Author: newlifenarrabri

J Lee Grady: Stop Making God’s Guidance So Complicated

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Some wise words from J. Lee Grady about hearing God’s voice.

Stop Making God’s Guidance So Complicated

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When I was in my 20s, I was praying about whether I should enroll in graduate school. Then one morning in my devotional time I came to Psalm 32:8a, and it seemed to be flashing like a neon sign. It said, “I will instruct you and teach you in the way which you should go.”

The Holy Spirit was emphasizing that God would teach me and that I didn’t need additional schooling. That’s not to say graduate school is wrong for everyone else; it was just not God’s plan for me at that time. And God illuminated a particular Scripture to clearly show me what path I should take.

The Bible promises that God will guide us. But many Christians find it difficult to hear God’s voice. And in some charismatic churches we complicate things when we try to make guidance mystical or weird—as if you have to hear an audible voice from heaven about what color shirt to wear.

Years ago, I learned from author Henry Blackaby that there are four distinct ways we receive divine guidance:

1. You can hear God’s voice by reading the Bible. Friends have sometimes complained to me: “I just never hear God speaking.” Yet when I ask if they read the Bible regularly, they say they’re too busy. Their Bible is collecting dust on a shelf while they beg God for a Technicolor vision from heaven!

God supernaturally inspired 40 authors over a period of 1,600 years to compile His love letter to us. After the Bible was written in Hebrew and Greek, many people were martyred because they translated it in a modern language. God went to a lot of trouble to compile the Bible. Yet today many people say they are too busy to read God’s most direct message to Planet Earth!

When you read Scripture with a prayerful heart, God can cause a verse to jump off the page as a direct message to you. British preacher Charles Spurgeon recognized this years ago when he wrote: “When I have been in trouble, I have read the Bible until a text has seemed to stand out of the Book, and salute me, saying, ‘I was written specially for you.'” Expect God to speak directly to you from Scripture.

2. You can hear God’s voice through the supernatural inspiration of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is not an eerie presence that just hangs around. He lives in every born-again Christian, and He comforts us and actively speaks to us. He can do this in many ways: through dreams, visions, warnings, a sense of conviction or—most often—through what we know as the “still, small voice” (1 Kings 19:12b) of the Spirit.

I have had prophetic dreams and visions over the years, but the most common way the Spirit speaks to me is through a deep sense of inward knowing. I will never forget a time in 1985 when God spoke to me while I was driving my car in Florida. A message came to me, not audibly but in my spirit: “You will move to Washington, D.C.” It seemed to come out of the blue, and I knew it did not originate with me. Four years later I was offered a job in the Washington, D.C., area, and I worked there for three years.

The ability to hear the Spirit’s voice is developed over years as we grow in Christ. If you really want to hear Him, you should ask God to fill you with His Spirit. As you allow more of the Spirit’s presence and power in your life, you will set aside your selfish agendas and sinful habits so God can communicate to you without any hindrance. Meanwhile, a selfish, stubborn attitude is the No. 1 obstacle to hearing God!

3. You can hear God’s voice through people. God never intended for us to live in isolation. We are members of His body, the church, and you will hear God better when you are in fellowship with His people. God can speak to you through a pastor’s sermon, a friend’s wise counsel, a mother’s rebuke, a mentor’s phone call or a prophetic word given to you by one of God’s Spirit-filled servants.

God uses the gift of prophecy, but you should never chase after prophecies. I know Christians who will travel across the country to attend a prophetic conference to get a word from God, yet they have not read the Bible in months or sat still long enough to hear from God on their own. Never treat the holy gift of prophecy like fortune telling. When God needs to speak to you in an unusual way, He has faithful messengers who will deliver it to you at the exact time you need it.

4. You can hear God’s voice through circumstances. Not everything that happens to you is God’s will. But God is sovereign, and He has power over nature, over government leaders and over all the details of your life. He opens doors that no man can shut. If you have been praying about getting a job at one company, and suddenly you get an offer at a different company, this may be God’s sign that He has a better place for you to work.

