HEARING GOD'S VOICE

As we walk this Christ walk, one of our greatest needs is to learn to consistently hear God's voice.
Jesus has not left and left us an incredible Job to do on our own. He does speak, He does lead, He does guide us into His perfect will and work in many ways.

We have access to both His spoken word and His Speaking voice

And like I've been hammering since we started, we have to believe this first.

Today's part of the series is focused on opening up our hearts and minds to know how God speaks to us and Specifically how He speaks to YOU

Also to understand that His speaking is in no way limited

Matthew 17: 1-5 ( The Transfiguration)

In this chapter, we see an amazing story of 3 of the disciples of Christ up on a mountain with Him. He is transfigured before them and they see Him in all of His glory, Moses and Elijah are in this cut too.

What an amazing experience it was for these men.

While they were taking all these in, the cloud of the father's glory begins to overshadow them and the father Himself speaks.

He could have said anything about His glory r Himself as the men present were so much in awe of what they saw and overshadowed by God's Glory.

But what did God say?

" This is my beloved son, with whom I am well-pleased; listen to Him!"

This was God's big statement at such a time.

Listen to Him

It was a charge, a command, a necessity

Now we cannot listen except we hear first.

You can not follow/obey what you did not hear

A lot of us have left this part to ministers alone. We've come to a place of believing it is spiritual leaders and pastors that have this access, that have been given this decree. I mean, God said that to the disciples not the general public

I am strongly convinced that it is still the primary responsibility and need today for all of us in this Christ walk (Ministers and non ministers alike)

A lot of leaders and ministers do so out of their own understanding and their own minds

A lot of us followers of Christ are led by our own desires and self instead of just being our description, Following

This call to Listen is directed at every one of us.

To be led, we must first hear then follow

Four Extremes on Hearing God's voice

1. God wrote a book and lost His voice

A lot of people believe that after the Bible was completed, God stopped speaking to us directly and only speaks through scriptures.

This is not true.
God's speaking is not limited to just the Bible. He speaks through other means (Though every spoken word/means do not go against the written word)

2. Moses' Syndrome

Just like the Isrealites:
"Oh Holy man, go up on the mountain with God and let Him speak to you and tell us what He said"

A lot of us are sitting comfortably here.
We want to be spoonfed
Waiting for someone to always bring what God is saying to us.

This set of people actually do acknowledge that God still speaks, but there is an error, they acknowledge/believe that only certain people have access to hear God speak.

So they wait for the certain/special people to always bring what God is saying to them

3. I want to hear Him but I CAN'T

A whole lot of us are here too.
We know God speaks but we just feel He speaks to others and not us.
We do not blame it on anything. It's just "we can't hear" and this is not a problem.
We've never even thought of it before, if it is something we should look forward to. I mean, we have the Spoken word and it's done so well for us

I'd like to remind us that have ears that hear for a reason. If God can speak then we can hear.
It's really this simple.

If you believe God can speak to your pastor and it is not a lie then God can speak to you too and you CAN hear

4. God speaks to me all the time about everything through His voice ONLY

This is false and extreme
If you've not dramatically heard the voice of God over a situation, this does not mean God is not speaking through other means.
The only way God speaks is not His voice.

He speaks through diverse means. "God did not tell me directly (with His voice) not to do xyz, so I'm going to do xyz"

Is xyz in accordance with scripture?

If no, why are you waiting for Him to speak again over what He has spoken before just so you can believe.

This is an extreme we must also do away with

The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep recognize his voice and come to him. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.
John 10:3 NLT

We've been given assurance that surely He will speak to us who follow Him. He will consistently speak to us actually as there are different turns in this walk where He leads.

This is for us to know, that we can also learn to hear Him and know His voice.

I don't know if anyone has pets here and you had to train the pet from scratch.

You practically have to teach the pet (let's say dog) to know your voice, who to not bite in the house.

Infact, I've seen people introduce their guests to dogs

Like they will take you to where the dog is and be friendly with you then do introduction, just so it recognises you next time you come alone. We all can also learn to know the voice of God and hear Him

After he has gathered his own flock, he walks ahead of them, and they follow him because they know his voice.  They won’t follow a stranger; they will run from him because they don’t know his voice.”
John 10:4‭-‬5 NLT

Now here is the bad part, for as many of us that do not know the voice of God, it is very possible that we will follow other voices

The Other Voices (Strangers: John 10vs5)

As we walk this Christ walk, we will encounter many other voices. Jesus called these the voice of the stranger.
These voices are bent on leading us astray. These voices could also be from well meaning people who don't know any better, which is why it is important that we hear for ourselves.

