Hearing God's Voice

This week a Fijian speaker called Siria came and preached on hearing God’s voice. I thoroughly enjoyed learning more about God this week. We are designed to be relational, to have a love relationship with God, after all we were created for His glory (Isaiah 43:7). God wants us to truly love Him. When we choose to dwell with Him, His ways become our way and His desires become our desires. Us learning to hear God’s voice deepens our relationship with Him. God wants to have a progressive relationship with us, it shouldn’t stay in one place, it should continue to move forward. Hearing God’s voice has to be a lifestyle that we can’t live without.

FOUR VOICES WE CAN HEAR

1. OUR OWN VOICE

If we want to progress in our walk with God, it is important that we die to our own imaginations, desires and burdens and give them to God. We should not lean on our own understanding (Proverbs 3:5). Proverbs 28:26 says “he who trusts in his own heart is a fool, but whoever walks wisely will be delivered”. Us trusting in our own insight is foolish. It demonstrates that we have taken control of our own lives and are therefore telling God that He is not in control! Isaiah 55:8-9 says that God’s ways are higher than our ways and His thoughts are higher than our thoughts. We must learn to quieten our thoughts and emotions and submit it under the Lordship of Christ in order to hear the voice of God. Jesus too had emotions and feelings yet even when faced with death He was able to control His emotions. Luke 22:42-44 speaks about He was sitting in the garden of Gethsemane and “His sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground”. WOW! Jesus knew what was about to take place, but He chose to do His father’s will.

2. VOICE OF OTHERS

This includes:

·      Parents

·      Friends

·      Pastors

·      Teachers

·      Media

We make the choice to either listen to the voice of others or bring it to submission. In the Garden of Eden, Eve listened to the serpent and Adam listened to Eve even though they both knew what the Lord had instructed. Who’s opinion will have priority; those around you or God’s?

3. VOICE OF THE ENEMY

Eve listened to the voice of the enemy who spoke through the serpent. We must remember that satan is very crafty (Genesis 3:1-4). Satan knew exactly what the Lord had said to Eve. Satan isn’t omnipresent or omnipotent, he doesn’t know what’s in our mind but he is able to hear our conversation with others. Although he has demons, he is limited in his power because he is NOT God.

1 Peter 5:8 says “be sober and self-controlled. Be watchful. Your adversary, the devil, walks around like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour”. The enemy likes to twist things around by making it look like God is responsible for the negative things that happen in our lives. Satan also doesn’t like relationships; he wants to kill our relationships with one another and most of all our relationship with God (John 10:10). Everything satan says will always be lies and will be negative because he is the father of all liars, he can’t tell the truth even if he wanted to (John 8:44). Satan can tempt us to do things (Matthew 4:3), but the decision is still ours because God has given us free will (1 Corinthians 10:13). 

4. THE VOICE OF GOD

For someone to call himself or herself a Christian they must have a relationship with God right? And having a relationship with God means communication takes place through prayer and spending time in God’s Word. The Bible presents God as being the Shepherd and His followers the sheep. John 10:3 says the sheep listen to the Shepherd’s voice. The sheep will never follow a stranger’s voice.  Therefore, the more time we spend with God, the more we will be able to distinguish His voice. He who belongs to God, hears what He says (John 8:47).

Every day, after Jesus performed miracles and ministered to others, He went away and spent time with God to hear His voice. He knew about the importance of having a relationship with God. God speaks to reveal His purpose and His ways for our lives, and also to prepare us for the things that are about to take place (John 16:13). When we take the time to hear God’s voice, He shares things with us. In Psalm 32:8 God said that He will teach us the way we should go and will instruct and advise us. If we want to go from glory to glory in our walk with God we must listen to His voice and through hearing Him speak, our mind is renewed as we see God differently.

Hearing God’s voice is a skill that has to be developed with practice. God is so eager and desperate to speak with you because your relationship with Him is soooo important to Him. If we do not ask God about things to do with our life, we presume. The definition of presume is; to undertake without right or permission and this is pride.  Through the lack of seeking God in detail, pride can come in.

Remember: it is not only the pastors, prophets and the church elders that can hear God’s voice like in the Old Testament, He speaks to everyone, even to the non believers. When God speaks to us, it is always confirmed in His word. I want to challenge you all to practice hearing God’s voice everyday, listen and don’t just limit hearing His voice to just your quiet time with Him. Communicate with God throughout the day.  He wants to talk to you!

