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Choosing to Die

Posted in God, Holy Spirit, Jesus Christ, Marriage, Prayer, tagged , , , , , on February 19, 2015| Leave a Comment »

I don’t know about you, but choosing to die is not my first choice.  In fact in almost every scenario that comes to mind I am choosing the path that provides at least a glimmer of hope of survival.  Our sense of self preservation is strong.  But Jesus preached and modeled something radically different than self preservation.  In Matt 16:25 He said, “For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for Me will find it.”  As we follow His life we see that Jesus willingly lived in obedience to God’s plan and for our salvation which included dying to His self.  As a professed believer and follower in Jesus it is of paramount importance that I come to grips with what Jesus is asking me to do.

Dying to self is the foundational act of faith.  Truly living a life where Jesus is Lord means that we are not.  We, or at least I, are selfish creatures.  In most cases my world revolves around what I see, perceive, and deem appropriate.  Although I am loathe to admit it, I often want what I want and I will act in accordance with that desire much of the time.  Judging by the world around me that is true of most people.  When I committed my life to Christ, when I gave Him my life, I recognized that this innate selfishness was liable to be a problem.  But I trusted Jesus to do something about that.  As I look back over 30+ years of following Him I can see much progress yet there are still times that the old selfish man rises up.  Thankfully God has given us the Holy Spirit to help us with this.  Our response is to die to self daily and trust Him to help us.  And He does.

Jesus modeled dying to self literally.  Not everyone is called to willingly put themselves into situations where physical death is the likely outcome, but that is part of what we sign up for.  As I mentioned yesterday history is full of the faithful losing their lives at the hands of despots and tyrants who war against the one true God and His people.  Today as I write this many believers will perish at the hands of ISIS followers.  My heart hurts for them and I am moved to intercession.   We also have a dear family that we love and support that have been ministering in central Asia now for 11 years.  They recently relocated to Turkey and are beginning a new work among the Muslim population there.  Please join me in praying for God’s protection, grace, and mighty power upon all those in this part of the world.

In the Garden of Gethsemane Jesus prayed, “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me.  Yet not as I will, but as you will.” Mt 26:39.  I have prayed something resembling the first part of that prayer many times… “Lord get me out of this bad or unpleasant situation.”  That is not dying to self though.  Dying to self is the entirety of Jesus’ prayer… a request for another option other than the obvious, but total submission to the Father’s plan and purpose.

Because Jesus submitted to the Father’s will He did have to suffer an agonizing night and day of torture, humiliation, crucifixion, and death.  However, He also purchased my forgiveness and forgiveness for anyone who trusts in Him.  He also launched the Church to proclaim the truth of reconciliation with God through faith in Him.  He broke the power of hell and the grave as He proved that heaven is our final home and the grave is just a doorway into larger life.

I don’t know about you, but I get pumped up when I think about what Jesus has done for me and for you.  Before I close I want to flesh out a little more what dying to self looks like for us.  Let’s get practical.  I think the fifth chapter of Ephesians is a good place to start.

For husbands it means cherishing your wife, listening to her, working hard to understand her needs and then striving to meet them.  In the list of priorities after you wife would be your children.  These come first – before the man-cave, guys night out, or your pet project.  I’m not saying that those fun things can’t happen, but they have to be down the priority list and only occur when others are considered and acted upon first.  I have to laugh because I have handled this in every way imaginable and most of them have NOT been the right way.  To do these things for your wife and children, but be secretly pouting for the guy things, is not dying to self.  Time spent with the Lord asking and allowing Him to instill in us the desire to love and cherish our family is how we get to the place we can do this right.

Wives dying to self really comes down to a very simple word – submission.  I know that opens a can of worms and I am not going to take the time to chase and catch them all.  Staying simple, Jesus is your Lord as a believer.  You are to submit to Him just as your husband is to submit to Him.  To the extent you can do so without violating the specific leading of the Lord in His Word, you are to live in harmony under the leadership of your husband.  Just like the husband who must give up his will to seek the Lord’s will first and then serve you and your children, so too you must dwell in your prayer closet with the Father to have His heart and attitude in this.

