Do you hear Him?
Have you ever wondered what the voice of God sounds like?
Have you ever had a feeling of deep conviction in your heart and knew that it didn’t come from you? Or, perhaps, a believing friend offered a word of comfort or advice at just the right moment without your prompting? Or, maybe, in a still and quiet moment, you had a thought, a word, or an idea that kept coming into your mind. Each of these experiences expresses the same truth; God wants to speak to us. And he often does so through a variety of forms over the course of our following him.
We have a set of questions here at Christ Community that serve to help us see where we can grow in our following of Jesus with our whole lives. One of those questions is, “Is the Spirit flowing through me?” This question is designed to help us lean into a listening posture to the Holy Spirit. It also helps us to diagnose if we are even in a listening posture at all. The simple truth is that we believe that God not only cares about our eternities, but he also deeply cares about our here and now. And, because of that, he has filled us with his Spirit to guide, encourage, correct, and spur us on in following Jesus.
Is the Spirit flowing through you?
Maybe, before we ask if the Spirit is flowing through me? We need first to ask, am I creating space to be present to the Spirit?
This Sunday, we are going to pick up with Paul, Silas, and company as they set off for a second missionary adventure. In Luke’s writing to this point, the leading of the Spirit has been assumed. As this second journey gets started, we are going to see the Spirit radically change their plans. After all, he does that sometimes. But, at the end of the day, we are going to see that God’s plans are always better than ours. And, if that is true, we want to be in a listening posture. God’s Spirit often speaks through the Bible, other mature believers, and even in the quiet moments of our lives with a word or phrase.
Again, the question ahead of each of us is, do you hear Him? Or, maybe, am I putting myself in a posture that is ready to listen?
The good news? He wants you to hear his voice, and his plans are always better than ours.