Finding Ears to Hear

This past week was our second Soul Revolution message (quick note - there are only 8 weeks of messages instead of the 9 I mentioned last week. My bad.). Below are my notes. I REALLY would encourage you to listen to the message if you ever struggle with wanting to know God's will for your life and feeling like you don't hear him "speak" in your life.

Reminder: 60-60 experiment - It's not about perfection, it's about progress.

We don't just talk to God, we also need to listen to his voice.

1 Samuel 3 (v1: was God really not speaking or were the people just not listening?)

There are a number of things that can keep us from hearing God's voice. One of the biggest is sin. If you haven't heard God's "voice" in a long time, you should examine yourself to see if there is anything in your life blocking you from God.

v10: "Speak, [Lord], for your servant is listening."

It is possible for God to speak to us and us not realize it's him.

How God Speaks: through Scripture/the Bible, other people, circumstances, the Holy Spirit

1 Corinthians 2:10-12 - the Holy Spirit helps us to know the will of God

Things to Consider:
1. The promptings of God will never be contradictory to scripture.
2. The promptings of the Holy Spirit are always in line with the fruit of the Spirit (love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control).
3. The promptings of the Holy Spirit are generally in line with the gifts of the Spirit.

We have to get still to better hear God's voice (schedule times of stillness).
>Do you ever get rid of distractions and formally invite God to speak to you?
>Psalm 46:10 - "Be still, and know that I am God."

We need to respond with obedience when we hear God's voice if we want to continue to hear him.
>Sometimes it's not that we don't hear God, but that we don't like what he's saying so we ignore him.
John 14:20-21

The more you respond in obedience, the more you will hear God's voice; and the more you put God off, the harder it will be to hear him.


This was such a good message! I was excited when Jeff opened with asking about desiring to hear God's voice more. Because I definitely do. I know that responding will draw me closer to God and help me to live in line with his will. From time to time, I will feel the leading to write to someone or do something little like that. Often I follow through and sometimes I even receive positive feedback. Other times I don't hear anything so I don't know what was the result of my efforts. Still other times I don't respond and usually end up realizing it was a missed opportunity. As of late, I am really desiring to follow what I think are the leadings of the Holy Spirit. I know I am still missing some promptings, but hopefully I am improving in my level of response. What I want to continue to do is to have an obedient and responsive heart.

I also want to purposefully sit down and spend some time in quiet where I allow God the opportunity to speak. When I pray, I am often in the habit of pouring out my requests for God and then ending the prayer time. Relationships are supposed to be two-sided. I know how frustrating it can be to listen patiently to someone as they share and then not be asked how I'm doing. I don't want to do that to God. It feels like using him, which is not my intent. I do struggle with pushing everything out of my mind in order to listen. I often find my mind wandering to what needs to be done or things I am dealing with. However, I believe that if I sit quietly often enough, then the time will really be valuable and I will be able to hear God.

What about you? Are you good at waiting patiently and allowing God to speak to you? Do you feel like you are obedient to the Holy Spirit's promptings in your life?

S.O.A.P. Day 25

Today's scripture section was Psalms 112-116.


Scripture: How can I repay the Lord for all his goodness to me?
I will lift up the cup of salvation and call on the name of the Lord.
I will fulfill my vows to the Lord in the presence of all his people.
Psalm 116:12-14


Observation: I was just thinking verse 14 while praying this morning. God is so loving, caring, steadfast, trustworthy. How do I reciprocate when I am flaky, selfish, busy, lazy? Regardless, I do need to give back to God out of all he's given me. I like that the next two verses answer the question: prayer, accepting Jesus as Savior, being obedient and transparent.


Application: I am trying to be more transparent and obedient but my pride gets in the way (along with a desire for acceptance by others). I need to focus solely on pleasing God.


Prayer: Father, thank you so much for this timely verse. You are so good to me. Help me to seek to be obedient and transparent and to give you praise for all you have done and do. I am so thankful for the life you've given me. I am so blessed. In Jesus' name, Amen.




This was quite timely as noted above. The other verse that really struck me today was Psalm 112:7 "He will have no fear of bad news; his heart is steadfast, trusting in the Lord." That's how I need to be. I really do struggle with fear and death. At times I allow fear to immobilize me. I worry about the safety of others, sometimes more than necessary. I just need to trust that God can support me through anything and everything and focus on loving him.

Explicit Lyrics Week 2

Requests and Dedications: Falling in Love

It may seem that I'm a little belated in writing up my thoughts on this past week's message. I was in the nursery on Sunday and have just now listened to it from our website. It really isn't quite the same as hearing it in person, but I'm thankful for the opportunity to hear it all the same.

