"Living Life God's Way"

1/7/2008

God does not offer us a way out of the testings of life.

He offers us a way through, and that makes all the difference.

W. T. Purkiser

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Guidance

"....He will be our guide even to the end...."

Psalm 48:14

How come when someone speaks to God we say, "they are praying'" but when they claaim that God speaks to them we say, "They are flaky?" Has God suddenly stopped speaking to His children? Would you stop speaking to yours? John Calvin described God's guidance as the "ineer testimony of the Holy Spirit." Saint Ignatius called it "movements of the souls - thought, feelings, or desires...given to us by God." These may come as a convictionof sin, as assurance of God's love, or the call to do a certain thing. But They are"a must" for the Spirit-guided life.

To hear from God you must be receptive; and sometimes desperate! During a rough time in Jacob's life God appeared to him in a dream, saying, "I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go..." (genesis 28:15 NIV). When Jacob awoke the next morning he said, "Surely the Lord is in this place, and I was not aware of it" (Geneis 28:16 NIV). "Not aware," do those words describe you?

As you read these words your thoughts are being guided by a writer. Do you not think that God acn do the same, or better? Actually, God can guide your thoughts without the aid of intervening sounds or images. Look what happened to Samuel when he was a boy. God spoke to him one night in the temple, but he did not know it was God speaking. He needed the help of Eli the priest to learn to recognize the voice of God. But when he did, his life changed dramatically - and your will too!

Word for Today; Bob Gass; 5/2/2005

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