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Psalm 29:4
“The voice of the LORD is powerful; the voice of the LORD is majestic”

A few years ago, I started to seriously try to listen to the Lord`s voice.
It says in scripture that “my sheep hear my voice” and slowly but surely, I was starting to recognize that still small voice.
But even after years of hearing God,
there are times where I am not quite exactly sure if its Him or not.
But I’m resting assured that the Lord is my good shepherd guiding me beyond my ability to hear perfectly all the time.
If you are someone sincerely asking Him to be “Your shepherd” everyday,
you are probably led more than you realize.
And as I look back to my childhood,
I realize how many times the Lord guided me without  me even realizing it.
 

Blessed be the Lord, King of the Universe,
who guides us in His ways..

I spend a lot of time in nature and nature teaches me a lot about our Creator-God. A few weeks ago, I saw this adorable bird skipping about and I thought to myself “O bird.. you are so cute. Yet no human thought of creating you and I doubt no human has specifically been praying  that you will live.” And I thought to myself “hmm.. I recently saw a photo of a bird somewhere. Where did I see it…” And I remembered watching a documentary with a picture of a mangled bird. The essence of the documentary was “Look at the evil humans are releasing!!!”

I think humans think ourselves a bit too powerful. In a sense, it is true. We do release a lot of havoc.

But is anyone in tune with the unseen forces of good? Is anyone aware of how much of creation is thriving?

Sometimes I look at nature and I’m in wonder.. “Wow” I think, “no human thought of you in existence.. only the good Lord knows of you..And He has given you instinct to know where to find the food.. Wow”

Our Creator-God is so caring and tender.

Jesus came to reveal a Father who deeply cares about His creation..

Sometimes before we enter into fervent prayer,
we need to step back a bit, look up at our marvelous and powerful Creator and say “Thank you Father for knowing what I need before I say it.”
 
He cares.

This morning, in prayer, the Lord and I broke down a door that led into a small chamber.  We didn’t have a key to it, but the door broke down easily.  A furnace was standing in front of us and around it wound an iron staircase leading up.  I examined the furnace and lit it.  It was working well, so the Lord took me up the winding stairs to where they ended. On top was something like an oven.  The Lord opened it and, one after another, pulled out three loaves of bread. He set them close to the furnace, and sliced them into pieces, offering me a taste of each.  I was eager try them as the things the Lord had given me before were very good. The first bite, however, tasted bitter, very sour. The second loaf was equally displeasing, heavy and a very soggy.  The third was hard, difficult to break or chew, and very unsatisfying.
The Lord showed me that these are the breads of this world.  They are the breads that I make myself, what I eat by my own effort.
The hardness is my toil, the work I do in my own understanding.  The result is hard, unsatisfying, and difficult to eat.  The soggy bread is my sorrow, the thoughts that I accept which distress me–the sadness of my own perceptions.  The bread of bitterness is my anguish, my inability to satisfy my own desires–the insatiability I attribute to my own lacking, that which I often feel.
These are the three breads of this world, and the world has only these three types of bread.  They are the breads we eat in our spirit, by our own thoughts and efforts.  The spirit must eat.  Unlike the body,  it does not fast and feeds constantly (surprisingly, the spirit eats even more when the body is fasting)  There are other breads for our spirit to eat, however!  The different kinds are seemingly without number, each distinct and very satisfying! They are the good breads that the Lord gives us.
I was taken to a table full of them, and I tasted a few:  There was the bread of His pleasure which was soft and sweet.  It was easy to eat and consistent throughout, perfectly round with a sweet covering.  There was contentment, a small loaf with a fruit filling, almost like a pastry with a very good taste.  And there are many other breads.

Ignatius R.

The slightest senstation of the joy of God is beyond the capacity of words to express… the overflow is simply too fantastic!
Although on me, the joy came as through the power of words.  The very words that the Lord had been been speaking in my mind suddenly became a soft, gentle whisper–like a warm, gentle breeze that overcame me, so as to slowly embrace me.  At first, it came from one direction and then from all around.  It was the most pleasant sensation I could ever describe. It encircled me, and then began to pour into the depths of me–into the emptiness that had been inside me. And there had indeed been a great emptiness inside.
The Lord had set my heart on fire.  For weeks it burned in pain, and nothing could cure it except for Him. I ran to Him. I was destroyed. I was as helpless as I could ever be; I was like one lying in the dust of the earth. I prayed and fasted desperately for His grace.  And in one sudden moment, I was free. Every prayer that I had asked of Him, everything that I had been pleading, He answered in a single moment. The burdens that I was carrying: the pain, depression, sadness–all of these the Lord took away. One by one, He took them out of me, showing me what each of them were. As they were emptied from me, an emptiness was left behind–a beautiful emptiness!  With each breath I could feel it, and with each breath I could feel joy!  For days I could feel it, and simple prayer would not help but become outloud laughter.  It was the presence of the Spirit of God on me.
I wanted more, and I asked for more. The Lord would wake me at sunrise every morning so that I might see every new day as it began. I could feel Him say, “See, I have made another new day for you, and it is beautiful;” and indeed the world had become very beautiful, and it looked very new.  Every morning I would go to Him in prayer, seeking Him, trying to enter that place where He spoke to me before.  For days I would pray to Him over the reading of His Word.  Then, one morning, I did not get up to pray.  I lay still in my bed, calming my mind, and quieting my spirit within me. (I realized that the Lord wanted to show Himself to me, and that it was not me that was going to take from Him, but He who was the going to give).  After a short while I could see things in my mind!  A pond was there, very quiet and very calm.  A single lily was floating on it with hardly any movement. Below it in the water were tadpoles still in their eggs. Slowly, over the next moments they began to hatch free, first one, then another, then rapidly the rest were set free…
Suddenly, Wisdom was standing there in front of me! (I could see her in my mind) She was overjoyed!  She gave me a cup of good wine to drink, the same that she prepares every day for those who come to her, for those who come to eat from the table which Jesus prepares.  She began to kiss me in joyful excitement, and give me cakes and good things to eat. I ate them in my thoughts, and they tasted very good!  She spoke in eagerness of how much she adores me, and showed me amazing things from the Father–things wonderful to tell!  Sometimes Wisdom comes, and sometimes Jesus comes; sometimes I am taken to the Father–but every morning I rise and eat from the good table which is made fresh for us each day, the daily Bread, the water made into the good Wine which has been saved until now!

So today I walked into PIHOP during a soaking session and I was touched by the music in the background. It was calming and the words were beautiful.. And I thought to myself “I love how there’s beautiful music in Christianity..” I feel like many protestant churches are starting to embrace the arts once more. Hooray!

How about beautiful thinkers? Our intellectual capacity is a gift from God. And as Christians, we need to be a people who think well.

Our thought life should be consecrated to the Lord.. Can our thoughts be so well-ordered and specific that the Shekinah glory can rest in our thought life as well? I think so. May all our thoughts be on bended knee towards our God. I love people like G.K. Chesterton and Dallas Willard who cut away through subtle fallacies of the day through their profound thoughts. Heed the words of G.K. Chesterton and Dallas Willard:

“To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it.”
(G.K. Chesterton)

“No one need worry about our getting the best of God in some bargain with him, or that we might somehow succeed in using him for our purposes. Anyone who thinks this is a problem has seriously underestimated the intelligence and agility of our Father in the heavens. He will not be tricked or cheated.”
(Dallas Willard)