Live Before You Die - day 17

God may challenge us to think differently about things or to reach out to new levels of faith, but He doesn't create confusion or the doubt and strife that often accompany it.

Jesus's voice comes with an awareness of heavenly peace. Sometimes the Lord speaks words of correction and rebuke.  There are also situations when the word of the Lord is time sensitive and immediate action is required.  But most of the time when God speaks, it is not a driving, demanding, high-pressure, "You have to do this right now or else!"

The voice of our own longings, interests, and opinions can easily be confused with God's voice.  To make sure what we are hearing is from God, we must identify our desires and self-interests and, as an intentional act of our will, neutralize them.  Conversely, the quieter the voice of our own will, the louder God's voice will be.  Therefore, if what you are sensing grows quieter as you silence your desires, then it is not from God.  But if what you are sensing grows stronger as you neutralize your own desires, then it just might be from the Holy Spirit.

God seldom speaks to strangers who have no time for Him, and even if He did, they would not recognize His voice.  He loves to speak to people who love Him and desire to live their lives in His presence.  He draws near to those who, as an act of their will, have drawn near to Him (James 4:8).  The more time we spend alone with Him seeking His face through prayer and worship, the easier it becomes to hear and immediately recognize His voice in our hearts.

We can all hear the voice of God if we will learn to listen. "For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God" (Rom 8:14).

Daniel Kolenda, Live before you die

Live Before You Die - day 16

If any form of emotional and experiential Christianity is not based on Scripture, it is nothing more than New Age mysticism. And if any form of Christianity is entirely cerebral and has no impact on real Word experience, it is nothing more than an empty shell.  People of the Word must also be people of the Spirit, and people of the Spirit must also be people of the Word.

The Word of God is not called "the sword of the Christian."  It is call the sword of the Spirit.  In other words, it belongs to the Spirit.  He alone can wield it properly.  Without the illumination that the Holy Spirit brings, the Bible is just black ink on white paper.

At the end of Jesus's earthly ministry as He was preparing to die on the cross, He told His disciples, "But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you" (John 14:26).  The Holy Spirit is not a doctrine or denomination or optional experience reserved for only a few Christians.  Hearing the voice of God is actually hearing the voice of the Holy Spirit in our hearts.

The more we give the Holy Spirit's presence a place of honor in our lives, the more sensitive we become to His voice.  It's this fellowship and communion with the Holy Spirit that sharpens our spiritual sensitivity and makes our hearts better able to hear the voice of the Lord when He speaks to us.

I have often been asked, "Why doesn't God speak to me?"  I think many times the reason is so simple - we aren't listening!  We are often so busy and in such a hurry that we rush right past the Lord and never stop to give Him our attention.  I wonder how often we miss an encounter with God or a word from heaven simply because we are too busy to take the time to "turn aside."

Prayer is not about making lengthy lists of requests for God and continually chattering for as long as possible.  Sometimes the best thing you can do is to be quiet and listen!  Francois Fenelon said, "A humility that is still talkative doesn't run very deep."  Learn to become quiet in the presence of the Lord, in a posture of humility and awe, and tune your spiritual ears to His voice.

Daniel Kolenda, Live before you die

Live Before You Die - day 15

Hearing the voice of God is one of the most basic and most profound secrets to discovering God's will for your life.  God speaks to people through a myriad of different means and methods, but many simply don't realize it. Hearing the voice of God is not only possible for the child of God's, it is absolutely imperative to listen to and be led by that voice!

Evangelist Reinhard Bonnke said, "It would be hard to find a line of Scripture on which to build a doctrine of a silent God.  It is not at all the Bible picture.  People called on God because that is how they knew Him - a God who can be heard."

Jesus said, "But he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep.  To him the doorkeeper opens, and the sheep hear his voice; and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out." (John 10:2)  If we are a part of His flock, we have all been called by the voice of the Good Shepherd, and the voice that called us to salvation is the same voice that must lead us throughout our lives.

The most common way to hear God's voice is through the Scriptures.  The Scriptures are always speaking to anyone who will take the time to meditate on them.  If you say you desire to hear God's voice yet have no desire to read the Bible, you are fooling yourself.  God has gone to great lengths to preserve His Word.  Many righteous men and women have paid a dear price, even with their blood, so that we could have the Scriptures.  If you are not interested enough in what God has already said to take the time to read His Word, then why should He say anything else to you?

