Say YES to Perseverance

So many tragedies. Watch the news for two minutes. Look around at the lives of your friends and acquaintances. Look back over your own life. No matter how hard we try we can't avoid the pain of life in a broken world. We hurt for others. We hurt for ourselves. How do we handle it? How do YOU handle it? 

Most of us are not self-aware enough to recognize our own self-protective strategies. We can look at someone else and see how they are turning to work, or addiction, or TV, or shopping, or food, or anything else to avoid their pain. Yet, we don't recognize what we do to avoid dealing with the biggest of questions: Why does God allow pain, in my life and the lives of those around me, and why doesn't He stop it when He can? 

I can't answer that question. Oh, I can give you answers. I've done it many times in the past. That is part of my self-protective strategy. If I can explain my pain, or someone else's, to some extent, if I can convince myself that in some way it makes sense, then it becomes easier for me to deal with. But it doesn't really answer the question of why God allows it. It just avoids truthfully bringing the question to God. Sometimes, no matter how hard we try to make sense of tragedy, it just doesn't make any sense at all. 

So then, how do we handle this huge question of pain and tragedy? How do we acknowledge the question we can't truly answer and still maintain our faith? How do we keep saying YES to a God who sometimes allows hurt to come to us and those around us and doesn't give us satisfactory explanations? 

I have found in my time of deepest hurt and deepest questioning that there is only one anchor that keeps me safe in the storm of confusion: The goodness of God's character. When I can't understand why God doesn't solve the problem and stop the tragic from becoming reality, I have learned to remind myself that God is still good, that His mercies are new every morning, that His faithfulness doesn't run out, that His grace is still amazing. 

Landing on the truth of God's character allows me to persevere in the tempests of tragedy that rattle my faith. I have to choose to trust His goodness and leave my questions unanswered. And then, something awe-inspiring happens. Even though my questions are still hanging in the air, they fade, and I begin to see the brightness of His presence in a new way. I become aware of Him almost tangibly, in a way that I could not have if I understood. I feel His grip on me tighten and the seas below my staggering feet become stable as stone. The storm doesn't stop, but my feet no longer stumble.

Dear One, whatever questions are staggering you today, I encourage you to persevere in the storm, spurred on by the persistent goodness of God's character.  Say YES to perseverance and you say YES to God's stabilizing presence.

Key Thought: Trust God's goodness in the tempest of tragedy. 

A Scripture to Consider: 

Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope: Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. I say to myself, “The Lord is my portion; therefore I will wait for him.” The Lord is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him; it is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord. Lamentations 3:21-26 NIV

A YES Challenge: What is your self-protective strategy in the face of tragedy? How can you trust God with your questions?

Prayer: 

Father, I hate to admit that I have unresolved questions. I thought that faith was supposed to answer all my questions, but it isn't true and I am not quite sure how to resolve that. Help me to trust in Your goodness even when my questions are unanswered. Be my anchor in the storm. Amen. 

Say YES to Questions

Saying YES to God doesn’t mean that you will never have a question. What do you do with your questions? Do you view your questions as a lack of faith? Maybe you stuff them down like that last sweater in a too-full suitcase and then hold them down while you zip them shut. Part of saying YES to God is saying yes to questions. So..what do you do with them?

If we believe that God is all-knowing and all-powerful doesn’t it stand to reason that He already knows Your questions? If God is all-knowing and all-powerful doesn’t it mean that sometimes He will know things that you and I don’t? If God knows my questions and He knows things that I don’t then why don’t I ask Him? 

Here’s the conclusion that I have come to: It takes more faith to ask God my questions than it does to stuff them down and pretend that I don’t have them. As a kid growing up it became my modus operandi to do what was expected of me so that I could stay out of trouble. Not because I loved what was right, but because I didn’t like getting yelled at or corrected. As I began to learn more about what following God looked like, what trust and faith looked like on the outside, I applied the same principle to faith. I would always give the “right” answer, but there was no depth, no real faith involved. I stuffed my questions and confusion and zipped them up with Bible quotes and positive words that weren’t the true confessions of my heart. 

