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Once you have purposefully developed margin, you can begin the process of learning to “hearken to” or, in our more modern-day language, to hear the Lord.
Hearkening will deepen your walk in the Spirit as you learn to discern the often inaudible Voice of the Lord through your particular relationships and circumstances.
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He goes before them
and the sheep follow Him
because they know His voice;
and a stranger
they simply will not follow.
~John 10:4-5
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Pray.
We usually think of prayer as a time of requesting before the Lord or intercessing for others, and these are definitely aspects of prayer.
However, we are not often encouraged simply to listen—either to listen to each other or, more importantly, to listen to God—as an aspect of prayer.
”Hearken” or hear.
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As a Christian woman prays during times of seminal spiritual growth, there will be much silence in her mind and heart and life as He develops her “hearkening” skills.
God often speaks to you through relationships and circumstances. Are you hearkening—learning to discern—the meaning of His message to you?
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Hearkening or hearing:
not necessarily the hearing of a
sound or an audible voice but
the discerning of
the meaning of the message.
Strong’s 191: akouo
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To evaluate this question, ask yourself, Through the confusion and/or tension of these particular circumstances in my life or that particular relationship, is He…
- teaching me by leading me into a deeper understanding of something that has confused or entangled me?
- reproving me through His instruction?
- correcting me while training me in righteousness?
- imparting His wisdom to me through personal revelation about a particular circumstance or relationship?
- confirming what He has been teaching me?
- releasing me to freedom so He can guide me through my choices to more abundant life?
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RELEASE
WHAT
BINDS ~
EMBRACE
GROWTH
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As you are learning to discern His message to you, be still in your heart and mind.
If you are born again, His Spirit will speak to your spirit, most likely not audibly.
As you are releasing those things that entangle you—including binding religious teaching; your superficial identities; your over-emotional “spirituality”; your fear, anger, and unbelief—you will be making room for His Spirit to grow in you.
When His Spirit grows, He will give you a fuller understanding of the Word which will renew your mind to truth that will set you free.
Often God moves a Christian woman through the process of being set free from binding religious thinking and then frees her from her self-centered thinking.
When those carnal mindsets—binding religion, self-centeredness, overemotional spirituality, illogical tradition—rule, the resulting confusion blocks the Christian woman’s ability to hear God.
If you are unwilling to respond
to His leading you
out of binding mindsets,
the Spirit’s work will be limited—
not absent—
but limited in your life.
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Humorous Example
A new bride baked a ham for dinner. Before she put it in the roaster, she cut off the end of the ham. Her husband asked her why she did that.
She said, "Well, my mother always did it. I think it's because when you cut off the end of the ham, it makes it taste better."
Her husband said that just wasn't logical.
So the bride asked her mother why she cut off the end of the ham before baking it. Her mother said, "Well, my mother always did it. I think it's because when you cut off the end of the ham, it makes it taste better."
Then both the bride and her mother agreed that line of thinking was really not logical.
So, the bride's mother asked her mother. The bride's grandmother said, "I cut off the end of the ham because it doesn't fit into my roaster." That was logical!
The bride was set free, in a way, from illogical tradition once her mind was renewed. She could then embrace growth, in this case, by throwing out the false ideas she practiced.
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EXAMINE
THE
REASONS
FOR
YOUR
CHOICES
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The point of the humorous example about the bride (in the above section) is that sometimes we continue practicing things because they're tradition. We don't question why we're doing something; we just do it because that's what we've always done or that’s what generations before us have done.
But as we begin to structure our lives to listen to God in a more intimate relationship, His Spirit will prompt us to examine what we're choosing and why we're choosing the things we do.
God leads us through
what we know,
not through what we don’t,
which is why it is essential
to renew our minds to the knowledge of Him.
To read more about the knowledge of Christ,
see October, 2009, ezine
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If you are following tradition and culture and are finding your spiritual life lacking, God is still at work in your life through His unmerited grace. Don’t despair!
But if you desire more of His Life, purposefully continue to create margin so you can cultivate hearkening to His Voice—discerning the messages He brings to you through your relationships and circumstances, messages that will release you to His abundant life.
To read more about God’s grace,
see June, 2009, ezine
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SIMPLIFY
YOUR
LIFE
AND
RENEW
YOUR
MIND
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Take purposeful steps to simplify your life so He can renew your mind:
- Your outward activity level often reflects what is happening within. Simplify your environment by eliminating outside activities that overload your life.
- Purposefully choose to eliminate teachings that present images which confuse and batter your mind.
- Dwell in the reality of your circumstances and relationships. Renew your mind about their purpose: View them as one significant way that God speaks to you. Hearken to Him during this season of renewal.
- Let most of your prayers for this season become times of listening for His still, small Voice inaudibly speaking to your willing and growing spirit.
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Lord,
Help us to discern the messages that You speak to us personally
through our everyday relationships and circumstances.
Open our eyes and our ears to Your work in our lives.
From one Christian woman to another, I pray these examples of how I have hearkened to the Voice of the Lord will edify you:
Hearing His Voice Through the Din
How God assured me through my sister’s relationship with her son
Hearing His Confirming Voice
God’s confirmation of my liberty in Christ
Hearing His Voice Through A Child
How God ministered to me through a five-year-old child
Hearing His Voice and Obeying
How God “spoke” to me while I was weeding flowers
On this Christian website,
I have posted other examples of
how the Lord speaks to me:
Hearing His Instructive Word
God’s teaching me His principles of parenting my children as I led my “Tigger” son through his deskwork routine.
Hearing His Correcting Word
God’s Voice, spoken through a mentor, correcting my attitude towards my then-unsaved husband.
Hearing His Comforting Word
How God used a simple children’s book to comfort me as I waited for the fruit of the seeds I planted.
Hearing His Loving Word
Through an incident with my struggling child, God revealed His love for me, His struggling child.
Hearing His Enlightening Word
God provided me with enlightenment through a friend’s young son’s insights about a child’s story.
Hearing His Encouraging Word
While my child was learning to walk to me, God revealed to me the parallel of my walk to Him.
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I pray that…
God..may give to you
a spirit of wisdom and of revelation
in the knowledge of Him.
~Ephesians 1:17
Read how one Christian woman is learning to hearken
here.
Go to Part 3 of this series: Invite the Lord’s Chastening through Obedience
Other articles for the Christian woman in this series:
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