Hello PT!

Here is Part 1

I have a confession: I really struggled to put up the last post, for so many reasons, but I will mention a few. I felt all over the place with my words, I kept telling myself: ‘I hope these words make sense’. Then, I was thinking; Is this post even necessary?

But, I put up the post, anyway. I am learning how to shut my raging emotions, especially when it’s not time to be logical- when it’s time to be obedient to God. So, cheers to shutting our thoughts/emotions up, and subjecting them to obeying the instructions of God.

We considered some factors that could prevent us from hearing from God, in the course of pondering on this ‘series’, I remembered another one…

Disobedience: if there is anything I have come to understand, it’s the fact that God does not take disobedience likely; not that He tolerates other forms of sin though. But there’s just something more infuriating to God about disobedience. When God speaks, He speaks to be heard and obeyed. So hearing God speak and not being obedient, could result in God not speaking to a person, therefore, not hearing God’s voice. Perfect examples of such occurrences are Eli and Saul. Eli did not address the issue of His sons’ defilement of God’s people and their offerings, in addition to God’s judgment, He did not speak to Eli till he died, and He found a replacement in Samuel [1 Samuel 2]. Same as Saul, Saul disobeyed God twice by offering the sacrifices in 1 Samuel 13, instead of waiting for Samuel; and by sparing king Agag and some healthy spoils from the war against the Amalekites in 1 Samuel 15, when God instructed a total wipe out of the Amalekites. Saul prayed to God and did not get an answer from God that he looked for a witch to consult Samuel’s ghost, in order to know what God had to say. [1 Samuel 28]. For every time God speaks, hearing is not our only response; obeying is integral to Him continuously speaking to us.

Discernment and Sensitivity to the Holy Spirit

The first thing we need to get right is this: the devil speaks and God speaks. But how do you know God is speaking: He won’t say anything that contradicts what His word says about Him and His ways. Then discernment helps us know when God is speaking. Discernment is the gift that God bestows us with [upon request] to be able to decipher His word from every other word. We need to understand that we live in such a time that even the elects will be deceived, so that should make us realize that being able to hear God speak is not as simple as we may want it to be, but it is still easy with the help of the Holy spirit and being sensitive to Him speak.

Apart from discernment, sensitivity to the Holy Spirit is important. If there’s anything that I understand about God speaking, it’s the fact that, He speaks through conventional and unconventional means; and if we will be able to know God is speaking, we have to be sensitive to the Spirit, and we can only reap fruits we have sown into our spirit man. Our Spirits are as sharp as we feed them with the word of God.

I blogged elaborately on discernment here: After you’ve prayed, what next?

Please read this impactful post on the ways God speaks to us, by the beautiful Frances Okoro: How to hear God’s voice. Indeed, the Spirit of God is one, she blogged about the different ways God speaks to us.

My plan was for this post to be short, and short it shall be.

Hearing the voice is integral to our walk with God. A relationship cannot exist without communication. For every communication, there’s a listener and a speaker. If we say we have a relationship with God, then we cannot be speaking all the time, there has to be a time when we are listening.

I pray for us all that we become more intimate with God, that as many of us that want to hear the voice of God, that God will teach us and show us the obstacles that are preventing us from hearing Him speak. I pray that we will be more sensitive to the Holy Spirit and may we be able to discern God’s voice from every other. Amen.

Announcement

Shout out to the newest Precious Thinkers. Welcome to Precious Thoughts. Your presence is very much felt on the blog. I hope that as we journey together, we keep sharpening ourselves and others in preparation for the Lord’s coming.

The trend of expecting posts to be up on Thursday nights EST could be the way to go for now. If God permits, a book review will be the next post to come. I am so excited for the next post, as this book is not ordinary, it’s a must-read.

Also, the WIGTW [When I Got This Wrong]  segment is still open to all, please feel free to send your experiences and lessons to preciousthoughts2013@gmail.com Don’t understand what this segment is about, find out more here and here

 PT QUOTE OF THE DAY

If you listen carefully to what He says and do all that I say, I will be an enemy to your enemies and will oppose those who oppose you. Exodus 23 v 22 NIV

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Have any questions/suggestions: preciousthoughts2013@gmail.com

Princess Okechukwu!