Simple, Functional, Grace-filled Living.
Today’s poem, “Vulnerability” discusses the apprehension and reward that occurs when we embrace vulnerability. Enjoy the journey!
Connecting.
With People.
Go Deeper.
Be Strong.
Inviting.
Them in.
Is it Safe?
Am I Wrong?
Vulnerability.
Is A Journey.
Once
They’ve Proven.
They Are Safe.
And
Our Path
of
Discovery
Helps Us
Finish
Our Own Race.
Have you ever been embarrassed by a family member who may have commented as you were getting ready to leave out the door: “Are you wearing that? You should take off those clothes! Put something else on!” Of course, this is definitely a bold choice of words. However, have you ever stopped to consider God telling you that?
No, God doesn’t bash us. However, he does make suggestions that will benefit our good. He has miraculously saved us from the pit of hell, a life of sin and bondage, and all kinds of unimaginable things, but he sees that we still choose to wear the “grave clothes”. This is the point where we can imagine him screaming out: “Take off those clothes!”. It’s as if we still want to have a little bit of the old nature on us.
What happens when we wear grave clothes? People can’t tell that we are Christians because we look, act, and talk like everyone else. We trade in the sweet fragrance of Christ, for the death smell of the grave that God has resurrected us from.
Why do we choose to do this? We won’t change our thinking so that our behavior can change as well. We are more comfortable with the stench of the grave clothes than walking in the newness of Christ.
So, how do we know that God’s desire is for us to shake loose from this putrid outfit? When Jesus resurrected Lazarus from the dead, Lazarus was bound in grave clothes. His first command was for them to take off those clothes:
38 Jesus, once more deeply moved, came to the tomb. It was a cave with a stone laid across the entrance. 39 “Take away the stone,” he said.
“But, Lord,” said Martha, the sister of the dead man, “by this time there is a bad odor, for he has been there four days.”
40 Then Jesus said, “Did I not tell you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?”
41 So they took away the stone. Then Jesus looked up and said, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me. 42 I knew that you always hear me, but I said this for the benefit of the people standing here, that they may believe that you sent me.”
43 When he had said this, Jesus called in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” 44 The dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen, and a cloth around his face.
Jesus said to them, “Take off the grave clothes and let him go.”
And that is his command for me and you. He dares us to trust him with our new life!
We have all had trust issues at one time or another. These issues usually stem from experiencing hurt from the people that are closest to us. The poem “Opening the Trust Door” portrays a dialog that occurs between us and God. God is the only one that can heal our issues with trust. That is, if we invite him in.
Should I trust again?
Do I let people in?
Will they bring me more pain?
Or, stand with me in the rain?
Do I stay in the cave?
Where it’s dark, but feels safe?
Or, do I walk out and thrive?
And thank God I’m alive.
If I open the gate,
Will there be much more hate?
“If you let me come in,
We’ll be more than just friends.”
There are a lot of voices that we hear on a daily basis. However, discerning the voice of God becomes the most important one that we need to focus on. Do we know what to look for? Is it the same voice for everyone? These questions and more will be answered in this week’s episode: Hearing God’s Voice in the Midst of Chaos.
Podcast Transcript:
Good afternoon! Welcome to Valley of Grace’s Healing Our Brokenness Podcast! Today we are on episode 18, entitled, Hearing God’s Voice in the Midst of Chaos. When we think about hearing God, we often associate it with the Ten Commandments movie where God spoke to Moses on the mountain. Sometimes God is just that powerful. However, often hearing God can come in the small, subtle, or least grand ways than we expect.
So, the question that you all are probably asking is, “Well, if it is small, how will I know?”
We do three things:
I have realized for myself that God speaks to me through my work. Since I read and listen to a lot of blogs, articles, podcasts, and sermons, God will have them to center around a certain theme for me to understand that it is something that I need to work on.
Sometimes he speaks to me in dreams to prepare me. I have heard others say that God doesn’t speak to other people in dreams as in biblical times. I beg to differ. God knows each and everyone of us by name, the number of the strands of hair that is on our heads, and the names of all the stars. I believe that God will use whatever means necessary for us to know that it is him.