The key is to learn to differentiate between His voice and these others (Strangers)

1. The voice of the world

We know that we are children of God and that the world around us is under the control of the evil one.
1 John 5:19 NLT

The first voice we need to learn to deal with is the voice of the world. All over nations of the earth, the spirit of the world has shaped cultures, a whole lot of things we hold dear and valuable.

In all of these cultures and valuables, there are things that of course will not hinder our walk with Christ and us following Him

There are also a whole lot of thing that will stand in His way and oppose as we learn to follow Him

There is a reason Apostle Paul emphasised that we should no longer be conformed to the culture/pattern of the world.
 Our culture often shapes our lifestyle and even faith in God.
It plays a huge role.

There are so many things we do and believe in the church that are NOT Christ or kingdom minded.
They drifted in from our culture

Do not love this world nor the things it offers you, for when you love the world, you do not have the love of the Father in you. For the world offers only a craving for physical pleasure, a craving for everything we see, and pride in our achievements and possessions. These are not from the Father, but are from this world. And this world is fading away, along with everything that people crave. But anyone who does what pleases God will live forever.
1 John 2:15‭-‬17 NLT

The voice of the world is the first thing we should shut out, first thing.

If not we will be doing "Traditional/Cultural Christianity". Which in itself is not Christ like

And so you cancel the word of God in order to hand down your own tradition. And this is only one example among many others.”
Mark 7:13 NLT

Traditions and cultures that we are used to are very dangerous if we do not understand that most of them are of the world. And because we've been brought up with them, we've learnt to listen to this voice, we are used to it. We have to be very intentional with shutting it out.

2. The voice of the Religious Spirit

“Watch out!” Jesus warned them. “Beware of the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees.”
Matthew 16:6 NLT

These ones are very powerful also and dangerous as they tend to masquerade as the voice of God.
They come to seekers of God and infiltrate our ability to hear God and follow Him in a living relationship replacing the life and work of the spirit for outward spiritual activities.

Satan in this place disguises himself as an angel of light. We've explained who the Pharisees are,
Those who focus all of their lives on external religious activities, duties and all but no real life in the spirit with God.

The Sadducees sought God but didn't believe in the supernatural activity of God in our lives. We have to be very careful of these religious spirits. We can't afford to have any of them as their voices stray us.

How do Religious Voices Operate?

* This voice constantly drives us to do more religious works to attain higher spirituality, get closer to God or hear God.

* This voice pushes us to be more interested/focused on outward religious works and duties.

* This voice focuses on us always using our logical mind instead of relating to God in a supernatural way by His spirit

If you hear Let's put God aside first, na dem o.

Put God aside where? 🙄🙄 There is no reason outside of God.

* The religious voice longs to replace the voice of the spirit with our own mental reasoning or outer works. If we find ourselves guilty of any of these, it is one of the reasons why we find it difficult hearing God

3. The Voice of Other people

See, sometimes people will mean well for you and try to advice you and stuff but it will not be according to God's will.
They are not misleading you on purpose. They might even have a  relationship with God sef and fellowship often with Him but still give wrong advice.

I learnt one thing from my late spiritual mum that first, I am my own prophet

I'd go to church those days and next thing she's asking me to go to the altar area and pray. Sometimes I will sleep off o, she will ask me what did God say.
In my mind, what did which God say 😂😂😂

Like just talk abeg, stop stressing me

It felt like it was punishment then. Infact, I  used that exact word. Mummy gave me punishment, to pray for hours or come to church and pray for days or add fast

Like why not just go straight to the point instead of stressing me 😭😭😭

Today, I tell you this is one of my fondest memories of her. I won't forget.
It is one lesson I really needed in this walk.

Those close to me off this group can testify, you cannot come and dump your prayer request on my head o, especially if we are close and I notice it is becoming habit.

I could be the one misleading you tomorrow (God forbid). But it is very important that we all know God for ourselves and stop constantly relying on other people to hear God for us

It is not bad for people to actually bring message from God. I get messages through other people a lot. But we should not rely on others for it.

You have your own hearing ear too

If you see yourself constantly waiting on someone else to speak to you or tell you what God said, there is a problem and you are making it difficult for your own ears to pick anything

4. The voice of our soul

This is the loudest I believe as it forms our core part. So many times I've heard people say, "I'm not so sure it is God speaking or me"

Everything passes through our souls. It is the filter for everything we hear so we must learn to discern what is coming from us and what is from the Lord. We must also learn to filter what we take in as it has a huge influence on what comes out

The spirit lives inside of us already and that is where He speaks to us. But as our spirit man receives the word, it must then be passed through our soul (which consists of our mind, emotions and will).
Our soul is largely influenced by us.

