Mona Burton

Pride can corrupt our hearing from God when our motive in announcing that we have heard from Him is to impressed others. We can protect ourselves from being deceived by our pride by never claiming God's guidance unless it is clear, by never saying "God said" unless He has, and by being humble when we share with others how He is guiding us.

The willingness to obey without understanding the reasons for God's commands is so important because God sees and knows what we cannot see and do not know. In Jeremiah 29:11 God says, "I know the thoughts that I think towards you, ..." He knows His plans for our lives, we do not. If we obey His commands our relationship with Him grows stronger and deeper and as that happens we will discover that there are times when He will show us what it is He has planned for us. Obedience sometimes help us understand God's workings because when we obey we may be able to see the "pieces fitting together." Obedience brings us into a right standing with God and when we are in right standing with God He may reveal to us His plans for us.

A desire for a relationship with God is more important than seeking God's voice because if one has a relationship with Him then it follows that he/she will hear His voice. Jesus spent time in prayer, talking to His Father, building that relationship with God, and He heard from Him all the time. Hearing God's voice contributes to our relationship with Him. Hearing His voice increases our trust and builds our faith in Him. We are commanded to "press in" to know the Lord because if we do then "He will come to us as the showers ..." His word says if we seek Him we will find Him. Because of Paul's passion for a relationship with God he kept in constant communication with Him and so was able not only to hear Him but he obeyed His every command regardless of the outcome or consequence to himself. That inspires me. I want to have that same passion so that I will obey in spite of, regardless of, despite what may happen, I want to be obedient and leave the rest to Him.

Eli's counsel to Samuel, when he recognized that God was calling the boy was, "Go and lie down, and if He calls you, say, 'speak, LORD, for your servant is listening.' " This was very good counsel. The significance of Samuel recognizing that he is a servant means that he responds to the LORD in humility and submission, recognizing that the LORD, He is God and that he, Samuel, is no better than a slave before his master, and so is ready and willing to be obedient to His every command.

God sometimes does not talk to us because He is not always talking. And no, it is not always because we are not receptive. It is just that He is not talking at the moment. So when we do not hear anything from God, we are to continue doing what we were doing (in His secret place), and patiently wait on Him for further directions.

When one has received an insight from God about a person's spiritual state, one should ask God how to pray for that person. I have had a nudge from God about a particular woman, but as to her receiving help, I do not know. What I do know is that if God reveals something that needs fixing it is because He wants to fix it. We have deliverance service every Wednesday. After the Word has been preached there is usually an altar call when people would come up for prayers. This particular Wednesday after the Word, all the pastors were instructed to pray for the people at the altar. This woman that I did not know came before me and as I laid my hands on her the thought "hurting heart" came to me. I placed my right hand over her heart and prayed that God would take away the pain. As I said I did not know her and I still do not know her to this day. A couple of days later a friend of mine who goes to another church called and while we were talking she mentioned that one of the sisters from her church told her that she had visited our deliverance service that week and what had happened. It turned out that it was the same person I had prayed for. My friend went on to tell me that that sister had lost her twelve years old son by drowning just one month before, hence the pain in her heart. I learned that God really does care about and for us very much and that He is truly "touched by the very feelings of our infirmities, and so works through His servants to minister to those infirmities.

The similarity between God's brief, inarticulate nudges or promptings and David's use of the Urim and Thummim to receive direction is that they are both brief, inarticulate directions from God. When David needs more than a "yes" or "no" answer, God either speaks to him directly or through someone else.

Promptings from the Holy Spirit are clear enough when we are seeking God for direction. He is not the kind of God who would leave us to 'flounder like a fish out of the water'. "No" is just as important an answer as "yes" because either way, it is still His direction and we need to pay keen attention and understand that He at all times know what is best and what He wants of us. I have felt God's promptings to take certain actions and procrastinated for many days. I discovered that when I did not obey immediately there would be turmoil in my spirit and a lack of that inner joy and peace. When I do follow His promptings, even when I don't understand why He is leading me in in that particular direction, I am filled with a sense of calm and my peace and joy return.