If you really want to hear the voice of God speaking, make time every day to meditate upon the Scriptures.  Jesus said, "The words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life" (John 6:63).  If we learn and know the sound of heaven by reading His Word, we are better able to recognize His voice when He speaks to us personally.

Daniel Kolenda, Live before you die

We will read tomorrow on more ways to hear and discern God's voice.

Live Before You Die - day 14

Dying to self, what do we mean?  It means we die to our desires, our ego, and our will.  Sometimes this even means dying to our own vision.  But you may say, "I'm sure my vision is God-given.  It is His will."  Yet there is an inherent danger.  It is possible for the calling, promises, and vision God has given us to become our main ambition, making them opponents of God, for He is not willing to share our hearts with anything - not even with good things.

Many of us are willing to surrender until it begins to hurt, but true surrender is painful.  Some people are willing to surrender as long as it is logical, but true surrender is not subject to our rationale.  Others can surrender what is bad and harmful, but God is not satisfied.  To God surrender is not complete until it is all encompassing, exhaustive, total.  It is not simply saying, "your will be done," but it includes, "Not my will."  This death to self is not some form of divine sadism.  God always has life in mind. Just as a gardener prunes off the old branches so new ones can grow, God desires to remove that which hinders life and growth.  This place of death is also the place of birth, and it is how God's purposes are born in the earth!

What if He asked you to lay down your gift or talent, the thing that defines you - the thing in which you find self-worth?  Could you lay your promise on the altar as Abraham did Isaac, or push your treasures into the dumpster as John Wimber did?  Have you checked to see who is sitting on the throne of your heart?  Is it you? Is it your vision?  Is it your dream?  Or is it Jesus?

Resurrection only follows death - death to self, death to your will, death to your desires, and death to your dreams. It is in these painful moments of surrender that God's kingdom is established in us, when we pray with Jesus, "Not my will, but Yours be done."

Daniel Kolenda, Live before you die

Live Before You Die - day 13

God's eternal glory will penetrate the natural world through broken men and women.  And when the kingdom of God comes into contact with the fallen world, we begin to see heavenly effects:  the sick are healed, the dead are raised, bondages are broken, and the supernatural begins to happen.

As we travel on the journey of discovering God's will, the narrow road cuts through a dark valley where God tests our hearts and breaks us.  The breaking process is uncomfortable but very important to endure if we want to see God's will done in our lives.  The valley of brokenness is where we learn to say, "not my will, but Yours, be done." This brokenness, while painful, releases amazing power and makes us useful to God.

When we are broken vessels of clay, then God's power shines out, and all the glory is His.  This is why Paul says, "But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong, and the base things of the world and the despised God has chosen, the things that are not, so that He may nullify the things that are, so that no man may boast before God . . . that, just as it is written, 'Let him who boasts, boast in the Lord'" (1 Cor 1:27-29, 31). God loves to use broken vessels because through them He gets the most glory!

The world values the lofty, powerful, proud, and big.  God values a broken and a contrite heart, a heart that is humble and bowed low before the King.  In Isaiah 66:2 the Lord says, "'This is the one I esteem:  he who is humble and contrite in spirit, and trembles at my word.'"  The psalmist says in Psalm 51:17, "The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise."

A broken person is a person who is crucified with Christ.  It is in this kind of person that God's will is being done and in whom God's kingdom is present and flowing out to the world around him.

Daniel Kolenda, Live before you die

Live Before You Die - Day 12

Where Adam failed in the Garden of Eden, Jesus prevailed in the Garden of Gethsemane. And the key to Christ's victory here was the secret of His whole life, embodied in those seven immortal words, "Not my will, but thine, be done." The Roman soldiers seized Jesus and crucified Him, but they could not take His life, for He had already laid it down in Gethsemane.  "No one takes My life from Me," was Jesus's confession, "but I lay it down of Myself."

Many times people embark on the journey to discover God's will having already made up their minds about what they think God wants them to do.  And often what they are actually seeking is divine validation of what they desire.  If you truly want God's will for your life, you cannot simply pray, "your will be done." You must include, "Not my will."

The kingdom of God is present wherever God's authority is acknowledged and submitted to.  Jesus was praying for God's will to be done exclusively - the way it is done in heaven.  In other words, all other wills bow to the divine will, God's authority is recognized and submitted to, and everything comes into alignment with what the Father desires.

