God is Speaking. Do You Hear Him?

 

God is speaking. Do you hear Him?

A goal of this blog is to inspire and encourage you in your relationship with Christ. Today I want to share with you one of the ways God catches my attention and encourages me.
God speaks to us and touches our hearts in many different ways. It may be through something we read, something that someone else says, or undoubtedly scripture. Music is often a way that God speaks to me and inspires my walk with Christ.
I may have listened to a particular song hundreds of times. I might know the words from memory, and one day God will sort of highlight the words for me. He will reveal a deeper meaning to me, or show me how the song relates to a specific situation in my life. This new revelation that He gives me is usually encouraging and often helps me think through something that I’ve been wrestling with. I’m not saying the words of the song give me the answer. It’s more that the words that God has pointed out to me help me to see the problem or situation from a different perspective.
Recently God pointed a song out to me. This time it wasn’t to help me answer a question or work through a situation. It was simply to tell me that He loved me. The song was “Sons and Daughters” by Brett Stanfield. We sing this song regularly at our church, and I really enjoy when we sing this as part of our worship. This day as the music began I glanced at the words on the screen and the words held me in a trance. Instead of joining in with the singing as usual I found myself just reading the words, and I felt God speak to me in my heart. “You are my daughter, Amanda. Look at what I have done for you.”
This is not new knowledge for me, but it is something that I have been internalizing over the past year and a half. I’ve had the head knowledge that I am a child of God, but it has not truly been a part of my identity until the past few years. God provided encouragement and a little gift for me that day through that song.
Here are the words for you, and I pray that you will hear God speaking to you today.
Sons & Daughters
by Brett Stanfill
Before He spoke creation God of heaven knew our name
Formed in His reflection we are His glory on display
His heart is good
He is always kind
With the cross He proved
He is on our side
We are the sons, we are the daughters of God
no matter where we go we’re close to the Father’s heart
And though we stumble He will not let us fall
We are the Lord’s & He will never forsake His own
We are the sons, we are the daughters of God
His love He lavished on us & called us children of the King
In His loving kindness He chose the lowly & the weak
His heart is good
He is always kind
With the cross He proved
He is on our side
We are the sons, we are the daughters of God
no matter where we go we’re close to the Father’s heart
And though we stumble He will not let us fall
We are the Lord’s & He will never forsake His own
We are the sons, we are the daughters of God
And when the lies speak louder than the truth
Remind me that I belong to You
And when I can’t see past the dark of night
Remind me You’re always by my side
We are the sons, we are the daughters of God
No matter where we go we’re close to the Father’s heart
And though we stumble He will not let us fall
We are the Lord’s & He will never forsake His own
We are the sons, we are the daughters of God
How does God speak to you? Are there any songs that God has used to touch your heart?

Your sister in Christ,

Amanda

 

An Audience of One

 

An Audience of One

One of my favorite TV shows is The West Wing. In one particular episode that stands out to me, two of the characters discuss having a constituency of one. Often on the show congressmen and senators discuss their responsibility to their constituencies; the people who have elected them. Of course, this is art demonstrating reality. Our elected representatives are responsible to us, the people who have elected them. On this episode that I am recalling, the two characters, Josh, who is the president’s deputy chief of staff and Amy, who is at the time of the episode the first lady’s chief of staff, are not elected but work for elected individuals. Amy and Josh profess that they feel they have a constituency of one, Josh, the president of the US and Amy, herself. I bring this up because when I think about what they say I find myself agreeing with them. I have a constituency of one. My constituency of one is God.
About a year ago I attended a spiritual healing conference at a church that involved praise and worship times throughout the day. During one of the praise and worship times I had a vision of myself standing on a grand stage singing alone and out in the audience the only person who was there was God. I was singing to an audience of one. Later after the session, I shared this with the people who I attended the conference with and they each shared that they felt the same way.
This was an important thing for me to realize because I am a people pleaser. This desire to please people is an incorrect manifestation of of the gifts of mercy and service that God has placed in me. My motivation to use these gifts was a desire to keep the peace or gain others approval. If I did something that was to gain others approval and I did not reach my goal or I felt my efforts were not appreciated I would often feel rejected or unworthy. It often caused me to be anxious, and I found that a great deal of energy was used up on things that weren’t important.
A wise person told me, “Amanda, you only have one person to please, and that is God.” It seems like such a simple statement, such a simple concept, but for me to have someone say it was revolutionary.
I only had to please God. When I really understood that and learned it within myself so many things changed for me. I was less anxious. I didn’t over extend myself. I was motivated to serve people, but my purpose was to glorify God and please Him. The great thing was I already had His approval. So that eliminated a reason for anxiety for me. I also found that it was easier for me to forgive people for past hurts that I felt. If I only had to please God and I was responsible only to Him, then that was true of them as well.
I do find myself backsliding to my old way of thinking sometimes. But as I look more toward God and come to know Him better, I am able to keep my focus on pleasing Him. Whether, it’s taking care of my family, volunteering, my job, planning a party, how I decorate my home, how I dress, or how I do anything, if I focus on pleasing Him, my constituency of one, my audience of one, I find more pleasure, more fulfillment and less stress.
I imagine I am standing on that stage before my audience of one and He is applauding, lavishing praise. “Well done good and faithful servant.”

In Christ’s name,
Amanda

 

When God Changes Your Mind

 

I was recently faced with the question “does God need to change my mind?”  And if my mind needs to be changed was it wrong before?

