How to Trust God When Everything is Changing Around You
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Seeing God's Purpose in My Problems
Seeing Through God’s Eyes
Rick Warren
“Friends, when life gets really difficult, don’t jump to the conclusion that God isn’t on the job. Instead, be glad that you are in the very thick of what Christ experienced. This is a spiritual refining process, with glory just around the corner.”
1 Peter 4:12-13 (Msg)
“He takes no pleasure in making life hard, in throwing roadblocks in the way.”
Lam. 3:33 (Msg)
1. GOD USES PROBLEMS TO DIRECT ME
“A person may plan his own journey, but the Lord directs his steps.”
Pr. 16:9 (GW)
“Sometimes it takes a painful experience to make us change our ways.”
Pr. 20:30 (GN)
“I have thought about my life, and I have directed my feet back to Your written instructions.”
Ps 119:59 (GW)
“I am glad … not because it hurt you but because the pain turned you to God….”
2 Cor 7:9 (LB)
2. GOD USES PROBLEMS TO INSPECT ME
“The Lord searches our hearts and examines our deepest motives so He can give to each person his right reward, according to his deeds — how he has lived.”
Jer. 17:10 (LB)
“You (God) inspect them every morning and test them every minute.”
Job 7:18 (TEV)
“Humans are satisfied with whatever looks good; but God probes for what isgood.”
Pr. 16:2 (Msg)
“God led you all the way in the desert these forty years, to humble you and to test you in order to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep His commands.”
Deut. 8:2 (NIV)
“I have tested you in the fire of suffering.”
Isa. 48:10a (TEV)
3. GOD USES PROBLEMS TO CORRECT ME
“God corrects all of His children, and if He doesn’t correct you, then you don’t really belong to Him… God corrects us for our own good, because He wants us to be holy, as He is.”
Heb. 12:8-10 (CEV)
“Consider yourself fortunate God all-powerful chooses to correct you.”
Job 5:17 (CEV)
“God teaches people through suffering and uses distress to open their eyes.”
Job 36:15 (TEV)
“…it was the best thing that could have happened to me, for it taught me to pay attention to Your laws.”
Ps. 119:71 (LB)
4. GOD USES PROBLEMS TO PROTECT ME
“God will save you from hidden traps.”
Ps. 91:3a (NCV)
“God has led you away from danger, giving you freedom.”
Job 36:16 (NLT)
“It is better to suffer for doing good than for doing wrong …”
1 Peter 3:17 (NCV)
“You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good…”
Gen. 50:20 (NIV)
“Since the Lord is directing our steps, why try to understand everything that happens along the way?”
Pr. 20:24 (LB)
5. GOD USES PROBLEMS TO PERFECT ME
“After you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who calls you to share His eternal glory in union with Christ, will Himself perfect you and give you firmness, strength, and a sure foundation.”
1 Peter 5:10 (TEV)
“These hard times are small potatoes compared to the coming good times, the lavish celebration prepared for us.”
2 Cor. 4:17 (Msg)
“We can rejoice when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they are good for us – they help us learn to be patient. And patience develops strength of character in us and helps us trust God more each time we use it…”
Rom. 5:3-4 (LB
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To Be a Great Leader, You Absolutely Must Be a Reader
By Rick Warren
If you’ve ever been to Israel, you know there’s a real contrast between the Sea of Galilee and the Dead Sea. The Sea of Galilee is full of water and full of life. There are trees and vegetation. They still do commercial fishing there. But the Dead Sea is just that—dead. There are no fish in it and no life around it. The Sea of Galilee is at the top of Israel and receives waters from the mountains of Lebanon. They all come into the top of it and then it gives out at the bottom. That water flows down through the Jordan River and enters into the Dead Sea. The Dead Sea takes in but it never gives out. That’s why it’s stagnant. The point is, there must be a balance in our lives to stay fresh with both input and output. There’s got to be an inflow and an outflow.
Somebody has said, “When your output exceeds your income, your upkeep will be your downfall.” There must be a balance. Most Christians get too much input and not enough output. They attend Bible study after Bible study. They’re always taking in but they’re never doing any ministry. The problem we pastors and church leaders face is the opposite. You’re always giving out, and if you don’t get input, you’ll dry up.
