God Speaks My Language
March 2006
"My sheep recognize my voice. I know them and they follow
me" - John 10:27
I was on a missions trip in Haiti and so were about fifteen
others from my church. We had come to help build an orphanage
and share the Gospel. I found myself in many challenging and
interesting scenarios as we ministered to young and old alike.
On one particular occasion was in the middle of a Haitian market
and I was surrounded on all sides by French speaking people.
A friend and I had ventured out and were experiencing the culture
first hand. The problem came when I got separated from her.
Now, I was lost in the middle of a crowd where almost no one
spoke English. I asked a few locals some questions and tried
to get some direction but they couldn't understand me and I
couldn't understand them. As beautiful as their language was,
it wasn't mine. I stood in the midst of the group for some time
hearing many voice but not really hearing anyone. I kept my
eyes open in hopes of seeing my friend. And then from behind,
I heard it. My name. "Priscilla, I'm over here!" Now here was
something that I understand, my name called in my own language.
The sound of the familiar syllables resonated deep within me
amidst the noisy surroundings. I whipped around to find my friend
standing on a box, waving me towards her above the heads of
those gathered. I sighed a quick breath of relief that I had
recognized someone, anyone in this group. As nice as the others
in the group were and as beautiful as their French dialects
sounded; they were still strangers and I was refreshed to hear
the voice of a friend. Gladly, I responded and immediately I
moved in her direction; the one who was speaking my language.
One of the greatest discoveries of my Christian life has been
that I can hear God because He speaks in my language. I once
thought that hearing the Lord's voice was a pastime only for
the super spiritual not for a regular pew-warming wife and mom
like myself. The revelation that I can hear God for myself developed
an expectancy in me that has never been there before and as
a result I am now traveling a glorious road of adventure and
supernatural splendor as I hear from God.
Effectively hearing God begins with the knowing that our God
speaks your language. He doesn't communicate in a way that is
too difficult for us to understand or that we are unable to
hear. His desire is for us to hear Him, discover His will and
begin to obediently fulfill it. Did you get that: He wants us
to know His voice so that His will can be revealed to His children.
He wants to communicate with us so badly that He put His Holy
Spirit within us to act as a sort of decoding device between
the Father and us. He lives in us for the purpose of revealing
the very mind of God to us (1 Cor 2:10-13). It is the enemy
that would have you believe that hearing God is difficult if
not impossible for the normal human being. He wants you to continuously
feel like God's voice is one among many speaking a language
you cannot understand. But, on the contrary, God's voice is
the One that resonates with you because it will be the one that
speaks in the language that you, by the power of the Holy Spirit
within, completely comprehend: a personal dialect that is designed
to capture our attention and minister to our specific needs.
Listen to His word to you today:
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This
command I am giving you today is not too difficult for
you to understand or perform. It is not up in heaven,
so distant that you must ask 'Who will go to heaven and
bring it down so we can hear and obey it'? It is not beyond
the sea, so far away that you must ask, 'Who will cross
the sea to bring it to us so we can hear and obey it'?
The message is very close at hand; it is on your lips and
in your heart so that you can obey it. - Deuteronomy 30:11-14 |
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As you listen for God's voice in your life, I ask you: What
words are resonating deep with you? What are the instructions
and promptings that you recognize? If a voice seems strange
or in any way out of line with the written word of God, then
assume that your resistance is the Holy Spirit's way of detecting
'a strangers voice you will not follow' (John 10:24). Trust
the Holy Spirit's work in you to cause you to know God's will,
desire God's will and have the power to perform God's will (Phil
2:13). God knows your language and is prepared to speak it in
an effort to get your attention and call you in His direction.
My father is a great dad but if the truth be told he used to
have trouble remembering my name. I have three siblings and
when we all lived under the same roof it seemed that my father
would have to work really hard to get just one child's attention.
He couldn't quite figure out which of his four children I was.
He would call Anthony, Jonathan and Chrystal is quick succession
before he final settled on my name - "Priscilla". The four of
us got used to hearing this spill of names. We would anxiously
await the fourth name that would escape his lips; this was the
person he was really looking for. In fact, to this day my father
will often call me or my sister "Cris-silla", the abbreviated
version of both of our names. This name is what comes when he
begins to call one just to realize half way through that he
really wants the other!
God doesn't have this problem. He is not frantically searching
for your name. He knows who you are and has a message that has
been tailor-made for you and your specific situation. He finds
great pleasure in speaking to you in a way that you can understand.
If he loved you enough to die for you don?t you think He loves
you enough to talk to you? The Lord "rejoices over you with
singing" (Zeph 3:17). No one in your life may have ever taken
pleasure in speaking your name but the Father does. Your earthly
parents may not have been interested. Your so called friends
and siblings may not care who or what you are but God. . Now
that is another story! He is not only interested but excited
to speak with you and communicate His will and His way to you
in a language that resonates deep in your spirit. Ask Him to
help you begin to believe this truth so that you can get on
with the business of hearing and obeying your Father.
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