Stop and Listen
Betsy
learn to recognize God's voice?
36 In all the travels of the Israelites, whenever the cloud lifted
from above the tabernacle, they would set out; 37but if the cloud did
not lift, they did not set out—until the day it lifted. 38 So the
cloud of the Lord was over the tabernacle by day, and fire was in the
cloud by night, in the sight of all the house of Israel during all
their travels. (Exodus 40:36-38)
"My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me." (John
10:27)
One way of learning to recognize the voice of Jesus through His Spirit
is to set a specific block of time aside to ask Him for what He wants
to say to us and how He wants to lead us.
A second way is to just take a few moments to stop and listen
throughout the day.
As I read the passage above, I realized that this was the case with
the Israelites while God was leading them to the Promised Land. He
spoke with Moses and gave specific direction through him (Moses was
anointed by God as their spiritual authority), but God also lead them
from place to place with the pillar of cloud or fire.
This was a revelation for me: during the day as they went about their
daily tasks, they would need to periodically stop what they were doing
and look toward the pillar (God) to see if He was moving in a new
direction that they needed to follow. Did they need to stop everything
and prepare to move with Him, or was the tasks they had before them
what He had for them to do?
Know: If I listen for God's voice and ask Him for His leading, He will
be faithful to lead me in His will. Learn His Word to help me
recognize His voice.
Do: 1. Set aside specific time each day to truly listen to God. 2.
Stop my daily tasks occasionally to look and listen to Him to see if
he is moving somewhere, and respond by obeying His leading.