Tag Archive | Value

Can You Hear It?

Oct19

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Hear what?

The voice of god.

 

This topic comes up so frequently in conversation.

 

I’m no expert,

but I have made some observations and asked some questions.

I’ve gotten some great answers,

and been quite bewildered by the answers of others.

 

Here’s what I think.

I believe God is always speaking.

Always.

I am just not always listening.

Sometimes I think I am listening,

only to find later how much I missed.

OR

I do not understand the manner in which He is speaking.

These two observations made me want to find a better way of hearing.

It’s been a long, long study,

but I’m learning more and more every day.

 

Questions…

How does God speak?

How do we know we are not just making it up?

What about all those coincidences?

If I connect the dots, will they lead back to Him?

What that one scripture that I simply cannot get out of my mind?

Can I HEAR His voice with my ears?

What about those “gut” feelings?

 

I am positive that you can add more questions to this list.

As many people as there are,

there are AT LEAST that many questions.

 

As stated earlier, I believe God is ALWAYS speaking.

Consider this thought –

What if –

  Babies were born with the ability to hear and communicate with God,

and they lost that ability through neglect or lack of knowledge or just plain unbelief?

Perhaps the big people around them didn’t know this language,

or they chose not to believe it if they did know.

Could be?

 

If we spend time each day getting to know God and His Word,

then our minds will become renewed.

Slowly, over time,

our thoughts will become more like His.

We will learn through His Word about His character.

We will learn through His Word His expectations.

We will learn through His Word that He LONGS to communicate with us.

We will learn through His Word the “sound” of His voice.

My sheep hear my voice and they know me.

The voice of another they will not follow.

John 10:26 -28

(That’s another couple of posts all by itself!)

When we spend the time,

We can be fairly certain that we are not making it up.

He is Faithful to watch over his Word to do it

Jeremiah 1:12

Do your thoughts align with God’s Word?

Do your thoughts align with the promises He has already written for you in His Word?

If so,

you can be pretty sure He’s been speaking to you.

Somehow.

 

In the late 80’s there was a program called “Perfect Strangers”.

In it, the character Balki was always saying “What a co-in-o-dink!”

He meant coincidence of course.

Well, I do not believe in them.

I choose to believe that it is God’s way of connecting the dots for our lives.

Look back on some things in your life.

Things that in no way go together,

but in the end,

the dots connect to the next big thing that God had for you.

 

He’s talking to you.

Are you listening?

 

Is there a verse that you have read that just will not let you go?

One of my biggest ones; Psalm 139 of course.

but especially verses 13-16-

13 For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. 14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. 15 My frame was not hidden from you  when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, 16 your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me  were written in your book before one of them came to be.

 

Oh yeah!

I’m NOT a mistake!

 

God’s voice,

God speaking to me,

will always make me know that I have worth and value.

 

I HAVE heard the audible voice of God.

This is not so common,

but I believe that God uses whatever it will take to get us to listen.

In the circumstance I was in,

I am so glad He spoke,

no,

He yelled!

People tell me that God wouldn’t yell.

 In my case He yelled “SHUT UP!”

(He would never say that!)

Well He did.

It WAS the only way I would listen.

It made all the difference in the outcome.

 

My husband has heard His voice audibly as well.

If he hadn’t listened,

we could have been burying our daughter due to a strangers foolish mistake.

 

I’ve had experiences where my insides just didn’t settle well in a given circumstance.

Some of those unsettled times I have not paid attention,

and later paid the price for “not listening”.

By the same token,

Some I have taken to heart,

listened,

and in the end seen exactly the pit fall Holy Spirit was trying to keep me from.

God was speaking to me.

In my gut.

 

I choose to believe that He uses all these ways and more

to communicate to a world that He so longs to interact with.

To SPEAK to us.

To build relationship with us.

To love and to bless us.

 

I have a little story I’s like to share with you on this subject

I have permission to do so.

My friend and I were talking a while back about this very topic.

We were talking about the fact that we want to teach our children and grand-children

how to hear God in whatever way He chooses to speak.

Recently she was sitting on her front porch,

She was enjoying the sights and sounds and smells of the beautiful fall here in the mid-west.

She spends her quiet time there.

Encountering God and listening for His voice.

On one day,

her not quite pre-school age daughter came to join her.

She was very quiet,

and after a bit her mom was going to speak to her,

and she put her little finger to her lips and shushed her mom.

A bit shocked,

mom asked why?

To which the little replied,

“I think I hear God talking.”

So of course mom asked,

“So what do you think He’s saying?”

To which the little answered.

“Chirp, chirp.”

 

A heartwarming story to be sure.

A surprising answer from a babe.

Purity.

 Sweetness.

A complete lack of guile.

A heart ready to HEAR what God has to say.

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Fearfully and wonderfully made

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You. God’s Creation

Oct12

What is it exactly that God created you to be?

Do you know?

If you do,

Are you living up to it?

If you do not know,

Would you like to?

I’ve reposted a quote from a post by Billy Coffey.

A post I read at the beginning of the year.

