Last week we talked about Recognising God’s Voice.
• Thoughts that come to us can originate from God, from ourselves or Satan.
• We are called to TEST the spirits in 1 John 4, to check these impressions and thoughts.
How do we do that? We went through 4 ways to test an impression:
1. Does it agree with the Bible?
2. Does it make me more like Christ?
3. Does my church family affirm it?
4. Do I sense God’s peace about it?
Today we want to end the series with this – how to receive guidance from God.
• We want to look at the experience of a prophet Habakkuk - 5th last book of the OT.
• This book is unique in that it has to do with the prophet conversation with God. Usually prophets proclaim God’s messages to the people, but this book record the prophet’s complain to God and God’s answer to him.
• You see the subtitles in your bible – Habakkuk’s complaint and the Lord’s answer; his 2nd complaint and God’s answer. Chapter 3 ends with his prayer of praise to God.
• He was upset at the violence and injustice he saw in his own nation Judah (Southern Kingdom). The Northern Kingdom, Israel has already been destroyed.
Read Hab 2:1-3
Learning from Habakkuk, there are 3 attitudes we can adopt, if we are serious about receiving guidance from God.
1. Believe God cares about you.
• Habakkuk is serious about waiting for God to answer. He believes and expects God to do so. He is going to station himself on top of the watchtower and wait.
• The Lord says to Jeremiah: “Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know.” (Jer 33:3)
• Psalm 91:15 “He will call upon me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble, I will deliver him and honour him.”
If Jesus says in Matt 6:31-32, not to "worry about what you eat or drink or wear; Your heavenly Father knows you need these things" – it means God is concerned even to the point of what you eat, drink or wear.
• Most of the time we don’t seek Him because we felt some things are too small, too insignificant to bother God.
• I think He is far more interested in you and your situation than you think He is.
• So the first important attitude we must have is to believe that God is bother about your concerns, He cares about every little detail in your lives.
2. Ask God for specific request (question).
• Habakkuk has no qualms about asking God why. He is complaining to God, in fact. He wanted answer and He dared ask God for it.
• Most stopped short at this point. How can we get an answer if we do not ask? How would you learn if we do not ask in class, when in doubt?
• James 4:2 “You do not have, because you do not ask God.” Think for a moment, what are some things you did not ask God.
The Lord says, “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.” (Matt 7:7-8)
(1) There is man’s part and God’s part – man is to ask, seeks and knocks. God will respond. Jesus seems to emphasize it with verse 8. God wants to give, answer, open door. Our part is to ask, seek, and knock. This is the problem, man do not often do that.
(2) Ask means a heart of humility. Seek means a heart of desire (takes time & effort). Knock means a heart of waiting on God. Trust God.
3. Expect God to answer.
Habakkuk says, “I will stand at my watch and station myself on the ramparts; I will look to see what he will say to me, and what answer I am to give to this complaint.” (Hab 2:1)
• He is preparing himself to receive the answer. I do not know how long he waited. But the important thing is that God answered him. He always does.
We are called to expect an answer, not to expect a positive answer but to expect an answer. God don’t always say YES. God tells you His will and plan.
• James 1:5-8 5If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him. 6But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. 7That man should not think he will receive anything from the Lord; 8he is a double-minded man, unstable in all he does.
It is not easy for God to get through to us, because we are not really listening.
• We pray and do not expect God to answer.
• It took God four times to get through to Samuel. Interesting – 1 Sam 3:1-10.
Habakkuk set us a good example. We can learn from the steps he took to draw near to God, ask God and then receiving His answer.
1. He WITHDRAW to the watchtower – a DESIRE to hear God
He said he wants to hear from God. Why watchtower? It is a quiet place.
• Find a place where you can be quiet and get alone with God and listen.
• Luke 5:16 says “Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed.” Circle ‘often’.
• Jesus led a very active life, yet in spite of that it says He often withdrew. He made it a habit. If He needed to do it, certainly we do too.
One of the reasons why you don't hear God speak to you more is because you are surrounded by noise.
• The radio is always on, the TV is always on, and the computer is always on, we are surrounded by noise. So you can't hear the still small voice of God.
• The world around you is so loud you never hear the still, small voice of God.
• 1 Kings 19:11-12 - God asked Elijah to come out of the cave (Mt Horeb) because He is going to meet him, but God was not in the strong wind – earthquake – fire, but in a whisper.