First, what is the origin of all that flows into your soul?

Your emotions, what have they been connecting with the most?

Your mind, what has it been pondering on the most? Note that your mind also takes in all that your body does (Your senses, from your seeing to feeling, to touching etc)

Your will, what are you strong-willed about?

One of major problems I've found in this part when it comes to hearing God is Unhealed hearts/Emotions and Unrenewed minds. If these are present, there  is need for a clean filter for the voice to pass through.

This is the answer, here is the solution :

For the word of God is alive and powerful. It is sharper than the sharpest two-edged sword, cutting between soul and spirit, between joint and marrow. It exposes our innermost thoughts and desires.
Hebrews 4:12 NLT

It starts with the word tbh. His word is powerful enough to do the cleansing, it will do the deep work in us. It pierces deep within us and exposes us to the division between the spirit and soul

It makes us aware of what is of the spirit and what comes from our soul.
It lays us bare. It strips us naked

Note that it is not judging or condemning us. As I've been typing, the spirit has also been laying bare certain things from my end too. That is what the word does, it open us up.

This is one step we all can't afford to miss.
If the word does not come in, our minds can't be renewed, we can't be transformed.

We will always be playing a guess game when it comes to hearing God's voice. Maybe it's God, maybe not.

It really doesn't stop at hearing God's voice, we also have to know it.

It is a great key to following Him

My sheep KNOW my voice

I pray that all we've learnt today really helps us in this walk and that we all come to a place of knowing God's voice. Amen

JUST AS CHRIST

Sometime in January, my phone got bad so I was offline for about a month. I still continued with the daily bible reading/schedule personally.

On the 23rd of January, we read Galatians 5.

I read mine personally. I got to verse 6 and it felt like something struck me. I checked so many translations on my laptop that day. I was on this one verse for over 5 hours.

Something changed in me.That particular verse gave birth to today's teaching. I'm hoping that it changes something in you also as I share all the Holy Spirit gave me

Please I'd like us to pay attention and allow the word do its thing

Galatians 5:6

*If you are a follower of Christ Jesus, it makes no difference whether you are circumcised or not. All that matters is your faith that makes you love others.*

Galatians 5:6 CEV

*All that matters is your faith that makes you love others*

*So if a man belongs to Christ Jesus, it does not matter if He is circumcised or not. He must show by His love that He believes*

. Gal 5:6 WE

Nothing else matters.

Not your speaking in tongues

Not your praying 20 hours daily.

Nothing else matters except your Faith that is expressed in love

What matters is your faith that makes you love others

Let me break the verse down. Your circumcision or not, what matters is faith, the one that works through love.

Whose Love? GOD'S LOVE. What matters is your faith that is shown through GOD'S LOVE FOR YOU.

So our faith works in reliance on God's love for us. But it doesn't stop there, it produces love in us

When the love of God hits us, the only way we can respond is in love

So now, what matters is Faith that is shown in the way we love others (which is only possible by first receiving God's love).

Faith in God is not expressed by how much we participate in religious activities, how much we minister, how much we adhere to a set of rules, or the law. Faith in God is seen in the way we love

A perfect example for this is Christ. We see His belief and Faith in the Father expressed in His love for us

To express our devotion to God, it is not entirely about what we say or believe or the church we attend.

It is demonstrated in our LOVE LIFESTYLE

The basis for Christian life/behavior is the Love of Jesus (the love of God)

As circumcision was to the men under the old covenant so is faith expressing itself through love is to the new covenant. Any Faith that is not shown in love is dead, dead faith. It is useless.

Needless

A waste of your time and deceiving of yourself. A perfect example of this is Jesus

Let's read John 13:33-35

*John  13:33 Little children, yet a little while I am with you. Ye shall seek me: and as I said unto the Jews, Whither I go, ye cannot come; so now I say to you.  13:34 A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.  13:35 By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.*_

At this point, we see Jesus telling the disciples He is leaving them.

Let me translate to my understanding

*I'm going somewhere you can't really come with me. Everyone knows you people identify with me. You've been following me up and down. But you see, I'm going and where I am going, you can't follow the way you've been doing. So here is the new way I want you to identify with me: LOVE ONE ANOTHER JUST AS I HAVE LOVED YOU*

Jesus made this statement right after he talked about Judas betraying him and this is so significant for me.

Right after a knowledge of  betrayal, a charge to love

Jesus did something that has never been done before, an emotional one for me cos this is the foundation of Word Alive also.

