Just Continue That Thought...

A thought by Mark Batterson from his book,    Whisper: How to Hear the Voice of God (p. 82). The Crown Publishing Group. Kindle Edition. (Click on the book title to go to Amazon.com to buy the book.) Five days a week Margaret and I get on the 101 and head to her job.   One of the great pleasures is to see the Sun coming up over the San Gabriel Mountains.   God created the Sunrise for a lot of reasons and our pleasure is one of them. Mark says, “When did we start believing that God wants to send us to places we don’t want to go to do things we don’t want to do? Sure, taking up our cross involves sacrifice. But when we delight ourselves in the Lord, God will give us the desire to do whatever He’s called us to do, no matter how difficult it is.” He goes on, “I’ve had many conversations with church planters over the years, and one of the common questions they wrestle with is where to plant a church. Many of them have done demographic studies, and that’s due diligence. But I a

A thought by Mark Batterson from his book, Whisper: How to Hear the Voice of God (p. 80). The Crown Publishing Group. Kindle Edition. (Click on the book title to go to Amazon.com to buy the book.) What do you love to do?   What is your greatest desire? Mark shares, “When I was in seminary, there was a distinct moment when I felt called to write. I was praying in the chapel when the still small voice whispered, Mark, I’ve called you to be a voice to your generation. The irony is that I had just taken a graduate assessment that showed a low aptitude for writing. “Writing is not a natural gifting, but God compensated for that by giving me a strong desire to write. And trust me, it takes a ton of desire to meet deadlines. Sometimes your desires will line up with your talents, and that’s where you’re doubly dangerous to the Enemy! But God also calls us to do things that are outside our skill sets, requiring tremendous dependence upon His help. He goes on, “At first my de

A thought by Mark Batterson from his book, Whisper: How to Hear the Voice of God (p. 78). The Crown Publishing Group. Kindle Edition. (Click on the book title to go to Amazon.com to buy the book.) Are you trying to be who you aren’t? Mark says, “American psychologist Abraham Maslow may have said it best: ‘A musician must make music, a builder must build, an artist must paint, a poet must write if he is to be ultimately at peace with himself.’  And I’d say not just ‘at peace’ but ‘at liberty.’” Here is a great point, he says, “What’s the point in trying to be who you aren’t? If you succeed, you is who you ain’t, and you ain’t who you is. You’re actually less like the person God designed you and destined you to be. That isn’t succeeding; it’s failing. And I, for one, would rather fail at something I love than succeed at something I don’t. And it starts with deciphering our desires.” Psalm 37:4 says, “Take delight in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of

A thought by Mark Batterson from his book, Whisper: How to Hear the Voice of God (p. 76). The Crown Publishing Group. Kindle Edition. (Click on the book title to go to Amazon.com to buy the book.) Oh, we want to make everything easy, don’t we?   Or we make things too difficult so we won’t try. Mark says, “I wish that hearing the voice of God was as easy as reading, but it’s not. It requires meditating, praying, and contemplating. Ironically, it’s only as we slow ourselves down that the Holy Spirit quickens us. But there is one more piece to the puzzle. “’Christianity has not so much been tried and found wanting,’ said G. K. Chesterton, ‘as it has been found difficult and left untried.’ You can’t just read the Word, meditate on it, pray through it, and contemplate it. You have to do it. Until you obey it, you’ve simply been educated beyond the level of your obedience.” Mark goes on, “’I wonder what would happen,’ said Peter Marshall, ‘if we all agreed to read one of t