The Call - Hearing God's Voice

 
“While walking by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon (who is called Peter) and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen. 19 And he said to them, ‘Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.’ 20 Immediately they left their nets and followed him.”  Matthew 4:18-20 ESV


They heard the call and responded.  The question is do we hear God’s voice?  Oswald Chambers writes:

Because I have listened definitely to one thing from God, it does not follow that I will listen to everything He says. …If I love my friend, I intuitively detect what he wants, and Jesus says, “Ye are My friends.” Have I disobeyed some command of my Lord’s this week? If I had realized that it was a command of Jesus, I would not consciously have disobeyed it; but most of us show such disrespect to God that we do not even hear what He says, He might never have spoken.

The destiny of my spiritual life is such identification with Jesus Christ that I always hear God, and I know that God always hears me (John 11:41). If I am united with Jesus Christ, I hear God by the devotion of hearing all the time. A lily, or a tree, or a servant of God, may convey God’s message to me. What hinders me from hearing is that I am taken up with other things. It is not that I will not hear God, but that I am not devoted in the right place. I am devoted to things, to service, to convictions, and God may say what He likes but I do not hear Him. The child attitude is always “Speak, Lord, for Thy servant heareth.” If I have not cultivated this devotion of hearing, I can only hear God’s voice at certain times; at other times I am taken up with things—things which I say I must do, and I become deaf to Him, I am not living the life of a child. Have I heard God’s voice to-day?  (Chambers, 1986)

Do we allow ourselves to be so busy doing good things that we do not take the time or concentration to hear what God is saying to us?  We all have so many demands in life.  They can become a distraction that fills our minds as well as our time.  We need to be intentional about hearing God.

How do we hear God’s voice? We hear through His Spirit which indwells us as believers.

1 Corinthians 2:10-12 says, “these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God.  For who knows a person's thoughts except the spirit of that person, which is in him? So also no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God.  Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God.” (ESV)


This can happen in different ways.  It may be God speaking to us as we read His Word, and it pierces our heart.  He may give us a picture, word, or dream.  He may speak to us through a sermon, worship music, creation, or something He reveals to another Christian for us.  It may be a conviction He places on our heart or peace or lack of peace in a decision we make.  He gives us burdens to pray for others.



John 16:13-14 promises, “When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. 14 He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you.”  God wants to communicate with us.  It may be in a different way from what we were expecting.  Check out this video clip Ryan Denlinger allowed me to tape for an example of how God spoke in an unexpected way- 

We need to be able to recognize His voice.  This gets better with practice.  He will never tell us to do something contrary to what He has revealed in His Word.   We need to respond to what He is teaching us and where He is correcting us so we will be able to hear Him better.

John 14:26 explains, “But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.”

If we are not reading God’s Word, we are missing an essential piece.  The Bible is His letter to us, and we find He illuminates the passages in new ways each time we read it, speaking what we personally need to hear.  We need to open our minds and hearts to listen when we read.  Reading the Bible is not an obligation, but an opportunity for fellowship.

1 John 2:27 says, “But the anointing that you received from him abides in you, and you have no need that anyone should teach you. But as his anointing teaches you about everything, and is true, and is no lie—just as it has taught you, abide in him.”  Let your devotional time be a two-way conversation.  Learn to be silent before God and allow Him a chance to speak.



Works Cited

Chambers, O. (1986). My Utmost for His Highest: Selections for the Year. Grand Rapids, MI: Oswald Chambers Publications; Marshall Pickering.

Responding Well

I have been impressed with the way people have responded in the Morehead City area after Hurricane Florence.  There has been such an attitude of gratitude and concern for others.  I heard over and over, “Others had it so much worse than me.” And “There are others who need help more than I do.”  I talked to an insurance agent who commented on the lack of the entitlement viewpoint.  People displayed gratitude and not greed.

In the Island Review, Realtor Julia Batten Wax commented, “In all those post hurricane Florence conversations we have had with friends, family, even casual strangers waiting in line at the grocery store, the sentences almost always begin, ‘I’m so thankful, I’m so grateful.’”