Paul wrote his second letter to Timothy in prison. At the end of the letter he tells Timothy, “When you come, bring my coat, bring the books, too, and especially the ones made of parchment” (2 Timothy 4:13). At the end of his life, while in prison, Paul wants two things… “I want my coat and I want my books.” C. H. Spurgeon commenting on this passage says:
He is inspired, yet he wants books. He has been preaching at least thirty years, yet he wants books. He’s seen the Lord, yet he wants books. He’s had a wider experience than most men, yet he wants books. He’s been caught up to heaven and has heard things that are unlawful to utter, yet he wants books. He’s written a major part of the New Testament, yet he wants books.
Oswald Sanders in his book Spiritual Leadership says: “The man [and woman] who desires to grow spiritually and intellectually will be constantly at his books.” I remember reading the biographies of both John Wesley and Jonathan Edwards. Both of them were intellectual giants. They stayed fresh by having a book continually while they were on horseback riding from event to event. Everywhere they traveled, they had a book. I’ve seen drawings of Wesley with a book in one hand, reading, not even looking where his horse is going.
Leaders are readers. Every leader is a reader. Not all readers are leaders but all leaders are readers. A lot of people read, but they’re not leaders. If you’re going to lead, you’ve got to be thinking further in advance than the people that you’re leading. There are at least four reasons reading is essential.
1. You must read for inspiration and motivation.
Harold Ockenga said, “Read to refill the wells of inspiration.” William Long, who wrote Christian Perfection and a number of Christian classics, wrote “Reading on wise and virtuous subjects is, next to prayer, the best improvement of our hearts. It enlightens us, calms us, collects us, collects our thoughts, prompts us to better efforts. We say a man is known by the friends he keeps, but a man is known even better by his books.” Personally, I feel few things get me out of sluggishness more than reading a good book. It gets my creative juices flowing. So the first thing I do is read for inspiration.
2. You must read to sharpen your skills.
Aldous Huxley said, “Every man who knows how to read has in his power to magnify himself, to multiply the way in which he exists, to make his life full, significant and interesting.” Reading is to the mind what exercise is to the body. Your mind is a muscle, and just like any muscle, the more you exercise it, the stronger it gets. You cannot wear out your mind. No one ever died of an overused mind.
Just like every other professional, you as a minister have to continually be upgrading your skills. The way you do that is through reading. Make a list of the skills that are needed for your facet of ministry and then read in those areas.
3. You must read to learn from others.
It’s wise to learn from experience but it’s even wiser to learn from the experience of others. All of us learn from the school of hard knocks—trial and error. But we don’t have time to make all the mistakes ourselves. Socrates said, “Employ your time in improving yourselves by other men’s documents, so you shall come easily by what others have labored hard for.” Employ your time reading what other men have already learned and then you can learn much easier what others have labored hard for.
The fact is, you can learn from anybody. You don’t have to agree with everything they do, but everybody has something to teach you. We have assimilated lots of good ideas from many different sources and put them together in a new format, and that’s what creativity is. All truth has been around forever. There are no truly new ideas. Creativity is taking existing ideas and making them work in a new way.
4. You must read to stay current in a changing world.
If books are any indication of personal growth of senior pastors, a lot of pastors in America stopped thinking when they got out of school. They’re not reading anything new, yet they’re trying to speak on a weekly basis. In today’s society, obsolescence comes very quickly. You can write a science textbook and by the time it gets to press, it’s out of date. You cannot live out your entire ministry on what you learned in seminary. You have to keep growing and keep learning.
With that as a background, I want to share with you some tips about how to get more out of your reading:
Analyze your reading habits to see what you’ve read and what you really need to read next.
Be intentional about scheduling time for reading, then read snippets of books wherever you are.
Balance your reading. Read broadly. Include people you don’t agree with. This is how we are stretched.
Mark up your books and take notes. If you use a reading app, make highlights and store them.
Know what not to read. Know your favorite authors, read the covers and tables of contents and the bibliographies to see if the book is worth your time.
Read book reviews and book summaries to process even more books in less time.
Build your library. Whether you prefer print or e-books, collect a library to reference and to leave behind.
And above all, remember that the Bible is our number-one priority in reading. You can get so caught up in reading other books that you don’t read the Bible. Make time for God’s Word before reading anything else. It is a lamp to our feet and a light to our path. We need to spend more time reading it than anything else.
