Krissi

At the end of your lesson, you said, Ralph, that although we're still imperfect, we should seek God's will and voice. It's interesting that hearing God's voice has morphed into knowing His will. Makes sense. I am willing to obey? I believe I am. I pray similarly to you. I constantly TELL God what I think and desire, then tell Him I want to SUBMIT to whatever He wants for me, and then ASK Him what His will is in this regard. TELL ... SUBMIT ... ASK. Your bottom line, though, is that I don't know God's will because I'm a horrible Christian. You may be right. I sin often, though not nearly as much as I used to ... the trend is good. At least I confess often, or when I think of something I've done or (mostly) thought. I like to think my confession cancels my sin -- but the blood of Christ cancels sins I haven't confessed, too. I'm struggling with memories and thoughts, now, recurring ideas I can't quite shake. As I've prayed, the content of my thoughts has morphed. They're less longing for the good of the past, for the imaginative re-telling of the past, and more this-day sorta stuff. But they're still thoughts ungrounded to my current situation in life, my reality. They're not forward-looking. Perhaps, because of these thoughts/memories/longing I'll never be good enough to hear him? Is this what you're saying, that there's some marker or level of maturity I have not reached that is necessary for God to break through and speak to me? This is what I'm hearing, that I'm too sinful, too proud, too unconfessed ... whatever. I don't measure up. I'm not good enough. So God remains silent as the tears drip down my face, as they are now.

Voice of the flesh -- When I feel that death is preferable to living; when I feel that the trial I am now enduring, though temporary, will never end, that this is it ... life is over. When I feel God wants me to live a small, insignificant, dull life, one that is small and punishing. My flesh screams for a meaningful and big life. My flesh hates the life I'm forced to live now. My flesh doesn't sing in prison, like Paul, but screams to get out. Voice of the world -- When I want recognition for what I can do and don't want to work anonymously or in the dark. The world's voice, to me, sounds like awards and public honours. Voice of the devil -- When I want power, to associate with a particular group of people, to have great influence. Sometimes Satan tells me that I should be with them because I could use my influence for the good, that I could be a little light in a place with no light, but I know this is false. t would be throwing away my calling and life.

These are a couple of the most liberating paragraphs you've written, Sir. I was so worried that I'd get it wrong (and still am) but you're saying, here, that I WILL GET IT WRONG. I should expect to make mistakes. It's okay to hear wrongly and then hone my ear for the next time God speaks. Even though I'm asking God for confirmation for a big decision that, in my mind, I cannot get wrong, perhaps I can get it wrong. Let say I screw up and hear God incorrectly. My heart was open to whatever he wanted, but somehow, my own desires stifled the small voice of the Holy Spirit. Then what? I start again: I ask for forgiveness and ask for him to put me back on the path. This seems terribly painful, but perhaps that's what the Christian life is ... a series of mistakes and corrections, each mistake (hopefully) a big smaller and subsequent correction a bit less jarring. When I don't hear God, or refuse to hear Him, because of some persistent sin, then his voice gets softer. In my case, my persistent sin is my mind. My mind wanders into all sorts of places it shouldn't be, not evil places but away from the present circumstances, which are very difficult. Rather than face these circumstances squarely, I meander back to the past or to an imaginary future. This is wrong. I know it is wrong. I have felt God's nudging in this regard and have often ignored it. I've noticed that when I ignore Him, His nudgings get less potent: when I obey, my relief is palpable. BUT ... the pain of obedience sometimes outweighs the fear of losing his nudgings. That's the sad truth. I confess this. So, sometimes I hear God wrongly because I'm sinning and just don't want to hear what he's saying to me. This deafness is sin, not a well-intentioned mistake. I wonder how often all of us like to think of "mistakes" are sins: is the word "mistake" just a euphemism, for sin?

