Friday, February 28, 2014

Recognizing the voice of God!!!

In conversation with someone once about the will of God and they said, "I mean really, who knows the will of God anyways, besides GOD himself?"  I was like HUH??? I mean, we have to be able to KNOW FOR OURSELVES the will of God. But this got me to thinking, HOW can we know the voice of God for ourselves? And I was thinking about it HOW do we recognize the voice of God from all the other voices that are speaking to us?
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I came to the realization, that we can recognize God's voice the SAME WAY we are able to recognize the voice of a close friend or loved one, by SPENDING TIME with them. WHEN YOU KNOW SOMEONE, YOU KNOW THEIR VOICE!!! You can get a phone call from someone that you are with all the time and they can call from an unrecognized number and once you allow them to start talking to you, you will know at once who they are!!! Even if you haven't spent time with them in a while, if you'll just listen for a moment or two as they talk, you will KNOW who they are. IF your NOT recognizing God's voice, maybe its because its been to long since you've really spent time with him. Or perhaps its because you NEVERRR really took the time to get to know him in the first place.
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There have been a few times that my close friends have ACTUALLY been able to trick me into believing that it was someone else that I was talking to. However, you know what I realized? It was ONLY because I WAS DOING ALL THE TALKING and they were just listening. In my excitement of what I was telling  and wasn't REALLY listening to their little uh, huh's and yeah's, HAD I STOPPED TALKING and ACTUALLY allowed them to talk, I would have KNOWN in a moment who it REALLY WAS!!! Sometimes we NEED to just STOP and LISTEN so we can RECONIZE God's voice when he is talking!
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How did God talk to Elijah???
"...but the Lord was not in the wind: and after the wind an earthquake; but the Lord was not in the earthquake: And after the earthquake a fire; but the Lord was not in the fire: and after the fire a still small voice.  And it was so, when Elijah heard it..." (1 Kings 19:11-13)
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I think sometimes that we are sooooo busy looking for the big signs and wonders, that we can't even hear or recognize his voice when He DOES speak to us. We ask God to show us something. We ask God to reveal His will to us and we're expecting a big booming, thundering voice from heaven and we end up ignoring God's DIRECT whisper right into our ear.
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You know, WHEN YOUR CLOSE TO SOMEONE, when your standing by them, sitting with them, you don't have to SHOUT to get their attention, ALL YOU HAVE TO DO is WHISPER!!! If God has to take drastic measures and there are times that he will, its ALMOST ALWAYS simply because you weren't listening to him all the other times that he was TRYING to talk to you!!! You SHOUT at people to get their attention and IF your paying attention and your close to God, He won't NEED to SHOUT out to you with lighting bolts. When your close to God, all He has to do is WHISPER and you'll hear Him. Oh God I want to be that close to you that I can recognize your voice in a whisper.  
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Recognizing the voice of God is not complicated and analytical. Its so simple, just like you know the voice of any loved one, that's HOW you will know the voice of God.There isn't some secret strategy or formula or connection. To know the voice of God,  you must FIRST  know Him.  If you want to  recognize the voice of God, all you need to do is spend time with Him.
"My sheep hear my voice, and I know them,
and they follow me."
 (John 10:27)
♥Mary Frances :)