AUDIBLE !

Post # 40
AUDIBLE!
Hey, lets just jump in. Have you ever had a defiant child? The answer to that question for me is absolutely, and I have been one as well. Its incredible to be around believers , who desperately want to hear from God and to know His will and plan for their lives. I’ve probably been far more defiant with God than my earthly parents, because they have been known to smack the taste out of your mouth, ☺️ while God has a tendency to be seen as more patient , gentle, and subtle, because we don’t for the most part interact with Him in or on the physical realm. God is spirit and truth, and we have to both approach and access Him in that way. Am I saying that there are no physical manifestations of God?….absolutely not!. How else would we explain miracles? People go through great lengths to hear and know God. Some religions people go on quest, or pilgrimages, while some subject their bodies to horrible practices such as putting hooks into their skin to prove their devotion and worthiness . It, all in all comes across as a bit much trying to please , appease or being note worthy to a Supreme Being. So what about the rest of us less adventurous ones? . We may fast, or start a prayer chain, which usually turn into a rumor mill, or a gossip hot line. ☺️☺️Some scientists estimate that we open our phones over 35 to 60 times a day, when there is no activity, meaning, no calls, text, emails, or anything else, we just fidget. It’s been brought to my attention that it is really hard to hear from God, or His voice in the midst of busyness, and that represents different things to different people. It can be working to much, interaction with your kids, and our all to loveable hobbies and exterior interest, whatever they may be, aka fidgeting. We don’t for the most part like the silence in solitary moments. It’s as we have been programmed that we have to be doing something, which is actually ironic, because we are all for the most part designed to seek peace. It’s illusive and present at the same time, yet we prefer to open our devices to check what’s new on social media, over the quietness of the moment. It is so, so, so pervasive in our culture, everyone is just all the time in such a rush. We see it as we drive on the roads. We see it at restaurants while waiting to be seated. We see it at the drop off for the kids at school in the mornings. We see it at our work places, we just have to cram one more person on the elevator, because we don’t have a minute to wait for the next one. It is a lie straight from the bellows of hell, that we just have to be doing something, be it working hard or playing hard, and we except it as truth. We want to be seen in a good light and give way to much consideration to what other people think about us. There is this thing known as missing the moments right before our eyes, we all have those and are guilty of that, but in our short sightedness we miss that we missed the moment. We often give ourselves to different things and people and activities, and then ask ourselves was the juice worth the squeeze ?☺️. I’m going to double back to the juice and the squeeze in a bit. This post is called “AUDIBLE “, as in wanting or wishing to hear the actual voice of God. I am aware of ,and reminded that God actually spoke to people in the old testament. There was no doubt about what He said or what His will was because He spoke it with words, just like we communicate with our children. There were the “giants ” of the faith such as Abraham, Jacob, Moses , Noah and others. Even Adam use to walk and talk with God in cool of the garden before being evicted. God has always gone to great lengths to get our attention, He even once spoke through a donkey to get someone’s attention. However, other than God, there is nothing that is good all the time. So after being freed from 400 years of captivity in Egypt, we read that they reached Mt. Sini, and when God spoke it was terrifying. I always wondered about that, and saw it as another awareness of His holiness and our sinfulness. They begged God not to speak to them, but only to Moses, and then Moses would tell them what He said. This may be one of the first illustrations in history of a middleman and God has been seeking to eliminate that process every since. His desire is for us to know Him in a personal and intimate manner. If that is God’s desire, why is it so difficult and again illusive? Again I think it comes back to us at the foot of Mt. Sini. God has done everything on His part to make that happen, through the sacrifice of His Son, yet in our heart of hearts, we are still saying, don’t speak to us directly. The response is the same, but something has changed. It’s not that we find the voice of God terrifying, because let’s be honest, very few of us have or know what it is to have a reverent fear of God. We don’t want to hear from God, because we want to be the captain of our own ships, we want to sit on the thrown of our kingdoms, masters of our domains, and any other way that you want to put it, and God is relegated to the backup plan when things go airy. We want to do it ” My Way”. Sadly for most of us and myself included we don’t seek His wisdom first, because again if we are honest, we want to do , what we want to do, and frankly God could get in the way of that. My next question for you, have you ever met one of those rare examples of people who do seek Him out on the front end?. There are those people who just wreak of God and His presence. This is a horrible example, but its like when you are around a cigarette smoker, you know what I’m saying, it’s in your clothes, your hair, if they were in your car, it’s there as well, it’s pervasive and permeating at the same time. My friend Kevin, his wife Cheryl is like that, she has that Heavenly focus in front of her at all times and she lives out the great commission, even in her sleep.