Knowing His Voice

In my April 1 post I talked about hearing God’s voice:

~ He calls to us to come.

          ~He wants to speak with us. 

                        ~He wants our whole heart.

Now I want to look at how we can know His voice.

If God is speaking to us...then what is He saying?

Most importantly He is saying...

  “I love you. You are my beloved and I want the very best for you.”

John 15:9  "Just as the Father has loved Me, I have also loved you; abide in My love.

John 3:16  "For God loved the world so much that He gave His one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life.

Romans 5:8  But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

           All through His Word, He is telling us how much He loves us!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

John 10:2-4  But the one who enters through the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep recognize his voice and come to him. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.   After he has gathered his own flock, he walks ahead of them, and they follow him because they know his voice.

             ~The sheep hear His voice – they recognize it.  They know His voice.

How do we recognize the voice of the Lord?
                    ~We have to become familiar with it. 

When we hear someone call our name and we recognize who they are before we see them, it’s because we are familiar with their voice.  We have spent time with them – hearing them speak.  The more we hear them speak, the more we know their voice.

In Luke 10, we read how Mary sat at Jesus’ feet.

~She listened to Him. 

        ~She hung on every word He spoke. 

                ~She spent time with Him, seated at His feet.

                       ~She got to know His voice.

We can’t get to know the voice of Jesus if we don’t spend time with Him.... listening to Him.

                             So – How does He speak to us?

           ~ In His Word….His Word is where He reveals Himself to us…

Psalm 1:1-2  Oh, the joys of those who do not follow the advice of the wicked, or stand around with sinners, or join in with mockers.  But they delight in the law of the LORD, meditating on it day and night.

~Meditating - pondering – thinking about what it means – going over it in my mind again and again – thinking about how it applies to me.

                                                                     

Ps. 77:6 – I will meditate with my heart and my spirit ponders.

Ps. 19:14 – Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Thy sight.

Ps. 119:15 & 16 – I will meditate on Thy precepts, I shall delight in Thy statutes, I shall not forget Thy word.

~As we spend time in God’s Word… putting it into our hearts… He will bring it back to us when we need it.

~As we sit silently and wait on Him, He will speak to us using His Word.

~As we tune our ears to His voice, we will recognize it.

~ He will speak… and we will know His voice.

As we meditate on Him – His goodness, His power, His faithfulness, - He will speak to our hearts. 

                                  If we know His Word, we will know His voice!

“Knowing His voice is a lifelong, loving journey.  A journey to know the One Who speaks – in every season – spring and winter.  He does speak.  I can know His voice.  All He asks is that I keep my heart turned toward Him – always saying ‘Yes’.”  - Nancie Carmichael

The Lamb that is the Shepherd

I love the way the scriptures all come together.  From Genesis in the beginning of time... to Revelation at the end of time, we see the plan of God laid out before us. Track with me here as I follow this thread:

 In Genesis, sin entered into the human race and God made a covering for their sin by the slaying of an innocent animal.

 In Exodus, God had the Israelites kill an innocent lamb, perfect with no blemishes, and apply the blood to the doorposts of their house as protection from the final plague He was bringing on the Egyptians.  If they did this, they would be spared…the blood would be their covering.

Exodus 12- “Announce to the whole community of Israel that on the tenth day of this month each family must choose a lamb or a young goat for a sacrifice, one animal for each household…..

Then the whole assembly of the community of Israel must slaughter their lamb or young goat at twilight…

They are to take some of the blood and smear it on the sides and top of the doorframes of the houses.

 On that night I will pass through the land of Egypt and strike down every firstborn son and firstborn male animal in the land of Egypt. I will execute judgment against all the gods of Egypt, for I am the LORD!

 But the blood on your doorposts will serve as a sign, marking the houses where you are staying. When I see the blood, I will pass over you.”

                                

                                                               

This seems pretty strange to us.  I am sure it seemed very strange to them also.

            

      But God had a reason..... He was setting up His plan.   

All through history since that time, the Jewish people have celebrated the Passover…the time when God spared them from death and delivered them from their slavery in Egypt.  He spared them because they applied the blood…the life source of the lamb…to their household.  An innocent life was exchanged for their lives.  Every year as they celebrated this Passover, they were reminded of what it meant….. 

…….God made a way to set them free from slavery and death. 

As they traveled through the wilderness to the promised land, God instituted the sacrifices to be the covering for their sins.  But these were only temporary...they had to be continually offered up…over and over again...