If you want to be a growing leader of a healthy movement, keep reading. It’s the only way to stay out front.
http://pastors.com/great-leader-absolutely-must-reader
If you’ve ever been to Israel, you know there’s a real contrast between the Sea of Galilee and the Dead Sea. The Sea of Galilee is full of water and full of life. There are trees and vegetation. They still do commercial fishing there. But the Dead Sea is just that—dead. There are no fish in it and no life around it. The Sea of Galilee is at the top of Israel and receives waters from the mountains of Lebanon. They all come into the top of it and then it gives out at the bottom. That water flows down through the Jordan River and enters into the Dead Sea. The Dead Sea takes in but it never gives out. That’s why it’s stagnant. The point is, there must be a balance in our lives to stay fresh with both input and output. There’s got to be an inflow and an outflow.
Somebody has said, “When your output exceeds your income, your upkeep will be your downfall.” There must be a balance. Most Christians get too much input and not enough output. They attend Bible study after Bible study. They’re always taking in but they’re never doing any ministry. The problem we pastors and church leaders face is the opposite. You’re always giving out, and if you don’t get input, you’ll dry up.
Paul wrote his second letter to Timothy in prison. At the end of the letter he tells Timothy, “When you come, bring my coat, bring the books, too, and especially the ones made of parchment” (2 Timothy 4:13). At the end of his life, while in prison, Paul wants two things… “I want my coat and I want my books.” C. H. Spurgeon commenting on this passage says:
He is inspired, yet he wants books. He has been preaching at least thirty years, yet he wants books. He’s seen the Lord, yet he wants books. He’s had a wider experience than most men, yet he wants books. He’s been caught up to heaven and has heard things that are unlawful to utter, yet he wants books. He’s written a major part of the New Testament, yet he wants books.
Oswald Sanders in his book Spiritual Leadership says: “The man [and woman] who desires to grow spiritually and intellectually will be constantly at his books.” I remember reading the biographies of both John Wesley and Jonathan Edwards. Both of them were intellectual giants. They stayed fresh by having a book continually while they were on horseback riding from event to event. Everywhere they traveled, they had a book. I’ve seen drawings of Wesley with a book in one hand, reading, not even looking where his horse is going.
Leaders are readers. Every leader is a reader. Not all readers are leaders but all leaders are readers. A lot of people read, but they’re not leaders. If you’re going to lead, you’ve got to be thinking further in advance than the people that you’re leading. There are at least four reasons reading is essential.
1. You must read for inspiration and motivation.
Harold Ockenga said, “Read to refill the wells of inspiration.” William Long, who wrote Christian Perfection and a number of Christian classics, wrote “Reading on wise and virtuous subjects is, next to prayer, the best improvement of our hearts. It enlightens us, calms us, collects us, collects our thoughts, prompts us to better efforts. We say a man is known by the friends he keeps, but a man is known even better by his books.” Personally, I feel few things get me out of sluggishness more than reading a good book. It gets my creative juices flowing. So the first thing I do is read for inspiration.
2. You must read to sharpen your skills.
Aldous Huxley said, “Every man who knows how to read has in his power to magnify himself, to multiply the way in which he exists, to make his life full, significant and interesting.” Reading is to the mind what exercise is to the body. Your mind is a muscle, and just like any muscle, the more you exercise it, the stronger it gets. You cannot wear out your mind. No one ever died of an overused mind.
Just like every other professional, you as a minister have to continually be upgrading your skills. The way you do that is through reading. Make a list of the skills that are needed for your facet of ministry and then read in those areas.
3. You must read to learn from others.
It’s wise to learn from experience but it’s even wiser to learn from the experience of others. All of us learn from the school of hard knocks—trial and error. But we don’t have time to make all the mistakes ourselves. Socrates said, “Employ your time in improving yourselves by other men’s documents, so you shall come easily by what others have labored hard for.” Employ your time reading what other men have already learned and then you can learn much easier what others have labored hard for.
The fact is, you can learn from anybody. You don’t have to agree with everything they do, but everybody has something to teach you. We have assimilated lots of good ideas from many different sources and put them together in a new format, and that’s what creativity is. All truth has been around forever. There are no truly new ideas. Creativity is taking existing ideas and making them work in a new way.
