3 Ways to Grow in Knowing God's Voice (Wrapped in Grace) & Faith Filled Friday #15

Teacher

"Since my youth, God, you have taught me, and to this day I declare your marvelous deeds." Psalm 71:17

Does this verse amaze you? It does me, but perhaps that is because my memory is weaker than most (I think of it as my thorn the Lord allows. Though, God gave me a divine appointment with a brain expert at the homeschool conference last weekend and she says she can fix it. Yay!!). So to think that God has been teaching me all these years back further than I can remember. Wow. To think that He was there helping me perceive and learn... for years... there... with me... coaching, instructing, teaching. Just wow. To think that there is no event in my life that He wasn't right there actively helping me understand. Oh Lord, let this hit us. For a learner (what strengths finder said my top strength was) like me, this utterly blows my mind and brings me close to tears.

And another awesome thing about Him being a teacher is that it implies He speaks to us. I LOVE that about Him! I love that I can hear Him. I mean seriously, what kind of God is so incredibly awesome that He makes it possible for the finite to hear and understand the infinite. It is mind blowing that God says, "Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great unsearchable things you do not know." Jeremiah 33:3 

Are you confident in knowing God's voice?
Here are a few ways I grew in confidence in hearing and knowing God's voice:

1. Saturate your mind with Scripture. It is God's words. If you want to know what He sounds like, go to the book He wrote. Only makes sense right. As you read, ask Him to help you understand and have a journal handy to write down the things that stand out and the insights you gain. The Holy Spirit is the One who illuminates our minds to Scripture. So if you have an ah-ha moment, recognize that as God's voice. 

It's like if you were to learn another language. The best way to learn it is to submerse yourself in the culture of people that speak it and it becomes natural. When we saturate our minds with Scripture, we are then able to recognize God's voice and heart.

2. Ask Him questions. When I was in college (and had much more free time than now) I would get up and walk 1/2 way down the block to my church and pray with the pastor and his wife for the church for an hour. Then I would go on a little walk down this beautiful road and pray for another hour. Then I would get home and do my Bible study. Everyday for... hmmm... (here's my bad memory kicking in...) a year or two(?) I would spend at least three hours a day with the Lord. (After I moved, the prayer time with the pastor and wife ended, but I still had 2 hours a day with the Lord for years and years after that) During my prayer walk 1/2 of the time would be spent asking Him questions. After I asked God a question, I would write down the thought that came to my mind (yes, I took my journal on my prayer walk) and I would weigh it against Scripture. "Would God really say that?", "Does it contradict anything He said in His Word?", "Does that match up with what His Word shows me His heart and character are like?" And if it didn't contradict Scripture or His character I would take it as though God has spoke to me. Looking back, that is the time I grew in confidence in hearing God's voice.  

3. Memorize Scripture. As I have said, my memory is super bad (how I wish I were exaggerating. Sometimes I think 80 year olds have a better memory than me). So my point is that having a bad memory cannot be an excuse for not memorizing God's Word. (It's the number 1 excuse I hear). It takes more work for people with a bad memory, but it's not impossible. And the reality is that God takes broken things and uses them to show Himself to be great. He wants to take you're awful memory to show Himself capable. Like how He took me, a girl who can't remember names or faces (sometimes growing up I would be afraid I wouldn't be able to recognize my own mom) or even my very own life events (just a few weeks ago some friends were telling me an amazing story of when I lead a girl to Christ right before she died or something like that... I can't even remember now what they said, and I was convinced they were confusing me with someone else because I could not remember this and surely I should be able to remember things like that!!! But when you have a memory like mine, trusting other peoples memory is just the best option. ;)  So anyway, the awesome thing about God is that He took my broken brain and enabled me to memorize the entire books of James, Philippians and half of  1 Thessalonians and hundreds of other verses. THAT is how capable God is! Surely if you have a better memory than me, He can do MUCH more through you! 

Wow this is getting long. Anyway, my point... when we put God's word in our mind, it is like putting stuff in there for the Holy Spirit to use to speak to us. It's like have a garage full of power tools. (Oh my, now I'm just getting tired. I don't even own a power tool. Surely I could have come up with a better analogy than a boy one!)  Ok. I best go to sleep friends before I get a little crazy and who knows what I'll end up writing. ;)

Oh, and guess I better touch on the

What does that make me?

Well, if God is the Teacher, that makes us pretty dang valuable. He considers we are valuable enough to share His Words with. We are worth it enough to stick by when we are just not getting it. We are not so far out of reach that we can't learn about Him. He see's potential. 

Here's a little resource I wrote about discerning God's will that talks about a few other things I don't have time to go into. 

Goodnight. And PS, here's a cool story of God speaking to me.

Check out the rest of the Wrapped in Grace series:
Suffering King
Eternal
Creative

I'm linking up with Spiritual Sundays, Finding Him Friday, Getting Down with Jesus, Create with Joy, The Beauty in His Grip, Nebraska Graceful, The Wellspring, The Better Mom      

Faith Filled Friday Blog Link Up

We exist to glorify God, to display His heart and character. And I just love how we are all uniquely built to do that. So every Friday I want to give you, uniquely designed by God, an opportunity to link up your thoughts on God, art, baking, photography, parenting, marriage, writing or blogging and more if they tie into or display the the Lord somehow. 

So go ahead and link up below by clicking the link below and following the prompts. I just humbly ask that you please let your readers know by including a link at the bottom of your post (or somewhere on your side bar) or put my button code (found on my side bar or the Faith Filled Friday Tab) so they can find these other great people glorifying God and we can continue to grow as a community. Thanks!    

In effort to encourage others in their writing by faith, please take a minute to comment on the two posts linked up before you.