Hearing God’s Voice Like Waves

Call on His Name

It is 37 degrees, but a carafe of hot black coffee, flannel PJs, a snoozing pup on my lap, and a couple of blankets make for a snuggly-sweet chance to see the moon sink behind the mountains. A rare treat, as the morning will not be this dark with a sinking moon at 7am for another year. I dare not miss it. My mind quietly wanders as I take in the view. Chilly Octobers. Starry nights. Beautiful moons. A memory of my mother-in-law, more than 20 years ago. She was with us on that clear starry Friday night, watching a baseball game, eating fried chicken, laughing, and enjoying the evening. The next morning, she suffered a devastating stroke. She lost her ability to move her arms and legs. She couldn’t speak. But in the days to follow, she could speak one word. One name. Jesus… I would pray with her. She would just pray that one word: Jesus. It seemed to be enough. Meditation: “If my people, which are called by MY NAME, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.” 2 Chronicles 7:14 Also Read: Understanding God: God of Delegation Purpose: Sent to Redeem and Upgrade (1) The

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I love hearing the sound of waves on the shoreline of a beach. Whether the wind brings them crashing in or calmer weather causes them to gently lap the sand, there is a consistency, a repetition to waves that fascinates me. I find myself listening for their rhythm and discernible pattern. “Crash!” The waves impact the shore and are drawn back out to sea. “Crash!” The white foam of the waves crests, then diminishes as the sand absorbs the blow. God’s voice is like a wave; a thought hits the shore of my mind. I’m aware of it, but it ebbs away as I move about my day. But sometimes the thought revisits the shore of my mind. It could be a scripture, or a person’s name, an idea, a situation, or a sin that I need to address. As the thought ebbs and revisits, I become aware of its consistent repetition. Sometimes the thought crashes; other times it’s a gentle, persistent lapping. Praying, looking to God’s Word, listening for the Holy Spirit, and seeking wise counsel are part of discerning God’s voice. But when a thought keeps nudging me, experience has taught me that it’s often God trying to get my attention about something He wants me to do, either for myself or another person. Oh, I wish I

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Unplug and Take a Walk

When was the last time you took 24 hours to turn it all off and disconnect? Unplug? No cell phone. No computer. No TV. When was the last time you woke up in the middle of the night, anxious, and didn’t automatically reach for your phone? When was the last time you stepped away from the noise of this world and took a long walk with the Lord? We cannot text while we are praying. We cannot scroll through Facebook while we are worshipping. We can’t seek dependence on God, if our eyes, hands, and heart are continually focused on images other than Him. I thanked Him for that fleeting image, and humbly prayed, “Lord, God. Allow me to walk alongside you. Please speak to me. I am listening.” These are words that God honors, just the way a father does when his child snuggles up beside him and says, “Daddy, let’s talk.” The language God uses in our ears is different for each of us, but we need to unplug from the noise of the world to clearly hear His voice. Disconnect. Take a walk. Invite Him to join you, and invite Him to speak. Meditation: “He has made it clear to you, mortal man, what is good and what the LORD is requiring from you — to act with

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Don’t Blame God For Very Bad Days

Have you ever had a day like this? A Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day where one thing after another keeps piling up, as it did for Job, one of the Bible’s most inspiring characters? “One day … a messenger came to Job and said, ‘…the Sabeans attacked…’ While he was still speaking, another messenger came and said, ‘…fire…burned up the sheep and the servants…’ While he was still speaking, another messenger came and said, ‘The Chaldeans…swept down on your camels…’ While he was still speaking, yet another messenger came and said, ‘Your sons and daughters … are dead…’ In all this Job did not … blame God.” Meditation: “These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” – John 16:33 Also Read: Understanding God: God of Delegation Purpose: Sent to Redeem and Upgrade (1) The Pencil Story Delivered From a Sinful Lifestyle An Easter Reflection You can now partner with the Daily Dew Ministry by clicking here. ALSO READ Love Always Finds A Way

Trust God With Your Pain

Jesus is both God and human, so we can trust that he FULLY understands our pain. And because we’re his children, when we hurt, he hurts, like any good dad. If you’re pulling away from him because you’re thinking that he might not understand, think again. God may allow us to go through pain, but we can bank on this: What God allows, God also promises to work through for our good. This doesn’t make us feel better, perhaps, but it gives our pain purpose. Pain holds the potential to help us grow, unless we allow it to make us bitter. Pain can also expand our empathy and compassion. Who better for God to use to help someone in fresh pain than someone who has passed through it? Our willingness to sit in another’s pain with them is a gift without measure. God works through relationships. He tells us to do life together, supporting one another, so that when we are down, others can lift us. Isolating ourselves, which we tend to want to do when we’re in pain, isn’t helpful. It’s also not healthy to hold pain in. When we’re hurting, we need others to come alongside us and remind us that things will work out. We need others to listen, to help us process through it. We need

