Divine Guidance-FULL SERMON | Joyce Meyer

Join Joyce Meyer as she shares powerful insights on hearing God’s voice and following His guidance in your daily life. Learn how obedience, faith, and spiritual discernment lead to a deeper relationship with God and victory over life’s challenges. Don’t miss this life-changing message on how to stay aligned with God’s will for your purpose and destiny. – – – – – – – Follow Joyce: WEBSITE: https://joycemeyer.org FACEBOOK:   / joycemeyerministries   INSTAGRAM:   / joycemeyer   X (Formerly Twitter): https://www.x.com/JoyceMeyer/ – – – – – – – Joyce Meyer, one of the world’s leading practical Bible teachers and New York Times best-selling author, shares encouragement and advice to help us enjoy our daily lives. With a heart to share Christ and love people, Joyce’s messages help people in all walks of life to grow in their faith, learn to study the Bible, find healing from the wounds of life, get answers to life’s questions and encounter the love of God in a powerful way. #JoyceMeyer#EnjoyingEverydayLife

[Music]

all right I’m going to talk to you today

about Divine guidance or hearing God’s

voice probably one of the major it’s not

it’s not the top prayer request that we

get the top one that we get is for

people’s children and their loved ones

and uh obviously we understand why

people are very concerned about their

kids that aren’t Walking with God but

the next one is guidance so many people

need and want to know what to do about

specific situations how many of you are

in a situation right now where you

really need to hear from God about a

decision that you need to make okay well

see that’s pretty much everybody and see

the thing is is we need it all the time

we don’t need it just to hear from God

occasionally we need to be led and

guided by the Holy Spirit every day of

our life as long as we’re

alive but before I start talking about

how to hear from

God I’m going to talk to you for a

little bit about

obedience because there’s no point in

anybody hearing from God if you haven’t

already made your mind up that you’re

going to do do what God tells you to

do whatever he tells you to do and that

doesn’t mean that you’re always going to

like what he tells you to do right so we

have to be ready for I’m going to use

the word that nobody likes a little bit

of suffering In the

Flesh you know if we want more of God in

our life then there’s always a little

more flesh that has to go you know John

said I must decrease and he must

increase we can’t expect to have an

increase of God in our life if we’re

going to just keep doing what we want to

do all the time and not make our minds

up to listen to God

maybe we need more teaching on obedience

we should be hungry I mean hungry to

know what God says and what he wants us

to do in our lives because here’s the

fact God is always

right and if we disagree with him then

we are always

wrong God’s the only one that can guide

our lives in a right way and I want to

say this and I want you to get this

anything that God asked you to do or not

to

do anything he asked you to give

up is always and only for your benefit

[Applause]

if we really believe that God is good

and that he loves us and he tells us to

give up something that we don’t want to

give

up first of all it’s wrong to disobey

God but secondly we’re only hurting

ourselves because everything that he

tells us to do is something that’s going

to give us the life that we say we want

to

have but we’re not doing the thing that

we need to do in order to get it I’ll

never forget a woman that attended a

conference I tell this story pretty

often but it’s still amazes me we were

having some kind of a banquet type

conference where and and it was all

ladies and they were sitting at these

big round tables together like about

eight people at a table

and this so they had plenty of

Fellowship time during meals and stuff

and so I I don’t know what I was

teaching on but at the end of the

conference the lady lady came to me and

she said well I know now exactly what my

problem is and I said well what is your

problem she said well I was abused

sexually like you are and she said it

just so

happens all these little things that we

think are coincidences and they’re

really the Providence of God it just so

happened that all the ladies at the

table with

me had a similar

background to mine and she said as I

listen to them talk about their healing

and what all God had done in their life

and how free they were now she said I

realized after listening to them that

God has told me the same things that he

told them the only difference is they

did it and I

didn’t let that soak in just a little

bit if I were to ask right now and I

won’t make you raise your hands although

I probably should if I were to ask right

now how many of you know right now

without me saying another word that

there’s something that God has told you

to do or something that he has asked you

to stop

doing maybe quite a while ago and you

still haven’t done

it see we got people brave people out

there for the thing okay you know what

I’m not trying to be mean

but you’ll stay in the same mess you’re

in it’ll just get

worse until you do what God tells you to

do faith without works is dead it’s

great to say I have faith in God but if

I’m not going to do what he tells me to

do then I’m not going to get anywhere

and so maybe some of you will squirm in

your seats a little bit this morning I

hope you do I don’t think we should

always just be all that comfortable

sitting in church

[Applause]

