HOW TO HEAR GOD SPEAK TO YOU

FATHER JIM FOSDICK

ST. MARY OF THE SNOWS ANGLICAN CHURCH

JANUARY 20, 2008

Lord of light - shine upon us. God of love fill our hearts with your wisdom. Holy Spirit, bring yourself closer to us in my words and how we hear them, in our thoughts and how we think them. Use this time - and use us to accomplish your good will. Amen.

            Once again this week we are with John the Baptist and he is pointing people to Jesus. Last week we read Matthew’s account of Jesus’ baptism and I spoke about the gifts we receive from the three persons of the Trinity at our baptism. I made the point that baptism is important because Jesus made it important. After Jesus death and resurrection we read in Acts that Peter is addressing a crowd, this is the very beginning of the church, and Peter says, "Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.”

Why did Peter say that? Because Jesus said it. Listen to Jesus as he answers the Pharisee Nicodemus’ question. “Truly, truly I say to you unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” But Nicodemus still doesn’t understand and he says, “How is it possible for one to be born again. Can a man enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?” Jesus answers, “Truly, truly I say to you unless one is born of water and the spirit he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh and that which is born of the spirit is spirit.”

John the Baptist brought a baptism of repentance and he pointed to Jesus and said that Jesus would bring a baptism of repentance and the Holy Spirit. Jesus said this baptism of water and the spirit was essential to entering the Kingdom of God. This baptism is the way to eternal life.

This is kind of a second kick at the cat but I want to be sure you don’t miss this most important principle of the Christian life. Charles Spurgeon called it mouth confession and heart belief.

Paul wrote in his letter to the Romans, “…if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” There must be confession with the mouth. Each of us must ask ourselves the question, Have I made it? Have I openly avowed my faith in Jesus as the Savior whom God has raised from the dead, and have I done it in God's way! We have to honestly answer this question.

There must also be belief with the heart. Do I sincerely believe in the risen Lord Jesus? Do I trust in Him as my sole hope of salvation? Is this trust from my heart? We must answer this too, understanding that we are answering before God who knows our hearts. If I can truly claim that I have both confessed Christ and believed in Him, then I am saved. The text does not say it may be so, but it is absolutely unequivocally so. It says, “You will be saved." As a believer and a confessor, I grab a hold of this promise and plead it before the Lord God now, and throughout life, and in the hour of death, and at the Day of Judgment.

            As I read today’s readings I thought I could do another whole sermon on baptism and becoming a believer. I don’t think it’s possible to over teach that topic. But I’m going to limit my discussion of baptism to what I’ve just said and spend most of our time this morning on something that jumped out at me as I read the readings for today. Let me read some excerpts and see if you don’t see what I saw. 

And he said to me, "You are my servant, Israel, in whom I will be glorified." But I said, "I have labored in vain; I have spent my strength for nothing and vanity; yet surely my right is with the LORD, and my recompense with my God." And later the LORD says, "It is too light a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to bring back the preserved of Israel; I will make you as a light for the nations, that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth." That was from our reading from Isaiah.

Then this from our Psalm 40. “I waited patiently for the LORD; he inclined to me and heard my cry.

 Followed by this from 1 Corinthians, “… in every way you were enriched in him in all speech and all knowledge-  and later, “God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

Finally in our Gospel this week and last week we hear of God speaking when he says this is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased.

Do you see what I’m getting at? God talks to Isaiah and Isaiah talks back and God responds. In the psalm David says he waited patiently on the Lord and the Lord inclined to him and heard his cry. Inclined to him suggests he leaned closer and paid attention. Paul talks about being enriched in Christ to speak and being given knowledge presumably knowledge of God’s words. And to be really obvious about it in our Gospel God in the form of Jesus talks back and forth with John and then God the Father himself speaks. Of course we see God speak when he says this is my beloved son. But were you paying attention to what John said? Listen again, “I myself did not know him, but he who sent me to baptize with water said to me, 'He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain, this is he who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.' God talks and God’s people can talk back to him. We are meant to be in relationship with God and relationships have to involve communication. God is talking to you. Have you heard him? Have you answered and asked your own questions?

