Tag Archives: God’s Voice

Tips to Start Reading the Bible on a Regular Basis

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Tips to Start Reading the Bible on a Regular Basis

Tips to Start Reading the Bible on a Regular Basis

After writing the previous post about reading the Bible by “spiritual cramming”, I was hoping that nobody would feel condemned or have that feeling of “yeah, yeah, I hear that all the time.”  Those same thoughts and feelings are all too familiar for me so by no means do I want to impose them on others.  My hope is just to encourage people to start somewhere and to make having a regular quiet time a routine.  I really just want to share about it and encourage others because of the difference it’s made in my life.

Let me share how I got started…

When I first started reading the Bible regularly it was really out of desperation and despair.  It was the summer before my sophomore year in college, and my boyfriend of 3 years had just broken up with me.  I’m pretty sure he was cheating on me too because not too long after our breakup he was engaged to the girl that he swore was just his “friend”.  I was devastated.  It seems a little silly now, but I truly was in pain then.  (Side note: Never minimize or make light of the pain somebody is feeling because their hurt is very real and very consuming to them at that moment.)  Even though it seems silly and trivial now (and I’ve gone through MUCH worse since then), it really was a pivotal moment in my life.

During that time I was an emotional hot mess, and I couldn’t sleep.  I started reading the Bible at night along with a devotional book, My Utmost For His Highest by Oswald Chambers to find some comfort and to help me get to sleep at night.  It honestly was the only way I could get to sleep and deal with the anxiety and panic attacks.

I often fell asleep reading the Bible, and then I would later feel guilty about it.  One time I had a thought come to me though.  I now know it was God talking to me—though I didn’t know it at the time.  The thought was, “What better way to fall asleep than by spending time with me?”  It was true.  I could have fallen asleep watching TV or listening to the radio, but instead, I did so by reading the Bible or praying.  It really did give me peace.

My Bible reading practice slowly waned

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How to Recognize God’s Voice

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Learn how to recognize God's voice

Image Credit: ohmega1982 via FreeDigitalPhotos.net

How to Recognize God’s Voice

“Then he (Jesus) added, ‘Pay close attention to what you hear.  The closer you listen the more understanding you will be given—and you will receive even more.’”  Mark 4:24 (NLT)

I previously shared a post on What Does God’s Voice Sound Like?  I’d like to share some more tips on how to learn and recognize God’s voice.  God’s voice becomes more familiar as we grow in relationship with Him.

God’s voice becomes more familiar as we grow in relationship with Him.

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This is very similar to meeting a new friend.  At first, we probably don’t recognize their voice very well, and they have to introduce themselves when they call on the phone.  However, the longer we are friends and the more time we spend with them (and hear them talk), the easier it is to recognize their voice.  Eventually, they won’t even have to say who they are or introduce themselves.

I didn’t recognize my husband on our first date

The more time spent with someone makes them more familiar and more recognizable.  My husband, Eric, just loves to tell the story (aka make fun of me 🙂 ) about the time we went on our first “official” date.  I went to meet him at a mall.  He was waiting outside the front door for me, and I walked right past him because I didn’t recognize him.  We hadn’t known each other very long in my defense, and he DID have a baseball hat on pulled down low over his eyes!  Nevertheless, he will NEVER let me live it down.

I shudder to think of all the times I must have done the EXACT same thing to God—walk right past Him due to not recognizing Him when He was standing right in front of me.

It’s getting easier for me to recognize God’s voice the more I mature and the closer I get to God.  In hindsight, I wish I would have learned to recognize God’s voice a lot sooner.  I can look back on my life now and see poor choices and/or missed opportunities where I had a “red flag” but didn’t realize at the time that God was speaking to me.  Some things that I’ve learned along the way are the “What”, the “When”, the “How” and the “Why” of God speaking.  My goal is to share a few of these things with you in hopes that you too can learn to recognize God’s voice so that you might miss fewer opportunities or make fewer poor choices.

