Ponder it prayerfully: There are times in life where God desires to guide us with specific instructions, giving us a blueprint of sorts. We see this in action in the life of Noah, who was called by God to build an ark that would enable him and his family live out their days fully on this earth. At this point in history, God was about to flood the earth due to the depravity of mankind, and Noah was the only man that honored God with his life, thus God chose to honor him by sparing his life and that of his family. Noah had a huge part to play, though, and that required great listening skills, and an obedient heart. He had to follow God’s instructions to the T. Any error and the ark would not have made it through the storm.

God’s blueprint for your life is hardly random. God is a very specific and intentional God and there is always a purpose to His instructions. Therefore, it is very important for us to continually sharpen our spiritual ears, so we can do exactly as the Lord has instructed us to do, to His exact specifications. If we fail to follow His specific blueprint, we may miss out on God’s best, which can prevent us from entering our promised land. Just ask Moses, who, after doing everything exactly as God instructed him in leading the Israelites out of Egypt, got frustrated with the Israelites complaints and neglected to do what God had instructed him to do: “Take the staff, and you and your brother Aaron gather the assembly together. Speak to that rock before their eyes and it will pour out its water.” Moses, in frustration struck the rock instead of speaking to it (Numbers 20:7-12). His disobedience caused him to miss out entering the Promised Land with the rest of the Israelites.

Be a doer (James 1:22): It’s important that we, as Christians and ambassadors of the gospel of grace, incline our ears always to the voice of God, listening intently to what He tells us to do, and obeying promptly. It’s been said that delayed obedience is disobedience.  Listen intently for God’s voice and as He speaks to you, do as He says, the way He tells it to do it. Quick obedience sharpens our hearing skills, thus the more we respond with obedience, the clearer His voice becomes in our lives.

There are specific instructions God wants to give you for your life, for the situations and circumstances you might find yourself in. Don’t allow the frustrations of your circumstances weigh on you so heavily, that it prevents you from following God’s specific instructions. Incline your ear to His voice today, and when you hear His instructions, like Noah, be quick to respond and obedient to those instructions. Are you listening?

Hide it in your heart (Psalm 119:11): My son, give attention to my words; incline your ears to my sayings. Do not let them depart from your heart; for they are life to those who find them, and health to all their flesh. (Proverbs 4:20-23)

Pray it personally:  Heavenly Father, I come before Your throne of Grace, thanking you for the privilege of being able to hear Your voice and be lead by the Holy Spirit according to Your will. I declare by faith that I am able to hear Your voice clearly, and I thank You for the grace to hear and obey Your instructions exactly as you instruct me to do. Forgive me for the times when I’ve been presumptuous and haven’t followed Your instructions your way. Thank You Lord for hearing the cry of my heart, and enabling me be all You have called me to be. By Your grace, I will accomplish my purpose on this earth and bring glory to Your Name, in Jesus’ Name I pray, Amen.

January came, and with it, the back to school rush meaning more traffic on the road, more expenses, more pending issues/work to get back to,  less money in our pockets, and inevitably less time to hear from God. January has now left us and one wonders if they ever took the time to earnestly seek Him during the past month, excluding the Sunday church protocol.

Can one honestly “hear God’s voice”? Is there ever such a thing as God speaking to us through roaring storms and burning bushes like He did in biblical times? I think the more appropriate question that bothers most of us is whether God can hear ours. When you’re working, studying, or doing both, parenting and trying to at least have some sort of social life, there seems to be no time to even confirm with God about which steps to take when all you find yourself doing is “walking.”  Aging brings new responsibilities with it, each time. I’m sure all of us have paused and asked ourselves how we somehow woke up and realized we were women and not little girls anymore. How we no longer woke up with the mere expectation of playing with our dolls and at most, braiding their hair. How we took pleasure in playing “cha mama” and making tea and food out of mud for our supposed children at the time. Then, it was all simple. Being a child was easy, but then came the growing and as we became teenagers, the desire to be “older.”

I remember lying about my age through most of my teen years. When I was 13, I would say I was 14 or 15. I always thought the next year, the next age, would be better than the current, but then came 15 and I wasn’t satisfied. Years on, 18 still wasn’t doing it for me as I thought 20 would… You get my drift?

We desired to grow older and to live out our dreams. Have a career, move out from home, get married and have children. I believe that isn’t only the American dream but the African one as well. Getting to that point of having it all. Some would say that is the point of fulfillment, since once you’re there, you’ve achieved your biggest hopes.

So in all this, in all this living and growing, when do we get the time to hear God’s voice?  The thing about the life I’ve just mentioned above is that it doesn’t quite work out so smoothly. More often than not, studying is a struggle both mentally and sometimes financially. That career we want isn’t available at our beck and call once we’ve graduated. Finances to move out are more often a prayer point, let alone finding a spouse, when every relationship we find ourselves in, fails and results in heart break.  We cry out in prayer more than we ever listen. Sometimes the prayers cease when we get frustrated and blame God instead. Most of our issues become a rollercoaster of sorts since we don’t seek Him to deal with them in the first place.