I can think of dozens of scenarios and situations and I am sure you can think of many unique to your life.  In every case the right path is similar.

It begins with a vibrant relationship with the Father through consistent, constant prayer and reading of the Word of God.

It is undergirded by the consistent petition, “Lord make me more like you.”

It progresses through consistently asking and acting upon the thought, “what is best for the other person.”

It is solidified by celebrating the joy and blessings in the lives of others.

It finds it’s rest in thankfulness to the Father for allowing you to be an agent of His grace.

And along the way, without ever focusing upon yourself or your wants, you will find yourself blessed with peace, joy, love, and a deepened faith in the One who loves us more than we can ask or imagine.

Be blessed and be a blessing today my friend.

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True North

Posted in Church, Holy Spirit, tagged , , , , , , , on May 19, 2012| 1 Comment »

I’ve taken members of my family to the Boundary Waters Canoe Wilderness Area on the Minnesota / Ontario border four times beginning in 1998. The BWCWA is a heavily forested, roadless region dotted with thousands of lakes, ponds, rivers and streams. The way you get around is in a canoe and by foot.  The waterways are connected by portage paths that hearken back to the days when the Native Americans roamed the land.  Paddling your canoe across the lakes and through the quiet streams is an incredible experience.  Carrying all your stuff from one waterway to the next is hard work.  And while it is not “fun” in the traditional sense it carries with it a strong sense of satisfaction to successfully negotiate a difficult portage in an efficient way.

The times we have gone to the BWCWA we have used a map and compass for our navigation.  I really enjoyed the navigation aspect of our trips because we were forced to use a skill set that we weren’t familiar with and it required focus and attention to detail.  The skill of successfully using a map and compass is called orienteering.  Simply stated orienteering requires;

  • accurately identifying your place on a map,
  • determining true north with the compass,
  • adjusting the map to align with north on the map with true north, (for you true orienteering experts I am skipping the discussion of declination for sake of simplicity)
  • selecting the direction you want to go on the map,
  • transferring that direction on the map to the direction over the lake you want to travel,
  • picking out a landmark in the direction you want to travel,
  • striking out toward that landmark with a consistent focus upon heading directly toward it.

On one trip we covered 50 miles in 7 days with about 15 different portages.  To cover this distance with a group of young men required that we be efficient with our travel time.  Mutiny was a constant concern…  Okay, maybe I exaggerate a little, but it was important that we not paddle aimlessly around the lake trying to find the portage.  Being able to accurately select the location of the next portage from 1, 2, or more miles down the lake was crucial to paddling the shortest route and minimizing the pain and soreness that our “fun” generated.

As I think about those trips I realize that there are a few keys that made our orienteering successful.  Obviously the map and compass were essential.  We had to know where we were, where we were going, and what lay between us and our destination.  The map showed these things provided we knew how to read it.  The compass told us where True North was.  It gave us a constant and correct location of North which we could then align our map and then our direction to.  With the map and compass as essential tools, we also had to have the right map and we had to understand how to read it.  Finally we had to have a focus upon the point we were heading toward and we had to paddle.

I’m struck by how well this mirrors life.  Our map is the Word of God.  It gives an exact picture of the lay of the land… what lies around us, the path we should take, the dangers that lurk if we go the wrong way, where our destination is, as well as lot’s of detail about areas we aren’t likely to explore.  The compass is symbolic of the Holy Spirit.  The Holy Spirit is the third person of the Trinity who comes to live in us when we are born again.  The Holy Spirit is our guide and counselor constantly pointing toward truth in a similar way to the compass always pointing toward true north.  The Word of God and the guidance of the Holy Spirit together can always show us the right direction.  However we still have to focus upon the point which they identify and we have to do the “work” to get there.

At any one of these points we can get off track.  There are a lot of lakes in the BWCWA and if you don’t know where you are, the map can be confusing.  Map reading takes some practice.  The most important concept in reading a map is to know where you are.  Unlike modern GPS which tells you where you are, paper maps expect you to be able to pick out your location.  The bible has some verses which help with this.  Romans 3:23 says “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”  That’s the starting point for all of us.  But the next step is found in several places but I like the standard from John “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, to the end that all who believe in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.”