okay

so we’re going to talk just a little

bit about

obedience how many of you have heard the

scripture resist the devil and he will

flee from you okay well that’s actually

not what the scripture

says that’s the part of it we

quote but it actually says submit

yourself to

God resist the devil and he will flee

from from you so there’s we have no

power over Satan if we’re living in

known Disobedience now I think that

God’s a little more gracious to us when

we’re living in ignorance the Apostle

Paul said that God gave him Grace

because he had Zeal without knowledge he

was persecuting Christians but he

actually really believed that he was

doing the right thing however as soon as

God showed him otherwise he was ready

and quick to make a change so if you

really don’t know that what you’re doing

is wrong then God will give you more

grace a space of time but every time you

come to hear the word of God whether

it’s watching a TV program or listening

to a message or reading the Bible or

coming to church you know what you get

not just a good message you get more

responsibility

because now you know

something that you didn’t know before

and so if you keep doing the same dumb

stuff you did before you knew the right

thing to

do now you’re going to

experience the other

side of

it well I thought God’s merciful he is

merciful but sometimes the most merciful

F thing you can do is not let somebody

keep getting

away with something that’s hurting

them submit yourself to God resist the

devil and he will flee now we’re always

all going to have trouble with the devil

because he hates us and really you

should be more concerned if he’s not

giving you any trouble than if he is

because if you’re if he’s not giving you

any trouble then you’re probably not

giving him

any

however the best way in the world to

give the devil no power over you is to

the best of your

ability quickly and promptly do whatever

God asks you to

do quickly and promptly do whatever God

asks you to do Isaiah 1119 says if

you’re willing and obedient you shall

eat the good of the land well we’re all

willing

but that’s not all the scripture says it

says if you’re willing and

obedient you shall eat the good of the

land I you know I’m really excited about

what’s going to happen in this area in

the next week or so because after me

preaching this boy you’re all going to

perk up and you’re going to be on your

best behavior for a few days and then

somebody will have to come back

around and give you a fresh

dose okay in Hagi 1: 2 through N9 I find

an extremely interesting

story it says thus says the Lord of

hosts these people say the time has not

come that the Lord’s House or Temple

should be rebuilt so the people were

saying no it’s not time to rebuild the

Temple now in the classic original

version of the Amplified Bible it says

in that one although Cyrus had ordered

it done 18 years prior

so the people are still saying no this

is not the right time but God had

already told them to a prophet 18 years

previously that that was what they

needed to do so they had been being

disobedient for 18 years and you know

one of the main reasons why we’re

disobedient why we can be

really I mean people who love God and

you got a good heart because we make

excuses

anything that’s going to be a little

uncomfortable we can quickly find an

excuse why it’s not time and

procrastination is so dangerous it’s so

deceptive because when we procrastinate

we don’t see it as being disobedient

because we’re going to do

it come on we plan to do

it we intend to do

it but unless God has told you to wait

till another time to obey

him then you haven’t obeyed until you’ve

done what God asked you to

do

Hallelujah then the word of the Lord

came by Hagi the prophet saying is it

time for you yourselves to live in your

expensive panel houses while this house

of the Lord lies in

Ruins so God is saying to them I told

you to rebuild my house but instead

you’re building your own house you know

what we need to be much busier building

the kingdom of God than we are trying to

increase the size of our

portfolio now therefore thus says the

Lord of hosts consider your ways and

thoughtfully reflect on your

conduct you have planted much but you

have very little little Harvest you eat

but you don’t have enough you drink but

you don’t have enough to be intoxicated

I’m still kind of wrestling with that

I’m not

sure but it’s there it’s the Bible

so I do want to say I don’t think that

means you should go go out and get drunk

but

anyway the

Mysteries you clothe yourself but

nobody’s warm enough and he who earns

wages earns them just put them in a bag

that has holes in it because God has

withheld His blessings have you ever

felt like that in your

life no matter what I

do it never seems to work out I remember

telling Dave years ago it seems like no

matter we get we get a little bit of

money saved and something always happens

to take

it well these people are saying you know

we’re working but we never have enough

we’re doing this but it’s never enough

it’s it’s never enough It’s never enough

and God’s answer to them was consider

your

ways consider your ways you know it

never hurts to have a little meeting

with yourself once in a

while you ever take time to have a

meeting with

yourself and just sit down maybe and

think about your life and think about

what you’re doing with your time and

even just to think about how how many

things are you doing

just to please somebody

else when really you don’t feel in your

heart at all is what you’re supposed to

be

doing but to keep them from getting

upset you waste your time on stuff that

you feel no anointing on there’s no

Grace on you to do it you don’t even

like doing it and even that kind of

stuff is Disobedience to God God has a

Destiny for each and every one of you

and I can safely say that if you want to

fulfill that Destiny there’s a pretty

good chance you’re going to have to make

a few people

mad

amen oh wouldn’t we love it if everybody

loved us and everybody agreed with us

but surely we can understand that the

devil is not going to let that happen

because approval from people is one of

the things that we crave way too much

he’s always going to make sure that

there’s somebody that disapproves hoping

that in order to gain their approval we

will do what they want instead of doing

what God

wants somebody in this building needed

to hear

that today

amen I’ll tell you very shortly when God

called me to start

teaching the group of people people that

I was

around women didn’t do

that a group of people I was around

nobody talked about people hearing from

God and so when I’m telling them I heard

from God and he called me to preach the

gospel to the world I mean just to make

it short I got asked to leave my

church I lost every friend that I had

except maybe one or

two a lot of our families turned against

and so let me just say plainly that if

you want to do what God wants you to do

if you want to have how many of you want

to have the best life that God’s got for

you okay I mean do you really okay well

then there there is going to be some

sacrifice and some hard things and some

hard decisions that you’re going to have

to make we need a little more backbone

and not so much Wishbone

[Applause]

I want to see people be strong and

believe that they can do whatever God

wants them to do and be people that make

a decision I am not going to give up

devil you might as well forget me giving

up because I am not going to give

up if anybody can have the promises of

God then I can have the promises of

God verse 7 thus says the Lord of hosts

consider your ways and thought ful

reflect on your conduct verse eight go

up to the Hill Country bring lumber and

rebuild my house that I might be pleased

with it and be glorified accepting it is

done for my glory verse n you look for

much Harvest but it comes to little and

even when you bring that home I blow it

away why says the Lord of hosts because

of my house which lies in Ruins while

each of you runs to his own house eager

to enjoy

it amen

let me just go ahead and irritate

Somebody by

saying

that you need to be a generous

Giver I mean a generous Giver if you’re

going to be part of a church be part of

one that’s doing a lot of

Outreach I don’t I don’t think a church

is even a real church if not helping the

poor and the needy if I mean if all

we’re going to do is have a little

social club and all get together and try

to build our own little kingdom then

we’ve missed the whole

thing I mean the way that the world is

going to change is by us getting out in

the middle of it and

loving really loving people because

that’s one thing that they just don’t

know what to do with especially

especially if you learn how to love your

enemies

[Applause]

H now see right away that’s already

giving somebody some

pain if if you listen really good you’ll

hear God tell you

to help that person that’s been mean to

you at the office that now has a

need say look at you your life

[Applause]

see that’s how you prove your

Christianity that goes beyond your

bumper sticker and the cross you hang

around your

neck that says now you’re going to put

some action to what you say that you are

you know if we’d get out there and live

right we wouldn’t have to do much

preaching at all people would come and

ask us for the

answers Hebrews 5’8

although he was a son talking about

Jesus who had never been disobedient to

the father he

learned active special obedience through

what he

suffered now I find that to be very

interesting Jesus was never

disobedient but he

learned what it really meant to be

obedient by doing the hard things that

God asked him to do

and so

see you can’t really

learn what it

means to really be obedient if you’re

only going to do the

things

that you don’t mind doing or or you like

doing or you kind of enjoy doing don’t

think that God won’t test

you let me tell you something there’s so

many people watching right now you are

in the middle of a big fat test and I’m

telling you you might as well go ahead

and pass it because if you don’t you

will get to retake

it in the school of the Holy Spirit you

never flunk out you just get to keep

taking the same test over and over and

over until you pass

it amen so I can’t talk about my

relationship without with god without

saying and God told me and God said and

you know no that doesn’t mean I’m

hearing audible voices all the time but

that’s that’s the promise of the New

Testament that we will have the Holy

Spirit in US Jesus said you’re better

off if I go

away I’ve been with

you but now I’m going to be in you

through the Holy

Spirit and in John 16 it says I’m giving

him to you so you can be in close

fellowship with him

we’re supposed to have believe it or not

a conversational relationship with

God now that doesn’t mean that you’re

going to sit and have a conversation

with god like you would somebody over a

cup of coffee that’s why you have to

learn how God

speaks but we need to learn that God is

not just interested in our 45 minute

trip to church on Sunday morning he

wants into our whole life

every day

[Applause]

everything I just double dare you to

invite God to mess in any area of your

life that he wants

to come on somebody’s agreeing I’ll go

talk to

you God I invite you to get involved in

any area of my life that you want to

bust down those doors that I’ve kept

closed to you I give you access to my

thoughts my finances my friends my

entertainment how I dress I want you to

deal with everything in me that needs to

be dealt with so I can become more and

more like

you anybody

and can I tell you something and I

honestly believe this I believe when you

hear preaching like this I think it

excites your

[Applause]

