Day 231

It's Day 231 of  The Red Shoe Project and I've been up and about in RED shoes since 6 a.m.  I want give a shout out of  "THANKS!"  to all of you who have been tuning in to this mini-series on "Hearing God's Voice."  I've never had so many technical difficulties than I have these past few days while getting these specific messages posted.  They have taken hours longer to put together, and twice I have completely lost them right as I was posting, and had to re-write them from memory.  I'm trusting that the re-writes are better than the originals.

It seems the enemy is  trying his best to discourage me.  But I will not be discouraged!  A dear friend of mine just preached a message last week on
"Don't sit down and align yourself with discouragement!"
I called her today, told her what happened and asked her to pray me through this series.  Her words, to me, were this:  "You must be on the verge of a breakthrough!"  I'm totally embracing that!  I believe that it's not just a breakthrough of sorts for me, but that...

It's a Breakthrough 

FOR YOU!

I know that God wants to bring VICTORY in many of our lives, especially in the area of communication with Him.  He wants to have better connections with his children -- deeper, more intimate relationships.  I also know this...

 The devil hates it when Believers 

start fasting, looking for God 

and listening for His voice.

No worries... We are in this together.  Know that I am continually lifting you up in prayer, before the throne of God!  I have no doubts that God is speaking to many of you on this particular topic.  I know, because you've told me so!  Be encouraged!

Today, Let's take a look at a the...

 #2  Hindrance in Hearing God's Voice:

Unforgiveness!

If you take:  Unforgiveness,  Resentment,  

Bitterness,  Anger, Harboring Bad Feelings,  

Holding Grudges,  Unresolved Conflicts and Hatred

and put them all together, you get  

 -- A Garbage Dump --

a stinky, smelly, putrid, foul smelling, decaying mess! 

No one wants to have a conversation while sitting in the middle of a land fill... including God.  He makes it clear that we are to take care of those issues before coming to Him.  

"And when you stand praying, 

if you hold anything against anyone, 

forgive them, so that your Father

in heaven may forgive you."

Mark 11:25

"Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar 

and there remember that your brother or sister has 

something against you, leave your gift there in front 

of the altar.  First go and be reconciled to them; 

then come and offer your gift. "

Matthew 5:23-24

Several times over the last year, I have been in conversations with people who have had difficulty hearing God's voice.  One of the first questions I always ask is, "Are you holding on to unforgiveness?  Are you harboring resentment towards anyone?"  I've found that most people don't understand the severity of those things.  And it's not just about hindering ones ability to hear God's voice.  It's so much worse.  Unforgiveness brings about anxiety, disease and death!  It will tear you apart physically, emotionally and spiritually.  

Unforgiveness puts you in bondage. 

You become a SLAVE to it! 

 Like chains of steel, it wraps itself 

around you until you can't move a muscle.  

The Good News is...

Jesus can set you FREE from it!

If this is the obstacle that's holding you back from Hearing God's Voice,  it's time to focus your attention on rectifying this so that you can move forward.  Keep in mind, you don't have to be holding resentment towards everybody, you just have to be holding resentment towards somebody.  That's right... just ONE case puts you in this category.  

Now I'm not going to pretend that forgiving is easy... or that you can resolve everything in a day.  But START today!  With God's help,  you can do this!  A quick trip to Google or YouTube and you'll have more messages on Unforgiveness than you need.  Start there.  Choose your favorite minister and listen up.  Then take action... even if it's one baby step at a time.   Don't let this stand in the way of you Hearing God's Voice.  Perhaps the first thing you'll hear from Him is "Well Done!"

Your Breakthrough Awaits!

In Red shoes, 

Gail

Day 230

It's Day 230 of  The Red Shoe Project.  I've already taken Pauly for his morning walk and have kicked my Red ballet flats into the corner of the room.   I have decided to go shoeless, for the rest of the day,  as I sit at my computer to worship, pray and write.  No worries... my toe nails are a
ruby red  and will remind me to stay focused on what God wants to accomplish in my heart today, as well as in this blog.

