WHAT IS YOUR WILL? HOW AM I TO LIVE? WHAT DO YOU WANT ME TO DO?
IS GOD SPEAKING TO ME ?
I have heard many messages on Hearing The Voice Of God. Now the ones I have listened to, including my pastors, I am in complete agreement. I have taken some time to just spend more time with Jesus that the Holy Spirit may reveal truth, insight and bring scriptures and sound teaching to my remembrance.
John 10:27 My sheep hear My voice and follow Me.
Before that Jesus explains the role of the shepherd and how the sheep recognize the shepherd's voice and will not follow a stranger's voice but only His voice the one they recognize. Much like our pets in our homes today, our dogs and cats know our voice and respond to our voice. Reading this in the gospel of John I ask myself "Then how can a believer in Christ be deceived and find themselves following the counterfeit?" Do I have an answer for that question, no I don't. All I know is that it happens, were they in a true relationship with Jesus as His follower or just a religious experience, I have no answer for that either. None of us can know the heart of another all we can know are the actions. But I got sidetracked thinking about knowing the voice of our Good Shepherd. So let's move forward.
We must understand that in God's written (Logos) word, God has already told us what His will for our lives is. Below are just a small amount of scriptures among many that reveal God's will for our lives.
EXAMPLES: These are only a few of many, many more
1. He has already told us "if we see a brother or sister with a need and we have the means we are to help them" 1John 3:17, James 2;14-16
2. We are to love one another 1 John 4:7-21
3. We are to be generous 2 Corinthians 8:2-5
4. We are to love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul, spirit, and mind and we are to love our neighbor as ourselves Matthew 22:37-39
5. We are to forgive others Matthew 6:14
6. We are to have no other gods before Him Exodus 20:30, Romans 1:20-23
7. We are to live by faith Romans 1:16-17, Ephesians 2:4-10
8. We are to be a praying people, Luke 18:1, 1 Thessalonians 5:17, 1 Timothy 2:8, James 5:16
9. We are to surrender our will, our wants and our ways to Jesus. We do this by picking up our cross daily and following Jesus (this is us crucifying our flesh). Matthew 10:37-38, Mark 8:34-35
10. He desires for all to be saved and come to repentance 2 Peter 3:9
11. We are told to abide in Him, bear much fruit (His fruit) that will glorify God the Father. John chapter 15
12. We are to be His witnesses and we are to make disciples Matthew 28:19-20, Mark 16:15-16, Acts 1:8
13. We are to believe in His Son. John 14:1, Acts 16;31
THE WORD OF GOD WARNS US OF BEING DECEIVED: This also may appear as a warning but it is His will, that we do not allow ourselves to be deceived by the counterfeit.
We are warned about false prophets, false teachers, false apostles who come carrying a counterfeit doctrine, a strange fire, a cult practice. Anyone coming saying that Jesus Christ is not the Son of God, not Deity in the flesh, denying who He is and what He has done, is a false doctrine and of the antichrist.
2 Corinthians 11:1-15, 2 Timothy 3:5-6, Galatians 1:6-9, 2 John 1:8-11, 2 Corinthians 6:14-18
I want to say something about false prophets, those who speak generic prophecies into your life, example in 30 days you will receive (a certain amount of money), if you do whatever they require this is a false prophet. A true prophet not only foretells coming judgments, but leads one to true repentance. In 1 Corinthians 12 it speaks of the gifts of the Spirit, there is one gift called "a word of knowledge", when God is dealing with us about something in our lives, He may choose to send someone across our path that will speak a right now word to us, as my pastor once said, when they speak that word and it is a true word of knowledge you will already identify with what is said because God is already speaking to you privately about this. Remember this, there is always a counterfeit sent by Satan to copy the truth, it has just enough truth to draw us in and yet it is a lie from the pit of Hell. Below will begin to show us how we can discern what spirit is behind the person speaking to us.
How can we know the will of God and His purpose for our lives, read His word it is His word that renews our minds as we do this daily. Romans 12:1-2, it is His word that guides our steps, Psalm 119:105. We can never identify error from truth as well as know what the will of our Abba is if we neglect reading His word.