He created a group identified by one thing: LOVE

So many associations in the world, some people wear black beret, white dress all through. People identifying in different ways : skin color (black students association), uniform, common interests, tattoos, piercings etc

But Jesus gave something unique to the church, to those that were to be identified with Him. He created a body whose identifying factor is LOVE

And nothing else matters

Not the skin color

Not the dressing

Not the beret

LOVE IS THE IDENTIFYING FACTOR.

"So it's no more, I'm a Christian, I attend CCC"

"I'm a Christian and Oh, I love JUST AS CHRIST"

You see what Jesus was saying to them: Though I just spoke of one of you betraying me, Love is still our identity

The same way I extended love to you Peter even after you refused to believe and almost sank, love others.

The same way I (will) run to you hug you Peter even after denying me thrice in a few hours, not shouting "I told you so", that same way, Love others.

The same way I picked you up Remi even though you kept falling every minute, that same way, Love others

What binds us to Christ is our love. It is our identity.Christ gave a NEW Model: LOVE

God is love, and anyone who doesn't love others has never known him.*

1 John 4:8 CEV

Love is the evidence of my belief. If I tell you that I believe, then my love is the witness. My lifestyle of love shows that I'm truly of the faith.This was how Christ identified with God.

Love is the confirmation that my proclamation of faith is real

If we claim to be in the light and hate someone, we are still in the dark. But if we love others, we are in the light, and we don't cause problems for them.

1 John 2:9‭-‬10 CEV

Let's open 1 Peter 4:8

Above all, constantly echo God’s intense love for one another, for love will be a canopy over a multitude of sins.

TPT

Most important of all, you must sincerely love each other, because love wipes away many sins.

1 Peter 4:8 CEV

Love will be a canopy

A covering.In love, there is forgiveness for sins, without number. Like endless forgiveness of sins

There are some people that are so difficult to love.They do things to hurt us always. Getting on our nerves

And we just want them out of our space. But here is what we've called to do; Love them

We've not been called to just love, we've been called to Love the way Christ Loved, the way God loves

In your lives you must think and act like Christ Jesus.

Philippians 2:5 NCV

In your relationship with others, have the same  mindset as Christ

You've not been called to Love people out of reverence or respect for them or based on what they do, we've been called to Love others based on how Christ loves me and them

Samson is a very nice and helpful person to me, but I'm not supposed to love Samson because he is good to me

I've been called to Love Samson because Christ loves me. The day Samson stops being nice and helpful, I will still love him. Because my love for him was never about him but about Jesus.

“If you love me, you will obey my commands.

John 14:15 NCV

Do you love Jesus?

If you say you truly love me, you will keep my commands. If you truly love Jesus, then you will keep His commands. You've been empowered to

Now what is this command you are keeping?

“This is my command: Love each other as I have loved you.

John 15:12 NCV

AS much as

This is My commandment: that you love one another [just] as I have loved you.

John 15:12 AMPC

The standard is Christ, the way He loves us

How has Christ Loved you?

This is a question I want you to write down answers to.

Write down every way you've felt Christ's love especially in times you messed up.

Then extend that love to others when they mess up

MY PRIMARY DUTY IN LOVING OTHERS JUST AS CHRIST

1. CARE: I'm to care for others just as Christ cares for me, regardless of them deserving it or not.

2. ACCEPT:

 Romans 15:7

You will bring God glory when you accept and welcome one another as partners, just as the Anointed One has fully accepted you and received you as his partner. TPT

Accept and welcome others. Christ accepted us with all of our faults. Don't push people away because they are not living a Christ like life yet. There was a time you were there but Christ accepted you still. It is the person you are accepting, not their sins

Jesus accepted you with all your guilt, imperfections, mistakes. He accepted you completely.

He showed you His love regardless.

Accept others

3. BEAR WITH OTHERS

Some people will frustrate you after accepting them. You will almost regret accepting them.

They will keep making the same mistakes over and over and it will be irritating.

But remember, Jesus was patient with you also.

There was a time you kept going back to you sin and He bore with you

Bear with others just as Christ did with you

4. CARRY THE BURDENS OF OTHERS (Just as Christ):

When we go through things, God comes through for us. He stays with us through it all. Our burdens become His.

We should do same for other believers and even unbelievers 

Carry their burdens.

Most of us Christians are quick to help fellow believers but care less about outsiders.

Jesus didn't do that

Even if those people keep hurting you, carry their burdens as Christ did yours.

5. FORGIVE (Just as Christ)

No matter how many times they repeat the same mistake, Forgive them just as Christ forgave you while you were also doing the same thing over and over.

Remember that time you will ask for forgiveness and do the exact same thing again?

Like you never really meant it. You were just asking forgiveness for the sake of it?

God knew but He still forgave you. He didn't cancel you.

Now do same for others.