My oldest daughter wanted to attend a college in Tennessee, and we were praying about her decision. Right after we prayed, I got a call from the president of a college in Georgia. He was inviting me to speak at the school, but in our conversation, I learned that this school was willing to offer my daughter a scholarship. She ended up enrolling in that school, meeting her future husband there and working for that college four years later. God was totally involved in that phone call from Georgia!

Ask God to tune your ears to His voice in a fresh way. Read God’s Word with an expectant heart, listen carefully to what the Lord is saying through His servants, pay attention to what He is saying to you through circumstances and tune your spiritual ears to the inner voice of the Spirit. Guidance is not complicated when you sincerely want to hear Him speak to you.

Read the article here

Reflection on John 6:24-35

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workofgod.jpeg

Scripture
Jesus answered “The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent.”

Observation
After the feeding of the 5000, Jesus and the disciples cross the lake in a boat. Some people follow them. Jesus confronts them with the fact that they are only following Him for the food He produced.

They ask Him what God requires of them. Jesus replies that the work of God is to believe in Jesus. Jesus is the bread of life and anyone who comes to Him will not hunger or thirst.

Application
A religious person will want to know what they have to do to placate God, whom they perceive to be angry at their guilt. Whether it is sacrifices, good deeds or pilgrimages to holy places, we want to know what pleases God and gets us out of trouble.

Jesus tells us here that the work God gives us is simply to trust in Jesus.

When I trust in the One sent by the Father, I can know my sins are forgiven. What bliss!

A religious person will pray a prayer of repentance, the “sinner’s prayer.” They may start to attend a church.

But Jesus is looking for more than a prayer. To trust Him means that we hand everything about us into His hands. It is about a relationship. He directs our paths and we follow, trusting that He has our lives under control.

It’s all about believing Jesus.

Believing that He is in control.

Believing that our sin is forgiven and that we have abundant life in Jesus.

Believing that the One who fed 5000 people has enough to meet my needs.

Prayer
As one person in the Bible said, “Lord I believe; help my unbelief.” Jesus, I trust you to direct my paths. Help me to follow you today. Amen.

Update on My Health Records

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On July 25th I shared about my decision to opt out of the My Health Digital Health Record system.

The Federal Government has now announced (August 1st) that it will be passing legislation in Parliament to ensure that records can only be accessed by police and other government agencies by means of a court warrant.

A win for democracy!

The Straw Man Argument

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With the latest environmental hysteria gaining traction to ban plastic straws (as usual both irrational and unscientific) here is a graph that puts Australia’s plastic pollution in perspective:

Yeah, we don’t even make the top 12.

You may have also heard about the incredible figure of 500 million plastic straws used by Americans every day. It turns out that came from a science project by a 9 year old boy. That doesn’t prove it is wrong, just lacking in academic rigour because most 9 year olds have not been trained in the scientific method (much like most adult environmentalists)

Euthanasia-Laws About Consent Are No Protection

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As the demands for “right to die” laws ramp up in Australia, keep this incident in mind, because the always say “There is no slippery slope.”
From Lifesitenews.com:

Elderly Woman Resisted Being Euthanized When She Saw the Needle, So Her Family Held Her Down

A Dutch doctor who was rebuked for killing an elderly dementia patient without consent and in a traumatic manner has been given a formal reprimand by the Dutch medical complaints board, and may now face criminal charges.

Worldwide horror

The case involved a woman in her seventies, who was placed in a care home after her dementia became so advanced that her husband could no longer cope with care at home. She was distressed and frightened, and after a few weeks, the doctor at the home determined that she was suffering unbearably. He concluded that she was not mentally competent, but that an earlier statement in her will that she wanted euthanasia “when I myself find it the right time”; justified killing her.

The story was greeted with horror around the world, as it emerged that the doctor drugged the victim’s coffee, and had her family hold her down as she tried to fight off the lethal injection. Despite the woman not being mentally competent to consent to being killed, a review panel cleared the doctor of all charges.

