Holy Spirit or My Own Heart?

July 22, 2023 Cathleen Zahradnik

“Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life.” Proverbs 4:23 NLT

You want to be and do all that God has for you, right? Me too. That means that we want to do what God is saying, right? But how can I tell the difference between what God is saying to me and what I am saying to myself? Sometimes God’s voice is very clear. Like the holy highlighter on the pages of Scripture. But other times…

Learning to recognize the voice of God 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. When I notice ideas that I recognize are not part of my normal train of thought I recognize the Holy Spirit at work. How awesome that the God of the universe takes the time to speak to me!

But, 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?

How to Hear God Through The Voice of the Holy Spirit

July 15, 2023 Cathleen Zahradnik

"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

When God speaks, I want to listen. But how do I recognize the Holy Spirit speaking to me? What about you? How do you recognize His voice? There is one thing I am confident of. Whether or not I recognize His voice, He is speaking. He is speaking through the voice of the Holy Spirit.

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. When I am in God’s 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?

How to Hear God’s Voice Through the “Holy Highlighter”

July 8, 2023 Cathleen Zahradnik

“But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come.” John 16:13 NIV

If you are struggling to discern what God is speaking to you, start by believing that He is. Our God is a God who speaks! He spoke creation into being. He spoke through Jesus Christ. He continues to speak through His Word and His Spirit. He speaks to all, and He speaks to individuals. He is speaking to you. Are you hearing Him?

You want to be someone who says YES to God because you want to be and do all that He designed you for. So, you are seeking to hear His voice. You remember that the larger mission of salvation is at the heart of all that He speaks. You notice the thoughts that don't go away and you are reading His word for illustrations and instructions regarding how He wants His people to live, but you are also trying to discern what He may be speaking to you specifically. How do I recognize when God is speaking directly to me through His Word?

One way to recognize His voice is through what someone has called the "holy highlighter."

The Thought That Won’t Go Away: What If It’s God Speaking?

July 1, 2023 Cathleen Zahradnik

Your own ears will hear him. Right behind you a voice will say, “This is the way you should go,” whether to the right or to the left. Isaiah 30:21 NLT

Do you want to fulfill the destiny you were created for? Yes? Then be someone who says YES when God speaks. But how do you know that you are hearing God? It isn’t always clear, is it?

I want to be someone who says YES to God. I want to know what He is saying, to listen and obey. How do you and I learn to recognize His voice when there are so many other noises going on around us?

One way I've learned to recognize God's voice is in the thought that won't go away. You’ve felt it, too, right? That nagging sense that this is something that you’re supposed to do. It seems like every time you try to push it away, it keeps coming back. What if you stopped to listen and ask, “God, is that You?”

What is My Mission?

June 24, 2023 Cathleen Zahradnik

“I urge, then, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for all people— …This is good, and pleases God our Savior, who wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth.” 1 Timothy 2:1,3-4 NIV

You want to fulfill your divine potential. You want to fulfill your mission on the earth. You want to be and do all that God has called you to. You want to say YES to God. But how? How do you know what your mission is? How do you know what God is saying to you?

Your question: How do I know when I am hearing God’s voice so that I can fulfill His mission for me?

What is Your Highest Calling?

June 17, 2023 Cathleen Zahradnik

“…being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.” Philippians 1:6

What would you say is your highest calling? Is it to evangelize or preach or provide for your family or raise your children? Are you sure that is your highest calling? Let me propose a higher one, and I admit it is as much of a challenge for me as I know it will be for you.

Whatever else God has called us to do and to be can be summed up in this: As believers we are called to be like Christ. Now that is a high calling! 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 spend your life? Are we called to be like Christ in the working of miracles? Well, yes, but do you and I make miracles happen? Are we called to be like Christ in a life of self-sacrifice? Well, yes, but what does the cross look like in our lives?

Called BY God FOR God

June 10, 2023 Cathleen Zahradnik

For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. Ephesians 2: 10

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.

Who is Calling You?

June 3, 2023 Cathleen Zahradnik

Live in a manner worthy of the calling you have received, you have been called by God. Ephesians 4:1

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 to 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.

What Defines Me?

May 27, 2023 Cathleen Zahradnik

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

What criteria do you use to define your own existence? That’s a big question! Do you know the answer?

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.

In this grand adventure of life with God, we often think of our life with God as what we do FOR Him— our devotional activity, our acts of service. But what God really wants from us is to understand that our life WITH Him isn't really about those things. What it IS about is knowing and living in our identity in Christ.

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." God wants you and me to be defined by our relationship with Him rather than all the other things that we seek out to tell us who we are.

As you consider what defines you, ask yourself, “Am I finding out who I am in Christ?” What criteria are you using to define yourself?

Called? Me?

May 20, 2023 Cathleen Zahradnik

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

You want to say YES to God, right? Saying yes starts with hearing God say something, right? 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.

September 12, 2026

This is Not Forever

“For our present troubles are small and won’t last very long. Yet they produce for us a glory that vastly outweighs them and will last forever! So we don’t look at the troubles we can see now; rather, we fix our gaze on things that cannot be seen. For the things we see now will soon be gone, but the things we cannot see will last forever.” 2 Corinthians 4:17-18 NLT

As I tearfully opened the sodden boxes of our stored belongings, wondering what was ruined, a verse came to mind,

“Don’t store up treasures here on earth, where moths eat them and rust destroys them, and where thieves break in and steal. Store your treasures in heaven, where moths and rust cannot destroy, and thieves do not break in and steal. Wherever your treasure is, there the desires of your heart will also be.” Matthew 6:19-21 NLT

We were temporarily living with my parents, and our stuff was stored in Tom’s parents' garage. They had a plumbing issue in their bathroom above the garage, causing a leak that soaked several of our boxes and other items, including our mattress. We weren’t sure what was salvageable.

That period of time was already difficult. We were waiting for a job to open up and unsure how long that would take, how long we would be living with my parents, how long our stuff would be stored. Both sets of parents had been patient, loving, and gracious. There was no one to blame for the water damage. Sometimes things just happen.

But when that verse popped into my brain, it completely changed my perspective on going through the damage. The tears didn’t stop. There was some mourning and disappointment. But at the same time, there was hope. This was temporary. These things were just things. What really mattered was how I responded. I could choose an eternal perspective. I could choose to treasure Christ more than an earthly possession.

As it turned out, very few of our things were unsalvageable, and insurance more than covered anything that was lost. But the eternal perspective I gained is a treasure that I still carry. That simple shift helped me through the three and a half years of living in the in-between.