Forgive them even when they are not apologetic just as Christ did you.

6. SUBMIT (Just as Christ)

Submit to others out of reverence that Christ submitted Himself to us all on the cross for our sins.

That Sacrifice is the inspiration and standard for us towards others

Submit to others even when they are proud and try to ride you or think you are a fool for submitting.

Jesus submitted till death and some people still take Him for granted.

So submit even when you are taken for granted (this is how Christ Loved)

7. ENCOURAGE(Just as Christ) 

Let your words lift and encourage others. When we fall, we look to God for words that will lift us up.When we are sick or in trouble we got ourselves into, we pray to God to send word.We feel so relieved when we get a word of encouragement.We should do same to others.

Stop doing *I told you so* everytime

Jesus did not do *I told you so* to you.

Use your words to lift and not condemn

8. RESTORE (Just as Christ)

When people make mistakes, help them get back on their feet. Even if you are at the receiving end.

Even if they do not care that you are hurt

Even if they are not Acknowledging their fault.

Help restore them just as Christ did you, regardless of their countenance

These things are difficult of course.

And the only way you can give this kind of love is if you have received /experienced God's kind of love

How can you accept others when you don't feel accepted?

I'm praying for everyone reading this, that you come to know God's love in a way you've never before

Till it becomes a standard for your living and relationship with others.The only thing that counts is our faith expressed through love

How do you love?

Is it exactly as Christ as loved you?

The freedom we have in Christ is to serve others in love. This love we've been called to is Extreme. I made a note of everyone I needed to love more (those that know how to get on my nerves).

 I reached out and for some it felt like they were still trying to hurt me.

 But I've been called to a standard so high: putting every other person above me because that's what Jesus did for me. 

And it doesn't matter if they like me back or not. I've been called to be a servant to all men, just as Christ was.

 Every Christian has been called to this standard. Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.

Paul knew what he was doing here because some people don't deserve my submission.

But Christ submitted regardless, up till death

Now imagine a world where people actually identify Christians by their love.

Where you see people love so much as Christ and you ask, are you a Christian?

Imagine a world where everyone is envious of how we followers of Christ Love (even though they don't really like us)

Imagine a world where even atheists will prefer to hire Christians

Where people will prefer to be our neighbours, colleagues, friends, all because of How we love

That is the world Christ wants us to live.

And it starts with you and I

*Love others JUST AS Christ loves (loved) you*

We can care without letting them draw us into sin/ their sinful acts if the other person is a sinner

I'd always thought of of this and here's my theology: Love is basic and Christ compels us to love but association is a choice. Like say I have a colleague or neighbor who is plain silly and is always involved with immoral things. We can show love to them without association. We just keep praying.

That's what I've always thought but I'm now encouraged to do more. To act the love out daily

The love of Christ. It is what compels us to

On our own, we can't love

But you see the love of Christ, it enables us

Remember Vampire diaries, the vampires look in the eyes of their victim and make them do things they will not do normally

That compelling is what the love of Christ helps us to do.

Let us pray

Thank you for your word Lord.

We pray that your love abounds in us and we are able to live this word that you have shared with us.

If there be anyone around us difficult to love, step in and help us.

Everyone of us will be known by the way we love.

This will be our identification as your followers going forward and it will draw men to you.

We spread your love everywhere.

Amen

HOW TO STOP THE MIND FROM WANDERING WHILE PRAYING

1. SET A CONSISTENT PRAYER TIME (As a start) :
Study shows that if you do something at the same time everyday for 14 days,  it becomes a habit.  All it takes is 14days for your body system to adjust to something new.  By the 15th day,  your systems is ready for this new development.
Now,  this doesn't mean you can't pray at other times or spend time with God.  This is just a fixed time to help you create a habit of "having a date with God" and enjoying the intimacy.  You are to choose a time most convenient for you,  when no one will disturb.
Issa daily date with God

2. DECLUTTER YOUR MIND AND MINIMIZE DISTRACTIONS

(This part might be a bit long but it is the most important as it tackles the problem, so please follow me)

To declutter is to remove unnecessary items or untidy something.  So remove all the thoughts from your heart.  But what happens when you remove them (and how)?  The Bible says when a demon leaves a man's body,  it goes around wandering then it comes back to it's former host. If the demon finds you empty,  it enters back with 7 of it's friends.
So after removing things from your mind,  you have to fill up that space,  don't leave it empty. 

Let's look at Matthew 6vs 6a:
But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret;.

 ENTER INTO YOUR CLOSET
What is a closet?  What did Jesus mean by this statement?
Was He just telling us to go inside a room when we want to pray?

