Cam Prefontaine

Q2. (Hebrews 5:14) Why will a person have to make mistakes in the process of learning to discern God's voice? If mistakes are part of the process, how can this be of God at all? Heb. 13For everyone who lives on milk is still an infant, inexperienced in the message of righteousness. 14But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained their *senses to distinguish good from evil. * 145 aisthētḗrion (a neuter noun derived from aio, "perceive, discern through the senses") – properly, "the organ of sense" (BAGD), emphasizing the result of sensory experience (sensation) – i.e. moral feeling to know what is right or wrong in God's eyes (used only in Heb 5:14 and in the plural). God our Father KNOWS that children, soldiers, ambassadors, bride, body: Needs to be Trained in order to develop a ongoing walk of Righteousness. In Step with our Training Director: Holy Spirit. Rom. 14:23 23But the one doubting has been condemned if he eats, because it is not of faith; and anything that is not of faith is sin.e BLB.

5 - Q1. ((Judges 6:36-38; Psalm 95:7-10) Does Gideon ask for a sign because of his unbelief? What is the difference between Gideon’s seeking confirmation, and “testing God” in a way that displeases God? Does God mind if we ask for confirmation? When might God be upset with us for asking for confirmation? The Israelites [ Including Gideon ] because of their idolatrous worship of God, had been for 7 years subject to being ravaged by the bordering nations. The Jews prayed for God to intervene but likely as we would, wondered if God heard & would miraculously deliver them as in the past. Gideon, thought of himself as the lowest on the community totem pole. He questioned God's Angel & what He said "The LORD is with you, O mighty man of valor.” What? Who am I? He struggled to believe this could be. Would God really deliver their Enemies into his hand? How could that happen? When? How ? If this wasn't God, directing, then trouble lay ahead within his community / family. He believed the narratives of God's faithful care in the Past, but Today, ??? I believe Most of us / me, want to believe but Doubt in similar ways, and want confirmation /s. Does God mind if we ask for confirmation? Based on His written word, No. He knows us completely including our tendency to doubt, question His desire to bless us in light of our / history of Unbelief. As His children, we need a lot of help. When might God be upset with us for asking for confirmation? When after His repeated outreaches, 1- I persist in doubting His loving will for me & those He loves & Refuse to obey what I am confident He is trying to get me to move with Him. 2- If I were to try to manipulate Him into doing what I want so that He will Prove He is God , Before I put myself out.

Section 4: 1 Rom. 8:26And the Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness. For example, we don’t know what God wants us to pray for. But the Holy Spirit prays for us with groanings that cannot be expressed in words. 27And the Father who knows all hearts knows what the Spirit is saying, for the Spirit pleads for us believersl in harmony with God’s own will. 28And we know that God causes everything to work togetherm for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them. We are His servants, to carry out His Purposes both in our life of service training, & Carrying out His Directives precisely as given by God the Holy Spirit.

Great intentions may come to me, but are they God's best will & plan? I have often assumed & barged ahead to try and make Whatever happen. That reaction of mine has never produced a Godly outcome. It was me trying to do What Only God Does. Thank fully, He uses all things together for good... and teaches me How & when & what I was to express on His behalf, Do, or Say. God did not really need me to do stuff for Him, I think He uses these opportunities to help us learn to walk " In Step " with Holy Spirit. We are learning what we didn't know, we didn't know. I love how the Lord uses these situations to learn "Without Him, we can do Nothing correctly.'

Sometimes God nudges you by giving you insight into the spiritual state of people around you. What should you be asking God about once you receive this insight about them? Lord, is this You or me, wanting to speak on behalf for man's approval or Is This You? What would you have me Do with what I think is You? What is Your Attitude & words or Actions You would have me do, on Your behalf , with that information? Have you ever had a nudge from God that resulted in a person receiving help? Yes. What did you learn from this? I am still learning in this area. Rather then responding with good intentions words or deeds, I am finding myself wanting to respond Only with His attitude, words, love,,,, as His Perfect way alone, will produce in the other what His word was sent out to accomplish. He wants & does use us members of His Body, His Church, to continue in His Redemptive, Healing work. Thank You Lord, for this privilege.

A - B C-As Samuel was given to Hannah, who respected & humbled herself before God and prayed for a son. She promised to give her son to serve the Lord in the Temple once weened. I think that Samuel, learnt a lot by observing his mother with him, possibly a very humble women. Likewise Samuel may have learnt servanthood & humility before almighty God who gave her to Hannah. Elkanah & Hannah knew as the Jews who did their yearly pilgrimage, that Eli's 2 sons were wicked, contemptuous, prideful, violent men who were greedy & selfish. Samuel's parents may have offered counsel to their son, as well as Holy Spirit who had prepared Samuel to be His servant [ Who places God will before his own needs.]