Recognize God’s Voice in WHAT to listen for: Continue reading →

What Does God’s Voice Sound Like?

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What Does God's Voice Sound Like?

What Does God’s Voice Sound Like?

It never ceases to amaze me how God talks to us.  I’m positive that He’s talked to me my whole life, and I didn’t even know it was Him.  The closer I grow to God and the stronger my relationship gets with Him, the easier it is for me to recognize God’s voice.  Did you know He talks to you all the time too?  You may have not even realized it was Him, simply mistaking God’s voice as just a random thought going through your head or just an odd coincidence of events.

Today, I thought I’d share a story I wrote a while back about hearing and recognizing God’s voice in something as simple as home décor. 

The closer you get to God, the easier it is to recognize His voice.

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“My sheep recognize my voice.  I know them, and they follow me.” John 10:27 (MSG)

Jesus’ arm

Jesus told me where his arm was.  That was the message that I had sent to my husband, half-jokingly, half-serious.  I have a wall decoration that is a carved wooden cross with a figurine of Jesus hanging on the cross.  Eric had brought it back to me as a souvenir from Budapest when he was there on leave while in the military. There is a place in the living room where it usually hangs.  I had temporarily removed it to put up some Christmas decorations in its place.  It had been stored in one of the empty Christmas boxes. 

After Christmas was over and the decorations were taken down (I’m not going to tell you how long after Christmas this was), I had taken the cross and set it on an end table waiting to hang it back up.  One of the kids later passed by it and asked where Jesus’ arm was.  It had been broken off.  I assumed that the kids must have broken it while playing with their cousins and neglected to tell me.

“Random” thoughts

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God’s Voice vs the Devil’s Voice

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God’s Voice vs the Devil’s Voice blog image

God’s Voice vs the Devil’s Voice

“My sheep recognize my voice.  I know them, and they follow me.” John 10:27 (MSG)

I think for many people it can sometimes be intimidating to try to discern God’s voice or determining if we are hearing from God or not. At times it can be frustrating to distinguish “Is that God talking to me, is that my own thoughts, or maybe that could even be the devil trying to confuse me or get me off course?” However, there are some ways that we can differentiate between God’s voice vs the devil’s voice.

The first thing to recognize is that we are NOT crazy because we will hear both voices. I say “hear”, but most often they present as thoughts in our heads. Therefore, since we will hear different, and often competing, voices it’s extremely important that we learn to recognize the difference between God’s voice and the devil’s.

I think there are three helpful ways we can easily do this:

  1. Know the character of God and his ways
  2. Know the character of Satan and his ways
  3. Discern how it makes you feel in the moment

When you understand the character, ways, and nature of God and of Satan, then we more easily distinguish the ways and manner in which they will speak and the kinds of things they would and wouldn’t say. In turn, this can then help us to determine how to move forward with that particular “voice” that we are hearing.

Know the character of God and his ways

We can learn about the character of God just as we can learn about the character of anyone else we know…by spending time with him or by learning about his nature by the things he has done. We can do these things by reading the Bible and talking to others who have a close relationship with God. When we read the Bible, we can read through the lens of “what does this tell me about God?” in order to help us learn more about his character.

I’ve written previously about some of the character traits of God from A to Z. Once we’ve learned a lot of these characteristics, we can compare them to the voice that we hear and see if it aligns. God is peaceful…does this voice give me peace or lead me in peace? God is a comforter…does this comfort me? He is also merciful…does this voice offer mercy? God cannot lie…am I hearing any untruths or contradictions to scripture?

Once we learn and become familiar with God’s ways, we can start to say things like, “That sounds like God. This falls right in line with how he would work.” OR… “This doesn’t sound like something God would say” or “I don’t think God would talk to me in this way. This probably isn’t his voice.” When we learn more from scripture we can come to better conclusions.

Learn about God’s character to differentiate his voice from Satan’s voice.

