Day 236

After six hours of preparation, the blog for Day 236 of  The Red Shoe Project was mistakenly deleted and lost due to technical difficulties at 3 a.m.  No worries... I am working on it!  A rewrite will be posted soon under today's date.  Let's push that aside and get right into to the GOOD NEWS!

Something even better happened on Day 236 anyways!  It's a real life, living illustration about Hearing the Voice of God!

Yesterday was a bit unusual.  For days, I had been preparing my heart in prayer for our monthly Bible fellowship group that meets one Friday night a month at the home of some dear friends.  Many hours have gone into putting together this Hearing from God series,  so I wasn't really worried about having material to share at the study.  There was more than enough.  But God said,

"NO" -- "Don't prepare a structured study.

I'm going to do something else!" 

Okay... sounds easy enough, right?  Wrong!  The difficulty with that is that people are coming out for a Bible study.  What will people think when I've got nothing?  Not to mention when I tell them... "No need for a study, God's going to move amongst us tonight!"  Well... it can all sound a little "Woo-Woo" if you know what I mean.  Strange?  Challenging?  Scary?  YES!  But that's besides the point.   I had every intention of doing  exactly what God wanted.

At the last minute, an invitation came to go to a special afternoon ministry event taking place at Harvest Tabernacle featuring David Wagner.  An excitement arose in my Spirit!  I could hear that little voice within me shouting, "Let's Go!"   I knew if I went I'd have little to no time to prepare further for the evening study.  "God,"  I prayed,  "Can you give me a little something here for tonight?"  I sensed in my Spirit that the people in attendance had heavy hearts and that God, personally, wanted to work on their insides.  At that moment,  He popped three scriptures in my mind.  Two of them dealt with worry, and one of them was a testimonial of God's saving power!  "Lord -- This one doesn't have anything to do with worry... Am I hearing you right?"  The Lord responded, "YES."  With that,  I quickly wrote down the three scripture references and tucked them in my Bible for later.  In my mind, I determined that I would split everyone into three groups, and give each group a scripture to discuss.   Later we'd pull back into a big group and see what people had to say.  This would allow me to get the group started, and I'd just wait and see what the Holy Spirit wanted to do.  It left lots of room for Him to move.  Off I headed, out the door in my RED shoes, to the afternoon church meeting.

What a powerfully, inspiring meeting it was!  The presence of God was intense.  What does that mean?  While I was sitting there and the minister was talking, I could feel the glory in the atmosphere.  As I listened intently to the message, I could hear the Holy Spirit praying within me in some divine language.  At times,  I felt my insides shaking!

The Spirit of God was doing something deep down in my soul --   Was He dancing in there?  Possibly.  Jumping up and down?  Maybe.  He was darn excited about something.

When the minister moved closer to where I was sitting, the Spirit within me intensified.  When He moved away, towards the other end of the room, it lessened slightly.  At one point, the minister called a girl out into the isle, who was sitting a couple rows up from me.  He prophesied over her,  (That means he gave her a message from God),  and she slowly fell backward onto the floor where she laid praying quietly to herself for about ten minutes.  She was only about six feet away from me.  When I looked at her,  I could see her hand was shaking.  It looked like electricity was going through it, making it vibrate.  The power of God was so strong, I began to leak.  Tears rolled down my face.

When the service was over, I went to the front for the minister to pray over me.  Without hearing a word from me,  He told me things that only God and I know.  Then He prayed for a release of God's anointing upon me.  When it was all over,  I had to sit down on a chair for a few minutes.  I couldn't walk.  My legs were like over-stretched rubber bands.  It was as if they had no bones in them to hold me up.  LOL.    I could feel that electricity rushing through my body.  I sat there with my face in my hands, weeping for some time,  praising God in whispers.  What had He done?  I don't know, but I loved it all the same.  Eventually, I opened my eyes and went back t my seat.  Most of the people had left the church by now.  My friend just smiled at me and we headed  home.