spirit you can almost see it because

even though part of you maybe your flesh

doesn’t want to do it or is afraid of

what might happen spiritually you know

that it’s right and and you get excited

because that’s what we’re created for

for christlikeness to grow and to become

more and more and more like him all the

time awesome I like this

message so if you’re going to hear from

God the first thing you need to do is

believe that you can hear from

God so probably not in here you wouldn’t

experienc this but if you’re watching by

television and you’ve

been this is something new if you’re

hearing from God I mean you know I went

to a church for a long time and I

never never heard from God or if I did I

didn’t know what I was hearing I

didn’t I didn’t really know I wasn’t I

wasn’t taught that matter of fact it

almost comes across like it’s dangerous

for people to think that they’re hearing

from God one woman said why is it that

if we talk to God it’s prayer and if he

talks to us we’re

psychotic you go around telling people

that God talks to you and they’re ready

to lock you up

but I don’t understand that because all

through the Bible God said God said God

said I me he talked to Moses to Joseph

to Abraham to Isaac to

Jacob you say yeah but now after the

resurrection aren’t things different now

well he talked to

Saul who was later named Paul after the

resurrection and got him straightened

out you can’t you can’t read the book of

Acts without knowing that these people

were in communication with God in a

variety of ways and I’m going to tell

you something your

Christianity is never going to be

exciting to you until you learn how to

hear from God and be led and guided by

his voice in your

life I’m going to say it again your

Christianity will never be exciting to

you until you learn to have this close

communication with with God and I’m just

going to throw this out you can be as

close to God as you want to be yes it

all depends on how much time you’re

willing to put into

[Applause]

it

time you can’t have good relationship

with anybody without

time not your kids not the person you’re

married to not friends I mean

relationships are built on time time and

through being involved in each other’s

lives

so this meeting that I was in I talking

about you know God told me this and I

felt like God said this and and uh The

Man In Charge got up right behind me

and basically corrected me which that

was fun and uh but then it was very

thrilling to me because the next speaker

that got up was somebody who was little

more accepted and respected in those

circles and he taught a message called

The Whispers of God and everybody loved

it it’s the same thing it’s just I don’t

I don’t know why people get all wigged

out if you say God told you something or

he or he showed you something or he put

something in your heart I think there’s

ways that we can say it and ways that we

don’t need to say it especially if

you’re around people that don’t get it I

wouldn’t be saying all the time God told

me this God told me that God said this

God said that I mean I’ve kind of

learned to adapt the language I believe

God put in my

heart you know or I feel like God’s

leading me to because you really can

drive a lot of people off using some

kind of super spiritual language that

they don’t understand it’s just going to

make them think you’re a

nutcase everybody say I hear he from

[Applause]

God because you’re never going to hear

from God until you

believe that you

can so you need to stop even saying I’m

afraid I’m not hearing from God or I

don’t think God talks to me God talks to

you you may have not figured out it’s

God

yet but he talks to

you I believe God’s talking to you right

now I mean what’s the point in me being

here if I don’t believe that God is

speaking to you through

me you sure I

mean you sure don’t need to hear from me

you need to hear from God and so really

every time you come to church you need

to come with the attitude that God is

going to speak to me

today God’s going to say something to me

today and I’m I’m not going to miss it

and I’m going to do whatever he

says that’ll change

[Applause]

things faith comes by

hearing and hearing comes by the

preaching of the word of God concerning

Christ now because of that love for God

and His

word that was when I

started feeling like that God was saying

things to me

and it

was man it was exciting because it was

new for me and the thing was that a lot

of it I’d say most of it

was simple everyday practical

things involved in my everyday

life I remember matter of fact it was

actually the day that God touched me I

bowled on Friday nights and

in a league and I was bowling so bad

that night and

I I felt the Lord say why don’t you just

ask me to help

you and I thought well you don’t ask God

to help you

bowl I mean that wasn’t the kind of

things you bothered god with I mean this

is God you only take the emergencies to

him but see that’s our problem he wants

to be involved in everything that you’re

involved

[Applause]

everything that’s how you have this

relationship and this fellowship and you

know it’s like you can’t hide anything

from God

anyway he already knows everything

you’re going to do before you do it and

you should ask him to help you with

anything that you’re having an issue

with I met a woman in a store and she

was working there and I found out she

was a Christian and and so I got curious

about how they’re paid I said you get a

salary you on commission how does this

work here and she said well we are

actually on salary but we um we have to

meet a quot and if we don’t meet that

quota then we could lose our jobs and

she said things have been kind of slow

for me lately and I said well why don’t

you just pray that God will give you

favor and he’ll send the customers to

you and she

said well would it would it be

right to ask

God to help me with something like

that now she’d been a Christian 27 years

and she didn’t know that she could ask

God to give her favor and send customers

her way you’re not trying to take

something away from somebody else I mean

they could pray the same prayer but if

they don’t know how to that doesn’t mean

you got to sit around and have

nothing come on you start asking God for

favor and see what

happens I

mean I love it I trust God for favor and

I see some of the most the funniest the

most amusing it it’s like a little wink

from God come on you have not because

you ask

not you start asking well what if I ask

for the wrong thing well you won’t get

it anyway so I asked God okay Lord I ask

you to help me bowl and man I started

throwing strikes and Spares and it was

just like wow you know I I remember

getting so excited back then about

hearing from God and then I you know I

would have these things where oh God I

need to hear from you I I need a word

from you God and then I

would you know how we do and then i’

dive at my Bible

[Applause]