What if we learned how to hear God’s voice before ending up at that low point once again? It’s possible. I believe it’s time for change! It’s time we sat down and heard what God has to say before we make our next move. For how long shall we be okay with making the wrong decisions? A person once said “trust your gut.” I know of a woman who stated that she “lives on her gut instinct.” We all know your gut is your stomach and your gut instinct is that intuition, that strong feeling that tells you to react in a certain way beyond reason or logic. As believers, we don’t need to reason out, or decide on what to do and how to do it in the same way as those in the world. Ours is not simply a gut instinct but even better, a conviction from The Holy Spirit, who was appointed to be our Helper. John 14:26 tells us that The Holy Spirit teaches us all things. Jesus didn’t only teach about how to live here, he chose to walk on this very earth and yet He remained blameless and without sin. It’s all in our Bibles. It is all written.

We can’t blame God for the consequences of our actions. I bet some of you didn’t know blaming God was a sin. Job 1:22 says that “In all of this, Job did not sin by blaming God.” If we read the book of Job, we see how he had it all, the cattle, the home, the family, prosperity, great health, until God allowed for it all to be taken away from him. In all this, Job didn’t blame God. When you read that book you understand why God called him “blameless.”

How can we live in such a blameless way? The answer is simply by reading the Word and living by it. I’ll remind you that we also can’t expect to hear from God verbally when we haven’t read His written Word.  A song we’d sing when we were young sums it up: Read your Bible, pray every day if you want to grow!… If we make it a habit seeking God for ourselves through His word, praying continuously and deliberately (1 Thessalonians 5:17), even when we don’t feel like it, we will grow. And better yet, grow in Him. When we were children we never understood our parents, and they repeated how we would understand some things when we were older. Well when we grow in God, we grow into His wisdom and learn to understand His ways.

The beautiful thing is that it isn’t as hard as we would be deceived into thinking. I always like telling people that God isn’t a sadist. He says in His word that when you draw nearer to Him, He too draws Himself closer to you. (James 4:8.)

In your closeness, in your intimate times together, hearing from God becomes easier. John 10:27 says that “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.” When we draw nearer to God we know when He is the one speaking to us. At this point, you can be certain that when you reach a certain cross-road in your life, you’ll have the wisdom to know which path to take. This same verse also shows us what comes after hearing, “…and they follow me.” Following comes from obedience. Jonah heard God and chose not to follow. (Jonah 1:1-17.) There’s nothing worse than deliberately choosing the wrong path. Choosing to go left when you know it isn’t right. We often walk in disobedience like Jonah did, even when our helper, The Holy Spirit convicts us not to.

So, my good people, if you want to hear from God, be willing to obey Him, whether it concerns a certain job or a relationship, where to live or where to go, whatever the season, He will direct your steps for He delights in every detail of your life. (Psalms 37:23.)

He still has the capacity of sending us an angel, or speaking through a burning bush, but He chooses to be intimate. Why so? Because God loves a heart that passionately seeks him with diligence.

Get intimate with God today. Pray and delight in that time you spend with Him and you will hear him. To some this may seem like a mediocre way to live life. Someone might be thinking, “I mean, who even seeks God nowadays in making decisions? Times have changed! Its 2012 for crying out loud! ” Well, it may be a completely different era but our God is still the same yesterday, today and forever. (Hebrews 13:8.)  So if He helped the ones before us in their walk with Him, He can help us in ours, for He is a God of all ages. (Jude 1:25.)

Allow me to leave you with this verse: Your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, “THIS IS THE WAY, WALK IN IT.” Isaiah 30:21

I am woman redeemed.

I asked her what was wrong and she told me she didn’t want to talk about it. I have learnt to respect that statement so I let it go immediately and we both focused on the series she was watching. I know from experience that I don’t have to push someone into telling me what is bothering them (even if I am dying to know) but that letting them know I care is enough. With time, they tell me when they are ready and I knew it would be the same with her. She lightened up after and let me in on what was making her sad.

“Do you know those times when you feel like you don’t have any more energy to fight for a friendship?” she asked.

“I don’t exactly know what you mean, so please explain,” I answered.

“Well, I have this very good friend, and in most cases when we have a fight, the time we are not speaking to each other bothers me even when she is the cause of our fighting. I am usually the one that breaks the ice. You get?”

“I get.”

“So something happened, and she lied to me about it. When I asked her for evidence, she acted out and said I don’t trust her. I did my own research and found out she was the one lying to me and somehow, I have lost it. The will to work it out. I am worried about past incidences where I told her my secrets and whether she has been honest with me all this while.”

