What voice leads you through life?

When was the last time that you went a full day without hearing someone's voice? I mean ... not one voice at all for 24 hours? I know for myself, there has not been one day in my entire life this has happened.
It's funny, when you think about all the different voices your ears have probably heard leading up to today. Now think about all the people who spoke words that you listened to.

I wonder, what made you listen to that persons opinion, advice, comment, belief, or feedback over let say everyone else you did not listen to?

And when I mean listen, I mean impacting your heart and mind in such a way that it causes you to make a decision, take a stand, or consider various thought. Did you listen because they were wise? Did you listen perhaps because its someone you love? Or maybe you listen because it was someone you trust? Or maybe you look at that person and see things going "good" for them and so you listen in hopes that things will inturn go "good" for you as well?

But ... what voice guides you through your life? What voice tells you what is right and wrong, to go left instead of right, or to do this and to do that?

Looking back on my entire life ... I observed that I listened to two voices.
One was the voice that was of "me". The voice that always led me down bad roads that looked good, felt good, and therefore where desireable to my eyes and my body.
The "Me" voice always asked this one question: "What about Me?
In the bible this nature of men/women is called the "flesh". The "flesh" is owned by sin, infact ... the flesh loves sin ... its the only thing it feeds on ... strictly a sinatarian :) Sin is strictly defined as doing things my way rather than God's way. Knowing what is right, but choosing bad because "I love to feel good".
The other voice was the voice I call "God's love" ... always with me, always helping, always trying to guide me back to Him. Some may refer to this voice as "the angel on your shoulder". Psychologist will call this your voice of "reason" or morality, but this voice is far more than that. This voice is completely spiritual. Its composition is entirely love. Its all light, consisting of no darkness. This voice doesn't focus on you, rather it focuses on "God", on "others", on what is "right" ---This voice was driven by love; This voice is the "loving hand of God" that He has placed on everything in all creation.

Are you familiar with these two voices? I really want you to ask yourself a question, not for me, but for yourself .... Looking within yourself ...
Do you "know" God personally/intimately? Are you able to talk to Him like you talk to your mom, your best friend, or anyone else? Are you able to not only hear, but listen to His voice?

For most of my life ... my answer was No ... to all 3 questions. But Gods love never stopped pursuing me. Today, I can completely say that "God" is the voice I not only hear and listen to, but follow. And I might have felt like I "knew" God my entire life, but I really didn't, until I came to "know", Jesus Christ personally and intimately in a relationship, not a religion.

Jesus is not only the only gate to God, but He is also the "guide" of all those who know Him! I am able to hear His voice everyday ... not in my head or with my ears ... but in my heart ... where His Spirit resides.

{Jesus said} I am the Good Shepherd. I know my sheep and my sheep know me. My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me.

I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father's hand. 30I and the Father are one." [John 10:14,27-30]

Look into your heart an ask one question: Do I have any longing to "know" the God who made me and to "experience" love in a way that I have not experienced ever before?
If you want to know Jesus Christ... if you want to hear his voice ... if you want to experience eternal life ... and love that can never be removed from you, ever, (unconditional) ... all that you have to do is say: "I want that"
When you say that, my friends ...Your eternal safe in God's heart (nothing can remove you). When you say "I want that love. I want to know God personally and intimately" ... when you decide to place your hope in something greater than yourself as your "hope for heaven" ... its then that you will have it.

Therefore Jesus said again, "I tell you the truth, I am the gate for the sheep. All who ever came before me were thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them. I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. He will come in and go out, and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.

[John 10:7-10]

What is the voice that leads you through Life?
Where will you stand?

Removing the Chaos of a Busy Schedule and the Weight of a Stressful Life

I don't know about you, but sometimes "life" can get overwhelming.
I'm not a big fan of having "too much on my plate", but nowadays it seems like there is no escape from a busy schedule.

Am I the only one who feels this way? Probably not. It seems to me, that everyone has more than they can "stomach", with schedules that are jam packed with too many things that need to be done, with very little time to do them.
It is easy to get stuck in the muck of "routine and when "keeping busy" gets the best of us, our lives can get lost in translation.

What I mean is, its easy for me to fall into the pattern of just "going and going" and "doing" the same routine day after day, yet never really find the time to take a step away from everything, just to breathe, and embrace the fullness of life that God has made available to us and is willing to provide, if we let Him.

I wonder if you feel like I do sometimes?

Do you feel you have too much on your plate?

Is your life driven by meeting expectations, juggling responsibilities, and maintaining various commmitments? Is it hard for you to find a way out of the storm of stress?

The activities of our life can become consuming, but we all hope for rescue from the stresses of life. Our perception on life can reveal alot about how we live our lives and address things.
Is the purpose of life ... work ... or is work suppose to be only a "part" of our life?
Ask yourself, is work my life ... or is work only a part of my life?

