God likes to make Himself known amongst Man. He does this by talking to us. He has a personality we can get to know, if we listen. It was His design that we be in conversation with our God and grow into His likeness. That is why He sent Jesus.
Jesus pointed the way to the Father. He told us that He was the gate, the door to Him. As a Shepherd, Jesus said that we, His sheep, would know His voice (Jn 10:1-5). He is the link between our humanness and our ability to be God-like. It all begins with hearing.

Over many years I have been privileged to hear the Lord speaking. It is not because I am special, but because He desires for us to commune with Him. We are His desire. I feel led to share the lessons learned about hearing God’s voice. In our ideas we believe that God is wonderful. How much more would those ideas change us if we knew Him. This is His design, for just as the water covers the seas, so will the knowledge of the glory of the Lord cover the earth (Hab 2:14).

Lesson 1: Make ourselves available for the Relationship of a Lifetime

“Without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to Him must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who earnestly seek Him.” (Heb 11:6). There is reward in seeking God. When we seek Him, we show our desire for Him. The prophet Isaiah says that he seeks God early in the morning (Is 26:9, KJV). When we make ourselves available for conversation with God before the busyness of the day, it shows that He is more important. Soon enough our mind will fill up with all our day will contain! In getting to know someone we love, we listen to them. Our own thoughts become still and we open our ears and our heart to that person we care about. This is the beginning of our relationship with God; stillness. Peter writes that a bride’s adornment should be the “unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit,”(1 Pet 3:4), and we are the bride of Christ. The Lord gave me suggestions on how to still my own thoughts so I could “hear” Him when I first began my relationship with Him, and I still practice them. They are

1. Do not speak when God is speaking. He already knows what is in my heart. But I do not know what is in His. - After practicing this for a while, a comfort comes into our hearts, knowing that we are known, and waiting on the One who loves us.

2. Do not have questions waiting while He is speaking. Be sure He is done speaking before you ask Him a question. - Questions preoccupy the mind and distract us from what is on God’s heart. David prayed that God would “Unite my heart” (Ps 86:11). He knew the importance of coming to God in all sincerity. Though God does not object to answering our questions, we are developing a relationship with Him and should give Him our undivided attention and desire.

3. Do not have a motive that will interfere or manipulate His word. - If we will trust Him to get back to us on what we want, then we find out what is on His mind first. My experience has been that the Lord often interrupts my thoughts throughout the day, asking me about those thoughts I first set aside in order to listen to Him. He shows me honor, caring about my concerns. Yet His ministry to me comes after I have sat quietly before Him, desiring the contents of His heart first. If I have only wanted to talk about a certain concern with God, my heart leads me into my own opinions and colors what I “hear”. Then the Word of God in me becomes a mixture, no longer pure.

After I learned to quiet my own thoughts, the Lord began to teach me about having a relationship with Him. Though we believe He will reward us when we seek Him, no relationship would last very long if we only sought our own benefit from it. He shared the following with me so that I could grasp that He is a personality, or a Person, first. He is a giver second. In seeking Him I was asked to do the following;

1. Do not seek to be ministered to first. - Jesus told a parable which we read in Luke 17:7-10. It tells of the preference of the master, whose servant was to wait on Him first and then himself second. God desires that we give to Him the very love He put in our hearts, without worrying about getting love back from Him. By giving to Him first we go from being a seeker of God to being a giver, like God. We give Him ministry, and are becoming like Him by doing so.

2. Do not seek to be affirmed; affirm God. - It takes agreement with what is written about God and what He speaks to us in order to affirm God. We read several passages that state God is good and holy. In a relationship we affirm the good we believe about the other person. That establishes goodness in our heart towards that person. In our relationship with God we establish our goodness by affirming Him.

3. Let praise and thanksgiving come from your heart (Ps 100:4). - Let our affirmation of God be verbal, proclaiming and singing His praise. When our ears hear our praise then our hearts will grow in faith.