Time flew by and I found myself at the Home Group Fellowship.  I was one of the first to arrive.  The Host whispered to me that Charlie was coming tonight with his Dad.  Charlie was coming!  Oh my gosh!  No wonder the Holy Spirit asked me to push my agenda aside.  He had something special in mind -- even if I didn't have a clue what that exactly was!  The Host, her son, and I stood right there in the driveway and I prayed that God would have His way tonight, and that He'd use us to touch Charlie.

Things went as planned.  Everyone broke into groups and discussed their scriptures. Then they came back into one large group to discuss them further.  Throughout the entire time, I was asking God in my mind... "What is it that you want to do here God?"  I felt assured in my Spirit that He had all things in control.  Where was He though?

Finally, we came to the last person in the circle.  It was Charlie's turn to speak.  Being new, he didn't have a lot to say.  I asked him to read the scripture.  It was Psalm 40: 1-3.  (He took me out of the miry clay!)  For me... just hearing the Word of God flow off of Charlie's lips was glorious!  I had been challenged, at the afternoon meeting, to believe that God still does what The Bible says He does!  I was believing, that as Charlie spoke these words, it was prophetic! (That means that one day those words will be true for Charley, personally!)   I'm holding onto that!

I asked Charlie, since he was new to the group, if he'd like to ask a question.  He could ask anything.  He asked how long it took for God to move in a person's life for change to occur?  My friend's sons shared wonderful answers.  Then almost everyone in the group began to share.  I couldn't believe what I was seeing.  The Holy Spirit was moving in each of their lives as they testified of what God had done in them.  Okay... so let me explain.  Just minutes earlier, we went around the circle and they all shared their thoughts and ideas on the scriptures... but this was different.  The Holy Ghost had arrived to the party.  Passion was flowing from them!  Excitement was in the air.  God was moving and I'm not even sure they knew that was what was happening.  I looked at Charlie.  He was fine.  He seemed captivated with what God was doing -- just taking it all in.

At one point a gentlemen sharing a final testimony pounded his fist upon his chest as he boldly proclaimed his thoughts about God!   BOOM!  Something broke in the atmosphere.  I'm telling you, I don't know what happened in the Spirit realm, but something exploded.  Perhaps that was God breaking the chains of sin!  Who knows?  But this I do know:  It was right at that very moment, that God dropped the Word in my heart that pulled it all together.

Revelation 3:20

"Here I am!  I stand at the door and knock.

If anyone hears my voice and opens the door,

I will come in and eat with that person, 

and they with me."

I looked at Charlie... "It all starts, Charlie, with opening the door of your heart to God -- asking Him to reveal Himself to you.  We're going to do that tonight."  I looked at the others as we all stood holding hands in a circle.  "Let's all open our hearts wide,  for a deluge of The Father's Love to be poured in, like never before."  We prayed and God sealed all that He'd done in that little room.

Powerful!  
And it's just the beginning of what God is doing...
in Charlie's life,
in the lives of each individual in that circle,
in my life... the Girl in RED shoes.

Talk soon,
Gail

PS... I know that God planted His seed in the soil of Charlie's heart tonight, and that the Holy Spirit watered it with the testimonies and words of everyone that was present.  Believe with us, in prayer, that it's only a matter of time before Spiritual Growth becomes visible in Charlie's life!  To God be the Glory!

Day 235

It's the 235th Day of  The Red Shoe Project and I am sporting my RED shoes,  looking this way and that way for God.  Where is He today?  What is He saying to me?   Am I witnessing something awesome that He's doing right in front of me?  Is He using me to touch others?

What are YOUR ANSWERS to those questions?  

I want you to tell me.  Post a few words and let me know what's happening on your end.  I love hearing from you!

Yesterday -- in this series entitled,  Hearing God's Voice -- we talked in detail about getting all prepared to hear from God and then, hearing  "NOTHING".  

No worries... today we're going to talk about hearing SOMETHING.  God does, in fact, speak, so today and tomorrow we will focus on two common responses:  YES  and No.

PART 4:

What is it that I can I expect God to say?

and

Just how does He do that?

"Call to me and I will answer you 

and tell you great and unsearchable 

things you do not know."

