What if it is God speaking

So many struggle with wanting to hear God speak. Many wonder why He seems to be so silent. And yet, the truth is He has spoken and is speaking. The problem lies not with God, but with us. And the problem isn’t with our eyes or ears; it’s with our souls. We need to learn how to see and hear God in our everyday lives. God is not silent; we just have to learn how to listen. He is not absent; we just have to know where to look.

He is constantly speaking. God is present and revealing himself powerfully through his holy Word. We must come to a place where we’re feeding our hunger to know God with the meat of the Word and stop continuously stuffing our spiritual bellies full of events and emotional encounters. We often become overwhelmed with so many options to help us study the Word of God that we end up nibbling here and there, never really digging in for a full meal. It’s like an all you can eat buffet-so many choices you become too full to really savor the truth. We must learn how to listen and then savor what He is speaking to us about. We must linger in those truths and enjoy the hearing and then quickly obey. We must not just microwave the Word…it needs to slow cook and simmer in your spirit. Which means we can't rush...we must develop a habit of pushing back and lingering, letting it seep into all of us, nourishing us and giving us what we need to be able to make it through the day.

He wants us smitten, flat out taken with Him. And longing to hear Him. He wants us to long for the sound of His voice and to lean in to hear. But when He speaks, His voice is unmistakable...God wants to speak to us. He is not trying to make us guess as to whether or not it is Him. His sheep hear His voice and know it.

Life is about relationship, about conversation. God desires conversation with us. It is an intimate conversation that makes any relationship worthwhile. Who wants to just have small talk for the rest of our lives? It’s a symphony of hearing and being heard in return, of loving and being loved. We learn and grow from each other. We support and serve each other. And if we model our relationships after God’s, we find so much joy in each other that we rejoice and sing. I want a symphony of hearing and to savor the conversations of life. I want worthwhile, intimate conversation that knits and weaves life together.

We need to stop and listen to God’s part of the conversation. We’ve got to stop being so loud and just listen to our Father. We need to stop and take time to let Him dwell in our midst. Even in our conversations with others, pause and listen for His voice. He is speaking. And then speak what He says. It will change the conversation and He will join it. Don't be in a hurry to move on...chit chat...but instead to relish in the conversation of life...Jesus.

Many of us do before we hear. Others hear and then don't do. What if we stopped and only did what we heard the Father say? What if it really were that easy? And instead of rushing ahead or guessing at what He wants...we just chose to linger in His presence until we hear Him speak...then we quickly obey.

When this happen there will be a Serenade of affection, for the Father and for those who join the conversation. His voice is unmistakeable....do you hear it?

ALL FOR YOU

I LOVE COFFEE

I LOVE COFFEE. Most people know that about me. I LOVE how it makes me feel. I LOVE what it makes me think about it. The smell of it makes me just breathe better. I walk into Starbucks and think...heaven has to have one of these. I just LOVE COFFEE. I love the sound of the coffee pot perking, the feel of a warm cup in my hands, and what happens when I drink it.
And while all these reasons are great. They are not the REAL reason I LOVE COFFEE. I am sure the caffeine headache I would have if I didn't drink it would be a problem. And I know that my body just craves it. But the real reason I love COFFEE has little to do with the drink and more to do with what it makes me think about and feel. I love Coffee because for me it is a word picture of life. It doesn't just represent a drink or something I enjoy. Instead, it represents what I do while I drink it. It makes me think of sitting around a table with friends and relishing conversation about the Lord. It reminds me of the countless hours I have spent pouring over the Word with a cup in my hand and the Father meeting with me there. It makes me think of....intimacy. It represents relationships and what happens when we get together, meet together and just spend time together. There is something about sharing a good cup of coffee that makes you just want to pour out your soul and enjoy the fellowship of Jesus-at least for me.
We live in a society where things are so fast paced and rushed. We never have time to just sit and chat. We never take the time to just linger of a cup of coffee and not rush the moment. And consequently, we miss the moments...where God is speaking. This month at Wow...we will take a fresh look at the art of lingering with Him. So come have a good cup of coffee and let's linger a few and see what happens when we take time and space to just enjoy Jesus and those that are with us in the room. Because as much as I LOVE COFFEE. I LOVE JESUS more. When was the last time you just lingered in His presence and enjoyed Him like you do a good cup of coffee?ALL FOR YOU

