encounter, friday

Friday, May 15

Opening Prayer: Lord, teach me to listen.  The times are noisy and my ears are weary with the thousand raucous sounds which continuously assault them.  Give me the spirit of the boy Samuel when he said to Thee, “Speak, for thy servant heareth.”  Let me hear Thee speaking in my heart.  Let me get used to the sound of Thy voice, that its tones may be familiar when the sounds of earth die away and the only sound will be the music of Thy speaking voice.  Amen.  (The Pursuit of God by A. W. Tozer)

Scripture: 1 Samuel 3:1-11

Journal: What does God’s voice sound like?  How do you know when he is speaking to you?  When was a time where you felt like, in your Spirit, that you had clearly heard from God?  What did he say?  How did Samuel finally figure out God was calling him?  Who is an Eli in your life?

Reflection:

 

     There are four ways in which He reveals His will to us—through the Scriptures, through providential circumstances, through the convictions of our own higher judgment, and through the inward impressions of the Holy Spirit on our minds.  Where these four harmonize, it is safe to say that God speaks.

    For I lay it down as a foundation principle, which no one can gainsay, that of course His voice will always be in harmony with itself, no matter in how many different ways He may speak.  The voices may be many, the message can be but one.  If God tells me in one voice to do or to leave undone anything, He cannot possibly tell me the opposite in another voice.  If there is a contradiction in the voices, the speakers cannot be the same.  Therefore my rule for distinguishing the voice of God would be to bring it to the test of this harmony. (The Christian’s Secret of a Happy Life by Hannah Whitall Smith)

Prayers

Closing Prayer: Speak, O Lord, as we come to You, to receive the food of Your holy word.  Take Your truth, plant it deep in us; shape and fashion us in Your likeness, that the light of Christ might be seen today, in our acts of love and our deeds of faith.  Speak, O Lord, and fulfill in us all your purposes, for Your glory. (Speak O Lord by Stuart Townend, Keith Getty)