“So what are you going to do?” I asked.

“Somehow, I am not ready to talk to her. Usually, even with my past relationships, I can tell when a relationship will not go beyond a fight and it might be the same now. It just won’t be the same again when I don’t trust her any more. I think I’m done. We might just remain “hi” friends but not BFFs like we have been.”

Friendship is a gift. Being friends with someone is a will. Like any other kind of relationship, friends fight and usually, in order for reconciliation to take place, one party has to be willing to reach out to the other first. Naturally, because of pride, it can be hard to be the one to reach out first.

The thought of stooping low and being the needy one is not something any red blooded human would easily do but thank God for grace. It is by His grace that we can allow to put others’ needs before ours just like Christ did and also tells us to do as his followers.

Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves (Philippians 2:3).

“I think you should just talk to her and try to resolve the matter but do not just give up on your friendship like that,” I told my cousin.

“She is the one in wrong so I see no point in being the one trying to make peace. She is the one that needs to apologize” she answered.

All of you clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because, “God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble” (1 Peter 5:5).

We shall be seen by our works. If in our own relationships as Christians we are not willing to practice humility, how then will others see the Christ in us? We are supposed to live as Christ did as we try each day to be more like him.

But if anyone obeys his word, love for God is truly made complete in them. This is how we know we are in him. Whoever claims to live in him must live as Jesus did(1 John 2:5-6).

I have to admit it is hard to listen to His still small voice with all the many things clamoring for our devotion. The noise around us competes for our attention. Advice from popular psychology, songs, television and bill boards telling us to focus on our feelings, which are all contrary to God’s word.

See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic spiritual forces of this world rather than on Christ (Colossians 2:8).

James 1:12: Blessed are those who endure when they are tested. When they pass the test, they will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love Him.

It’s February already!! Wow, time surely does fly fast. Well, I am already settled in at International Christian Center, and it’s very exciting. Sometimes it feels like I am dreaming!! But I wake up every day and find that it is real and I am loving every minute of it. The funny bit about it all is explaining what it is that I do to some friends and neighbors who, well… still don’t get it.

For the better part of the days we have been having meetings. Honestly, I think I really underestimated what the church staff do! I had no idea that so much planning, decision-making, input, and creativity went behind all the services that we have and the events we hold in our churches. Most of us look at the people who serve in church and judge them or just think we have them figured out. I tell you, there is a lot to learn. Bottom line: I am already learning and having fun !!

During the first two weeks of the year I made quite a number of prayers, asking God to guide and show me the way forward; asking that He makes His will and path clear so that I don’t stumble my way through the year. I remember specifically sitting in my grandmother’s garden – I had gone to visit her to basically tell her what I was up to (and yes, I had terribly missed her)!

As I prayed, God brought a word to my heart:

“Test… It‘s a test.”

Yeah, I had the same look on my face. I wondered what the test was, what it was about… and why a test?

I don’t like tests!! Ha ha… It has been that way ever since I was in school. I found them time consuming, competitive and downright boring. Don’t even get me started on the tests at the hospital. I guess that’s why when I decided to study Counseling and Psychology and found out that we didn’t have to sit for any tests, I was ecstatic! A year later, tests were introduced and had to be administered before one got to graduate and I was a frustrated young woman! I tried embracing them but it just didn’t work. Over time, I have come to tolerate them.

Test… It’s a test.

Those words were all that could play in my mind that day so I went digging into the word of God to see what this was all about. I was shocked to find that the word ‘test’ appeared 11 times, ‘tested’ 10 times, and ‘tempt’ and ‘temptation’ 18 times. There could be more, but to me, this was quite a revelation. I was excited and eager to read and find out what God was saying, what instructions He was giving, what He expected from me. At the same time, I was worried, and concerned and afraid. Let’s be honest: it s one thing not to know what your expected to do and just stumble your way through the right path. It’s an entirely different scenario when you do know what you are expected to do and don’t do it!

Exodus 20:20 says, “And Moses said to the people “Do not fear, for God has come to test you and that His fear may be before you, so that you may not sin.”

If I could quickly take you back two chapters in the same book of Exodus, this was the time when God had given Moses the Ten Commandments and sent him to pass them on to the Israelites. The Lord had come down upon Mount Sinai and the people were afraid and asked Moses to speak for them, lest they hear from God and die. It is quite interesting because these people had seen God do marvelous, and miraculous deeds in their lives, yet they still rebelled and went ahead to make and worship idols. When the situations in their lives at any point got slightly difficult or uncomfortable, they would complain and murmur and long for Egypt, forgetting all that God had done for them. Haven’t we been here before? One day everything is working great and we are praising and giving testimonies but the minute things take a down turn we just can’t stand it!

