One of the biggest benefits of resting is hearing God better and understanding His will, instead of just going through the motions. Life is so hectic and everything is screaming for our attention, somehow we have to differentiate between our desires, the world’s and God’s in order to reflect God.
Every time you turn around your heart has a new dream. We live in one of the most self-centered societies of all time; we are only in luv with ourselves. The deprivation of man is clearer than ever, it’s always only you that matters.
For 2000 years the Bible has been telling us man’s heart is wicked beyond our understanding (Jeremiah 17:9.) Not everything in our heart is from God; ask Eve, ask Cain—better yet ask the families of the victims in El Paso or Dayton Ohio, this world is out of control.
The shooters chose to listen to the voices of the enemy instead of the voice of sanity, the voice of righteousness, the voice of goodness—the voice of God. That’s what happens when we listen to the wrong voice, we lose our sense of direction.
As I look around at the world, whether on the news or in my community, I see a society that is more focused on the feel-good, do whatever you want voice. Go a hundred miles an hour until you reach where you want to be, we’re addicted to our sin.
The world believes that God’s dead. But, if we slow down and listen, we just might hear how much God really loves us in a whisper, that’s where hope finds me.
whispers?
A whisper is more than just talking softly; it’s speaking that can only be heard by people who are near. Whispers are a form of focused communication to specific individuals.
When I was growing up my friends and I played the telephone game and whispered what we wanted someone far away to hear. What made it so fun was how the messages changed from person to another.
The beauty of God whispers is they are undeniable, but it requires us to get closer to Him. For me, it is rarely soft. Perhaps, I’m just hardheaded—it seems like God is screaming at me.
More often than not God will wake me early in the morning. You see, the problem isn’t really if God still talks or not, the problem is we’re not listening anymore.
Mainly because we are not hearing what we want, but this is nothing new. Our sinful nature has always caused us to walk away from God (Isaiah 53:6.) This is why in the Old Testament; God was constantly sending prophets to the people. They still wouldn’t listen, so our God came to us through Jesus.
Since I’ve already blogged about the difference between true prophets and false prophets, I’ll just share two reminders—a prophet’s job isn’t to make people happy and a prophet is never wrong.
Likewise, God’s word is never wrong; that’s why it’s one of the primary ways God speaks to people. Yes, God is always talking, unfortunately so are we. If we stop praying, gimme gimme perhaps we would be able to hear.
This is a reason why I enjoy being outside so much; it’s easier to hear God in the peace and quiet. When there are no televisions, music players, cellphones, traffic, etc. you’ll hear Him and maybe even feel Him.
Even when I was in college and had walked away from God, I remember going to the beach and hearing God on the evening breeze or in the crashing waves of the oceans and even in the deafening sounds of a thunderstorm. God is always trying to get our attention, just stop doing what you want and listen. His word is the best place to look when looking for words.
My favorite place to get away and be with God is at a nearby park behind a local church. I like taking breaks from my hectic day to just go walk, most of the time I talk—but the great times are when I just look around and listen, I can hear Him in the sound of crickets and frogs. No, God’s not dead, He’ll never leave us.
It’s not uncommon for me to be walking late at night, instead of being scared or feeling alone, I get surrounded in God’s presence when I look up into the night sky at all of the stars (Job 9:7.) All of His promises come to mind and I remember life really isn’t about what I want. Living in God’s light will terrify the dark.
Want?
Instead of having a sound theology, the church has turned to a self-centered “me”-ology (1 Tim. 6:5.) This is why we have so many pastors, so-called prophets and so-called teachers spending more time talking about how loved and “blessed” we are. We won’t fare well with hearing sweet-toothed messages.
Although God’s love is undeniable, His detest for selfhishness is as well. There is no disconnect between the two doctrines—God is a loving God, but He is also a righteous and just judge. This means He won’t always say or do what we want.
Somehow, we need to get our priorities and lives realigned with the will of God, instead of pursuing what we want, let’s try listening to what God wants (2 Tim 4:3.) This is the essence of sound theology, “The study of God and of God's relation to the world.” We should have no problem understanding this as long as we listen for the God whispers.