As I continue to organize the thoughts in my head regarding Hearing God's Voice, I have, myself, been challenged to go even deeper.  Already I am preparing my heart and my calendar to begin a time of fasting and prayer in the near future.  I hope you don't think I'm preaching to you, for my writings are merely a journal of what God is doing in my heart;  His personal words of instruction to me;  my thoughts and prayers regarding spiritual matters;  and my own analysis as I struggle to figure out my individual walk with God so that I might make the most of it!

PART 3:  

Things that hinder 

my hearing God's voice.

Today I am thinking about the #1 hinderance to hearing God's voice.  

A "hindrance"  is  something that's in the way, preventing me from getting to where I want to go.  It's a...

- road block 

- delay

- snag

- deterrent,  

- impediment   

- obstacle

- barrier   

- encumbrance,

- stumbling block 

Without question, the #1 Hinderance to 

Hearing God's Voice has to be

LACK OF TIME.

I'm not going to kid you, hearing from God is awesome!  But it's also time consuming.  That's because God wants a relationship.  A relationship with anyone, let alone The God of the Universe, takes time.  With that, God doesn't always respond right when I want Him to.  Sometimes it can take hours, days, or longer.  I'm not easily offended, because I know all too well that God's time table is not the same as mine.  To him a thousand years is like a day.  But here's something to think about.  

Have you ever had someone start hanging 

around you , and it dawns on you that

 they don't really want to be your friend... 

they just want something you have?

At first they say all the right things, but it doesn't take long to recognize the phoniness of their friendship.  Enough said?  God isn't one of those carnival fortune telling machines that you drop a quarter into and out pops your horoscope.  He's also not fooled when people pop in to merely obtain a Good Word and once they have it, they disappear again.  Quite the contrary.  God is omniscient.  That means He knows everything.  He knows how I'm really doing, regardless of what I say.  He knows what I'm thinking continuously.  He knows all my doubts and insecurities.  He knows what makes me happy and what makes me sad.  He knows what makes me tick - why I do the things I do.  He even knows things about me that I haven't yet discovered.  And that's only the half of it.  He knows me top to bottom, inside and out!  And even with all that knowledge,  He still yearns to sit and talk with me.  In His time,  He will.  That's why He wants  a relationship!

But I must be willing to WAIT:

• to linger in His presence until something happens. 
• to remain in readiness for some purpose.  
• to stay put until He engages in conversation with me. 
• to rest in Him, trusting and believing, He'll respond.

"And without faith it is impossible to please God, 

because anyone who comes to Him must believe

that He exists and that He rewards those 

who earnestly seek Him."

   Hebrews 11:6

I don't think of it as "spending time."  No, it's more of an investment of my time.  I call it that because God blesses me for making time for Him.  He's the best Spiritual Banker in town, offering compounding interest at a Heavenly rate!  No one else comes close to matching that.  Time with Him is what makes me RICH!  Yes, I'm quite the wealthy women!

In closing, I want to stress that Waiting on God can be more challenging than you think.  Have you ever waited for a bus or taxi and it seemed to take forever?
Some time ago, I remember God giving me a word to give to a dear sister in the Lord.  He told me to tell her,   "He sees her. 
 He hasn't forgotten her.  And that things would be changing soon."

Well, she's still waiting.  It's been much longer than expected.  I understand, all too well, how long God's "soon" can take.  I've put it on my list with God's other terms like... "just around the corner" and "closer than you think."  But in times like this, I'm reminded of when Jesus said to the Twelve,

"You do not want to leave too, do you?"

Simon Peter answered him,

"Lord, to whom shall we go?

You have the words of eternal life."

Where else would I go?  I'd rather wait for God, than get a quick fix somewhere else, only to be disappointed in the long run.  Those quick fixes never work out.  I know because I've tried them many times.   There's an old saying,  

"Good things come to those that wait."  

That said...

I'm getting up every morning, 

putting on my Red Shoes 

and waiting!  I'm watching 

and waiting for Him.  

Perhaps "soon" will arrive with Him today!

Gail