Today, Do You Hear His Voice?

Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says,

“Today, if you hear his voice,

do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion,

on the day of testing in the wilderness,

where your fathers put me to the test

and saw my works for forty years.

Therefore I was provoked with that generation,

and said, ‘They always go astray in their heart;

they have not known my ways.’

As I swore in my wrath,

‘They shall not enter my rest.’”

Hebrews 3:7-11

Recently, I was praying together with a woman over an issue that the two of us shared. As we prayed, we were seeking Jesus to help us understand why we were so prone to sin in one particular area. We began with one question, asking Jesus to speak to us right there. I was able to hear what Jesus had to say to me and I wrote it down. But my friend was frustrated, unable to hear.

I asked her a few questions to try and determine what was keeping her from hearing in this case and ultimately we came to another issue where she had a question. That question was keeping her from actually listening to Jesus in the first question. I prompted her to ask this second question and to do so out loud. As she quieted her mind and asked the Lord Jesus her question, something wonderful happened. She HEARD Him speak an answer to her heart. 

In both questions, I too asked the Lord, quietly what He wanted to say to me and I received an answer quietly each time.

Once that question was answered, we returned to the first question. Again, I encouraged her to ask the question aloud. This time, she clearly heard the answer again, almost before the question itself was fully formed. I could see the joy on her face in discovering that Jesus not only listens to her prayers but is willing to answer her directly in a voice she is able to recognize.

In that moment, my friend and I were able to enter a place of rest in the Lord's provision for our situation. Our hearts were soft to hear His response and the result was hope and rest that we would be able to move forward and overcome the thing that kept tripping us up. We both realized that this was part of a process, but it was a hopeful process. 

When we were nearly finished, she asked me why I was able to hear while I silently asked my question and she seemed to need to ask it aloud. I admired her courage and honesty in asking. Not everyone is willing to ask a question like that. Here is how I responded: 'I've been doing this for many years, training myself to ask my heart's questions. In the beginning, I learned to do it with the aid of a mentor and it was done aloud just like you did. But now that my 'hearing' has become keener, I am able to do it on my own and in my spirit. At the same time, when I am really struggling, I still go to my mentor and she helps me ask the questions that my heart struggles to ask. It's just another part of the process.'

I'd like to invite you to join my friend and I in learning how to ask for wisdom and then listen, with a heart and ears that are ready to hear what He has to say to you. The result will be rest.

Is it Fear?

If you read my blog yesterday, you know that I wrote a very short post about something I'd read in an Eldredge book that is ministering to me this week.

When I did that, I neglected to mention that Eldredge is sometimes a bit controversial (it was brought to my attention by a precious friend, thank you sister).  He gets accused of all sorts of things, depending on the particular group pointing the finger, but sometimes, it is as serious as heresy.

Now, I've read quite a few of his books and I don't believe that the man is a heretic, however, I do understand why he gets accused of it.  I think what it boils down to is that what he writes of tends to be difficult for some people to understand personally.

He's kind of a touchy feely guy.  He leans toward the mystical and that just freaks a lot of Christians out altogether.  He talks alot about emotions and wounds and how all of that plays out in our lives.  He speaks of the cosmic battle as if he understands it and has been involved in fighting it actively, as if he's a warrior alongside his warrior princess (that would be his wife Stasi). I've noticed over the years that such talk tends to make a lot of Christians extremely uncomfortable.

And often, when something makes a Christian uncomfortable, he's very sorely tempted to point a finger and scream heresy.

What people are uncomfortable with varies greatly from one person to the next.  For example, many conservatives are very discomfitted when they see tongues being practiced in the church.  Most groups are a little freaked out when people are manifesting or casting out demons.  Some more liberal churches get really anxious when you begin to define sin and name specific sins.  Charasmatic churches are a bit put out when you point out things about 'order in the church' from Scripture.  Evangelicals wig out if a woman is ministering.

Each group has its areas where we get leary of another point of view.  Have you ever wondered why?

Why are we so certain that our interpretation is right?

Why are we often unwilling to even hear another point of view?

Why are we so ready to point a finger at another group of God's children and label them as wrong, disobedient or flat out heretics when they see things from a different perspective?

Are we so very convinced that we have a corner on the market of hearing from God?  That our group is the one group that has ALL of it's interpretations in proper order with the stamp of approval from Christ himself?

I'd like to suggest that it is FEAR that is the author of such suspicious attitudes.  I'd like to suggest that we have given in to fear when we will not respect our brothers and sisters in Christ from other points of view enough to really consider their perspectives.  We become afraid because......what if THEY are RIGHT?  What if the way I've always looked at it turns out to be wrong, misguided, inaccurate or worse.....HERESY?

And so, like the Pharisees, we hide in our little Christian box.  It might be stamped Evangelical Free, or Methodist, or Catholic, or Baptist (Fundemental, Southern, Missionary, etc), Lutheran, Assemblies of God.  Whatever our brand, it's where we are comfortable. And the reason we are comfortable is because we are convinced that it's the 'right' way to think/believe.

Fear keeps us separated.  Fear controls us, our thoughts, what we are willing to consider.  Fear locks us up in a box not of God's making.  Fear causes us to hate.