4. Let faith mix with God’s words (Heb 4:2). Either we believe God speaks to us, or we do not. We will have the reward of a relationship with God if we mix His words with faith. God has always required that Man have faith in what He was saying. It is a miserable experience to try to have a relationship with someone when we doubt what they are saying to us. To doubt God will cause us to eventually turn away from having an intimate relationship with Him. But faith leads us into a rewarding relationship with Him. Jeremiah wrote “let him who boasts boast about this; that he understands and knows Me, that I am the Lord, who exercises kindness, justice and righteousness on earth, for in these I delight,” (Jer 9:24). We can have faith to know God, not just know about God. Let us determine today to have faith in God, and in what He personally says to us. Amen.

open the eyes of our hearts

There is a popular Christian song called “Open the Eyes of My Heart” that many of us sing during worship. The content was inspired by Paul’s letter to the Ephesians, where he prays that “the eyes of your heart may be enlightened . . . “ (Eph 1:18). Though we do not have physical eyes in our heart, we do have a way of seeing spiritually. This allows us to know, understand, and discern things so that we have a right perspective.

One day I was reminded of having the right perspective when the Holy Spirit spoke to me about physical sight. I recalled when my husband Dave and I were engaged. We walked a lot, talking about our ideals for the marriage we would share. I was in nursing school and had a part time job at that time. Sharing the household chores came up, and was agreed upon.

Once we got married the rhythm of our lives picked up. Each minute was full with little time to organize much outside the routine of my school work and house work. One chore that didn’t get much attention was the cleaning of our shower. After several months of trying to play catch-up with the shower I finally brought myself to ask my new husband if he ever noticed that the shower was dirty. “No,” he said. Though he could logically come to the conclusion it would someday need cleaning, for Dave, that day hadn’t come yet.

In my quiet time this rose to the surface as “Why can’t he see the shower is dirty, Lord?” Then, my husband’s bespeckled face appeared in my mind. My attention was drawn to his glasses, and the Lord said, “He can’t see, Helen.” My husband is legally blind without his glasses, and since he doesn’t wear glasses in the shower, he couldn’t see the build-up of grime. Though Dave was technically blind without his glasses, I had been spiritually blind as to why he did not help by scrubbing the shower. God had to “open the eyes of my heart.”

The topic of “seeing” has been an important one in Dave and my conversations over the years. But it is the spiritual seeing that is the prize in our walk with each other, and with Jesus. Though we both wear glasses now (Dave is near-sighted and I am far-sighted) it is the ability to perceive God’s heart and the conditions around us which enable us to remove the grime from our lives. Then we can establish His kingdom in and around us.

When we went to a mortgage broker a few years ago to talk about the terms of purchasing our home, the Lord reminded me to take my reading glasses. I can’t read the fine print without them! Yet knowing what is written, large and small print, is what we make our final decision on concerning the terms of the loan. So, in our Kingdom walk, we need our spiritual glasses on. It is important to “see” the conditions to which we are agreeing as not everything may be as it appears. Just as Dave was not scrubbing the shower because he couldn’t see the dirt, I might not “see” the grime of unforgiveness or offense, because I do not have my spiritual glasses on. This will affect important decisions I make, and relationships as well.

As in marriage, in order for two people to walk as one it is necessary for them to communicate with each other. So in our union with the Lord our conversation brings us the eyes to “see” things as they really are. When the Lord reminded me that my husband needed glasses to see the grime in the shower, then I had the spiritual eyes to see, understand, and discern the situation. Our Lord has the eyes to see things as they really are, and is happy to share when we have a conversation with Him.

trust

“Though He slay me, yet will I trust in Him,” (Job 13:15). Job had many trials when he uttered this phrase. He put his trust in God, no matter what the outcome. Job trusted God to not only bring good into his life, but Job trusted God with his life itself. He loved God more than the substance and appearance of his life.

In reading the account of Job’s life we learn that Job had an enemy that sought to turn him against God. We also have trials, and an enemy who tries to turn us against God. His tactics are seen as slander of God, and accusing the brethren, even ourselves. Because of the sacrifice of Jesus we can overcome our enemy, satan. We read about this in the book of Revelation; “They overcame (satan) by the blood of the Lamb, and by the Word of their testimony; they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death,” (Rev 12:11). Jesus’ blood covers the sin satan likes to accuse us with. The testimony of what Jesus has done in our lives is powerful weapon against our enemy’s intimidation. But it is the third part of this verse I would like to bring forward in this lesson as it also indicates that we should love God more than the substance and appearance of our life. I do not believe this part is only about becoming a martyr for Christ but the quality our lives take on as we love God more than our lives; so much that even those things we love about our lives are surrendered to Him. We will not turn away from serving God because other things come into our lives; things we deem as not good. It takes trust to follow a God who has sovereignty over what we love.