Q1. (1 Samuel 3:1-10) What was Eli's counsel to Samuel, when he recognized that God was calling to the boy? Was it good counsel? What is the significance of Samuel recognizing that he is a servant? 1-Samuel was in the habit responding to Eli's call. Eli told Sam to go lie down, & if He calls again say " Speak Lord, your servant is listening." 2- Good advise. The Lord knew He would need to provide additional coaching on listening for God to speak. Go continue as before, listen & when He speaks, say " Speak Lord, your servant is listening. 3- Submissive attitude is required, It is God who speaks & invites us to Him. Not just a man.

Q4. (Acts 16:6-10; Psalm 27:14) Why does God sometimes not talk to us? Is it always because we aren't receptive? What should we do when we don't hear anything from God? 1- I likely am busy doing the stuff that interest me, gives me satisfaction, purpose, which come easy to me & I can do On my Own & get the desired results: So I think. God is exercising patient & will use whatever we are caught up with for His purposes & our good. So, He waits for us to Come to the End of our own Doing, are disappointed & Open for Ideas. He loves & knows us & will float a thought by us and capture our attention for our personal, relational, spiritual growth. In His process, He calls, draws us to Himself, as He knows exactly how to prepare us to be a great assistant in extending love to others around us ( which we would find satisfying especially as we become aware He was directing the events from the side. Delighting in our growing sense of His love & presence in our lives and Accomplishing His Devine loving purposes. 2- Not hearing anything from God? Lord, thank You for allowing me to come to this place where I Miss You. When I left You to go on with my own agenda, I came to experience emptiness, no fruit. Thank You because I am now again in that place where I know I am not God, You are, and as Your adopted son, I would like to learn by walking alongside You, listening & responding to whatever small thing You would have me do, in Your disciplining process. The end results will all post back to Your faithful loving purposes for me & You. Thanks for counting me into Your Family, for Jesus reconciliation & Holy Spirit eternal presence with me. I love you for placing a desire in me to want intimacy with You.

Q4. (Acts 16:6-10; Psalm 27:14) Why does God sometimes not talk to us? Is it always because we aren't receptive? What should we do when we don't hear anything from God? 1- Possibly to have us become more clear that the Mission is His, not ours. He is the director & we are His servants. 2- 90 - 10 but improving. 3- A loving Father wants to keep us close. Keep listening & doing whatever you were doing, as He would you / me doing, His way.

Q3. (Acts 5:1-11; 8:23; 14:8-10) Sometimes God nudges you by giving you insight into the spiritual state of people around you. What should you be asking God about once you receive this insight about them? Have you ever had a nudge from God that resulted in a person receiving help? What did you learn from this? 1-How would you like me to continue this track You have me on with You? Thank You for being here to protect me from Distractors / tions, otherwise I am done. 2- Yes. 3-Pay attention to His communication style with you. We are all wired up differently I believe, and it shows us how very personal the Holy Spirit is. We ought not impose what we go thru as having to be the same for another. No cookie cutter Christ followers.

Q2. (2 Samuel 5:19, 22-25) What's the similarity between God's brief, inarticulate nudges or promptings, and David's use of the Urim and Thummim to receive direction? What happens when David needs more than a "yes" or "no" answer? God, makes His choice for His purpose. He will use what He will while training His chosen people to be attentive to Him verses being impulsive & striking out on their own & based on how He worked the last time, which was good for then. God is not going to allow us to rely on patterns, ways that seem right to man, But rather use the events to draw us closer to Him to receive the Marching orders & how He will see to the Outcomes. Attentive, Believing, Obedient by faith in His Authority & ways. 2- God knows our hearts, and does provide us with more information as needed. He is God & Lord. Giving into His way will always have the Correct Outcome. Yes it may be difficult, but with them will be His Grace which is Enough.

3-Q1. (Acts 8:26-40; 16:6-10) Are promptings from the Holy Spirit clear enough when we’re seeking God for direction? Why is “no” just as important an answer as “yes”? Have you ever felt God’s promptings to take some action? If you followed through, what happened? My flesh, being inconvenienced, fear of jumping the starting gun, looking foolish, will God give me the words to share, Is this just a Cam thing. REALLY ? Would the Devil be encouraging me to approach another on Jesus Christ behalf? Not a chance! All demons want is to have me do the opposite to God's Plan, and presenting me with Distracting excuses for Rebellion against God's will & purposes. Lord, I dismissed your loving whisper & gave in to the noisy vain objections & I backed out of serving alongside You to bless another. I was acting as god, responded to the outside objections & dismissed your promptings to work with You. Thank You for Your foreknowledge & grace, having covered all my sins, including this one. Thank You for inviting me to join with You in today's activities and walking in & thru Your love for me & others to glorify God thru Obedience with the Next task. Yes He is clear enough. Q2 The "No " is as important as the Yes, as It is likely to get my attention to His plan verse the plan that often pops up as my Idea, timing, or Attitude to how I Should show up and be the Star of a religious work, verses being His assistant, to do only as directed. Q3 Yes. with obedience, the result showed how amazing His way is. It was not about me, but to His glory.

