Listening to hear His voice

I wrote this post because often I had asked people what God’s voice sounded like. I hoped that somehow if I knew the characteristics of His voice, that I might be able to start hearing him. All I got back was, “Well, it’s a still small voice.” What does that mean? How am I going to sort a voice like that from my thoughts?

So I started my own journey. I made it my goal to hear His voice, and by extension to know the characteristics of His voice. It has been a long journey, and I have learned much along the way, and still am.

What can I say about His voice? How can I put into words, the things I have learned? My base came from this scripture:

You may be asking yourselves, "How can we tell if a prophet's message really comes from the LORD?" You will know, because if the LORD says something will happen, it will happen. And if it doesn't, you will know that the prophet was falsely claiming to speak for the LORD. Don't be afraid of any prophet whose message doesn't come from the LORD.
(Deuteronomy 18:21-22)

This passage is talking about God using a prophet, and how to test whether he is from God or not. The part I am interested in though is right in the middle:

‘You will know, because if the Lord says something will happen, it will happen.’

Over the past years, trying to hear His voice, I have found this to be invaluable. Often I have heard other voices in my head, and I wondered whether or not the voice belongs to my creator. I don’t usually think it’s from me because it’s not something I would suggest to myself. Some things I have been told will happen, and others I have been told to do. I came to recognize His voice after each event came to pass. Like when I heard that He would take care of my GPA. Now that I see that my GPA was taken care of, I believe in that voice.

Sometimes I have waited for months to see the outcomes, and other times I have waited for only a matter of seconds. Each time though His voice becomes more and more solidified in my mind. As well, my faith in Him is strengthened every time.

Even this blog post was an exercise in hearing His voice for me. I can honestly say that this is the most difficult one I have written thus far. I have written, rewritten, scrapped it, and started fresh. Also, the past two days have been some of the more difficult ones spiritually because I knew God wanted me to write it, but have allowed myself to be distracted. Do I know His purposes for me writing this blog? Not yet. He could just be using it to build me, or to strengthen one of His children, or something totally different.

As a final thought, I would like to say that the act of listening, is really an act of obedience. Many think they can’t hear Him, but truly they aren't willing to do what He says. If you are truly willing to do what He says, He will speak to you, and you will hear Him.

What they didn't tell you when they gave you your certificate... your birth certificate

I'm going to get right to the point on this one. Satan will do anything to twist, skew, or in general just stop what God has planned. Probably the most prominent way that I have seen in my life is discouragement. He tells us what we can live up (or down) to be. That we don't make the cut, etc.

Of these things he prompts us most to believe that our age limits our abilities. To the young 'you are to young, you don't have the experience yet'. To the old 'you are old, and can't accomplish anything with the time you have left'. To the middle aged 'you have to many other responsibilites, family, work, friends'.

But if we look at history there is no age bracket for world changers! If you are old, at least you can pass your passion and experience to the younger. To the middle aged, God will take care of you as you take care of his work. To the young, how to you gain experience? Not be walking, but rather from falling.

Kind of a random jump, but DO what God has placed on your heart. There inlies fullfillment, joy, and passion.

Thoughts on Forgiveness of Sins, and God's Cleansing

I thought this would be a good follow up to my previous note. So many people believe they are condemned when they sin, not so, but at the same time there are so many that consider it a freedom to sin, also not so.

First we'll start with why we shouldn't sin even though Christ has forgiven us of our sins. The main reason to not sin even though we have God's grace is this. To receive this thing called 'Grace' it says that we must repent of our sins. This doesn't sound difficult, and like most Christian lingo it has been twisted over the years. People believe that all it means is to say, 'I'm sorry'. Let's look at Wikipedia and what it says...

Repentance is a change of thought and action to correct a wrong and gain forgiveness from a person who is wronged.

This means that we work to not commit this wrong again. We strive to take ourselves out of this situation. We flee from it. In doing so God gives us forgiveness of our sins, and in this new change found from repentance we now take one step closer to Jesus, and through him eternal life.

19Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord,(Acts 3:19)

This is all why we shouldn't sin. I'm not going to say you should sin, I will never suggest that, but sometimes we mess up, and afterwards forget that we are forgiven. We need to live in that forgiveness.

1But Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. 2At dawn he appeared again in the temple courts, where all the people gathered around him, and he sat down to teach them. 3The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery. They made her stand before the group 4and said to Jesus, "Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. 5In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?" 6They were using this question as a trap, in order to have a basis for accusing him. But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger. 7When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, "If any one of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her." 8Again he stooped down and wrote on the ground. 9At this, those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus was left, with the woman still standing there. 10Jesus straightened up and asked her, "Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?" 11"No one, sir," she said. "Then neither do I condemn you," Jesus declared. "Go now and leave your life of sin."(John 8:1-11)

A bit of a long passage, but I needed you to know this. Christ doesn't condemn you. He doesn't condemn you. So many times after we have sinned the devil will lead us on a guilt trip(By the way, in my experience guilt seems to be something satan loves to manipulate). He makes us believe that God can't love us because he has no part in sin. The truth is though that Christ loved the sinner, he came for the sinner, for the sick and not the healthy. We must learn not to listen to satan and let him gain the upperhand in our lives.