Jeremiah 33:3 

1.  God sometimes says  NOTHING... (Day 234)

2.  God sometimes says  YES.............  (Day 235)

3.  God sometimes says NO...............  (Day 236)

4.  What else does God say???   (Tune in Day 237)

When I was a little girl, I remember a kid showing up at grammar school one day with a Magic 8 Ball.  "Ask me a question!"  he said, "And the Magic 8 Ball will answer you."  Someone would ask a  YES or NO question, the little boy would shake up the ball, and everyone would pull in close to view one of a handful of pre-set answers that would appear on a little screen.  "Oooooo!"  "Ahhhhh!" the children would whisper, followed by:  "Me next!" 

Okay, just so there's no misconception, I'm not here to advocate fortune-telling in any way.  It's just a story I know that many of us can relate to.  People want to know what  The God of the Universe  has to say about things.  But if you think Hearing from God is a schoolyard game, you're wrong.  It's real and it's serious stuff!  Don't be thinking that there are a bunch of pre-set answers that God gives out, because that's simply not the case.  Does He say YES and NO?  Absolutely!  But He's also known to go into great detail as well.  He gave Moses intricate instructions regarding the tabernacle.  And He was very specific on how Noah was to build the ark. (Just to name a few).

That said, there are times when I'm just looking for a simply YES or NO.  I want to make sure that I am, in fact, hearing from God about something, before I take the final leap of faith to do it.   I want a confirmation!

*God, Can I trust this person?

*Is this the way you want to go?

*Shall I do this with the money?

*Am I on the right track here?

*Are you with me on this, Lord?

*Is this what you want me to say?

*Is this what you're thinking, God?
* Is this really going to work?
* Do you want me to do this now?

The other day, while Prayer Walking in my RED sneakers, there were several things I wanted to make sure that I was hearing correctly from God.  

Question #1  Did I hear you correctly Lord? -- 

Are you really going to do this?

Like a neon sign, a big YES! flashed on in the forefront of my mind.

I was kind of taken back by the boldness of it all!  It made me chuckle.

Question #2  In regards to this particular situation, Lord --  

Is this what you want me to do?

Another bold YES! flashed in my mind.

Okay... I guess that's how God wants to do it today. 

If there's one thing I've found, God is never boring!

I proceeded to ask Question #3 and Question #4.... 

Once again -- the same thing!

"YES!"  and  "YES!"

were brightly flashing on and off in my mind!

Then came Questions #5...  "Okay... What about this Lord? --

Is this where we're going?

NOTHING!  It was like looking at a box of scrabble letters that were turned upside down so that I couldn't see them.  Nothing stood out in my mind.  It was virtually BLANK.

Ahhhhh.  4 YES  and 1 NOTHING.

Was this a joke?  Was my mind playing with me?  It was so odd, I went through the entire thing again.  I asked each question, one at a time...  and the exact same thing happened.

4 YES and 1 NOTHING.   

What's really important here, is what came along with the YESes....

PEACE!

You'll always feel a peace.  

It's a foundation of calmness with an excitement to move ahead.  There's a

 "Divine Knowing"  that's  attached, that assures you that God is speaking.   It's a hard thing to understand if you haven't experienced it, but when you do experience it, you'll totally understand it.  LOL.  So for now, let me say this... 

If there's confusion, calamity, chaos, distress, severe anxiety, disorder, or total upheaval... HOLD OFF!   Always wait for the peace!

That doesn't mean that you won't be a little anxious or concerned about what God's asking of you. Remember... God wants to work 

in partnership with you.  With that in mind, He'll often ask you

to do something that you think...

"You're talking to the wrong person, Lord.  I  can't do that!  I don't know how!"

That'll make anyone a little nervous.  In time, you'll learn to trust Him to do His part.  In fact,  often that's how you know it is God speaking, because 

His ideas are bigger and bolder 

than anything you'd ever

attempt on your own!

So the flashing neon sign on the forefront of your mind, might sound a bit dramatic, but He does sometimes do it that way -- or in some form of that way.  Here's another way He does it.