No consent given

Now, the Dutch medical complaints board has formally reprimanded the unnamed doctor -the first case in which a practitioner has been formally censured since the Netherlands made it legal for doctors to kill patients at their request in 2002.

The board said that the woman’s will was contradictory, and that although she said she wanted to die on some days, on others she did not. She had written an ‘advance directive’ asking to be killed if her dementia became too severe, but whenever the issue of asking to die was raised, she also added: “Not now, it’s not so bad yet”. The board found that the doctor should have discussed the fact that a sedative was put in her coffee – which did not happen – and only carried out euthanasia if she agreed.

Read the rest of the story here

Reflection on 2 Samuel 11:26-12:14

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david-and-nathan

Scripture

Then David confessed to Nathan, “I have sinned against the Lord.”

Observation

Following Uriah’s death, Bathsheba mourns for her husband, but then goes and lives in the palace. She gives birth to a boy.

Nathan the prophet comes to David with a story about a rich man who steals a lamb from a poor man. David is outraged and says that whoever does such a thing deserves to die. Nathan tells him, “You are the man.”

David realises that the story is about him and repents of his sin. Nathan says that although the Lord has forgiven David, the baby will die because of his sin.

Application

Sometimes our temptations can blind us to the reality and enormity of our sin. David could have had any possession he desired, any woman he wanted. He was walking in God’s favour, but his list for one woman changed everything.

When we are battling temptation our one thought is, “I want that now.” We cannot see the wider picture. We neglect to pray about the issue and to find out God’s will. When we sin, the ramifications spread like ripples in a pond.

David’s temptation led him to a multitude of sins- adultery, lies and murder, to name a few. But the consequences of his sin were generational- the baby would die, his other sons would oppose him and each other, and so on.

We might think that there are no consequences for our sin. We might think that we got away with it. But God sees all. Of course, the first and most grievous result of sin is that it separates us from God and interrupts our relationship with Him.

The good news in all of the gloom of sin is that God forgives us when we repent and turn away from our sins. “If we confess our sins to Him, He is faithful and just to forgive our sins and cleanse us from all wickedness.” (1 John 1:9)

Prayer

Father, I confess my sins to you right now. I ask for your forgiveness and the grace to walk in obedience to you. Amen.

Opting Out of the Digital Health Record

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big-brother

The Australian Government is introducing a digital health record where all of your health information is stored in one location accessible to all health professionals. On the face of it, this is a great idea. Hospitals, GPs and specialists will be able to see the full story of your health.

My mother-in-law in her later years required a huge number of medications and was under the care of several specialists who did not talk to each other. Consequently she sometimes became ill from the interactions of the drugs with each other.

The My Health Record would have prevented suffering for her and for many other people with chronic health conditions.

But the Government could not leave it there as a service to individual citizens and to the health service. No, they had to use it as a backdoor to spy on our personal data. So numerous agencies have access to your health records regardless of their need to provide health services.

Agencies which can access personal health records include The Australian Tax Office, Centrelink, State and Territory Police Forces, the various crime commissions, the Agency that runs the NDIS and many more.

I am not a huge privacy nut. If you want to know about my haemorrhoid, my blood pressure (controlled nicely by medication), or the prostate infection I had 20 or so years ago, I will happily tell you. That’s my choice.

I will not have nosy public servants having access to my information without my consent, just because they have an interest or they think I might be defrauding them. If they think a crime may be committed, for example by people on sickness benefits, then they should gather evidence and apply for a warrant.

This is yet another “Big Brother” exercise by the Government under the guise of helping the people.

If they rescind the ability of agencies that are not health related, then I will be in it.

You can opt out at http://www.myhealthrecord.gov.au

UPDATE

The Federal Government announced on August 1st that it will legislate to ensure that health records can only be accessed by other agencies after obtaining a court warrant. A win for privacy! After the legislation is passed, I will be opting in.