God’s continual work in me is to take what I know to be true and plant it deep into my experience. That happens most effectively when I am in the midst of a time full of questions. In times like that there is really only one thing to do: Ask God my questions and hold to what I know is true based on His unchanging Word. Sometimes, He answers my questions. Sometimes He doesn’t. But I’ve realized that asking my questions of God is often a greater expression of trust. Trust involves unknowing. It involves a hope, an expectation that my concerns, my fragile emotions, my future, will be treated with love and respect. 

When I give God my unknowing, my questions, I have realized that I am giving Him my YES. "YES, Lord, I believe that You really do love me. YES, Lord, I believe that You will do what is best. YES, Lord, I believe that Your timing will be perfect. YES, Lord, You are my God.”

Key Thought: When I give God my questions, I am giving Him my YES.

A Scripture to consider: 

I wait for the Lord, my whole being waits, and in his word I put my hope. Psalms 130:5

A YES Challenge: Have you been stuffing some questions? Take a step of faith and ask God about them.

Prayer: 

Lord, sometimes life is so confusing and frustrating. There are so many things I can’t control and I don’t understand. Help me to bring my questions to You, knowing that You already have the answers and will reveal them to me at the right time and in the right way. I will choose to trust that You will receive my questions with love. Amen. 

Commitment to the Calling: Called to Be Like Christ

Whatever else God has called us to do and to be it is all summed up in this: As believers we are called to be like Christ. But what does that look like and how do we do it? Are we called to speak with authority over demons because He has given us authority? Well, yes, but is that where you live? Are we called to be like Christ in the working of miracles? Well, yes, but do we make miracles happen? Are we called to be like Christ in a life of self-sacrifice. Well, yes, but what does my cross look like? 

A good guideline for being like Christ is the sketch of Christ-like character called the "fruit of the Spirit". Not "fruits", but 'fruit." The "fruit of" a person's labor is the product of their work. If the Holy Spirit is at work in you and me, then there will be a product. The fruit of the Spirit is the evidence of the Holy Spirit at work in a person's life, in my life and yours.  The Spirit of Christ. 

So, here is a reminder of what that fruit, the evidence, that product of the Spirit's work, will be: Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness and self-control. (Galatians 5:22-23) I know. You've heard it all before and there is just some of that fruit you and I aren't very good at. True, but God doesn't ask us to be good at it. He hasn't called us to make it happen. The truth is we can't make any of that fruit happen in us. I am not trying to be a downer here! There really is encouragement in that! God hasn't asked us to make it happen because it's the Holy Spirit's job to make it happen. Our job is to recognize our need for Him to do the work an then begin to cooperate with Him so that He can do it. We start to do that by admitting to Him that we can't. 

I did not realize how impatient a person I was until I had a two-year old! This little person was determined to do things his way and not mine and I found myself frustrated and angry. I was dismayed to find out what was really inside of me. I didn't like it and didn't know how to change it. I knew that God wanted me to be patient and that I wasn't and that was all. Over a period of time, as I asked God to do the work in me and as I focused on just growing my relationship with Him, I found that I became more patient. The fruit of patience grew as a result of me seeking after God, not just seeking after patience. 

As you and I allow the Holy Spirit to produce His fruit in our lives, we will find ourselves equipped to do a better job at everything else that God has asked us to do. Every task will become sweeter. The results of our interactions with others will be more loving. We will find ourselves growing into the people we were created to be. It will take time. The Holy Spirit has begun a good work in you and me and He won't stop until the day Jesus brings us home. Praise God!

Key Thought: It's the Holy Spirit's job to make us like Christ. 

A Scripture to Consider: 

And I am certain that God, who began the good work within you, will continue his work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns. Philippians 1:6

A YES Challenge: Is there a fruit of the Holy Spirit that you know you are lacking? Ask Him to develop that aspect of Christ's character in you.