Often with me, it starts off by my feeling inclined to do something specific for God.  An idea pops into my mind, and I can't seem to shake it.  Even though I dismiss it over and over again, it keeps coming back to me.   Eventually the thought will cross my mind... "Is God trying to tell me something?"  Without fail,  later in the day, or shortly thereafter,  I'll see something -- maybe a magazine article, or a picture in a store.  Or I may hear something --
a song on the radio, or a conversation someone is having at the check-out line.  
I may even take note of something specific that someone is doing while I'm out and about town.  The key here is this: 

No matter what it is... 

It sticks out like a sore thumb!  

I'm not looking for it, either!  --  Somehow, it finds me!  

God will immediately connect, whatever that is, to the idea that I had earlier in the day.  "Isn't that funny?"  I'll think.  "God was just speaking to me about that this morning."  Hmmmm.

Then later that day or the next, I'll be reading my Bible and a verse will jump off the page.  Or I'll be sitting in a study group and the speaker will share something from God's Word. My ear will totally turn toward it, as if it's being said on a loud speaker.  Or just maybe,  I'm sitting doing a morning devotional and the little scripture at the bottom of the page, is vying for my attention.  Yup!  It just so happens to TOTALLY connect with that  "God Idea"  that's been on my mind.  

Before I know it, along comes a friend who shares some random event that he's experienced...  And once again, some tiny detail specifically stands out and connects to the idea.  Even though I've pushed that idea aside, it keeps resurfacing again and again!  "Could this be God?" I wonder.

You got it!  Right about that time, I can be found in prayer somewhere with God saying... "So Lord... Is this what you're telling me to do?"  
Where's that NEON sign now?  Cause I'm looking for it!

Keep in mind, there are literally hundreds, maybe even thousands of ways God speaks and says YES.  That's because His conversations are personal and detailed.  I could spend a whole year just talking about this alone.  Hopefully, today's blog will get you in the right mindset for hearing Him say YES to you!

Just to recap, keep these things in mind:

In response to your prayerful inquiry,
* Is God blatantly saying...
"YES -- Move Forward! -- Go ahead! -- It's time?"
* Is there a PEACE?
* Do you sense a "Divine Knowing" that God has spoken?
* Is His request Bigger and Bolder than anything you'd normally consider?
* Is it something that can only be accomplished in partnership with Him?
* Does He seem to be confirming His request/idea in multiple ways --
several times over?

* Are you finding it difficult to miss  that He's trying to tell you something?

One more thing -- and this is important!   You might be thinking, "So what?  That's just your mind playing with you.  You're making more out of this than needs to be.  I'm not so sure this is God at all."

Let me tell you what makes me so sure it is God.

The first time... Yeah... I thought that.  But after that happened a couple times, and I didn't do anything with it, I noticed, God asked someone else, who did act upon it.  The results were unbelievable.  God had my attention.  He used those times to confirm to me that I was in fact hearing His voice.

Then it moved to a new level.  As I stepped out in faith, believing God was speaking to me, I noticed that the results from my actions were total  "GOD-things."  People were getting ministered to.  God was speaking to people through me.  People were encouraged,  set free,  saved!   WOW!  

I knew, without question, that God was at the center of it.  There was no doubt that He was using me.  I was totally incapable of producing those kind of  "Divine Results"  on my own.  All the glory went to God!

As time went on... God would stretch me.  The tasks He suggested took greater steps of faith, but I followed through, knowing, deep down, I'd heard from Him.  When I didn't follow through,  I ALWAYS ended up regretting it.  Eventually, it became obvious that God had, in fact, spoken and I had missed it!  That's okay, because it only strengthened my desire to follow through the next time.

You see... He hasn't done this once, or twice, or even a few times.  I can't count how may times He's done this in my life -- hundreds perhaps???

But it all starts somewhere, and that's where we've started today in this blog.
From here on out, it's...

"One foot in front of the other.

One step at a time.  One day at a time.

That's how you do it!"

