The Voice of the Lord
“For the word of the Lord of the Lord is right and true; He is faithful in all He does.” – Psalm 33:4
The world we live is a place full of many “truths”. We’re told to find our own truth, but how can your truth be true when it is not the same as my truth? How can two contradicting “truths” both be true? The simpler answer is they can’t. So there has to be one truth, one standard, one benchmark of truth to measure everything else up against.
The bible tells us that Jesus is the truth and that no one can come to the Father except through Him (Jn 14:6). In contrast to this, the bible also says that the devil has no truth in him. That when he lies, he speaks his native language. The devil is the father of lies. (Jn 8:44).
God’s voice is a guiding light leading us in the right direction. “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path” – Psalm 119:105. But not only is it true and reliable, it is also mighty and powerful. When God spoke, the world was made: “By the word of the Lord were the heavens made, their starry host by the breath of his mouth.” – Psalm 33:6
“The voice of the Lord is over the waters, the God of glory thunders, the Lord thunders over the waters. The voice of the Lord is powerful; The voice of the Lord is majestic. The voice of the Lord breaks the cedars; the Lord breaks in pieces the cedars of Lebanon.” – Psalm 29:3-5
“The voice of the Lord strikes with flashes of lightning. The voice of the Lord shakes the desert; The Lord shakes the Desert of Kadesh. The voice of the Lord twists the oaks and strips the forest bare. And in His temple all cry “Glory!” – Psalm 29:7-9
Let us train our ears to tune into the voice of God. May we lean on his chest as the disciple John did. Let us draw near to him as James tells us. Let us abide in Him and listen out for His still small voice. Let us taste and see that God is good by feasting on his word.
“My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me.” – Jn 10:27
Your way is better
Are you following the algorithm of the World, or the Spirit of the Living God? Romans 12:12 says the following:
‘Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.’
Are we submitting to God daily? Not just in our actions, but in our minds and in our hearts? What happens when we start the day off with social media? We’re not watching anything bad, we are watching seemingly harmless reels. Some make us laugh, some make us feel seen, some do both.
Are we allowing the content on social media to shape our minds, rather than allowing God’s word to do so? Even in the seemingly harmless content we watch, what subtle thoughts are creeping in that are very “world” and not so much “God”?
In my own life, I have watched a ton of mom and kid reels that often have me in laughter and are so relatable, but over time my mind starts shifting. I find myself yelling at my kid because they are frustrating me. Instead of going to God and saying, God I need your help, God I’m sorry for allowing my emotions to take over in this situation… Instead I’m thinking “Ah well, so many moms are going through this, in fact it’s normal and because it’s normal, it’s ok. My actions are absolutely justified.” The truth is, yes it is completely normal to feel this way, but God calls us to shift our thinking from what’s normal, transform our thinking and think in alignment with Him. He calls us to not conform to the norm, to instead be transformed by renewing our minds.
1 Peter 5:8 says that we should “Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.” Just like alcohol and drugs can numb minds, social media can too, often in subtle ways and sometimes over time.
Have we had a mind check lately? Are we more in tune with our algorithm or with the Holy Spirit? Do we need to hit the refresh button and invite the Holy Spirit to lead and guide us again?
Let’s pray:
Father God, forgive me for being more in tune with my algorithm and the normal ways of this world than with the leading of Your Holy Spirit. Thank you that You have called me to a higher call, to a better way. Holy Spirit, would you reveal the things in my life that are not aligned with kingdom thinking and renew my mind so that I will follow You even in the little ways. I fully submit to You. Your way is better. Amen.
He is my keeper.
Ever allowed one frightful thought take you down a rabbit hole of fear? One little imaginative idea of what could possibly go wrong and now you’re spiralling into need-to-breathe anxiety. You’ve gone from A to Z in a nanosecond and it’s hard to climb back up.
The Bible tells us what to do in these instances. It says in 2 Corinthians 10:5
“We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.”
2 Corinthians 10:5 NIV
These intrusive thoughts set themselves up against the knowledge of God. I’ve heard it say every negative thought needs to be replaced with two positive thoughts. If these intrusive thoughts set themselves up AGAINST the knowledge of God, then let’s fill our minds with that knowledge of God – who He is and what He has done. There – two positive thoughts.
