CHANGED IN GOD’S PRESENCE
Last week we looked at ways to prepare our hearts to hear God’s voice: clearing out worry and fear by prayer, petition and thanksgiving; consciously turning away from trusting our own understanding and submitting to examination by God’s Spirit.
DEDICATION, TRANSFORMATION
Romans 12:1-2 – “I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God – which is your spiritual worship. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is – his good, pleasing and perfect will.”
- Dedicate my body again as a living sacrifice (give up my right to decide what my body will do, and which delights of the body I will seek out and indulge in) so it will be set aside, dedicated to God to bring Him pleasure.
- Ask God to open my eyes, to recognize worldly and selfish patterns in my thoughts, feelings, actions and reactions, so that I can submit these to the Holy Spirit for transformation, replacing them with godly thoughts, feelings, actions and reactions, making me more like our Lord Jesus. (Psalm 139:23-24)
OPEN UP, EXPECTING TO HEAR GOD’S VOICE
God speaks in different ways – nature, people, books … but most clearly through his Word.
I don’t know about others, but I hear God in my heart, provided it is quiet, clean and dedicated to his presence. Sometimes, when my heart is full of noise and commotion, I experience Him calling to me, but I only understand what He is saying once my heart is quiet and clean – dedicated to God’s Spirit. I say, like Samuel: “Speak, Lord, your servant is listening.”
God speaks when I stay in his presence, listening. But He mostly does not say what I expect, and usually He does not give a direct answer to the questions I ask. I believe it is because I am by nature focussed on matters and processes, while He is focussed on character.
I ask: “Lord, what do you want me to do?” He answers: “This is what do I want you to be?” He wants to transform our minds, so that our hearts are renewed and his Spirit works out the character of Jesus in us. Then He can use us to do his will, and we can discern his will (Rom. 12:1,2). We are equipped to be his hands and feet in the world. We live love no matter what, like He does. We turn the other cheek, we do not take offense, we do not carry grudges. Our minds are not limited by human ideas of what is possible and what not. We are seated with Christ in heavenly realms. God’s heart for the world beats in us. The impulse in our hearts is generated by God’s Spirit in us, not by worldly and fleshly ideas and feelings.
I am no longer focussed on finding out God’s will for my life. Rather, I learn to understand God’s will for his Kingdom, for the world and the people in it. My heart burns for the salvation and liberation of all those enslaved by Satan, ruled by the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh and the pride of life. I pray the Lord of the harvest to use me, to send me to work in his vineyard.
Father God, thank you for your love. Thank you that you transplanted us into the kingdom of your beloved Son. Take my life and let it be consecrated to you. Speak to me, transform me, make me your instrument, your hands, your feet. I love you, my Lord. Amen
Elzeth Malherbe