I want to spend some time looking specifically at how God talks to you. We’ve talked about this in adult ed and many of you have said you don’t think God talks to you. He does, but I think it takes some work to learn to hear his voice. Remember Samuel? Three times God called his name and he kept running to Eli. Finally Eli said that’s God talking. The next time answer and say Speak Lord for your servant hears. Well today I’m going to try to play Eli to you and help you to recognize how God talks to you and why it’s important to you that He does.

When we talk about people listening to God and God

talking to people, many people think this is something very mystical, like it's something unusual or extraordinary that God talks to people. But the fact is, He does it all the time. A number of years ago there was a Time magazine that came out with a headline that said, "God is dead". The next day the reporters lined up at Billy Graham's home and said, "Is God dead, Dr. Graham?" He said "Are you kidding? I just talked to Him." Any of us can talk to God and God wants to talk to you. The Bible says that God wired you up in order to talk to you, that He created you with the

ability to tune into Him, to hear Him, to listen to Him, and to talk back to Him. It's nothing unusual. All of us can do it.

Job 33:14 "God does speak, sometimes one way and sometimes another, even though people may not understand it." He's saying the problem is not that God isn't talking. The problem is our

perception. Sometimes we're just not tuned in. God wants to communicate with you because you can't have a relationship without communication. God wants to have a relationship with you. He wants to talk to you. He's created you with that capacity to hear His voice.

SO HOW DOES GOD TALK TO US?

God is not limited to any single way. There are many, many ways. The Bible has some really spectacular ways. God spoke once through a burning bush. God spoke one time out of a cloud. He often spoke through angels. One time He spoke through a

pillar of fire. Another He even spoke to Balaam through a donkey.

Today I want  to identify the four most common ways that God speaks to us.

1. GOD SPEAKS THROUGH THE BIBLE. This is the number one way God speaks. Second Timothy 3:16, “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work.

Notice it says God's way of talking to us first is through His Bible. The Bible is not just a good collection of wonderful thoughts and ideas of men, just a nice inspired collection. Focus on breathed out by God.  That means that the Bible is absolutely reliable. It’s the words of God written down by men. There is no other book in the world that is reliable like this book. It can be counted on. It will guide you. It will correct you. It will comfort you. It will help you. But if you don't ever get in it, how can God talk to you? This is why it's so important to have a daily quiet time where you sit down for 5, 10, 15, 20 minutes -- it doesn't matter the amount of time -- and you talk to God in prayer and you let God talk to you through His word. If you're not doing that on a daily basis, you're missing the number one way God wants to talk to you. Someone says, "God never talks to me." Are you in the Bible every day? This is how He wants to speak to you. If you're not reading the Bible, your phone is off the hook. He's getting the busy signal and He can't get through to you. If I told you that tomorrow the President of the United States wanted to meet with you at 4 a.m. in the courthouse in Eagle River, I don't care what you think of the President, you'd get up and you'd go. When somebody that important wants to meet with you, you go. Even more

important, God wants to meet with you tomorrow and you don't even have to go to the courthouse. You can do it in your own living room, sitting at your coffee table with a cup of coffee, in a big Lazy-Boy chair with your P.J.s on. He is waiting. The creator of the universe wants to have a conversation with you all the time, on a regular basis, You need to get into God's word because

this is the number one way that God speaks to us. If the only time you're in it is every other week or so, or when you’re here at church, you're going to miss a whole lot. I admit that the Bible can be an intimidating book. In the first place, how many other books do you know that are bound in leather? How many other books that you know have a number before each sentence? That's kind of

strange. And if you use an old translation you have the thee's and thou's and lots of words you don't understand and some strange names and strange places and foreign words and customs that

don't make sense. The Bible can be intimidating. But this book is the manual for life. It's the owner's manual.

A couple months ago I bought a new truck. Actually it was used but it was new to me. When I did, they gave me in the glove compartment, an owner's manual. That is the designer's original intent for the truck. If I read that owner's manual and follow what it says, my truck is going to last a whole lot longer. It teaches me how to keep from putting my truck under stress. That's what the Bible does. One reason many of you are under stress is because you don't know what's in here and you're not following what it says to do. So you're stressed out. This is the owner's manual for life. When in doubt, consult the manual. God speaks through His word.