In the rest of the Old Testament....down through the years, they were constantly reminded of their sin and that they had to make a sacrifice to cover for it.

In the New Testament...on the last night with His disciples, Jesus was celebrating the Passover feast with them.  When they came to a certain part of the meal, Jesus did something different.

Luke 22:19  He took some bread and gave thanks to God for it. Then He broke it in pieces and gave it to the disciples, saying,  

                                             "This is My body, which is given for you.

                                                          Do this to remember Me."

 After supper He took another cup of wine and said,

                     "This cup is the new covenant between God and His people—an agreement confirmed with My blood, which is poured out as a sacrifice for you.

                                                            

I wonder what they were thinking at that moment.  They had been celebrating the Passover meal to remember how God had delivered their ancestors from slavery and death… through the death of an innocent lamb.

Now Jesus was saying something they couldn’t understand. 

     ~Was He saying He was going to die?

     ~What about ushering in the kingdom and overthrowing the Romans who ruled over them?

     ~What did He mean ‘new covenant'? 

 I wonder if they remembered what John the Baptist had said at the start of Jesus’ ministry:

John 1:29  The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, "Look! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!

                                  

John was proclaiming Jesus as the Lamb….the sacrifice for the sins of the world!   

     ~That would mean that Jesus would have to die!

                ~His blood would be poured out! 

                        ~That could not be!

 Didn’t He make it a point to explain to them that He was the Shepherd? 

The one who watched out for them and made sure they were safe and taken care of?

                            John 10:14  "I am the good shepherd; I know My own sheep,

                                                        and they know Me"

When did they connect the dots?

Genesis....sin brings death....death of innocent covers sin

Exodus....death of sinless lamb frees from slavery.....sacrifice brings life

John....Jesus the Lamb of God.

Was it as He was dying on the cross…or when He appeared to them alive again and connected the dots for them?

Luke 24:27  "Then Jesus took them through the writings of Moses and all the prophets, explaining from all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself."

                   ~Maybe that is when they remembered the rest of what He said about being the Shepherd.

John 10:14  "I am the good shepherd, and I know My own and My own know Me,  even as the Father knows Me and I know the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep." 

                               ~Maybe that is when they finally connected the dots…

                                      ........the Shepherd is the Lamb!

                                 What a marvelous, wonderful mystery!! 

                      Only God could have thought of a plan like that. 

                                                    

                                                       Hallelujah!

Rev 7:17  "for the Lamb in the center of the throne will be their shepherd, and will guide them to springs of the water of life; and God will wipe every tear from their eyes."

Thank You, Jesus!

Really great video if you have the time to watch...The Revelation Song

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S3LK3wIHnVE&feature=related

Hearing His Voice

God is calling us- drawing us – do you hear Him?

                     Listen to what He says:

Jer. 31:3- “ I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore I have drawn you with loving kindness.”

Is. 30:18 – “Therefore the Lord longs to be gracious to you, and therefore He waits on high to have compassion on you.”

Is 55:2-3- “Listen carefully to Me….. Incline your ear and come to Me. Listen, that you may live.”

Mark 4:9-  And He said to them, "He who has ears to hear, let him hear!"

                                     Hear the voice of the Shepherd:

 John 10- "I tell you the truth, anyone who sneaks over the wall of a sheepfold, rather than going through the gate, must surely be a thief and a robber!  But the one who enters through the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep recognize his voice and come to him. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.  After he has gathered his own flock, he walks ahead of them, and they follow him because they know his voice.” 

                           

                     What are we listening to?

                                         The world says “Follow your heart!”

                                                                     But where is our heart leading us?

Jesus said, “Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.”  Matt. 6:21

Treasure is what we consider to be of utmost value.

 What is closest to my heart will tell me a great deal about what I treasure. 

Luke 10:39-42 tells the story of Mary seated at Jesus’ feet listening to Him.

 ~ Her heart was in the right place. 

            ~ Jesus was her treasure. 

                         ~ She wanted to listen to Him. 

                                         ~ She valued greatly everything He had to say.

                                                         ~ She was thirsty for the words of Jesus. 

                                                                                ~ She listened and drank it in. 

         Jesus said, “Mary has chosen the good part, which shall not be taken away.”

                                                         

      Jesus, our Beloved, our Shepherd, is calling us. 

                                       Do we hear Him? 

