April Newsletter 2018
Hearing His Voice
When I first became a Christian, I was tied in with a very conservative segment of the body of Christ. On hearing the voice of God, the teaching was that God doesn’t speak to you individually. God only speaks to you through His Word. They went a step further to imply that trying to hear the voice of God for yourself, was dangerous.
I could never swallow this bit of doctrine. After all, the Bible is filled with examples of God speaking specifically to His servants. He spoke to Moses from a burning bush, “Take your sandals off your feet, for the place where you stand is Holy Ground.” (Exodus 3:5)
He said to Jeremiah to go down to the potter’s house and He would speak to him again there. He said to Ananias that Paul would be coming to his city, and that he should pray for him. Paul was known for killing Christians. I would bet that Ananias was quite nervous about this coming visit. Do you think he might have questioned whether he had heard the Lord right?
In the last two letters, I spoke about prayer, how vital it is to every growing and effective Christian. A life style of prayer sets the stage for hearing the voice of God.
In my messages to congregations, I have often said that serving Jesus is as exciting as being a secret agent. I have never been a secret agent, but one of my favorite pastimes is reading mystery, suspense novels. From my extensive reading, I think it would be hard to top being a secret agent, when it comes to excitement.
Why should we learn to hear the voice of God? First of all, for the purpose of intimacy with God. God is all about intimacy. He wants to interact with you, talk to you, give you specific instructions. The second reason follows on the first…so that you can be more effective in your Christian life.
Robert Saddler lived in the mid 1900’s. A former slave, he had obtained freedom, and his practice was to always obey God, whatever He told him to do. He received a letter from a girl whose father was an alcoholic, and this girl asked if he would travel across three states to Indiana to come and pray for her father. Robert did just that. He always traveled with a portable organ in the back seat. Robert didn’t have much money, so to avoid freeway tolls, he took the back route, traveling the country roads. On his journey, he stopped at a wayside rest out in the middle of nowhere. God told him to set up his organ and sing. What a ridiculous idea! There was no one anywhere around… and he was to set up his organ and sing? To whom? The birds and the chipmunks? Robert didn’t question. He set up and sang several songs. Before long, out of the bushes came a ragged, dirty man with a young boy in the same condition. Tears ran down the man’s cheeks. He confessed that he was living in the wilderness to try to get away from God. The songs Robert had played were hymns this man’s mother had sang to him as a boy. He and his son broke down and gave their lives to Christ.
Now what if Robert Saddler had just decided this request from God was ridiculous and went on his way? Then the man and his son would not have found Christ. Jesus said, “My sheep know my voice.” When Jesus tells us to do something, we should just do it, and not question. Often what He tells us to do makes no sense whatsoever. The more we hear His voice, the more confident we are when He speaks. When we learn to obey no matter how nonsensical the command seems, the more effective we become in our Christian walk.
On one occasion, I was to go to Seattle to lead worship for a pastors’ conference. When the time neared to leave, I had sixteen dollars to my name and five hundred dollars in gas cards, the lead pastor had sent me. I told God I was going to stay put until I had more money for the trip. “Oh, no you won’t!” He said. “I want you to leave tomorrow!”
So I went. On my first night I stayed with a pastor and his wife who gave me one hundred dollars the next morning before I left. Then I got into Montana and learned that there were no Shell stations in Montana. My gas cards were Shell. When I got to the other side of Montana, I was out of money. I checked into a motel and used my debit card, knowing the charge would bounce in the morning. I had less than four dollars in my bank account. I had sent an e-mail to my intercessors basically telling them I had no money and I didn’t know what to do.
That Morning at four a.m. the Lord woke me up and prompted me to check my account. When I did, I found that overnight $340 had come into my bank account.
But how? I thought that God must have supernaturally put the money in. I continued on my trip. Later I learned that Daisy in Fort Wayne, Indiana had read the e-mail on her way to a prayer meeting. There she ran into Ellen, who had before supported our ministry, and told her I was traveling and needed money. “How do I contribute?” Ellen asked. Daisy pulled our bank account number out of her purse (she had asked for it earlier because she wanted to put money into our account), and told Ellen to just go down to the bank and put the money into our account.
What is the purpose of such stretching of our faith? To make us stronger in faith. When we learn to just do what God tells us to do and not question Him, we become stronger in our faith. We learn to trust. The more we learn to trust, the more we don’t question what He tells us to do, and the more God can use us in His kingdom work!
First Round
Test Marketing
Test marketing on my book continues.
Dan from Minneapolis says,
Outstanding! I love it on so many levels.
You nailed it, George!
Coming in May
We will be at New Life Church
Saturday May 19th at 6:30 p.m.
and Sunday May 20th at 9:00 a.m.
We will be ministering in music and teaching on the subject of prayer.
New Life Church
18975 Lake George Blvd.
Oak Grove, MN 55303
(763)753-5717
In His Service
George and Lorraine Halama