THE WAYS GOD SPEAKS

THE HOLY BIBLE  

God is a God of detail, He is very detailed in how He communicates with us. God speaks to us through His word, every Scripture is God-breathed (2 Timothy 3:16). Everything about God is found in the scriptures. Joshua 1:8 encourages us to meditate on God’s word day and night. It should not depart from our mouths. Allow God to speak to you through His word and through the words that stand out to you whilst reading your Bible. The word of God is a lamp to guide you and a light for your path (Psalm 119:105). God never speaks against what is written in His word. Hebrews 4:12 declares that the word of God is living, and is active, and is sharper than any two-edged sword, it is able to discern the thoughts and intentions of the heart.

GOD SPEAKS TO THROUGH THE INNER WITNESS OF THE SPIRIT

When you are praying and the Holy Spirit communicates spiritual feelings to your human spirit and you sense and feel something that is the inner witness of the spirit speaking to you. For example when you are have to make a decision and then you feel such overwhelming peace- that is God speaking (Philippians 4:7). Other examples include feeling inner joy or your feeling a heavy burden in your Spirit. In Luke 1:47 Mary’s inner spirit rejoiced in the Lord when she found out she was to become pregnant and give birth to the savior of the world!!! Our feelings and God’s spirit can also battle against one another.

GOD SPEAKS THROUGH THE INNER VOICE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT

When God speaks and you don’t do what God has asked it becomes disobedience. The voice of the Holy Spirit is a small still and gentle voice (1 King 19:12). Human ears can’t hear it, it is heard in the realm of the thoughts of our minds and our Spirit. It may also include the thoughts placed by God in your mind, which then gives your Spirit a deep peace. (Isn’t it amazing how God can speak to everyone on earth at the same time about different things?!)

GOD SPEAKS THROUGH OUR CONSCIENCE

The conscience knows the existence of God. Our conscience, which is ruled by the Holy Spirit, confirms things to us (Romans 9:1 GNT, Romans 2:15). This is why it is so important that we are in-tune with the Holy Spirit.

GOD SPEAKS THROUGH CIRCUMSTANCES

Jonah was running away from fulfilling his purpose so God allowed him to be swallowed by a whale for three days and three nights. God spoke to the fish, and it vomited out Jonah on the dry land (Jonah 2). Another example is in Acts 16:25-30 a violent earthquake happened in the prison, through this event a family gave their life to Christ. God can create/allow circumstances to take place because He is trying to get our attention and speak to us. He can speak through lack of finances for example; He may be wanting us to check the condition of our heart. It is important we discern and ask God whether the circumstances are from Him or from the enemy.

GOD SPEAKS THROUGH VISIONS

A vision is a personal, pictorial presentation while you are awake, it shows us what we can’t see with our physical eyes. Through visions God always reveals hidden truth. Example of this in scripture are; 

·      Genesis 15:1

·      Daniel 7:2

·      Habakkuk 2:1-3

·      Acts 2:17

·      Acts 10:3

·      Acts 16:9

GOD SPEAKS THROUGH DREAMS

·      Genesis 37:5

·      Jeremiah 23:28

·      Matthew 2:13

GOD SPEAKS THROUGH AUDIBLE VOICE

Examples of God speaking to people through a audible voice include;

·      Abraham (Genesis 17:9)

·      Samuel (1 Samuel 3)

·      Moses (Exodus 3:4)

·      Jesus

·      Paul (Acts 9:3-4)

GOD SPEAKS THROUGH ANGELS

Angels can come in human or in angelic form

·      Exodus 19:12-24

·      Exodus 23:20-21

GOD SPEAKS THROUGH SONGS/HYMNS

·      Psalm 98:1

·      Psalm 149:1

·      Isaiah 42:10

GOD SPEAKS THROUGH OTHERS

·      Testimonies

·      Preaching/Teaching

·      People

·      Leaders

·      Luke 8:36-39

·      John 1:40-42

·      2 Corinthians 7:13, 8:5

·      Our Spirit can be refreshed by others

    GOD SPEAKS THROUGH OUR EMOTIONS AND FEELINGS

   

    GOD SPEAKS THROUGH CREATION       

     God can speak through rainbows, clouds, trees, the sky etc

    Psalms 96:11-13

CONDITIONS TO HEARING GOD’S VOICE

The following principles are essential in listening to God’s Voice

LORDSHIP-JESUS MUST BE LORD OF OUR LIFE

IF JESUS ISN’T LORD OF ALL IN YOUR LIFE, HE ISN’T LORD AT ALL! If Jesus isn’t Lord of all our hearts are divided and God is not supposed to be an added product in our lives. He doesn’t share His glory!

