Faith Matters Podcast

Whisper; Day 3 - A Hiding Place

A Hiding PlaceHave you ever tried to quiet a loud room? Attempting to yell above the crowd usually doesn’t work, does it? It’s far more effective to shush the crowd with a shhh. That’s the method God employs. His whisper quiets us, calms us, stills us. That’s why chronic noise may be the greatest impediment to our spiritual growth. When our lives get loud, with noise filling every frequency, we lose our sense of being. We run the risk of turning into human doings rather than human beings. And when our schedules get busy, we lose our sense of balance, which is a function of the inner ear. Can I go out on a limb?Your life is too loud.Your schedule is too busy.That’s how and why and when we forget that God is God. And it takes very little to distract us. The solution? Stillness. Or more specifically, His still small voice. Silence is anything but passive waiting. It’s proactive listening. And each day God’s voice gets a little louder in our lives until He’s all we can hear. If you want to hear the heart of God, silence is key.If you want the Spirit of God to fill you, be still.The psalmists referred to God as their refuge, their fortress, and their ever-present help in time of need. But my favorite descriptor might be the “hiding place.” Did you know that God is singing songs of deliverance all around you all the time? You can’t hear them because they’re outside your range of hearing, but you’re surrounded by a sonic shield. Those songs of deliverance are powerful enough to break any bondage, overcome any addiction, and solve any problem. I’m not sure what problem you need to solve or what issue you need to resolve, but my prayer is that you’ll learn to discern God’s voice. When you do, His songs of deliverance can set you free! Quit hiding from God. Hide yourself in Him. What is one “noise” you could cut out from your day or your schedule this week so you might be able to hear God’s whispers to you more clearly?

Whisper; Day 4 - The Whispering Spot

When I first toured the Capitol more than two decades ago, our guide revealed a secret that wasn’t really a secret: the whispering spot. He stood on one side of Statuary Hall while our tour group stood on the other side. Then he spoke in a whisper, and sure enough, we could hear the echo of his voice all the way across the room as if he were mere inches away. When I look through the Bible, I see whispering spots everywhere.For Jacob, it was Bethel.For Moses, it was a burning bush.For Samuel, it was the tabernacle at Shiloh.For David, it was the cave of Adullam.For Elijah, it was Mount Carmel.For Daniel, it was an upstairs window facing Jerusalem.For Jonah, it was the belly of a whale.When I survey Scripture, I see God showing up in strange places, at strange times, in strange ways. And I don’t think anything has changed. God still turns appointments into divine appointments. He still uploads desires, opens doors, and inspires dreams. He still speaks through promptings and people and pain. And just as he did for Moses, He can turn any patch of ground into holy ground. Listening doesn’t happen by default; it happens by design. You have to seek solitude, seek silence. You have to ruthlessly eliminate distractions. And you have to turn some voices down or tune them out altogether. It might be as innocent as talk radio or as innocuous as social media. Why not turn off the radio and talk to God during your commute? Or fast from social media for a season? Or take a silent retreat? I don’t want to overspiritualize the importance of a whispering spot, but I don’t want to underspiritualize it either. Even if you take spirituality out of the equation, you need a space or place to get some peace and quiet. If you live in a city, as I do, it’s not easy. And if you’re a parent of little children, it might be ten minutes during naptime. Your whispering spot will be as unique as you are, but you need to find a time and place to hear the still, small voice of God.Do you have a “whispering spot” in your life right now? If not, where might that spot be? If you do, how has God whispered to you there?

Whisper; Day 5 - Who God Says We Are

What God Wants Us to Hear the MostYou aren’t the mistakes you’ve made. You aren’t the labels that have been put on you. And you aren’t the lies the Enemy has tried to sell you. You are who God says you are.You are a child of God.You are the apple of God’s eye. You are sought after.You are more than a conqueror.You are a new creation in Christ.You are the righteousness of Christ.All our identity issues are fundamental misunderstandings of who God is. Guilt issues are a misunderstanding of God’s grace. Control issues are a misunderstanding of God’s sovereignty. Anger issues are a misunderstanding of God’s mercy. Pride issues are a misunderstanding of God’s greatness. Trust issues are a misunderstanding of God’s goodness. If you struggle with any of those issues, it’s time to let God be the loudest voice in your life! God doesn’t love us because of who we are. God loves us because of who He is. When we succeed, God says, “I love you.”When we fail, God says, “I love you.”When we have faith, God says, “I love you.”When we doubt, God says, “I love you.”Love is His answer to everything. Why? Because He is love. There is nothing you can do to make Him love you any more or any less. God loves you perfectly. He loves you eternally.God wants us to hear what He’s saying, and we must heed His voice. But much more than that, He wants us to hear His heart. So He whispers softer and softer so that we have to get closer and closer. And when we finally get close enough, He envelops us in His arms and tells us that He loves us. We’ve been deafened by the voice of conformity, the voice of criticism, and the voice of condemnation, and the side effects include loneliness, shame, and anxiety. The good news? You not only bear God’s image but you know His voice. It’s His voice that knit you together in your mother’s womb. It’s His voice that ordained all your days before one of them came to be. It’s His voice that began a good work and His voice that will carry it to completion.Where is God leading you? How is God talking to you? If you can’t hear His voice, consider spending more time in His Word on a regular basis

