Hear the Voice

Photo by iMorpheus on Flickr.

By Lisa Nordell-Detres

Have you ever heard God speak to you? Sometimes life would be so much easier if we could just hear a voice tell us what to do next. Although it does not always work that way, there are ways to tune up your heart and soul to hear the voice of God just like Elijah and the prophets of old.

First of all, you need to know what God has already said to humanity by reading His Word, the Bible. It is quite all right if you don’t understand it all, jot down your questions in a journal and keep on reading. The interesting thing about reading the Bible is that each time you read it, you are in a slightly different place, so different elements will stand out in your mind. Write those things down in your journal, too.

The next thing you need to do is to follow Jesus on His terms, as the Bible teaches. In the 10th chapter of the Gospel of John, Jesus compares Himself to a good shepherd who cares enough about His flock to lay down His life for them. The important part about this analogy is that His sheep know the voice of their Shepherd and will run away from any other voices who call them. We cannot expect to hear His voice if we don’t even belong to Him! Romans 10:9 spells out how to belong to Jesus: “If you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe with your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.” (NKJV)

Finally, we live in a very noisy world, so turn off the noise and listen. As Elijah learned in his mountaintop experience with God in I Kings 19:8-13, the voice of God was not heard in a loud windstorm, an earthquake or in a fire, but rather in a still, small voice; a whisper. Once we are familiar with God as He has revealed Himself through the Bible, we need to spend time in prayer, talking with God. Some of that time needs to be spent quietly listening. Allow God’s voice to speak into your thoughts through your open heart. Allow yourself some peace and quiet throughout your day, like when you are driving in your car or working out. Music is great, I love music, but sometimes we need to just turn everything off and listen to the silence. That is where you will hear God when He chooses to speak.

Lisa Nordell-Detres is a mother of four, grandma to two boys with a third on the way (!), a pastor’s wife and has worked in the garment and customer service industries in southern California. Besides writing, Lisa enjoys cooking, sewing, organic gardening, hiking, skiing and doing most anything outside.

Lisa was born and raised in Denver, Colorado, studied Christian Apologetics at Simon Greenleaf University, holds a Bachelor’s of Science in Fashion Design from Woodbury University and an MBA from California State University at Northridge. Lisa, her husband and their youngest child now live in central Oregon.

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I Love this Guy!

Cropped photo from tsheko on Flickr.

By Lisa Nordell-Detres

Elijah is my favorite prophet from the Bible for many reasons, but here are the top three characteristics that endear Elijah to my heart.

First of all, Elijah boldly stood up for God at a time in Israel’s history when it looked as if he was the only one left who would. King Ahab and his queen Jezebel (ring any bells?) were in power and one of the first things they did was to round up all the Jewish priests who served God and slaughter them. No wonder Elijah felt so alone! Elijah told Ahab that there would be a severe drought in Israel because of Ahab’s wicked decisions.

Secondly, Elijah listened to God. One of the key concepts in the 1 Kings account of Elijah is that “the word of the LORD came to Elijah.” Each time this is stated in the passage, Elijah listened and more importantly, he obeyed; he acted according to God’s instructions.

How many times in our lives are we prompted to do something that we know is the right thing to do, but we are too busy, too afraid or too self-involved to carry out our orders? We will delve deeper into the art of hearing God later, but think about this question in the meantime.

The third quality about Elijah that I find intriguing is that this man of God suffered from depression. The important thing to remember about Elijah’s depression is that while he did withdraw from people when he was depressed, he never withdrew from God. Even at his lowest moment in 1 Kings 19:4, Elijah cried out to God. OK, he did ask God to kill him right then, but he sought God even in the depths of despair and left the actions to God. Knowing Elijah’s state, God sent an angel to tend to Elijah’s physical needs while he recuperated.

If you read on about the life of Elijah, not only did God not kill him then, God never did allow Elijah to see death, but rather took him straight to heaven! Remember to seek God at all times, especially when all seems to be lost. God be with you!

Lisa Nordell-Detres is a mother of four, grandma to two boys with a third on the way (!), a pastor’s wife and has worked in the garment and customer service industries in southern California. Besides writing, Lisa enjoys cooking, sewing, organic gardening, hiking, skiing and doing most anything outside.

Lisa was born and raised in Denver, Colorado, studied Christian Apologetics at Simon Greenleaf University, holds a Bachelor’s of Science in Fashion Design from Woodbury University and an MBA from California State University at Northridge. Lisa, her husband and their youngest child now live in central Oregon.

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Can You Hear Me Now?

Picture by Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com on Flickr.

By Lisa Nordell-Detres

This question was such a marketing success that it has become cliché, but how many times do we ask God that same question? In times of our deepest despair, we fear that we have been abandoned, so we cry out to God, over and over, louder and louder, “Can you hear me? Help me!” Then we wait for God to appear like a genie at our beck and call, ready to snap his fingers and grant our wishes and petitions. If God chooses not to show up at our queue, we may get angry and cry even louder, or worse yet, turn our backs on God and walk away from Him.

When I read the first five chapters of Proverbs, I get the distinct feeling that God might have some of the same feelings towards us. Over ten times in those chapters, God tells us to listen to Him, to pay attention to what He has to say to us, “Therefore, hear me now,” (Proverbs 5:7 NKJV) When we are crying out to Him, He is right there with words of wisdom for us, but because we are making so much noise like a child throwing a tantrum, we cannot hear Him.

“CAN YOU HEAR ME NOW?” We scream.

“Can you hear me now?” God whispers. “I love you, my child. I know how much you are hurting and I am right here beside you, taking you through these difficult times. If you trust me and listen to me, you will gain more personal strength, wisdom and understanding because you experienced these trials.”

We need to trust that God has heard our prayers and then turn off the noise in our lives, quiet our minds and open our hearts to what He needs to tell us. Jesus assured us in Matthew 6:8 that God knows what we need before we even ask Him, but goes on to teach us to pray the Lord’s Prayer in verses 9-13. We need to pray, to talk to God because this is one way of drawing near to Him, but as with any conversation, we also need to listen.

Lisa Nordell-Detres is a mother of four, grandma to two boys with a third on the way (!), a pastor’s wife and has worked in the garment and customer service industries in southern California. Besides writing, Lisa enjoys cooking, sewing, organic gardening, hiking, skiing and doing most anything outside.

Lisa was born and raised in Denver, Colorado, holds a Bachelor’s of Science in Fashion Design from Woodbury University and an MBA from California State University at Northridge. Lisa, her husband and their youngest child now live in central Oregon.

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