Thursday, January 29, 2015

Hearing the Voice of God

This is not a blog to provide great and practical insight into how to hear or discern the voice of God. Rather, these are some thoughts that I have been pondering this past month as I desire to draw closer to the Lord and hear His voice.

One of the most powerful longings of human beings is to be known by God and to hear His voice – to hear the voice of our Creator speak to us. Yet, it seems that this can be a great struggle for so many of us. At least it can be for me.

Psalm 46:10 says, “Be still, and know that I am God…” If we want to speak with our Father, Jesus gives us clear instructions that we must “pray to your Father who is in secret” (Matthew 6:6).

So how does that work in a world as noisy as ours? Can we just turn off our distractions – our smartphones, tablets, computers, etc. –  for 30 minutes a day, spend time with the Lord and hope to hear His voice and then go back to our daily living with a constant bombardment of messages via texting, Facebook, Twitter, and TV? To be honest, that has been my approach the past few years. There have been times when I have certainly cut back on my media. I hardly watch any TV now; I used to be consumed with watching sporting events. But my phone is constantly with me. At any break in my day, the urge to pull it out and check my feed on Facebook and Twitter often win out instead of focusing inward and directing my focus and attention to the presence of God.  

I tried to take intentional breaks in the day to pray and spend concentrated time with the Lord, but it seemed like my focus kept being drawn back to distractions.

For someone like me who has ADHD tendencies, I found that my smartphone is like a drug for my mind. It’s an easy fix and something to give attention to my many thoughts. What’s more, being an extremely social person, I love the networking on Facebook. I love seeing what my friends are doing and staying in touch that way. But I can’t deny the inner distractions I feel.

I always start the year with some extended fasting from food, but I also decided to do a month-long fast from media. For me, this meant no reading about sports and no checking my social media. I wondered how it would pan out and if I would miss it. After the first few days, I realized I didn’t miss it at all. In fact, I enjoyed the break. Did I hear the voice of God more? I don’t think so. Or at least, not in ways I hope to in the future. However, I did find that my mind was less distracted and consumed by countless trivial things. I found my desires for the Lord increasing.

As this month came to a close, I decided I wanted to continue this fast in some ways. It would be too easy for me to go back to how I was. So I am going to put some boundaries on myself. For now I am going to check sports once a week on Saturday nights. I haven’t decided how I will engage social media yet – perhaps just checking it once a week or once daily. I don’t feel like this is something I am to do forever, but something I desire to do in this season as I listen to the Lord and learn how to hear His voice in a deeper way.

I am starting to read The Ladder of Divine Ascent by John Climacus. This book was written for monks in in AD 600 and is a classic in Eastern Christianity on the ascetic life. St. Basil is quoted in the intro: “When the intellect is no longer dissipated among eternal things or dispersed across the world through the senses, it returns to itself, and by means of itself it ascents to the thought of God.”
I believe this thought applies to my life. My mind so easily wanders to the external things around me, but I need to be disciplined in those things so I can think more deeply of the Lord.

The intro also says, “It is a great thing says John, to achieve stillness in the isolation of a hermit’s cell; but ‘it is incomparably great to have no fear of turmoil, and to remain steadfast under its assault with a fearless heart, living outwardly with men but inwardly with God.’” 

So that’s my desire – to be clear in my inner man, to have my thoughts and affections constantly on the Lord Jesus, to live in a busy, loud, and distracted world, but live inwardly with God. Perhaps as I grow in this, I will be able in engage more in media, but for now I know that it limits my inward silence.





Thursday, January 22, 2015

Pray Big





A few years ago one of my co-laborers, Bob Stevenson, brought a block of wood with the words “Pray Big” on it to our staff gathering. It was the start of the year and he challenged us to write down big prayers, asking God for big things for the upcoming year.

Recently I was leading prayer at our staff gathering and I remembered the phrase “Pray Big” and shared it again with our staff. We talked about Paul’s words to the Ephesians, “Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever.  Amen.” (3:20-21). What a Scripture and great reason to pray big prayers! We serve a God who wants us to ask and is ready to answer and respond above anything we could ever imagine. 

In my experience, one thing that keeps us from praying big is our focus on our own limitations. We are so conditioned by living in the natural realm. Every prayer goes through a mental grid formed by our resources, our talents, or the limitations that we have. It’s so easy to be focused on the earthly realm and to be confined in our thinking. But as I look at the Scriptures, I am moved and challenged by the prayers of Jesus and great men and women of the Bible. They prayed and God responded to their requests. God moved on their behalf and answered their bold prayers of faith.

Can you imagine the boldness and faith of Elijah as he had the wicked King Ahab and Jezebel, 850 prophets all against him and a confused Israel? (1 Kings 18) They were all watching his showdown and he was able to call down the fire of God. He knew that the Lord would respond to his prayers. It’s easy to read those stories and think that was just in the Bible and that Elijah was some kind of super prophet. But we see in James 5 that Elijah was a man with a nature like ours; Elijah was not altogether unlike us. He stood in the counsel of the Lord and was able to be God’s voice in that time.

We may not be in the exact same situation as Elijah, but we are in a time where we need the power of God to come down. The cities of America and in our world are desperate for God to reveal himself. The Lord needs us to stand up like Elijah and pray boldly.

With this in mind, I am stirred to pray big prayers in this new year. Two things help me as I think of praying big and overcoming my current limitations: 

First, I need to remind myself of the victory of God and what He has done and will accomplish.

“And what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come.  And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.” Ephesians 1:19-23

Second, I need to know my position in Christ.

“And raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.” Ephesians 2:6

Colossians 3 says we have to set our minds and heart on the things above. While we may currently live in the earthly realm, our true home is with Christ in eternity and we ultimately live in that kingdom as well. So it is by faith we need to imagine that we are seated in the heavenly places. This is the means by which we can pray big. We pray in faith and with authority from the heavenly places knowing that God has conquered every power that stands in opposition to him.

Is there something in your life where you need a major breakthrough? Meditate on these Scriptures and start praying and believing that God will provide in your situation. And please join us in praying for the cities. Pray that the power of God would come down and encounter the people that so desperately need him.

Pray BIG!