and then I’d run to Dave oh you’re not

going to believe it I asked God this and

this is this is what he showed me well

you know that was exciting until I

started getting stuff like oh you Wicked

sinner wo be under

you I mean you know you kind of gone too

far when you got to take 12 tries at

trying to find something that

come on are you home out

there 12 tries trying to find something

that

you actually would like to have well why

why is that well when you’re a baby

Christian and God’s trying to prove

himself to you he’ll do some outrageous

things but I said last night and I’ll

say it again today the longer you walk

with God the less of that kind of stuff

you’re going to

get you know why because God expects us

to grow up up and mature and to listen

to know his heart and just not to have

to be told everything to do and not to

do because as you get to know him no

wonder the Apostle Paul said from my

determin purpose is to know

him to know him that needs to be our

number one purpose to know him to know

the character of God to know what we can

expect from him to learn learn when he’s

speaking to us or how he’s leading Us

and how he’s guiding us so I don’t I

don’t use that one much anymore because

it always just is a waste of time

anyway Jeremiah 33:3 call to me and I

will answer you and I will tell you and

even show you Great and Mighty things

things which have been confined and

hidden which you do not know and

understand and cannot distinguish now as

I said God spoke to people all over the

Bible so to act like it’s not something

he does I just doesn’t make any sense to

me at

all a great man of God was asked matter

of fact it was Dallas

Willard how he learned to hear from God

and he said through making a lot of

mistakes so here’s the thing hearing

from God is a learning

process and if you’re ever going to

learn to have the kind of communication

with the Lord that I’m talking to you

about right now number one you have to

realize you’re not always going to be

right but when you’re not right don’t

let it frighten

you to think well you know I’m just

going to get myself in trouble if I keep

that up the longer you work with God and

the more you get to know him the more

you’ll be able to discern if what you

think you’re hearing is actually right

and the more you know the word of God

especially the more you can judge what

you think you’re hearing or Feeling by

the word and I don’t care what you think

God is saying if it doesn’t line up with

the word then it’s not God

okay trust God to speak to you more than

you trust yourself to hear from

him a couple of you got that but that

was that was something that really

helped me cuz I used to try to hear from

God try to hear from God try to hear

from God and you know when you get into

one of those modes you just get yourself

so confused and actually it’s an

opportunity for the devil to take

advantage of you and try to deceive you

and so the Lord just put on my heart he

said instead of trusting yourself to

hear from me trust me to speak to

you cuz you see see when God speaks he

has his ways of making sure that you

know that it’s him so some of you can

take a lot of pressure off yourself

right

now and say instead of this trying to

hear from God when I need to know

something God I’m going to ask you and

I’m going to expect you and even thank

you on a daily basis that you are

speaking to me at just the right time in

just the right way and you will make

sure that I’m not confused and that I

know what you’re really

saying don’t have a preconceived idea of

how God will

speak cuz he’ll surprise you just as

soon as you think you got it figure it

out one

way he going to do something

different have a heart that’s ready to

obey whatever God might say you can’t

hear from God if you’re going to have

selective

hearing that means I don’t like that so

that’s not

God well I like this one so that is

God

Amen if God isn’t speaking to you it

might be a good idea to ask you if you

did the last thing he told you to

do come on right now I’m just making

some comments things I’ve learned over

the years this afternoon we’re going to

get into some more of the specifics of

how God speaks and how you can hear but

all of these things are

important for

example are you trying to hear from God

about something really important in your

life but you’re mad at

somebody you you’re not going to hear

like that because you got to hear from

the

inside and if your Soul’s all blocked up

with bitterness and resentment anger and

strife and unforgiveness you’re not

going to hear you’re not going to hear

God if there’s anything that the church

needs to do it needs to get over being

mad at somebody all the

time come

on who are you mad

[Applause]