It was important for Simon to get a very clear command from the Spirit to go with his visitors, otherwise he would not have gone with them because back then it was a case of the "Jews don't mix with the Samaritans". Hadn't the word been so clear, Peter would not have gone with his visitors. The Jews literally would have nothing to do with the Gentiles. they were considered "unclean", and "not a people". God first had to prepare him by giving him that vision. When he was criticized for taking this action, Simon recounted for his colleagues the vision he had seen and what the Holy Spirit had said to him and everything that took place at Cornelius' house. How the Holy Spirit fell on the Gentiles also. It takes grounded faith to obey the Holy Spirit and take an action you know you will be criticized for later. I have done that before and I have since come to realize that it is nothing more than pride that caused me to disobey. I feared that I would be criticized for being obedient.

If Paul hadn't been sure of his instructions from the Holy Spirit to go to Jerusalem, he might have allowed himself to be persuaded by his friends to abort that particular trip. If, like his friends, I was processing the prophecy from Agabus through the ears of the flesh, I would have tried to dissuade him also. It takes the level of maturity that Paul obviously had, not only to receive a direction that might lead us into hardship and danger, but to obey that direction as well. When God leads us on a difficult path and we choose the easy way, it puts a spoke in the wheel of our relationship with Him; it causes delay in our spiritual development; and we might not be able to move on from there until we allow God to have His way. If that path is leading us to be of service to someone else, then God might very well bypass us and use somebody else to accomplish His purpose.

I think Paul felt relief, reassured, his trust in God restored to its peak, and his confidence in who he was and whose he was resurfaced. All his fears ebbed away and his hurts became bearable. That God spoke to Paul in this way teaches us that God is not only concerned about our souls' salvation, but that He is also concerned about our entire being. He is concerned about the tiniest issue that we face. He knows when one hair falls from our head. We learn from this that God is very loving and gently cares for us in every situation.

Too many times we expect God to show up for us in supernaturally phenomenal ways by giving us signs, or He will have somebody say "thus saith the Lord", and so do not recognize the very simple. So I think the author uses the contrasts to bring to our attention that more often than not God speaks to us in a "still small voice." God's voice comfort and renew Elijah by giving him a new assignment, such an assignment that lets him know that God still loves him in-spite of his fears. It is so, so easy to miss God when His voice is gentle and quiet because, we either do not recognize His voice, or think it is just "a thought", or we just cannot distinguish His from the many other voices clamouring to be heard.

The Holy Spirit makes "the mind of Christ" available to through words, through promptings or nudges, and through glimpses, which help to guide us in the way we should go. It is like walking in the dark with just a candle for light. You can only see far enough ahead just to take one step at a time. This makes me totally dependent upon the Holy Spirit, for it is only He who can intercede on my behalf and in turn relate to me what the Father wants of me. I think how this relates to listening for God's voice, is that if I am dependent on the Holy Spirit then I will wait on Him for guidance and instructions which come from the Father, for He, the Holy Spirit, will only say what He hears the Father say.

In John 14 - 16, Jesus promises that the Holy Ghost (another Comforter) will be given, not only to be with the believer forever, but to be in him; He shall teach the believer all things; He shall remind him of all the things that he heard from the Master; He will testify of Jesus; He will reprove the world of sin, righteousness, and judgement; as the Spirit of truth, He will guide the believer into all truth; He will only speak what He hears; He will show things to come; He will glorify Jesus, for He shall take what is Jesus' and reveal it to the believer. When it comes to guidance, because He, the Holy Spirit, is in the believer, that believer is assured of his every step being guided into all truth, hearing only what He hears and being informed of what is to come. He is our Counselor, our Helper and our Guide. As to hearing God, The Holy Ghost will only tell the believer what He hears from God.

