Good Resources for a Growing Relationship with God

Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. Matthew 7:7

I attempt to write a new blog every week or so, and some of the topics I study are entirely reliant on the Bible alone. However, I would be remiss to say that I need only my own knowledge to understand these, many times, complicated and controversial subjects that exist in an ancient book written in a foreign language and culture. I'm not an island and have only casual skills in Biblical study. As such, I want to spread the best resources I've personally read or listened to in order to delve into the pages of God's love letter. These are websites, podcasts, and books by Bible scholars, historians, and ancient language experts who know their stuff. No amateurs here cause, yeah, I'm amateur enough. I don't want the blind leading the blind.

This is far from comprehensive, and it's important to remember that developing any relationship with God comes through a natural curiosity about Him. He doesn't exist only in these sources or even just in sources typically considered "spiritual" or "Christian" or "Jewish." Sometimes, we can find Him by finding where He isn't. Everything can be an influence on us, so tread carefully before fully believing anything. However, don't avoid sources just because they seem archaic, mysterious, far-fetched, or down right incorrect on first impression. I'm reminded of Jesus sitting down with the tax-collectors, prostitutes, including a thief in His inner circle, and healing those so contagious with disease no one else would dare tread near. You may find God in the most unlikely of places. Just keep your ears open to hear His voice. Believe me, He's already speaking.


Websites:
logos.com
biblicalarchaelogy.org
equip.org
bible.org
biblestudytools.com (also contains Strong's Concordance)
biblegateway.com
biblehub.com
eliyah.com (also contains Strong's Concordance)
blueletterbible.com
thebibleproject.com
drmsh.com


Podcasts:
The Bible Project
Naked Bible

Books:
The Unseen Realm by Michael Heiser
A Consolation of Philosophy by Boethius
What Does the Bible Say About by Brian Ridolfi
Rose Book of Bible Charts, Maps, & Time Charts
What the Bible is All About by Dr. Henrietta Mears


If you know any more good sources, please share, and I'll add them to my next post on "Good Resources for a Growing Relationship with God."

God bless!

God's Voice

“My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me” John 10:27

Hearing God's voice doesn't just come in the prophetic variety, and you may never hear a literal, direct voice from God. No, God's voice comes in a variety of ways, through His Holy Spirit. You may encounter Him speaking through a book, a TV show, a butterfly, a sunset, a difficult experience, the wind against your skin, etc. He's just not limited in communication as He's in control of everything. He tailors how He speaks to how you'll more likely listen.

You may be wondering how you'll know you're "hearing" God and how you can hear from Him more often. Anytime we have a question about God, we should look to the Word for the answer.

My son, if you receive my words and treasure up my commandments with you, making your ear attentive to wisdom and inclining your heart to understanding; yes, if you call out for insight and raise your voice for understanding, if you seek it like silver and search for it as for hidden treasures, then you will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God. Proverbs 2:1-5

I like lists, so I'm numbering this for both of us. Some ways you can know God's voice:

1) Before you can hear God, you must be listening. Don't say that God isn't speaking to you if you haven't opened His love letter lately. Reading the Bible with purpose and praying in earnest will open your eyes and your ears. He speaks to you on every page!

And the Lord came and stood, calling as at other times, “Samuel! Samuel!” And Samuel said, “Speak, for your servant hears.” 1 Samuel 3:10

All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work. 2 Timothy 3:16-17

2) Sometimes, God wants you to call out to Him before He'll speak. Sometimes, He's speaking, and you need clarity. He wants a relationship with you; He wants you to desire connection too. If you want a conversation, call out to Him!

Call to me and I will answer you, and will tell you great and hidden things that you have not known. Jeremiah 33:3

Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. 8For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened. Matthew 7:7-8

3) Plus, if you ever have a moment when you think God is speaking through any means other than the Bible, make sure it's consistent with His Word. He put it there so you can also test anything else you may hear for truth.

Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world. By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you heard was coming and now is in the world already. Little children, you are from God and have overcome them, for he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. They are from the world; therefore they speak from the world, and the world listens to them. We are from God. Whoever knows God listens to us; whoever is not from God does not listen to us. By this we know the Spirit of truth and the spirit of error. 1 John 4:1-6

4) Anything He says is for your (or others') good, but it's not always rainbows and sunshine. God is love, sometimes tough love, but always love. So, if you think you hear God's voice and it's hateful, harmful, destructive, dishonest, or inconsistent, then it's NOT FROM GOD.