Here closer to the end of the year I am re-reading and re-evaluating.

Having just returned from an amazing conference in California held by Aglow International,

My thoughts return again to this topic.

Billy said something in this post that caught my attention.

Again.

My mind goes in and out and around this thought many times over during the course of a year, a month, a week or even a day.

The old sound track of my life tries desperately to play yet again.

Here’s the quote;

“He said something else to me then. It was soft and swallowed by the wind, but I think he said that he will always win so long as we believe we are ordinary. I’m almost positive that’s what he said.”

It is my firm conviction that even when we think we know what God created us to be,                                that we do not, oy, cannot understand it.

We fall in to believing we are ordinary.

Not strong.

Not smart.

Not useful.

Not whatever.

You fill in the blank.

I can stand firmly in this because I have known for a while what my calling is.

That thing about me that is not ordinary.

I can also say that God , in His revelatory nature,

is adding more to this knowledge slowly.

He is revealing more of Himself in me slowly over time.

As I go.

As I can handle it.

As I process it and re-process it.

As many times as it takes for me to understand each point He is trying to make.

Then we move on.

When I get it,

We move on to the next.

The time between one revelation and another seems to be shrinking.

Maybe I am more open to the process or maybe,

I think,

The time of His coming is near,

and there is much to be done.

Here are some Bible verses for you to consider.

Does one or more of them “jump off the page” to you?

Does one stir something in your heart?

Does one make you want to find out more about it?

Good.

Go with that.

Look it up in all the versions of the Bible you can find for a clearer picture of what it is that God is saying concerning you.

His amazing creation.   (That would be you!)

Read it over and over again.

Until it sinks in and makes its home in your heart.

 

Have you been told you are of little or no worth?

Psalm 139:14 NIV 1984 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful,  I know that full well.

Have you been “un-chosen” all your life?

Colossians 1:27  NIV 1984 To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.

Has there been no one to truly love you?

Song of Solomon 6:3 ESV  I am my beloved’s and my beloved is mine.

Have you struggled finding your place of belonging?

Romans 9:25 ESV As indeed he says in Hosea, “Those who were not my people I will call ‘my people,’ and her who was not beloved I will call ‘beloved.’”

Have you felt weak in your body or your mind?

1 Corinthians 1:27 KJV But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty.

Has the pain been too much to bear?

Isaiah 61:3 New KJV  To console those who mourn in Zion, To give them beauty for ashes, The oil of joy for mourning, The garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; That they may be called trees of righteousness, The planting of the LORD, that He may be glorified.”

Could your victory story be the one to comfort another and draw them into victory for themselves?

2 Corinthians 1:4 New KJV  who comforts us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.

Are you ready to give up?

Jeremiah 29:11 NIV 1984 For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

My prayer is that the words here will begin a new sound track in your heart and mind.

Allow God to speak to you through the Holy Spirit.

His answers may appear on the printed page.

His answers may appear in some social media you visit.

His answer may appear through some “chance” encounter with someone.

His answer WILL come by reading His Word, the Bible,

with the intent of knowing Him better.

Remember  ~  You are NOT ORDINARY.

You are fearfully and wonderfully made.

You are made with a purpose.

You can read the rest of Billy’s post here; http://www.billycoffey.com/2012/01/new-years-with-the-devil/

You can find out more about Aglow International by visiting here; http://www.aglowinternational.org/

You can find many Bible versions here; http://www.biblegateway.com/

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Fearfully and wonderfully made

Freedom

Jul6

The 4th of July.

A nationwide celebration.

With thankful hearts we gather.

Family, fun, cook outs, parades, fireworks.

So many gave so much so we could be free.

Free from tyranny.

Free from oppression.

Free to exercise our religion.

Free to speak our minds.

Free to even disagree.

Free to celebrate or not.

With each other.

Or alone.

Inside or out.

On land or on water.

We can even choose the city or

little burg in which we do our celebrating.

Freedom.

The heat here in the mid-west was to say the least oppressive on our day of celebration.

None the less, we gathered.

Hundreds, even thousands, for our annual celebration.

Here are a few of my observations.

I am free to make them.

*       America is STILL the greatest country on earth.

*       NO PLACE enjoys the freedoms that we do.

*       Although there was traffic, we were still free to move about where and when we pleased.

*       No one requested to see our papers, or barred our entry, and we were

not beaten for being where we had chosen to be.

*       America ~ We are free to be as we ourselves choose.

*       We are free to dress as we choose.

*       We are free to eat what we choose.

*       We are free to go where we choose.

*       For good or bad, we are free to act as we choose.

*       Low cost family opportunities will draw families out even if the weather is dreadful.

*       Tall spraying fountains spraying 58° ground water into the air don’t hurt!

*       Nothing sends hot, tired families with little ones to their air-conditioned vehicles like at the end of a grand finale of fireworks.

*       It IS possible to celebrate without air conditioning.

*       Gratefulness and thankfulness are choices.

*       With all our freedoms, sometimes we forget.

Choosing to remember that even hot masses of people, polite or otherwise, are still …

 Fearfully and wonderfully made.

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