☺️☺️ She just gets it, I think that I do as well with others, but we drift from time to time, sometimes on course, and other times not so much!, and headed for the rocks to be shipwrecked .It’s not being wishy washy, but it’s a lack of a full time focus and commitment. We get up everyday and have the choice to say is this going to be a God day, or a me day, and sadly the selfish me day sometimes rules the day and we lack the urgency with which God intends for us to have. Ok, back to hearing from God. There are people, which I am one, who believes that God answers all prayers. It may not be when, where , or how we would like for Him to answer, but He hears our genuine pleads for His help. I know you are thinking, is this true, ? and how can it be?. This may be an over simplification, but it is a yes, no, or wait, meaning, not just yet. Of course I could do countless post and give examples of where people have prayed and waited years, or even perhaps a lifetime, waiting on an answer for pray. And I will fully go on record and say yes it sucks waiting on God’s timing, but there are so many things that we are just unaware of. And in the waiting, God is working all things out for our good and His glory, even when we can’t see it or believe it. Sometimes in the waiting, that is where the real work takes place. God made a promise to Abraham that he would be a father of a great nation. He never saw it on this side of eternity, but God kept His Word. As I’ve gotten older, I’m much more aware and sensitive to God speaking and leading me. Its not that I’m super spiritual, I just think as you get older, you get tiered of banging your head up against the same wall over and over again and you think to yourself, that there has to be an easier way. I know that it freaks certain people out, when you talk about hearing from God, and it makes them uncomfortable and think, well, how come I’m not hearing from God.? They are like how do you know? . It’s kind of like the God answers all prayer thing I believe that He is always speaking, but its a question of are we listening ?. Will we turn down the noise of all of the distractions around us, so that we can hear his voice. I believe that it was the prophet Isaiah, and since I’m so sure about that, it was probably Jeremiah who was running for his life, and was wanting to hear from God, as he was hiding out in a cave. So, there was an earthquake, and God wasn’t in the earthquake. Then there was a mighty rushing wind, but God wasn’t in the rushing mighty wind. Lastly there was a still gentle breeze, and God spoke in the still gentle breeze. I mean think about it, how many of you like it when you have to raise your voice to get your kids attention,?. God still speaks today!, are you listening? The primary way that God speaks to us, is through His written words the Bible. However, He is God and He doesn’t limit Himself to that only. He still speaks through dreams and visions, as He has done in times past. He will use people and situations and circumstances to speak to us as well. Have you ever had someone or thing that continually comes across your path, when you are seeking wisdom about something, possibly God is trying to speak into your situation. One of the primary things to know is that unlike us, God isn’t fickle or whimsical. That being said, He will never tell you something that goes against His Word or what He has already said. So an example of this may look something like , you feel as if God is telling you to get a divorce from your spouse because you don’t feel the love anymore, well God has already gone on record as hating divorce, so that would not be the voice of God speaking to you. And yes, I do realize that there is an exception to that, but it applies to so few people and their situation, that it might as well not be there. There is this thing about a ” season”, it’s kind of like having a person, place, or thing in your life, perhaps it’s an event, but only for a season, it’s something that comes into your life with an expiration date on it, and you have no idea what it is . This can be extremely hard, because we gravitate towards the things we can see, touch and feel, the physical. I think that God uses these things, sometimes to prepare us for other things down the road. My mind went to this event, where this little nine year old girl got hit by a car ,while riding her bike. The father became extremely angry with God. How dare He to allow this to happen!. It’s not quite the chicken or the egg thing, but there is a parallel to be sought out here. While this little girls death, had major grief implications for her father and yes they should have and completely understandable, it was one of those season things. Her father could only see that he wouldn’t get to see graduations, taking her off to college and walking her down the aisle. He missed that he got to see her take her first steps, and watched her learning how to climb a tree, or master the spelling bee at school. There are people who struggle to have kids and might be willing to trade places with him, and even if it was just for a moment or two. I know that may be or seem like an extreme example of something for a season, but we all know that often life gives us lemons, when we were really hoping for something more. So , my lips are puckered from tasting that lemon and now I’m asking myself was it worth the squeeze? Yes, it’s about Ms. Annomuis. I feel as if God had said and spoke certain things to me about that relationship. If you have been with me any time, you know that I have been in a season a kin to waiting. I can’t tell you with 100 percent accuracy that God is done with all that He is going to do there. I have to confessed that this has been a huge challenge to my faith and on more than just one level. I will get a little more in detail down the road, so please stay tuned. Nonetheless to answer the question as to whether it was worth the squeeze or not, I will have to say absolutely, because I took so much away from the relationship and learned things about myself and a whole bunch about her as well. The other day I was talking to a friend of mine out in Kansas, and she had shared about an online dating romance, that had gotten sideways. She felt as if she had been taken advantage of and mislead , because of the person’s lack of sincerity and false things that they had spoken. She had no idea what I was and had been walking through, so we weren’t exchanging pity stories. The circumstances had similarities and I’ve had trusted friends tell me that you can’t get to know people in the way our relationship played out, but I can’t begin to tell you how much time we spent together on the phone every day, not almost every day, but every day, mornings and evenings, video chats and a bazillion text messages. We were so the hand and glove thing. I guess it comes down to whether or not I actually heard God speak about it and do I have the faith to believe for something that I can’t see and for the most part appears to be lifeless. And for the record, that is why it is called faith. I made note that God is not whimsical and there is precedence for getting it wrong. The apostle Paul made references to taking the gospel into Spain and the Holy spirit prevented that from happening. I use to attend a mega-church, and they brought a piece of property with the intent on expanding into a new facility, but it never happened, they ended up selling that piece of property for a hefty sum which allowed the church to pay off debt, but at the time, it really looked as if God was leading them in that direction. So, the bottom line here is that time will tell. So, until I hear the “AUDIBLE ” voice of God , or something that will suffice for that, I wait on God and not always so patiently.
Until next time ✌️ peace!
Sandy The Southerner

Reply
,
Reply All
or
Forward

Thank you.Got it.Cool.Send

Share on Facebook

Save