SUSSANNA WESLEY
It is difficult in our times to find a truly quiet place.
Susanna Wesley was the mother of 18 children. Two of her sons, Charles and John, shaped England in their day. Charles Wesley wrote several hundred songs and hymns which churches still sing today. John Wesley was the founder of the Methodist denomination. Both men had a profound affect.
With 18 kids, how did Susanna Wesley ever find a quiet place to pray? This was her solution. Every afternoon she would sit in her living room and throw her apron up over her head. The children knew that when mother was in her rocking chair with her apron up over her head she was not to be disturbed.
2. He wants to WAIT for God’s answer – an EXPECTATION of God’s response.
Ps 46:10 “Be still, and know that I am God.”
Waiting means to calm your thoughts and emotions. You need to quiet yourself down.
• It seems that Habakkuk was prepared to stay up there until he hears God’s voice.
• He is prepared to wait. Many today are not hearing God’s voice because, firstly, we are not alone with God, in a quiet place. And secondly, we are too much in a hurry to wait.
One author describes it with this illustration:
A young woman dreamed she died and went to heaven. An angel shows her around a room with stacks of boxes of prayer requests, and notice box in one corner. These are unclaimed answers.
The angel said, “When any of God's children make requests to him, preparations are made to give the answer. But when we finally bring the answers to them, they have left. So we are told to bring these answers back and put it in this box called ‘Unclaimed Answers’.”
They are not serious with the requests, or they have little faith that God will answer.
Habakkuk waited and received God’s answer. And in that answer, he was asked to wait.
• Hab 2:2-3 “Then the LORD replied: "Write down the revelation and make it plain on tablets so that a herald may run with it. 3For the revelation awaits an appointed time; it speaks of the end and will not prove false. Though it linger, wait for it; it will certainly come and will not delay.”
• God is not in a hurry. He is always on time. We are the one in a hurry. “God, I've got 30 seconds for you. Go!” Hurry is the death of prayer.
• God speaks to people who take the time to listen. If you're in a hurry, chances are that you are not going to hear Him well.
So besides having a quiet spot, you need to mentally and emotionally calm yourself down.
3. He was told to WRITE down God’s answer – note what He says, be SERIOUS about it
Record the impression you receive. Hab 2:2 “Write down the revelation and make it plain on tablets so that a herald may run with it.”
• God wants him to proclaim it, so he needs to jot it down. He needs to ACT ON IT.
Take note of what God reveals. Some likes to write them onto their bibles.
• It’s spiritual journaling – similar to writing a diary but instead of noting down events and activities, you note down what God impresses upon you.
• It can come from your reading, your praying time, a sharing with a fellow brother or sister in Christ, or from a sermon you listened to.
This is how we got the Bible.
• Godly men and women who were spending time praying and talking to God, and when God talked back, they wrote it down. They wrote down what God wants to tell the people, or tell the church (in many of Paul’s letters).
We are serious about what we hear. It’s not the same as listening to news.
• This message has to do with our lives. We need to act on it.
• God does not speak to increase our knowledge but to change our lives.
• So we WITHDRAW, WAIT and WRITE down what He says.
We need to take such pit-stops in life. Robert Holden in his book Success Intelligence says:
TAKING PIT-STOPS IN LIFE
The Formula One motor racing is the fastest sport in the world. Central to the strategy of winning a Formula One race is the pit-stop. No driver, no matter how fast they drive, can win a race without taking a pit-stop.
In pit-stop the drivers take refreshment, receive instructions, have engine repairs, refuel the tank and set off on fresh tires. A Formula One race is all about speed and strategy - and it is in the timing and management of the pit-stop that the race is often won.
... Robert Holden, Success Intelligence, p.14.
It’s like the ‘time-out’ in basketball where you take a break to listening to the coach, giving very critical instructions for the need of that moment.
• Stopping can save us so much time, so many mistakes and so many heartaches.
In life, we need to take pit-stops.
• Prayer and devotion time is a pit-stop. A Sabbath is a pit-stop.
• Stopping not only helps us connect more deeply with God, it helps us remember our vision, re-orientate our bearings in life, and refuel for the journey ahead.
• Only God can rekindle our faith and restore our strength.
• We are making ourselves available to receive when we take time off to connect with God.