Refresh Your Provision

Just as refreshing a fire requires the feeding of kindling to the flames, we too must feed ourselves in order to refresh and revitalize our minds, bodies, and spirits.This requires fresh manna—fresh provision, new thoughts, new ideas, new business, and this can be found only within the Word of God.Manna is daily.God provided manna for the children of Israel during the forty years that they wandered in the wilderness. It appeared each morning alongside the morning dew, where the Israelites would gather it, and the manna nourished them for the day. Those who tried to hoard the manna for the next day woke up to a putrid, worm-infested mess, with exceptions to the sixth day, in which the Israelites gathered enough manna to last through the Sabbath. God provided manna to meet their physical needs but also to remind them that they needed more than bread for life.They needed God.Psalm 23 promises that because the Lord is my shepherd, I have everything I need. Just as Israel counted on the daily manna in order to survive and push on during their journey, God wants me to depend on Him daily.His provisions show up when I need them and not before. When I try to secure today what I think I’ll need tomorrow, it doesn’t work. It doesn’t work because God wants me to trust Him each day for that day’s need. I was created to rely on Him.Manna can be unusual. The word itself loosely translates to “what is it?”I’m not sure what the Hebrews expected when Moses told them that they would see God’s glory in the morning, but they didn’t expect what they found.Sometimes we don’t recognize God’s provisions either. It doesn’t look like what we expected.But it is always there, if we’re willing to look for it.And it is always enough.

Refresh Your Fire

Once we have refreshed our vision for the road ahead, we must also rekindle or refresh our fire.To refresh your fire is to strengthen what remains to ensure that your foundation remains sturdy and will be able to sustain you for the long haul.Through the process of tempering, steel and other metals are put into intense heat where they are purified and strengthened. As the heat is applied, the impurities come to the surface and are removed leaving a pure metal. Interestingly, the hardness of the metal is reduced through the fire; however, its flexibility under pressure, or ductility, is increased. This causes the overall strength and versatility to rise.It will bend in the face of adversity, but it will not break.There are times in our lives when we go through fires and pressures that are anything but comfortable. Whether it is a physical ailment, financial hardship, relational challenge, or spiritual dryness, these times test the very core of our personhood. The fire brings the impurities to the surface, but each of us must choose to remove them from our life. The fire breaks down our own hardness, but there is strength in learning to be flexible. Although these “fires” are not desirable, when we submit our life to the will of the Holy Spirit, they begin to expose the impurities in our life, reduce our “hardness,” and give us strength and flexibility for the purpose that God has for our life.We too will bend in the face of adversity, but we will not break.Maybe your fire has been stoked or smothered. Maybe your coals are still red hot, or maybe they are starting to cool down. Wherever you are in your journey, it isn’t too late to add kindling, and revitalize the fire inside of you.Don’t give up.Instead, strengthen what remains, and watch your fire grow.

Refresh Your Vision

Just as we previously discussed, starting fresh doesn’t mean that you have to rid yourself of everything. It doesn’t mean that every aspect of your life is unusable.Sometimes refreshing starts with simply having a refreshed perspective on the world around you.Maybe you just need a fresh vision!A fresh vision can provide:ClarityPlanningBlueprintsFuture SuccessWisdomToo often we find ourselves stuck in a rut. We walk to one end searching for a way out only to find that we must turn around. We don’t have the vision of how we could climb out of this rut. We don’t have the vision needed to understand why we got stuck in the rut in the first place!Without a change, we are bound to repeat the process.It’s time to climb out of the rut that we’re in, and this starts with refreshing our vision and refocusing it on God.A rut can be representative of a repetitive lifestyle that doesn’t offer us a challenge, so it doesn’t interest us anymore. We become complacent. Usually this is a sign that it’s time to grow and expand your vision. If you are in a rut, it may be a sign that you are ready for a bigger challenge! That challenge could come from expanding or deepening your vision.Wipe off the windshield so that you can see where you were heading and why you were heading there.As you go through the journey that you’re currently on, it’s important to clear your vision of distraction, obstacles, and objections. We must be strategic with what we’re placing in our hearts and in our minds.And, once we’ve refreshed our minds and cleared our vision, then we will be better prepared for the rest of our journey.And, finally, we can climb out of our rut.I will take my stand at my watchpost and station myself on the tower, and look out to see what he will say to me, and what I will answer concerning my complaint. And the Lord answered me: “Write the vision; make it plain on tablets, so he may run who reads it. For still the vision awaits its appointed time; it hastens to the end—it will not lie. If it seems slow, wait for it; it will surely come; it will not delay.Habakkuk 2:1‭-‬3