My Sheep Will Hear My Voice...

[Linda Marie Irish 0]

One of the very underated and under appreciated ways that we hear the voice of God, is actually through troubles and difficulties. I was reading the Bible yesterday morning when I came across this awesome scripture…just another confirmation that God does talk to us, His sons and daughters.

“Although the Lord gives you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, your teachers, will be hidden no more; with your own eyes you will see them. Whether you turn to the right or to the left your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, “This is the way; walk in it.” Isaiah 30:20

What God is talking about is that when we are children, when we are immature we see the problems and struggles in our life as being of no value, like tacks in the road, so to speak. But as we mature in our spiritual growth, through walking in the Holy Spirit we will soon see that God has given, us opportunity to develop our skills in hearing His voice through these difficult times. When we have these times we will not longer wring our hands in despair but know that “All things work together for good for those who love the Lord and are called together for His purpose”

We all have these struggles in our life, but as a born again Christian we know that we are to walk in all the difficulties in a way that is pleasing to God. This is what is pleasing to the Father of us. Are we then able to walk through the hard times…with peace in our heart, with the spirit of God filling us and leading us, with a mouth that has good, true and uplifting words, and a mind that thinks good thoughts?. Are we counted as having a humble and forgiving spirit and an attitude of thanksgiving and appreciation to God, and the desire to continually grow our faith in all that God would have us know and believe? It is not the circumstances in the world that determine success, it is the states of our heart mind and soul. In other words are we a new creature in Christ that longs and aspires to stay in the Holy Spirit?

The thing that satan likes to control people with is fear…We know that we are to trust God, but often instead of trusting God, we decided to listen to the fear and do something deemed “more dependable” than God. It is our version of the “Sara thing” where God told Sara and Abraham that they would have a child and where Abraham believed and it was accounted to him as righteousness, Sara laughed in disbelief (as she was very very old)….and then she persuaded Abraham to impregnate her handmaiden Hagar, instead.

So I struggle with this fear also, let me give you and example. The other day God gave me a dream, it was a prophetic dream and in the dream he was telling me that there was going to be an accident (a wreck) and that it was to be an opportunity for ministry, When I woke up I prayed for the ones that God was telling me would be in a wreck. Then, God told me to tell people, and I knew that He was talking about my friends and family on my computer as well. My friends and family in my email and on facebook, and in my daily life.

That was out of my comfort zone. Fear was the first thing to try to keep me from following God. The enemy puts those thoughts in our head “yeah, you will look stupid if you post that, people will that you think you are a prophet or a mind reader and full of yourself”….I instantly said to God, “Oh, I don’t think I’m doing that”…but then I realized that God was not asking me what my opinion was….He told me to do it.

So I did it. I thought to myself, I have to be willing to step out in obedience in the fine tuning my “hearing from God”…maybe I won’t always get it right, but if we choose to ignore God and disobey and disregard that things that He is saying to us, why should we even bother saying that we are a Christian? Really.

So satan tried to control me by putting the fear on me in hopes that I would “play it safe. I have friends and family who are offended by my faith and even the object of ridicule for my trusting heart. If I did not post I would not risk ridicule. That is true, but I needed to post whether I would get ridiculed or not.

As it turned out the dream warned me to pray for whoever was going to be in a wreck…and I did, and posting it gave others opportunity to pray as well.

This was my dream. It was more like a vision within a dream really, It was dark and still, then I saw a door, in the dark and it opened I could see beyond the door light, billowing clean light but no form, and then I hear the voice of my husband. He was alarmed, "There's been an accident"...and I instantly knew it was a car wreck, and then a pause and my husband's voice was kindly and knowing, "This will be an opportunity for ministry, Linda"...and I awoke. It was a Thursday early in the dark morning when I awoke from the dream and prayed, and when God told me to share the dream with others. Then I posted it on my facebook page with my friends and family. Later that day I called my close friend that I was suppose to meet for lunch, but she couldn’t talk, she was upset that her daughter had just been in a car wreck. No broken bones but banged up and sore. Then on the next day my sister was in a car wreck that totaled her car…same thing, no serious injuries but or course the car was messed up.

I am only sharing this because it is important to recognize this kind of fear as the enemy of God. God had me and othes praying in intercessory prayer for the persons who were to be involved in a car wreck ~before they were even in the car that day,and by the next day, there had been two accidents in our circle of friends and family, and Thank God, that they were not seriously injured, who can say what the outcome may have been without the power of God interceding. Shall we be thankful to God for keeping our loved ones safe? Absolutely. And the family members who are not believers, I pray to God that they will not miss the opportunity to know and love Christ and to recieved the salvation that is available through faith in God's only begotten son. John"3;16

If you stay in the Holy Spirit, you will walk in His way. God will continue to lead you into all truth. God is our source. God is our identity, God will speak to His sons and his daughers. If we aspire to walk in His Holy Spirit He will teach us.