Be Still my Heart

On May 5, 2021   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Psalm 46: 10       NIV

“Be still, and know that I am God.”

It is always fascinating to me when two ideas or projects I am working on come together. It seems to be a confirmation that I am on the right track. That happened to me this week.

I have been ministering on this verse from Psalm 46. I am also reading a book on Moses. Interestingly, the two have come together. The author wrote these words, “That voice still speaks to those whose hearts are hushed to hear . . . and seeking hearts that are still enough from their own plans and activities to listen” (Meyer, Moses: Servant of God, Whitaker House, 1909, 2014, p. 42 – 43). One of the most central aspects to hearing God speak is stillness.

We live in a busy world, finding ourselves going this way and that. We get a lot done and our lives are filled with richness and diversity. Unfortunately, that busyness can also conspire to inhibit our time with the Lord. My own experience was that even when I took a few minutes to sit down and commune with God, I was so keyed up that I could not hear Him. Both physically and mentally I was like a metronome, in constant motion. It, literally, took an act of God to teach me how to slow down so that I could come to know Him as God in my life. And that is the point of this, letting God show Himself as God.

I believe in praying at all times. For example, I like to pray while I am driving, pumping gas and riding my bike. However, communion with God also requires those quiet times; times completely devoted to visiting with Him. That, I believe, is where it becomes hard for many of us. It is hard to set aside quiet time to be with the Lord. There are so many things vying for your time and hard to find time alone. And then even when you do find the time, perhaps the pressures of your schedule and task list invade your stillness making it difficult, if not impossible, to hear the voice of God.

If being still is a challenge for you, if you have a hard time hearing God, contact me and let’s get that worked out in your life so that you routinely hear the voice of your Father.

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Listen

On March 5, 2019   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Numbers 2: 1 – 2

Now the Lord spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying, “The sons of Israel shall camp, each by his own standard, with the banners of their fathers’ households; they shall camp around the tent of meeting at a distance.

One of the grandest precepts for us to accept and subsequently incorporate is that we can hear the voice of God speaking to each of us. Especially on this side of the Protestant Reformation, we should be people who are zealous to talk with God and hear His responses. Yet, we have fallen into a pattern of “praying” to him and then walking away. It is vital that we each hear the voice of God so that we may be led according to all His good intentions.

In the Old Testament, people heard God speak. Obviously, God was able to be heard by these two. Yahweh laid out a complete picture of where each tribe should pitch its tent in the camp and the order by which they should proceed when they traveled. If you were to read chapter 2 of Numbers, you would find that there is great detail in the instructions given by God.

Consider the building of the Tent of Meeting. It was completely designed by God and communicated to people. They heard the voice of the Lord right down to the color of the fabric and precise measurements. How is it that they could receive such detailed instructions from God, and we struggle to hear His voice at all?

I hope you will engage that question. Why are we not hearing God speak? Why don’t we all have a strong dialogue with God? It is not His intention that we live separated from Him. His desire is that we live in Him and with Him. He even said that he wants to make his abode with us (John 14: 23). That means He wants to live with us. Wouldn’t it be odd for someone to live with us but never speak with us, for us never to exchange thoughts and ideas? That seems very odd and yet that seems to be many people’s experience. So, either, we haven’t allowed God to make His abode with us, He isn’t speaking or we aren’t listening. What do you think?

Maybe you should ask Father about this. Maybe you should ask Him if your joint communication is where He wants it. Of course, then you will need to listen for an answer. Be still, turn off the TV and the telephone and listen to the voice within you. Take a few minutes to create quiet in your environment, both on the outside of you and the inside. Then listen. If you have trouble hearing, ask Him to help you but as you ask, believe that He will answer. Then be still and listen. And be persistent. If you are not hearing God or not hearing Him as well or as frequently as you would like, then persist. I promise that if you will allow Him, He will teach you.

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Having Heard

On June 9, 2016   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Isaiah 30: 21

Your ears will hear a word behind you, “This is the way, walk in it,” whenever you turn to the right or to the left.

God means that you should hear his voice. He wants to talk with you. He also guides you with his voice. It seems that hearing from God has been relegated to a few people but that is not God’s intention. It is our tradition that has developed that idea. 

The big secret about hearing the voice of God, if you are not already, is that it takes practice. You begin to recognize the voice of God and it becomes easier and easier to hear him. One time I went on a trip and took a suit with me for the occasion. Then I had this idea occur to me to take an additional suit. I thought about it and said to myself, “But I don’t need two suits.” The thought persisted though so I packed the second one. As it turned out, I did end up needing two different suits. That was when I realized that it had been God telling me to grab the second suit. I learned a lot from that. First of all, I began to learn how God’s voice sounds in my ear. Sometimes it is just a thought that occurs to me from out of nowhere. I may be thinking of something totally different and a thought comes to me. Recently I left my house to go to an appointment. I got to the end of the street and the thought came to me that I had left the garage door open. I thought about that for a minute and in my own thinking I did not think that I had left the door open. The thought persisted though so I turned around and drove back to the house. Guess what? Sure enough the door was open. 