Psalm 121 is one of my favourites when doing this because it makes me LOOK UP and see how big my God is and how small my problems are.
1 I lift up my eyes to the mountains—
where does my help come from?
2 My help comes from the Lord,
the Maker of heaven and earth.
3 He will not let your foot slip—
he who watches over you will not slumber;
4 indeed, he who watches over Israel
will neither slumber nor sleep.
5 The Lord watches over you—
the Lord is your shade at your right hand;
6 the sun will not harm you by day,
nor the moon by night.
7 The Lord will keep you from all harm—
he will watch over your life;
8 the Lord will watch over your coming and going
both now and forevermore.
Psalm 121
Let’s take this portion of scripture and make a “Who He is” list and thereafter a “What He Does” list. You can apply this to other scriptures as well.
WHO HE IS:
My helper
The maker of Heaven and Earth
My keeper
My shade on my right hand
WHAT HE DOES:
Doesn’t let my foot slip
Doesn’t sleep
Protects me from all evil
Keeps my life
Guards my going out and coming in
It’s a great source of comfort. He is my keeper, He watches me, He never takes His eye off of me. All that evil I may fear, well, He protects me from it. Let me not keep my eyes off of the One who keeps me, but read these words and trust in who He is and what He does.
Lord, thank you for being my keeper, for guarding my going out and coming in, as I lift my eyes to heaven and remind myself of who You are and what You’ve done. Holy Spirit, please continually remind me of these truths as I take every thought that sets itself up against you, captive. Thank You God for the gift of You.
In the waiting (part five) – Entwine our lives around His
Entwine our lives around His and abide in Him – James 4:8 AMP
The Hebrew word for wait (Qawah) in Isaiah 40:31 (see part one of in the waiting) not only means to patiently wait, to expect and to hope. It also means to entwine.
Isn’t entwine such a lovely word. It reminds me of the twining stems of a vine wrapping itself directly around an object. This makes me think of John 15 where Jesus tells us that He is the vine and we are the branches and if we remain in Him, we will bear much fruit. One could say – if we ENTWINE our lives around Him – we are remaining in Him. But that’s just my poetic take on it.
Entwining is something that only occurs when a twining stem is close to the object it’s entwining with. James 4:8 says the following:
Come close to God [with a contrite heart] and He will come close to you. Wash your hands, you sinners; and purify your [unfaithful] hearts, you double-minded [people]. James 4:8 AMP
The Hebrew word for “come close” is engizō which in this context means communion with God in prayer and the desired and cherished fellowship with him.
the Hebrew word for “wash your hands” is katharizó which in this context means to purify yourself from the pollution and guilt of sin.
Being double-minded means having conflicting dispositions – basically, believing in God’s way and equally in the world’s way. There can only be one way.
We have seen here that prayer (communion with God) is the way to come close to God. There is a promise here, when we come close to Him, He comes close to us. Challenge yourself to spend more time in prayer and if you don’t pray, challenge yourself to start.
God, In this season of waiting, I want to entwine my life around Yours. I want to draw close to you in prayer with the faith that you will keep your promise to draw close to me. Purify me from the pollution and guilt of sin and show me if there is any double-mindedness in me. Help me to submit and surrender only to You and Your ways. Amen.
In the waiting (part four) – Prepare for Him
Prepare for and make room for Him.
In the waiting, it’s time to prepare. You are waiting for what’s next, but are you ready for what’s next, have you prepared?
Isaiah 40:3 in the amplified version says:
A voice of one is calling out, “Clear the way for the Lord in the wilderness [remove the obstacles];
Make straight and smooth in the desert a highway for our God.
There are some good action phrases here: “Clear the way”, “make straight”. It kind of reminds me of when guests are coming to the house and it’s an upside down mess and suddenly the whole household is put to work. We’re clearing the toys, straightening the beds, we’re washing the dishes and putting them away – we are getting the house ready to be inviting and welcoming to our guests.
This verse is like someone shouting from outside your home, “Hey God’s coming, the King is on his way, is the house tidy, are you making room for the King of Glory to come in?”
And are we ready? What obstacles are there in our lives that hinder the King of Glory from coming in? What areas do we need to make straight and smooth for our God to be able to come.
Holy Spirit reveal the obstacles in our lives that hinder Your presence, the areas we need to straighten so that we can honour you. As we wait for you to come, we want to ready our hearts, our lives, our families, our communities and make space for you to come and do whatever you want to do.
