notice, the first thing I said was that it is a habit. It is most definitely a habit.
The first step to take is to get back to your
DAILY reading. It need not be chapter upon chapter. Just a
few paragraphs maybe.
We used to have a pastor who told us to
“Read till you burn.” That sounds funny coming from a pastor, whose
job is to insure that you don’t burn 🙂
But what he was trying to tell us, was that
we needed to read the word until something came alive in our heart; until our
heart caught that spark.
When that happens – You’re hearing God’s voice. He is speaking to you.
I’ve read the same thing several times over
my lifetime, and then one time I will read it, and it is like the words jumped
right off the page.
They bring something to life in me. They
spark a realization in me about _________________! Whatever it is I’m reading
about.
When I begin to roll those verses around in my heart and mind, they become a part of me. My soul and my spirit; my insides; are renewed. I can see an action that needs to be taken, or a mind set that needs to be tweeked.
James 1:22-25 (ICB) says this; Do what God’s
teaching says; do not just listen and do nothing. When you only sit and listen,
you are fooling yourselves. A person who hears God’s teaching and does
nothing is like a man looking in a mirror. He sees
his face, then goes away and quickly forgets what he looked like. But the
truly happy person is the one who carefully studies God’s perfect law that makes
people free. He continues to study it. He listens to God’s teaching and does
not forget what he heard. Then he obeys what God’s teaching says. When he does
this, it makes him happy.
This quiet time, this hearing His voice; it
gives me peace, and it carries with me throughout my days.
It makes it so that even the harshest of circumstances can be faced with some sort of calm, peace and joy.
You know that old saying; When it rains, it pours?
This is said to be a proverb meaning that misfortunes or difficult situations tend to follow each other in rapid succession or to arrive all at the same time.
Bad times, like migraines, seem to come together in clusters.
So what in the world can we do to survive these times?
I’ll let you know MY thoughts on the matter, and then, I’d love to hear YOURS!
I was reading a transcript of a conference my husband and I attended back in 2017, and came across the following quote;
“Opposition attaches itself to what you do not remove. Blessings attach themselves to what you respond to in obedience.”
Graham Cooke – Aglow International Global Conference – Richmond, VA – 2017
So what is it exactly, that I should be removing?
I firmly believe that what we allow to roll around in our heads effects the outcome of our daily lives, or at least how we respond to those things.
So. I must DECLARE WAR on the NEGATIVITY that accumulates around me.
I may not be able to erase all of that negativity, but I can surely control how I respond to it!
I can think of several ways to begin this process; but it does begin with a decision.
A quality decision that I will no longer allow the negativity of the world or my own circumstances to weigh me down.
To be certain; This can be, has been, and will be, a daily process. To keep the quality of that decision.
So here are some ideas;
Make that decision, old habits die hard, make that decision again!
Determine how much news you want to take in. Personally, my news only comes from highly trusted sources – and then only in tiny pieces. Try adding some funny videos instead.
Consider who you are hanging around with. – Debbie Downer? Negative Nelly? Long ago, I had to restrict my visits with a really good friend, until she got her negativity under control. Find someone who makes your heart smile.
What are you reading? News, news, news? Drama, drama, drama? These things have a different effect on different individuals. Find out for yourself, and if they weigh you down – Quit them! There is so much variety out there! Try something a bit more light hearted.
Take some quiet time for yourself – Every Day – three minutes or thirty, whatever you can get away with. Literal quiet, or an activity that calms your heart and mind.
Stop complaining! Yes. It is so negative. I remember telling God that if I didn’t complain, I wouldn’t have anything to say. Well then………? I had to tell myself to “Just. Stop. Talking.” Until I got it under control.
I find that reading the Holy Bible in my favorite version the ESV, has a super calming effect on my thought life. Life changing actually. Giving my brain positive input instead of negative. I have friends who prefer the poetry route – whatever works for you!
I am positive there are as many ways to come against negativity as there are people.
I would love it if you would share your ideas with me either in the comments or in a message. Whatever works for you.
So back to the quote; “Opposition attaches itself to what you don’t remove, blessings attach to what you respond to in obedience.” (In this case, he is describing obedience to scripture)
Romans 12:2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.
The Holy Bible – English Standard Version – BibleGateway.com
Significant Encounters 
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