4. You must read to stay current in a changing world.
If books are any indication of personal growth of senior pastors, a lot of pastors in America stopped thinking when they got out of school. They’re not reading anything new, yet they’re trying to speak on a weekly basis. In today’s society, obsolescence comes very quickly. You can write a science textbook and by the time it gets to press, it’s out of date. You cannot live out your entire ministry on what you learned in seminary. You have to keep growing and keep learning.
With that as a background, I want to share with you some tips about how to get more out of your reading:
Analyze your reading habits to see what you’ve read and what you really need to read next.
Be intentional about scheduling time for reading, then read snippets of books wherever you are.
Balance your reading. Read broadly. Include people you don’t agree with. This is how we are stretched.
Mark up your books and take notes. If you use a reading app, make highlights and store them.
Know what not to read. Know your favorite authors, read the covers and tables of contents and the bibliographies to see if the book is worth your time.
Read book reviews and book summaries to process even more books in less time.
Build your library. Whether you prefer print or e-books, collect a library to reference and to leave behind.
And above all, remember that the Bible is our number-one priority in reading. You can get so caught up in reading other books that you don’t read the Bible. Make time for God’s Word before reading anything else. It is a lamp to our feet and a light to our path. We need to spend more time reading it than anything else.
If you want to be a growing leader of a healthy movement, keep reading. It’s the only way to stay out front.
http://pastors.com/great-leader-absolutely-must-reader
Monday, May 11, 2015
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Sunday, December 14, 2014
Wednesday, October 8, 2014
How to Recognize God's Voice
http://anchor.tfionline.com/post/how-recognize-gods-voice/
Excerpts of devotionals by Rick Warren
Download Audio (13.8MB)
“Don’t believe everything you hear just because someone says it is a message from God; test it first to see if it really is!”1
When I get an idea in my mind, how do I know if it’s from God? How do I know it’s not my own desire or even a lie from Satan? The answer is clear in 1 John 4:1—I must test it to find out.
I want to share with you [a few of the] biblical ways to test an impression and find out whether it is from God or not.
The First Test
The first test is to ask the question, “Does it agree with the Bible?”
God will never contradict His written Word. Luke 21:33 says, “Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.”2 God’s truth is consistent. He is not going to tell you one thing in the Bible and then tell you something different in an impression.
And as Proverbs 12:19 says, “Truth stands the test of time.” How does this apply as a filter? For example … there are many verses in Proverbs that say God will bless your business if you have integrity and if you are honest and fair in all your business dealings. So if you get an idea that you could make more money and increase your profits by being dishonest, that idea is not from God.
The vast majority of God’s will for your life is in God’s Word. … God’s truth does not change. If you want to know God’s voice … you need to read the Bible. You need to memorize it, study it, and meditate on it.
The Second Test
“In your lives you must think and act like Christ Jesus.”3
God’s … purpose in your life is to make you like Jesus. He is the standard for your life in how you think, act, feel and speak. That’s why the second test to determining whether an impression is from God or not is to ask this question: “Does it make me more like Christ?”
God is never going to tell you something … that would cause you to do something that’s un-Christlike. If it is not like Jesus, believe me, you did not get the idea from God.
What is Jesus like? James 3:14–17 gives us some specifics that are a good measure for testing an idea: “If you harbor bitter envy and selfish ambition … such ‘wisdom’ is of the Devil. The wisdom that comes from God is pure, peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy, impartial and sincere.”4
First of all, this passage tells us two things God’s wisdom is not. It will not be motivated by bitter envy or selfish ambition.
These verses instead give seven things to test if an idea that comes into your mind is from God:
• Is it pure? If any thought is impure, God did not give it to you.
• Is it peace-loving? If the idea is from God, it will promote harmony and reconciliation, not conflict.
• Is it considerate? Any idea that would hurt or harm someone, even though it may benefit you, is not from God because He cares about the effect it might have on others.
• Is it submissive? If you get an idea from God, you must be open to having it tested by other people, asking them what they think about it. If you are hesitant and don’t feel like letting other people test the idea, then it did not come from God because it is not leading you to submit to others’ feedback.
• Is it full of mercy? An impression from God will make you more gracious and forgiving. It won’t make you judgmental or critical.