I don't mean to say that we should just believe everything that is out there with no discernment.  But I do mean to challenge you to consider whether the reason that  you won't even look at a different POV in matters of faith is really just because of fear.  Our God is big enough to answer our questions when we come to Him in humility.  If our goal as individuals is to seek Him with all our heart, mind, soul and strength, then can't we trust Him to allow us to find Him?  And can't we also trust Him to do the same for the rest of His children as well.

Did you know that your heart is good?

Perhaps in the secular world, this is a common thought.  But I'd like to take a moment to speak to my Christian friends who may be reading this.

I'm revisiting the writings of an author whom I've found incredibly inspiring over the last 12 years or so, John Eldredge of Ransomed Heart Ministries.  He's one of those people who seems to be inside my brain, and yet is also telling me things I either didn't know or forgot I knew.

Today, he reminded me, yet again, of the fact that God, my Great and Precious God, the One who loves me beyond all reason..........has given me a new and GOOD heart.  Where you ask?  You also want to know about this truth don't you?!  It's quite unlike any teaching you've ever heard in a church service isn't it.  (unless your Pastor reads John Eldredge too!)

The book today is called 'Waking the Dead'.  I'm listening to the audio version, thanks to my dear friend Doug Coults gift a few years back.

Yes, as I sweep my floors, I am reminded that I have a good heart given to me by a good God in order that I can fulfill His good purpose for my life.  Eldreged offers quite a few scripture references to back this up.

Lest you fear that the one verse which says the heart is bad (Jeremiah 17:9) must necessarily blow such a fanciful concept out of the water, I'd suggest reading that passage in context.  I think you'll find what I did when I read it.  It's not saying that the heart is bad, but that the hearts of God's people in that specific time were confused by the enemy of their hearts.

Their hearts had been so deeply inprinted by their own sin that they somehow failed to recognize that if they would only put their trust in the Lord, he'd save them and they'd be strong and healthy like the trees planted by the rivers.  Their hearts deceived them into forgeting His goodness.

But God has given us a new heart.  It knows the truth and it can walk in the truth and joy and grace of our God.  I'll encourage you to start looking for what God's word says about your heart.  I think you'll be pleasantly surprised.

Turning to Freedom

How many of us have been locked up our whole lives, in one way or another?  I'd guess pretty close to all of us.  The number of things to which we become captive is huge.  For some of us, it's money, power and prestige.  For others, its drugs, alchohol or tobacca.  For others, it's been food or exercise, or both.  Yet for others, it's the captivity of the American Way, aka greed.  The list could go on and on, but at it's core is the fact that from one lie or another, many of us are in deep bondage.

I am such a person.  The number of ways in which I've been in bondage over the years is really quite high.  Most recently, food has been a big issue for me.  It's rooted in satisfying my selfish desires and running from some painful truths.  It's not that food per se has a hold on me, but the lies I believe about it and about life certainly have.

I am coming face to face with all that this means in my life.  God is using a wide variety of avenues to rid me of myself so that I will belong to him (to quote a favorite Hillsong tune).  I am finding freedom.  I am learning meaning.  I am coming to understand that I really do have to choose freedom every day.  It has little to do with physical freedom and so much more to do with having and living in truth.

By the way, since June 8th, I've lost 10 lbs, which means I've met the goal I set for myself.  I wasn't certain I could do it, but I did.  Thank you and praise to the Only One Who makes it possible.  Glory to Jesus for His Spirit living in me and speaking truth to my heart when my head lies to me about a need for food and drink.

Happy 4th of July.  May you be truly free today and always.

Not Something to be Grasped

Can I share a little of what I'm learning with you today.  Warning, the following will contain biblical references.....

I've studied Phillipians a number of times.  It is one of my favorite books of Scripture.  But recently, God has been speaking to me about growing out of selfishness and into self LESSness.  Philippians 2 is a wonderful portion of scripture for that lesson so it's something I've been meditating on lately.

This morning, I read again the portion where it says:

Instead of being motivated by selfish ambition or vanity, each of you should, in humility, be moved to treat one another as more important than yourself.  Each of you should be concerned not only about your own interests, but about the interests of others as well. You should have the same attitude toward one another that Christ Jesus had, who though he existed in the form of God did not regard equality with God as something to be grasped, but emptied himself by taking on the form of a slave, by looking like other men, and by sharing in human nature.

This is from Philippians 2:3-7.  The passage goes to explain more of the way in which Christ behaved while on earth.  But the thing I noticed today is something which I've never understood before.  Here, Paul is comparing selfish ambition, or selfishness with a desire to be equal with God. 

This realization floored me!  When I want what I want and I expect to actually get it and I get angry when I don't, all of that is due to the fact that I consider myself to be equal with God.  The rest of the world needs to just stop and bow at my feet and fulfill my desires!

Yikes, what a terrible way for me and you to think.  But if you're like me, you do this over and over on a daily basis.  Perhaps it is the very foundation of sin nature in us.

I feel like this was a big insight, but I have to say that doing something about it seems quite daunting.  When I consider ALL the ways in which I daily express my selfishness, I am hard pressed to imagine how I will change it with any effectiveness.  I suppose that is where I must rest in the Spirit of God to do the work in me.  Thanks be to God!

The truth is that I can't, in myself, be like Christ.  But Christ in me can transform me daily through the renewing of my mind. I will trust in Him.