In God We Trust…

One of my gifts is that of teaching people to hear from God. My sincere question to someone describing a dream, vision or something else and asking me my thoughts, is “What is God saying to you about this?” Because at the end of the day it may in fact have more value and more insight then the best prophetic word you can receive. Only the other day a “pre-believer” asked me about hearing from God. In the beginning you may be unsure. You may not even be sure. But, I would say to you God truly has you on speed dial and is looking for you to answer and hear His voice.

But He also gave us the body of believers to help us as well. A community of wisdom and counsel.

As a child I had to learn new words, phrases and understand who and what the person was that was saying them. I had to do the same with God. Oh, I heard words, saw pictures, had dreams and more. But, I needed to learn to sort things out. If God had just said to me “go to the store and there you will give a man in a red shirt a word about his daughter” that would have been great. I am not saying He does not do that , but usually He is sharing things with me that rely on my understanding Him. I had to come to the place of understanding His voice, His love and His kindness. That changed a lot of how I interpreted what He was saying.

And for the same reason I became so thankful for those who invested in my life; their wisdom, kindness and love. I found trusted counsel in the life decisions I was making. My spiritual parents provided me with their understanding of God. They broke out their depth of knowledge and helped me walk through the pitfalls of life decision. I trusted them because they trusted God. They walked with Him. They saw what He was doing in their life and mine. They shared that with me.

Because they had developed a strong relationship with me and I had watched where they were, when I came up on life and its circumstances they were there to help me.

Over the years as a believer I have had many choices before me. Choices about family, work, business and ministry. I relied on these people to see me, to see God and to help me discern the proper choices. I did not always value some of the input and chose differently. Sometimes to my own disaster. For the most part they allowed me to move on. I can see in retrospect there might have been a better decision and CERTAINLY a better response from my side.

There were a couple of times where I accepted counsel and it was disastrous for me. I over rode what I heard from God. Be sure of the people you place your trust in. Know that they are NOT infallible, despite having your best interests at heart. Trust of God is key regardless of how you get there.

Having someone you can trust, who can be objective, is one of the best things that can happen to you. While giving contemplation to my move a few years ago, I needed people in my life. I had heard God speak “move” audibly to me a few years before. I shared and people thought that can not be. Over the next few months we delayed and the decision was made to hire a contractor to do some work and the short story was my home was destroyed and my wife and I moved. How much easier would it have been to just hear God and move? But I found trusted folks in my life who cared about me and helped me with the decisions I faced. They helped me through the next stages.

Trusted counsel can be an invaluable asset. So often it is people who have gone “before” you who can share their experiences and hope with you. I wish when I was in my teens and twenties I had had the value of trusted counsel in my life. But I was on the fast track to destruction. I could make a million and lose a million. I was in anything can be replaced mode. I found myself sick, lifeless and on severe medication as the result of bad choices. I chose friends wrongly. Relationships never had trust. I look back and think how valuable would listening have been?

Not everyone had the trust issues I had. But I persevered on my path. Not everyone made the bad choices I made. But I kept looking for the answer.

If I have learned one thing in 59 years, it is this. God has and will put people in your life who care. Your hardest choice will not be to listen, but to trust enough to run with their words.