Prayer:

Father, I am aware that I am lacking in Christ-like character. I wish I could just make it happen, but I realize that it is Your work, the work of the Holy Spirit in me, that produces that fruit. Help me to cooperate with You. Do your work in me so that I can represent You well in all I do. Amen. 

Commitment to the Calling: Called FOR God

It is an overwhelmingly profound thought to realize that I have been called by God Himself and that His first calling is that I should be His. Even as I begin to absorb that truth and structure my thinking around it, I am still aware that in that calling God has a purpose for me to fulfill. A purpose, a calling that is not the definition of my significance, but an outflowing of the significance I possess because of Who has called me. He has called me to be His and to accomplish His purposes through me. I am not only called BY God, I am called FOR God. 

This whole calling business isn't really as complicated as we make it out to be. We spend so much time trying to figure out what we are supposed to do. We ask the questions:

What did God make me to do? 

What do I like?

What am I good at?

What can I make money at?

Will I be successful?

What will make me happy?

Will what God wants me to do make me happy?

What if I make the wrong choice?

We get so focused on our own self-fulfillment, our own success or failure, that we kind of miss the point. You and I haven't received a calling so that we can be fulfilled or happy, although those things are likely to follow as we answer the call. When I put my own fulfillment in the driver's seat as I consider calling, I forget that it isn't about me. God's calling is never about me. God's calling is about GOD. 

When I first had the opportunity to work as a pastor, I had a great sense of fulfillment, a sense that I was doing what I was meant to do and I enjoyed doing it. That was exciting and made going to work fun, although it was overwhelming for a while as I had a lot to learn. As time has gone on, that feeling of fulfillment in the work has an ebb and flow, like anything that becomes familiar. Yet, at my core I have an overall sense of fulfilling the call that God has placed on me, doing the work He has created me to do, doing what I am meant to do FOR Him.

The tricky thing in pursuing this calling is to remember that it IS about God. If I am obeying Him and giving Him my best, then I am successful, even if things don't turn out the way I think they should or in a way that others recognize as being a success. It can be very difficult not to evaluate my work based on how I am feeling at a particular moment or how others respond to what I am doing. I have to remind myself that my life is not my own. I am called by God FOR God. 

And, my friend, you are, too. 

Key thought: I am called BY God FOR God.

A Scripture to Consider: 

"It’s God’s gift from start to finish! We don’t play the major role. If we did, we’d probably go around bragging that we’d done the whole thing! No, we neither make nor save ourselves. God does both the making and saving. He creates each of us by Christ Jesus to join him in the work he does, the good work he has gotten ready for us to do, work we had better be doing" .Ephesians 2: 9-10 MSG

A YES Challenge: 

How do you evaluate your calling? What do you consider success?

Prayer:

Dear Father, I so often choose my direction based on how I feel. I really do want to please You, but, if I am honest, I often evaluate my options based on how they please me. Help me to remember that my primary purpose is to accomplish Your purposes, not to feel fulfilled or successful. I will trust You to fulfill me as I seek to live out the calling You have placed on me for Your success, not my own. My life is Yours. I say YES. Amen. 

 

Commitment to the Calling: Called BY God

Imagine that your phone rings and when you answer it you realize that the call is from the White House. Regardless of how you feel about the current occupant of the White House, the fact that you have received a call from the seat of our country's government would catch your attention. You would know that the call was important and you'd do whatever you could to give the call the honor it deserved based on where the call was coming from. You would follow whatever instructions were given you and you might even feel kind of important. After all, the White House is an important place. Doesn't a call from an important place or person make you important?

It does! You have received a call from an important place and an important person. You have been called by the King of Heaven Himself. He knows your name and has identified you as His own. How does that knowledge permeate your life? Does a desire to honor the One who called you motivate your decisions?