at amen I didn’t hear all that but it

sounded

good you know I like to be able to think

for a moment in the morning and be able

to say to God as far as I know God I’m

not angry at

anybody I don’t have any Strife in my

heart I don’t have any unforgiveness I

think we need to be able to start every

day like that because if you expect to

have that kind of fellowship with God

those are things that you just can’t

have in your

heart everybody understand me okay and I

I would imagine that there’s probably

more people in here today and certainly

more watching by TV that there is

somebody in your life that you need to

forgive there’s probably more people

like that in here than those who can say

I’m not mad at

anybody H there’s that quiet thing again

okay how can I know what God’s will is

for my life well that’s the big one

isn’t

it what does God want me to

do the only way you’re going to find out

is to step out and try

stuff it’s it’s so easy to find out what

God wants you to do with your life and

people fret over that and they they

sweat over that they just

John ostein great man of God that’s gone

home to be with the

Lord

um a missionary went to him one time and

said I’m so confused I don’t know what

to do I know I’m called to the mission

field but I don’t know whether to go to

Mexico I don’t know whether to go to

India I don’t know whether to go to

Africa and he just had himself in a

dither because he didn’t know what to do

and John said well do something brother

L you do

nothing you know a lot of times we get

ourselves so confused about what it is

we think we’re supposed to do that we

don’t we don’t end up doing anything

except being

confused you know first of all God’s not

going to give you something to do that

you hate now he may give you something

to do that you’d prefer not to do but

your gifting is going to

fit whatever it is that God gives you to

do he he doesn’t Delight in setting

people up for

failure and so when when I felt like put

a call on my life I obviously wasn’t

going to go from making that bed I was

making when God spoke to me to have a

worldwide Ministry and I didn’t know

what to do and so I started just any

opportunity at my church I’d take

it well it it took about two weeks for

me and the kids to know I wasn’t called

a nursery

work we all knew

it that was not my gift

to be honest I’m not called to the

help’s

ministry I have a gift for getting you

to help

me I do I can motivate people I can I

can get them on board and get them to to

help me with stuff but you know if if

you spill something in the front row I’m

not going to be the one that’s probably

going to jump down there and clean it up

but I might

say I’m good I’m good at that part I can

get it

done hey let me tell you something

there’s nothing wrong with knowing

yourself come on you need to know

yourself and stop trying to fit yourself

into somebody else’s box you’re not

going to be somebody else you got to be

you and you know we all have different

gifts because we’re all needed we’re all

part of a body that’s supposed to

function together but we can’t be

jealous of each other and resentful and

envious and competing and in competition

you got to find out what you’re supposed

to do and then get about doing it I

tried Street evangelism because our

church was really big into passing out

tracks on the street and I would go down

Dave and I and our kids Saturday morning

in St Louis in the winter passing out

tracks and people would cuss you and

slap them out of your hands you know

what I did not like it

and then you know you go through all the

stuff the devil has you go through well

you know you’re just you don’t care

about these people that are going to

hell you don’t you know you’re not

willing to be embarrassed you you know

you should talk to anybody you know what

that’s not my gift I mean I’ve been with

people that can get on the elevator with

somebody and have them saved by the time

they get to their

floor but they do well if I speak to

them because that’s

just that’s not me and that’s

okay you don’t have to be what somebody

else is you know what a relief that

could be if you would believe me today

well aren’t I supposed to witness yes

you’re supposed to witness but everybody

God uses everybody in different ways

that’s why I tell people a

lot witness all the time but use words

only when necessary

in other words show the love of Christ

to people and then they can’t deny what

God’s wanting to do in your life okay

well we’re talking

about Divine guidance and in

particular how to hear from god father

we thank you for the word this afternoon

and I pray that everything that needs to

come out of me will that people will

understand it retain it and be prepared

to go home and do

it Jesus

name amen when we stopped this morning

we were talking about how to find God’s

will for your life and uh that seems to

be a big thing for a lot of people how

am I supposed to know what it is that

God wants me to do and um yeah I

remember one

girl they used to work for me and she

was in her 50s she was a very attractive

woman woman but she’d just never been

married and never even really dated to

any degree and um she said God told her

I want you just to serve me with

gladness just serve me with gladness and

so perhaps there are even

people that God wants to station

throughout the body of Christ that just

are one of those kind of people they’re

just they’re just there to be an

uplifter and an encourager and

to to give an example of being content

you know God uses Us in so many

different ways and I hope that you’re

past the thinking that if you’re not on

a platform somewhere then you’re not

being used by God because to be honest

most of the

work that needs to be done and is done

out in the world is

done one

onone by people that are out there on

their jobs in the marketplace in the

store most of the people that need help

are not coming to

church I mean now I’m sure we all need

help in here today

but most of the people that are a lot

more desperate for help than you are are

out there they didn’t know to come in

here today so we come together like this

to learn and grow so we can then go out

out and be the

witnesses that Christ wants us to be to

change the world every single Christian

is called into

Ministry every single one of you are

called into Ministry we all have the

ministry of

intercession it’s our ministry to pray

for other people and we all have the

ministry of

reconciliation the Bible says which is

being that go between that helps to

bring reconciliation between the lost

and God so you all have a Ministry

finding out the particular way that God

wants you to manifest that Ministry may

be one thing more than likely it’s going

to be several things but I stop by

saying that the only way you’re ever

going to find out is to step out and

find out don’t be afraid to try things

it won’t take very long and you’ll know

if it’s just something that you can do

or if it’s the

thing that God wants you to do you know

Paul was ministering for quite a while

before God said separate unto me now

Paul and Barnabas for the work to which

I have called them to do so they were

ministering for a long time before that

happened but then God set them apart for

a special thing and I think a lot of

times we’re so intent on being set apart

for that special thing that we don’t get

the training that we need for that thing

by doing all these other things that God

may want us to do you might serve in the

help’s ministry you might I don’t know

be asked to help clean the church it

might not be something that’s very uh

attractive or anything that you feel is

worth very much but but a lot of times

in our life God runs us through the

paces I guess I can say to check our

attitude just to see are you willing to

do anything that I ask you to do or does

it have to be something big in order for

you to be willing to do it so don’t say

it again don’t be afraid to step out and

find out and just because you step out

into something and it’s not right for

you that doesn’t mean that you made a

mistake and stepping out into it it just

means that you’re in the process of

trying to find out what it is that God

wants you to do I mentioned that uh a

great man of God said that he had

never in all of his walk with God at any

really important juncture in his life

had God tell him exactly what he wanted

him to do he said God always worked with

me but he made me get out there try

things and pray about things and do

things so if if you take too much of a

supernatural look at what it means to be

led by the Holy Spirit many times you’re

going to

miss what God really wants you to do

because in many ways the way that God

speaks to us and deals with us is a lot

more

normal than what you might think and so

we’re going to go ahead from that point

and talk about some other things about

how to hear from God first of all I want

to say if you won’t listen to the little

things that God asked you to do chances

are you’ll never hear him tell you

anything

big

amen you probably have heard some of

these

stories so won’t labor with them too

long

but when God started calling me into

Ministry back in the 70s I already had

three children and certainly was not in

a place where I could go to Bible

college but even though you can’t go

somewhere to go to school to be trained

for Ministry you can always go to the

school of the Holy

Ghost you can always ask God to begin to

train you right where you’re at in

whatever it is that you do well I was a

housewife and

uh part of that time I was still working

a full-time job but after a certain

period of time because I wasn’t getting

any time to study I felt like God wanted

me to quit my job and spend as much time

as I could studying the Bible I had a

dream in my heart but there was no

evidence

it was ever going to happen a lot of

times you may want to do something but

if you don’t take the time to for the

preparation then you’ll never be

released into what it is that God wants

you to do so in order for me to quit my

job we were going to have to take a big

step of Faith because our bills were $40

a month more than what our income was

going to be and so back then was when I

learned how to trust God for money and

most of the things that he did for us

were seemingly little small things but

they really helped me build my faith in

God

I I had a few friends and you know we

did things like go to the farmers market

once a week and things like that but I

had a grocery store that was right down

the street from my house and so it

seemed like I ended up in the grocery

store two three times a week and as

unique as this might sound God taught me

some of the most profound lessons that I

have ever learned that if helped me all

my years in Ministry in that grocery

store and I I I really I’m telling you

this because I want to urge you to watch

for how God is trying to teach you in

the ordinary everyday Affairs of

everyday life you can learn some amazing

lessons just as you go about your normal

every day so one of the first things

that God began to deal with me about was

putting my grocery cart

back in the space that was marked off

for grocery carts and you know most

people don’t want to do that they want

to leave it out in the middle of the

parking lot to chase somebody else’s car

down or or it’s amazing how hard we will

work

at trying to kick the wheels in a

certain direction so it won’t roll it

would take much less time to go put it

back where it

belongs but instead of doing that

we do spend all this time trying to get

it not to go anywhere and then it ends

up running into somebody’s car anyway

and it’s sad for me to say this but it

took me two years to get fully

obedient so it’s obvious that I was a

long way away from being worldwide

Ministry

material how many of you understand what

I’m saying if if you’re not going to

obey God when he tells you to do

something like

walk with Integrity or to do something

with Excellence you know like something

that we always do because we feel like

that God deals with us to do it we stay

in a lot of hotels and every time we

leave our hotel room we Turn All the

Lights

Out and because that’s something that

why just felt like God put on my heart

now you know I could have the attitude

oh what do I

care I paid for the room they got to pay

the bills but see however you treat

other people you’re sewing a

seed that’s going to come back to

you at some time in your life so I

wasn’t in Bible school but those were

lessons that God was teaching me he was

teaching me how to be excellent he was

teaching me how to be honest another

thing that he taught me in the grocery

store was we were on a very tight budget

$70 every two weeks for groceries and so

I had to go with my coupons and my

calculator and make sure that nothing

went over and you have a tendency when

you go to the grocery store especially

if you’re hungry you’ll put a lot of

stuff in your cart that by the time you

get to the last aisle you realize you

can’t pay for all of it and so you have

to pick through and decide what you can

keep and what you can’t and I like many

other people at that time I would just

take out what I didn’t want and just put

it anywhere wherever I was at in the

store you know that’s that’s why you

find a head of lettuce with the cleaning

supplies in a grocery store it was

people like I used to be that do that

well you know I didn’t want to go all

the way from the the milk and egg aisle

which is all the way over here on the

end all the way back over to the produce

you know to put away a head of lettuce

why because we’re lazy and I just didn’t

want to now I didn’t care that somebody

else was going to have to clean up my

mess so that was another thing that God

taught me it was like no take it back

put it back where you got it you know

God can be he can annoy you he knows how

he knows how to annoy you put it back

put it back put it back put it back put

it back and you try to walk away from it

it’s just

like just go put it back

and another thing that I learned in the

grocery store was to read the fine print

on the coupons like I remember that they

would very often have chickens on sale

three for a dollar or whatever it was it

was a long time ago that you get three

chickens for a dollar

but and then I had you know when you

become a Christian a serious Christian

you start noticing the fine

print that you’ve managed to ignore and

I I never noticed that it said limit

three per customer

well I didn’t want three chickens I

wanted to fill my freezer full of

chickens so I would take my kids to the

store with me

and each one of them would get three

chickens in their cart Dave would have

three the kids would all have three I’d

have three we’d all have our coupons and

then the Holy Spirit started convicting

me I mean do I I have to get convicted

about chickens don’t I have don’t I have

things much more serious in my life than

than chickens and he’d call me back to

that fine print well I knew that I had a

problem when I was in line one day

getting ready to pay for my chickens and

I I thought I don’t think I gave my

daughter enough money for

tax and my heart was pounding in

fear that the clerk was going to

realize that I was doing something that

I shouldn’t be doing and so I began to

learn you know if you got to feel like

you got to hide something or you feel

like you uh are doing something wrong

then that means that you are well to be

honest I’ve been a Christian for a long

time but I didn’t know stuff like that

nobody was teaching me that kind of

stuff and I had somebody recently

actually a well-known

Minister he was at a conference where I

was teaching some things on excellence

and he said I I have never in my life

heard that kind of stuff now how can how

can we be grown adults and not know what

excellence and integrity is yet many

people in the world don’t and that’s why

the world is in the mess that it’s

[Applause]

