Confusion (Thirty Days To Greater Fruitfulness, Day 4)

This blog has been temporarily overtaken by my Thirty Days To Greater Fruitfulness Challenge.  You can find out more by checking out the Introduction.

Hearing the voice of the Lord and being sure about it being God is probably the most difficult part of this whole journey.  Let me give you two examples.

One of the things I felt the Lord speak to me about was asking a couple out for dinner and using the time to discuss some things that are coming in the future for both of us.  I felt like the time to do this would be Sunday after house church.  But last night it became pretty clear that getting together on Sunday wasn’t going to work for them.  So did I hear from the Lord or not?

Here’s another example: This morning, I was praying about a couple who just went through some serious burn-out issues with their current church.  I felt like the Lord was leading me to buy a certain book and give it to them as they begin their journey into newer things.  But later today, when I began to think more about the situation and it was  a little difficult to go and purchase the book, I began to question whether I had heard the Lord or whether I had used buying the book as a way to avoid a harder conversation with this couple.  So did I hear the Lord the first time or did I hear Him later in the afternoon?

All of this is to say that we make hearing the Lord more difficult than it needs to be sometimes.  We’re torn (especially over issues that are close to our heart) and sorting out what is our voice and what is the Lord’s can be hard.  But this is the journey we’re on and the only way we learn is through obedience.

And just so you know, I still think I’m supposed to invite the first couple out to lunch, just not tomorrow (Sunday).  And after processing the whole thing through writing this blog, I think I’m still going to buy the book and give it to the second couple AND I’m going to not avoid the hard conversation.  I’ll let you know how that goes.

But if you think about it, please pray for me that I don’t get distracted from doing the important things and truly obeying the voice of the Lord in this season.

Now, what about you?  Have you had any trouble hearing the voice of the Lord?  What’s helped you?  Let us know in the comments or on your own blog.

Join us on the “Thirty Days to Greater Fruitfulness” experiment.  For the rest of September we are spending 30 minutes in silent prayer listening to Jesus and then acting on what He asks us to do.  Then we blog about the changes that are occurring in our lives through the marriage of listening and obedience.  It’s not too late.  If you’re just checking out that experiment feel free to jump in.  And if you want more information, you can check it out here.

Photo Credit: Calendar by Adreanna Moyer Photography