In the waiting (part three) – Remind ourselves of who God is
Remind ourselves of who God is and what He has done
In the waiting, let’s remind ourselves of who God is and what He has done. It’s wise to do so.
Psalms 107:43 says:
Let the one who is wise heed these things
and ponder the loving deeds of the Lord.
To find out what “these things” are, that are being referred to, it’s best to read the whole of Psalm 107. After giving thanks to God, the psalmist introduces the psalm with: Let the redeemed of the Lord tell their story. The psalmist is offering an open mic, if you will, to the redeemed of the Lord, giving them a time to share testimonies.
Each story reaches a crisis, and variations of the following phrase bring each story to a head:
Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble,
and he saved them from their distress. – Psalm 107:6, 13, 19, 28,
Whereafter, the redeemed are encouraged to
Let them give thanks to the Lord for his unfailing love and his wonderful deeds for mankind – Psalm 107: 8, 15, 21 and 31
The Psalm follows this cadence in storytelling format where we get to see that we are the ones in desperate need of saving. God is the one who steps in and saves the day and as we look back on that, as we see His hand of love, as we remember the wonderful things He has done, how He has stuck his hand in the mud and pulled us from the miry clay, His continued faithfulness, we can only give thanks.
So while we wait, let’s heed the things He has done for us, let’s ponder His loving deeds, let’s remind ourselves of who He is and give Him thanks.
In the waiting (part two)
Yesterday’s devotion led me to writing a song, well for now it’s a poem – just lyrics no music as of yet.
The Waiting Season gives us time and we need to use that time well. A friend of mine did a preach just the other day on Isaiah 40 (see Isaiah 40:31), that in the waiting period we should do three things:
- Remind ourselves of who God is and what He has done – Psalms 107:43
- Prepare for and make room for Him – Isaiah 40:3 AMP
- Entwine our lives around His and abide in Him – James 4:8 AMP
I elaborate on these three points in the next few days, but for now. Here’s the song/poem:
In the wait, it’s so easy to procrastinate
An uncomfortable time we feel we need to waste
But the call is to be still
Remind ourselves just how real
You are
Cause You’re more than worth the wait
You don’t leave us in our depraved state
Our strength is renewed
As we fix our eyes on You
And soar above the heavens with power that only comes from You
In the wait, it can be hard to concentrate
Our busy lives make us want to pick up the pace
But the call is to be still
Remind ourselves just how real You are
Let me sit at Your feet, oh Jesus
Entwine my life around Yours
As I wait I’ll set my hopes on You and all that You are
In the waiting (part one)
Isaiah 40:31
But those who wait for the Lord [who expect, look for, and hope in Him] Will gain new strength and renew their power; They will lift up their wings [and rise up close to God] like eagles [rising toward the sun]; They will run and not become weary, They will walk and not grow tired.
The Hebrew word for wait here is Qawah – which doesn’t just mean wait. It means to patiently wait, to expect, to hope and to entwine
Psalm 42:11
Why are you in despair, O my soul? Why have you become restless and disquieted within me? Hope in God and wait expectantly for Him, for I shall yet praise Him, The help of my countenance and my God.
The Hebrew word here is Yahal – which is similar to Qawah – to wait, to tarry to expect, to be patient, carrying the sense of hopeful expectation.
The bible uses wait and hope interchangeably in these two verses and in several others. In the waiting there is an expectation of God, looking to God, hoping in God. The inverse is also true that hoping in God requires a period of waiting. The Hebrew words here add the adverb “patiently”. This wait is one filled with hope in God, it’s a wait that that takes time and requires patience and it’s a wait that means having an expectation that God will do what he has promised.
Often when I think of waiting, it’s an exercise of impatience. Waiting is uncomfortable, something we want to speed up. Waiting in a queue, waiting for the workday to end, waiting for something I’ve ordered to arrive, waiting for my kids to get ready. Waiting becomes this stressful excercise that we try to speed up, because waiting is awkward and uncomfortable. Sometimes we even pack it with other things – ok while I wait I can do AB and C. Yet the bible describes waiting as an exercise that requires patience, that is needed when being hopeful of something.
In the waiting, may we be patient, remain hopeful and stay expectant as we look to God.