The Holy Spirit who resides in the believer is gentle and loving.  He does not demand or control.  He prompts, counsels, encourages, and gently corrects.  There are three terms used that describe a negative reaction that we can elicit from the Holy Spirit: we can grieve the Holy Spirit, we are told not to quench the Holy Spirit, and finally Jesus mentions blasphemy or sin against the Holy Spirit.  I’m not going into these in-depth now, but the point I want to take away is we can choose not to follow the direction the Holy Spirit much like we can ignore the information our compass gives us.  We do this to our detriment, but we do have this choice.

Picking out a landmark is one of those subtle points of orienteering that make navigating on the water so much easier than land navigation in a trackless area.  The corollary to this is being actively involved in the Church and being well read of inspirational literature.  Here are a few general landmarks that often come up – asking what would Jesus do, considering what my dad would do, reading about examples of others who have lived selflessly, observing humble, faithful followers in the Church.  These give me a landmarks to aim toward.  These are examples that the Word and the Holy Spirit point to.

The last step in this four-step process is the work we do.  We can do the first three and yet still end up dead in the water if we do not exert our will, strength, and energy in striving toward our destination.  As I think about this point it brings to mind the multiple different paddling experiences I have had… many times in beautiful weather with light winds or even a slight breeze behind me.  The time when we rounded the corner of an island and then headed into a strong breeze that was beginning to lift whitecaps.  It was day one of the week so our canoes were heavily loaded and riding low.  My anxiety was mainly for my wife who was in the canoe with our son Jon.  We really had to stroke long, hard, steady and the going was tough, but we all made it.  There were paddles in rain and mist that made the selection of a landmark more difficult and we had to trust the map and compass, constantly consulting them to be sure we were headed in the right direction.  We have made it through in all these cases.

When I say the last step is the work we do that includes the times of Godly rest.  God rested on the seventh day of creation which gives us an example we are to follow.  Our pastor is about to take a well deserved and necessary sabbatical.  We wish you well Pastor P!  Isaiah 41:31 tells us that “They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings like eagles, the will run and not grow weary, they shall walk and not faint.”  The work is the sum of activities that we undertake to get to the destination we are striving toward.

One of my life metaphors is that life is an adventure.  I see the map, compass, landmarks, and the work before me.  And in my heart I hear God whisper, “Dan, come out and play.”

Have a blessed day.

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I Think, I Believe, I Know

Posted in Holy Spirit, tagged , , , , , on April 20, 2012| Leave a Comment »

Semantics, the subtle nuances in the meanings of words, has always fascinated me.  I enjoy good puns and having a good grasp of semantics is essential to delivering or catching a good pun.  (I know many family members would question whether the adjective good should be applied to my puns, but humor me here please.)  As a reliability consultant the past 3-1/2 years I have been asked for guidance on all elements of reliability.  For many of these elements I have a deep knowledge and I can answer with total confidence.  These are things I know.  For some elements I have a good knowledge and I can answer with only slight qualifications to the veracity of my statements.  These are things I believe.  Occasionally I have to give my best guess.  These are the things I think to the best of my current knowledge.  I use these three compartments: What I Know, What I Believe, and What I Think not just to help me express work-related information but to guide my actions and define who I am.  I suspect everyone has these compartments even if they don’t take the time to mentally process each statement.  In my opinion the statement “As a man thinks, so he is” is true in the broadest use of the word think.  However in my definition it is what a man believes and knows that more accurately defines who he is.

A person’s worldview is the set of beliefs that determine their understanding of the world and how they interpret future data that they take in.  Fundamentally a worldview can be broken down into a list of value statements that a person holds.  Here are some examples.

  • In my work we have built a Model of what excellent Reliability looks like.  The heart of that model is the 310 value statements which give discrete elements of what equipment reliability is.
  • We are in an election year and the presidential campaigns are busy laying out their candidates value statements (or trying to pin negative value statements upon their opponent).
  • Marriage is established upon certain value statements… we are faithful to one another, we will communicate consistently, I will take out the trash… important things like that.
  • I can think of many examples throughout history when groups of people found it necessary to document their shared beliefs as value statements –
  • the Apostles Creed in the early church,
  • the Magna Carta in England,
  • the Mayflower Compact as the Pilgrims arrived in the New World,
  • our Declaration of Independence.