Gideon asks for a sign because he sensed the significance and importance of his mission and wanted to be certain he had heard God correctly. I see nothing wrong with this. It isn't faithlessness, though commentators suggest this. The difference between seeking confirmation and testing God can be seen in one's motivation. If the undergirding motive for fleecing God is to see what He would do, or to cajole an answer out of Him, then it's a test -- if the motive for fleecing is to confirm a important message or mission, then the motive is pure. People who do not believe in contemporary miracles would find fleecing to be a moot issue: People who believe, albeit tentatively, that miracles still happen today may at some point in life consider fleecing God to make certain of His directive. -- As an aside, I'm a bit curious about whether it is possible to "lesser-fleece," that is, not asking for a miraculous confirmation but something less demanding of god. For example, if I "told" God I wanted X, Y and Z to occur as a confirmation that I heard His command to go, say, on the mission field, this would not be fleecing because X Y and Z are within the realm of natural possibility. But the likelihood, in real life, of having these three things happen is remote. And the need for these three things to happen prior to leaving is great. So is this a lesser sort of fleecing? --

I've told everyone on this blogsite that I haven't heard, yet, the voice of God, but desperately desire to do so. In this regard, I can't be proud as there's nothing to be proud of. I'm ashamed at my spiritual immaturity. IN other things, I can be proud. Even, at times, spiritual things. Pride is the biggest downfall in the bible, as far as I can tell. it's asserting my will over His -- that's how I see it. Of course, I don't know his specific will yet, so what I'm doing is praying very carefully about many issues relating to what I think may be my calling. I'm asking for open and shut doors. I'm fleecing Him. I want to be His servant. I want to be a better Christian -- I want my character to develop to the point where I recognize lingering pride. Mostly, I want to hear His voice.

This makes a lot of sense. God is omnipotent and sees the entire salvation image -- I'm just a little dot within that image. It's like a pointillist painting ... a Seurat, perhaps, composed of little dots that, like pixels, together create an entire image. I'm a dot. No more. I have to be placed in the correct spot in the picture -- this is entirely God's doing. But as a dot, I can choose my colour and in that sense, I must obey. Obedience is being and doing my dot.

I understand the distinction between being and doing, than God wants us to BE (in relationship with him) and not keep asking what we are to do (our mission). Relationship is hard. It's difficult to know God as a person. Almost impossible, really. To have any sense of who Jesus is is to miss his divinity, which seems off-limits to us. I am too focused on what I should be doing, my calling and purpose. I need to refocus on being, on my relationship with Him. If I heard his voice -- not yet, but I'm hopeful -- I think that would go a long way toward making me "feel" as if I were in relationship. That relationship would grow if I could only hear his voice and converse with him, as I do with people in my life. My prayers are like these blog entries -- one-way.

I understand the distinction between being and doing, than God wants us to BE (in relationship with him) and not keep asking what we are to do (our mission). Relationship is hard. It's difficult to know God as a person. Almost impossible, really. To have any sense of who Jesus is is to miss his divinity, which seems off-limits to us. I am too focused on what I should be doing, my calling and purpose. I need to refocus on being, on my relationship with Him. If I heard his voice -- not yet, but I'm hopeful -- I think that would go a long way toward making me "feel" as if I were in relationship. That relationship would grow if I could only hear his voice and converse with him, as I do with people in my life. My prayers are like these blog entries -- one-way.

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? This question terrifies me. I want to hear his voice -- that's why I'm here -- so I'm desperate to hear him talk to me. I don't want to make plans without his will known in advance. I don't want to waste time thinking about what I think is his calling. I want -- no, need -- confirmation. To hear His voice loud and clear. It would seem that if he is calling me to do something, he'd care enough to confirm it and give me the steps needed to go. I feel called to a particular country. Am I really called? God needs to talk to me about this, to confirm what I "hear" in my head and believe is Him. I'm VERY VERY receptive, so that's not the problem. I'm eager to hear Him. I have no idea what to do. When we don't hear from God, does life just stop?

Why didn't God speak directly to Eli? The message was directed to Eli, not Samuel, so there must have been some significance in the fact that Samuel delivered a message that could have been told to Eli without an intermediary. It's strange, that's all. Obviously Eli is spiritually wise enough to know that God could be speaking to Samuel so he would have heard God's voice speaking to himself as well. Perhaps God spoke to Samuel rather than Eli because he wanted to show Eli that his power will be, henceforth, on Samuel. -- I don't think there's anything special in the words Samuel said to God, "Speak for your servant is listening." Eli was showing Samuel that God speaks this way. He was tutoring him. Mentoring him. He wanted Samuel to understand God's voice (presumably because he had heard it himself). Samuel's words didn't open up God's mouth, or even Samuel's ears (as he had heard him already, twice), but pointed Samuel's attention to the source of that sort of sound. God. Sometimes people don't recognize each other's voices. Samuel didn't recognize God's voice. It was unfamiliar. Eli, however, without hearing the voice, assumed it was God speaking. He must have expected God to speak to Samuel.