Gutter Guards

Last week, I took my kids and some friends bowling. It was the last FREE day before school started back and we wanted to maximize the playtime. So, we loaded up and made a trip to get chicken, french fries, sprite and toy for lunch (their favorite-not mine!) and then headed to the bowling alley.
They got their cool bowling shoes on while I asked the lady to be sure and put the gutter guards up. It was tons of fun watching the kids literally throw their bowling balls down the lanes, bounce off the sides and knock down pins. No form, no rhyme or reason to what they were doing, just fun. It looked more like pinball than bowling and made me laugh.
While sitting and talking to the kids, I decided it was time for a life lesson. I began to ask them if there was a spiritual lesson they could learn from bowling. I got that glazed stare that I normally get when I try to turn something into a lesson, but I am trying to develop thinkers for the Kingdom, so that doesn't deter me one bit.
I asked them to try to figure out what the lesson might be.....a few minutes passed and I had mine. When I asked them if they wanted to hear, there was little enthusiasm, until Noah said that he did. So I whispered it in his ear. Next thing I knew, they all wanted to hear my lesson. But I wasn't going to tell them. They didn't really want to know. They began to beg and so I relented.
Bowling is like life...it is easeir with the gutter guards up.
Then I asked....so what is the gutter guard.
It only took a millisecond for them to respond....JESUS.
Life is easier with Jesus as our gutter guard. He keeps us out of the gutter. ALL FOR YOU

look up

Last night, we celebrated New Year's Eve with some friends and family. We ate, we played, we laughed, we watched football. It was a great day. There was no place I could have imagined as being better and no place I would have rather spent time bringing in the New Year.
Why? Because it helped me to look up.
During the half time of the football game, we all went out to a big bonfire and roasted marshmellows. The kids laughed and enjoyed the heat of a burning Christmas tree. The adults ate the marshmellows the kids burned. And then the fireworks began. And we all looked up. They were beautiful and tons of fun. We oohed and ahhed over the explosions of fire in the sky, while enjoying the heat of the fire below. It felt like family. I looked around and thought, "what a way to begin the year....all of us, looking up."
As great as that was, it was the moments that followed that caused my heart to look up. Just about everyone left to go inside and I stayed to help guard the flame. It started out as a task to keep the fire from moving where it shouldn't and to keep the little ones out of it, in case they decide to play and get burned.
It was quiet, the fire crackled. The air was crisp and cool and the heat felt good. I sat down on the picnic table and just looked up. The sky was filled with stars and though the fireworks were over, something exploded in my heart. The heavens were declaring the glory of God; and their expanse, the work of His hands. There was but a moment, when I could glimpse the greatness of God by looking up. I breathed deep and smiled, thinking to myself-what an indescribable gift.
He is so much more....more than I can even comprehend, imagine or dream. He is in a simple breath, yet shines like a star declaring His greatness from millions of miles away in a way that we can see and know and taste who He is.
It was then that I knew what this year would be about for me....
Lift up your eyes on high and see who has created these {stars,} the One who leads forth their host by number, He calls them all by name; because of the greatness of His might and the strength of {His} power not one {of them} is missing.
Do you not know? Have you not heard? The everlasting God, the LORD, the Creator of the ends of the earth does not become weary or tired. His understanding is inscrutable.
I will be looking up and seeing His glory. I will not look at circumstances, people, places, things, programs or performance. I will be looking up to see the glory of the Lord, but I will only see it-IF I look up.
I sat on that bench, looking from the sky to the fire and realized that in looking up and seeing His glory, He sets His love on our heart and we burn with a holy flame and zeal for the world to see. When we SEE HIM, we KNOW HIM and we BURN for Him. His glory is seen in looking up...
In the following moments, there was some intentional conversation around that fire, not casual or convincing, but instead time to reflect on what our dream for the new year holds. Those moments were full of conversation about being more in love and on fire for Him. They are moments forever etched into my memory, filled with wonder and blessing as we talked about living a journey together for Him.
It was there on that bench that I decided what I was chasing this year. It was there in those moments that I realized I was going to have to step it up and that I wanted more, that I decided that my dream was to see His glory. And for the first time, I realized how that would happen.
So look up, breathe deep and see the glory of God rain down. You will see it...it just depends on where you are looking.


ALL FOR YOU