Think about it. YOU have been called, not by the White House, but by God Himself. GOD. Called YOU! Called ME! When such greatness and goodness reaches out to such smallness and weakness it's hard to fully comprehend all the implications. We tend to emphasize the "called" part and try to figure out what to do. But take a moment and think about the One you've been called BY. Think about the honor He has given you simply by calling you His. 

I'm reminded of a scene in the movie Lord of the Rings: Return of the King. Aragorn has just been crowned king and as the people bow before him he notices the Hobbits also about to bow and says, "My friends, you bow to no one." Then he, the king, bows before them, the "halflings", smaller and weaker than everyone else, and the whole crowd follows in showing their respect to the Hobbits. The honor of the crowd was not based on their merits, but on the honor of the king. Aragorn didn't ask them to do anything. He simply called them out and honored them. The only response they could give was to respect him by receiving that honor.

When the King of Heaven calls your name, He is showing you a tremendous honor. The very least response that you or I can give is to honor Him in return by living a life that reflects that calling.

Key Thought: Who I've been called BY is more important than being called.

A Scripture to Consider:  

"Therefore I, a prisoner for serving the Lord, beg you to lead a life worthy of your calling, for you have been called by God." Ephesians 4:1

A YES challenge: Think back over the choices you have made in the last few days. Are they worthy of the One who called you? What will you do differently as you keep the One you've been called by in mind?

Prayer: 

Lord, it overwhelms me to think that I have been called by You. Who am I that You would turn your attention to me and choose me as Your own?! It's more than I can wrap my mind around! Thank you for Your calling, Lord. Help me to live in a manner that is worthy of You. I submit my thoughts, words and actions to You. Correct me as needed so that my life brings glory and honor to Your name. Amen.

Commitment to the Calling: What Defines Me?

The YES journey is the grand adventure of life with God. We often think of our life with God as what we do FOR God, our devotional activity, our acts of service. But what God wants us to understand is that our life WITH Him isn't really about those things. What it IS about is knowing and living in our identity in Christ. God wants you and me to be defined by our relationship with Him rather than all the other things that we look to to tell us who we are. 

How do you find out who you are? What criteria do you use? Is it what other people say or have said about you? Is it public acclamation or your accomplishments? Is it the opportunities that you may have received or not received? Perhaps you define yourself by your good behavior or religious activity. I can say that was my story. Yet, none of those things are what God uses to define us. Ephesians 1: 11 in The Message translation of the Bible says that "It's in Christ that we find out who we are and what we are living for." As you consider what defines you ask yourself if that is the measure you are using. Are you finding out who you are in Christ?

In my early years, what defined me was my family experience. I learned that being a "good girl" brought positive feedback from my parents and teachers so that became my unconscious strategy for life. Underneath the good behavior was insecurity; a belief that I was second choice, a consolation prize; that my good behavior made me worthy of existence. At the core, I believed I was less than, not good enough; accepted, but not dearly loved. That began to change for me while in the midst of leading a women's small group.

As I led the group through the chosen material I discovered a verse that I knew God wanted to become an identity statement for me and a message for me to share. It's really only a part of a verse, but it defines who you and I are if we have said YES to God though Christ. "Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved..." Colossians 3:12 goes on to explain how we should behave because we are God's, but stop and think about that identity statement. Our identity. My identity. Your identity. You are chosen, holy and dearly loved.

God chose you, He intentionally called you His. You aren't simply a tag-along  You are holy, set apart for His divine purpose. Yes, you! And you are dearly loved, not second choice, but a cherished child. Is that how you define you? I am still working that through the fabric of my belief system, but I know that, regardless of how I might feel on any given day, that is the truth of who I am.

Chosen.

Holy.

Dearly loved.

It's the truth of who you are, too. It really is.

 

 

Key thought: I am chosen, holy and dearly loved.

A Scripture to Consider: 

It is in Christ that we find out who we are and what we are living for. Ephesians 1:11 MSG

A YES Challenge: Ask the Holy Spirit to reveal to you what you use to define you and ask Him to help you build your identity in Christ. 