How do I get started in this book? Do I start at Genesis and just start reading through it? I wouldn't suggest that. Not if you're just getting started in the Bible. In the first place, you might want

to get a new translation. There are many of them. The Bible was originally written in Greek and Hebrew. I'd suggest you get the English Standard Version or if you want it even more readable The New Living Translation. There are a number of good ones. You can get both these translations in a study Bible that will give you some guides and aids. Then you need to set a regular time to be in the word. Finally, get into a Bible study. We already have a wonderful Ladies Bible study Tuesdays at 10:30 and I’m about to start a men’s Bible study. If you’re interested in the men’s study talk to me and tell me what the best day and time would be for you.

If you’re just getting started, I suggest you begin with Mark for a concise statement of the gospel message. Then I’d go to James for some practical stuff about the Christian life. Finally I’d read Romans which is Paul’s most thorough and logical development of the faith. When you’re done with those come see me and I’ll suggest some others. You need to get into God's word because that's the number one way He speaks to us.

2. GOD SPEAKS TO US THROUGH HIS CHURCH

Have you ever sat in a church service and felt like God was speaking directly to you, that nobody else in the audience mattered, that God was speaking directly to your heart? He was. At that very

moment God was speaking through a teacher he gave words to to tell you what He wants to say to you. God often uses other people to share His word with us. I Thessalonians 2:13 "When we preached to you, you didn't think of the words as being just our

own, but you accepted it as the very Word of God -- which, of course, it was -- and it changed your lives." God speaks through priests, teachers, preachers, pastors. And it changes our lives when we listen to them. Many years ago the priest of my local parish gave me some very straight words in a pastoral care setting. It was like being hit in the head by a 2 X 4. I couldn’t get the words out of my head and they changed my life. Jesus got me there and gave the priest the words. Then the Holy Spirit worked in me to get me to hear. If you had told me 25 years ago that I would be pastoring in a church, much less a wonderful church like St. Mary’s, I'd have said "You're crazy!" I had a successful career as an investment banker! I had no intention of ever being a pastor! I often look back and

think "What if I had missed that priest’s words? That turning point in my life?" That's why I hate to miss church. Even when I go on vacation, if we're going through a town and it's Sunday, I'll try

to find some little church of some kind. It doesn’t even have to be Anglican. I always wonder, "What if God had that pastor prepare

a message directly for me and what if I miss it?" I don't ever want to miss God talking to me. I want to show up whenever I can.

The Bible says God gives gifts to pastors and teachers to communicate His word. I've had many people tell me "In today's message, I felt like you were speaking directly to me. It was exactly what I needed today." I'm not smart enough to think all this stuff up. I'm not that smart to come in here week after week, Sunday after Sunday, 48-50 weeks a year and come up with messages that work for you. I can't do it! But God can. So I pray. I say, "God, please anoint me to preach what you want me to say. Please give me the words that the people who are going to be there need, not want, to hear. And He does. He impresses in my mind certain ideas and truths and as I study, God does speak to you. But I spend more time listening by reading his word and reading other spiritual books and just meditating and keeping quiet than I do talking to him. If you’re talking with God who do you think needs to listen to whom? Am I saying God speaks through me? I have no doubt about it! I'm amazed by it and I don't deserve it, but I have no doubt about it. I’m absolutely convinced that God gave me every word of my message at my father-in-law’s funeral and he also gave me the voice to deliver it.

An even more amazing fact is if you're a believer, God

speaks through you. Many times you don't even know it. How many times, if you could go back over your life, has a friend come to you for counsel or you've said something that was a real

turning point in a person's life. You didn't think twice about it. It was just an idea that popped into your mind. Where do you think it came from? God was speaking through you. If you are a Christian, God often speaks through you and you don't even know it. It's not some big supernatural thing; it's just the way God wired you. He has an ability to get into your mind without you even thinking about it. He plants ideas. God speaks through gifted teachers.

2 Corinthians 2:13 "We do not speak in words taught by human wisdom, but in words taught by the Spirit, as we explain spiritual truths." When gifted teachers teach, they're actually talking the

words of God, what God wants to say to us. The more teaching you hear the more God can talk to you. Obviously, the more teaching you hear the more God will have the opportunity to speak

to you. That's why once a week is not enough. You need regular input of gifted teachers in your life more than just once a week.