These are all attempts to capture what a group of persons collectively know and believe.

It is a worthy activity for a person to take the time to assess their own Life to understand what their core beliefs are and where they come from.  Over the past several months I have taken a closer look at this in my life.  I have determined that one of the greatest sources of discontent is when our actions do not align with our core beliefs.  A corollary to that is one of our greatest sources of disconnectedness with others is when our core beliefs are not well founded upon truth.  While I may cover a few of those beliefs, my main goal today is to describe an effective process to define core beliefs.

What are the sources for what you believe?  The most common is experience.  The older we get the larger the repository of experiences that we have had.  I am convinced experience provides us many lessons.  It’s important to remember that even our experiences are interpreted through our existing worldview, but that is the case for all of us.  The important point is to consider our experiences as objectively as we possibly can AND allow the other sources to shed greater light upon our experiences.

The next source is what others we trust and love have experienced.  Being married provides (or at least it should provide) a level of intimacy with another that gives us a very deep experience base.  A little less intimate, but still quite valid are parents, siblings, children, and close friends and other family.  We are not meant to do life alone.  The knowledge and wisdom of family and community are an essential safety net when we are building our core beliefs.  There is a reason that terrorists isolate themselves into cells.  They must do this to stoke the misguided beliefs they hold and to keep truth and rational thinking out.

The next source is the accumulated historical wisdom that has been handed down from great thinkers and doers in history.  For me as a believer in God and a follower of God’s Son, Jesus, I recognize that He has given us a guidebook for life.  I consider the Word of God to be paramount in setting my beliefs.  However I also recognize that the Word of God must be considered within the context of the entire bible.  I know that it has to be accurately interpreted.  (The Holy Spirit helps us with this, but at least for me I sometimes don’t listen as well as I should.)  There are more sources which do not carry the same weight as the scriptures but are nonetheless helpful.  The writings of CS Lewis are a great example in my life.  Another recent example for me was reading the Federalist Papers.  I was fascinated with the thought processes behind the development of the US Constitution.  Also I put some of the schooling and training I have had into this group.

A fourth source, and I put this source a good bit behind the first three mentioned, is the third-party accounts of others.  While there is still value in these, They must be treated with more discernment.  I have three major considerations that I find necessary for third-party accounts.  The first is that I do not know their worldview and whether truth is their standard or not.  The second is the timeliness of the information.  While prompt gathering of evidence is crucial in getting complete and exact data it takes time to get all the information to make a correct assessment of what it really means.  When building an accurate worldview, we cannot base it upon snippets of information.  The third is the accuracy of the communication from the third-party to me… did they effectively verbalize it and did I effectively hear and interpret it.

The last source is all the various means of information sharing that exist today.  The tops in this category are the few periodicals, websites, and a small number of news shows that I have developed confidence in their striving for truth.  Most fall far short of these.  I still occasionally tune in to network news, but I always take what they say with a grain of salt.  Sadly the biases on these programs must be taken into account.  (Even sadder is that many people do not and their worldview is skewed by these biases.) I also look to blogs such as this one and others that I have developed confidence in.  In a way some of these are like third-party accounts mentioned above.

Two other points before I wrap up today’s post.  First every person has a worldview whether they realize it as such or not.  I have mentioned all the primary sources of information where we gather facts to construct our worldview.  Our worldview sets the direction and course of our life, it puts boundaries in our life, and ultimately it determines who we are.  This worldview is the sum of all the value statements that we hold to be true.

Second as a believer, God has given us His Holy Spirit.  In John 16:13 Jesus describes one of the roles of the Holy Spirit, “13 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.  We are bombarded by lots of information every day.  Some true but a lot of it not.  We must have help in discerning that which we should hold and that which is proper to discard.  The Holy Spirit desires to help us in this and He will if we but ask and trust.

