Can you hear when God speaks to you? Usually we are so inundated with our ‘noise’ that we drown out the voice of God. Many people wake up to the news, talk on their cell phones while commuting to work, listen to a radio while working, and then tune out to music or the sound of the television to help them fall asleep. How can we hear God speaking when He can’t find a silent moment?!
The 300 years of God’s silence between Malachi and John the Baptist must have been eerie. Imagine waiting that long to hear the voice of a friend or loved one! Imagine having to wait that long to receive revelation about your life! When God does speak, He chooses to speak in several unique ways:
Audibly. I’m not advocating any of us actually trying to listen to voices in our head! But in 1 Samuel 3, God calls out to Samuel in the middle of the night, and Samuel mistakes God’s voice for Eli’s. This happens three more times, until Eli realizes that God wants to speak to young Sammy. Samuel is instructed to wait for the voice, and then to respond with, “speak, Lord, for Your servant is listening”. In many ways, this is what Christians experience the least. Could there be a better way to hear from God?
Circumstances. In Judges 6, Gideon would prefer to trust in the circumstances then in God’s voice. If our faith depended on everything visibly working out or coming together, we would be spiritual infants! On this side of heaven, we cannot trust in our circumstances as the testing ground for hearing from God. Occasionally God will use our life situations to reveal Himself to us. Perhaps there is a more sure way to hear from God…
Other Believers. This is more than Christian ‘yes’ men. When we are living in true Christ-like community, we will be sharpening one another like iron sharpens iron. Proverbs 27:9 says that "the pleasantness of one's friend springs from his earnest counsel". Often God uses other strong believers in our lives, as multitudes of counselors, to give us biblical, godly advice that is directly from God’s mouth to our ears.
The Word. Hebrews 1:1 says that God used to speak at various times and in various ways, but in these last days the mode of communication He prefers is through His Son. John 1:14 says that the Word became flesh. Revelation 19:13 has a glimpse of Jesus and His name is “the Word of God”. God desires to speak through the Jesus, the Word. Often in our normal daily times in scripture, God will give us relevant revelation for wherever we are in our lives. Are you asking God to speak to you?
He who has ears…let Him hear!
-Pilgrim
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
Thursday, August 07, 2008
Greater Things...
“You shall see greater things than that." -John 1:50
At camp this summer we sang what is quickly becoming a global anthem for believers who live in their various cities and towns and have a desire to see God do great things through their lives. The song is called, “God of the City”, written by an Irish band called ‘Bluetree’. As they were ministering in Southeast Asia in a town known for sex trafficking, a brothel owner discovered they were musicians and asked them to play live music in his wicked establishment (he and the patrons had no idea they were playing worship songs because of the language barrier!). The band prayerfully accepted and as they simply played worship songs, the Lord gave them the song literally on the spot. Chris Tomlin heard the song and the story of how it came to be, and now all over the world Christians are singing along.
The idea of the song is that God is the God of this city, and He has greater things coming than the sin and suffering we see around us so prevalently. In Sarasota we have the benefit of the beautiful beaches, the newly developed high-end malls and mansions, over ten Starbucks and maybe soon even the Boston Red Sox will train here! But in the midst of paradise, are we aware of the despair and hurt, the shame and emptiness, the sorrow that most of the city is caught in?
I’m not going to bore you with statistics or data. Just take a survey of a few of your neighbors and you’ll agree that people are chained in darkness! But is this God’s desire: for the believers to enjoy the safety of their Christian schools, the koinonia of their Christian cliques, the avoiding of everything secular and ‘unclean’ so our compound is untouched and unaffected by the world? It works both ways, unfortunately. The sad result is that Sarasota remains untouched and unaffected by the gospel.
Imagine Sarasota’s Christian body all moving towards need and away from comfort. What would that look like? What would that involve in your own life, in your family’s life? The apostle Paul said in 1 Corinthians 9:22-23, “I have become all things to all men so that by all possible means I might save some. I do all this for the sake of the gospel, that I may share in its blessings.” Could you or I agree with this statement, or would we be lying to ourselves? Paul was willing to reach as many people as possible, though even he acknowledged that only some would be saved. He made every decision for the sake of the gospel, not the comfort of his soul.
God indeed desires to do greater things in Sarasota. He’s calling you and me to make disciples, even on our street. He’s drawing men and women to Himself from every race, economic status, and social background. He wants us to make the most of every opportunity we’ve been given, even if it involves suffering. He wants us to dream big ideas and set lofty goals and pray unthinkable prayers and weep and mourn for those who don’t yet know His Son. Do you want to see greater things done here in this city? It begins with you and me, and it begins today.
-Pilgrim
At camp this summer we sang what is quickly becoming a global anthem for believers who live in their various cities and towns and have a desire to see God do great things through their lives. The song is called, “God of the City”, written by an Irish band called ‘Bluetree’. As they were ministering in Southeast Asia in a town known for sex trafficking, a brothel owner discovered they were musicians and asked them to play live music in his wicked establishment (he and the patrons had no idea they were playing worship songs because of the language barrier!). The band prayerfully accepted and as they simply played worship songs, the Lord gave them the song literally on the spot. Chris Tomlin heard the song and the story of how it came to be, and now all over the world Christians are singing along.
The idea of the song is that God is the God of this city, and He has greater things coming than the sin and suffering we see around us so prevalently. In Sarasota we have the benefit of the beautiful beaches, the newly developed high-end malls and mansions, over ten Starbucks and maybe soon even the Boston Red Sox will train here! But in the midst of paradise, are we aware of the despair and hurt, the shame and emptiness, the sorrow that most of the city is caught in?
I’m not going to bore you with statistics or data. Just take a survey of a few of your neighbors and you’ll agree that people are chained in darkness! But is this God’s desire: for the believers to enjoy the safety of their Christian schools, the koinonia of their Christian cliques, the avoiding of everything secular and ‘unclean’ so our compound is untouched and unaffected by the world? It works both ways, unfortunately. The sad result is that Sarasota remains untouched and unaffected by the gospel.
Imagine Sarasota’s Christian body all moving towards need and away from comfort. What would that look like? What would that involve in your own life, in your family’s life? The apostle Paul said in 1 Corinthians 9:22-23, “I have become all things to all men so that by all possible means I might save some. I do all this for the sake of the gospel, that I may share in its blessings.” Could you or I agree with this statement, or would we be lying to ourselves? Paul was willing to reach as many people as possible, though even he acknowledged that only some would be saved. He made every decision for the sake of the gospel, not the comfort of his soul.
God indeed desires to do greater things in Sarasota. He’s calling you and me to make disciples, even on our street. He’s drawing men and women to Himself from every race, economic status, and social background. He wants us to make the most of every opportunity we’ve been given, even if it involves suffering. He wants us to dream big ideas and set lofty goals and pray unthinkable prayers and weep and mourn for those who don’t yet know His Son. Do you want to see greater things done here in this city? It begins with you and me, and it begins today.
-Pilgrim
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