Jesus said, "By Myself I can do nothing," because He is not and was never independent of the Godhead. They all work together interdependently. Even though Jesus is the Son of God, divine in nature, and equal with God in Person, He is subordinate to God in role. We can use Jesus' example as a pattern for our own life and ministry by humbly depending on and taking directions from our Father. I think Jesus would "see" and "hear" the Father by seeking Him through constant communication with Him, especially in His quiet time.

The pattern I see emerging in Jesus' prayer life, based on the scripture, is one of leaving the place where he slept very early in the morning and going away to pray. I think He spends quiet time with the Father before the day begins so that He can receive directions and instructions for the day from His Father. The disciples' desire for Jesus differs in that they wanted Him to 'perform' for the people by healing the sick and delivering the demon possessed, and generally being the most sought after man of the decade. Jesus, on the other hand, just wanted to do what His Father told Him to do. I think Jesus' disciples wanted Him to continue doing what He had done at Peter's mother-in-law's house, 1. because a lot of people were healed and delivered, and 2. they enjoyed being associated with Jesus, who turned out to be such a miracle worker, and by default, put them in the spotlight - making them famous, for, after a while they would be recognized as being His disciples. I did not have a quiet time because I just couldn't 'blank' my mind as I was told I had to do in order to hear from God. To improve the quality of my time with God each day, I can schedule a time which would be dedicated to Him with no outside distractions, no phones, no television, just me and Him.

The kind of shalom that the Prince of Peace will bring about in the New Heaven and the New Earth is one that will eradicate all strife and hostility. Racism, oppression, and depression, will all cease to exist. Diseases, sicknesses and death, epidemics and pandemic will have no place in God's new world. There will be no more wars or rumors of wars. All conflict at every level of life, of human as well as animals, will be eliminated, unrighteousness will be a thing of the past, and all of God's creation will dwell together in His shalom. We, as children of the Prince of Peace, will have the joy of living with Him in a restored world free from sin. A world where true peace will be 'the order of the day,' in which all of God's creatures will dwell together in harmony. There will be no more temptations to face, no more brokenness, and no more tears to dim our eyes. This is just a glimpse of what we have to look forward to.

After seeing the angel of the Lord face to face, Gideon fearfully thought that he was going to die. But the Lord said to him, "Peace. Do not be afraid. You are not going to die." So in relief and, I believe, heartfelt gratitude, Gideon built an altar to the Lord and named it "the LORD is Peace." In the time of Gideon the people of Israel, having 'done evil in the sight of the Lord' again, (they had a penchant for rebellion against God and idolatry),God allowed trouble to come to them from a very despicable enemy who severely harassed them and destroyed their crops and livestock. This was a people who were now living in fear, frustration, and distress because of the Midianites. It was a common calamity shared by all. So when the Lord said "peace" to Gideon it was much more than to just quiet his fear. The LORD was speaking "peace" to the whole nation of Israel through Gideon. In other words what God was saying to Gideon is, "through you I am going to bring deliverance to this people. Through you I am going to put an end to the conflict and hostility coming from your enemy. Through you, Gideon, I am going to restore tranquility and quiet, harmony and fulfillment to Israel. Through you My favour is going to rest upon this people once more. So when the Lord offered peace to Gideon, it was in the sense that He did not come to bring judgement to him and his people but instead to bring deliverance and blessings.

Some synonyms for "save":- rescue; deliver; and "Savior":- Redeemer; Deliverer; rescuer. To earn the name "Savior", that person has to be in the habit/practise of saving or rescuing, e.g. Jesus is the "Saviour" of the world because He saves whoever calls on His name.