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? I just spent a couple hours this morning talking to a french atheist about her lack of faith -- in halting French(!) -- after praying for an opportunity to do so for many weeks. Is this a nudge or an answer to prayer? A nudge seem like a partial answer to prayer, a push toward the answer, perhaps. I do not have insight into people's spiritual status. If I did, I'd be obligated to respond in a way that respected the content of the nudge or insight. God is more direct with me. When I pray to witness to someone, at times that person comes to me, or circumstances make it possible -- I consider this more than a nudge, but maybe we're talking about the same thing. Maybe I'm obtuse or stupid about hearing His voice, so He must be more overt. I also just got back from grocery shopping. Sometimes -- not today -- I pray for people shopping in the aisles. I look at their faces and try to think of how to pray. Do I have a nudge from God regarding their spiritual needs? No. Not really. But I still pray according to what I see in their faces.

Though both the Urim and Thimmim and God's nudges are inarticulate forms of communication -- wordless -- it was possible to see God's answer through the use of the U/T. There was, then, visual communication from God. Perhaps the ancient Israelites still doubted. After all, it could have been a chance throw of the dice, no? Nudges are a still less certain confirmation of His will as there is always the possibility that one's own mind is creating this nudge, not God Himself. I'm still very troubled about how God seems to obfuscate when He communicates rather than be direct and clear. The lesson suggests that God can be clear when He chooses clarity, to varying degrees -- why would He ever choose to be unclear??? -- David received both a Yes-No answer from God as well as a detailed plan. I'm sure he was relieved to know exactly how to obey Him. -- Lord, please reveal to me your battle plan for this stage of my life. Show me how to obey ... what to do ... something definite, not nudge-like. Amen.

1) Are promptings clear enough when seeking God for direction? I would think they must be. If God wants us to do something for Him, it is incumbent on God to make His will known. If He chooses to show me His will through nudgings, then His nudgings must be clear. In my spiritual life, I have found nudgings to be a bit ambiguous: I try to follow them, but wonder, often, if it my mind and not His mind. 2) Why is no as important as yes? In a way, "no" is more important than "yes." I pray for shut doors (noes) to not make mistakes. Right now, in my little life, every door is shut, so He is clearly telling me to "stay put" ... for now. "NO" means stop. It suggests two things: a) wait for a yes, b) or the door will be shut forever, that is, "no" means "no." Quite frankly, I've been praying about a particular situation for a couple years and have received, so far, a "no" answer. Still, I do not think it is a "no," however, but a "wait." I feel this in my heart, though wonder, again, if it is my mind or my desires, not His. 3) Yes, I feel God's prompting in little things like what I read for devotions this morning on the Internet. I pray/try to follow through with these sorts of little nudges. Most of the time, the consequences of my obedience are negligible or unknown. I do believe as I obey more that I'll receive more nudgings and, perhaps too, the consequences of those nudging will be clearer. This morning, too, I received a conscience check about NOT saying something to the pastor's wife. I said it anyway. Now I'm consumed with guilt because I'm certain that this was the Lord. I've asked forgiveness and for the consequences of my behaviour to be negated.

This seems foundational -- Paul MUST know God's will in this situation because the church/believers are trying to dissuade him from doing God's will. He needed to be sure, then, what God's will was so he could resist the well-intentioned, but errant, opinion of fellow believers. So God made his will clear to Paul. He gave him that extra dollop of his (audible?) voice so Paul was absolutely certain what God wanted. Maybe, though, Paul wasn't certain. Maybe he waffled and wavered quietly because God's voice, though he thought he had heard Him correctly, could be interpreted as meaning something else. Maybe there was a leap of faith on the part of Paul, precisely because he wasn't certain. I do wonder if deep inside of Paul, he wondered if he was doing the right thing, if he had fleeting doubt or second thoughts. Paul plowed ahead anyway. To Jerusalem. To his death. Did God reveal to Paul the outcome of his journey, his death? Or, did God hold back that information from Paul, so that Paul wouldn't be anguished? -- I want a solid, unwavering faith that God wants me to do a particular thing in my life, which involves a journey to a foreign country: unlike Paul, I haven't heard God's voice. I don't have that assurance. Will it unfold, slowly? Will I ever get it? Do I strike out and let God correct my course as I walk? I need to know God's will ... I NEED TO KNOW HIS WILL.