REPENT OF ANY UNCONFESSED SIN

The word repentance means a change of heart and mind. It involves admitting guilt and taking responsibility before God. It is important we confess our sins not only with our mouths, but with our hearts. A clean heart is necessary if we want to hear God’s voice (Psalm 66:18). If we want to find mercy we must confess our sins (Proverbs 28:13).

FAITH

In order for God to speak to us, we must have faith and believe that God speaks and faith to believe what He says. Hebrews 11:6 says that without faith it is impossible to please God.  We can’t see God but there is evidence of His existence, for example nature, creation, us being alive and breathing! Faith is key in our relationship with God. It will sustain us even during the times when we do not feel His presence.

How do we grow in faith?

·      Through obedience to God

·      Learn to know more about God & His character

·      Learn to recognize God’s voice

·      Learn to exercise the measure of faith you have been given.

WAIT

We have to wait to hear God’s voice (Psalm 5:3), we have to listen more and talk less (James 1:19). Remember God already knows what’s on your mind. Be still and know that He is God (Psalm 46:10).

HINDERANCES TO HEARING GOD’S VOICE

LACK OF LOVE FOR GOD & OTHERS

·      1 John 14:15-24

·      1 John 4:7-12

·      1 John 4:15-21

UNBELIEF

If we doubt God and don’t believe what He is saying, we will always worry. It’s not enough for us to only have head knowledge about God. Our believe makes God a liar and breaks His heart. Unbelief shuts off intimacy with God.  Many sins and disobedience come from unbelief, for example we may choose to sin because we don’t believe or agree with what God is saying i.e sex before marriage.

UNFORGIVENESS

Holding grudges and failing to forgive others also shuts off intimacy from God. Matthew 6:14-15 declares that we should forgive others in order for God to forgive us. It is also wrong to make a vow to never forgive someone or visit someone. When you make such a vow, you become binded to the person. My advise to you is to release the person and let them go!

PRIDE

There is a quote that says “A man can hide his sin but not his pride”.  Pride leads to destruction and arrogance to downfall (Proverbs 16:18). Someone who has pride is someone that thinks they don’t need God because they believe they can do everything by themselves. They think more highly of their own knowledge than God’s desires and wisdom. Satan tried to exalt himself to be just like God and as a result he was cast out of heaven. God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble (James 4:4-8).

IDOLS

We can’t serve two masters, we can’t serve both God and mammon (Matthew 6:24). Mammon represents money, wealth and earthly riches and possessions.

God wants us to be prosperous but prosperity is dangerous when the things we have come before Him. Examples of idols can be our phones, laptops, television, friends, family, jobs etc.  Jude tells us in Jude 1:21 not to let anything take the place in our hearts that belongs to God. There are many more examples that I’m sure you could think of such as fear of man-trying to impress man more than God, busyness, lack of time management etc.  My question to you is this: who will you serve and put first; God or the things of this world? What would it profit you to gain the whole world yet lose your soul (Mark 8:36)?

Week 4 –Weeping May Endure For A Night, But Joy Comes In The Morning

Bula (Hello) my brothers and sisters :) What have you all been up to? I heard about the bombing in Boston and the earthquake in China. I was sooo shocked! All of us in the base came together and prayed for the lives affected. God is in control, we are living in the last days and Jesus can come back at any time. I want to urge you to give your lives to God if you haven’t already done so and if you have I want to challenge you to go deeper with God. Psalm 91:1 GNT says “whoever go to the LORD for safety, will remain under the protection of the Almighty”

For me, every week begins with the students and staff fasting. We come together at 5am and pray and worship Jehovah. This Monday however, I felt sooooo tired! Many things have happened this week and I have not felt like myself at all!

Pressed Down!

I have been feeling low and discouraged. The language barrier hasn’t helped my mood either especially when everyone around me is speaking in Fijian during meal times and in the dormitories. And to be honest with you all, me reminding everyone to speak in English has been getting repetitive, so I end up going off by myself. One morning, I turned to my only source of hope, my Bible. When I opened my Bible it opened on Nehemiah 8:10. I was like wow, God You are real and so faithful! I felt so encouraged and uplifted. This has been happening to me a lot. I open my Bible and it opens to a scripture that speaks to me! God speaks people He speaks!

The language barrier is such a big challenge for me. With everyone speaking in the language, I feel so alone at times. I know I’m not alone because God is with me always but my lack of companionship with others is really getting to me. Sometimes I just want to call my close friends and family back home in London but the 11 hours time difference hinders me.

Testing Times!