Now that I've said all of this you must learn to walk the line as the Lord is teaching me. To live in Christ's forgiveness, but not to disrespect that grace by blatantly returning to the sin you just repented of. But when the you are overcome by sin, know that you are forgiven, "Go now and leave your life of sin."

Thoughts on Sin

First off I'm dedicating this to a good friend of mine, Dan, and my brother who was/is my accountability partner.

I'll tell you my story to start off with, or at least the relevant parts (otherwise we'd be here for awhile).

Generally everyone has a "big" sin. "Big" simply meaning they get caught more often. If the person wants to stop because God wants them to these sins seem to be easier to clean out because of how out in the open they are. Anyways, I had my big sin just like anyone else. I had battled through most of my teen years to gain control over this sin. I even recruited my brother as my accountability partner. There were a few times that I thought I'd finally quit, but then it (temptation) would hit me hard. One day I heard from God that I would never struggle with this again. I believed, but it still didn't happen right away. I struggled many more times and God had to tell me twice more that I would stop. This was around summer of last year. After that point I actually wanted to stop because God wanted me to stop, not because I wanted to. I had stayed clean ever since.

Little tangent here before I get back on track. When I say I stayed clean, I mean that I STAYED clean. I was tempted (although Satan gave up a little more often), and by tempted that means it still appealed to me, but then I would remember my goal to become closer to Christ, and how that just doesn't fit in.

Unfortunately my nearly year long clean streak was ruined tonight. I took it for granted when God had told me I would never commit this sin again. I figured that God would stop me when the temptation came. Well it did come and I'm sorry to say I failed. I failed to realize that it was a team effort. God helped me through, and to find a path of escape, but he didn't push me through the situation. You must "Want" to stop.

13No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.(1 Corinthians 10:13)

I have found that when you look for temptation you will fail unless you stop looking or wanting (which yah, sorry to say this, but in my experience this rarely happens). On that same note though if the temptation arises and you don't flee. don't listen to that little voice that says you've already lost (it's not you or God). You've never lost until the act has been committed. Notice how I use past tense. Stopping in the act is actually a victory! It's a step in the right direction, albeit a small one.

I wrote this letter first to explain sin immediately after sinning. So many people say "You don't know what it's like", "It's been forever since you've dealt with it", etc, etc. Thus for you guys knowing that I wrote this immediately after I hope you trust in my honesty on this subject. This is just an average guy telling you that there is indeed hope. I have lived it for almost a year, and plan to continue immediately following this incident.

As for advice on how to avoid temptation and falling to it. First don't put yourself in situations that you know you'll be tempted in. More first than 'first', you must Love and Rely on God, and resist sin, flee from it, put in your best effort. That's the definition for the battle with sin. If you try to run and fail at it, at least you ran. Do these things and God will give you the power to resist long enough to escape, and provide that way of escape. Once you have escaped don't become complacent, or look back. You are always in danger of sin and temptation, and that is the other first step in avoiding it.

Sincerely,
~a fellow sinner,
~forgiven

Dedication and Mission

I Dedicate this blog first and formost to my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. In doing so I also dedicate this blog to everyone who is willing to take a stand, to step forward, to fall deeper in love with Christ, and embrace God's plan for their life.

The purpose of this blog is to challenge Christians out of complacency, to break me out of complacency. To show Christians that there is always More to their relationship with Christ. He can always teach you something new about loving himself, others, and yourself. For he IS love.

I pray people will read this blog, and test what is written in it for themselves, and then to live what they have tested and found to be true.

Whether young or old, in Jesus name I call you to pick up your cross and follow him. I challenge you to fall in love with God. To let yourself become a solid Christian. To not be swayed by the winds of this world, so that when the storm comes you can take your stand and say, "I Shall Not Be Moved. Christ is my Rock, and upon him I have built my house".

46"Why do you call me, 'Lord, Lord,' and do not do what I say? 47I will show you what he is like who comes to me and hears my words and puts them into practice. 48He is like a man building a house, who dug down deep and laid the foundation on rock. When a flood came, the torrent struck that house but could not shake it, because it was well built. 49But the one who hears my words and does not put them into practice is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. The moment the torrent struck that house, it collapsed and its destruction was complete." (Luke 6:46-49)

and again in Matthew

24"Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. 25The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. 26But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. 27The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash." (Matthew 7:24-27)