Responding to God

As we discuss learning to hear the voice of God over these weeks there is a key issue that will dramatically affect our ability to ‘hear’. The more we embrace this truth, the clearer and easier we will hear God speaking to us and, the more we resist this the harder it becomes to hear God. Jesus introduces us to this issue in John 10:2-5 when He says in v. 3, ‘…the sheep (that’s you and me) hear His voice and come to Him…” It is the 2nd part of this statement that holds the answer to our continued, and developing, recognition of God’s voice -- our response to the message.
The more we respond in obedience to God’s voice the easier it is to hear His voice. The more we resist, or rationalize away, His message the harder it gets to hear Him speaking to us. This is not because Jesus has gotten frustrated and stopped speaking to us but because our disobedience has erected a barrier in our lives, which only serves to deaden our hearing. Our desire to hear God’s voice must be coupled with a commitment to respond in obedience to His voice. When these two characteristics are present in our lives we will walk with the sound of His voice in our ears and the blessing of His hand on our lives.
This issue of responding to the message of God is vital in both our personal and corporate expressions of faith. Not only must we each individually respond to God’s message, but our church family must collectively respond to what God says to us. We must be willing, and committed, to walk forward in the unfolding plan of God (“…there is so much more I want to tell you – John 16:12) for us and, our church family.
A few weeks ago I mentioned what leadership believes to be the message of God to our House that came out of our Klesis conference earlier this year. While the individual messages were all anointed and instructive, and everyone in attendance probably received personal words from the Lord, we believe that there were two specific messages that God had for our entire family, not just those in attendance. The two things we believe He said to us were:
1. More freely, and boldly, declare what God has called our House to.
2. More intentionally step into what God has called our House to.
We know, and have expressed often, the amazing call of God on this House – to be an equipping centre, a sending station, a regional church, a resourcing church and, a rescue mission. As each month goes by we continue to see victories and fruitfulness in these areas. We have family members going and coming on missions trips. We have people whose lives are being freed from addictions and restored to wholeness. We regularly receive opportunities to bless other churches and individuals out of the blessings God has given us and the list goes on. Yet while we rejoice in the victories and fruitfulness that we have seen we know there is much more that God has in store for us. While we certainly don’t claim to fully understand the implications and scope of this call, we also know that we are not to hold our understanding ahead of our embracing and obedience in responding to this call.
At this time of focusing on hearing God’s voice I want to encourage everyone in our church family, in both campuses, to enhance their hearing sure there is both personal and corporate responding to the message of God. That we are individually, and collectively, embracing and participating in what God has called us to. Let’s ensure that our hearing only improves as we faithfully respond to what God speaks to us about.