Jesus didn't just mean we should enter our prayers chambers when we want to pray.  It was beyond that.  We will break this down with other Scriptures.

Let's start with Proverbs 18 vs 10: The name of the Lord is a strong tower : the righteous runneth into it, and is safe.

I'd want us to carefully go through these.
Tower => Room,  building,  closet,  house etc.
 The righteous run into it and is safe
The name of the Lord is a strong tower
Righteous run into this TOWER and are safe.
The tower is a hiding place.

Now let's look at Psalm 119 vs 114.
 You are my hiding place and my shield; I hope in Your word

Please take note of the semi colon (it is used to join thoughts or ideas with equal ranks/meaning).

You are my hiding place;  I hope in your word
In other news, 
Your word is my hiding place.
(Remember the tower is a hiding place)
So Your word is my Tower
(Tower => building,  closet, house etc)
 Your word Is my closet

 BOOM!!!
When Jesus said Enter into your closet,  He not only meant to enter a private room or building,  He also meant to enter into the word of God.
The word of God is the closet Christ says we should enter

Christ said,  He who believes in Him according to the word (i.e  he who believes,  understands,  meditates the word), rivers of living waters will flow out of their depths .

It is what you feed on that spins out in place of prayer.
Whenever you start praying,  your mind will surely wander but if you are well fed on the word of God,  when your mind begins to search All it finds is the word of God.

If you've been feeding on the things of the flesh,  your mind will not auto switch to the spiritual because you want to pray. 

Feed on the word of God,  mediate on it very much.
Even if it is just one verse,  let it occupy your mind.
Then before you start praying,  set aside time to  read the word even if it is a verse.

You are having an intimate or just let time with God?  Look for Scriptures that are focused on the truth of who God is,  Scriptures focused on His greatness.  Scriptures that will make you fall in love with Him over again.
(I usually go to Psalms for this)

Or maybe you want to intercede for a sick friend,  read Scriptures pertaining to this first.

If you do not enjoy reading the scripture, praying will bore you.

If you don't like reading, download audio Bible, audio teachings, podcasts or watch on YouTube

Daily, find time to study the word.


I'd advice you start reading your bible 15 minutes before your prayer time

 Minimizing distractions by shutting the door
You've locked your door,  put your gadgets aside,  meditated on the word of God.  So what door are we still shutting?

Though you've done all the above,  thoughts will still try to surface when we pray.  What you do is shut them out immediately they come,  don't entertain it. Shut them out by setting your mind on God alone (Col 3 vs 2)

E.g your mind brings a flash of your team's football match.  Immediately shut it out and think/tell yourself about the presence of God,  How you carry it and How God has promised He will not leave nor forsake you.  You could focus your thought on the Splendour of God.  Just make sure your thought is on things above.

Isaiah 26 vs 3 says "Your heart is in perfect peace (not wandering up and down)  when it stays focused on God
Let the attention of your heart be on God alone!


3. PRAY
Now that all is set,  start praying.  For starters,  I'd advice you pray out loud,  don't just murmur.  When you speak out,  your thoughts are more articulated and focused.  You can still think about other things while murmuring
If you sleep off easily while praying,  I'd advice you be active.  Move around while praying till you've gotten to a stage where you can relax.

Pray Scripture

Pray with an open mind and loving heart.  Don't make timetable when coming to God
Allow God be the one to set agenda through His word and Spirit.

Don't be in a hurry to leave (I've hammered this tire)

A lot of us rush prayer. It's like another thing we have to tick off our daily list.
DON'T

Come to God in sincerity and just stay quiet for a while (you can check the teaching on Hearing God)

Note that,  this is not magic.  It will not stop the first day.
From my experience,  the more you consistently spend time with God,  the less your mind wanders. 
If you are just starting,  it is normal for your mind to still wander. 
You can't just suddenly shut your  door that everyone has been entering freely and expect them not to knock. 

The thoughts will start disappearing when they notice you are persistent about not opening the door for them

So Again
- set a prayer time
-Remove unnecessary things from your mind
- fill that space with the word of God always
- Before praying,  read the word and meditate
- keep shutting out all distractions by focusing on God
- Stay quiet in His presence and allow Him speak 
- Allow God lead as you pray.

If you really want to do this, start TODAY


Read more Christian books

Listen to things that place your attention on God

And stay consistent for 2 weeks, no changing of time or missing any day

By the third week, your body gets use to it.

You get a natural reminder to pray sef

I know a lot of people that have tried this and it worked for them.


I do hope it works for you also

IS GOD GOOD? (A Question And Answer Based Teaching) ( PART 1)

A lot of Christians find it very difficult to reconcile the old testament God to the one in the new testament. I mean, how can the God who comes off as angry, vindictive, ruthless, raining fire and brimstone be same with the loving, patient and forgiving new testament God.

