Weeks 35 & 36 (09) - Blessings of Divine Guidance

I am reading a book on Listening to God. I have read quite a number of books on prayer by big names like Cindy Jacob, Peter Wagner and Yonggi Cho, but I find this one very special. Even the listed price is a humble £3.99.

Deeply influenced by her Dad’s prayer life since young, the writer has grown up communicating with God as a life style. But in the past 9 years before writing this book, she learned to prayerfully listen to God. The book reflects her rich experience of discovering that God is far from silent.

Here is a wonderful testimony of listening to God:

“The Lord….puts His ideas into my mind, and especially His perspectives. He widens my vision, helps me to see what is really important in life, and to distinguish the really important from the unimportant…….He comes to me, in the listening, receptive moments of prayer, and He transfuses His power into me.”

On the chapter “A Taste of Silence”, she stresses the importance of a time of silence before God:

“If we are to witness to Christ in today’s market places, where there are constant demands on our whole person, we need silence. If we are to be always available, not only physically, but by empathy, sympathy, friendship, understanding, boundless caritas, we need silence. To be able to give joyous, unflagging hospitality, not only of house and food, but of mind, heart, body and soul, we need silence.”

I believe many people got burned out serving because they did not have times of silence before God, allowing oneself to be refreshed and rejuvenated. So don’t get offended if a Christian leader prefers to be alone once in a while. :o)

Listening prayer is also a time of openness before God:

“ …to pray is to change….Prayer if it is real is an acknowledgement of ……our openness to be changed…..We face God as we are: sinful, spiritually handicapped and disabled in many ways, chronic patients. And we accept these handicaps and disabilities because He accepts us as we are and because He loves us as we are.”

God indeed speaks to His people. People of God in the Old Testament testified to it. “…….Moses and Aaron were among his priests, Samuel was among those who called on his name; they called on the LORD and he answered them. He spoke to them from the pillar of cloud; they kept his statutes and the decrees he gave them……O LORD our God, you answered them……..” [Ps 99:1-9 NIV] The key is that these people obeyed God. When we have true relationship with God, in submission & obedience, God will answer us when we called on Him.

Jabez was another great example of a man of God who had a good relationship with God. He was honourable in God’s eyes and God granted his bold request. “Jabez was more honourable than his brothers. His mother had named him Jabez, saying, "I gave birth to him in pain." Jabez cried out to the God of Israel, "Oh, that you would bless me and enlarge my territory! Let your hand be with me, and keep me from harm so that I will be free from pain." And God granted his request.” [1 Chron 4:9-10 NIV]. I believe that when our walk with God is right, we can make big petitions to God and He will grant us those requests as long as they are in line with God’s plan.

Prayer is an integral part of our walk with God. Not only are we justified by faith, we also have access to God. “Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us….” [Rom 5:1-11 NIV]. Through this personal relationship with God, we share in the hope of the glory of God. We also rejoice in our sufferings of being a Christian in a secular world. It is God’s way of refining us in perseverance and character. The end result will be awesome, if we pass the test.

God has not been silent. He has been trying to get our attention. “Wisdom calls aloud in the street, she raises her voice in the public squares; at the head of the noisy streets she cries out, in the gateways of the city she makes her speech: ‘How long will you simple ones love your simple ways? How long will mockers delight in mockery and fools hate knowledge? If you had responded to my rebuke, I would have poured out my heart to you and made my thoughts known to you. But since you rejected me when I called and no-one gave heed when I stretched out my hand, since you ignored all my advice and would not accept my rebuke, I in turn will laugh at your disaster; I will mock when calamity overtakes you — when calamity overtakes you like a storm, when disaster sweeps over you like a whirlwind, when distress and trouble overwhelm you. ‘Then they will call to me but I will not answer; they will look for me but will not find me. Since they hated knowledge and did not choose to fear the LORD, since they would not accept my advice and spurned my rebuke, they will eat the fruit of their ways and be filled with the fruit of their schemes. For the waywardness of the simple will kill them, and the complacency of fools will destroy them; but whoever listens to me will live in safety and be at ease, without fear of harm.’” [Prov 1:20-33 NIV]. When disaster strikes, stubborn people will have themselves to blame.

Amen!