As I read through some more verses – Genesis 22:1, Psalm 17:3, 1 Timothy 3:10, Acts 5:9, 1 Corinthians 3;13 – which speak about being tested and testing, I was reminded that we are actually encouraged to test things and there are promises in God‘s word that we will be tested! Life is a test. Think about it. Every day, we face situations and have decisions to make. They may not be hard, urgent, or life-threatening; not really. They may be a test of our character, loyalty, kindness, even integrity! God tested Adam and Eve, but they failed their test. This does not mean we will fail. No, because the Bible gives us many examples of people who passed their test; people like Daniel, Ruth and many others.

The Bible has made one thing clear, in 1 Corinthians 10:13.

No temptation has over taken you except such as is common to man, But God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you maybe be able to bear it.

So why test us? I mean, what for ? Can’t God just tell us what to do and how to go about it? As I said before, I hate tests!! But then, I am reminded that we are human, and God has given us a freedom of choice. We have a part to play. 1 Peter 6:9 says,

So be truly glad there is a wonderful joy ahead, even through you have to endure many trials for a little while. These trials will show that your faith is genuine. It is being tested as fire tests and purifies gold – though your faith is far more precious than gold. So when your faith remains strong through many trials, it will bring you much praise and glory and honor on the day when Jesus Christ will be revealed to the whole world.

Every test that we go through is for God’s glory, God’s honor, and it brings Him much praise! Which is part of why He created us in the first place.

God loves each and every one of us and seeks to draw us to Himself each and every day. For the last 30 days, I have known this truth, and I am purposing to live it out. I purpose to pass my tests. I am more aware of things that happen around me, I am more aware of when I am about to tell a lie, when I want to compromise, when I am faced with disappointment, when I am in conflict, my response to people, etc… And I believe that by living out this truth I am growing in my character and learning to depend on God. I don’t always pass the tests, but I know the few times I do, my God notices and I please Him.

One of the ways in which I feel that I am being really tested in this season is my trust in God, I remember early this month I talked to a friend, and anyone within earshot of our little chatty-chat would have thought that I was intoxicated. I was ranting and raving about God’s timing and plan as far as my relationships were concerned. I mean, don’t we just love giving God the reins in all areas of our lives, so we can sit back and watch Him disentangle the kinks and knots we have made in our folly?

Being patient and trusting God is a test that I am going through every day, giving Him the “heart” part of my life, knowing that in good time He will bring me my mate and I will be glad that I waited. Being a girl that believes she is ready – and well ready!! – is not that easy but I know that God has me in the palms of His hands and there… there, I am safe and secure.

What test are you going through today? Are you winning or whining?

Blessings!
Ciku

Now… I do not like to wait. If it can be done, let it be done yesterday. If I move before I seek God, then my tendency will be to speak to the manager, take the longer route, or do something tedious, as long as it will cut my waiting time. Waiting in this case means inactivity, you see.

Impatience is a lonely vice because people do not like to be around it. It causes undue pressure – take it, bring it, do it, finish it, now! The tension and frustration are contagious. But it looks like I missed the news bulletin: You can’t pressurize God into doing something that He does not want to do, or even into doing something faster than He wants to do it. If it were possible, He would not be God. I will come back to this point later.

I chose to rush the process and have it done by the end of January. But on the 27th, it looked like I was running out of options. I needed more time. I did not want to make a quick decision and then find out later that I could have done things a different way. Hindsight is always 20/20, they say.

I finally concluded that in this case, waiting was a good thing. For the first time in my life, to my knowledge, I was actually happy to wait.

It was not long before I began to think of this in light of my singleness. A few days into the year, I read an article by Paul and Charo Washer, titled “Becoming Esther.” Something they said really struck and convicted me:

Singleness is not a waste of time or a sitting on the sidelines, but a time that God has set aside especially for the woman, to make her into what He wants her to be, and to use her in ways that just might be impossible after marriage… so that she can offer to her future husband and the world something more than just a pretty face. Remember in your singleness that you are not the only one single, but your future husband is passing through the same stage as you. Would it not be a terrible thing to finally meet the man who is to become your husband only to find that he has used his singleness to serve God and to prepare himself to be a better husband for you. And yet you did not use the freedom of your singleness to serve the Lord, nor did you take advantage of the training God offered you?

We are living in the last days. Imagine the Lord returning to find that I did not use my single years to serve Him. What a waste that would be!

I read in a Yakuti devotion once that one of the biggest tragedies in life is to be married and long for the single years. It can be very depressing to feel stuck in something that should be so beautiful – something in which you had a choice and a responsibility, something you could have walked away from but instead calmly walked into, and now all you hear is the echo of the latch that locked you in. From what I’ve heard, marriage can be a very lonely experience. And the saddest part of everything is that in this day and age, where arranged marriages are the exception and not the norm, it is something for which we each have immense opportunities to prepare.

