Listening To and Listening For God…

Listening To and Listening For God…

And it came to pass, when the children of Israel cried out to the Lord because of the Midianites, that the Lord sent a prophet to the children of Israel, who said to them, “Thus says the Lord God of Israel: ‘I brought you up from Egypt and brought you out of the house of bondage; and I delivered you out of the hand of the Egyptians and out of the hand of all who oppressed you, and drove them out before you and gave you their land. Also I said to you, “I am the Lord your God; do not fear the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell.” But you have not obeyed My voice.” ~Judges 6:7-10 NKJB

Do you believe that God speaks directly to you? If not, why? If so, do you believe what He says to you? Do you abide by His word or do you cast it aside? When you hear words that are not spoken from where do they arise? When words, identities specifically, arise and we call ourselves a “moron”, “idiot”, “drug-addicted”, “murderer”, “rapist” “unworthy” do we believe these lies are our identity in Christ? These are what the enemy, the devil / satan, calls us and we so easily believe these false identities while rejecting the voice of our Lord God telling us “you are mine forever“, “you are my greatest creation” “you will succeed beyond your wildest imagination” “you are worthy” “you are intelligent” “you are beautiful”. Nothing the Father says is evil, He is incapable of telling lies or doing evil. Only the enemy can do evil and spread lies.

Learning Our Christ Identity

It is not uncommon for couples to “rename” their spouse and give them the name that springs forth from their heart. Whatever that “identity” is it no doubt means “deepest love” “precious” “forever” or similar meanings in the heart that speaks the identity to their spouse. This is how it works. When we go before God, clear the wreckage, open our heart, mind and soul God speaks through us and He speaks through other people as well. If we go directly to God, God will in turn speak directly to us. However, God, will not speak to a false identity, an identity that He did give us – “alcoholic”, “murderer” or the like. When we listen to and for God He speaks directly to us and tells us what we must do.

And the angel of the Lord appeared unto him, and said unto him, The Lord is with thee, thou mighty man of valour. And Gideon said unto him, Oh my Lord, if the Lord be with us, why then is all this befallen us? and where be all his miracles which our fathers told us of, saying, Did not the Lord bring us up from Egypt? but now the Lord hath forsaken us, and delivered us into the hands of the Midianites.
And the Lord looked upon him, and said, Go in this thy might, and thou shalt save Israel from the hand of the Midianites: have not I sent thee?
And he said unto him, Oh my Lord, wherewith shall I save Israel? behold, my family is poor in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father’s house.my family…: Heb. my thousand is the meanest
And the Lord said unto him, Surely I will be with thee, and thou shalt smite the Midianites as one man.~ Judges 6:12-16 KJB

The angel of Lord (Holy Spirit) comes to Gideon and tells him specifically what he must do in the name of the Lord God. Gideon is not alone, but is leading the charge in this quest, he is one of many. Gideon is living in his Christ identity as the “mighty man of valour” and not the villager living in fear of the armies, in fear of these lesser gods standing against him. God, the One True God, is with Him and the others, as Gideon transforms into his true Christ identity. It’s right there in the Word of God. We just have to see it, hear it and live it.

Either the Scripture is the divine Word of God teaching us how to live and how to be a reflection of Him, or it’s nothing more than a historical account of events.