A few years ago, after going through a horrific divorce, I longed to see my dad who I hadn’t been in contact with for a while. I searched for him, and unfortunately, came to a dead end. About two weeks later, I had a dream that I was with him on the bus in Chicago, and he was wearing the leather jacket that he often wore when I was a kid. I looked down at his shoes and pants, and I realized that he had the appearance of not keeping himself up. So, in the dream, I pondered over asking him if he was homeless, but I was afraid to ask. I woke up, wondering what this all meant. Less than a week later, my dad got on the bus that a family friend was driving, and he was able to connect with my aunt who brought him to my house.
The sight of him nearly made me fall to the ground. He had indeed hit hard times and was homeless for a period of nine months. God has given me a lot of situations like this to speak to me.
In several other instances, I thought that it was me being strong-willed/lazy in regard to something that someone else wanted me to do with them. I am not a strong-willed person. However, I am human, and a sinner. And like all of us broken individuals, there are things that we know that we should do, but don’t feel like doing, and we fuss and go on and do it. I thought this was the case in about three situations, then I realized my whole will had changed because God was trying to tell me that it is something that I shouldn’t be doing.
It took a while to see the pattern. They weren’t bad things. They were things that I had already dealt with in my healing. There was literally a pulling in my chest, and a feeling in my spirit that said, “No! This is not for you.” I was surprised because one time I had planned to write a certain devotion, and I felt God’s Spirit telling me, “No!”. I decided to write on a different topic that night: Handpicked by God. As I was riding in the car the following morning, I received confirmation that I made the right choice by getting a 3-minute clip on a Bible Teacher’s message. It coincided with the new devotion. The words that came out of her mouth were almost verbatim to what I had said in my devotion. I choked up with tears. What I thought was simplicity was God exemplifying that he is a God of order.
God can also have us to sense things in our spirit that something is wrong when we talk to people. Their emotions and psychological dysfunctions can enter our emotional, psychological, and spiritual space. Sometimes it takes a while to figure this out. We are usually able to detect this in patterns after a while.
A few months ago, I had the feeling that my confidence had been stripped away. This was due to the trauma and the cycle of shame that revolved around it. Even if there were things that I knew how to do, I would get afraid of not being able to do them. This is indeed a problem with trauma, where you can forget how to do certain things temporarily at any point and time. However, it isn’t often that it happens. And I realized just recently, that Satan was using this fact to create low confidence in everything that I did. Right around the time that revelation hit, I had three different instances of God speaking to me in regard to this confidence.
The first one included a conversation with someone that I met who was able to discern this. The second conversation was from someone wishing me a happy birthday, and then stating that 2019 would be the year of confidence for me. The third time was reading a book, and having a specific chapter speak on self-confidence, the importance of it, and how to lean into God’s love to get it. For some reason, I had never thought about praying for confidence.
Here are some Truths that we can meditate on when it comes to Hearing from God in the Midst of Chaos
Samuel learned to identify God’s voice. And unfortunately, he had some sad news to give to Eli, who had neglected his duties as the person in charge of the temple in 1 Samuel 3:
And the child Samuel ministered unto the LORD before Eli. And the word of the LORD was precious in those days; there was no open vision.
And it came to pass at that time, when Eli was laid down in his place, and his eyes began to wax dim, that he could not see;
And ere the lamp of God went out in the temple of the LORD, where the ark of God was, and Samuel was laid down to sleep;
That the LORD called Samuel: and he answered, Here am I.
And he ran unto Eli, and said, Here am I; for thou calledst me. And he said, I called not; lie down again. And he went and lay down.
And the LORD called yet again, Samuel. And Samuel arose and went to Eli, and said, Here am I; for thou didst call me. And he answered, I called not, my son; lie down again.
Now Samuel did not yet know the LORD, neither was the word of the LORD yet revealed unto him.
And the LORD called Samuel again the third time. And he arose and went to Eli, and said, Here am I; for thou didst call me. And Eli perceived that the LORD had called the child.
Therefore Eli said unto Samuel, Go, lie down: and it shall be, if he call thee, that thou shalt say, Speak, LORD; for thy servant heareth. So Samuel went and lay down in his place.
And the LORD came, and stood, and called as at other times, Samuel, Samuel. Then Samuel answered, Speak; for thy servant heareth.
And the LORD said to Samuel, Behold, I will do a thing in Israel, at which both the ears of every one that heareth it shall tingle.