What if you fast six days a week and then on the seventh day you pig out? You'd be hungry most of the time and you’d have a great case of indigestion. Some of you have spiritual indigestion. The only Bible you ever get is for 60 minutes on Sunday morning, the rest of the week you have no more teaching in your life. That's

why you need to get into a small group Bible study. That's why maybe you need to come on Wednesday night to our mid week service where we are carrying out God’s mission of healing and celebrating the Lord’s Supper. There are some good radio teachers that you can listen to. Chuck Swindoll and Charles Stanley and Tony Evans and Alistair Begg and many more. And you can listen to tapes and CD’s. I hardly ever get into my car without putting a CD or a radio teacher on. I'm filling my mind, learning the word of God, on a regular basis. A lot of Christians get into the car, turn on the radio and get all news. The problem with America is we know everything about the last 24 hours, we know nothing about our history and we know nothing about the future. We're in this generation that we think we have to know what's going on

up to the minute. I know people who listen to the news 3,4,5 times a day. If you listened to CNN all day yesterday, how much does that matter today? Nothing. Anything that happens that

is really significant you're going to hear about it more than simply right then. You don't have to know everything that is going on in the world. But you do have to know the universal principles that God has laid down that will help you cope with tomorrow.

So you make a choice. Am I going to be at a Bible study or am I going to watch television? Am I going to listen to a Christian CD or am I going to listen to radio news? What's going to last over the long haul? God speaks through gifted teachers.

3. GOD SPEAKS THROUGH THE HOLY SPIRIT

He puts ideas in our minds. When God puts an idea in your mind we call that inspiration. "I was inspired. I got a creative idea." Where do you think that creative idea came from? It came from the creator! God is the creator. When you are being creative you're being most like God. We're made in God's image. God's the creator, human beings have the ability to be creative. When God

puts an idea in your mind we call it an inspiration. When the devil puts an idea in your mind we call that a temptation. So God's trying to speak to you. John 14:26 "The Holy Spirit will be your teacher and will bring to your mind all thatI have said to you." "Bring to your mind" means He gives us impressions. He gives us ideas. He gives us hunches. He gives us these gut feelings. God often does this. Some of your mostbrilliant ideas weren't yours. They were God's. God was giving them to you. A brilliant business idea, a brilliant family idea, a brilliant relational idea, a brilliant financial idea. Where do you think you got some of those ideas? God, who loves you, who cares about you, who is infinitely interested in all the details of your life. It didn't feel like God because it's so natural. You were made toreceive ideas from God. A lot of the things you think up, you're just not that smart either. God gives you those ideas.There's a lot of confusion about how we receive messages from God.

There are two extremes you need to avoid when thinking about communications from God: one is the rationalist, the other is the mystic. The rationalist denies that God ever speaks to us through the mind. He says God only speaks through the Bible and never gives you any impressions. The mystic thinks that every impression they get is from God. That's obviously wrong too. I feel sorry for both of these extremes. The rationalist, who thinks "God never gives me an idea" misses out on God's counsel, God's comfort, God's care, God's concern, God's challenges and guidance in the ways of life. They miss it all. On the other hand, the mystic who thinks that every impression they get is from God tends to make a lot of stupid mistakes and they embarrass themselves. They say, "God told me to do this," and then they go bankrupt. What happened? You missed God. Both extremes are wrong.

You look on TV at some of these people getting all these weird ideas and you tend to be skeptical of this. You hear these people say, "There's somebody out there in the audience supposed to give me a million dollars."  Never let a religious nut keep

you from experiencing the real thing.