I believe there is ultimate truth and it rests with God.  Every person sees and experiences only a small slice of life from which to build their worldview.  Consequently we have varying elements of our worldview that are and are not true.  For me it is one of my life goals to know and align with what is true.  I can only do this if I am humble enough to admit that I may not have it right… that what I think and what I believe are not true.  Finally I have to objectively and prayerfully analyze the data I receive each day considering the source and how it relates to what I know.

I want to please God by discerning and living a true, faithful, and honorable life.  Since my worldview defines me, I need to get it right.  Asking God to help me, this I strive to do.  I encourage you as you strive to know what it true too.

God bless you today and always my friend.

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When Wings Make Flight

Posted in Church, Holy Spirit, Prayer, tagged , , , on March 21, 2012| 4 Comments »

The most wonderous and perhaps the most hazardous period in a bird’s life is when it first learns to fly. Given wings by the Creator a bird is meant to fly. Yet in those first few days of flight a young bird is liable to find itself on the ground stranded and within reach of cats and other animals that are more likely to swallow it than help it back up into a tree.  New believers are a lot like those young birds.  Entering a life changing relationship with the Lord gives us wings and prompts us to desire flight.  But it is dangerous to believe we are ready for all the world, the flesh, and the devil are going to throw at us now that we are on God’s side opposing them.  We must realize that becoming a believer in Jesus Christ means we are at war.  The verse, “the devil prowls like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour” certainly applies and new believers are his particular target.  Knowing this to be true and having a daughter who is enthusiastically embracing her newfound faith, I thought it would be appropriate to share a few keys that I have learned about flying the flight God created us to fly.

As in many list of “To Do’s” the following will be categorized into what I understand are 1) Must Do, 2) Ought to Do, and 3) Nice to Do.  I encourage you to ask the Lord to highlight to you which of these you need to prioritize more or less.

MUST DO

1) Get an easy to understand bible and dive in.  I read several translations, but I recommend getting one that has a fair amount of scholarship behind it like the NIV or NASB.  While all the bible is “God-breathed” (See 2 Tim 3:16) the gospels are the best place to start.  Get to know Jesus, our Saviour and Lord.  After the Gospels I would move through the New Testament before tackling large portions of the Old Testament.  I have gone through Psalms and Proverbs a number of times reading small sections each day with longer readings from the New Testament. 

2) Since the bible is inspired by the Holy Spirit ask the Holy Spirit to give you understanding as you read.  It is His story and He wants you to understand and apply it to your life.  Take time to think about what the Word of God is saying.  This time of meditating upon the Word should be intentional.  A time to quietly talk to God and listen for Him to speak through His Word is a vital element in our life.

3) Talk with God.  When we are His, God says He will never leave us or forsake us.  Take time to begin to converse with Him.  This will begin with our talking… most of the time.  But be aware that He will impress truths from the bible upon your heart.  That is one of the ways He communes with us.  There are many types of prayer: adoration where we simply glory in Who God is, supplication where we lay our needs before Him, intercession where we lift up the needs of others, confession where we open our hearts to God and pour out the dirty laundry of our lives and ask His forgiveness.  All of these have their time.  But every day set aside time to just talk with the Lord.  And whenever you think of Him offer up a word of thanks.

4) Find a local body of believers and join them.  The Church was God’s idea.  He calls the Church His bride.  Therefore we should joyfully seek out a faithful, bible-believing, gospel-living church and join.  As in all our decisions after we become believers we should ask Him to guide us.  Sadly not all churches are faithful or bible-believing, or gospel-living.  Steer clear of those churches.  The Lord wants you to be plugged in and nurtured so He will guide your steps.

5) Give.  Jesus is our model… He GAVE His life for us.  God is our model… He GAVE His only begotten Son.  We are encouraged to give over and over.  I suggest reading about giving and tithing then praying for God’s guidance in this area.  Jesus talked about money more than prayer.  I think it is because money and how we handle it are a much clearer indicator of the condition of our heart than whether we pray or not.  Prayer comes easily and in a way it is usually doesn’t cost much.  Tithing always costs us, but the growth of our faith is assured when we tithe trusting in God to provide.