I’m certain that at the very moment when his wounds were raw and pain severe, Paul was relieved to hear from God with His audible voice. God spoke to Paul about Paul’s own situation. Paul learned that the beating he had just endured was part of God’s plan: perhaps Paul could more easily accept the fact that God had allowed him be beaten and did not intervene to prevent that beating because it did, somehow, fit into a larger picture only God could see. As often happens, I have problems with these passages. To say that God “personally encouraged” Paul makes God seem loving and concerned, but then again, I know God could easily have prevented Paul’s abuse at the hands of authorities. A sovereign God who permitted, if not condoned, Paul’s beatings, troubles me deeply. Although Paul’s beatings are a subset of the larger problem of theodicy, I still don’t understand how a good God would allow a man to be beaten who obviously was seeking His heart. But, as to the topic, Paul did hear God’s voice at a time he desperately needed to hear from God. I like that God reminds Paul to be courageous and brave, and even tells him about the future. I wish God empathised with Paul’s pain and suffering, but at least God tells Paul to keep talking and promised to stick with Paul, and even, at one point promised that Paul would not be attacked or harmed. I’m so confused as to God’s nature. He’s both loving and callous. He plans wee details of the unfolding plan of Paul’s dramatic life, yet doesn’t intervene to prevent Paul's torture, murder and death. And, of course, the thorn remains stuck in Paul’s side … just as the chains fell off at midnight while he was in prison. God does talk to Paul, probably when Paul was doubting God’s goodness (as I am). God didn’t leave him entirely. He spoke to Paul. In sentences. Presumably aloud.

After the drama of fire and deluge-like rains, to Elijah, God's whisper must have seemed like being scorned. He had heard God's voice clearly and audibly in the past, so why did God whisper now at a moment of mental confusion and desperation? Again, and again, I wonder why God doesn't just talk audibly if communication is HIs goal. I think there's a sense of chastisement when God whispers but will not speak. -- Elijah didn't get comfort from God's voice, or I didn't read it that way. Elijah was put back on God's path with work when God gave Elijah something to do, a new assignment. Self-pity was no longer an option if he was to obey God. Elijah had to get up, brush himself off, and busy himself with God's newest assignment. That he did. -- Quiet sounds are less noticed than louder sounds. Muted noises are easier to ignore. When I write, I insert rubbery plugs into my ears which mute, not silence, noise around me. Only then can I concentrate. For this reason, I find it troubling and perplexing that God would choose to communicate in a manner easily ignored and on which it is difficult to focus. Again, if His goal is to communicate, why not communicate clearly to get His point across? I'm frustrated. It's a bit of a game: God whispers and I strain to hear and understand Him. I see no point in this. I'd much rather have God clearly talk only a few times in life, than often worry I'm listening to the sounds of my own mind and not Him. I'm sorry, Sir. I know I'm supposed to understand God's voice more clearly during these lessons, but I'm increasingly frustrated by the futility and process of trying to hear Him when He's perfectly capable of being clear.

One reason I signed up to take this online tutorial is that I need to know God’s specific will for my life. I recently had a unusual and audacious idea, one unlike me, on which I’m moving forward. Tentatively. I am not certain this is God’s voice and need to know. The Isaiah passages with which you opened this section were wonderful because in them it is said that GOD HAS PREPARED (something) for those who love Him as well as revealed (this something) by or with His spirit. Yes! There is something “out there” that God has prepared for me, and, more importantly, He will reveal it via the Holy Spirit. You wrote, “We have the Holy Spirit who can communicate and mediate our thoughts at their most basic level and communicate to our spirits God's guidance and truth.” So, why is this revelation so murky? Why doesn’t God communicate more clearly??? Humility? To answer your specific questions: The Holy Spirit links me and God like old-timey telephone wires used to link callers. This communication is two-way. Thus, the ideas or mind of Christ come through the wire of the Holy Spirit into my mind, just as my thoughts go to God through the same wire. Without the Holy Spirit, I’d be unable to communicate directly as I’d be in the Old Testament era of law. So, I listen to God’s voice by listening to the still, small voice of the Holy Spirit.