Until we trust God with our lives, we will not overcome our enemy. Our lack of trust will cause us to covet and protect those things and people we want in our lives. At some point, we will begin to trust ourselves more than we trust God. As trials tumble into the lives of those around us, and then into our own lives, we may begin to distrust God. Though we once had believed that God had a good plan for our lives, Satan will try to convince us that God’s plans are to do one crummy thing after another with our lives. This lack of trust will erode our relationship with God and eventually we will take things into our own hands. At this point we find ourselves mistrusting God.

If we could listen to the spirit realm during our trials we might hear our enemy whispering “curse God and die.” This is what Job’s wife spoke to him after he had suffered great loses and was covered with sores (Job 2:9). Satan wants us to curse God. He wants to put a wedge in our relationship with a God so loving that all His plans for us are good; a God who loves us so much that He walks through each trial with us personally. Satan wants our relationship with God to shrivel up and die. Our enemy will portray God as evil in order to get us to listen to him. This was his method in the Garden of Eden when the serpent spoke with Eve. He insinuated that God had withheld valuable knowledge about the tree of knowledge of good and evil. Instead of the result being death, the serpent told her that the outcome of eating its fruit would be that “Your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil,” (Gen 3:4-5). Saying this caused God to appear untrustworthy. Had Eve believed God was good and to be trusted, even though she did not understand His command, she would have withstood the serpent’s suggestion to eat the forbidden fruit. But unlike Job, Eve believed the serpent and brought the curse of death upon all Mankind.

In our lives we may find reasons not to trust God. A man that has a good job may not want to leave his source of income should the Lord call him to another place. A woman who serves her family may not want to seek employment should her husband lose his job. However, of whatever a man is overcome, the same is his master (2 Pet 2:19b). If we love people and things so much that we cannot entrust them to God, we will hold onto them tight and they will become our master. What we hold on tight to is what overcomes us. Yet if we yield the content of our lives to God, then we can call Him Lord.

Can we trust One whose ways are a mystery, who has many secrets from us? Can we lay the life we love and all it contains at His feet, trusting that what He does with our lives will be good? It is only when God looks untrustworthy that we find ourselves at a point of making a choice between serving Him, or serving our own desires. Yet the reward of knowing Him will only come to us when we build a relationship on the foundation of trust with Him. I’d like to encourage you to trust that God is good, and His plans for you are founded in love and in His righteousness. Amen.

Encouragement, strength, and edification

This morning the Lord woke me up, saying that “sometimes men limit me in what I would say to them because they require that I make them feel good.” He went on to talk about the problems of Mankind, and how willing He is to talk to them about solutions to those problems. He often sends His counsel in the form of prophecy, yet some expect the word of prophecy to take the sting of problems out of their life. And herein lies the problem; wisdom and counsel from God is not based on how it will make us feel, but on accomplishing victory and establishing God’s kingdom in our lives.

The word of God will point out the problem, and bring the solution. I remember reading about Nehemiah and the work he led the Jews to do, rebuilding the wall around Jerusalem. The destruction of the wall had become a problem of great proportion for it let the enemies of God’s people gain access to their lives. The Lord sent Nehemiah to rebuild the walls. His first words to the people pointed out their problem, and the solution. “You see the trouble we are in: Jerusalem lies in ruins, and its gates have been burned with fire. Come, let us rebuild the wall of Jerusalem, and we will no longer be in disgrace.” (Neh 2:17). The people had a lot of hard work in front of them! If they had expected God’s word to bring instant relief from their enemies, they would not have felt encouraged by God’s word. The encouraging, edification, and strengthening of prophecy (1 Cor 14:3) is not found in a feeling, but is the result of a life lived by doing what the Lord has sent His word to accomplish. In this instance, it was building a wall of protection to keep their enemies out.

As we implement God’s word in our lives, there comes discouragement from the very enemy we seek to be protected from. If we look at Nehemiah’s work with the Jews we see that the enemy came in the form of Sanballat, who accused the work of God as being born of rebellion. He disheartened God’s people and said “Can you bring the stones back to life from those heaps of rubble – burned as they are?” (Neh 4:2). The stones from the wall around Jerusalem had been torn down and burned because God had taken His protection away from them due to their past sin. What Sanballat was saying was “Can you expect to have God’s protection (the wall restored) when you have sinned so much?” Our enemy likes to jab us with reminders of our past sins and failures. We become disheartened if we believe that there is no forgiveness for our past sins, and no restoration that will bring us to future victory. It becomes a temptation to accept the rubble as a reason to exclude ourselves from the very work that would bring us relief from our enemy, and it is the enemy himself that offers relief from harassing us if only we stop doing the work for which God’s word was sent.