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The Holy Spirit Told Me to Eat a Pineapple

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The Holy Spirit Told Me to Eat a Pineapple

The Holy Spirit Told Me to Eat a Pineapple

The Holy Spirit told me to eat a pineapple. Sounds crazy right? I thought so too, but let me back up and share the whole story with you. This really is more about going to the Holy Spirit for guidance and listening…even in the small things.

A couple of weeks ago I had lunch with one of my friends. I always enjoying getting together with good Christian friends. I always walk away feeling so encouraged and uplifted and sometimes even challenged a little, as was the case when I met with Kim. After all, isn’t that how God intended for Christian community to work?

“As iron sharpens iron, so a friend sharpens a friend.” Proverbs 27:17 (NLT)

“So encourage each other and build each other up, just as you are already doing.” 1 Thessalonians 5:11 (NLT)

Anyhow, Kim was sharing some things with me about how God has been working in her life and about some projects that she’s working on. Something that stuck out to me was how she kept mentioning her reliance on the Holy Spirit, for EVERYTHING.

I had to ask myself, “Do I rely on the Holy Spirit as much as I should? Do I go to him or listen for guidance on even the small stuff?” If I’m answering honestly, it’s “No”, at least not as often as I should.

I DO listen to God and speak with him regularly. Also, I DO listen to the Holy Spirit’s voice. Fortunately, he’s a familiar friend that I do recognize. I think where I was missing the mark was in seeking guidance, on purpose, for even small things in my life. Things where I think, “I’ve got this” or things that seem too trivial to bother God with. Things like minor stomach discomfort or acid-reflux.

Stomach issues, the Daniel Fast, and then more stomach issues

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Time Management–Priorities

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Time Management: Priorities...one thing is needed

Time Management–Priorities

“One thing is needed…”

“Now it happened as they went that He entered a certain village; and a certain woman named Martha welcomed Him into her house. And she had a sister called Mary, who also sat at Jesus’ feet and heard His word. But Martha was distracted with much serving, and she approached Him and said, “Lord, do You not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Therefore tell her to help me.”

And Jesus answered and said to her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and troubled about many things. But one thing is needed, and Mary has chosen that good part, which will not be taken away from her.” Luke 10:38-42 (NKJV)

*This post was inspired by Matthew Henry’s commentary on this passage of scripture.[1]

Many people often read this story and relate to one of the characters, either Martha or Mary. I relate to Martha. In fact, in the same situation, I can’t say that I would’ve reacted much differently than Martha did. If I was working hard and somebody else was just sitting around leaving me to do all the work by myself, I would’ve been irritated too! This is why it’s always been pretty convicting for me when I read this.

However, I think all too often most people read this story like I did and think it’s a lesson of how Martha was bad and Mary was good. Then about 5 years ago I got a different take on this story after reading Matthew Henry’s commentary. This isn’t a story of good versus bad. It’s a story of priorities.

Martha and Mary had very different personalities. Martha was probably a perfectionist (as many of us are), and Mary was probably a little more relaxed and laid back. Differences in personality are not wrong or bad. God does not want us to change our personalities—He just wants us to fix our priorities. Jesus wasn’t asking Martha to be more like Mary–He was just pointing out that Mary had correct priorities. Jesus also did not say that what Martha was doing wasn’t important—He just said “one thing” was necessary or needful (which was time with him or making him a priority). Like Martha, it’s so easy for us to get busy with the many things of life and miss out on the “one thing” that is the most important—time with the Lord. 

It’s easy to get busy and miss out on the most important “one thing” —time with God.

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Admirable things about Martha

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Recognizing Prompts of the Holy Spirit

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Recognizing Prompts of the Holy Spirit

Recognizing Prompts of the Holy Spirit

A friend of mine and I were having a conversation last week about the spiritual realm and how there is spiritual warfare going on around us that we don’t even see.