How?

So many are confused as to what to believe.Same God?

Is there a consistency in personality?

Did God change along the line or with the coming of Christ. I believe every Christian has asked these questions at some point in their life (I have). In fact, I always knew God had to be the hero in all of these narrative  He just had to be good but I never knew how to explain it to myself talk more of others. A lot of people have also turned away from God because they couldn't come to an understanding of this. Today, we will be answering questions that have been asked regarding this. As time goes on, we will treat each point as a topic on its own gradually.

I will like to say this before we start,

*God is Good

*God is Love

*God Did not create evil

*God is not responsible for any evil/wickedness in the world

*God has no atom of wickedness in Him.

God Did not create evil. Remember, after creation God looked at ALL He created and they all looked good. He saw that they were good. Sin/evil could never have been hidden in all that goodness.Sin and all it brings came as a result of fallen creatures. God never intended for an evil world or one filled with sin, God wanted/wants man to be just like Him.

           For us to understand the full extent of Grace, we must be able to understand God's Holy Wrath against Sin and His (Righteous) judgement of those who engage in sin. A lot of what we term as God being evil is His Holy Wrath/Righteous judgement in display. All the questions we had during the week are questions about God's Character and understanding His person helps us to know why some things are;

God is just and holy.

Gods anger/wrath is righteous in nature

Gods anger is Holy distaste towards EVERYTHING that is contradictory to His nature; Holiness*

Romans 1:18 But God's angry displeasure erupts as acts of human mistrust and wrongdoing and lying accumulate, as people try to put a shroud over truth.

Here we see what brings God's wrath, wrong doing. Wrong against what?Wrong against that which is Just? God's anger/Wrath is not bad,of course it looks bad to the sinner. But no, God's wrath is His love in action against Sin. I once read somewhere that God's wrath is a right and necessary reaction to objective moral evil. If there is no judgement of evil, God would not be God. His Holy nature which is in contrast to Sin justifies His wrath towards sin and sinful men.God's nature and character has remained Constant from the old testament to the new. He is the same righteous God. His Holy anger will someday be unleashed upon the world.

Questions and answers

We have 12 main questions with some part  questions in them also.

Question 1

So I’ve heard bible teachers say God was not responsible for the evil in the Old Testament. E.g the children of Israel constantly being given into the hands of oppressors when they sinned against God.

My question is, did those who write the account of the Old Testament also misinterpret all the laws and punishments God wrote out, for those who walked in disobedience? 

If God isn’t evil, why ask people to stone,shoot,kill etc when they walk in disobedience?

 Answer

To start with, the bible is not the revelation of God, Jesus is.Of a truth, some people in the old testament had a flawed interpretation of the person of God and/or His actions (We will see some of them as we answer the remaining questions)

But I say to you, there is no Misinterpretation of laws/command of God.

All Scripture (though written by men who might not have a full understanding of God's nature) is God-breathed and useful for shaping our lives. Useful for our living.

Do you think God will ever allow an error be passed down as a tool for shaping lives? It took long before these manuscripts became the bible. It would have been destroyed. God would have destroyed everything.This brings us to the question *Killing of people when they walk in disobedience.

Will use the following examples.

 Laws of the land.

If you kill, you will be arrested and most likely the judge will sentence you to death if found guilty.

Is the Judge guilty of killing the man who disobeyed the laws of the land?

Is the judge evil for pronouncing or bringing to actualization the consequences of breaking that law?

Let's use the Student Illustrative.

You write an exam and fail. Most students will say, "the professor failed me" or "the professor gave me F o".But it's the student that failed to meet up to the standard used as a yardstick of judgement. So we can't blame the professor

Next is

The Law and its implications

The law came with consequences.The law is required for people to live right and not commit atrocities.Every body, country, organization has laws and rules governing them.

When people go against these laws and they are to pay the penalty, is it not the person that erred we blame? Do we blame the sitting president for the carrying out of this law? Do we call the judge evil?

NO.

There is a reason there are laws. Laws are there to actually protect citizens.these laws are for our own benefits.If we see cases where countries were destroyed in the bible, you will see mention of their atrocities.It is always because people did something that was against the law (based upon God's Holy nature).

 But when you take cities in the land that the Lord your God is giving you, you must kill everyone. You must completely destroy all the people—the Hittites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites. The Lord your God has commanded you to do this. So then they will not be able to teach you to sin against the Lord your God or to do any of the terrible things they do when they worship their gods.*

Deuteronomy 20:16‭-‬18

Destroy the people who sin so they will not also teach others to sin. Does it sound like our cry for rapists to be brought to be book so it can sound as a warning to Other rapists that they can't continue their evil ?