Until tomorrow,

Gail

Day 234

It's the 234th Day of  The Red Shoe Project.  I've done my prayer walk in RED shoes, sat quietly for some time in His Presence, and now it's time to write.  I want to get back to our conversation on Hearing God's Voice.   Assuming that I've made time for God and taken care of all the hindrances to hearing God's voice, as discussed in Days 228 - 232...

PART 4:

What is it that I can I expect God to say?

and

Just how does He do that?

First, here's the scripture that shows you that He will in fact answer you:

"Call to me and I will answer you 

and tell you great and unsearchable 

things you do not know."

Jeremiah 33:3 

If that's the case...

What if God 
doesn't seem 
to be saying 
anything?

1)  First, make sure that you are leaving time for Him to answer.  There have been numerous occasions over the years, where I've spent plenty of time with God... worshipping Him, praising Him, talking to Him, only to give Him some miniscule amount of time in comparison to respond.  LOL.  After about 5 minutes of waiting, I'm thinking, "It's time to go now!"  As ridiculous as that sounds, it's oh so very true.  Sitting in God's presence and waiting for Him to respond is not easy.  Just try it and you'll see what I mean.  Even if you think that it's just about sitting there and not speaking, (which it is, by the way), you'll be bombarded by every thought, voice and distraction imaginable.  What's that old saying?  "Practice makes perfect."  -- well I don't know about perfection, but it does train you to be a better "waiter."  LOL.

2)  Sometimes I've found that God doesn't say anything, because He's working something in me.  He's causing me to keep pressing in to Him until I find out what He thinks.  Like the persistent neighbor, He wants me to KEEP ASKING and NOT GIVE UP until I'm satisfied that I KNOW HIS HEART on the matter.  This parable, found in Luke 11:5-10,  may be small but it's not insignificant.  Here, He shows us what He expects of us... To ASK, SEEK, and KNOCK, and to KEEP AT IT until He answers.

3) Thirdly... If you have a track record of  NOT doing what God suggests,  after a while, He may not make any more suggestions. 

There's something called... 

"Quenching the Spirit." 

The dictionary describes it as...

 "Putting out the Fire."  

God shows up to do something or say something, and you shut Him down, shut Him off, or totally disregard His power,  authority,  holiness,  expertise,  wisdom,  etc.  You  "dis"  Him.   You blow off His counsel.

"Do not quench the Spirit."

1 Thessalonians 5:19

That doesn't mean that God's way is easy. Often it's not.  It can be darn hard following through on God's suggestions.  I will say this, though...  

"The Father always knows best!"  He always has my best interests in mind, even when I don't.

But let's flip this around.  What about when God's speaking, but I'm not listening?  Subconsciously... I know exactly what God's saying, and I don't like it!  It's not what I want!  So I tune Him out.  It's not all that difficult to disregard His voice and convince myself that God simply isn't saying anything.

  Picture a little kid, 

with his fingers plugging 

his ears shouting, 

"la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la..."   

OUCH!

4)Forthly... God sometimes doesn't respond, because my matter isn't relevant.  It's not what He's doing in my life right now.  Therefore,  it's not on the agenda for discussion.  Perhaps He'll have something to say on the matter at another time, but that time isn't now.

5) For some of you, there may be times when God is speaking, but subconsciously, you don't believe you're worthy to come into His presence and  hear what  He has to say.  That's referred to as condemnation.  There's no hope for you.  You're a sinner.  You've done too many bad things, so God won't speak to you.  That's not not what the Bible teaches.  It's a lie from the enemy of your soul to keep you from God.  Here's what the Bible does say... 

"There is now no condemnation 

for those who are in Christ Jesus."

Romans 8:1

"Let us then approach God's throne of grace 

with confidence, so that we may receive mercy 

and find grace to help us in our time of need."

Hebrews 4:16

5)  Finally, there are times when God will turn a deaf ear:

*He's not one to sit and listen to gossip, whining, complaining and vulgarity.  He doesn't attend pity parties!

*He doesn't have time  to go over the same thing again and again just because you don't like His answer.  