You know that verse people quote a lot? The one about the locust and the cankerworm, Joel 2:25? I often thought that nobody should feel bad about a late marriage because the Lord will restore the years that the locust and the cankerworm have eaten. But two things are terribly wrong with this statement.

What is a late marriage? If I am walking in the will of God, obeying Him, trusting Him, living entirely for Him, then that means I am in His will. If this is the case, and I am single, then my marriage is not late. Obeying God means being in the right place, at the right time, doing exactly what He says. Because I am God’s child, I know He anoints and orders my steps and is acquainted with all my ways. It is not a difficult thing, by any standard or means – and in fact, it is more than an easy thing – for Him to bring a husband my way. That Jane got married at 19, Anne at 21 and Cynthia at 50 does not necessarily mean Cynthia’s marriage was late. It was later than Jane’s, for sure, but it was probably not late for Cynthia.

But about the years that the locust and the cankerworm have eaten. Is this really true of the single years, if they are used so wisely as to make a worthy contribution to married life and by extension to the generations to follow? Are these not years to rejoice in and maximize? Is it not possible to live “more abundantly” (John 10:10) as a single woman? Is it not possible, even as we refuse to pretend that we enjoy it, to have a fruitful season, knowing that it is just that – a season?

I said I would come back to the issue of not being able to pressurize God. I am absolutely certain now, at the beginning of February, that if I had rushed to complete the process I had started, sure, I would have finished it, but not as wonderfully as I am finishing it now by the grace of God. I knew it even through the process. I know for sure, right now, that it would not be long before I looked back and regretted my decision. Knowing this actually made it easier, and enjoyable, for me to wait. I think of this and replace the process with marriage, and I believe it is the same. I know now, having walked away and seen what followed, that if I had ended up compromising principle A or married to person B, it would be a disaster. Because I am God’s daughter, there is no way He is going to let things happen a second before, or a second after, the time He has determined as right for me.

As I close my article this month, I wonder if God did not just orchestrate my mysterious, aforementioned ‘process’ this way in order to help me better understand the importance of trusting Him as I wait for marriage…

Bernard of Clairvaux, a French monk, once defined prayer as “a wine that makes glad the heart of man.”

The great English preacher, Charles Spurgeon, had no kind words for the prayerless as he once remarked, “Live and die without prayer and you will pray long enough when you get to hell.” He is also known for having called prayer the “thermometer of the church.”

Jesus, the one who gave us the Lord’s Prayer as a blueprint of communication with God is considered to have “offered all kinds of prayers and supplication …while on earth to the one who could save him (Hebrews 5:7)”.

The passage above doesn’t seem to indicate that Jesus only prayed at the dining table. It doesn’t sound like he prayed only when the wallet was thinner. He prayed while on earth, offering all kinds of prayer. He did not wait for Sunday morning or Lent. He did not wait for the mass, neither did he wait for the prayer breakfast nor the announcement on the microphone. To him prayer seemed to be a lifestyle.

“Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed,” Luke 5:16, reminding us that solitude – like corporate prayer – is key. He actually at one time went radical and advised that we lock the door behind us when we are praying (Matthew 6:5-8).

If Jesus had lived in our day, He probably would have known the distractions of office jokes enough to go downstairs and mumble a prayer. He would probably have pressed the red button on His remote control, and sat back in silence asking His father in heaven to help guard His heart from the subtle unbiblical attitudes planted by trivial television programming.

Perhaps He would have scheduled his “to do list” around consistent and intentional prayer times throughout the day. Perhaps.

Well, we may not know his probable choices, but one thing we know is that He gave us a model on how we should pray in Mathew 6:5-15.

Our Father in heaven
Hallowed be Your name
Thy kingdom come
Thy will be done
On earth, as it is done in heaven
Give us this day our daily bread
Forgive us our trespasses
As we forgive those who trespass against us
Lead us not into temptation
Deliver us from evil
For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory, forever,
Amen

For Jesus, this prayer, by principle, covered the key elements of prayer.

Prayer, regardless of the words we use:
Acknowledges the supremacy of our God.
Begs for his kingdom of God to come, not ours (self).
Seeks God’s will above all; not what we want first, as it is done in heaven.
Consists of repentance.
Seeks constant provision (give us this day our daily bread) and constant guidance (lead us not into temptation) and constant protection (deliver us from evil).

These seem to be the principles underlying Jesus’ teaching on prayer.

Prayer, for that matter, goes beyond asking for our needs, Florence Allshorns, an English missionary once put this fact so well: “The primary object of prayer is to know God, we and our needs should come second.”

Prayer is all the above –well, at least principally speaking.

