Taking Time To Hear God

In today’s ever fast-paced world, between driving my daughter to school, fixing dinner, doing the laundry, helping with homework, I find it rather hard sometimes to hear God. This morning, I came across an article by Margaret Feinberg titled “Discovering The Sacred Echo”. Margaret outlines eight simple steps that we can follow in order to better hear our “sacred echo”.

Take Time To Seek God
Asking God to speak to you but not forgetting to thank him for who he is and for what he has done.

Being Honest And Dependant
Admitting your needs and confessing your disappointment with him. Asking for the ability to separate your voice from his.

Hear God In Scripture
God uses scripture to help deal with certain areas with ourselves that need to be worked upon. For example: our daily relationships with family, friends and God himself. He could also utilize his word to confirm something that he has already taught us.

Ask God Questions
No question is too small or too big for God. He will reveal himself to you, give you insight on things that are hidden to you, He will show you how to pray. All you need to do…is ask. This is a way to show him your humility and dependency.

Be Quiet And Listen
You may discover that God is speaking to you..convicting, revealing, exhorting, and communicating with you.

Practice Hearing The “Echoes”
The task of “being still and knowing God” can be quite challenging. Especially with all the distraction of our day-today lives. Finding a quiet place and time each day to fine tune these can serve us a great deal. This can even be in our car listening to music.

How To Know If It Is God
Here the old saying rings true “When in doubt..don’t”. If you hear the something that goes against God’s commands, then you can bet that the message isn’t coming from him. God is the CEO of loving and redeeming mankind. Anything other..is not him.

Be Patient…Speak, Listen and Wait
Take time for each of these. When you do, God may surprise you by showing that he speaks to more than you ever imagined.

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A Lesson in Tolerance

Tolerance: Acceptance of other people and their beliefs and actions even when you do not agree with them.

Therefore let us stop passing judgment on one another. Instead, make up your mind not to put any stumbling block or obstacle in your brother’s way. Romans 14:13

This morning, I received a comment regarding my post on “How Do You Know God”. It left me rather puzzled and conflicted. As a Christian, I want everyone to know the word of God and gain knowledge and understanding through him. However, this cannot always be the case. I responded to this comment buy posting an article about Atheism. I have since deleted this post. Not because of other people’s opinion but rather because I felt it was totally wrong of me to do.

Instead of lashing out towards this person’s beliefs, I should have shown tolerance and respected their point of view. I thank you my friend for your comment. By this, I have gained a better understanding towards my self and how I am viewed from others. I hope and pray that you will continue to read and comment towards my writings. I can always imagine what God wants me to learn from you.

How Do You Know God?

“I believe in Christianity as I Believe in the sun because by it I see everything else.” C.S. Lewis

Throughout my childhood, my mother made sure that me and sister, Robie, where involved in church. We attended worship service on Sunday mornings, visitation groups on Monday evenings, choir and girls in action on Wednesday nights. During our youth, we would venture out every summer to Mount Lebanon for a week of revival with our youth group.

Unfortunately, I did not carry this on into my adulthood nor have I been devoted to make sure that my daughter, Peyton, makes it there everyday. Due to this, I have backslided, had a failed marriage, watched my daughter struggle with life and friendships and have been afflicted by a violent man. I stopped praying and listening to his directions. I knew that he was there … I just didn’t want to hear his reproach. When people would ask me if I believed in God, of course I answered yes..because I did. I was fine with that…until this morning.

My brother-in-law, Johnathan Dodson, is the church Planting Pastor for Austin City Life in Austin, Texas. This morning I had the awesome pleasure of experiencing one of his sermons via the internet. The name of the sermon was “How Do You Know God?”. He mentioned two 1/2 ways and the one full way to know God. The two half ways are (1) Through doctrine – otherwise, by knowing the Bible. He quickly pointed out though by saying “Just because you know the Bible doesn’t mean that you know God. (2) Through Humanity or by experience – meaning that we base our knowledge of God on our experiences. It’s kinda like a teeter-totter. When we are high and uplifted, the feeling of God is all around us. However, when life fills with trials and tribulation, we feel distant from God.

This leaves the only way to actually know God…by the GOSPEL Only. How do we do this? We preach for Jesus, make Jesus our central location and receive the light of the gospel and the glory of Christ. When we receive the light, our minds become illuminated, our hearts become warm and our whole outlook on life changes. We become more aware of our relationships (family, friends, co-workers), and our culture. We know and pursue God’s glory in everything.

I can honestly say, I have been guilty of both one and two. I now want to fill myself and my daughter with the Gospel and know God full heartedly. I have been gone too long, and he has been patiently waiting for my return. I can feel his arms around me and I hear him saying “Welcome home my child!”. I cannot wait to see what he holds for me and my path! I thank God for blessing me with my brother-in-law and his teachings and my mother, without her I would not have even known where to come back to.

If you would like to hear the “How Do You Know God” sermon, I have placed a link in “Christian Life” section of my page.

Reaching For Faith

My daughter has struggled over the past 5 years with Bipolar, depression, self mutilation, addiction and self worth. While in her third hospitalization, she discovered writing. She is currently working on a compilation of her struggles and journals. If you or someone you know has traveled this same road, please take a moment to click the corresponding link to the right and read her words. Maybe you can find a reason to “reach for faith”.