 

Prayer: 

Lord, I am truly overwhelmed by the thought that my relationship with You defines who I am. I have absorbed so many false ideas and used so many other criteria to define me. I want Your love for me and who You say I am to be the core of my identity. Help me to truly know that I am chosen, holy and dearly loved by You. There is no other defining criteria that I need! Amen. 

Commitment to the Calling: Called? Me?

As a person who wants to say YES to God you know that saying yes starts with hearing God say something. YES is a response. We don't say it for no apparent reason! So what are we saying YES to? A calling? You might say, "Isn't that only for pastors and other spiritual leaders? God hasn't really called me, has He? And if He has called me, then what am I supposed to do?"

Let me affirm something. God IS calling YOU! He is, has and will continue to call you. As a person who wants to say YES to Him, you need to firmly fix that into your belief system. God IS calling YOU. Once you have that firmly fixed in place, then it's time to consider the other question: "If God HAS and IS calling me, then what am I supposed to do?"

That can be so intimidating! The truth is that every single one of us feels ill-equipped for a calling from God. If we are honest, we know that deep down inside of us there is no way that we can fulfill a task assigned by God Himself. Yikes! I'll talk more about that in another post, but right now I want to put you at ease. Whatever God may be asking you to DO is not His primary calling and His primary calling is one that anyone can answer.

First and foremost, God calls you and me to Himself. If you can think of saying YES to God as saying yes to a relationship rather than an assignment to be accomplished it becomes less intimidating. Not completely, but less.

Think back to when you first became aware of God's presence in your life. What caught your attention? Was it that God was asking you to go out and DO something? When I think back, even though I was always aware that God was present in the world, I was not aware of Him as a person who was present and active in my life. As I knelt by my bed and cried, overwhelmed by the circumstances in my life at the time, I was not aware of God asking me to DO anything. I was only aware that I could not handle life without Him and I needed Him to help me. I needed His active presence in my life. I didn't realize it at the time, but that was the real beginning of my awareness of God calling me to Himself, to a relationship with Him. Wasn't it similar for you?

Before you and I can become committed to any other calling of God we have to first become committed to making our relationship with Him the priority of our lives. What He wants from you and me, more than our activity FOR Him, is for us to simply live life WITH Him. Learning how to do that is the highest calling there is. Can you say YES to that?

Key thought: God is, has and will continue to call you to Himself.

A Scripture to Consider:

By his divine power, God has given us everything we need for living a godly life. We have received all of this by coming to know him, the one who called us to himself by means of his marvelous glory and excellence. 2 Peter 1:3 NLT

A YES Challenge: Think back to when you first became aware of God calling you to Himself. What are some ways that He might be continuing to call you into relationship with Him?

Prayer:
Dear Lord, thank You so much for calling me to Yourself. It really is an amazingly overwhelming thing to consider that You want me, not because of what I can do for You, but because You want to be with me, You simply want a relationship with me. Help me to hear You calling me even now, and help me to respond. I know that I need to unlearn thinking of calling as a task to accomplish and learn to think of calling as Your voice simply asking me to come and be with You. Help me to learn how to do that. Amen.

Transitions

Transitions. Life is full of them. From the moment we transition from the womb to the moment we transition to eternity our lives are in constant transition. Haven't you wondered why, if life is so full of constant transition, there is something in each of us that screams for things to stay the same? Why did God allow that to be a part of us?

I don't think I can answer why God allowed if, but I do know that, for me, a desire for things to stay the same is part of wanting to feel like I've got it under control. If everything stays the same, then I know what to expect and can anticipate how to manage it. When transitions happen, whether they are joyful or painful, everything becomes unfamiliar and I can react in a variety of ways. What about you? 

Do you freeze with fear as things begin to change? Or maybe you frantically try to put the situation back in a comfortable, familiar order. Or perhaps, you accept the change, but try to manipulate the circumstances so that they turn out in a way that feels right to you. 