*He also doesn't put up with inappropriate, disrespectful behavior.  Remember, you are talking with  

The King of Kings.

All that said, I know personally that He's extended His grace to me on many occasions when I've been frustrated over something.  He does allow me to express myself.  He'd rather me wrestle something out with Him, than avoid a much needed conversation.  And He'd rather me speak my mind, than resort to some pious, religious babble that even I don't understand.  He wants me to be real with Him.  He wants me to speak from my heart.  

The ultimate goal is communication 

- a meaningful verbal exchange between one another. 

Tomorrow, we'll look at 3 other things you can expect God to say when you're listening for His voice.

In RED shoes, 

Gail

Day 233

It's Day 233 of  The Red Shoe Project and RED, vintage sneaks were 

my choice of  footwear for the day.  

Today was another "Bonfire."  It's hard not to talk about The Bonfire, because God's so present at every meeting.  Today, Bonnie and I simply showed up, knowing that God had something in store for the group.  One of the gals stepped forward, by faith, believing with all her heart that God had given her the word for the morning study.  Sure enough, she presented a powerful message, straight from the heart of God!  Afterwards, Bonnie pulled it all together with a deeper look at the scripture  that was referenced, and we ended with the reading of yesterday's RSP blog and a time of prayer.  

God is doing some incredible things in the lives of the women in this group!  They are hearing from Him and taking action!  They are praising His Name freely.  They are testifying of His Mighty Power.  They are laying hands on one another and praying.  They are stepping out in their spiritual gifting.  They are even standing up and preaching His Word!  With all that, these women are growing in their faith.  They are changing before my very eyes.  For that matter... I'm changing too!

As the day progressed, The Lord continued to speak to me about  Hearing From God.  After each Bonfire, Bonnie and I meet to debrief, encourage and pray.  So, off we went to Starbucks, for a Chai Tea and Chat.  

I couldn't help but tell her about something God had spoken to me when she was sharing a story with the ladies at lunch.  Her life so paralleled with a favorite Bible character of mine, I just couldn't keep it to myself.  As I downloaded to her, this picture that God had given me, she was not surprised at all.  In fact, God had already shown her that exact same thing, weeks ago.  Only thing was...  He had shown her even more. "Take a look at this!" she declared as she read some scripture from the Bible Ap on her phone.  "Oh my gosh!  Here I was thinking that I was speaking into her life... but no, God was using her to speak into my life!"   Her story showed how I aligned with another Bible Character.  Ultimately God used these two people in the Bible, both individually and together, to powerfully touch lives.  I do believe that God was speaking to us -- somewhat prophetically -- about using us in a similar way.  

It was so intricately woven together... That's just like God.  It was so spiritually motivating... Another "Just like God" thing.  And it was so powerfully anointed... That's Just like God, too!  There we were in Starbucks, about to explode with joy, as God unleashed His love, revelation and wonder... all around a little 18" round table!   Yup... that's how He works sometimes.  It's crazy!

At the end of the day, we each went our separate ways.  I had an hour to freshen up and get over to the evening Bible Study at church.  It was a good night.  

As we dug deeper into John 15,  

"The Vine and the Branches,"  

what was the theme?  

"The Importance of Abiding in the Vine"  

In other words, 

 

"Staying in Relationship with God!"  

Sound familiar?   

(And I wasn't the one teaching).  

God is speaking 

this same message 

in different ways, 

from different angles, 

through different people 

to get what's on His heart

out there to all of us.

That's one of the things you'll pick up on in time.  God speaks through The Holy Spirit that dwells in the hearts of His people.  If God wants to say something specific to His church... He tends to say the same thing to this body of believers, that body of believers, and all those bodies of believers.  Ministers are not preaching and teaching their own word... they are speaking the word God deposits in their spirits.  Get it?  

It's all the same Spirit, 

so the message is going to be the same!

Oh how I love the way God works!  It's amazing, isn't it?  That's a good note to leave off on.  I will ponder that as I lay my head down to rest.

Blessings to you all,

from the Gal in RED shoes,

Gail