In the same publication, Atlantic Mayor Trace Cooper aptly notes, “While we don’t control the weather, we do control how we respond to storms.  It is the response that matters most.  We are not defined by what happens to us.  Rather, it is how we respond that determines who we are.”

Sharing Italian Ices

He adds specifics.  “When our citizens returned to check on their property, they checked on their neighbors as well.  Then, they turned their attention to the larger community.  Our police and fire departments received so many donations of food and water for our team and our citizens that we, literally, had to call in the National Guard to transport the excess supplies to other communities in Carteret County.”


These examples make me think of two verses.  I Corinthians 12:26 teaches, “If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together.”  I Thessalonians 5:18 exhorts us, “Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.”


Life brings both good and bad experiences.  As Mayor Cooper commented, we cannot control what happens to use, but we can control our response.  God wants us to be able to thank Him and praise Him even we face negative, hard things in our lives.  We don’t have to be thankful for the storm, but we can be thankful for God’s care in the storm and the good He brings in the aftermath of the storm.

God draws people to Himself, helps people re-evaluate how they are living their lives, brings families and communities into a closer relationship, exposes past hurts that have not been dealt with, and allows us to minister His love to others.  I think it is amazing to find people who see beyond their own hurts to the hurts of others.  That is exactly what God calls us to do, even when we are not hit by a hurricane.

The Body of Christ Working Together

One Harbor Volunteers Join ReachGlobal Crisis Response to Help

“So we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another.  Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them,” Romans 12:5-6a

After Hurricane Florence hit NC, Pastor Donnie drove through the community with multiple stops to help people.  He seems to know everyone!  People knew to contact him for help, and he would also check to see if others were okay.  A call came to help a woman with children who had no food.  He made arrangements for his wife to take them food.  There were multiple calls about holes in roofs.  We stopped, gathered information, prayed with people, put them on a list to be helped, and he was out the next day to help put on roof tarps.  Donnie was sensitive to emotional needs as well as physical ones.  It was evident that he was wired to be a first responder.

He was wise enough, however, to know that this was only his role for the first couple of weeks.  Confident in the abilities of his staff, he was able to step back and let others take the lead so he could continue with the job God had called him to do on a weekly basis.  The church joined with ReachGlobal Crisis Response to rebuild homes and lives in the community.

It was impressive to see how well the church as a whole responded.  Volunteers poured in to pray, prayer walk, provide meals for teams, write notes of encouragement to homeowners, go out on trauma care teams, help with home gutting, provide airport transportation, provide temporary staff housing, lead devotions, help with office work, and host teams at the church.  Everyone found a way to use their gifts to help the effort to restore lives in their community.


It will be exciting to see how God continues to use His church to reach this community with the love of Christ.  It is good to see the body of Christ working together as the hands and feet of Jesus.

Not Beyond Change

Wawa sharing at Hershey Free Church

Looking at life in Haiti, it is easy to be discouraged.  I see many positive things, but there are life challenges too.  There are also many things that seem to be beyond change, but that is not true.  Nothing is stronger than God’s power.  Wawa said, “God keeps telling us, ‘I know what I’m doing,’ This is what keeps us encouraged.  I believe Haiti can change, because God is in it.”

That does not mean Wawa is sitting back and just waiting.  He is seeking what God would have him to do and partnering with God.  Wawa explained, “We are proud to be training students to lead, to change philosophy, to change churches, and to impact the community where they are located.  We have developed a team at STEP of professors and staff to influence students.”

Discipleship has indeed become the trademark of STEP seminary.  They do not want to simply transfer knowledge.  “It is not enough to know about God.  We need to actually know God,” explained Wawa. The professors are doing life together with students to develop disciples which involves meals and trips together so they can see how Christianity relates to life.  Students are then doing the same with others.  STEP is meeting life needs in the community through building projects, health care, and planting house churches.  More than 100 people have come to accept Christ as their savior through these house churches.  

Please pray for teachers, students, and graduates as they seek to transform the Haitian worldview.