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Galatians 5:22-23

5) If you ask for guidance, be willing to take it. This is a tough one, I know. Sometimes, you don't ask for fear of the answer, and then if you get an answer, you're afraid to take a first step. Tell God about that too. Sometimes, He does answer, but His answer is "no" or "wait." However, if you certainly heard God tell you the right path to take, and you don't take it, why are you asking?

I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you with my eye upon you. Be not like a horse or a mule, without understanding, which must be curbed with bit and bridle, or it will not stay near you. Psalm 32:8-9

6) Sometimes, it will feel like He's not answering. You need to remember that worship and speaking with God doesn't always "feel" a certain way. I say that because I know some people are looking for a skin-tingling moment or to feel overwhelmed with some spiritual emotion when God speaks. Sometimes, yes. Most of the time, nope. If you still think He's not answering, keep calling out to Him because He's waiting for the right time to speak to you. He many times comes into your life at the most unexpected moments and in the most unexpected ways.

And he said, Go forth, and stand upon the mount before the LORD. And, behold, the LORD passed by, and a great and strong wind rent the mountains, and brake in pieces the rocks before the LORD; [but] the LORD [was] not in the wind: and after the wind an earthquake; [but] the LORD [was] not in the earthquake: And after the earthquake a fire; [but] the LORD [was] not in the fire: and after the fire a still small voice. And it was [so], when Elijah heard [it], that he wrapped his face in his mantle, and went out, and stood in the entering in of the cave. And, behold, [there came] a voice unto him, and said, What doest thou here, Elijah? 1 Kings 19:11-13

7) If you're a disciple of Jesus and a child of God, yes, you have the ability to communicate both ways with God. No, you're not the odd man out. No, you're not so sinful or so inept that God doesn't wish to speak with you. He wants to so much! He wants a deeper relationship with you because He loves you, and He wants to guide you through the dark pathways of life.

And your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, “This is the way, walk in it,” when you turn to the right or when you turn to the left. Isaiah 30:21

And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you. John 14:16-17

When the Counselor comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father, he will testify about me. And you also must testify, for you have been with me from the beginning. John 15:26-27

8) Some will not understand God's voice or Spirit, your belief that you can actually communicate with Him, and the paths that He may guide you on. That's okay. This is between you and God. This wasn't between you and them, anyway.

The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. 1 Corinthians 2:14

Open your ears, eyes, mind, and heart to God, call out His name, and listen for His answer. It may not be immediate, but He'll speak.

Love y'all!

Fall Together

"Don't look for Love. Quietly give it away and wait for it to come back."


Sometimes, this world wants us to think about ourselves. What I deserve, what I need, what I want, I I I... Of course, even I don't always know what I deserve, need or want. There are situations and seasons in time when going away is better than staying. There are also situations and seasons in time when staying is better than going away. When we stay, we must remember to return to God, to turn to what HE wants us to think.


He, the silent observer, creator of our world and destiny, pushes a chess piece across the board of life. This is more than a game, and He treats it with much seriousness. Our lives are made of fragments of time and minute strategic movements we don't always understand.


I deserve nothing because I am entitled to nothing. I am nothing without Him. However, I am everything WITH HIM. I smile at the sunset not because I possess it. I smile because the One who spins the stars is in control. He gives me everything I have, and nothing is actually mine. I am simply a steward of his gifts.


I need nothing because I have everything with Him. He who formed my body from the dust and warm winds knows what I need. If He so deemed it, I could survive without food, drink, or breath in my lungs. If He so deemed it, I could die any moment even with such life-sustaining minutia. I am at His mercy, and thankfully, His mercy is great whether I live or die.


I want nothing because, again, I have everything with Him. I may desire many things, but He gives me greater than I ever imagined because He knows me better than I know myself. He who knows the number of hairs on my head and can count the dust motes that exist from one end of the Universe to the other. Is it not wonderful then that His love for me is infinite, and He wants the best for me?


So, while I stay, I wait on Him. It'll save a lot of wasted time. While I wait on Love, I also wait on Him as He is love. I shall become love because I am His child, a Princess of Hearts, a Queen of Life, a Royal soldier to the One True King. He sustains, He provides, He fulfills. As I wait, He teaches me about Himself, shows me what Love is. He tells me to give it away and wait for it to return.