OUGHT TO DO

7) Get plugged into a small group.  This may happen through your association with a local church, but if not then seek out a group of believers who share your faith and a lot of your interests.  If there is a co-worker, a neighbor, or friend who exemplifies the faith you want to have, ask them if they know of any small groups that might accept a new person.  As in seeking a church to join, pray for the Lord to help you land in the right place. 

8) Seek ways to minister to others.  I am not talking about immediately getting a guitar and beginning street evangelism.  I am saying take an inventory of your giftedness (and God has given everyone at least one gift and usually more than one) and offer it up to God.  The list of ways to minister is just about limitless.  To minister is to simply find ways to reach out and help others in Jesus name. 

9) There are 3 types of individuals that everyone should have in their life – a Paul, a Barnabas, and a Timothy or in other words a Mentor, a Friend and Peer, and a young protegé. 

Paul in the bible was a leader in the early church and wrote many of the New Testament epistles.  One of the characteristics of Paul’s life was that He took a few individuals under His wing and acted as a mentor to these younger believers.  So a Paul is a mature believer who can mentor you. 

Barnabas was a peer with Paul.  Barnabas was known as an encourager.  He acted as an intermediary in a personality clash between believers and helped bring reconciliation.  So a Barnabas is a friend and peer in the faith.

Timothy was one of the young men that Paul mentored.  He was following in Paul’s footsteps although he seemed to lack a lot of Paul’s confidence early on.  Two of the epistles are actually letters from Paul to Timothy where Paul exhorts Timothy in the work of the church.  Timothy is a young believer that you can pour into from what God has given you.

A word of caution here as I felt the Holy Spirit prompt me – these should be persons of the same sex as you.  If you are male these persons should be male and if you are female then they should be female.

10) Practice spiritual introspection.  Those are fancy words that simply mean you ask God to reveal things in your life that need to change and then, with His help, you change them.  If you are doing the things mentioned above; reading the Word, Praying, having Godly fellowship then these will come up sooner rather than later.  I was intentional about this early in my walk and there were several things that I realized did not fit with the new person that I had become.  The bible says we are a “new creation”.  It is incongruous to be a new creation and walk in the same old sin.  You will not know lasting peace until you go through this.  In reality you will still have deep-rooted things to address later as you mature, so you might as well get started early.

11) Ask God to fill you with His Holy Spirit.  This is closely related to the item above.  I would rather put this in the must do list, but…

I am a strong-willed person.  That can be positive and negative.  In the positive, when I commit to something I am going to fulfill my commitment.  In the negative, I can go good places that God did not intend for me to go.  I have realized that I must be submitted to God completely, even to the point of giving Him authority over my will.  When we are born again His Holy Spirit is placed within us.  However the Holy Spirit is a gentleman.  He does not dominate or dictate.  He moves and fills what we give over to Him.  I realized I wanted the Holy Spirit to fill all of me.  That is my continual prayer… God have your way in me completely.  Holy Spirit fill me completely.  He has transformed much of me and I anxiously await His continuing work in me.  I urge new believers to begin this transformation. 

NICE TO DO

12) Begin reading good literature.  CS Lewis is my favorite author.  There are outstanding thinkers and there are outstanding writers.  CS Lewis was one of the greatest of both.  There is a plethora of great things to read that edify the mind and spirit.  I encourage you to read deeply of the godly authors and classic literature.

13) Begin listening to uplifting music.  There is an area of our soul that music touches that talks, sermons, and writings can’t quite reach.  Music that glorifies God is a balm that soothes the spirit.  While my personal preference is contemporary christian music, there is much that does not specifically fall under that genre that can still be refreshing and uplifting.  For both of these two follow the admonition of Philippians 4:8, “Fix your thought on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable.  This about things that are excellent and worthy of praise.”

14) Get fit.  The bible says our bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit.  We should treat that temple as something special.  Diet, exercise, and getting out of addictive and hurtful habits should become our goal.  While this may have the same end result physically as getting in shape for vanity reasons, it is radically different.  We don’t look good for others to admire.  We are fit because we are made in God’s image and we are special to Him.