in and then one other thing I’ll tell

you that I remember God teaching me when

I’d be out in the department store

shopping you know how a lot of people

they’ll knock clothes off the hangers

and just

leave them laying the floor and God

started telling me to pick them

up and put them back on the hangers and

I thought now why should I clean

somebody else’s mess

up that doesn’t make any

sense but then I felt like the Lord said

to me well would you like to have

somebody clean your messes up

someday and so now God has provided and

has for years and years all the help

that I

need in order to do what I’m doing let

me tell you something sometimes s when

you or we when we disobey God in some of

these little things we don’t really

realize that we’re creating a problem

for oursel that we’re going to deal with

later so when God tells you something

little to do keep in mind that anything

God says there’s nothing little about

it so if God bothers to tell you about

it then that means it’s a big and an

important thing in your

life and you need to just in obedience

childlike

obedience amen just like a little kid it

may seem silly but childlike obedience I

think nothing bonds us together with God

in close Fellowship more than being a

child of God who’s willing to do

seemingly foolish little things just

because you believe that’s what you’re

heavenly father wants you to do so I’ll

just say again if we’re not going to

obey God in little things then we’re

probably going to miss out on a lot of

big things that we would like to

do how about um if somebody gives you

too much

change do you take it back or do you

just think oh man God’s blessing me

see now anybody anybody that knows the

word of God knows that that’s just

silly you know more than anything it’s a

test to see if you’ll be

honest amen I bought a pair of shoes one

day and I’d been looking at the purse

that went with it and was going to get

the purse and I decided not to get the

purse when I got home the guy had

accidentally put the purse in my

bag well you know in a way it’s a little

bit irritating when whenever somebody

else has made a

mistake that now you have to spend your

time and gas money to go correct but I

knew that I needed to do it this is how

we hear from God how many times you know

what you need to

do you don’t need a three-part series

preached to you you

know down deep inside what you need to

do well one of the main ways that God

speaks to us

is through just

knowing there’s no need to try to

explain how you know you just

know you just know that you should or

you shouldn’t do that thing this is what

makes our relationship our personal

relationship with God precious and

exciting when you walk with him in your

everyday

ordinary Monday Tuesday Wednesday

Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday Monday

Tuesday Wednesday when you walk with him

in your ordinary everyday life and you

want with all your heart to obey him and

to be the kind of person that he wants

you to be don’t have your mind on being

in some big Ministry if you’re called to

be in some big full-time traveling

Ministry or to be on a platform

somewhere or to do something magnanimous

that’s wonderful wonderful but I’ll tell

you you’ll never get around to doing

that if you won’t do these little things

that I’m telling you to do that’s always

going to be part of your

training because what does the Bible say

it’s the little

foxes that spoil the

vine I’ll tell you another thing that

causes us a lot of problems I won’t harp

on this but I think it’s one of the

things that keeps us from hearing from

God properly and that’s having a

negative complaining attitude

I tell you what I think if any person

could just get through one whole day

without uttering one

complaint it would be an outstanding

miracle from

God

Amen I’ll bet something that God has

spoken to all of you including

me hundreds of times in your life you

don’t need to say

that nobody I’m the only one just you

know just getting ready to say

something sometimes I’ll notice I’m

getting ready to say something and the

only point is it’s going to call call

attention to

me you know sometimes we want to say

something cute or smar or or funny but

it’s just really it’s to draw attention

to ourselves when you can start getting

really really honest with yourself and

really checking your motives for why you

do things you can start maturing pretty

fast and I know that I have a lot of

times in my life when God will just

simply say you don’t need to say that

now I’d like to stand here and tell you

that I’m always obedient and anytime he

tells me not to say it I don’t but I’m

not that good yet thank God I’m not

where I used to be but I’m not where I

need to be

either however I am happy that I’m still

making progress

this is all intended to help us be more

obedient you know the Bible says be

still and know that I am God and so a

lot of that knowing it but it’s a

different kind of knowing it’s not a

head knowing it’s a a heart

knowing God will speak to us sometimes

through just giving us an

idea but you can tell there’s something

a little different about it it’s not

just like a in your head idea there’s

something in it that kind of feels

special about it I was talking to

somebody over the break about how

I decide and know what I think I’m

supposed to teach or preach in any given

meeting that I do and I’ve done this a

long time and a lot of it I mean I think

I had one month here recently where I

taught 13 different messages in one

month well how do I know what’s

right for each

crowd I get out messages sometimes that

I’ve preached in years

past and sometimes I’m doing it just to

see if there’s a subject that seems to

fit you

know when you’re walking with God and

doing what God wants you to it just

feels right it just feels comfortable

you know nobody likes to wear clothes

that are uncomfortable

aable we like to be comfortable and I

like to be comfortable in my

relationship with God and

so sometimes you got to try a few things

before you come around to to what you’re

comfortable with so you can know what

God is wanting you to do just by do I

feel right about that so I can I can

have preached a series of messages at

one point and just thought they were the

greatest

message is the greatest thing then maybe

four or five years later I can pick

those up and I think you know I’m going

to repr preach that that that that would

really be good and I can start to look

over the notes and it just Falls so flat

inside me it doesn’t even interest me so

why would I think it would interest

somebody

else but then I could pick that same set

of notes up two months

later and then it would just feel right

so a lot of our hearing from God well I

would say almost all of our hearing from

God is not coming from out here

somewhere it’s coming from inside of us

it’s a question almost everybody wants

an answer to how can we hear from God

more clearly the most important thing to

remember is that God wants you to know

his direction today I’ll teach you the

most common ways God speaks to us and

then I’ll be back to answer some of your

questions on this topic now BL guidance

is God’s will for his children Isaiah

42:16 I will lead the blind by a way

that they do not

know I will guide them in paths that

they do not

know I will make Darkness into light

before them and rugged places into

Plains these things I will do for them

and I will not leave them

abandoned or

undone somebody needs to receive that

word this afternoon

[Applause]

I read that that’s a great scripture but

it’s far somebody here today come on God

is not going to abandon

[Applause]

you a large majority of our prayers are

ones asking God to show us what to do in

a variety of situations what to do about

the future what to do about mistakes

we’ve made in the past decisions we need

to

make how to handle and deal with

difficult relationships and God wants to

lead us and guide us Isaiah 30:21 says

your ears will hear a word behind you

saying this is the way walk in it

whenever you turn to the right hand or

to the left but here again I don’t think

that means an audible voice is going to

be back here just speaking in your ears

all the time but I think if we slow

down and I think slowing down is a good

part of hearing from God so can we all

say it slowing down slowing down if we

slow down a little bit and take a little

more time I think you’ll get a major

upgrade in hearing from God I have

started taking a little more time to

make decisions I’m the kind of person

that pretty much thinks I can take on

just about anything and get it done but

my body is beginning to let me know that

I’m going to have to lose some of that

attitude if I want to be around for a

long

time and so I’ve found I’ve been

practicing this couple things recently

that have really help me is I’m not

trying to make decisions before I need

to make

them I’m the kind of person that likes

to be on top of stuff I want to know not

only what’s going to happen today but

tomorrow and next week and the week

after that and the week after that and

so it puts a lot of internal pressure on

you and and you’re already dealing with

so much out here you don’t need to be

dealing with any more inside than what

you need to and so it’s really helped me

to just think sometimes you know I

don’t that’s for another day I don’t I

don’t need to think about that today and

also when people ask me if I want to do

this or I want to do that like I was

trying to make some appointments last

week and I had two or three different

options

and my assistant was on the phone

waiting for me to give her an answer and

I said you know what I’m I I want to

think about this a little bit and then

I’ll call you back well one of the

things I decided I didn’t want to do it

all and then one of them I changed the

time from what I was going to do

sometimes we get this bright idea that

we want to do something and all of a

sudden we’ve signed on the dotted line

and made a commitment to some

appointment and then we end up not being

people of Integrity because we don’t

follow through and do what we said we

were going to do and so hearing from God

is going going to require I’m going to

say it one last time slowing

down and taking just a little bit more

time pondering things or thinking things

over does anybody agree with

[Applause]