Another challenge I have been facing this week is learning to say no to people. I have noticed there are a lot of differences between Fiji and England. England is a individualist society; people are very independent. Whereas Fiji is a collectivist society-people tend to do things in groups. Here in Fiji everyone always borrows things from one another sometimes without asking because that is the culture here. Some of the students I am not close with have been continually asking for a lot of my things and I feel like if I say no then I’m bad person especially as I’m an international student. It’s getting annoying and frustrating for me. I feel like people are more interested in what I have than in me! God has been teaching me to have courage and speak out. If I don’t, I’m living under bondage because I’m fearing man. He has also been reminding me however that everything I have comes from Him (Deuteronomy 10:14) so I have no right to be selfish and keep things to myself. Balance and boundaries are what I need to put in place.

Joy Comes In The Morning!

In spite of the issues I have been facing this week, the lectures have been a ray of sunshine for me. This week’s topic has been ‘Hearing God’s Voice’. It’s been a breakthrough week for me. It has helped explain why my walk with God becomes so stagnant at times. The word stagnant means; no activity, no flow, sluggish, dull. I’m so quick to speak to God and tell Him things He already knows but slow to listen. If we don’t take the time to listen to God, our relationship with God won’t blossom. He is your navigator, everyday of your life was written before you were born (Psalm 139:16). Do you see now why it’s so important we take the time to listen to His voice?

This week the speaker Siria gave us an exercise to do during the lecture. We had to leave the lecture room, go outside and ask God to speak to us through His creation and then come back and share it with everyone.  I prayed to God and was led to a tree and on the tree contained flowers. God spoke. My eyes were drawn to the leaves, as you notice on the tree there are more leaves than flowers on the tree. The tree represents the rest of the world. God gave me the revelation and told me that I’m set apart for His plan and purpose. I don’t need to focus on what’s going on around me with regards to me being the only international student.  The flower looked beautiful, it was full of life and God said that it represents me! God see’s me as the apple of His eye and feels the same way about you. I was in awe of God. It felt like God was my husband, speaking sweet words and melodies to my ears hehe. I want to persuade you all to try this exercise, God will surprise you!

 

What else has been happening? Oh yes I have found an ENGLISH speaking church praise God!!! The praise and worship reminds me of my church back in London The sermon on point too, the pastor spoke about how being a Christian=Suffering.

That’s all for this week folks. Thank you for taking the time to read my blog. You are always in my prayer.


My email address is: josieagyeman@gmail.com, I would love to hear from you. 

Much love,

Miss Josie Jo

Xxx

Nature & Character of God

This week a Fijian speaker called Tanbaleto came and preached on the nature and character of God. One of first day, he felt led to speak about forgiveness. He said that forgiveness shouldn’t be an issue for us because it isn’t an issue for God. If God can forgive then so can we. If we don’t forgive others then it will hinder our spiritual walk. As human beings we will hurt one another because at the end of the day we were born sinners (Romans 3:23) it’s in our nature. He rounded off by saying whether we need to call, text, email or send a letter to the people we forgive that’s what we should do and close the chapter once and for all. And if God has laid it on our hearts to seek forgiveness from others. we should do so also.  Brace yourselves, below is what I have been learning this past week. 

DESIRING GOD

Did you know that there is a connection between loving God and knowing God? Because if we don’t know God, we can’t love Him. The greatest commandment is that we love God with all our heart, soul and mind (Matthew 22:37). The foundation of our Christian walk is for us to know God first. Sadly many Christians love for God turns cold partly because their desire to know Him ceases.

In Matthew 5:3 Jesus said blessed are the poor in Spirit for there’s the kingdom of God.  What does this mean you wonder?  Well, the poor in Spirit are those who acknowledge they are spiritually poor and weak, they are desperate to know more and more of God and are never satisfied. And in verse 6 the scriptures say blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness for they shall be filled. My question to you is how thirsty are you for God? What is satisfying you? If we are not hungry and thirsty for Him, then He will not fill us. Our hearts desire should be set on knowing God and this is not a one-time encounter at the moment you give your life to Christ but from that point until we meet with Him in heaven. King David had everything, he had the money, fame, status, women you name it yet his soul was thirsty for God.  Earthly things meant nothing to him. He even asked where he could go and worship in God’s presence, how amazing is that?!

NATURE OF GOD

The next topic we studied was the nature of God. As humans we can never be like God in nature but we can become like Him in character. God is a triune God, the Father (John 6:27), Son (John 1:1) & Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 3:16) are all God and were all present before the foundations of the earth (Genesis 1:26).