15) Work diligently.  As Christians we reflect on our Lord.  If we are poor workers then we give people a bad impression of the Lord.  Paul admonishes us to “work as unto the Lord.”  We should be the top performers where we work because we have reasons to have a great attitude, we are empowered by God’s Holy Spirit, and we know that God’s got our back.

These are 15 areas that I have found as helpful in my walk with Christ.  Even as I wrap up I can think of other helpful steps, but for now these will do.  Please send comments with the steps that you found most needful when you first came to faith in Jesus.  I would love to hear from you.

Take care and God Bless.

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Hearing God

Posted in God Stories, Holy Spirit, tagged , , on June 15, 2011| 9 Comments »

I had never really thought about it too much, but as I was speaking with a wonderful brother yesterday, he asked me exactly how God spoke to me.  I had related the following story to him.

When we moved to Tennessee we owned a house in Louisiana that we had purchased 4 years earlier.  The economy in Louisiana was in a decline when we moved and houses were not selling.  We had no money to purchase a home with until our house in Louisiana sold.

We looked at houses in Tennessee on our first visit to the area in January.  The realtor had our list of “needs”, our list of “wants”, and the price we could afford when our house in Louisiana sold.  He showed us 20+ homes that first visit focusing upon our needs and the price range we gave him.  None of the houses enticed us.  At the end of the day he took us to a house that had our needs and wants, but it was listed for twice the price we thought we could afford.  As we left the home that day I asked Max, the realtor, “Do you think $*** could buy this home?”  To which he replied, “That will never touch this house.”

Well I took the job and we moved, with my wife 7 months pregnant.  (Guys, my wife was very good about it, but I don’t recommend that as a general rule.)  We ended up in a two bedroom apartment with our 2 children and the 3rd soon to arrive.  We continued to look for a house and praying for our house in La to sell so we could actually consider buying a real home.

Child #3, Christin, arrived in early May and now there were 5 of us in a two bedroom apartment.  In our search we continued to focus upon our needs and the price range we could afford.  However we were drawn to the house that we couldn’t afford that met the list of needs and wants.  (I just want to point out the wants were not extravagant… I wanted a basement and Lisa wanted 4 bedrooms.)

On a Saturday in mid June we were driving around town with my parents showing them the few homes we were considering AND the home we liked but could not afford.  As we parked in the driveway of the home we liked another car pulled in behind us.  It turned out they were the co-builders of the home as well as neighbors.  We visited with them and they took us through the house.  We were so engaged in the conversation with them as we exited that it wasn’t until we got to the cars that we realized Christin was inside the house asleep in the living room.  We never discussed any business aspects of a purchase and while we liked Steve and Nancy, there was nothing to make us think we were closer to the purchase of the home until our house sold in Louisiana.

That Sunday night, or more precisely at 2:22 am Monday morning, I woke straight up with a clear sense of the Lord’s prompting.  My first thought was that God wanted me to pray for someone or something so I rolled out of bed onto my knees.  As I waited a few moments for the Lord to lay someone on my heart, it was quiet and nothing came to my mind.  So I prayed, “What is is Lord?”  To which the Lord spoke very clearly to my heart, “Dan, I am going to have you say special things to special people.  And to prove that I am going to take care of your house today!”  I said thank you Lord, waited a few more moments and then climbed into bed where I slept well until I got up quite joyfully the next morning.

As I brought Lisa her coffee in bed, I told her exactly what had happened and exactly what the Lord had said.  I remember her response, “So the Lord is going to take care of our house this week?”  “No Honey, He said He was going to take care of our house TODAY!”  I left for work fully expecting our realtor in Louisiana to call and say the house had sold.

About mid-morning Helen tracked me down and said Dan, you need to call your realtor.  I grinned and said, “I knew you were going to tell me that today.  Did Jimmy (our realtor in LA) leave his number?”  She told me not Jimmy, but Max, the TN realtor.  I remember thinking, I wonder what Max wants.  Maybe Jimmy called Max and a deal is going to work through Max.