                                                        Are we listening for His voice?

As we go into this season of remembering His death for us and His resurrection,  take some time to set aside everything else that wants to occupy your mind and thoughts.  

             Make a choice…a conscious decision to open your ears and your heart

                        to hear His voice speaking directly to you.

~Shut out all the distractions of your life.

                ~Let Him speak to you.

                                 ~Let Him hold you in His arms and carry you.

                                               ~Let Him pour out His love on you and speak

                                                   to the deepest needs of your soul.

                                                                      ~Let Him be all you need.

Psalm 95:6-7Come, let us worship and bow down. Let us kneel before the LORD our maker, for He is our God. We are the people He watches over, the flock under His care. If only you would listen to His voice today!

                                                                 

Sunshine

It’s a glorious morning in the Pacific NW!  I take my coffee outside to sit in the SUN and enjoy its welcoming warmth.  This is a special treat to those of us who live in a climate that is mostly cold and rainy in the late fall through the winter.  When the sun is out, we just want to absorb as much as we can. 

The air is still cool in March, but sitting here I am warmed by the powerful, penetrating rays- and I am basking in it!  It’s a wonderful feeling and I am thanking the Lord for this special treat today. 

I turn my face toward the sun and soak it up!

From time to time a cloud passes over and hides it briefly... and I begin to feel the chill of the air.  Then the cloud moves on...and like a heat lamp being turned on...I feel the warmth again.

In the same way, when I take time to sit in the presence of the Lord and turn my face toward the Son, I am warmed by His love and care for me…. and it penetrates deep into my soul. We live in a world that can be very cold and dreary.  We so very much need to feel the light of the Son shining upon us. 

Jesus said, “I AM the Light of the world.  He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness but shall have the light of life. John 8:12”

Though we don’t see the sun when a cloud covers it...we know it is still there. We appreciate the sun so much more after the long, cold days of winter that have hidden its warmth and light from us.  

In our lives there will be times when clouds will hide His light, too.  But we know He is still there.  He has promised to never leave us or forsake us. (Hebrews 13:5b) And it is in those times that His love is so much more precious to us.

Here, when the sun is out, we try to soak up as much of it as we can..to sort of store it up for the times when we won’t see it for awhile.  And when I take the time to sit and soak up the Son-- by spending that time with Him in His Word and in His presence-- I am storing it up for those days when the clouds seem to hide His face and I don’t feel the warmth of His love shining down on me.

 So, as you are soaking up the sun on one of these beautiful spring days, remember to also spend that time soaking up the Son.  And… when the cloudy days come, (they will).. His light and the knowledge of His love will continue to warm your soul and carry you through. 

                                          For I am convinced that neither death,

                                                                                          nor life,

                                                                              nor angels,

                                                                  nor principalities,

          nor things present,

                          nor things to come,

                                                     nor powers, 

        nor height,

                        nor depth,

                               nor any other created thing,

will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

                                  Romans 8:38-39

 " The LORD bless you, and keep you; The LORD make His face shine on you, and be gracious to you; The LORD lift up His countenance on you, and give you peace."  Numbers 6:24-26

Living in the Depths

                                                                  
Out in the ocean the wind blows, the waves crash, the rain pelts down----but underneath----way down in the depths---all is calm and serene. The things living there aren't much affected by the storms above. Likewise, we also need to live in the depths--

             the depths of God's Word,

                          the depths of His grace,

                                           the depths of His love.

Eph 3:16 I pray that from His glorious, unlimited resources He will empower you with inner strength through His Spirit. Then Christ will make His home in your hearts as you trust in Him. Your roots will grow down into God's love and keep you strong. And may you have the power to understand, as all God's people should,
                                   
       HOW WIDE,
                                                                            
                      HOW LONG,
                                                                
                                   HOW HIGH, and
                                                                                        
                                                            HOW DEEP His love is!

Let's all remember to continually live in the depths.

                                                                      

The Love of God

This is something I found in a greeting card a few years ago, written by Roy Lessin.  Since I can't send a card to everyone, I share it here.  May you be encouraged by the truth it encompasses.

The love of God for you is so great that nothing can:

*interrupt it
  *detain it
      *distract it
         *deplete it
            *cancel it
               *overthrow it
                  *or separate you from it!


He is so close to you in every way,
                  through every circumstance,
                                              at every moment.


Romans 8:38-39 And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God's love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God's love. No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.