that you will hear a word behind you

this is the way walking it when you turn

to the right hand and when you turn

to the left now we would all like a

blueprint for our whole

life we’d like to know all the

steps we think we would we really

wouldn’t because if if you knew

everything that you were still going to

have to deal with in your

life you might just want to give up

right

now but it’s interesting because when

things come one at a time we can take

just about

anything with God’s

help and so that’s one of the reasons

why God withholds a lot of information

from us because he’s created us to live

one day at a time and to deal with one

thing at a time and so

um you have to learn with God that he’s

not going to give you the next step

until you do the

step that he’s told you to do

now come

on some of you may be waiting to see

what it is you’re supposed to do about

something but you’re Frozen in fear and

not doing anything because you can’t see

past this one step that you feel like

God’s giving you but you may notice that

the Jordan River didn’t part until

Joshua put his foot in

it and maybe the waters are not going to

part for you either until you take a

chance and put your foot in

it anybody with me no where I’m

at but we don’t we don’t like that idea

of getting information from God one

thing at a time because th this is the

way that God’s given me to explain it

and people usually get it it’s like you

have

this you don’t like it anymore but at

least you’ve got it you’re not happy

with this let’s say it’s your job or

whatever that’s there’s no life in it

for you anymore and and you feel like

God wants you to

let go and do something

else but you don’t want to till you know

what the something else

is and so you’re you’re trying real hard

to and so you end up feeling confused

and pulled apart because God is always

going to keep this new thing about that

far away from you until you let go of

this

thing and show that you trust

[Applause]

him I mean I don’t have the time today

but I could tell you so many stories

about our ministry and the things the

the scary things that we had to do and

how God led us one step at a time step

by step by step I’ll give you one

example of when we we started our

ministry it was in the basement of our

home

and we had I don’t know maybe

8 10 employees down there

before we finally realized we had to get

it out of our house and

um so we rented 1,700 squ ft of office

space and we felt like what in the world

are we ever going to do with all this

space I mean it just looked like the

world to us well pretty soon we’d used

up all that space and then we’d rented

everything else in this complex that we

could possibly rent so we knew it was

getting time to

buy a building build a building buy some

property something so we almost bought a

a

church that was closing down and we were

close to signing the papers and Dave

just said one day he said you know what

I don’t have peace about

this that was it that was the only thing

I don’t have peace about this and so I

said okay then we won’t do that and then

we almost bought another building and it

was how many square feet was that

building huh 30,000 30,000 square ft and

we thought well my gosh what in the

world would we

ever do with 30,000 square ft well we

put in a bid on that building and

somebody else got it instead of us so

one of the ways that you hear from God

sometimes is he’ll just shut a

door you know

and don’t don’t be the kind of person

that gets upset that because you didn’t

get what you

wanted if God closes a door then you

better thank him for doing it because

that means that you would have been

doing something that wouldn’t have

worked for you otherwise God can open

doors but he can also close them and

so that door closed well we didn’t know

what we were going to do I mean we were

really like hurting for space I mean we

were on television by then and we were

hiring so many people our ministry was

tripling in size and we had desks out in

the hall we had you just everywhere we

could put them and uh the way we drove

into our office was the same way every

day and uh yet for some reason we had

never

seen this sign or I’d seen it but I

never paid much attention to it there

was a little sign over here on the side

of the road as we would drive by and it

had an arrow pointing up 55 acres for

sale well

one day I said to Dave I wonder what

that

is you know it’s interesting how God can

blind you to something if it’s not the

right

time and he can open your eyes to

something when it is the right time and

so we went up and looked at the 55 acres

and man this would just

be this would be awesome but there’s no

telling us what this would cost and we

only had had a certain amount of money

saved toward this and so we found the

lady who who owned it and

um somebody else had offered her the

same amount of money that we felt like

we could offer a couple of years prior

to that and she wouldn’t sell it to them

but God gave us favor with her and she

sold it to us for that exact amount of

[Applause]

