Chapter 5 - A Verifiable Voice
Online Bible Study – Chapter 5 A Verifiable Voice
My favorite part of chapter 5 was the very end with the Max Lucado quote: “Let’s try not to make a decision, whether large or small, without sitting before God with open Bible, open heart, open ears, imitating the prayer of Samuel: ‘Your servant is listening.’”
I don’t know about out but I am always questioning myself. I have a very hard time making major decisions and when I finally do, I second-guess myself, hyper-analyze my decision and usually ruin any joy I may have felt as a result of that decision because of the doubt that I allow to creep in. So how do we live life without always looking back to see if we missed out on something better? How do we move forward with confidence that we are doing the right thing?
I like that God has a nice check-and-balance system set up for us. He gave us His Word, the Bible, to guide us and even though it does not always address our specific situation, He is faithful to speak to us through it.
I have an example how God used a very simple verse to speak to me: A few years ago, I was at a time in my life when all my kids were going into school and I knew that it was time for me to get a job that could keep me busy while they were all gone during the day. I looked around to a couple part time positions and found one at a large church in their publication department. This job was a little more than I was equipped to handle but I felt like God had opened up the doors to get me there and I was up for the challenge. I began working there and really loved my environment. The only problem was, it wasn’t my own church. Two weeks after I started the job, Pastor Brandon asked me to come work for Canyon Creek. I groaned as I realized that if I had just waited a little while, I could have had a great job in the church I loved. So I had a decision to make: Do I leave the job that I have already accepted or do I stay put and see what God has for me there? I prayed about it and knew that my will was to go over to Canyon Creek but I felt in my Spirit-led conscience that it would be irresponsible to leave this job and these people that I had committed to. God used a scripture to further my feelings with Proverbs 22:1, “A good name is more desirable than great riches; to be esteemed is better than silver or gold.” This verse confirmed to me that to keep my integrity in tact, I had to stay where I was. I then talked the situation over with my husband and he agreed with me that I should stay at my present job and tell Pastor Brandon that the timing was not right for me to come over to Canyon Creek. I spent a year at that job and I fell in love with the people I worked with, I learned so much with computers, photography and ministry and I am so thankful that I stayed there during that time. Within a year, I felt as if God had released me and once again Pastor Brandon asked me to come and work at Canyon Creek and I was able to leave with integrity and the blessing of my former employer. I still go over and visit my former co-workers and continue have a good name at that church.
I love the idea of approaching God with a concern with my Bible ready and just waiting on Him to guide me. I will often look up key words in my concordance that might shed some light on my situation and then I will share my situation with someone I trust to see if they have any insight. Godly friends and family members are awesome to help bring a new perspective to things or to give you insight into a scripture you might not have seen.
The thing that I struggle with the most is wanting my own way and trying to fit my will into God’s plan. My emotions and desires often cloud my decision-making and that is when the questioning begins. God wants us to exercise discipline against our soul (our mind, will and emotions) as well as our body (ever feel too tired to spend time with Him?) Our soul and body with fail and we may sometimes mistake our fallible conscience for our Spirit-led conscience, but one check-and-balance method that will never fail is that of His Word. If you read it in God’s Word and He illuminates a scripture for you, then follow it because there will be incredible blessing in your obedience…even if you have to wait awhile.
Your Assignment: I would love to hear about a time that you had God confirm something with a scripture, BUT I would also like to challenge you to spend time with Him with your Bible ready as you go to Him in prayer. Go into your prayer time expecting for Him to speak to you and see what happens. Use your concordance, look up keywords on a Bible website like bible.com or just start reading in the book that you may have already been reading in. And then, of course, let us know what you discovered!
My favorite part of chapter 5 was the very end with the Max Lucado quote: “Let’s try not to make a decision, whether large or small, without sitting before God with open Bible, open heart, open ears, imitating the prayer of Samuel: ‘Your servant is listening.’”
I don’t know about out but I am always questioning myself. I have a very hard time making major decisions and when I finally do, I second-guess myself, hyper-analyze my decision and usually ruin any joy I may have felt as a result of that decision because of the doubt that I allow to creep in. So how do we live life without always looking back to see if we missed out on something better? How do we move forward with confidence that we are doing the right thing?
I like that God has a nice check-and-balance system set up for us. He gave us His Word, the Bible, to guide us and even though it does not always address our specific situation, He is faithful to speak to us through it.
I have an example how God used a very simple verse to speak to me: A few years ago, I was at a time in my life when all my kids were going into school and I knew that it was time for me to get a job that could keep me busy while they were all gone during the day. I looked around to a couple part time positions and found one at a large church in their publication department. This job was a little more than I was equipped to handle but I felt like God had opened up the doors to get me there and I was up for the challenge. I began working there and really loved my environment. The only problem was, it wasn’t my own church. Two weeks after I started the job, Pastor Brandon asked me to come work for Canyon Creek. I groaned as I realized that if I had just waited a little while, I could have had a great job in the church I loved. So I had a decision to make: Do I leave the job that I have already accepted or do I stay put and see what God has for me there? I prayed about it and knew that my will was to go over to Canyon Creek but I felt in my Spirit-led conscience that it would be irresponsible to leave this job and these people that I had committed to. God used a scripture to further my feelings with Proverbs 22:1, “A good name is more desirable than great riches; to be esteemed is better than silver or gold.” This verse confirmed to me that to keep my integrity in tact, I had to stay where I was. I then talked the situation over with my husband and he agreed with me that I should stay at my present job and tell Pastor Brandon that the timing was not right for me to come over to Canyon Creek. I spent a year at that job and I fell in love with the people I worked with, I learned so much with computers, photography and ministry and I am so thankful that I stayed there during that time. Within a year, I felt as if God had released me and once again Pastor Brandon asked me to come and work at Canyon Creek and I was able to leave with integrity and the blessing of my former employer. I still go over and visit my former co-workers and continue have a good name at that church.
I love the idea of approaching God with a concern with my Bible ready and just waiting on Him to guide me. I will often look up key words in my concordance that might shed some light on my situation and then I will share my situation with someone I trust to see if they have any insight. Godly friends and family members are awesome to help bring a new perspective to things or to give you insight into a scripture you might not have seen.
The thing that I struggle with the most is wanting my own way and trying to fit my will into God’s plan. My emotions and desires often cloud my decision-making and that is when the questioning begins. God wants us to exercise discipline against our soul (our mind, will and emotions) as well as our body (ever feel too tired to spend time with Him?) Our soul and body with fail and we may sometimes mistake our fallible conscience for our Spirit-led conscience, but one check-and-balance method that will never fail is that of His Word. If you read it in God’s Word and He illuminates a scripture for you, then follow it because there will be incredible blessing in your obedience…even if you have to wait awhile.
Your Assignment: I would love to hear about a time that you had God confirm something with a scripture, BUT I would also like to challenge you to spend time with Him with your Bible ready as you go to Him in prayer. Go into your prayer time expecting for Him to speak to you and see what happens. Use your concordance, look up keywords on a Bible website like bible.com or just start reading in the book that you may have already been reading in. And then, of course, let us know what you discovered!
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