1- Peter was about to participate with Holy Spirit in Non Jewish activities: entering & associating with Gentiles. More importantly Peter would be thinking of the Gentiles as Impure or Unclean, much like a leapors were viewed. He would be disobeying Jewish tradition & would be subject to questioning, critiques from the Jews & Jewish believers. Peter was to join God in His Work & workmanship and therefore God prepared him to be used to deliver the Good News to the Gentiles. While in prayer with the Lord, he was given a vision & explanation as well as the testimony of the three men sent for Peter. Peter was directed by Holy Spirit to Not Hesitate [ for good reason ]. 2- I think Peter would have responded like most of us & given himself to follow tradition or respond as the rest of the Jewish Believers & stayed away or avoided the Gentiles. 3- Peter gave testimony of his encounter with God the Holy Spirit & His message to go with these men. As well as the way he was received by Cornelius & his family who were all Embraced by the Holy Spirit just as He did with the Jewish believers. Who was I to think & stand in the God's way of adding to His Kingdom. The testimony closed the mouths of the Objectors & they Praised God who granted the Gentiles to repentance that leads to eternal life. 4-Faith required to do the above, the kind given Peter by Holy Spirit to believe this message & task was based on God's Authority, Power and Inclusive Love plans. Having obeyed, Peter saw the Workmanship of God in Cornelius's family, their response was revealed to them by Holy Spirit. Similar to Jesus response to Peter, That Flesh & blood had not revealed His identity to them, but that revelation came from God. 5- Yes, I still struggle with fear of man's critical responses & rejections If I Obeyed. Fear of my expectation not being met. Fear of looking like a fool... All the more reason that I be attentive to What He is wanting me to do & Move without hesitation which gives time to talk myself out of obeying God who takes care of the outcomes post obedience. Thankfully He knew I would sin, & opens my ears & receive His amazing gracious loving words, and move on to walking in His righteousness. [ Forgetting the past, and press on to walk in newness of life with God the Holy Spirit. Another personal love experience to feed & grow my faith.

1- Peter like us, had pre conceived ideas which were in the Lord's way of completing His work & offering the Good News to the Gentiles. These ideas were being brought forward to Distract Peter from considering God's personal faith work for Peter to obey. Our flesh, worldly emotions & the devil are used to prevents us from recognizing His purposes before us. In Acts 10: the Lord used angels, a vision, a clear word, confirmation by those sent to Peter, and instruction to not delay by Perplexing the Vision... likely he would have talked his way out of obedience because of the Jewish laws, and what the Jews would think & say. On a daily basis, How often do I respond in this fashion Lord? Do I hear because I want to hear You, and with Your faith gift, believe the Holy Spirit's quiet voice, directed personally to me? Thank You, I believe You desire to work with each one of us Believers, Individually, as our personal Tutor, Teacher, Comforter, Reminder, Truth delivering, that we may have personal intimacy & interact with Almighty God. Thank You! 2- When confronted by believers with the Jewish traditional conviction as the Standard Ops, Peter delivered the details of events associated with Holy Spirit giving Peter his marching orders. :pointed out the other 6 men who were also present as Peter proceeded to immediately put to action the Words given him to Obey. That kind of Faith comes with experiencing the quiet voice of God & having Seen what transpired following faith Obedience. He had come to recognize & respond to Holy Spirit's voice Rather than the Masses contrary opinion. Resulting in Seeing the Work God was completing in the lives of those He called among the heathen gentiles. Thank you Lord, when we Obey your Word via Holy Spirit, we see & experience Your glorious workmanship in the lives of those around us. Thank You Lord, Your Words I do respond to.... and when I don't, Holy Spirit reminds me, He knew I would give in to men, and Yes it was covered, reconciled for by Jesus blood. Deny shame, guilt, judgment which the enemy would have me " live in again " and Follow Me in continuing in the Walk of a Righteous person, saved by Grace again. You truly are the God of Love.

Q2 When captivated by God who is Bigger than anything, personally comforting Paul with His words of life, I get a sense, that Paul wasn't aware of the pain, because God is more profound & satisfies beyond our present need. With God, I can do all things [ Thank You, as You are alway present, & You continue to help us grow to where we have been called. You always complete what You start and it will always be amazing,] Paul is a good example of how God is close by, emphasizing that whatever the Problem, He is Sovereign for Paul and everyone of His children. Follow His directive word.