It takes some courage to step back and recognize yourself, but there is value in it.  As a woman who wants to say YES to God I need to evaluate how I handle transitions. Every transition eventually traces back to Him so, I've learned to accept each diversion from the comfortable as a new opportunity to say YES to God, relinquish control, and rely on His strength and guidance to make the transfer. I like to think of it as making the connection to the next destination on my YES adventure. A busy airport can be confusing as I look for the gate where the carrier to my next destination waits, but I press through that confusion so that I can reach my intended destination. Ready to join me on the journey?

                                               

Key thought: Every transition is a new opportunity to say YES. 

A Scripture to consider: 

             He guides me  along right paths, bringing honor to His name. Psalm 23:3

A YES challenge: What transition are you facing right now? Are you ready to say YES?

Prayer:

Lord, as I evaluate the way I have handled transitions I can recognize ways that I have tried to retain control. I realize now that trying to keep control prevents me from giving you my YES. That's not what I want. Please forgive me. I choose now to give you my YES as I face the changes You are bringing into my life. I will chose to trust you even when I feel afraid and let You guide me through it so that I can reach the next destination in my journey with You. Amen. 

Hearing God: Heart Condition

Learning to recognize the voice of God speaking to me takes practice, but it really isn’t rocket science. As I learn to pay attention to the ways that God brings things to my awareness through His word, my thoughts and circumstances I become more in tune with just how active God is in communicating with me on a regular basis. How awesome that the God of the universe takes time to speak to me!

I have become aware of the Holy Spirit speaking through ideas that I recognize as not being part of my normal train of thought. If you are like me, you may find yourself trying to rationalize what you are hearing. How can I be sure that is God? What if that is just my own self speaking and masquerading as the Holy Spirit? What if it isn’t God at all and I act on it? I have learned that the best way to evaluate these thoughts is to consider: What’s my heart condition in this case? Hard question. 

At the core of obeying God is not the perfection of the task, but the perfecting of my heart. Yes, God wants you and me to obey when He speaks, but we tend to think of obedience as simply an action. The action becomes obedience when it is the outworking of an inward desire to please God above all else. This is the really tricky part. In our performance-oriented, productivity-driven society we run the risk of making obedience an item to check off on our task list. But obedience is less about what we do and more about why we do it. 

Is my heart purely pointed toward loving God by loving others? Only the Holy Spirit can make that clear to me. You and I are not capable of discerning our own motivations objectively. I may think that my motivation is purely to please God, but if I allow Him, the Holy Spirit might make me aware that the desire to please others may take a higher priority than I like to think. Or maybe I’ve convinced myself that I want to please God, but find that pleasing myself is really at the root of an idea. I have had those moments with God as I bring a situation before Him. Ouch!

Obedience is a heart condition more than it is an objective to be accomplished. Part of learning to hear God is learning to recognize when the Holy Spirt wants to reveal ourselves to ourselves. How incredibly wonderful that the God who knows you and me intimately cares enough to point out the attitudes that need to change so that our objective can truly be God’s glory above all else! 

Key Thought: Obedience is a heart condition more than it is an objective to be accomplished. 

A Scripture to Consider: 

God, see what is in my heart. Know what is there. Test me. Know what I’m thinking. See if there’s anything in my life you don’t like. Help me live in the way that is always right.  Psalm 139: 23-24 NIRV

A YES Challenge: Take some time, and some courage, to bring your heart before the Lord.

Prayer:

Father, You know me better than I know myself. I really do want to obey You with pure motivation, but it is hard for me to discern myself. I ask You to help me know myself better. Show me what I need to see so that I can allow You to transform me into the person You desire me to be. I love you, Lord. Amen. 

Hearing God: The Voice of the Holy Spirit

When God speaks I want to listen. I am remembering to keep the main mission in focus, paying attention to the thoughts that won't go away, looking for Him to highlight verses as I read the Word and listening for the voice of the Holy Spirit. But how do I recognize the Holy Spirit speaking to me?