One of the things that bothers me is this – why doesn’t God just speak more clearly? Why does he nudge? Hint? Why not speak in a clear voice that’s understandable so I don’t have to worry I’m listening poorly, or not hearing Him at all? The Paraclete, or Holy Spirit, is how Jesus ministers to me today. In the John 16 verse you cite, he promises to guide me into all truth, including future truths. I just reread the John 14-16 scriptural assignment for this lesson. I know this is about hearing His voice, but I'm struck that He hears our voices and promises that whatever we ask in His name, "this I will do." I understand the principle of waiting and God's delay, but am troubled by all the things I have asked in His name that are not done. I have asked to have memories erased, painful ones -- they remain with me. Why? The Holy Spirit dwells in me if I love Jesus. (Do I love him adequately to receive the Holy Spirit, in His fullness ... I wonder). That's one clear message of this section of scripture. When the Holy Spirit is in me, he speaks (bears witness) -- which, in turn, causes me to speak. This isn't quite a dialogue, but at least we're both speaking. Do I hear His voice, though? One of the ideas I find comforting in this passage is at the end, where Jesus says he will stop speaking in "figurative speech" and start speaking "plainly." This doesn't guarantee I'll hear His plain speech, but it does imply I'll hear and understand the words He says to me. Are these words that which is recorded in the Bible? Or is there more? Does God speak plainly to me in prayer? I want -- I so desperately want -- God to whisper to me in plain speech as I pray.

The dual nature of Christ and the triplicate division of the godhead have always confused me and continue to do so. I find your ontological sameness v. functional difference confusing, but am not sure why. I like the idea that Jesus envisions his ministry as work. It’s self-justifying, perhaps, because I like to work. When Jesus said those words about the Son doing nothing by Himself, he was responding to the pharisees desire to kill him for breaking the Sabbath and supposed blasphemy. Somehow, claiming equality with the Father answered their accusation. Pharisee: I want to kill you for being a blasphemer. Jesus: I cannot do anything by myself. I only mime what I see the Father doing. We work simultaneously. I'm not sure how this a response? In a way, Jesus's response justifies their accusation that he’s blaspheming by calling himself the Son, which he only did, again. He doesn’t quite say He is the Son but calls God His father. Your text is great: “Jesus' power is in discerning what the Father is doing -- and then cooperating with the Father in that. Open our eyes, Lord!” The logical corollary would be that if Jesus couldn’t discern what the Father was doing – wanted – then he wouldn’t have any power. Therefore, unless I hear/see/know the Father’s will, I will not have His power to do anything. Since I want and need God's power, I need to know God's will. I also want the sort of confirmation that what I think I heard was truly of the Lord. I want to "cooperate" with God, as you put it, which means, to me, that I am in detailed synchronization with what He wants me to do. And be. I have to BE what Jesus wants me to be as well as DO what he wants me to do. Being seems much harder. Thank you.

The Bible is sketchy about Jesus’ prayer time: I know very little about how he prayed, what he said, or why he prayed. I only know that he pulled away from other people to be alone with God, and that he did so early in the morning before the sun rose. I’m certain he prayed at other times and not just when performing miracles. I’m curious – did Jesus bow his head? Prostrate himself? Face the rising sun? Did he pray aloud? Speak in tongues? Did he converse with God or was his prayer more of a monologue? I know only that he went into the desert … into nature, to pray. Away from people. He didn’t go into a synagogue or human-made structure, but into the desert. And he didn’t invite anyone to come with him. I also don’t know if this was a pattern, if Jesus prayed alone in the wee hours every day, or occasionally. And I don’t know if Jesus was “impelled” to pray at this time and in that manner. He may have felt compelled, but maybe in obedience he snuck away to pray. The disciples wanted Jesus to interact more with the crowds, particularly during the times he had withdrawn from the people to be alone with God. They were more interested in what Jesus was doing than in Jesus’ spiritual needs and character. I get up every morning between 4 and 6am and pray, to write and study, often until noon. I take a break in this time to walk Pup and do some cleaning, so it’s not a solid block of time. Often, too, I write and answer emails. I view this time as “work.” I am working at being with God. Because I view it as work, that is, as a discipline I don’t want to neglect, it’s not joy-filled. I don’t converse with God as much as talk at him. A conversation with him would be best, thus, I’d like to hear his voice, which is why I'm at this forum. Thanks.