Job 33:14 "God speaks again and again in dreams and in visions at night when the deep sleep falls as people lie on their beds. He opens their ears in times like that, and gives them wisdom and instruction." Notice it says God speaks in dreams and in visions. Why? Why would God speak to us when we're asleep? Because we're relaxed, not distracted, our defenses are lowered at that moment. God speaks through dreams and visions. Remember Samuel again. He was asleep when God called to him. If you want to try to help this happen ask God a question right as you're going to sleep. There are many times I'll fall asleep thinking about a particular issue and asking God to tell me what to do. Many times I don't get any answer at all. But sometimes I do. It's up to God. This actually happens a lot with sermons. I’ll go to bed with my sermon in my head and thinking there’s something not right with it. So I ask God to tell me what to do.Then I’ll wake up early Sunday and do a whole new sermon. Ask God a question and you give Him the opportunity. Sometimes He'll say something and many times He won't. Most of your dreams are not God speaking. Not everything that you dream is from God. A lot of times it's just things get mixed up and you get put into pictures or stories you've already heard. It's highly unreliable. And Satan can speak to you, too. Satan can put ideas in your mind. Not every idea that comes in your mind is from God. Here’s a warning… Always test an impression, a thought that you think comes from God. Never make a decision on an impression alone. You need to test that impression. It always has to match what the Bible says. If you ever get an impression that is opposite to what God said in the Bible, I guarantee that it's not from God. God never contradicts what He's already said. When we say, "I know God wants me to be happy, so I’m going to do this sinful thing ..." you better check it out with the Bible. When you ignore the owner's manual -- If I don't put oil in my car every so many thousand miles, guess what? It's going to burn up. And it's going to die real quick. Not listening to what the Bible says is a formula for burning. When you don't do what the Bible says you're not hurting God. This is for your benefit.

4. GOD SPEAKS THROUGH CIRCUMSTANCES SOMETIMES PAINFUL ONES.

Have you experienced God talking to you this way? Rick Warren says in his book Purpose Driven Life, “We don't change when we see the light. We change when we feel the heat.” None of us really likes to change and so we fear what it might do to us. We fear

change and we don't change until the pain becomes greater than the fear of change. Once the pain is greater than the fear, we change. God is so interested in speaking to you and so interested in

having a personal relationship with you and loving you and you loving Him and being able to talk about everything, He will even resort to this in order to get your attention.

Proverbs 20:30 "Sometimes it takes a painful experience to make us change our ways." Everyone of you know this one by experience. Not all pain is God speaking to you. Not every

little hurt, ache, and pain that you have is God. But some of it is. And God often has to allow pain in order to slow us down to get our attention. I have had any number of people tell me that a death or an experience in a hospital broke them down and brought them closer to God. Has God ever had to do that to you?

One month before I was to enter Deacon school I had a cancer scare. I spent the month praying and asking others to pray for me. When I got to school I asked my new classmates to pray for me. I started school in a state of 24/7 prayer. I also learned a lot about what people go through and I was a witness to everyone I encountered in the hospital. A lot of good from a painful experience. There are some lessons we only learn through pain.

Scripture says "I used to wander off until you punished me; now I closely follow all you say. The punishment you gave me was the best thing that could have happened to me, for it taught me to pay attention to your laws." Pain gets our attention. It's God's hearing aid. God whispers to us in our pleasures. But He shouts to us in our pain. Pain is God's megaphone. When you're hurting God

is saying, "Hey! There's somebody here who wants to help! You can depend on Me. I'll help you through that tough time if you'll just let Me." Pain is God's way, often, of getting your

attention. When you hear God speak, really, in your heart, perhaps through a painful experience you are changed. In my personal experience and that of many people I’ve pastored, the pain is worth it if the result is a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.

OK I’ve talked about several ways God speaks to us: through the Bible, through the church, through the Holy Spirit/impressions in our minds, and through circumstances. Now I want to look at why it’s important that god speaks to you. I think there are three reasons why it is important to hear God speak to you.

First,  It is assures me that I'm in God's family.

The proof that you really know Jesus Christ, that you have a relationship, is that you hear God speak to you. Jesus said, "I know those who are Mine and they hear My voice." If you've never

heard God speak to you, if you've never sensed His speaking to you in your heart and in your mind, you may doubt that you're really a true believer, that you're in the family of God and that you're on your way to heaven. You may doubt it because Jesus

said "Those who are Mine hear My voice." Some of you may be brand new believers and when you first get started sometimes it's a little bit difficult to figure out "Is this God talking to me or not?" You're not used to His voice. But if you're really a child of God you're going to know your father's voice. When I call my kids I don't have to say, "This is Jim Fosdick, your father." I just start talking to them and they know my voice. When any of my three kids call me they don't have to say, "This is Jennifer, your daughter" or "Jimi or Christopher, your son" -- I know their voice. Why? Because I have a relationship.

