How we crave the voice of the Lord, and rightly so! We often think of it as great and momentous: “This is My Son.” “Why do you persecute me?” “Take up and eat.”
In our own lives we seek God’s voice for our big situations. “What job should I take? Where should I live? Is this illness from You, and are You going to heal me? What church should I join? Is he/she the one for me? What do I do with these children? How do I pay these bills?”
In each of our lives are mentors we admire because they are always confident they are hearing from God. Yet we ourselves can feel beset by uncertainty: “Is that You, Lord? Or is it the devil? Or is it me and my desires?”
An easy solution is to practice. No team or athlete goes out on the field without lots of practice when the game isn’t on the line. How do you practice recognizing God’s voice and gain the confidence your mentors have?
One way to practice is in a safe learning environment. Bishop Bill Hamon and Christian International of Santa Rosa Beach, Florida, pioneered the concept of activating personal prophecy in one another—”stirring up the gift that is within us.” Now there are many similar activation seminars available worldwide.
Another way is to stop dismissing the inner tug you have on things that don’t matter. Try doing what the tug suggests.
Jesus said, “faithful in little, faithful in much.” If you need to hear God’s voice on your big issues that matter greatly, then your small issues that don’t matter are a place you can practice for it. When God leads us in things that don’t matter, He is training us to interrupt the momentum of our own will. “I die daily,” Paul wrote (1 Cor. 5:31b). If we can do that in small things, He can trust us more greatly and speak larger things to us.
Do these small tugs sound familiar to you? “Change lanes now. Park here. Wear this, not that. Don’t eat that. Go there. Stay here. Say this, not that. Go up to that person and see what happens.” There are many such. Do you dismiss them? “That can’t be the Lord, because this small thing doesn’t matter.”
Isaiah 30:21 is God’s own promise to you. “Your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, ‘This is the way, walk in it,’ whenever you turn to the right hand and when you turn to the left.”
It’s not the specific thing, small or large, that matters to Him. He’s God—your actions are not indispensable. What matters to Him is your practice: interrupting the momentum of your will, listening and obeying. When we do this, we become who He wants us to be. This is true even if you’re not certain it’s Him, because one thing is for sure: The devil always promotes disobedience. Don’t practice that. {eoa}
Paul Renfroe is a life insurance agent and entrepreneur, completing his doctoral work through the college affiliated with Christian International in Santa Rosa Beach, founded by bishop Bill Hamon.
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