This Sunday the theme was dating/courting. Jeff asked everyone to discuss with their neighbor one of three dating experiences: their first date, their most embarrassing date, or their most memorable date (cautioning that the most memorable probably should be one they experienced with their spouse). I honestly don't remember when or what my first date was. It's hard to classify dating when you're in high school and neither person can drive. :-) Since I didn't know I was supposed to swap dating stories with Alex in the nursery, I'll share with you here.

I think my most memorable date was my first Valentine's Day with Adam. During the day he brought me six red roses, each with a little paper heart attached to them. Five of the hearts listed his favorite memories with me in the five months we'd been dating and the sixth was for our future memories (swoon!). He also gave me a note inviting me to his apartment that evening for dinner. When I arrived, he had prepared London broil, broccoli casserole, and chocolate fondue. Yummy! After dinner, he started telling me all of the things he liked about me, but about the third one in he started saying, "I love..." which was a big deal because we had not said "I love you" to one another and Adam had said that he only wanted to say it to the woman he was going to marry. So, I was freaking out in my head (in a good way) and not listening at all to what he was saying (which I have learned was going to be a habit for all of Adam's great romantic speeches, unfortunately). Finally he said that he loves me and I said it back because I do. Such an awesome day!

Thinking about the paper hearts made me want to read them again, so I stopped in the middle of my typing and found them in a little scrapbook I had started when we were dating. I found them along with two poems I had written that Valentine's day before the awesome evening. They're kind of silly and sophomoric, but I'll share one anyway and then get back to the sermon (long sidetrack, huh?).

Questions of Love

When?

I looked into your eyes

Those gorgeous brown eyes

That penetrate deep inside

That see exactly who I am

That reveal so much

I can read your thoughts

Your emotions

Your desires

How?

With every part of me

With Christ's example

My thoughts

My actions

My smile

Why?

Because of Christ in you?

Because I see you?

Because you see me?

Because of the way you make me feel?

Just because?

Does it really matter why?

I only know that I do

And that makes all the difference.

So after all of that, back to task. The sermon went through Song of Songs 1:15-3:5. Adam said that Jeff read SoS 2:16 which is the verse inscribed inside his wedding ring. Jeff talked about how you should never stop dating your spouse and even issued a challenge to the men to take their spouse on a date this week and to be creative. The women were to email Jeff at mystudmuffin@cccobb.com with the details for the chance to win a free dinner for two. I wonder how that'll go.

In the message Jeff talked about how time and separation should kindle (not dwindle) love if you are courting the right person. Just before he said this I had been thinking about how awesome it was that Adam was willing to endure unusual circumstances in order to date me. I mentioned in my post about week 1 of this series that I was concerned about starting a relationship when I was going to be on another continent for a semester. You often hear about the perils of long distance relationships and it seems kind of odd to START dating someone you can only contact via email and telephone and won't physically see for the rest of the year. While we didn't officially term ourselves dating when I headed out, we communicated A LOT via the avenues available to us. In fact, it wasn't until one of my fellow study abroaders asked about our relationship that everything was defined. She asked, "Do you have a boyfriend?" I said, "I don't know, maybe." I then spoke to Adam about what he told people on our next phone call and he said that he said we were dating, which was fine with me. When I reported back, she asked, "Are you exclusive?" Um...*shrug* So you know what the subject of our next conversation was. I said I didn't want to date anyone else and Adam said he didn't either and so we were officially in an exclusive dating relationship. Nice and simple. :-P Anyway, I think our circumstances really allowed us to learn a lot about the other person without the distraction of physical temptation. Of course, when we finally did see each other again...in the airport...with my mom...and two friends, it was a little awkward. Good ole' mom, though, made me walk Adam out after he'd dropped us off at our hotel so that we could have a little one-on-one time. Wow, way sidetracked.

I LOVE our story, can you tell? It's so crazy and awesome and always makes me smile.

Jeff also said that we should feel more alive and our faith should grow when we are with that person. Courting is about emotional discovery and airing out our past. If we aren't comfortable sharing our past with our boy/girlfriend, we should not give them our future. During this time we should also talk about our future plans and hopes to make sure the relationship is on the right track.

His final thought was that God can do incredible things in our lives, but only if we obey him. I think he was referring to being obedient in our relationships, specifically in regards to purity within them.

Obedience to God has kind of been a theme for me recently. Jill and I talked about it on Tuesday. I mentioned it in the last message response post. Jeff talked about it in this message. I guess that continues to be my application until I get it down. Not that I am necessarily being purposefully obedient. It is more of recognizing God's will for me and acting on it. Doing what is necessary regardless of how I feel. Sacrificing selfish desires and personal needs to show God's love through my life.

P.S. - Somehow the paragraph spacing stopped after the poem and I don't know how to fix it again. Anyone who knows what may have happened, please let me know. It looks fine in compose mode, but when I hit "Preview" it all squeezed together. Thanks!