Week 1: God Speaks

When God Speaks: How to Recognize God’s Voice and Respond in Obedience

The three of us met this morning at Denny’s to discuss our studies this week. All in all, I think it was a very fruitful week. I learned some new things and certainly got a blessing from the daily studies. I also think that LB and CH enjoyed the week, each gleaning something a bit different than me.

Recapping the week and our meeting this morning is on my mind right now, I’ll see what I remember before I go work on the pool.

Day 1: God Speaks to His People

After our recap this morning, I think the thing that stands out is my answer to the question, think about a time that God spoke to you and was obedience an issue? I’m sure my answer surprised CH, I had written that I God impressed upon me that I needed to call him and obedience was certainly an answer because I didn’t want to. He seemed genuinely surprised by that, because he doesn’t know me or how shy I really am. He thanked me for calling and said that if it was God telling me too, he sure hoped he would continue to tell me that because it really helped him.

Day 2: God Speaks Words of Life

We all had pretty much the same reaction to people telling us that they had “received” a word from God. I mentioned SU’s comment that maybe people should keep their mouth shut and just DO what God tells them to, rather than trying to find some glory in it for themselves.

Day 3: God Speaks in Various Ways

LB mentioned that he thinks of God speaking with a still small voice, as in 1 Kings 19:12. CH is still having a hard time hearing God, says it is mostly when he is sitting in church during a sermon. I said that I rarely hear God speaking through a sermon any longer, mostly at other times and places. Wonder why that is? Hmm, need to think about that.

Anyways, CH said that is what his wife told him, that she doesn’t get much from sermons either. Most likely because we’ve heard everything and now seek to hear directly from God, at least that is what I’m thinking now. We also all thought that cultivating the relationship was critical.

Day 4: God Speaks to Reveal Himself, His Purposes and His Ways

This one seemed to rattle CH a bit. Wanted to talk about all the questions of life, how he didn’t really believe the earth was only 6,000 years old, that he didn’t think the field of bones actually got up and walked, etc. LB also talked about that and how each of us approach God from our own understanding of Him.

I just said that I ignore stuff like that because it simply doesn’t enter into my daily life. I can imagine that if you were a biologist or evolutionary theorist, that would be on your mind a lot and you would need to reconcile that. I think the Earth is as old as it is and I don’t care how old it is. I think that the main thing we need to learn from these passages is that God reveals as much of Himself to you as you are able to handle.

Day 5: God Speaks and Requires A Response

This was the most fascinating day for me because I looked at one of Jesus’ teachings in a new light. For whatever reason, I had overlooked or ignored the necessity of DOING and APPLYING the things that God speaks to me about as a condition of learning more. Really fascinating when I think about that; it seems to be the key to unlocking the mysteries.

As a practical matter, it should have dawned on me a long time ago because I’m one of those types that only learn by example and doing. I can read and comprehend very well but until I actually try something, I always doubt that it will work. Perhaps that is why so many are unable to function as a Christian: they don’t APPLY what they learn.

^{Luke 6:46} “Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and don’t do what I tell you?

So, week 1 down and I met my personal challenge of doing it daily, calling CH daily and having us meet to recap. We’ve committed to another week, I’ll try to do it again.