That is the way God communicates with us. In the example about the suit, it would not have been the end of the world if I had not listened to Him and packed only the one suit. Even with the garage door, I am sure that He would have protected my house in my absence but it sure is nice that He does tell me these things because my life is much better for all of the things He tells me. 

And that brings up the second lesson I learned about hearing from God. He often starts out teaching you to hear his voice by talking with you about small things. It did not take much faith for me to turn my car around and go check the garage door. He has built my faith in Him and in my hearing Him in these small things. Now when He says something big to me, I am better able to recognize that it is His voice speaking to me and I have more faith in hearing Him so that I do what I hear without arguing it away.

The thing you really have to do to start hearing God’s voice is to turn off some of the noise around you. If you are like I was you always have some noise machine on. In my case I had the TV or stereo on every minute of my life. There was no quiet time in my life for Him to speak in. The other thing that I had to do was to quiet my mind. My mind was so busy and so loud that there was little chance of me hearing Him. Quiet your mind. And lastly, I absolutely prayed about hearing the voice of God. I knew that other people heard God’s voice and I absolutely insisted on hearing also. If anyone is receiving a blessing from God, you are entitled to that same blessing because it is one and the same Jesus that has bought that blessing for each of us. Don’t let any of God’s blessings evade you.

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Hear Me

On July 17, 2015   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

John 16: 13

But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come.

Okay, so here is my question. How is it that the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Truth, is supposed to “speak” to us? Well? You see, I was reading in the book of John when I read this very familiar verse. I mean, it’s highlighted in my Bible. I know this verse and yet as I was reading it, I just stopped in my tracks. I have always assumed so much as I read it. How, am I to hear what the Holy Spirit is speaking? How is he going to guide me into all truth? This is a big verse with several really big disclosures in it. Are we all prepared to hear him?

I am aware that there are a lot of people who never hear Yahweh speaking to them. I’ve got to say, my heart grieves over this fact. Most of you know my story and how I was desperate to hear God talking to me. I literally chased God down in my pursuit to hear His voice. The Bible says to seek Him but I was way past that. I flew 2500 miles to a conference to get Him and I told our Father that I was coming back with the ability to hear His voice. And you know what, Dad honored my desire. I got what I wanted and Dad got what he wanted, me. Life has not been the same since.

There is no reason why you cannot hear God, the Holy Spirit and the Son speak to you too. There certainly is nothing special about me. Maybe you can hear Him now but just not as often or as clearly as you would like. My advice to you is, “Don’t settle for anything less than everything.” Ephesians 3: 20 casts our mind out beyond normal, common or perhaps even possible. Father wants us thinking beyond our boundaries continuously. Today’s boundary is tomorrow’s history. He is the God of “exceedingly abundantly beyond all that we ask or think.”

Jesus sending the Holy Spirit to us was a really big deal. This is the age of the Holy Spirit right now and we really need to connect with him. He was sent here for us, to help us and to be always at our side. We can talk with him, we can see him. He is here, in the earth, for us. It is he who leads us into victory daily.

I want to encourage you. If you don’t hear God’s voice routinely or you just want to improve your connectivity – Press In. Call on God. Chase Him down in the streets if you must. He is willing to grant you this interconnectedness with Him where you feel His presence and hear His voice. There is more that He would do with and for all of us but it is beyond all that I can think or ask in this moment. Let’s rally together to call on God and receive everything that Jesus won for us, especially that we hear all the Holy Spirit speaks.

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Hearing Aide

On February 27, 2015   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Romans 10: 17

So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ.

Faith is an important trait for every Christian. In fact, without faith it is impossible to please God (Hebrews 11: 6). That is a weighty statement. So, if it is important, even vital for us to have faith then you would expect the Father to provide a means by which we can obtain this mandatory commodity. Enter Romans 10: 17.  Here God is teaching us how to get faith.

Apparently faith comes from hearing. Okay, from hearing what? Many people teach that faith comes by hearing the Word of God or the Word of Christ. Absolutely there is interconnectedness between the Word of God and faith. However, there is an intermediary as this verse indicates. How do we recognize the truth of this? It is in the text of the verse. Think of it this way. If you wanted to convey that faith comes from hearing the Word, you would say exactly that but that is not what Paul wrote. He said faith comes from hearing, and then he said that hearing comes by the word of Christ. There are two steps here. So let’s take just the first phrase first and figure out what this hearing is that creates faith in us.

What I believe Paul is trying to convey to us is that faith comes through communing with God in our spirits. That takes no great logic leap. So, faith comes when we hear God speaking in our spirits. Let’s say that you have a financial need and during your quiet time with God you hear His leading or perhaps He shows you a scripture that pertains to finances. What happens to your faith? It skyrockets, right? Any time you hear God in your spirit or He speaks through scripture it brings great encouragement and renewed belief. That is what I believe Paul is trying to convey to us. It is not all that different from Isaiah 40: 31 which we looked at earlier in the week, which told us to be intertwined with God and we would soar on wings like eagles. When you hang out with God your faith just soars. It happens.

