“My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me.” (John 10:27, NKJV)
This was one unique weekend that seems to linger in my mind. I was visiting Carmel, California, a very small, but yet very beautiful and kind of a traditional city. I was not sure what to expect that weekend. My friend and I just wanted to have a great quite weekend close to the Pacific Ocean. I love the ocean, and I love watching the waves and the tides. But on this particular day the winds were so strong. Standing a little far from the ocean because of the strong winds, I caught my friend watching the waves with great keenness and intensity. Looking at me they said, “You see the power of the tides, and the waves?” I responded in affirmative and then my friend continued to say, “I marvel at the power of God.” “He is the power behind the waves, the wind and tide.” We both watched the same waves, tides and wind, but both got different messages. My friend saw the power of God, while to me; all these reaffirmed the creation story, bringing peace to my inner heart. My friend seemed to be more interested in the trees and the big rocks. Although they did not comment on the big rocks and trees, I could tell that there was more to just looking at the rocks. My friend climbed on the rocks and wanted their picture on the big rocks and the trees. Every child of God connects with the manifestation of his creation in different ways. For me, when I walk along the ocean, I’m normally filled with a sense of calmness and peace of mind. I can linger there forever on a good sunny day. It is also my best place of prayer, I hear clearly from God by just watching the waves and the birds. On many occasions, by watching the birds, God has spoken to me, about his provision. Some people watch the mountains and God speaks to them through the mountains, more than the oceans. Driving along natural forest on Highway 1, we enjoyed the scenery of the forest and the various kinds of trees, and also noticed that some of the trees were trees found in Africa. But my friend was keener than I about the forest. Only once in my lifetime has God used a tree to speak to me, and that was our orange tree in the backyard when he spoke to me about seasons of fruitfulness and how to recognize it. Friends, God can speak to us through nature.
Many times we wait and look for an audible voice from God when he continually speaks to us through what surrounds us. Many years a go I had a job where I reported at 4:00 am PST. This is one shift in my entire working career that I dreaded and did not like. I was in prayer every morning and evening. I told God how much I did not like waking up early, and how I did not enjoy going to work that early. Because of the hours I did not like the job at all. One day walking into the office, I was very aware of my surroundings, especially because it was still very dark and quite. There was a unique voice in the air, it was a bird singing. I was surprised at how early the bird was and being that dark, I thought to myself, “why was that bird awake?” Before long this voice said to me, “Unlike you, this bird has not woken up to look for food, but to praise me”. I will never forget that! As soon as I got to my office, the first thing I did was to fall on my knees and repent; I asked God to forgive me for complaining and murmuring about my job. It took me 2 years to adjust my attitude towards my job, and recognize the hand of God in providing that job, and after that God opened a door for my current Job where I can work from home, and do not have to get up so early.
Sometime back I was in need of large sums of money and had no idea where I was going to get it from. I committed my need and heart desire to the Lord. As the day that that money was needed approached, I began being anxious and started worrying. I remember this like it was yesterday. I was standing in our kitchen window looking outside to the backyard, and outside there was a small bird looking for food in the ground. One of the things I noticed about the bird was that though it knew it was on the ground it was not afraid of its surroundings. The bird looked very confident of what it was doing. Then a voice spoke to me and asked me this question, “When is the last time you threw food at your backyard?” I responded, “Never!” The voice continued to say, “Watch the attitude of the Bird”. So I watched. The bird seemed happy as it dug the ground, and it went in circles, enjoying every move. The voice came back again and this time he said, “The bird knows and is confident that it will find food in the ground, it did not put the food there, it does not know the source of the food and it does not care, but all it knows is that what he is looking for is available”. That very moment I thanked God for his provision of my financial need even though I did not know the source. One day before the money was needed, I had more than what I wanted.
Many times we are looking for a voice from God in prayer or a prophecy through a known prophet when if we could just be in-tune with God all the time, dwelling in his presence in our thoughts, and paying attention to our surroundings, we could hear him speak to us through the very things that surround us. God is able to speak to us any time anywhere, and can use anything to speak to us if we are open to his voice. When we are willing to hear from God, we allow him to speak even through the hurtful situations in our lives. Forget about what theologians say about the steps of hearing from God. You can do it! Jesus promised, “My sheep hear My voice” (John 10:27). So you can hear His voice. His voice sounds like spontaneous thoughts that light up your mind especially as your heart is fixed on Him. So the first step is becoming his sheep; so long as you are his sheep and he is your shepherd you will hear him daily. There are mornings that are very hard for me to get up. When I recognize that I am having a hard time waking up, I quite myself and listen to what he will say. There are days I have heard him say, “This day is going to be very challenging let me carry you though it”. Other days he has said, “You need to get up because there are things waiting for you to do”. My favorite is when he says, “You need more hours of rest”. In most cases, these are days when my to-do-list is longest, but I have learned to obey. Because when I do, I rest and get up and I am able to accomplish what needed to be done. The good news is, you can do this everyday as part of your morning devotion. You can live out of His voice all day, by simply seeing Him alongside you (He is Immanuel, God with you) and staying tuned to spontaneity all day long. The Bible calls this abiding in Christ (see, John 15:4) or “Praying without ceasing” (1 Thessalonians. 5:17).
He enjoys spending time with you. He created you so that you can spend time together and share love together. He died for you on Calvary to restore times of wonderful intimacy and love with him. Friend, the gospel of Jesus Christ is shared in its simplicity by our daily activities and actions. It is not as complicated as people have made it to sound or appear. So you might want to reorient yourself by knowing that the center of life is not being a workaholic. The center of life is sharing love together, and experiencing intimacy and romance with the King of kings, and the Lord of Lords. It is what we do with our lives daily that says how much we love the Lord. It is how we treat other people. It is how we respond to the challenges of our days that say how much we love him. It is how much we respond to temptation that clearly says how much we love him. And if we love him enough to allow him into our daily activities then obeying him will not be an issue. Listening to God’s voice came before the Law. For instance, in Exodus 15:26 the Lord tells the Israelites to listen carefully to His voice and to give heed to His commandments and statutes. Many people think this is all there is to our Christian walk: listening to God by paying attention to Scripture. However, in that context, there were no commandments yet to heed. The Hebrews had recently come out of Egypt and had not yet reached Sinai, which is where God gave the Law. Paul in the book of Romans puts it this way, “For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse…” (Romans 1:20).
By Evangelist Isabella Mwango
Source-stepstolife.org
Inspiration: The Voice of God in Nature
Inspiration: The Voice of God in Nature
Inspiration: The Voice of God in Nature
Inspiration: The Voice of God in Nature
Inspiration: The Voice of God in Nature
Inspiration: The Voice of God in Nature