Every time you turn around your heart has a new dream. We live in one of the most self-centered societies of all time; we are only in luv with ourselves. The deprivation of man is clearer than ever, it’s always only you that matters.
For 2000 years the Bible has been telling us man’s heart is wicked beyond our understanding (Jeremiah 17:9.) Not everything in our heart is from God; ask Eve, ask Cain—better yet ask the families of the victims in El Paso or Dayton Ohio, this world is out of control.
The shooters chose to listen to the voices of the enemy instead of the voice of sanity, the voice of righteousness, the voice of goodness—the voice of God. That’s what happens when we listen to the wrong voice, we lose our sense of direction.
As I look around at the world, whether on the news or in my community, I see a society that is more focused on the feel-good, do whatever you want voice. Go a hundred miles an hour until you reach where you want to be, we’re addicted to our sin.
The world believes that God’s dead. But, if we slow down and listen, we just might hear how much God really loves us in a whisper, that’s where hope finds me.
whispers?
A whisper is more than just talking softly; it’s speaking that can only be heard by people who are near. Whispers are a form of focused communication to specific individuals.
When I was growing up my friends and I played the telephone game and whispered what we wanted someone far away to hear. What made it so fun was how the messages changed from person to another.
The beauty of God whispers is they are undeniable, but it requires us to get closer to Him. For me, it is rarely soft. Perhaps, I’m just hardheaded—it seems like God is screaming at me.
More often than not God will wake me early in the morning. You see, the problem isn’t really if God still talks or not, the problem is we’re not listening anymore.
Mainly because we are not hearing what we want, but this is nothing new. Our sinful nature has always caused us to walk away from God (Isaiah 53:6.) This is why in the Old Testament; God was constantly sending prophets to the people. They still wouldn’t listen, so our God came to us through Jesus.
Since I’ve already blogged about the difference between true prophets and false prophets, I’ll just share two reminders—a prophet’s job isn’t to make people happy and a prophet is never wrong.
Likewise, God’s word is never wrong; that’s why it’s one of the primary ways God speaks to people. Yes, God is always talking, unfortunately so are we. If we stop praying, gimme gimme perhaps we would be able to hear.
This is a reason why I enjoy being outside so much; it’s easier to hear God in the peace and quiet. When there are no televisions, music players, cellphones, traffic, etc. you’ll hear Him and maybe even feel Him.
Even when I was in college and had walked away from God, I remember going to the beach and hearing God on the evening breeze or in the crashing waves of the oceans and even in the deafening sounds of a thunderstorm. God is always trying to get our attention, just stop doing what you want and listen. His word is the best place to look when looking for words.
My favorite place to get away and be with God is at a nearby park behind a local church. I like taking breaks from my hectic day to just go walk, most of the time I talk—but the great times are when I just look around and listen, I can hear Him in the sound of crickets and frogs. No, God’s not dead, He’ll never leave us.
It’s not uncommon for me to be walking late at night, instead of being scared or feeling alone, I get surrounded in God’s presence when I look up into the night sky at all of the stars (Job 9:7.) All of His promises come to mind and I remember life really isn’t about what I want. Living in God’s light will terrify the dark.
Want?
Instead of having a sound theology, the church has turned to a self-centered “me”-ology (1 Tim. 6:5.) This is why we have so many pastors, so-called prophets and so-called teachers spending more time talking about how loved and “blessed” we are. We won’t fare well with hearing sweet-toothed messages.
Although God’s love is undeniable, His detest for selfhishness is as well. There is no disconnect between the two doctrines—God is a loving God, but He is also a righteous and just judge. This means He won’t always say or do what we want.
Somehow, we need to get our priorities and lives realigned with the will of God, instead of pursuing what we want, let’s try listening to what God wants (2 Tim 4:3.) This is the essence of sound theology, “The study of God and of God's relation to the world.” We should have no problem understanding this as long as we listen for the God whispers.