• Is it impartial and sincere? When you get an idea that’s from God, you don’t use it to manipulate people to get your own way.
Any idea that encourages these seven qualities in your life is an idea that will make you more like Christ.
The Third Test
“God’s intent is that through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known.” 5
God has not meant for anyone to go through life alone. He made us to live in relationship with other people. So when it comes to hearing God’s voice, you need to listen to the people around you. You need a … small group to confirm whether what you sense God directing you to do is true or not. This is the third test question: Are there other people who can confirm what I believe God is saying to me?
If God has genuinely spoken to you, He will confirm it through other mature believers. This idea that we have to do everything on our own is … not God’s. He wants you to share your idea with others for confirmation and listen to their feedback.
The reason God tells us to get advice is because He wants to save us from a lot of things. As it says in Proverbs 11:9, “The wisdom of the righteous can save you.”6
Advice from other mature believers can save you time wasted doing the wrong thing. It can save you from wasting money. It can save your reputation. It can save you from making mistakes.
One of the main reasons people mess up their lives is that they have no godly friends to give them feedback. That is why it is so important to be in a group with fellow believers who can hold you accountable and give you advice.
The Bible says, “In the multitude of counselors there is safety.”7
The Fourth Test
“We are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”8
The fourth test for confirming a word from God is to ask yourself, “Is it consistent with how God shaped me?”
A lot of people end up wasting millions of dollars going after pipe dreams, starting businesses and making plans they weren’t shaped to do. Romans 12:6 says, “God has given each of us the ability to do certain things well.”9 So ask yourself, “What do I love to do that I’m good at doing?” Note that I did not just say, “What do you love to do?”
Before I became a pastor, I was a worship leader. I played guitar and loved to sing, but nobody liked hearing me. So I learned pretty quickly that while I had a passion for music, I did not have the talent for it. I loved it, but I was not good at it.
You discover a lot of God’s will simply by looking at what you are good at.
The Fifth Test
“We will all be judged one day, not by each other’s standards, or even our own, but by the judgment of God … it is to God alone that we shall have to answer for our actions.”10
If something is not your responsibility, why should God talk to you about it? Would not He just talk directly to the person it concerns? This is the fifth test to consider when you wonder if an idea or impression you have comes from God: “Does it concern your responsibility?”
In John 21, Jesus told Peter that he would die a martyr’s death. Peter’s response was to glance at John, who was standing nearby, and ask Jesus, “Lord, what about him?”11 Peter was not satisfied with God telling him what was going to happen in his life. He wanted to know about John’s future as well.
Jesus responded by saying, “If I want him to remain alive until I return, what is that to you? You must follow me.”12
“What is that to you?” My wife, Kay, calls that the WITTY principle. We get ourselves in so much trouble when we start comparing ourselves to others. But when we do this, God says, “What is that to you?” He wants our focus to be following Him, not worrying about other people.
All believers have a direct line to God. Now, does God ever speak to others through another person? Of course He does. But there are three guidelines you need to follow if you feel God is using you to speak to someone else.
1. Be patient and pray. Give God a chance to speak to that person directly.
2. God will typically use you to confirm in someone else’s life what He’s already told them. So when you share your words with someone, it won’t be a big surprise.
3. God will usually use you without your being conscious of it. If God is going to speak through you to others, He will often do it in a way that you don’t even realize it was God speaking through you. But the person on the receiving end will recognize its truth.
The Sixth Test
“There is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus.”13
When you get an idea and you are wondering if it is from God, the sixth question to ask yourself is, “Is it convicting or is it condemning?” If it convicts, then it is from God, but if it condemns, then it is from Satan.
A lot of Christians live under condemnation, or constant guilt, and they think it is from God. It isn’t. Condemnation comes from Satan. But conviction comes from God.
Here’s the difference between the two: The purpose of conviction is to correct you on a specific issue in order to bring a change in your life, and it is motivated by God’s love.
Because God loves you, when He sees an area in your life that needs change—a relationship, a habit, an attitude—He will nudge you and say, “You need to work on this thing that’s out of whack in your life.”
The purpose of condemnation is to criticize and make you feel guilty, usually in a vague way. If you’ve ever felt guilty but you could not point to anything specific, or if you have ever had a feeling of worthlessness, that is condemnation from Satan.