The Lord GOD says, “I don’t want evil people to die. I want them to change their lives so that they can live!  “Now, maybe good people might stop being good. They might change their lives and begin to do all the terrible things that evil people have done in the past. (The evil people changed, so they can live.) So if those good people change and become bad, God will not remember all the good things they did. He will remember that they turned against him and began to sin. So they will die because of their sin.  “You people might say, ‘The Lord isn’t fair!’ But listen, family of Israel. I am fair. You are the ones who are not fair!*

Ezekiel 18:23‭-‬25 ERV

God never intends for evil people to perish. He wants them to change their ways. Look at the Canaanites, God destroyed them.The plan to destroy them had always been there.But do you know God waited 400 years before?And so many Canaanite came to God within these period. For example Rahab. Rahab is even in the ancestral lineage of Jesus Christ

God gave the Canaanites enough time to change, to turn back before destroying them.More like before allowing them reap that which they sowed. The same is happening in the world today. Judgement is coming. Man has time to repent, to turn away from evil and turn to God

Some people will still blame God and call Him evil when judgement comes. And if we advocate for God to destroy immediately, Even you and I will not be standing.

 God is Just

          QUESTION 2

.

We know God is 100% good and if this is the case then these punishment laws and other events in the bible wasn't given by him.

On the contrary God is balanced. And though he is a good God he will punish where there is disobedience.

Biblical references

 The place where He asked for an evil Spirit to go deceive through the prophets Ahab, so he could go into battle and die there. 1 kings 22:22. Second instance is where the Bible records An evil spirit coming from God to torment Saul. 1 Samuel 16:14. Now the question is,was it actually God who sent this Spirits as the Bible says or there is another explanation please?

Answer

God did not send any evil Spirit to Saul.

Let's read 1 Samuel 16:14

The Lord’s Spirit left Saul. Then the Lord sent an evil spirit to Saul that caused him much trouble.*

1 Samuel 16:14 ERV

God's spirit occupied Saul's body initially. God later withdrew His spirit (We all know why) so Saul's body became empty. Saul had lost his spiritual protection. His body became open for any evil Spirit passing by to enter.

God's withdrawal of His spirit is an open invitation for whatsoever spirit to come in since the house is now empty. Since God knew His withdrawal of His spirit is proportional to open invitation for demons, it is easy to translate this to God sending the evil Spirit. But that's not His doing. He only packed His bag and left.So God did not send any evil Spirit. The evil Spirit entered because God's spirit wasn't there. This part is one of the flawed interpretations of God in the bible.

it was automatically assumed that God sent that spirit.

 Saul’s servants said to him, “An evil spirit from God is bothering you.*

1 Samuel 16:15 ERV

Saul's servant telling him it's an evil Spirit from God, did he even know God? This one is also not on God.

So in essence he let Hitler perpetrate evil? 

God created man for His pleasure. God created Hitler, Terrorists, good people and bad people, all for His pleasure. And they were none of these things at creation.

Man has a will,Man has choice.To choose who or what they give pleasure.

God is happy when we choose the right path but He is not responsible for whatever choice we make.

He can make the Choice turn out for good also.But that choice is still ours to make. God's permission of men's choices (Both good and evil, especially evil) does not in anyway translate to His approval of those choices. Adam chose to eat of the forbidden tree.

God could have done some magic and appeared to toss the fruit away but He did not.

Does this mean God approves of Adam's choice/decision to eat the fruit? NO

Back to Hitler and the Holocaust.

The blame for this is solely on the shoulders of sinful humanity.

The Holocaust was a pursuit of sinful choices made by men deep in sin against God whose nature is Holy/Just.

 Reading about the Holocaust is painful to be honest. What hurts me the most is this, Millions of people followed Hitler. And this was just few years after the World War 1. Do you know how devastating the first war was? How could people support Hitler and follow him to perpetrate such evil?

We want to blame God that didn't take part in the war. But what of the people that joined Hitler?The few people that still think He was on the right cause

Man's evil is never to be blamed on God.Man chose that path.And evil has consequences.

Consequences that sometimes hurt the innocent

 So the question should be:

Why did men let Hitler perpetrate such evil?

Why did people support Hitler? Because they chose evil,And this choice is not on God.

God bless you all

Let us pray

Thank you for your word Lord.

Thank you for clarity

Thank you for speaking to us

Dear Lord, All we want is to know you.

If there is anything we still do not understand fully, please reveal all to us.

As we continue during the week, help us answer these questions rightly and also understand them.

Amen