I called Max and his first words were, “Boy, you’ve really done it.  Who have you been talking to?”  Well I was totally thrown off.  I thought we had done something wrong by the question and tone he used.  I asked what he meant and was something wrong.  He said “No, nothing is wrong.  Did you talk with anyone this weekend?”  Well the lights started to come on, “Yeah, we went by that house we like and we met the people that built it.  Is there a problem?”

“There is no problem.  All I’ve got to say is that you must have friends in some pretty high places.  Those people want you in that house!”  We made an offer that morning and by the end of the week we had a contract on the house at the price Max said wouldn’t touch the house.  On top of that they offered to let us rent until either our house sold or my company’s relocation package began helping pay the interest portion of the house in LA.  As I have said before we couldn’t buy a home until we had resolution to the house in LA.  (It was 4 years before it finally sold by the way.)

God had spoken and what He said He backed up in a very real and tangible way.  Now I want to analyze this a little to get at a few points that make up my understanding of how God speaks or perhaps more accurately how we hear or understand God.

First of all, the bible is full of instances where God speaks or directs people.  The vast majority are people who are “His” people: Abraham, Moses, the prophets, the apostles, the new testament prophets such as Agabus, etc.  (Balaam I would put in the category of God speaking to, but not necessarily in the same category as children of God.)  There is nothing in scripture that indicates that God would stop speaking or directing His people.  Therefore, I see no reason not to believe that He still does.

Now there are numbers of people today who claim to “hear from God”.  Unfortunately some we hear about are making pronouncements that do not square with scripture.  That is one of the key characteristics that I believe the Lord has impressed upon me, God cannot lie and He cannot sin.  Therefore if we hear a voice telling us something that is counter to scripture, we question the voice because the scripture is God’s will revealed.

My friend Phil asked does God speak in an audible voice.  While I believe He can, my experience has not been an audible voice, but it was very clear and distinct words.  As my story above demonstrates it can be specific directions with exact, verifable information.  In my experience, this type of specificity is a bit more of the exception.  The norm is a sense of peace as I am contemplating an action or decision that affirms “this is the way, walk in it” and a lack of peace when considering other options.  I will give examples of this in a later post.

Saying this is not an audible voice doesn’t rule out some important aspects of what it is like when God speaks.  First off, there are times when it carries significant emotion… love, empathy, urgency, these have all been associated with things the Lord has spoken to my heart.

Sadly, I have to admit that God’s speaking does not always mean that I have obeyed.  I understand that God speaking is through His Holy Spirit who indwells the believer at conversion.  The Holy Spirit prompted me to stay and talk with an instructor after a training session one time years ago.  On the first day of the week long class, Sid had given us an exercise to draw a lifeline.  I had drawn mine with a step change which I explained as being my conversion experience.  Sid kind of used that as a point of “poking fun” at me for the rest of the session.  On Wednesday he wrapped up class 30 minutes early and asked us all to stay for drinks and discussion.  The Holy Spirit very clearly let me know to stay and talk with Sid.  But I rationalized that I didn’t drink alcohol and I had a project going on at home and so I did not stay.  The next day Sid let us know at lunch that he wasn’t feeling well and that he was going to the emergency room to get checked out.  That night Sid died.  This happened about a year after we moved into the new home that God had miraculously provided.  And I had failed to remember the first part of what God spoke that night… “Dan, I am going to have you say special things to special people…” I grieved the Holy Spirit that day.  I have confessed and repented of this, but as with any sin there were consequences suffered.

I don’t always get it right, but I know that God has covered my sins and failures with the precious blood of His Son, Jesus.  I missed it with Sid, but I am trying to be obedient and listen to what the Lord says.  Sometimes He will speak in a manner that is riveting.  Sometimes it is a gentle nudge.  Sometimes it is through scripture that ignites within me.  Almost always His voice is accompanied with His peace.

I have to end for today, but I will visit this topic more since I feel a burden to share reasons we may struggle to hear His voice.  Please let me know if you read this.  I would be happy to engage in a conversation.  I am a sojourner as you are.  Traveling with others is much more enjoyable than walking alone.

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