In that day I will perform against Eli all things which I have spoken concerning his house: when I begin, I will also make an end.
For I have told him that I will judge his house for ever for the iniquity which he knoweth; because his sons made themselves vile, and he restrained them not.
And therefore I have sworn unto the house of Eli, that the iniquity of Eli’s house shall not be purged with sacrifice nor offering for ever.
And Samuel lay until the morning, and opened the doors of the house of the LORD. And Samuel feared to shew Eli the vision.
Then Eli called Samuel, and said, Samuel, my son. And he answered, Here am I.
And he said, What is the thing that the LORD hath said unto thee? I pray thee hide it not from me: God do so to thee, and more also, if thou hide any thing from me of all the things that he said unto thee.
And Samuel told him every whit, and hid nothing from him. And he said, It is the LORD: let him do what seemeth him good.
And Samuel grew, and the LORD was with him, and did let none of his words fall to the ground.
And all Israel from Dan even to Beersheba knew that Samuel was established to be a prophet of the LORD.
I have had situations where I felt God speaking to me about sharing with someone in regard to my own person struggles. However, I allowed my own shame, and the worry about other peoples’ perception of me get in the way of obedience. There have been other times that I was more afraid of ugly face crying and losing control in the process of vulnerability rather than the obedience itself. I had to speak truth to myself about this. It is sin. I am calling it what it is. When we know to do good, and we don’t do it, it is flat out sin. I hope that you have enjoyed our episode of Hearing from God in the midst of Chaos. God bless, and until next time.
Related Post:
It’s hard to trust. It doesn’t matter whether it is in marriages, friendships, or in our relationship with God. The difference about our trust in God is that he will never let us down. Either our answer will be something that is or isn’t in his will. He is our constant!
Trust
In Him.
Not On
A Whim.
His Promises
Are Real.
Not Just
What
You Feel.
5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart
and lean not on your own understanding;
6 in all your ways submit to him,
and he will make your paths straight.
Related Poetry
The last poem that I wrote was entitled Strength, and it can be found here. Tonight’s poem is entittled, Inner Circle, and it deals with the conflict that arises between selecting who should and shouldn’t be included in our inner circles.
Inner Circle
The inner circle, The inner circle, The inner circle of life.
Let in someone with wisdom, growth, and discernment?
Or, let in someone with strife.
It’s the inner circle, it’s the inner circle. Who will you let in?
Let in the workers of iniquity?
Or, let in the faithful friend?
Hey inner circle! hey inner circle!
Open the door and let me in.
Can we trust you with our trials?
Or our failures and our sin?
The inner circle, The inner circle, The inner circle of life.
Let in someone with wisdom, growth, and discernment?
Or, let in someone with strife.
Have a blessed night in the Lord!
Katina
Bible Verses to Meditate On:
After six days Jesus took with Him Peter, James, and John the brother of James,and led them up a high mountain by themselves. There He was transfigured before them.
Matthew 17: 1-2, Berean Study Bible
She Cries in the Streets
It is very hard when we are going through things in life. The immediate response when trouble hits is to panic. It is natural. God created us to have emotions. What tends to happen is that when we panic, we oftentimes forget to give ourselves room to breathe. Room to pray, think about the situation, and breathe some more. Satan usually have our minds in such an uproar, that anxiety often takes over, and then instead of us praying and asking God for discernment in these situations, we become reactive instead of responsive. Anxiety and fear tells us that we have to come up with a solution right now. Wisdom tells us to wait on God for promptings of the Holy Spirit on the how, when, why of the response. Praise God that all we have to do is ask!
James 1:5: “If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.”
Wisdom, Wisdom, She Cries in the Streets:
“Put the knowing into doing,
And discernment we will greet.”
Wisdom, Wisdom, It is ours for the asking.
Helps us make the right decisions.
Fills the blanks in the lacking.
Wisdom, Wisdom, Right with God in the Beginning.
Everything ever so perfect,
Right before there came the sinning.
Wisdom, Wisdom, it is given to us freely,
All we have to do is ask,
Get right down to praying and kneeling.
Wisdom, Wisdom, far more precious than those rubies:
God’s great grace poured out to help us,
To perform our earthly duties.
Be blessed,
Katina