Spiritual Voices and Impacting the Kingdom of God
I am reminded of many of the events that have happened in my life that were inspired by a spiritual voice. This was not a voice that could be heard with the natural ear, but an inner voice that is strong, compelling, and soft. It is a voice that I have learned to trust over time and I have identified it as the voice of God. Not some idol god or astrological communique, but the voice of the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. This voice is not pushy, arrogant, condescending or evil. This voice is one that pushes me outside of my comfort zone, outside of my normal pattern of doing things and toward bigger and larger divine plans for my life. I have heard this voice through dreams, inspired readings and in preached sermons and the one consistent outcome of this spiritual communique' is that it leads to natural manifestations that impact the world for God. This is commonly referred to in Christian circles as the Kingdom of God.
All of us have the ability to hear this voice and to participate in impacting the world for the Kingdom of God. However, we have to first understand whose voice it is and have faith to know that if we follow this voice, the voice of God, then we not only will be a blessing to ourselves, but to others as well. This blessing is the IMPACT which can be observed as changing the world and our own environments as we do the will of God. How do you know that this voice is authentic and actually coming from God? Good question. The test for all voices should be the word of God and does this voice line up with the bible. How many of you have read about people who strap bombs on themselves to blow up thousands of people and then claim to have done this terrible act because god told them to do it. Or a person goes into a busy store or school and begins shooting and taking the life of innocent people because they said god said to do this. This is not the voice of God because the bible states very early on that "Though Shall Not Kill".
So the test of all voices should be how well is that voice affirmed through biblical teachings. Another way to test it is by discussing it with someone who has been seasoned in the faith. Whose life demonstrates that they are following Christ through the fruit that they bare. The bible tells us that in the multitude of counsel there is safety. So we can be more confident to move on the voice of God if we have feedback from other spiritual people who have heard Gods voice and have acted upon it. Through talking to people I have been even the more compelled to move on what I heard because of the feedback that is aligned with what I heard or challenges me to dig deeper to look for confirming signs that the voice I heard was indeed God's voice.
From hearing this voice many years ago, I made a career change that was radically different from where I am today. I was an investment banker and was smitten by the potential to make thousands of dollars using sometimes dubious although legal, means to get it. Then one day a lady came and spoke to me as I was visiting a friends home on the eve of his death. He had committed suicide and the lady who spoke to me was the maid. You see, the friend was the son of the President of the Investment company whom we both worked for and he was very depressed because he could not live up to his fathers standards. So he decided to take his own life. In any case the maid came to me and it was as if God sent her directly to me with an email and she said, you don't belong in this business. These are not your people and God wants to do something in your life. Upon hearing this I felt something on the inside fire up as I knew she was right and soon after I made a career change.
That was a starting point of sorts for me and there have been many stops along the way where I have heard confirming voices and each one led to me moving into position to impact the Kingdom of God. Having raised four beautiful children in the fear and admonishing of God is one of the ways this was done. Starting a Community Development Company that strives to meet the needs of the poor is another way I have responded to the voice to impact the Kingdom of God. The investment of my money, time and talents is another way and even this blog that I am writing at 2:00 am on Sunday morning is a way to respond to the voice to impact the world.
So, there are many ways to hear and respond to the voice, but the end result should be that there will be life changing impacts for yourself and others that bring them closer to God and to experience the rich blessings he has in store for those who believe.
God Bless
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