Romans 8:1 says, “There is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus.”14 God will never attack you; He will never say you’re worthless or unlovable. In fact, in Revelation 3:19 God says, “Those whom I dearly and tenderly love, I tell their faults and convict and discipline. So be earnest and repent (changing your mind and attitude).”15
But condemnation is Satan’s way of making you feel worse and worse. It does not go away even after confession. It’s like the American court system. First there is the conviction of a crime in the court; then comes the condemnation, or sentencing, which can last for years.
God does not work that way. In God’s justice system the Holy Spirit convicts us of what’s wrong in our life and we admit it. Jesus pays the condemnation. He serves the punishment for our sin through His death on the cross. And we are free to live the way God created us to live, to live the way Jesus enables us to live. That’s the grace of God.
The Seventh Test
“[God’s] peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.”16
The final test in recognizing God’s voice is to ask yourself, “Do I sense God’s peace about it?” If you think you have heard from God, it measures up to God’s Word, you have gotten advice from other people and passed the other tests, but you still feel confused or anxious, then it does not pass the seventh test.
Why? “God is not the author of confusion.”17 So you wait and remain patient until you sense God’s peace.
God is a perfect father. Parents do not want their kids to feel worried or pressured when they ask them to do something. No, they want their children to feel encouraged. That is the same way God wants to relate to you. He does not want you to feel anxiety in anything He asks you to do.
The only time a sense of pressure is legitimate is when you keep saying no to God. That is a relational pressure that comes from holding God at arm’s length.
Satan wants to drive us compulsively in the things we do, but God does not work that way. God wants to draw us compassionately. He’s the shepherd who wants to lead the sheep. He does not drive us; He guides us. And, as sheep, we need to listen for His voice.
Philippians 4:6–7 describes the attitude you should have when you listen to God’s voice. “Do not worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank Him for all He has done. If you do this, you will experience God’s peace, which is far more wonderful than the human mind can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.”18
It’s not just a matter of hearing God’s voice; it’s also a matter of responding. Hearing is not enough. You have to act as well.
The Bible says that God speaks to people who do three things. “Listen to this wise advice; follow it closely, for it will do you good, and you can pass it on to others.”19
God speaks to those who listen to what He says, follow it closely, and then pass it on to others.
From: http://www.purposedriven.com/.
Published on Anchor September 2011. Read by Simon Peterson.
Footnotes:
1 1 John 4:1 TLB.
2 NIV.
3 Philippians 2:5 NCV.
4 NIV.
5 Ephesians 3:10 NIV.
6 GNT.
7 Proverbs 11:14b KJV.
8 Ephesians 2:10 NIV.
9 TLB.
10 Romans 14:10, 13 PH.
11 John 21:21 NIV.
12 John 21:22 NIV.
13 Romans 8:1 NLT.
14 NLT.
15 AMP.
16 Philippians 4:7 NIV.
17 1 Corinthians 14:33 KJV.
18 NLT.
19 Proverbs 22:17 TLB.
Excerpts of devotionals by Rick Warren
Download Audio (13.8MB)
“Don’t believe everything you hear just because someone says it is a message from God; test it first to see if it really is!”1
When I get an idea in my mind, how do I know if it’s from God? How do I know it’s not my own desire or even a lie from Satan? The answer is clear in 1 John 4:1—I must test it to find out.
I want to share with you [a few of the] biblical ways to test an impression and find out whether it is from God or not.
The First Test
The first test is to ask the question, “Does it agree with the Bible?”
God will never contradict His written Word. Luke 21:33 says, “Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.”2 God’s truth is consistent. He is not going to tell you one thing in the Bible and then tell you something different in an impression.
And as Proverbs 12:19 says, “Truth stands the test of time.” How does this apply as a filter? For example … there are many verses in Proverbs that say God will bless your business if you have integrity and if you are honest and fair in all your business dealings. So if you get an idea that you could make more money and increase your profits by being dishonest, that idea is not from God.
The vast majority of God’s will for your life is in God’s Word. … God’s truth does not change. If you want to know God’s voice … you need to read the Bible. You need to memorize it, study it, and meditate on it.
The Second Test
“In your lives you must think and act like Christ Jesus.”3
God’s … purpose in your life is to make you like Jesus. He is the standard for your life in how you think, act, feel and speak. That’s why the second test to determining whether an impression is from God or not is to ask this question: “Does it make me more like Christ?”
