We have been examining the Lord’s Prayer in the past few weeks. You can find it in Matthew 6 and Luke 11. They differ slightly as we have one eyewitness, Matthew, recording what he heard whereas Luke writes his gospel account after interviewing eyewitnesses. When we recite this prayer, the version we quote is closer to Matthew’s version. It is true that over the centuries, believers have added an ending (sometimes called a “doxology”) that seems to round out Jesus’ prayer.
As a part of the Christian and Missionary Alliance family, I’m so proud of our approach to preserving the culture of people groups. I just returned from a 12-day trip to Cambodia to see what our Alliance family is doing to bring the gospel to the Cambodian people. I'm excited to share with you about this work of bringing the good news of Jesus Christ to unreached people groups in the region.
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I am delighted that my wife was adopted and that I have seen the power and importance of adoption. Those who have been legally adopted joke that their parents chose them, while the rest of us have parents who were stuck with their kids and had no choice. Last week I met with one of my friends who was a groomsman in our wedding 31 years ago and he shared with me that since he’s adopted, by law, he can’t be cut out of his parents’ will. We have friends who have adopted children and the celebration at the court and the declaration of legal adoption is incredibly powerful!
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Many Americans may have hundreds of “friends” on social media, but finding actual friends, not just Facebook friends, is like living in a fog, the fog of the post-pandemic society, which seems daunting to so many.
Our nation has been so divided and filled with mistrust and it keeps many from taking risks, from stepping out, from extending a hand, or a fist bump, or whatever you are supposed to extend to show interest and warmth these days.
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We have been learning how to hear God’s voice, and as His people, we are working to keep listening for his voice that whispers to our hearts. While God speaks and leads us in many ways, we are trying to tune into hearing His “still small voice” which are often thoughts that spontaneously show up in our minds.
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A few weeks ago we walked through selling our daughter’s lamb at the fair. It’s a pretty devastating moment to hand your lamb over to the slaughter truck after it has been to auction and someone has purchased it. Our daughter Mimi, who is 15, was sending her beloved lamb off to die, and there were many tears from her, and from all of us. I began to think about what got her through all of this.
God speaks to each of us in different ways, but there are a few helpful ways to posture our heart that always helps us to hear His voice. Let me share five ways that you can situate yourself to better receive words from Jesus.
When you watch movies that depict God speaking, it’s usually some incredibly booming voice like James Earl Jones or Morgan Freeman that represent what God sounds like. The world portrays God as an old man (think George Burns in the 1977 movie “Oh God!”). Field of Dreams featured a voice speaking to Kevin Costner’s character whispering short phrases in the corn field, although at no time do they attribute that voice as belonging to God.
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Last year my daughter Mimi raised a lamb she named “Choppy” for auction at the fair. It was an incredible learning curve for us to navigate. It was such a positive experience that she is raising another lamb this year, affectionately named “Shank”. Both names indicate the future for these animals; they will be a lamb chop or lamb shank on someone’s dinner table.
It was the prophet Elijah who was in the wilderness, on the run from the wicked Queen Jezebel when he heard God speaking to him. His encounter is very helpful to us as we consider hearing God’s voice today, some 2,900 years later.
Let’s take a look at 1 Kings 19 – the context of this passage is as follows.