“But,” you say, “I don’t hear that well.” Right; God thought of that. Paul wrote, “[H]earing comes by the word of Christ.” If you have a Bible with references and look at the note for this phrase it will tell you that a closer translation is “hearing comes by the word concerning Christ.” What is the difference? It all has to do with John 14: 6, where “Jesus said …, ‘I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father, but through me.’” The way to the Father is through Jesus. So, for us that means that the way for us to improve our ability to connect with the Father is through Jesus. We wish to hear God better so it is not only through the Word of God but also through the person of Jesus Christ that we can do that. Don’t miss hear me though. You cannot separate Jesus from his word. That is why the rendering that we gain faith through the word is not inaccurate. It is just incomplete. It is not through studying the Bible that we improve our relationship with the Father or our ability to hear Him but rather through the person of Jesus. Jesus leads us to the Father. His mission on earth was to reveal the Father to us and provide a way for us to be reconciled with Him. Therefore, when we need revelation or when we simply need a touch from the Father we go to Him through the person of Jesus. Jesus is our mediator. He has provided us with the means to connect with the Father in a deep way. Whatever we need, Jesus can lead us and teach us. 

The bottom line is that in order to have faith, you need to hear the voice of God. If you cannot hear the voice of God or your hearing just needs improving, Jesus is there to help you. The good news about what Jesus has done for us is the catapult to deep fellowship with him and with the Father because Jesus always points to the Father. If you look at Jesus’ earthly ministry you will see that is true. So, this is how I would restate today’s verse in order to make it more clear, “Faith comes from hearing God’s voice, and the ability to hear God’s voice comes through Jesus.” The good news about who Jesus is and what he has accomplished is an engraved invitation to the throne room of God where you can be very relaxed in the presence of your father. Good ears come through the good news and the good news is “the word concerning Christ.” Jesus is the way. His role as our high priest and as our mediator is to lead us into the Father’s presence so that we can easily hear the voice of our beloved Father. Fix your eyes on Jesus, the author and finisher of your faith (Hebrews 12: 2) and tune your ears to God expecting to hear Him speak to you. Then your faith shall rise as upon eagles’ wings.

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Hearing the Voice of God

On October 2, 2014   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Isaiah 30: 21

And your ears will hear a word behind you, “This is the way, walk in it,” whenever you turn to the right or to the left.

Who doesn’t want to hear the voice of God speaking in their ears?  And how much better and easier would life be if we could all daily hear the voice of God?  Jesus walked in the earth constantly receiving instruction from the Father.  In John 5: 19 and John 8: 28 Jesus tells us that everything he did and everything he said he got from the Father.  What if we too could walk through our day constantly receiving guidance from the Father?  Well, it is more plausible than you might think. 

Recently I attended a seminar conducted by Dr. Mark Virkler.  Dr. Virkler has taught thousands of people how to hear the voice of God.  In his own desperate search to hear God’s voice he was led to an almost foolproof way to hear God speak to you.  As a matter of fact, he guarantees that if you apply his four keys, you will hear the voice of God.  Dr. Virkler is also the president of Christian Leadership University where you can take classes that will help you develop a deeper and more meaningful relationship with Jesus.  Dr. Virkler’s website is www.cwgministries.org.  Here you will find his materials on Communing with God and Hearing the Voice of God.  There is a large amount of free material on his site and I strongly encourage you to poke around the website and see what is available.

God wants to talk with you daily.  If you are not hearing the voice of God speaking into your life then I would say you should pursue God and insist that He guide you into learning to hear His voice.  That singular pursuit has added an incredible amount of value to my life.  I am sure that it will impact your life in the same way.

Jesus is speaking to you right now.  He wants to guide your daily steps.  He wants to help you make decisions and even help you in some of the smallest matters of life.  However, you need to be able to hear him.  He speaks to your heart rather than your brain so open your heart to him.  Hear what the Lord is saying to you today.  And be blessed.

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Hear What God is Speaking

On April 29, 2014   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Psalm 85: 8

I will hear what God the Lord will say; for He will speak peace to His people, to His godly ones; but let them not turn back to folly.

God is speaking to His people. He is speaking peace and love. He is constantly conveying His thoughts and plans to you. He is a God of revelation and glory so those are necessarily some of the things that He is speaking to your heart. If we will stop and listen for that still, quiet voice within us we will find that He is speaking life and unfailing devotion to our hearts.

When I read this passage yesterday, I was particularly arrested by the phrase, “I will hear what God the Lord will say.” God is speaking but just as important is that we are hearing. This is a strong and declarative statement from the writers of this Psalm that they had predetermined in their own hearts that they would hear what the voice of the Lord was saying. We too should have this same bold confidence. God is not talking to Himself. All of His declarations are for our benefit so we must tune our hearts and ears to listening to Him and we must make up our minds that we will hear His voice speaking to us.

Set your mind today to hearing the voice of the Lord. Take some quiet time to be alone with the Lord and allow Him to speak His wonders and mysteries to you. God has sent a spirit of revelation into the world. For all who will listen this is a time when you can receive the unfolding mystery of God. He has stored up knowledge and wisdom for today. Let your heart receive this blessing of revealed knowledge.

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