God is never going to tell you something … that would cause you to do something that’s un-Christlike. If it is not like Jesus, believe me, you did not get the idea from God.
What is Jesus like? James 3:14–17 gives us some specifics that are a good measure for testing an idea: “If you harbor bitter envy and selfish ambition … such ‘wisdom’ is of the Devil. The wisdom that comes from God is pure, peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy, impartial and sincere.”4
First of all, this passage tells us two things God’s wisdom is not. It will not be motivated by bitter envy or selfish ambition.
These verses instead give seven things to test if an idea that comes into your mind is from God:
• Is it pure? If any thought is impure, God did not give it to you.
• Is it peace-loving? If the idea is from God, it will promote harmony and reconciliation, not conflict.
• Is it considerate? Any idea that would hurt or harm someone, even though it may benefit you, is not from God because He cares about the effect it might have on others.
• Is it submissive? If you get an idea from God, you must be open to having it tested by other people, asking them what they think about it. If you are hesitant and don’t feel like letting other people test the idea, then it did not come from God because it is not leading you to submit to others’ feedback.
• Is it full of mercy? An impression from God will make you more gracious and forgiving. It won’t make you judgmental or critical.
• Is it impartial and sincere? When you get an idea that’s from God, you don’t use it to manipulate people to get your own way.
Any idea that encourages these seven qualities in your life is an idea that will make you more like Christ.
The Third Test
“God’s intent is that through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known.” 5
God has not meant for anyone to go through life alone. He made us to live in relationship with other people. So when it comes to hearing God’s voice, you need to listen to the people around you. You need a … small group to confirm whether what you sense God directing you to do is true or not. This is the third test question: Are there other people who can confirm what I believe God is saying to me?
If God has genuinely spoken to you, He will confirm it through other mature believers. This idea that we have to do everything on our own is … not God’s. He wants you to share your idea with others for confirmation and listen to their feedback.
The reason God tells us to get advice is because He wants to save us from a lot of things. As it says in Proverbs 11:9, “The wisdom of the righteous can save you.”6
Advice from other mature believers can save you time wasted doing the wrong thing. It can save you from wasting money. It can save your reputation. It can save you from making mistakes.
One of the main reasons people mess up their lives is that they have no godly friends to give them feedback. That is why it is so important to be in a group with fellow believers who can hold you accountable and give you advice.
The Bible says, “In the multitude of counselors there is safety.”7
The Fourth Test
“We are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”8
The fourth test for confirming a word from God is to ask yourself, “Is it consistent with how God shaped me?”
A lot of people end up wasting millions of dollars going after pipe dreams, starting businesses and making plans they weren’t shaped to do. Romans 12:6 says, “God has given each of us the ability to do certain things well.”9 So ask yourself, “What do I love to do that I’m good at doing?” Note that I did not just say, “What do you love to do?”
Before I became a pastor, I was a worship leader. I played guitar and loved to sing, but nobody liked hearing me. So I learned pretty quickly that while I had a passion for music, I did not have the talent for it. I loved it, but I was not good at it.
You discover a lot of God’s will simply by looking at what you are good at.
The Fifth Test
“We will all be judged one day, not by each other’s standards, or even our own, but by the judgment of God … it is to God alone that we shall have to answer for our actions.”10
If something is not your responsibility, why should God talk to you about it? Would not He just talk directly to the person it concerns? This is the fifth test to consider when you wonder if an idea or impression you have comes from God: “Does it concern your responsibility?”
In John 21, Jesus told Peter that he would die a martyr’s death. Peter’s response was to glance at John, who was standing nearby, and ask Jesus, “Lord, what about him?”11 Peter was not satisfied with God telling him what was going to happen in his life. He wanted to know about John’s future as well.
Jesus responded by saying, “If I want him to remain alive until I return, what is that to you? You must follow me.”12
“What is that to you?” My wife, Kay, calls that the WITTY principle. We get ourselves in so much trouble when we start comparing ourselves to others. But when we do this, God says, “What is that to you?” He wants our focus to be following Him, not worrying about other people.
All believers have a direct line to God. Now, does God ever speak to others through another person? Of course He does. But there are three guidelines you need to follow if you feel God is using you to speak to someone else.
