Slideshow image

In this past Sunday's post on Psalm 29 I directed your thoughts toward consideration of God's actual voice, noting that we will hear his voice with physical ears one day.  And this is true and exciting and hope-producing, but is for another age to come.  I want to draw your attention back to the more relevant consideration of God's voice to us in this age.

As the Church, our focus on hearing God's voice is in the form of his written Word the Bible.  Knowing, understanding and remembering this is a vital part of the Christian life, a life of being a disciple and of making disciples.  A Culture of Disciple-Making (the perpetual activity of faithfully growing up to be like Christ that we all must be involved in) requires hearing and heeding the voice of God. 

I want to connect this to prayer as a continuation of thoughts from two week ago.  We don't simply hear God's voice through his Word, but also through God's people and through prayer.  More specifically (but not exclusively), we hear God's voice through his Word in prayer with God's people.  It is God's Word that the Holy Spirit will use in your heart and mind in prayer to hear God's voice.

Corporate prayer (prayer with others whether 1 or 100) is an immense privilege, responsibility and blessing.  More specifically, praying God's Word with one another helps others hear God's voice.  Since what God says is necessary to growing as a disciple, praying with others, and praying God's Word with others, cannot be neglected in the living out of our culture of disciple-making.

If you are connected to a local church, then you are to be committed...you are needed.  It is at the level of "investing in" at which you make contribution to disciple-making.  'Investing in' can be as basic as praying God's Word with others, or even simply allowing others to pray God's Word with/for you.  We do not need to hear each other's will for us in prayer, we need to hear the truth of God's will for us from one another in prayer.  This comes only from God's Word.  

In all humility, press into the investment of prayer with one another and to praying God's Word with one another.  In this, disciples will be made and grown in the local church.  A commitment to praying God's Word with/for one another allows us to hear God's voice and leads to a commitment to heeding God's voice with one another.