God’s word is sent to bring us deliverance from our enemy, and restoration to God. Nehemiah strengthened the Jews who had become disheartened, and the work on the wall resumed. Each time the enemy accused and harassed them, Nehemiah encouraged and strengthened them. He had the workers guard the wall and the guards work. Nehemiah involved everyone in the work until it was finally completed after 52 days. The labor required to bring restoration by rebuilding the wall was intense, and the accusations from the enemy were relentless. But Nehemiah would not waver. His heart was set on accomplishing God’s plan, and he was given wisdom on how to strengthen those who were physically, mentally, and emotionally weary.

In reading the book of Nehemiah we find that the protection of the wall around Jerusalem began a restoration process in the people. God’s kingdom was re-established amongst them as Nehemiah continued ministering God’s word to them. Not only did the enemies of God’s people leave them alone, but they actually became afraid of them, for they knew that the work had been done with the help of God (Neh 6:16). The encouragement of God’s words to His people was a lasting one, and could not be defeated by their enemy. The edification of seeing God counsel and co-labor with them could not be erased. The strength accomplished by enduring through 52 days of labor and accusations, weariness and fear, became a strong resolution to serve God with all their hearts. This is the fruit of the Word of God; encouragement, edification and strength. For the rebuilders of the wall it was not a good feeling they had when Nehemiah came to speak to them. It was the fruit of accomplishing the counsel God sent to them. Let us open our hearts to God’s word for us afresh, for He is ever seeking to help us with the problems of our lives and by His word will bring us to victory. Amen.

The Blood of Jesus

The Authority of the Believer, Forgiveness & the Blood

3/9/06

The authority of the believer has been questioned in the court of heavens by the accuser. He, satan, hates Man to walk in the authority Christ purchased for Man. The evidence of Man’s authority is in the shed Blood of Jesus. Therefore satan has devised teachings which cause Man to handle his own sins over and over again, as if the Blood had no power. Man’s understanding of forgiveness becomes threadbare through this process. His preparation of God’s gospel becomes like tattered shoes that cannot take him down the road when God calls him. But the truth is that, just as God has the power to put a man’s sins under the Blood, so Man has this same power of forgiveness (John 20:23). Didn’t the Pharisees challenge Jesus in their hearts, wondering why He forgave sins (Lk5:21-24)? So satan still challenges God’s people about their forgiveness of sins.

Is the Blood of Jesus weak? Why do some utter prayers of continual repentance for their past sins? Will Jesus come and find faith, that His Blood is strong enough to cover sins? Will He find any who forgive their brother’s sins and believe them forgiven and under the Blood?

Man does not see that satan hates Jesus’ authority and the authority of the believer. If Man saw into the heavens, he would know that the minute he offered an acceptable sacrifice upon the altar of forgiveness and repentance, satan would challenge his sincerity. So like Cain, he seeks to slay the holy who offer the sacrifice of righteousness. Holiness is what God’s people are when they have separated themselves from their heart of flesh and become circumcised in the Spirit, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God.

A man of faith will repent and press on. He will overcome satan’s accusations by the Blood of the Lamb (Rev 12:11). With every accusation he hears, the man of faith will offer up this answer; “It is under the Blood”. And this is the confidence then of those who stand fast in faith and believe; their petitions will be heard (1 John 5:13-15). In this is a great victory; his prayers will even cause time and life to be granted to his brethren when he prays for their sins to be forgiven (1 Jn 5:16). Though the enemy meant Jesus’ death for defeat, God meant it for good, and empowered a whole body of people to stand in His place on the earth until He comes again. The evidence is in the Blood

The Desire of Christ

As I was in the worship service today, Easter Sunday, I kept hearing how much the Lord loves His people. “They are My desire,” He said. “If they knew how much I had desired them while I waited for their lives to begin, it would change how they felt about living their lives. Being desired for a long time does that, and I have desired them from when I first knew them, before time began.”

The Lord then reminded me that Jesus “for the joy set before Him endured the cross, “ (Heb 12:2a). We are His joy. We are that trophy which Jesus suffered for, and are His new family, one-by-one as we come to walk with Him.

Sometimes we feel ashamed of ourselves, and discouraged with this present life. May I encourage you today and tell you that you are desired by Jesus. He waited a long, long time for you to live this life, and wants to walk every part of it with you. Amen