1. Be patient and pray. Give God a chance to speak to that person directly.
2. God will typically use you to confirm in someone else’s life what He’s already told them. So when you share your words with someone, it won’t be a big surprise.
3. God will usually use you without your being conscious of it. If God is going to speak through you to others, He will often do it in a way that you don’t even realize it was God speaking through you. But the person on the receiving end will recognize its truth.
The Sixth Test
“There is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus.”13
When you get an idea and you are wondering if it is from God, the sixth question to ask yourself is, “Is it convicting or is it condemning?” If it convicts, then it is from God, but if it condemns, then it is from Satan.
A lot of Christians live under condemnation, or constant guilt, and they think it is from God. It isn’t. Condemnation comes from Satan. But conviction comes from God.
Here’s the difference between the two: The purpose of conviction is to correct you on a specific issue in order to bring a change in your life, and it is motivated by God’s love.
Because God loves you, when He sees an area in your life that needs change—a relationship, a habit, an attitude—He will nudge you and say, “You need to work on this thing that’s out of whack in your life.”
The purpose of condemnation is to criticize and make you feel guilty, usually in a vague way. If you’ve ever felt guilty but you could not point to anything specific, or if you have ever had a feeling of worthlessness, that is condemnation from Satan.
Romans 8:1 says, “There is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus.”14 God will never attack you; He will never say you’re worthless or unlovable. In fact, in Revelation 3:19 God says, “Those whom I dearly and tenderly love, I tell their faults and convict and discipline. So be earnest and repent (changing your mind and attitude).”15
But condemnation is Satan’s way of making you feel worse and worse. It does not go away even after confession. It’s like the American court system. First there is the conviction of a crime in the court; then comes the condemnation, or sentencing, which can last for years.
God does not work that way. In God’s justice system the Holy Spirit convicts us of what’s wrong in our life and we admit it. Jesus pays the condemnation. He serves the punishment for our sin through His death on the cross. And we are free to live the way God created us to live, to live the way Jesus enables us to live. That’s the grace of God.
The Seventh Test
“[God’s] peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.”16
The final test in recognizing God’s voice is to ask yourself, “Do I sense God’s peace about it?” If you think you have heard from God, it measures up to God’s Word, you have gotten advice from other people and passed the other tests, but you still feel confused or anxious, then it does not pass the seventh test.
Why? “God is not the author of confusion.”17 So you wait and remain patient until you sense God’s peace.
God is a perfect father. Parents do not want their kids to feel worried or pressured when they ask them to do something. No, they want their children to feel encouraged. That is the same way God wants to relate to you. He does not want you to feel anxiety in anything He asks you to do.
The only time a sense of pressure is legitimate is when you keep saying no to God. That is a relational pressure that comes from holding God at arm’s length.
Satan wants to drive us compulsively in the things we do, but God does not work that way. God wants to draw us compassionately. He’s the shepherd who wants to lead the sheep. He does not drive us; He guides us. And, as sheep, we need to listen for His voice.
Philippians 4:6–7 describes the attitude you should have when you listen to God’s voice. “Do not worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank Him for all He has done. If you do this, you will experience God’s peace, which is far more wonderful than the human mind can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.”18
It’s not just a matter of hearing God’s voice; it’s also a matter of responding. Hearing is not enough. You have to act as well.
The Bible says that God speaks to people who do three things. “Listen to this wise advice; follow it closely, for it will do you good, and you can pass it on to others.”19
God speaks to those who listen to what He says, follow it closely, and then pass it on to others.
From: http://www.purposedriven.com/.
Published on Anchor September 2011. Read by Simon Peterson.
Footnotes:
1 1 John 4:1 TLB.
2 NIV.
3 Philippians 2:5 NCV.
4 NIV.
5 Ephesians 3:10 NIV.
6 GNT.
7 Proverbs 11:14b KJV.
8 Ephesians 2:10 NIV.
9 TLB.
10 Romans 14:10, 13 PH.
11 John 21:21 NIV.
12 John 21:22 NIV.
13 Romans 8:1 NLT.
14 NLT.
15 AMP.
16 Philippians 4:7 NIV.
17 1 Corinthians 14:33 KJV.
18 NLT.
19 Proverbs 22:17 TLB.