Repacking Your Life Raft

If you have a commercial fishing vehicle, you need to repack your life raft on a regular basis.  Between inspection and repacking costs, it can be costly.  It can, however, be what saves your life.  AMSEA says, “life rafts live in a tough environment.”  They list exposure to sun, cold, rain, hail, salt water, vibration, and storing gear on top of it as part of the problem.

My question to you is, since the storm hit, have you repacked your life raft?  Our life raft includes community support, dealing with pain, allowing ourselves to rest and recover, and finding hope and a plan for moving forward.  The most important part is strengthening our relationship to God and allowing Him to rebuild our lives.

Life is tough.  It is not just hurricanes, fires, and tornadoes that wear away at our rafts.  We face personal loss, illness, pain, family struggles, discouragement, anxiety, and loss of direction.  We may have been struggling with these things and then be hit by a hurricane.  When our resilience is threatened, we need to repack our life raft.

Some ideas for this are:

1. Refocus on God.  Let your major concentration be on Him and not your problems.  Isaiah 26:3 says, “You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you.”

2. Find your strength in God’s love and power through faith. Ephesians 3:14-21 tells us about our powerful God who strengthens us “through his Spirit in your inner being” through faith so we may “know the love of Christ” and fills us “with all the fullness of God.”  We are assured that He “is able to do far more abundantly than all we ask or think, according to the power at work within us”.  His love for us is not earned, but freely given.  

3. Connect with a local body of believers.  We are not meant to do it all on our own.  We need a support system, and we need to be connected to support others.  It is not just about us.  We need to care about the storms in the lives of other people too.  

4. Realize that storms are exhausting physically, emotionally, and spiritually.  Allow yourself time and opportunities to rest and recover.  Don’t just keep pushing at the same hectic pace.

5. Allow yourself to grieve rather than just burying pain and not dealing with it.  Talk to God and others.

6. Don’t get stuck.  Realize God has a plan for your future.  Figure out what you need to do to move forward.  This might mean finding someone to help coach you through a difficult time.

7. Recall how God has cared for you in the past and note ways He is caring for you now.  God uses our experiences to enable us to help others, so don’t be surprised if you find someone you can help later through how God worked in your struggles. 2 Corinthians 1:3-4 says, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.”

Don’t allow yourself to drown because you do not take the steps needed to survive.  Take the time and action needed to repack your life raft.

What She Really Needed

The teams meshed well together

Maureen is a homeowner we are helping in Newport, NC.  She has dealt with a great deal of loss in the past 4 months.  When her son died, One Harbor Church was there to support her immediately.  The pastors have been a great comfort to her, and families from church brought her meals for a couple of weeks.  

Rob and Maureen

This week, teams came together from ReachGlobal Crisis Response under the direction of Rob Passer to replace her roof that was destroyed by Hurricane Florence.  Rob traveled up from Texas to teach the group how to roof, and this was a particularly difficult roof to start with.  The teams from New Jersey and Ohio meshed quickly.  God protected AJ when a shovel fell off the roof barely missing his head.  

Maureen told me, "These teams have been such a blessing to me."  She showed me photos of her son, and we were able to pray together.  She is leaning on God for support.  She shared with Arnold, "The best part was the team prayed with me morning and afternoon.  I know they cared about me."

So many hands working well together

 If you too would like to help but are unsure how, check out

https://www.efca.org/hurricane-florence-response .

 Email respond@efca.org to volunteer or to send a team.

Maureen and the team

A Heart of Compassion

He felt the pain of those forced out of their homes in North Carolina by Hurricane Florence, because he too was homeless and living in a local shelter.  He was concerned for the people of his community, so he came and asked how he could help them.  Injured in Vietnam and currently facing cancer, he was limited in what he could do to help.  That did not stop him.  ReachGlobal Crisis Response and One Harbor Church where he attended provided him with blank note cards.  He had been keeping a journal of Scriptures and quotations that provided him with material to quickly write notes of encouragement to local homeowners. 

Limitations did not stop him from reaching out to help others, because his heart had been touched by the things that touch God’s heart.  If you too would like to help but are unsure how, check out

https://www.efca.org/hurricane-florence-response .

 Email respond@efca.org to volunteer or to send a team.

Evangelical Free Church of America EFCA ReachGlobal
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