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Christianity is About Loving Relationships

To belong. To be in loving, meaningful relationships with others. And that shouldn’t surprise us, because God MADE us that way. He planted within us his capacity for loving relationships, his “relational DNA.” God gave us his ability to love, so that we would “do life” in loving relationship with others. To do Christianity “right” requires that we seek to walk in love. And to be in “right relationship” with others requires that we see them with the value that God does. We are unique, one-of-a-kind individuals, each with our own gifts, talents, and personality. You may wish you had someone else’s talents, or someone else’s life. That’s understandable, as we tend to play the comparison game and get sucked into society’s view of “success” rather than God’s. But if we believe that God specifically created us for his purposes, we can choose to trust and appreciate that. Then we can surrender our egos and let go of comparison. We can look forward to partnering with God, finding joy in developing our best selves so that we are open to being used by him. We have to offer ourselves grace as we do this growing — and offer it to others, as we’re all messy humans in the process of sanctification. What fuels relationships is kind, generous, authentic connection. Lifting

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4 “Cs” for Making Right Choices (2)

The third C of Right Choices: Commit to God’s Way This is our daily struggle, because of our inherent sinful nature. But it gets easier to make choices that honor God as we daily build this habit. It helps to know yourself really well. What thoughts, feelings, and habits do you keep repeating from the past that are hindering you from making God-honoring choices? What do you need to release to change your heart and mind? As our thoughts and feelings do so strongly influence our behaviour, we have to take them “captive,” as the Bible puts it. We don’t have to dwell on the automatic thoughts that pop into our heads from our subconscious. We can send them packing by saying, “No. I reject that thought. I choose to think this one, instead.” You know how bowling lanes have lane bumpers they can put down to prevent gutter balls? When you actively monitor the thoughts and feelings you allow to influence your choices, so that you choose God’s ways, you add helpful bumpers to your life. The fourth C of Right Choices: Count on God’s Protection and Provision Living to God’s holy standard brings us many spiritual blessings, including freedom from guilt, a clear conscience, and far less drama than we will experience if we live to our own standard.

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4 “Cs” for Making Right Choices (1)

The first C of Right Choices: Consider the Choice You probably don’t realize how many choices you make on a daily basis. But here’s a nifty experiment: Tomorrow, from sun up to sun down, write down every single choice you make. The big ones, but also the tiny ones. It might surprise you to see just how many choices you make on a single day. You’ll also see that you make a lot of choices on autopilot, from past thoughts, feelings, and habits you brought into the day. After you choose to get out of bed, and head to the kitchen, do you choose a donut or an apple for breakfast? We all know which choice is better for our bodies. But the sugary donut tastes so good! So what helps you to decide? The second C of Right Choices: Compare the Choice to God As you begin to think about your day, you likely jump into some level of anxiety, depending on what you have going on. Each of your thoughts then create feelings. When you have a moral choice to make, it’s critical to recognize that your thoughts and feelings will definitely influence you if you’re not actively monitoring them. Building the habit of that pause matters. Because it gives us time to consider how God wants us to live.

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Suiting Up In God’s Armor

Life often feels like an ongoing battle. On a raging battlefield, what protects a soldier? Armor. Can you imagine any soldier stepping onto the battlefield without it? He or she would be defenseless, cut down in minutes! Seeking to live with righteousness influences how we think, how we treat others, and how we respond to situations and temptations. But to live righteously, we must base our thoughts and actions on God’s standard of righteousness, not our own personal standard. The world does all it can to entice us to live self-centeredly. But living to our own standard of righteousness tends to create drama and conflict. But when we stay focused on the Gospel, we gain a “readiness” to live in peace with others. Armies added fire to their arrows, to cause more damage when attacking their enemies. The Romans designed their shields to withstand these flames. Similarly, our faith in God shields us from fiery attacks and the deeper we know and trust God, the stronger our faith grows. Wearing the helmet of salvation protects our head, but it also changes our heart. The Word of God is our defense against worldly arguments, and a weapon to dismantle them. Meditation: “Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God, so that you can

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Discerning God’s Voice

Just as God loves us and knows us better than we know ourselves, He desires for us to know Him intimately too. The Holy Spirit serves as our modern-day guide (John 15:26). As we saw with God’s presence in the Garden of Eden with Adam and Eve, God is highly relational. He wants us to spend time with him. He pursues us. He wants us to WANT to spend time with Him. He wants to bless us and give counsel and peace, which is what we find when we seek His presence in our lives. This is where prayer comes in. Throughout the Bible we see God’s instruction for His people to seek Him, to approach Him in prayer, and to rest in Him. Heb 4:14-16 So then, since we have a great High Priest who has entered heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to what we believe. This High Priest of ours understands our weaknesses, for he faced all of the same testings we do, yet he did not sin. So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most. Phil 4:6-7 Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition,

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Hearing God’s Voice Like Waves

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