I Heard A Hushed Voice

Some twenty years ago a friend gave me a book entitled True Peace.

It had an old medieval message and this one primary thought...

That God was waiting in the depths of my being to speak to me if I would only be still enough to hear His voice.

I assumed this would not be a difficult thing to do, so I tried to be still.

No sooner had I begun to do so than complete pandemonium seemed to break loose.

Suddenly I heard a thousand voices and sounds from without and within, until I could hear nothing except these incredible noises.

Some were my own words, my own questions, and even my own prayers, while others were temptations of the Enemy, and the voices of the world’s turmoil.

In every direction I turned, I was pushed, pulled, and confronted with indescribable unrest and overwhelming noises.

I seemed compelled to listen to some of them and to respond in some way.

But God said, “Be still, and know that I am God”

Psa 46:10  Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth.

Then my mind was filled with worries over my responsibilities and plans for tomorrow, and God said again, “Be still.”

As I listened and slowly learned to obey, I shut my ears to every other sound. 

Soon I discovered that once the other voices ceased, or once I ceased to hear them, “a gentle whisper” (1 Kings 19:12) began to speak in the depths of my being. 

And it spoke to me with an inexpressible tenderness, power, and comfort.

This “gentle whisper” became for me the voice of prayer, wisdom, and service. 

No longer did I need to work so hard to think, pray, or trust, because the Holy Spirit’s “gentle whisper” in my heart was God’s prayer in the secret places of my soul. 

It was His answer to all my questions, and His life and strength for my soul and body. 

His voice became the essence of all knowledge, prayer, and blessings, for it was the living God Himself as my life and my all.

This is precisely how our spirit drinks in the life of our risen Lord. 

And then we are enabled to face life’s conflicts and responsibilities, like a flower that has absorbed the cool and refreshing drops of dew through the darkness of the night. 

Yet just as dew never falls on a stormy night, the dew of His grace never covers a restless soul. 

~A. B. Simpson~

In Line With God's Purpose Whether Active Or Inactive

    

Heb 13:21  Make you perfect in every good work to do his will, working in you that which is wellpleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ; to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.

So long as we are in line with God’s purpose His work can go on in us. 

What matters is not first of all our activity. 

God is more concerned with what is done in us than what we do for Him. 

He often reaches His end with us much better when we are in a state of inactivity than in times of much work. 

The hand of the Potter was upon Moses when he was in the wilderness where he could not do much. 

During forty years he was just looking after a few sheep. 

That is not very grand. 

No doubt he wondered sometimes to what purpose he was there, whether his life had any value. 

But principalities and powers saw something and wondered at God’s wisdom. 

God knew how to equip this man, how to get His way in that life. 

That is true in the case of many a servant of God. 

God is working for good, He is shaping His vessel. 

There is wisdom in all His dealings with us. 

But we have to see to it that we have no plans or personal ambitions of our own. 

The clay has to be completely in His hands. 

If we are really here for God, we can be assured that He will reach His end, that He may work out His purpose in us. 

And there we shall find strength.

Are you sure you are in the great purpose of God? 

Everybody has some part in it. 

Paul, when speaking of the church, illustrates it thus: “that all the body is fitly framed and knit together through that which every joint supplies.” 

No part of the body is without function. 

Each and every one has to be in God’s purpose. 

Some parts may be very small, they nevertheless are equally important. 

We have to remember that God has called us for a purpose which will be realized as we abandon ourselves to Him. 

Whatever it may be to which He has called us, let us be ready and do it. 

A Holy Spirit possessed life is always marked by purpose. 

Nothing can be lost in such a life; let us not believe in mere generalities. 

That is not good enough. 

There is something far more definite in God’s thoughts for our lives.

Let us abandon all personal desires, and be filled with the Spirit of urgency - “straight away.” 

Those who know that they are called of God, and who definitely recognize the purpose of their life, will be wholly given up to it. 

Such no longer have any interest for the things of this earth. 

They have no time to lose. 

They must buy up their time.

~T. Austin Sparks~

                                                                     

Complete Deliverance

Jer 39:17  But I will deliver thee in that day, saith the LORD: and thou shalt not be given into the hand of the men of whom thou art afraid. 

When the LORD's faithful ones are suffering for Him, they shall have sweet messages of love from Himself...

And sometimes they shall have glad tidings for those who sympathize with them and help them. 

Ebed-melech was only a despised Ethiopian, but he was kind to Jeremiah...

And so the LORD sent him this special promise by the mouth of His prophet.

Let us be ever mindful of God's persecuted servants, and He will reward us.

Ebed-melech was to be delivered from the men whose vengeance he feared. 

He was a humble... man, but Jehovah would take care of him. 

Thousands were slain by the Chaldeans, but [he] could not be hurt. 

We, too, may be fearful of some great ones who are bitter against us...

But if we have been faithful to the LORD's cause in the hour of persecution, He will be faithful to us. 

After all, what can a man do without the LORD's permission? 

He puts a bit into the mouth of rage and a bridle upon the head of power. 

Let us fear the LORD, and we shall have no one else to fear. 

No cup of cold water given to a despised prophet of God shall be without its reward...

And if we stand up for Jesus, Jesus will stand up for us. 

~Charles Spurgeon~