God In The Ordinary

[Coconut]

"God calls us in a real world. He doesn't communicate by performing tricks. He doesn't communicate by stacking stars in the heavens or reincarnating grandparents from the grave. He's not going to speak to you through voices in a cornfield or a little fat man in a land called Oz. There is about as much power in the plastic Jesus that's on your dashboard as there is in the styrofoam dice on your rearview mirror.

It doesn't make a lick of difference if you are an Aquarius or a Capricorn or if you were born the day Kennedy was shot. God's not a trickster. He's not a genie. He's not a magician or a good luck charm or the man upstairs. He is, instead, the Creator of the universe who is right here in the thick of our day-to-day world who speaks to you more through cooing babies and hungry bellies than he ever will through horoscopes, zodiac papers, or weeping Madonnas.

If you get some supernatural vision or hear some strange voice in the night, don't get too carried away. It could be God or it could be indigestion, and you don't want to misinterpret one for the other.

Nor do you want to miss the impossible by looking for the incredible. God speaks in our world. We just have to learn to hear him.

Listen for him amidst the ordinary." ~ Max Lucado

 

[Francis Drake]

"God calls us in a real world. He doesn't communicate by performing tricks. He doesn't communicate by stacking stars in the heavens or reincarnating grandparents from the grave. He's not going to speak to you through voices in a cornfield or a little fat man in a land called Oz. There is about as much power in the plastic Jesus that's on your dashboard as there is in the styrofoam dice on your rearview mirror.

It doesn't make a lick of difference if you are an Aquarius or a Capricorn or if you were born the day Kennedy was shot. God's not a trickster. He's not a genie. He's not a magician or a good luck charm or the man upstairs. He is, instead, the Creator of the universe who is right here in the thick of our day-to-day world who speaks to you more through cooing babies and hungry bellies than he ever will through horoscopes, zodiac papers, or weeping Madonnas.

If you get some supernatural vision or hear some strange voice in the night, don't get too carried away. It could be God or it could be indigestion, and you don't want to misinterpret one for the other.

Nor do you want to miss the impossible by looking for the incredible. God speaks in our world. We just have to learn to hear him.

Listen for him amidst the ordinary." ~ Max Lucado

Yes, but do we really know how to listen with the ears of our spirit rather than the ears on our head? If we rely on our physical ears, or eyes, then we are more than likely to completely miss everything God is revealing.

The definition of credible is "able to be believed" or "capable of persuading people that something will happen". Therefore if something is credible to the average person of this world using his natural eyes and ears, it is most likely not something which is being revealed by God!

I wonder what was there that was credible when Elijah stated that he heard the sound of an abundance of rain? From the biblical account it is clear that there was no sign of any change in the weather, nor were there any clouds in the sky. His servant went seven times to look for anything and returned saying that there was nothing to see. Nevertheless Elijah could both see and hear it, but most certainly not with his natural eyes or ears. What Elijah was talking about was not credible to the human mind at all.
Elijah's statement obviously fell into the definition of incredible. They only reason that anyone believed it was that they had just seen the other incredible miracles that he had done.

1Kings18v41
And Elijah said unto Ahab, Get thee up, eat and drink, for there is a sound of abundance of rain. v42.So Ahab went up to eat and drink. And Elijah went up to the top of Mount Carmel; and he cast himself down upon the earth, and put his face between his knees, v43.And said to his servant, Go up now, look towards the sea. And he went up, and looked, and said, There is nothing. And he said, Go again seven times. v44. And it came to pass at the seventh time, that he said, Behold there arises a little cloud out of the sea, like a man's hand. And he said, Go up, say unto Ahab, Prepare your chariot, and get thee down, that the rain stops you not. v45. And it came to pass in the mean while, that the heaven was black with clouds and wind, and there was a great rain. And Ahab rode, and went to Jezreel. v46. And the hand of the Lord was on Elijah; and he girded his loins, and ran before Ahab to the entrance of Jezreel.

Jesus said that unless we come as a little child, we shall in no way enter the kingdom of Heaven. A child has no way to assess whether something is sufficiently incredible not to be believed, such considerations come with the accumulation of intellectual education and experience. Sadly, it is this self same intellectual education and experience which trains us to dismiss everything which our spirit would otherwise reveal to us of God.

 

[Coconut]

A very good word Francis, amen!

 

[Francis Drake]

God speaks to anyone who will listen. Christian or not.

A very good word Francis, amen!

Thanks Coconut!

Both my wife and I experienced God speaking to us as little children. However neither of us heard the Gospel or "became christians" until we were adults!

After we had been well and truly thwarted in a house purchase, my son, when he was only about three and a half years old, had an accurate detailed prophetic word for us about buying it. ie. "Jesus says we are going to have that house and we will have it before....."
The result came to pass over three months later within two hours of the specific deadline he given us. (We had absolutely no control over the date!)

I knew a lady who was not a christian, who kept horses on my land. She had a totally childlike belief in God and she listened and heard the Lord speak whilst she worked with her horses. Several times she brought me accurate words of knowledge from scripture, even though she had no clue of the bible. ie. "Do you know what this means,......... I heard it when I was poo picking"

The one common denominator for each of these examples (and many many more) was that they had never had any influence or teaching from the church. They remained childlike in their understanding of the things of the Lord. They had never heard any Christian rules, nor any guilt trip about God.

I am sorry to say it, but it seems to me that church does a great job of educating people about the bible, but little introduction to the way the Lord would speak to his children today. Instead christianity today seems to be more about living by Tree of Knowledge Christian rules rather than seeking and following the anointing of the Spirit, the Tree of Life. If we Christians of all people cannot discern the voice or leading of the Holy Spirit in everyday life, then we have failed. FAILED! We are fakes.
Following religious rules is not enough.

 

[revbrad]

I am sorry to say it, but it seems to me that church does a great job of educating people about the bible, but little introduction to the way the Lord would speak to his children today. Instead christianity today seems to be more about living by Tree of Knowledge Christian rules rather than seeking and following the anointing of the Spirit, the Tree of Life. If we Christians of all people cannot discern the voice or leading of the Holy Spirit in everyday life, then we have failed. FAILED! We are fakes.
Following religious rules is not enough.

Amen & Amen

We must build a relationship with Christ and learn to listen with our hearts.

My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: John 10:27