The responsibility of the next of kin to someone in his family who was in trouble was to help that person to get out of that trouble. When we were enslaved by sin, Jesus played the role of Kinsman-Redeemer for us by redeeming us. He paid the debt we owed and could never have paid. What Jesus did for us reveals the magnitude of God's love for us. He loves us so much that He sent His one and only Son to die in our place. This tells me that in God's eyes we are priceless. We are so valuable to Him that He gave His only Son to ensure our redemption.

Oh how God has shown His grace to my family! It had not been very long since my father had gone to be with the Lord. My mom was still missing him very much and trying to cope with being a single parent with six children to take care of, four of whom were still at to school when, one evening my little sister who was about eleven years at the time, left to visit a family friend and was hit by a speeding mini bus. She sustained a fractured skull, a severed shoulder bone which pierced and protruded through the skin, along with multiple lacerations. She was admitted into the ICU of the hospital in an unconscious state. By the next morning she had regained consciousness but was delirious and remained like that for three months. Had my sister died that evening my entire family would have been devastated but I think it would have killed my mom. But God in His grace kept her. My little sister will be forty-four in about a week and is as healthy as the proverbial horse with four children of her own and one grandchild so far. It was God's grace that kept her from dying that evening and it was God's grace that restored her to perfect health. God has shown me and my family His saving grace. My parents gave birth to ten children. We were all brought up in a Bible believing home and learnt how to call on the name of Jesus. Today the first five of us are saved while the others are plain ole backsliders from the truth. My mom prays for all of us and we are praying for the rest of them to return home to the Lord. I was blessed with two children of my own and both of them are saved, married to believers and are bringing their children up in the fear of the Lord. As Paul says in Ephesians, it is by grace we are saved, it is God's free gift to us and not by our goodness or good works. I think Peter describes Him as the God of all grace because He is the God who saves, comforts, heals, restrains, provides and keeps us by His grace. Believers may suffer trials and tribulations but it will only last a while, during which time He perfects His work in us, strengthening us so that we can be steadfast in Him, not wavering in our faith. After that, God will restore to peace. The word states that every good thing comes from above and that is because of His grace.

Because of God's steadfast love in the Old Testament, He embarked on a mission of love revealed in John 3: 16, which resulted in the redemption and salvation of man. In 1 John 4 the apostle states that God is love, not that God has love, but that He is love. Love is one of the characteristics of God. It is like His immutability, He cannot change, and so He cannot not love. And so, because He is love, He always demonstrates that love in His dealing with His creation.

Faithfulness has a lot to do with trustworthiness and keeping one's word. If unfaithfulness is found in a person, automatically disloyalty is perceived along with infidelity, and therefore, trustworthiness is an issue. Trustworthiness in a person speaks of one who keeps his/her word. If that is not the case, then that person can be considered to not be reliable. Hence, one has to be a keeper of one's word in order to be a candidate of trustworthiness. The Faithful God inspires trust in me. Because He has shown Himself to be committed to performing His promises, I know that He will do what He says He will do, so I can fully depend on Him. Faithfulness must be part of our character as believers because it is what God expects of us. If we are His and have been transformed into the image of His dear Son, then faithfulness will be a hallmark of our character.

God's willingness to forgive was essential to Israel's survival in the wilderness, otherwise He would have consumed them for their rebellion. Israel was contrite after turning away from the Lord. Moses interceded on their behalf, and when they heard what God said about their wickedness and what He would do to them, the Bible said they mourned and did not deck themselves with their jewels as was the norm. What is so amazing about God's forgiveness is that He forgives everything, sin of all kinds. Whether it be rebellion against God, witchcraft, adultery, perversion, whatever sin it is, if one repents, God forgives.

If we remove the metaphor of Father and Son from our church vocabulary, we will miss the understanding of Him as Ruler and Protector. The feminine metaphors of God that helped me understand God's nature are those of 'woman' and 'mother'. The woman in searching, speaks of perseverance, especially in seeking the lost and not giving up until they are found. A man looks for nothing??. And the mother speaks of caring, comforting, nurturing, and just being there for her children regardless of what may come their way.