His written word is His Logos word, and that still small voice He speaks into us is His Rehma word.
We have a lot of voices fighting for our attention going on in our mind, our carnal/fleshly voice that reasons things out, relives pain and problems, and insults and offenses over and over again, as found in Romans chapter 7. We have the darts of our enemy Satan coming against us in our minds, accusing, condemning, arousing. I have heard it said that we cannot stop the darts from coming, but we can rebuke those ungodly lies. When we allow ourselves to dwell on these lies it becomes as a fiery dart or adding mortar between bricks that will imprison us in a self made prison Ephesians 6:16. Then there is the voice of the world, demanding us to conform to their value system 1 John 2:15-17. And in all that mess and clutter there will come that voice of God to speak into us. We must understand this isn't an audible voice, but it speaks so clearly, when we tune out all the thoughts cluttering our minds and in our prayer time, in our time of reading His word, when we wait and purposefully listen, He will speak. Know this His Rehma word to us will never go against His written word and He will lead us to scripture to confirm His word.
TESTIMONY
Me personally I don't always hear Him speak a Rehma word daily, but I know He is with me. When I wake up I invite Him into my day and to guide my day, asking for wisdom as I go about the day. I have conversations all during the day, along with that time of intimacy and often He will speak a word with an assignment for me to do. There are times when I may be struggling to learn what He desires for me and in the early morning hours I will hear Him speak and give me scripture to read. When that happens I sit up read and write down both the scripture and the word. Then there are times that I am studying something and because I love to write and share the goodness of God, I will wake up in the early morning hours with all I was desiring to say just flowing through my mind. And at times, often, my Lord chastises me and I welcome that, because the word says those He loves He will chastise. Just like a father, out of their love for their child will correct them when they see them heading into danger.
We are told in the word that we are to be the salt and the light in this world. This is quiet simple; the words we speak are the salt, they are to be seasoned with truth, love, grace and mercy, or it will be words of our flesh, the world and a tool to tear down and destroy from the devil. We are to be light, a reflection of the light of Christ within us, this light will reveal who we are in Christ, it will be a light or a beacon that will lead the lost to Jesus Christ the Son of God, our Redeemer, our Savior. Our words and the light shining through us will draw people to us asking "You are different, how is that". At this point we simply share how by God's grace and goodness we are not who we used to be. Never find yourself in a situation where you enter into an argument over scripture. Just simply say "Let me tell you about my Jesus".
The gospel message is simple it is about the virgin birth of Jesus Christ, His sinless life, His death, and His resurrection. If Jesus Christ was not Deity there would be no salvation, if He had not led a sinless life there would be no salvation, if Jesus had not bore our sins and died on the cross for us taking God's judgement for sin on His own body, there would be no salvation, if there had been no resurrection then there would be no salvation and there would be no hope for mankind. JESUS CHRIST is not just a man but He is the Son of God, He is God in the flesh, there is a Trinity, a Godhead, God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit, these three are distinct yet one. If anyone comes bringing another Jesus, another doctrine other than what the word of God teaches then do not receive them.
Let me just add this small bit. There are times in our lives we have to make a decision; jobs, home, marriage etc. And we seek God for His guidance, His wisdom, His help in helping us and we need to. I go back to that scripture in
Proverbs 3:5-6 Trust in the LORD with all your heart , and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will make straight your paths.
God will give us His peace and we just take one step at a time in faith. I remember many years ago I had come to a place where I needed to sale my home. Seeking God in what I needed to do and where I needed to buy a smaller place. I received a Rehma word from God " I will be with you wherever you go"! And that word is confirmed in scripture in Deuteronomy 28:1-14 and Hebrews 13:5
In closing we know that Jesus could return at any time and it is written there will be a great falling away (an apostasy) from the church and from the truth of God's word, which we are witnessing. Oh but there will be a great outpouring that will begin with a revival of God's people that we will come back to our first love and be the church we were intended to be, with this homes will be changed, the wayward will come home, we will see salvation burst forth. And the Glory of God will be manifested. We are living in exciting days. Amen
