|
joy2give2u -> RE: No voices in my head (6/24/2008 2:49:14 PM)
|
As I was jogging around the lakes at lunch I was formulating my response to Bill MacKinnon's thoughts. Thought after thought was running through my mind. I was going to post this and that........I was going to point out that and this.......... I was busy telling God all about what I was going to write and asking for His wisdom. I heard God's voice [sm=icon_smile_yikes.gif][sm=icon_smile_yikes.gif] It was a still little voice in my head. A familiar voice I have come to recognize as His. Joshua 9 What does it say Lord? Ok I will read it when I get back to my office BEFORE I post. I went on thinking of all I would say. Upon arriving back at my office I was tempted to post first then go to Joshua 9. I really wanted to have my voice heard...........but see there lays the problem........I wanted my voice heard not Gods. I closed out what I had begun to write and opened my daddy's bible (KJV version for those who are particular) Joshua 9:14 And the men took of their victuals, and asked not counsel at the mouth of the Lord. Interesting enough in all the other translations I looked at after reading the KJV the word mouth was removed. Mouth implies the voice of the Lord.........for it is through our mouths we speak. Only the KJV points out that the counsel they forgot to take was that of the voice of the Lord. Very Interesting. God made me smile that this time he spoke, through a voice in my head, a chapter which would only speak to the issues on my heart in the KJV ...........[:D][:D] For those of you who do not know or have the time to go read chapter 9 in Joshua let me give you a brief summery. The Israelites were walking in victory, defeating the enemy and being obedient to the Lord. They were taking the promise land God had given them. Many of the kings joined together in order to stop the Israelites from accomplishing what God has spoken to them was their promise. Now the inhabitants of Gibeon didn't join the other kings. No, instead they resorted to trickery and falsehoods trying to appear as though they were coming from somewhere else and wanted to join the Israelites. They claimed they came because of the name of the Lord thy God: They had heard all about Him The Israelites took all they had offered. Listening to what they said and trusting because they seemed to be speaking truth. Why was this bad thing......for the Israelites to make a treaty with these people to protect them and not come against them? Because God had specifically instructed Israel to make no treaties with the inhabitants of Canaan. In the simple act of not asking the counsel at the mouth of the Lord they had walked in disobedience to the Lord. If they had listened for His voice would they have been disobedient? I don't think so.......because I believe God would have revealed to them the trickery. Could God have spoken to them even though they were not listening or seeking His voice? Yes. Did he? No. I found the footnotes to Joshua 9 interesting as well. quote:
"..the Israelites experienced opposition in two forms: direct( kings in the area began to unite against them); and indirect ( the Gibeonites resorted to trickery). We can expect the same kinds of opposition as we obey God's commands. To guard against these pressures, we must rely on God and communicate daily with him. He will give us strength to endure the direct pressures and wisdom to see through the indirect trickery." "As a strategist, Joshua knew enough to talk to God before leading his troops into battle. But the peace treaty seemed innocent enough, so Joshua and the leaders made this decision on their own. By failing to seek God's guidance and rushing ahead with their own plans, they had to deal with angry people and an awkward alliance. Successful people may feel they can "go it on their own." Thinking they have all the facts and understand the situation, they may not ask for advice in untried ventures. But seeking God's will before entering into agreements can keep minor matters from becoming major headaches" I am so thankful I did not rush into posting. What God spoke was so much more on point and powerful then what I would have spoken on my own. A while back someone brought up Billy Graham to me. Pointing out he didn't believe some of the things I believe such as healing. I know, as everyone does, of Billy Grahams passion and ministry to speak the gospel message to the lost. His passion to see everyone pray the "salvation prayer" I was talking to my mother the other day, who knows Bill Graham personally, him having spent 4 months living in their home while in France. I asked my mother, "Why didn't Billy Graham believe in healing" My mother looked shocked, "What makes you think he did not? During the time he lived with us your grandfather and he prayed over many to be healed and many were." "But then why didn't he promote healing when he spoke in public? Why were people being healed physically in his crusades?" "Because his calling, his passion was the lost, those who needed healing of the spirit and he knew if he made it about physical healings he would not be as effective doing what God had called him to do" quote:
It is curious to me that if someone in a typical evangelical church stood up and said an angel spoke to him and told him that God wanted him to be a missionary to Africa, we would be very skeptical at best. Yet if that same person stood up and said that he "just really feel led to go to Africa to be a missionary", the "amens" and applause would be deafening. Yet the former is biblical and the latter is not. This is my heart, my passion because he is right. If someone stood up in a typical evangelical church and said an angel spoke to him people would be skeptical at best......Yet the bible shows us God speaks through angels. The bible reveals to us that God speaks through nature, through a voice, through other people, through his written Word and as Mr. MacKnnon pointed out through the writing on the wall. Why are people skeptical when God speaks as he did in the bible? Why have people, who so badly want to hear directly from the Lord, watered down how God speaks to being a feeling? Doesn't God say we are not to be lead by our feelings? How are we to be lead? How was Joshua supposed to lead? My passion is not the same of Billy Grahams, and though I believe with all my heart that we are to share the gospel message to the lost, that we are suppose to share Christ died on the cross for us and because of what he did we can have life eternally in heaven.......I believe in his passion but it is not mine..... Mine is to speak of how God speaks to us. How the same God, who spoke to those in the bible, still desires to speak to us today. To share the many ways he speaks and encourage others to listen for his voice. My passion is be a voice saying.........If God told you to go to Africa because a missionary from Africa came to your church and made you cry........ask him again........Listen for his voice for you will hear it. As the people in Joshua found out......just because something seems like it would be ok with God we still need to seek his voice and ask him directly. One final thought........... My father loved us girls so much.........he talked to me all the time..........I can't help but wondering what my relationship with my father would have looked like if he had told my older sister everything he wanted me to know and left me to ask her to share what he said. Would my relationship with him have been as deep? I wonder, those who do not believe God speaks to us except through the bible, do you really believe our heavenly Father, who obviously spoke to the people who penned the bible, no longer wishes to speak to you? That he decided to share with your wayyyyy older brother then asked him to write it down so that we could read his words instead of experiencing the intimacy which comes from a one on one conversation? God speaks........we have to choose to listen.
|
|
|
|