“For we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places.” Ephesians 6:12 (NLT)

“So one night the king of Aram sent a great army with many chariots and horses to surround the city. When the servant of the man of God got up early the next morning and went outside, there were troops, horses, and chariots everywhere. “Oh, sir, what will we do now?” the young man cried to Elisha. “Don’t be afraid!” Elisha told him. “For there are more on our side than on theirs!”  Then Elisha prayed, “O LORD, open his eyes and let him see!” The LORD opened the young man’s eyes, and when he looked up, he saw that the hillside around Elisha was filled with horses and chariots of fire.” 2 Kings 6:14-17 (NLT)

We can sense the spiritual realm and hear the Holy Spirit

My friend and I talked about how we are sometimes able to sense this warfare or sense the presence of evil. Sometimes it’s just a creepy feeling we can’t shake or maybe even a presence of something that’s not there or that we can’t see. Occasionally, we might have a thought or hear an inaudible “voice”. I think the closer we walk with God, the more we will be able to sense these kinds of things. We will also be able to recognize the Holy Spirit communicating with us. The Holy Spirit will frequently reveal things to us, warn us, or prompt us into prayer or action. God will often speak to us through the Holy Spirit living inside of us. Read more here on how to recognize God’s voice.

“But when the Father sends the Advocate as my representative–that is, the Holy Spirit–he will teach you everything and will remind you of everything I have told you.” John 14:26 (NLT)

“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. All that belongs to the Father is mine; this is why I said, ‘The Spirit will tell you whatever he receives from me.’” John 16:13-15 (NLT)

“For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God.” Romans 8:14 (NLT)

The Holy Spirit will frequently reveal things to us, warn us, or prompt us into prayer or action.

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Sensing the Holy Spirit’s directions and warnings

Previously I wrote a post about hearing the Holy Spirit (God’s voice) when Jesus told me where his arm was. In that post I mentioned how I once heard comedian Michael Jr. say how God’s name is “Something”…You know, like “Something told me not to do that!” I’ve had several of the “something told me” moments over the years, but it wasn’t until I matured more spiritually that I began to understand that it was the Holy Spirit prompting, directing, or warning me about things.

A bad feeling in the middle of the night 

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Stop and Take Time to Listen to God

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Learn how to Stop and Take Time to Listen to God...

Stop and Take Time to Listen to God

Taking regular time to stop and listen to God is not a strong suit of mine. I do hear from God on a fairly regular basis. I know his voice and how he talks to me. Unfortunately I hate to admit that I kind of stink at being intentional about taking time to listen to God. This topic isn’t what I was going to originally write about this week. It was only because of taking time to listen to God that I decided to write about listening to God!

My notes are lost

I seem to have lost my notes for my original topic. I’m serious – I can’t find them anywhere! I searched my quiet time journal. I’ve looked through my Bible and sermon notes. I looked through my computer documents. I’ve looked through my phone notes. I even looked around for random post-it notes where I may have written some things down. Nothing. Now, I can’t even remember if I even wrote the notes down to begin with, but I could’ve sworn that I did.

After searching around frantically for my notes for well over an hour, I decided to just pray about it and ask God to help me find them. Then I remembered my quiet time about stopping and listening to God. It was about taking time to just stop and be quiet. So I decided to do that after I prayed about losing my notes.

Maybe they were “lost” on purpose

I began to think that maybe my notes were “lost” on purpose because God had other intentions of what he wanted me to write about this week. If I’m right, it’s what he’s been gently correcting me about recently. It’s about making time to stop and listen to him on purpose.

While listening, I had the thought, “Well, maybe they’re lost on purpose because I’m not supposed to write about them. Maybe I’m supposed to write about something else. I usually pray every week about what I’m going to write about, but I don’t think I did this week. I think I just decided last week what this week’s topic would be and then didn’t really spend a whole lot of time in prayer about it. Well, I guess it serves me right!” Leave it to God to conveniently cause my notes to go missing when I try to do things my way without consulting him or listening to him!

Oh, the irony

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