In this age of self and the I-can-do-it-all-by-myself mentality, prayer also remains a sign of humility, a dependency on God, and spiritual warfare (Ephesians 6). Prayer also ought to be held in light of receiving Christ’s saving righteousness, as prayerful lives with routine unconfessed are spelt this way:
H-y-p-o-c-r-i-t-i-c-a-l.

God summons us to confess our sins to the One who is just and faithful to forgive us (1 John 1:9). That’s probably why deliberately, sinful, unrepentant and yet prayerful lifestyles may eventually degenerate into religion and legalism, for the prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective (James 5:16).

There you go. Next time you think of prayer, think of bowing your heart first before you bow your head, for the Lord cautions “For they confess Me with their lips but their hearts are far from Me” –Mathew 15:8.

Honestly, if prayer “is the best use of our words” as someone once put it, and “the wine that makes glad the heart of a man” like Bernard of Clairvaux remarked, then I think it’s time for Christians to get drunk, uh?

For he is our God; and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand. To day if ye will hear his voice, Harden not your heart, as in the provocation, and as in the day of temptation in the wilderness: When your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my work (Psalm 95:7-9).

I hear God alright. But often times, it’s not in the scientific or medical way in which we define hearing – not the way I hear other things.

Medically, the ear is defined as the organ that converts sound waves into nerve impulses which are transmitted into the interpreter – the brain. Interestingly enough, the ear continues to hear sounds even while you are asleep. It does this by the help of various organs. The cartilaginous big flappy pinna (there are two of them) collects the sound, acting like a funnel. The pinna leads to the s-shaped external auditory canal, which takes the sound the pinna and is stoppered by the tympanic membrane (eardrum) – a thin fibrous membrane, grey in color, cone shaped and flexible, whose purpose is to vibrate and cause sound waves with frequency.

The pinna, auditory canal and tympanic membrane form the outer ear.

Then there are the three bones – Malleus (hammer), Incus (anvil), and Stapes (stirrup), which are said to be the smallest bones in the human body, capable of fitting on a penny (read a UShs 500 or KShs 0.50 coin). These bones form the solid between the air and the water – air in the outer ear and water in the inner ear. They function to amplify the sound. These same bones are said to be the only ones in the human body that do not grow larger from birth.

These three bones, together with the Eustachian tube that balances the air pressures within the ear, form the middle ear. Of all the three parts of the ear, the middle ear is the most susceptible to infections especially amongst children, since they have a shorter and more horizontal tube, making it easier for organisms from the throat to access the middle ear. Otitis media is the name given to the infection that results from this.

The inner ear, a bony, snail-shaped chamber, begins with two openings, the oval window and the round window. Here, we have the semicircular canals for balance and the cochlea (from the Latin word cochlea, meaning snail shell) where sound waves from the air, which have been amplified by the bones are now converted into nerve impulses by a series of complex mechanisms.

Suffice it to say that God has provided everything we need to hear His voice.

But you see, hearing does simply occur at the production of sound, nor is it just because a sound is moved through the various membranes and bones. Hearing is a combined effort of all the above. These processes, combined with the interpretation of the sound by the brain, cause one to act either by thinking or by a physical deed.

There you have it: Hearing as we know it. Medically. Scientifically.

My point is this: I do not know about you, but I cannot claim that I have heard the literal voice of God like Moses did in the tent of meeting (Exodus 33:9, 11). And it’s not because I don’t want to hear His voice. But often times God speaks to me through His Word, through dreams, through other people (Christian or non Christian) and mostly through circumstances. Often times with me, it takes a few hard lessons; some of them physical, others emotional.

Galatians 6:7 tells us that what we sow, we will reap. I have heard it several times with my physical ears. Sound took all the necessary steps to get to my brain. But how come it does not translate into action? Either I am not sowing,or when I decide to sow, I use the wrong seed. Weed seed.

Maybe my issue is not that I do not hear His voice. Maybe my issue is that I do not obey His voice.

What am I saying? I am saying that hearing God’s voice is not enough. One ought to obey that voice. James 1:23-25

The Bible says in John 4:24 that God is Spirit and all who worship Him must do so in Spirit and in truth. This means that if one is to hear from God, the physical ear – all its complex systems included – is not all that is needed. One needs to be born of the Spirit – simply put, born again (John 3: 3-6). I know I am getting all evangelical with this but hey, Luke was a doctor!

John 14:17b clearly states that the Spirit of God lives with us and will be in us. For this reason, it is important to have our spiritual ears on us at all times and when we hear that voice, whichever frequency it comes to us at, let us obey (John 10:27).

Whichever way you choose to hear His voice, just know that He always hears yours.  Call on Him today. He will hear you! He assures us in Psalm 145:18 that He is near to all who call upon Him in truth.