When we pray Jesus says we are to pray to the Father. Too often many Christians and churches focus on the Father and Son yet neglect the Holy Spirit. They fail to realise that the Holy Spirit is just as important and is a person that we can fellowship with. Have you asked the Holy Spirit to come into your life, because we can’t be Christians yet have nothing to do with the Holy Spirit. It is He who gives us the power to deal with things we struggle with. He is our helper and will guide us in all truth. Before things happen the Holy Spirit will reveal what is yet to come (John 8:13). The revelation of who God is is revealed through the Holy Spirit.

God is eternal and was uncreated- He has no beginning and no end (Deuteronomy 33:27). Every other false god was created by man but God was not created and nowhere in the Bible does it say when God was created!

God is omniscient- He is an all-knowing God. He knows absolutely everything about you. Psalm 139 declares that He knows everything about you, He knows your thoughts even before you think it. He knows all the answers to every situation and every problem. He is the best economist, doctor, you name it, He knows all!

God is omnipotent-He has unlimited power. Psalm 115:3 declares that God is in the heavens and He does whatever He pleases.  God is more powerful than satan, He can’t be compared to satan because satan was created but God wasn’t ( mind blowing isn’t it?!)

God is omnipresent- He is always present, He is not confined to just a church building. There is no place we can go to escape His presence (Psalm 139:7-10)

God is infinite- God is not limited by time or space (Isaiah 40:12-30)

God is immutable-He is unchanging (Malachi 3:6) , He will always be caring, merciful, loving etc.

God is a spiritual being- John 4:24 says that God is a Spirit and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth. Jesus is also a spiritual being. After He resurrected, He went and visited the disciples. The door was locked yet Jesus was able to walk through the door!

God is a personal-He is all powerful, personal God and a spiritual being. We can call on Him at any time and He will be with us (Revelation 3:20)

CHARACTER OF GOD

He is our Father-1 John 5:1 states that whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God.  We must live in the reality that we have not received the spirit og bondage again to fear but have received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry “Abba! Father!” (Romans 8:15)

God is love- His loving kindness endures forever (Psalm 107:1). You can’t do anything for God to love you more or less. You are loved by God FULL STOP! He will only give you the best when the time is right, He knows what will destroy you. Take a moment to thank God for many unanswered prayers.  The same love the Father has for Jesus, Jesus has given to each and every one of us ( John 15:9).

Definition of love- giving/thinking/doing/believing the highest good for the other person. The best gift we can give to someone else is the Gospel. Share Jesus with those around you, He is the highest gift. Because at the end of the day we all need Jesus in our lives.

LORDSHIP OF CHRIST, THE COST OF BEING A DISCIPLE

This is the topic area that challenged me the most!!!Like damnnn, this challenged my thoughts and ideas and cause me to reflect and make some decisions. At the end of the lecture, the speaker said we must make a decision as to whether or not we really want to follow Christ.

When Jesus shows up, every tongue will confess that Jesus is Lord, this is regardless of whether you are atheist, agnostic, Muslim, Hindu, Sikh, Jew you name it. Jesus is already Lord, we make the decision as to whether we want to bring ourselves under the Lordship of Christ. Jesus didn’t just come to take away our sins, He came to be Lord of all.

If anyone wants to follow Christ they must take up their cross, deny themselves and follow Him (Mark 8:34-37). Us living our lives for God means there’s no plan b. God is looking for disciples, personal follower of Christ. However in this day and age many churches are full of Christians not disciples.  I was doing some research and found that the word disciple is mentioned 259 times in the Bible but the word Christian is in the Bible only 3. That’s says a lot doesn’t it?! God is looking for disciples and not for people who profess with their mouth that they are Christians

How many of us are willing to give up our career, family, job, home and follow Jesus? Being a disciple means loving Jesus more than everything and everyone else. God has given us the free will to choose. What do you follow and obey? If you want to save your life, you will lose it.

Making Jesus Lord of our lives means;

We lose the right to have a house “If you want to be perfect, go, sell what you have, and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.” (Matthew 19:21)

We lose the right to having own way of doing things and our preferences-Are we ready to deny ourselves? Genesis 12 tells the story of Abraham, the first missionary. He was told to leave his family, people, culture and go to a land that God would show him. 

We lose the right to having a reputation. We lose the right to marriage-This was a challenging one for me, I think I made some sound effects when the speaker mentioned this lol. Making Jesus Lord means we don't have a right to have sex, kiss or even marry. We belong to God and He comes first. Marriage is a gift from God and it's God's plan for you to get married then He shall bring it to pass. Marriage shouldn't be our main focus in life, Christ should be. 

We lose the right to protection-In Acts 7:55-56 Stephen was stoned. When we give our life to Christ, we will face persecution for preaching the Gospel. The question is, will you continue to preach the Gospel even if it could cost you your life?