Hearing God's Voice

So last week we finished the lectures on Hearing God's Voice and I have to say that it was a pretty awesome week. I was definately a bit intimidated because I was unsure of myself but at the same time I was very eager to learn more about hearing God. The speaker, Jason, was awesome and he had a lot of great stuff to say on hearing God and some great stories too! My favorite part of the week though was the practical things that he made us do in class. The first time we just had a 30 min encouraging time where you tried to encourage as many people as you could. It was great, but a little nerve racking as well because the pressure was on :) Then the next day we were told that we were going to do the same thing except this time were had to spend time praying about what God wanted us to tell people. It wasn't important how many people you talked to just that you tried to hear God's voice. So I prayed and initially 2 people came into my mind along with some pictures and phrases for each of them. I was a bit sceptical as to whether it was God or just myself making things up but I decided to go for it anyways. The first one went well and she seemed encouraged and that was all that I could ask for. The second time, I actually started crying...go figure, but the girl that I talked to means a lot to me already. I talked to her after and she told me about the 4 different people that came to talk to her and how what we all said was similar and that we came in the perfect order and it was what she needed to hear. I was pretty amazed that God actually did speak through me! I talked to one other person afterwards... it was hard to go up to them, but I am glad that I went for it anyways. One of my biggest challenges here is learning how to conquer my fears. I am learning that there is far more freedom is speaking out than holding thing back when you are attacked by doubts. Anyways that next day we did more practice. This time you were supposed to talk with just one person and pray about what you were supposed to say to them. The kicker was that you didn't know who you were praying for....you had to write it down and then pull a name out of hat and go and share what you got with that person. So anyways I was a bit nervous but I did it and basically got a picture in my head of a growing flower. I won't go into that much detail. but I was skeptical. So then I picked out the name and went to that person. When I started to share with her what I saw she got really excited. I guess her mom had a similar picture when she was pregnant with my friend and always reminded her of it growing up. So it really meant something to her which was really cool. I was a bit blown away by the things that I experienced as well as what other people in the DTS experienced as well.

So now for this week...we have just started the Kingdom of Heaven week and so far it is off to a roaring start. So many hard questions have come up and I think it is important for us to think about them. Is just saying a prayer to God enough to get salvation? What does it take to be a true disciple of Jesus? Questions like these make you search out the truth in the bible and that is awesome. So far I think that I have come to the understanding that the most important thing isn't necessarily getting to heaven, it is making Jesus the lord of your life. The speaker Dan made an interesting comment. Most people read the gospels and relate themselves to the disciples. Instead we should try read them and relate ourselves to the Pharisees. Ask yourself: Are you falling into the same traps that they did? They were all work but no deed. Our faith needs to be followed with action! Too many people say that they follow Jesus, but don't act on that and I for one have been guilty of that in the past. Jesus has a heart for the world and so must we. "By doing unto the least of these you have done unto me." God wants to revolutionize the world through our action, not by our just sitting in church on Sunday or going about our daily lives minding our own business. Making Jesus the lord of your life means that you have to be willing to risk everything and that is something that I want to be better at. So...that is basically a bit of what I have been learning about this week.

Prayer Request:

I am getting sick AGAIN so please pray for healing!
That fear will not hold me back...especially when we do evangelism
That I will be open to God's voice and to what He is trying to teach me