money and that’s where our property sits

today and it’s how many thousand square

fet 1 15,000 the office building 6,000

150,000 sare ft in the office building

and 68,000 Square ft in the Distribution

Center so the uh the 30,000 square ft

wouldn’t have lasted very long see God

shut that door because he knew more than

we did about what was going to happen in

the future if we would have bought that

church or that building we would have

been in trouble well God hid that

property from us even though we drove

right by it every day didn’t see it he

hid it from us until it was the right

time for us to do that so please if

you’re waiting on an answer from God

don’t get frustrated because God’s not

answering you yet he may not be early

but he won’t be

late come

on well Ginger joins me now to discuss

some of your questions on how to hear

from God well Ginger have you ever

needed to hear from God Have I Ever

every minute of every day yeah and I can

relate to these questions because I I

think all of us want desperately to know

that we’re hearing whatever we can and

we know that God wants to speak to us so

therefore it’s what do we need to do to

hear it yeah so some really great

questions this comes from Amy and she

says how do I know I’m actually hearing

from from God and not making it up

myself well first of

all you have to make sure that what you

or hearing is in line with God’s word

and then you have you have to trust you

know I’ve had to learn to believe that I

can hear from God because as long as you

have doubts whether you can hear from

God or

not you know the enemy is going to play

with your mind in that area right and

you know depending on what it is I think

sometimes if what you’re asking God

about is something really

important um maybe you think you’ve

heard from God so you take one

step and see if that step is successful

and is working and if God opens the door

and then you take another step now if

it’s just your general

everyday you know what sounds good for

dinner Lord

then you know I think he wants you to

have what you want we all go through

that how do I know that I’m hearing from

God and not myself and one of the things

that’s interesting I read a great book

on this particular subject and I loved

what the writer said he said that many

times when God speaks to you it sounds

like your own voice and so that really

makes you yeah think well am I just is

it me making this up and uh the more

experience you have with God you you I

think you get to know God’s

nature and so you know that when he

speaks to you

it’s going to be kind it’s going to

be sometimes even just like a whisper

are I think a lot of times when we hear

from God it it just comes as a knowing

yeah you just you just know that’s the

right thing to do yeah you know I kind

of threw off uh something as we were

starting and and just started thinking

about that does everybody know that

because I said we know that God wants to

talk to us but how do we hear him maybe

not everybody even has that aspect of

this that oh yeah there’s a lot of

people that don’t think that you know I

was in church a lot of years before I

mean I talk to God all the time yeah but

I didn’t realize that he wanted to talk

back to me now you know we that’s a huge

part of this yeah we don’t sit down in a

chair and have a conversation with god

like this but we can have a

conversational relationship with him

it’s just that we cannot expect him to

always answer

back in words you know sometimes he does

speak through our own mind or he’ll

speak to us through other people right

but a lot of times it is just it’s it’s

a Discerning it’s like

you you you just you can

sense what God is wanting you to do

after you talk to him yeah all right

well here is a question about mistakes

that we’ve all made Sue from Los Angeles

says I’ve made the mistake of thinking

I’ve heard from God in the past and I’ve

acted on that and I made a big mistake

how do I avoid going through that again

in the future with other big decisions

in my life I don’t know if I can

guarantee her that she’ll never have it

happen again uh one great man of God was

asked how he learned to hear from God

and he said through making a lot of

mistakes and I I do think that that is

part of how we

learn to hear from God you step out on

something and you know it just didn’t

didn’t work out one of the things that I

tell people is if you didn’t if you

didn’t hear from God and you made a

mistake just say so don’t try to cover

it up or hide it or or make excuses for

it or Force something to work out it’s

obviously you know not God God loves you

and if you sincerely want to hear from

him and you do make a mistake I believe

that he will even redeem that mistake

and make it work out for good if nothing

else at least you know not to do that

again right we always learn from those

mistakes yeah this is is Sandy from

Indiana Sandy would like to know how do

you wait for God I get impatient and try

to fix things on my own then if I do

things um I don’t know if it was because

I did it or because God did it so how do

we wait to hear that voice that answer

from

God well God does not appreciate us

getting into what the Bible calls works

of the flesh that that means we’re

trying to do God’s job for him yeah so

obviously we don’t want toit there’s

nothing in in any of our human nature

that wants to wait so we’re all guilty

of trying to oh I know I know what I

know what God wants me to do I know what

God wants me to do yeah and uh waiting

is not just sitting around doing nothing

it means

to

expectantly wait on God believing that

something good is going to happen at any

moment so that makes it a little more

exciting when you don’t think about it

like just oh God but I’m expecting God

to move today I’m I’m expecting him you

know telling somebody how to be

patient is very difficult because our

personalities are different like my

husband is really more or less naturally

patient and I am very naturally

unpatient I did not get that patient

Gene either yeah yeah and so uh people

with more aggressive personalities

normally aren’t as patient paent and so

it may take you longer to learn it than

somebody else but I’ve come to the point

now where I’m really not impatient with

God it’s more other things you know

people irritations

or you know having to wait at a doctor

for an hour and a half when I should

have gotten

in when my appointment was preach yeah

because because I know I know that I

know that I know that God’s timing in my

life is always perfect yeah and I know

that he can do anything and so if he can

do anything and he’s not doing it yet

then there must be a reason why and I

trust him enough to know that he’ll

bring it in the right time I think

that’s a key word trust yeah trusting

God through the waiting here’s a

question from Lee in Florida I’m not

sure how to really listen I think I’m

hearing from God but I’m not really sure

any ideas on how I can build and refine

that listening skill

well I think that you when you’re

listening for God you listen more with

your spirit than your

head I think there are uh there there’s

definite activity in our spirit and

so you know one of the ways that God

speaks to us is true desire now that

doesn’t mean you know that if if God

tells me to forgive somebody and I don’t

want to then that means I don’t I don’t

have to because you have you have the

word of God and then you have your

desires and what you feel inside about

something but we know that we’re called

to peace and we’re to always always

follow peace let peace be the Umpire in

your life the Amplified Bible says in

Colossians 3:15 so I always look first

for that peace and to be honest

sometimes when I’m excited about

something I can’t tell if it’s peaceful

or not you know I just I just feel good

about it I’m excited about it and I

remember one situation in particular

where I decided I wanted to move and uh

build a different house and uh we even

had plans drawn up I mean Dave wasn’t

all that much for it but I talked him

into it and after I got about oh 40% of

the way into

it I could tell I didn’t have peace

about it now why I didn’t have feel that

to begin with I think it was just

emotions

yeah

that overrode it so I think sometimes in

something like build a new house or do I

want to buy this car that I wasn’t

planning on buying but I saw it on the

lot and it I think those are things that

we need to wait and let them settle

before you decide what you want to do so

because this very next question is

exactly what you’re talking about is how

do we decipher between God’s voice and

our own hopes and dreams M so I I think

that waiting is so important and and I

love what what God does for us in

turning us it’s like he’s constantly

nudging us where he needs us to go he’s

so patient and loving with us if we

allow him to but it is hard when you get

really excited about something or when

you have a big dream and it’s not what

God has in mind but usually if if you

have something in your spirit like that

do you find that God has put it there he

just needs to help you push it in the

right direction I think if something

stays with me for a long time and it

doesn’t go away then to me that’s even

more evidence yeah that it is God uh

rather it’s something I don’t want to do

yeah and it just continues to stay there

than I know or you know maybe somebody

will somebody that I haven’t thought

about in a long time will come to my

heart and uh I don’t maybe in

particularly in oh why I might say a

prayer but they

just keep you know every day I’m

thinking about this person or every

couple of days I’m thinking about this

person then I’ll usually know that that

means I need to call them or I need to

check on them or you know something so I

believe when things stay with you for a

long period of time that you can that’s

greater evidence that it is God now

obviously

Ginger you know this is not an easy

subject when we want something it’s very

very easy to convince

oursel that it’s God’s will for us right

that’s why you know you you check the

word if you if you’re just really not

sure that what you’re doing is right and

you have a really

trusted friend or Mentor or a pastor you

could just say you know I want to run

this by you and just

see right you have peace about it you

know I mean one of our own pastors here

wanted to get a certain kind of car and

he came and asked me do you do you think

this would be all right would it would

it look okay for me to have it or would

it would it not and so

um I think that’s a second thing check

the word if you wanted I don’t mean that

you have to run to somebody else every

time you want to make a decision to see

if they approve of it yeah but there are

times when it’s good to wait for a

confirmation right and so part it a lot

of it depends on the immensity of what

you’re getting ready to do you know how

how big of a deal is it you know I don’t

think I have to have a two-hour prayer

meeting over buying a pair of earrings

and to be honest a lot of

things and I almost hesitate to say this

because I don’t want to mislead anybody

but a lot of things God just wants us to

do what we want to do so if uh because

he’s not a tyrant who wants to weigh in

on every you know I mean I have grown

children and there’s a lot of things

they once asked me that they don’t now

would even seem funny if they did and so

and a lot of times even if they do it’s

like you know I just want you to do what

you want to do right and so I I think

that’s good though yeah the only way

that we can ever learn to hear from God

Is by stepping out and trying to do it

and you will make some mistakes but

that’s not the end of the world and as

long as you’re within those guard rails

of is this in line with God’s word right

and and he does want to help us when we

need it yeah and waiting let me say

again that waiting is good I mean just

like if you weren’t planning on buying a

car and you happen to drive by a car lot

and you drive through and you see this

car and you know the next thing you know

you’re getting ready to sign on the

dotted line I mean you you need to put

your pencil down and go home and sleep

on it for a day or two because once you

get away from

something it’s easier to discern okay

it’s not just the car do I want the

payment can I even afford the car do I

need the car is you know is it going to

take so much of my money that I’m going

to not be able to do other things that I

want to do so waiting is a big key yeah

well thank you Joyce it’s very helpful

thank you have you’ve been looking for a

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[Music]

the Mind actually is the battlefield

that’s where we win or lose the war with

Satan he said all he gets to

say rest of the day is M you start

asking God to heal you and he will

restore it’s the God of all comfort and

I am so grateful that I know how to call

on God

[Music]