Discerning The Voice of God, Week 1, Day 3, 4, 5

I did these throughout the week, but did not blog... sorry. I do want to do this and blog as I go to help me stay on track, but sometimes life calls. This is a re-cap of these three days.

DAY 3

We have to plan to OBEY when God does answer. Hmmmm... I wish I could say that I am good at this, but ... no.... I sometimes obey for a day or two and then, I forget or get slack and go right back to my way. Arrgghhhh! Hard to admit, but I am being as real as I can be here.

Answere YES to God BEFORE you know what He wants you to do!! {hard one!} God expects our obedience.

One example the author gives is this... and all us women can truly relate to this: We ask our husband what shoes look best with our outfit. We already have in our mind the ones WE want to wear. Hubby answers. It is not the one WE want to wear, so we DISREGARD his answer. Hubby is understandably irritated. In the future hubby is HESITANT TO EVEN ANSWER. He will say, "Why do you even ask me? You are going to do what YOU want anyway." Now, put GOD in that equation... Read this back, but take hubby out and put God in.... Hmmm... Interesing isn't it?!

"OBEDIENCE IS THE KEY TO HEARING HIS STILL SMALL VOICE."

Exodus 19:5 "Now therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people: for all the earth is mine:"

Luke 8:18 "Take heed therefore how ye hear: for whosoever hath, to him shall be given; and whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken even that which he seemeth to have." {we don't want what we seem to have be taken away do we?}

"If we settle ahead of time that we will obey whatever God tells us, we will go into our time with him ready to hear His voice." --Henry and Richard Blackaby

To know God's word and NOT obey it is to sin against Him!

DAY 4

We need to be ready to LISTEN to God, if we truly want to hear Him speak to us.

Ecclesiastes 5:1-2 (KJV) "Keep thy foot when thou goest to the house of God, and be more ready to hear, than to give the sacrifice of fools: for they consider not that they do evil. Be not rash with thy mouth, and let not thine heart be hasty to utter any thing before God: for God is in heaven, and thou upon earth: therefore let thy words be few."
Consider the NLT version: "As you enter the house of God, keep your ears open and your mouth shut. It is evil to make mindless offerings to God. Don’t make rash promises, and don’t be hasty in bringing matters before God. After all, God is in heaven, and you are here on earth. So let your words be few."

"Could it be that we don't hear God because we have trained ourselves not to hear Him? Our busy lifestyles have squelched out the clear, powerful voice of God so we no longer even recognize it. We must carve out time to purposefully listen to God's voice through prayer, meditation on His Word, and worship. If we listen we will hear the voice that speaks eternally."

Prayer = "...allow the Holy Spirit to direct my prayer time." Have portion of prayer time that is quiet and silent and let God speak and lay others on your heart to pray for, as well as, speak to you about issues that you are awaiting answers to.

Meditation = "Meditation is a discipline because it requires you to control your desire to fill the silence with activity."

Worship = Meditaion, prayer, music, etc. can lead to this worship time.

DAY 5

We must have FAITH in it. We must not just seek counsel with others, we must counsel (pray) with God!

Hebrews 10:22 "Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water."

"He is looking for someone to believe He is who He says He is and He can do what He says He can do." Do we TRULY believe? Are we giving Him all our faith? We must have FAITH that He will answer us if we expect Him to.

{Once again, let me state that this should not replace the Bible Study. It is just a brief amount of my notes. I would encourage to do this study, if any of this is on your heart.}