If you don't have that, if you don't ever hear God speaking to you, there are two possibilities. One is you haven’t confessed Jesus as Lord and believed in him as your Savior. The shepherd is only familiar to his sheep. Those are the ones he talks to and those are the ones who hear his voice. A second possibility is you aren’t in a position to listen. Talking isn’t listening. Spending 60 minutes a week with Jesus isn’t listening. In adult ed I suggested that some who say they don’t hear God don’t know what to listen for. You have to be reading the bible and he’ll speak to you out of its pages. You have to be in prayer and spend enough time in silence for him to answer. You have to recognize when God speaks to you in circumstances. Finally the Holy Spirit speaks to you in your mind and you need to listen and say to yourself Hey that must have been from God.

If you fall in the first category and would like to confess Jesus as Lord but haven’t done so, please talk to me or to a Christian friend. Maybe a friend here at St. Mary’s. I would love to pray for you and with you as would anyone who is a follower of Christ.  

I fear that someone here may know about God, but you don't know Him. Someone may know about Jesus, but you don't really know Him. You have a religion not a relationship. You may have gone to Sunday School or catechism class as a kid and you're here in church every week but you don't have that relationship. There's a guy who comes to my house every single day of my life except Sunday. He's called the postman. I know who this guy is. I know what he looks like, I recognize his uniform, I say Hi to him.

He's even brought gifts to my door. But I don't' really know him. I know about him. But I don't really know him. That's the difference.

One of the proofs that you know you're a Christian is that God talks to you and you talk to him. If you’re not talking to God a good way to start is by confessing that his Son is the Lord of your life. Many people think God only speaks to super saints. No. Those of you who are parents, do you only talk to your smartest kid? (I hope you're going to say no.) God talks to all His true children -- young believers, old believers, baby believers, grown up believers. It assures me I'm in God's family.

2. Hearing God speak protects me from mistakes.

The Bible says in Job "God speaks causing them to change their mind and keeping them from pride and from falling into some traps." If you listen, God will warn you in advance and you'll

avoid a whole lot of mistakes in life, if you really start tuning into God. He'll tell you if something is a good or bad idea. There’s no situation in your life that’s too big or too small to ask God about it. I think the main reason we don’t ask God’s advice more often is we want to do what we want to do.  

3. It is the secret of a productive life, listening to God on a moment by moment basis.

The more I depend on God's guidance, the better my life is. I’m more centered, more at ease. Success is knowing God's will and being right in the center of it. I was talking to a parishioner at the Snowmobile Championships Friday night and he said because of his faith he felt really good about his life. His wife said because of faith she really didn’t feel stressed. If you want a better life it’s pretty simple. Live the life god wants you to live. He’ll help make it happen. Tune into God and do what He tells you to do.

God is speaking, God wants to speak to you, He'll use many different ways – I’ve suggested  four common ways, but He'll use other ways too. Why does God go to all that trouble to talk to us? Because He loves you. Because you matter to Him. Because you are important. He created you not just to take up space on this earth. You were made to have a relationship with God and if you

don't ever establish it you'll die missing your very purpose for living. You will miss the very reason you were created. You’ll miss the chance to live the best life you can live here on earth. You’ll miss the joy of eternal life with Him. He wants to have a relationship with you.

I hope that maybe someone here has sensed God speaking to you today. You identified maybe with some of the examples I gave of God speaking. What does God have to say to you today? Hebrews 3:15 "Today, if you hear God's voice speaking to you, do not harden your heart against him."  In Second Corinthians Paul writes, “Behold now is the favorable time; behold now is the day of salvation.” No matter how long you've ignored God and His voice, He still loves you and He still wants to have a relationship with you.

Please pray with me. Heavenly Father we come to you today with two requests. If there is anyone here who has not confessed your Son Jesus as Lord we pray you will send your Holy Spirit to them with this simple message…Today is the day of salvation. Today is the perfect day to begin a lifelong relationship with Jesus. Lord we pray to you too for faithful followers who haven’t heard your voice or don’t realize that they have. For these people we pray that by the power of your Holy Spirit you would encourage them to be in your Word…to read the Bible daily, to participate in a Bible study, to spend time each day in prayer and most of all to be still and know that you are God…to be still enough, and quiet enough to hear you speak. Lord this week we pray that each and everyone of us would hear you speak and know that we are your beloved children. Amen.