It all begins with the heart - it all begins with us.  Jesus said "The kingdom of God is within you" (Luke 17:21). What was Jesus talking about?  He was talking about God's will being done in the hearts of men.  Human kings fight over land and spoil, but the real estate God desires is that of the heart.

Jesus said in John 7:38, "He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, 'From his innermost being will flow rivers of living water.'" He didn't say we would see rivers of water flow from heaven - He said they would flow from inside His people! God's kingdom is not coming out of the blue sky; it's coming from within us! God's will is that every believer becomes an annexation of His kingdom, a portal through which He can pour His glory and release His power into the world.  If you want to see God's kingdom come on earth, it starts with God's will being done in earth - in you!

Daniel Kolenda, Live before you die

Live Before You Die - day 11

God's purposes are like a freight train that cannot be stopped, and the most dangerous place in the world to stand is in the way of those purposes because they will not slow down to avoid running over you. If you doubt this, just ask Pharaoh, who refused to let the children of Israel go in the Book of Exodus.  God has absolutely no chance of losing.  We are the only ones who stand to lose when we fail to obey.

We have been placed in this world for a purpose:  to propel God's kingdom forward.  This is more than a preference or privilege; it is a divine responsibility and duty for which we will be held eternally accountable. Propelling God's kingdom forward is not a side issue - it is the reason you were saved, it's the reason you were born.

A voice says, “Cry!”

And I said, “What shall I cry?”

All flesh is grass,

and all its beauty is like the flower of the field.

 The grass withers, the flower fades

when the breath of the Lord blows on it;

surely the people are grass.

Isaiah 40:6-7

 

Behold, the nations are like a drop from a bucket,

and are accounted as the dust on the scales;

behold, he takes up the coastlands like fine dust.

40:15, 17

 

Movie stars, world leaders, and business tycoons all think they are very important, and nightly news reports would have us believe the world revolves around these people and their influence, power, and wealth.  But from God's perspective it is all nothingness and futility.  All of their wars, struggles, and efforts to rise to the top of the ladder are all worthless.  When all is said and done, what is the purpose of everything we do?

 

All the goods we acquire soon rot, precious moments are forgotten, and money evaporates as the dew.  The world keeps spinning and changing as people and kingdoms come and go.  But when we are seeking first the kingdom of God, it means we have made God's kingdom the priority in our lives.  Put God's kingdom first, and not only will you find ultimate purpose and meaning in life, but also even the small things will also take on significance.

 

Careers, life partners, finances, location, and education should never be our chief focus.  All of these things will be sorted out and added to us as we keep the kingdom of God as our primary concern.  As we seek God's will for our lives, we can be sure that it will never move us in a direction that is contrary to God's kingdom purposes.  Jesus says that if we seek the kingdom first, all these things will be added to us.  If you will set your sights on His kingdom and make that your priority, as you move toward it you will automatically come across everything else you need!

 

Many people think the kingdom of God is an ethereal and irrelevant topic, and they prefer to be "down to earth."  They have decided to first concentrate on putting food on the table and paying the bills.  This seems to be the responsible and practical thing to do.

 

But what Jesus taught is quite the opposite.  Jesus said, "Don't worry about what you will eat or what you will wear.  Your Father in heaven knows you need these things, and He will take care of you.  Instead seek first the kingdom of God, and all these things will be added to you." (See Matthew 6:25-33.) Put the kingdom of God first, and everything else will be taken care of - physical, mental, and emotional needs included.  When we put anything ahead of Christ and His kingdom in our lives, not only will we miss God's kingdom, but we will also miss all the other treasures as well. 

 

We do not seek the kingdom however because we love its benefits - we seek the kingdom because we love its King!  When our love for the King becomes our paramount incentive, then and only then do we have things in the right order.  If we are driven by a philosophy or an ideology, a desire to make the world a better place or to see a new order established, then our ambition falls into the same category as communism, Marxism, socialism, and all the other "-isms."  Seeking the kingdom of God is in a category all by itself because it stems from a fountain deeper than any motive in this world - divine, supernatural love for the King.  This love is the foundation and the driving force behind the kingdom that will endure long after all others have crumbled to dust.

 

 

Daniel Kolenda, Live before you die