The Holy Spirit superintended the writing of God's Word and holds the "holy highlighter", but He is also the still, small voice that speaks the thoughts that won't go away. He whispers ideas and reminds us of what God's Word says. Another reason to make sure that I am in the Word regularly: I give the Holy Spirit something to work with when He wants to speak to me. But how does that work and how do I know? It takes practice to know the difference between the Holy Spirit and my own thoughts and emotions. Not one of us is going to get it right every time. Only Jesus had 100% accuracy. Then how can we be sure?

First, be aware of the Word coming to your mind. Often the Holy Spirit will remind us of the Scriptures we have read or studied when we need them most. The Holy Spirit might speak through our pastor's voice in our heads speaking something from a recent message that applies to our current situation. Or you may notice the same verse appearing several times in different places over a short period of time. Pay attention to those kinds of things, but if it isn't clear what God might be saying, then ask Him to show you. It is the Holy Spirit's job to enlighten you and me and make God's Word clear. The Holy Spirit is resourceful. He will use whatever we have already put into ourselves to help us hear God's voice. 

It's also helpful to evaluate if circumstances are supporting what you believe the Holy Spirit is speaking to you. There are times when what we think God may be saying to us doesn't seem to make sense. That's when we need to assess it from more than one angle. If it doesn't make sense, but I see it in His Word and it's come up several times in different ways, do circumstances do seem to be pointing in that direction? If circumstances seem to line up with the other indicators then there is another test: Do those whose opinion I trust agree?

It can be hard to ask others what they think about what you believe God may be saying to you. There is always a chance that they will disagree or point you in a different direction, but that is all the more reason why it helps to run it by someone else. As I said before, emotions can sometimes masquerade as the Holy Spirit and emotions can cloud our ability to hear God clearly. In situations where  emotions run high we need the benefit of clear and impartial spiritual input from people we trust.  

I was once offered a prestigious volunteer opportunity that I really wanted to take. I felt good about being asked and I knew that it would be a place of positive influence in an area that I am passionate about. But when I asked my husband if he thought this might be God speaking to me, he was concerned about the amount of time it would take and the stress it would put on me. Since it was an area of ministry outside the church and I was serving as a pastor, he suggested that he would be okay with it if our lead pastor would allow me to use church time to work on this volunteer position. While I waited for an answer from my pastor I found myself in a counseling situation where I was encouraging someone else not to overload their schedule and realized that the Holy Spirit was nudging me with the words I was speaking. He also reminded me that earlier that morning our staff devotion was along similar lines, and, oh by the way, so had some recent my personal devotions. By the time I heard that my pastor had no problem with me taking the position but considered it outside my work responsibilities, it was merely a confirmation of what I knew God was saying...but I really wanted to do it!

I turned the position down and shortly after that, our lives began to take a major shift. I was so grateful that I had obeyed the voice of the Holy Spirit and passed on that position. There was no way that I could have maintained it with all that was happening in our lives. God knew in advance what I did not. 

And that is true for you, too, my friend. God knows in advance what you need to know and will go to great lengths to make sure that you can hear His voice. He wants to speak to you. He wants you to know Him and His will. Most of all He just wants you to know that He loves you. When He makes Himself as clear in your life as He did with that volunteer position for me it is like He is sending you a Valentine with the words "I LOVE YOU!" emblazoned on the front. 

 

 

Key Thought: The Holy Spirit will speak through more than one method to make sure that we clearly hear His voice.

A Scripture to Consider: 

^"When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own but will tell you what he has heard. He will tell you about the future  He will bring me glory by telling you whatever he receives from me." John 16:13-14 NLT

A YES Challenge: What might the Holy Spirit be speaking to you? Ask a trusted spiritual confidant for their feedback.

Prayer: 

Lord, help me to really believe that You want to speak to me. Make me more aware of the ways that You already are speaking to me and help me to recognize the confirmations. Give me the courage to ask those whom I trust for advice. Use them to make Your will clear to me, even if it contradicts what I really want to do. What I want most is to know You better and receive Your love for me. Amen.