Hearing God Speak

February 10, 2011

I am very burdened by the condition of people around me and their lack of hearing God speak.  Jesus: Think bigger, girls! For one day you'll see Me in my glory, then you'll say . . . "We should have thought bigger!"
God help me to think bigger, beyond my thoughts, beyond my comprehension, beyond my understanding, beyond this earthly realm and think of heaven and Your glory as we live in Your presence and bring heaven to earth.  Expand my faith, my boldness, my understanding, my vision, my dreams, my passions, may I be Your girl, Your daughter, and You be My Beloved, Jesus. My life and hope are in You.
OK, lack of hearing is on my heart. I've had a period of time when I didn't hear God speak for a whole year, so I know that it's totally possible, it's extremely painful, lonely, discouraging, and will bring you to a place where you must ask for prayer. It's very humbling, to say the least. I always assume if people don't hear God speak, that's why. But I guess those seasons are few and far between, thank God for that. I guess when someone shares they are not hearing God speak, my first question should be "is there something in your life God is putting His finger on that you're refusing to handover to Him?"
It came up in youth group the other day, the question about recurring sin. I think the question was about what if we keep sinning?  It was explained and discussed about we all live in a constant state of confessing our sins, having them forgiven and being renewed and restored. Now, I'm almost, I say almost, afraid to write this next part, out of my own fear. There is a difference between confessing our daily sins, attitudes and such from continuing on with the same sin over and over. God puts His finger of the fire of purity on something He wants to purge from our lives and we say, "no, not that". Now that creates a totally different situation.
That particular issue didn't get discussed as a group but I discussed it later with a few of the teens.  John was the one who put it so perfectly, in words and pictures, even I could grasp. He said, "if 80% of you is following Jesus down a pathway and 20% of you is going in a different direction, you create a V figure. As you progress further down the path you get further and further away from God. It creates a static, like a TV on the wrong station, there is no peace there and the longer you sustain life in that manner, the further away from God you become. Some times to the point that you don't hear God or He becomes very difficult to hear. That's because when we disobey God over and over again - He will wait patiently for us to act and yield to obedience. He is a patient God who is totally passionate about our free will, He will allow us that above all things, even His desire to be in relationship with us. And personally, that reality causes me to love Him more and more.