Ponder It Prayerfully: Hearing the voice of God is something most of us as Christians want to be able to do in our daily walk with God. You’ve heard some ministers or people you look up to spiritually say, “I heard God say…” or “God told me…”, and you wonder, “Will I ever be able to hear God like they can?” This used to be my number one concern and I remember confiding my fears to a friend of mine. I told him that I didn’t think I was one of the people God will ever speak to. I remember being at prophetic conferences and it seemed like everyone but me would get a rhema word from the Lord. I realize now that I was looking for God to speak to me the way I wanted or expected. I expected God to speak to be with a booming voice, just like in the movies. It frustrated me when that did not seem to happen. Then I remembered what my friend told me. He said, “It’s not like God has a speech impediment or something”. That statement set me free, and helped me realize that I certainly could hear the voice of God – I just needed to listen.

We often make the voice of God so grandiose and inaccessible; resolving in our own minds that hearing His voice is reserved only for the “elite” Christians, whatever that means. Truth is, God is always speaking but are you always listening? Or are you so distracted by the frantic pace and busyness of everyday life? The fact is sometimes, we forget to turn the dial and tune into God’s voice. Or sometimes, we are tuned into the wrong frequency (our thoughts, emotions, feelings, people’s opinions) and not the right one (God’s voice). Like a radio, until you tune into the right frequency, the voice of God will always be unclear to you. Furthermore, like I did, we expect God to speak a certain way but as we can see in the scripture above, God does not always speak in the way we would expect. We’ve got now train our ears to hear clearly the voice of our Heavenly Father, and let our hearts be open to the ways God would choose to speak to us.

There are certain things that can mute the voice of God in our lives, and some of them include busyness, the presence of sin in our lives, and distraction. Someone once said the word “BUSY” is really an acronym for this statement: Bound Under Satan’s Yoke.  It does seem that way sometimes, doesn’t it? Satan, the enemy of your heart, likes it that way. He wants you confused and in a foggy state, because this can prevent you from fulfilling your God-given destiny. But that will never be so, in Jesus’ Name!

Be a Doer (James 1:22): How can we hear God’s voice more clearly? For one, recognize that God is always speaking, and it is up to us to listen. De-clutter your life, spend more time in God’s presence by praying, and seek His face first thing in the morning. I know it’s hard sometimes, but spending time in God’s presence is something you cannot afford to miss out on. I mean, how can you get to learn to recognize someone’s voice without spending an amount of time in their presence? Spending time in His presence can involve reading the His word, listening to praise and worship music, or just simply listening in silence. It doesn’t have to be complicated or even a certain length. Be open to the way God will reveal Himself to you…it could be through His word, a word from someone else, or a nudge deep down in your spirit. Either way, God knows how to get your attention and He is always speaking. Finally, make sure that there no unconfessed sins in your life. Like David did in Psalm 139:23-24, ask God to examine your thoughts and reveal any hidden sins in your life…He will. When He does reveal those sins, confess them and repent.

Someone once said that God gave us a clue concerning listening to Him…He put the word “ear” in the word “heart”; thus, with the “ear” in the center of our heart, we are now able to heart His voice. God is always listening, so like Elijah did, take time to listen!

Hide It In Your Heart (Psalm 119:11): My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand. [John 10:27-28]

Pray it personally:  Almighty and everlasting Father, I thank You for Your grace and Your mercy, and the fact that You are always speaking, guiding and directing me as I go on this journey of life. I admit that sometimes it is hard for me to hear Your voice due to the clutter and noise in my life. Forgive me for allowing the distractions of everyday life prevent me abiding in Your presence. I pray that you would reveal any hidden sin lurking in my past and give me the grace to confess and repent from those sins. I know You are always speaking and I will incline the ears of my heart to your voice, in Jesus’ Name, Amen.

Ponder It Prayerfully: God tells us in His word that we as Christians have been given “exceeding great and precious promises” (2 Peter 1:4). This is an exciting thought. As such, we wait… and wait… and wait…  in expectancy for these great promises. It’s sometimes tempting to feel betrayed because you see everyone around you receiving exactly what they’ve been praying and believing for, and there you are… still waiting patiently after X amount of years.

But let me ask you…how have you been waiting? Do you still believe God can do what He has promised you, or that He is willing to fulfill that promise? Have you considered the character of God, knowing that He is not a man that He should lie, and that what He promised He will fulfill? Have you gotten so tired of waiting that like Sarah, you begin to laugh the laugh of unbelief (Genesis 18:12)?

There is a set time for God to bring about His promises in your life, but you have to trust His timing. Disappointment and bitterness often ensue when we begin to confuse our timing with God’s set time. Furthermore, confusing God’s set date with our own self-imposed due date makes us do foolish things. Just ask Sarah (Genesis 16). Sarah’s laugh of unbelief was an indication to God that she wasn’t yet ready to receive the promise. God knew that her womb of faith was not mature to carry to term the promise He had given her. It wasn’t until she was able to judge God “reliable, trustworthy and true to His word (Hebrews 11:11) that she received the promise… at the right time (Genesis 21:2).

