Psalm 83,42, 43; Psalm 85, 86
Jeremiah 10:11-24; Romans 5:12-21; John 8:21-32
Questions for comment:
How do you hear God's voice?
What things do you do to keep more sensitive to hearing God?
When I write or talk about hearing God I increasingly feel the language of hearing God is too common to abandon yet too proscriptive to be effective. For me, God usually communicates by dream, impression, image and feeling more than an audible voice or even verbally. Yet prayer and opening myself to the expectation of hearing seems to increase the clarity with which God communicates. The more quiet time I take, the more likely I am to understand God clearly. The more I journal (which I do inconsistently) the more I find myself able to do two way journaling and ask a question of God which He then answers in a way that expands my understanding.
Thursday, March 31, 2011
Listening to the Voice of Love: Thursday, Third Week of Lent
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3 comments:
There have been times when God has spoken to me through other people, nature, dreams, images(I think more in terms of pictures or snapshots), and things I may see or experience. There was one time when a word and a phrase from the evening news took hold of me and just kept resonating within me till I finally searched through the scriptures and ask the Lord about it. I think he likes to give words that drive me to search the scriptures, particularly when I haven't been real diligent in reading the word.
Mostly, though, he speaks to me through that still small voice. When I think about all the different ways that God does speak to us, I am convinced that I miss far more than I hear. I also journal, but seem to do so in spurts. I like the idea of asking questions and getting a two way conversation going.
Meditating on a verse, a word or a particular characteristic of God helps me.
I find I really have to quiet myself, particularly in two ways:
One, I have to calm down that part of me which frets, "But what will He SAY? And how will I know it's really Him and not my imagination?"
Two, I have to physically disengage from media distractions. Some of the clearest, most precious moments of communion have come for me while on long out door walks or in the shower-- places where I am cut off from the distractions and responsibilities of my life.
That said, I wish I didn't have to remove myself. I loved this quote my husband found from Janet Soskice:
It would be rash to suggest that exaltation of the spiritual life … has always in Christian history meant the denigration of family life… . But for the most part such things as attending to a squalling baby are seen as honourable duties, consonant with God’s purposes, rather than spiritually edifying in themselves. Most Christian women, for example, think that what they do around the home is worthy in God’s service—they do not think, they have not been taught to think, of it as spiritual. And here monastic figures who, apparently, found God over the washing up or sweeping the floor will be called to mind; but these are not really to the point, since servile tasks were recommended because they left the mind free to contemplate. What we want is a monk who finds God while cooking a meal with one child clamouring for a drink, another who needs a bottom wiped, and a baby throwing up over his shoulder.
God reaches me in different ways, but I have to be in "receive mode." For me this means being in the Word or being quiet after reaching out to the Lord in prayer. Often I see images that then must be prayed about to discover their meaning. Sometimes words flow from a place deep inside. I've learned to recognize these has His words because of the response my body gives -- like a fire in my bones if I try to suppress them. I can easily ignore my own imagination. A few times I have been hit with strong impressions or thoughts in a "voice" that's not the the voice I normally think in: a strong, loving, compelling masculine voice. Twice these have begun with the word "Go." "Go to the fishing peer and talk to the man who is waiting there." "Go up to the 10th deck and talk with the young people who are waiting there." The first time it happened I asked, "Lord, is this really you or am I going insane?" Only going to the fishing peer and finding the man who was waiting for God to send somebody to him answered that question. Obeying these commands have been turning points in my spiritual journey.
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