The last six years I have been on a journey with God that has taken me to deeper and deeper levels of knowing Him. Now I’ve been a Christian since I was six years old.  So I’ve known Christ as my savior and my sweet friend for almost as long as I can remember, but there are things that I really didn’t learn in the church that I grew up in. I was taught that it was important to read the Bible everyday, but I didn’t have a hunger for God’s word because it felt like an obligation. That was before I learned I could ask God to give me a hunger for His word and before I understood that through knowing the Bible I would know Him. I’ve labored many times over the years trying to figure out what God wanted me to do in different situations. Sometimes feeling like I got it right and sometimes feeling like I had absolutely no idea what I was doing. It was years, years before I ever heard someone explain that people hear God in different ways, and that He wants to talk to me even more than I want to hear Him.

Those are just examples and they’re pretty basic. God has been challenging my thinking in areas that I thought I had a solid Biblical answer for, wait for it, doctrine.  *Gasp* What did she say? Did she really say God was challenging doctrine. Yep, that’s right. Can you imagine that the Creator of the universe is has the nerve to challenge my long held belief that I have been taught by men. I say yes and Amen.

Recently I attended a conference held in a church that was a denomination different than the one I attend. The speaker was from a denomination different than the one I attend. Do you think I heard ideas that we’re different from the church experiences I’ve been used to? You bet I did. I asked God to open my spiritual eyes and ears, and I began to realize that God was prompting me to change my thinking in an area.

Romans 12:2 tells us, “do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.” NASB God tells us that we should change our minds, our minds should be renewed as He reveals truth. So was I wrong before? Yes, I was, because I was limiting God in my life. I was expecting Him to fit the boundaries that I had learned, but we know that God has no bounds. There are some truths that must remain firm. There is one true God which is the trinity, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  Jesus the Son of God came to Earth as a baby born of a virgin. He lived as a man and died on the cross for the forgiveness of our sins so that we may be reunited with God. He ascended to Heaven to sit on the throne at the right hand of the Father. He sent the Holy Spirit to us as our comforter, intercessor, and equipper. The Bible is the inspired word of God. These things must be my unwavering foundation. As I grow spiritually I realize that my mind must change. I am dead and Christ lives in me. Therefore my mind is Christ’s mind. My mind needs to be renewing and changing so I may become more like Him.

Do you need to change your mind?

In Christ’s name,

Amanda

 

Bethany Community of HOPE

Bethany Community of Hope

How cool is that, a community that is full of hope, committed to sharing hope. In a world where people are hurting and often feel lost hope is a hot commodity.
So what is hope? Often when people speak of hope they are speaking of an optimistic expectation or a wish. We say things like, “I hope my boss likes my presentation” or “I hope I win that cruise.” That’s not the kind of hope we’re talking about here. We’re not talking about empty wishes or shallow optimism. The kind of hope that we’re talking about is a sense of confident expectation based on solid certainty. So Bethany Community of Hope is a community that possesses an expectation built on a firm foundation. What is that expectation, and what is the foundation that it’s based on? As a Christian my answer to those questions is a simple one: Jesus.
God tells us in Jeremiah 29:11 For I know the thoughts I have for you says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope. Now that just blows my mind, God’s thoughts for me and for you are of peace, to give us a future and a hope. God wishes for us to have peace, a future, and hope. He gave us those things through His son Jesus Christ. Christ’s life and death on the cross gives us hope, a confident expectation, because it allows us a chance to have access to and a relationship with God the Father.
While Jesus provides us the confident expectation He also provides the foundation, the very cornerstone of the foundation. God tells us in Isaiah 28:16 Behold I lay in Zion a stone for a foundation, a tried and true stone, a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation. Mathew 21:42 tells us that Christ is that cornerstone. He is the chief cornerstone.
Our hope is to share God’s Hope with you. A hope based on the firm foundation of Christ.
“My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus blood and righteousness,
I dare not trust the sweetest frame but wholly trust in Jesus’ name.”
Cornerstone by Hillsong

In Christ’s name,
Amanda
 

What's In a Name

What's in a Name?

I love origins of names--people's names, names of towns, countries, historical places. It is so interesting to me that a name can contain so much information, especially if it the name of a place given in the Bible. Hebrew is a fascinating language and has so many layers of meanings even in the simplest of words. When we began our Bethany Community of Hope, I decided to do a word study on the name, Bethany. I knew a little about it--Mary, Martha and Lazarus lived there and Jesus ascended from there. But I was in for a surprise when I studied the Hebraic roots of the name, Bethany.
Bethany is probably Beit Anyah, or "house of affliction." Many historical authorities believe it was a place for caring for the poor, perhaps similar to a "hospital" or "almshouse". Temple rules disallowed the sick to be cared for within a three mile or so radius, so Bethany fit the bill as it is about 2 miles from the city of Jerusalem on the eastern slope of the Mount of Olives. It was also used as a stopping off place for those traveling who were sick and destitute. The compilation of the Hebrew letters to form Bethany actually means, "house of affliction where God has intervened."
Jesus was not offended or put off by the sick, destitute, poor, or afflicted, so he found himself at home at Bethany in the company of his good friends Mary, Martha, and Lazarus. Luke tells us the story of Jesus spending his last week on this earth in Bethany. Our Bethany Community of women pray, worship, and welcome the presence of the living Lord Jesus. We do not turn away those who are afflicted or sick. Our main objective is to obtain a house for women coming from sex trafficking, prostitution, drug addiction, or the prison system. When we named our group Bethany, we were unaware of the meaning of it. But truly, we are offering a place of refuge for women who have lost their way and have become destitute--in body, soul, and spirit. We invite them to come and sit at the feet of Jesus and learn from him as Mary did. We desire that they may say one day, "We have chosen the good part" (Luke 10:42). And Jesus goes on to say, "it will not be taken away from her."

Sherry Poe