Be a Doer (James 1:22): Likewise, until we are able to consider God who made that promise to you faithful, reliable and true to His word; until our womb of faith matures enough to carry the promise without aborting it, we will not receive the promise. Things are usually birthed in the spiritual before they manifest in the physical, so the moment you prayed about your situation, God heard and answered, and at the set time, it will manifest in this physical realm.

While you are patiently waiting, trust Him. Pursue with passion the Promise-Giver and not the promise. Know that nothing is impossible with the Lord and that He rewards those who diligently seek Him (Hebrews 11:6). This is not the time to waver in unbelief, but to trust God and allow Him to mature you so you will be able to handle all He has for you. Know that with each day you are one step closer to receiving that promise, and at the set time, it will come to pass.

Hide It In Your Heart (Psalm 119:11): And let us not lose heart and grow weary and faint in acting nobly and doing right, for in due time and at the appointed season we shall reap, if we do not loosen and relax our courage and faint.(Galatians 6:9.)

Pray It Personally:  Heavenly Father, I come before Your throne of Grace excited about the great future You have planned for me. You are well able to do all that You have promised me and so I will wait patiently for the promise, trusting in Your faithfulness, for all Your promises are YES and AMEN! Forgive me for laughing in unbelief, when I should be laughing in faith. I trust You, and I know that at the set time, the promise will come to pass. In Jesus’ Name I pray, Amen.

Ponder It Prayerfully: We all have those moments when we’re busy going on our merry way, enjoying our new beginning, and a spanner is thrown into the works – a misunderstanding, a fight with a friend, a contract not being approved, or just having one of those long days that begins with being stuck in traffic and ends with a cut from the Saran-wrap box.

When we’re trying to start over, the enemy does his best to distract us and convince us that it is impossible for us to change or move forward. It is in his best interests, after all, that we remain stagnated. We might begin to feel like it is impossible to break a habit, it’s pointless to start fresh, or that we have not done as wonderfully as we should and God is not pleased with us. All these are lies, of course, but it is very easy for us, and particularly for women, who have the capability to find the emotive in even the most mathematical issues, to internalize these lies and begin to do what many call playing the tape over and over.

For many people, one experience that comes with the new year is loneliness. Surprising, isn’t it? For the student, it’s back to school. For the single woman, January is that month that lies between Christmas and Valentine’s Day. For the worker, it may be that dry financial month after all the spending. People try to start over, but many have to ‘rebuild the altars’ (1 Kings 18:32) and recover from all that went on during the previous month or even year.

And that’s where the verse at the beginning of this devotion comes in. One wonderful way to combat depression and loneliness is to find people to love (another way is praise! – Isaiah 61). As children of God, we always have something to give and someone to share it with, even if it is just a smile, or a cup of coffee. One guaranteed way of helping ourselves enjoy starting over is by using our free time to do kind things for other people. Jesus said that people will know we are His disciples if we love not ourselves, or our jobs, or our ministries, but one another. What does love do?

Be A Doer: We demonstrate our love for others by putting them first and by giving them that royal treatment we might wish someone would shower on us. We love people by praying for them, and by sharing not just food, shelter, clothing, money, but also our time, our space, our laughs, their tears, our hugs. We love by listening – not judging people on sight, but being willing to hear their stories, because it is impossible to convince a person that you are interested in their eternal destiny if you have not even bothered to ask them how their day has been. Everybody wants to feel significant, and one reason God gave us to each other is so that we would know that we matter – we are significant – to Him.

Jesus is always available and approachable. He is attentive to our needs and our stories. See Him passing through Samaria and speaking with the woman at the well in John 4. Hear Him say to a hated tax-collector, ‘Zacchaeus, hurry – I’m having dinner at your place today.’ (Luke 19:5.) Watch Him listen to and speak with Mary in Luke 10. And He is the same today. He keeps our secrets, forgives our sins, and tells it to us like it is. While He was on earth, He demonstrated love by giving of Himself, and finally giving Himself as a ransom for our sakes. He told us to love one another as He has loved us (John 13:34). And how did He love us? With the greatest love:

Hide It In Your Heart: Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends (John 15:13).

Pray It Personally: Heavenly Father, this new beginning, this new year, is not about me, but about You. Every single aspect of my life exists to glorify You. When I am curled up in a corner, pitying myself, I am not honoring You. Forgive me for the times when I have forgotten the big picture and focused on the minor inconveniences of this realm. Help me to remember that You are closer than my thoughts, and that the end to loneliness is often as simple as asking You to give me somebody to love. Help me to be so busy loving others that I have no time to worry about problems that You have promised to solve. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.