The answer to that question is of great signifigance and importance to: *the way you see yourself; *the way you see your life; * the way you live your life, *the way you maintain relationships with others, and lastly, *the way you are able to experience the fruit of life --love, joy, peace, hope, and meaning.

One of the greatest aspects of my relationship with Jesus Christ is "being set free from myself". When I realize that God loves me the way I am and that I don't have to measure up in his eyes ... it is then that the harsh criticism and high expectations I place on myself are removed and in the place of my "need to succeed", I find the "peace and love of Jesus Christ".

In Jesus Christ there is no measuring bar ... there is only His love.

Welcoming Jesus into your heart ... welcomes a love that always helps, that always comforts, and always supports you in all you do. Jesus helps me every step of the way and knowing that I don't have to do anything alone or in my own strength, gives me a unshakeable peace, that cannot be matched. In Jesus Christ I am able to look at my life through his eyes, to listen through his ears, and to love through his heart.

Jesus not only helps me find peace with who I am, but He also shows me the way to "lighten" my load, teaching me how to do less in life -- focusing on what matters most: glorifying Him with my life. We glorify Him by reaching out to others in love, living joyfully, and resting peacefully in Him.

In Matthew chapter 11 ... Matthew took note at the way Jesus looked at all the people who were struggling with living life, meeting the expectations society demanded, and the struggle "religion" placed on their lives to "win" God's approval and love. Jesus had compassion for them. His heart was grieved by that fact that they could not experience the peace that comes from the love of God. So at one of the great feasts, Jesus stood up and shouted to the people ...

"Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30For my yoke is easy and my burden is light." [Matthew 11:28-30]

Jesus welcomes you to come to Him. His Yoke (teaching) is easy and his burden is light ... and in His love you will find rest for your souls.
Jesus teaches us to love God and how to allow God to love us. There is no measuring bar. There is nothing you have to do to earn his love, maintain his love, or keep His love in your life.

I testify to you, that the love I have discovered in Jesus Christ has set me free from myself and has shown me "life" beyond what my own eyes could ever have seen. There is nothing I can ever do to make Him love me more, likewise there is nothing I can do to make Him love me less.
God is love. Jesus is God, and therefore Jesus is love. And the love I have in Him has not only given me the "fullness" of life I never knew existed, but it has also rescued me from death (sin and the day I will breathe my last breath in this world).

To welcome the Love of Jesus Christ into your life, all He requires is: Your Faith(Belief in Him) and Love

Jesus loves you the way you are and can teach you to do less in your life -- focusing on what matters most -- Love, Joy, and Peace in a relationship with God through Jesus Christ :)
His love is eternal; His love never fails

A question to end on: Is the Love, Joy, and Peace I've described to you, something you want?

If it is ... claim it today ...

If you pray to Him (Jesus)... He is not only able to hear every prayer, but He is willing to answer and help you in all you do ... Jesus loves unconditionally; His love never fails.

"Cast Your anxieties upon Him because He cares for you" - [1 peter 5:7]

(Please feel free to contact me about anything, for anything. With much love and prayer for you. Drew)

Do you have "peace" in your life today? Experiencing Unshakeable Peace!

"Does your life have peace? If so, what is the "peace" of your life ... and how do you experience that peace?Do you have complete satisfaction in your life today? If not, ask yourself: "what am I missing"?

I know many different types of people. People who live for money and people who live for love. People who live for themselves and People who live for others. People who live with a purpose, and people who are just living with no real understanding of why or what there living for. I've met people who know God intimately, others who believe in a God, and some who don't believe in God at all.

Observing all the people I've interacted with in my life, as well as those I've viewed from a far, I've noticed that very few people know what "peace" is, let alone How to experience peace within their lives.
How do we find peace?
All my life I searched for peace yet could not find it. The reason I could not find peace was because I was looking in the wrong places. You can't find peace looking within yourself. You can't find peace by achieving goals, meeting benchmarks, traveling places, obtaining possessions, making money, winning all the time, "feeling" good, or having certain people in your life.

Peace is only found in God. Peace is only given through Jesus Christ (the bridge to knowing God personally and intimately). My entire life ... I couldn't see the blessings I had. I longed to look at my life through God's eyes ... but because my eyes couldn't even see God in my own life, how could I ever see His love, His peace, and His blessings he had given me. I couldn't! I couldn't experience His love, because I didn't know God personally. All I had was a religion and a religion is not a relationship with God through Jesus Christ. A religion won't give you peace, it won't give you hope, nor will it help you find meaning for why you are you, why your alive, and whats the purpose of your life. Until I knew God personally through a loving relationship of faith in Jesus Christ, I remained at a distance from love, from understanding, from hope, and therefore from peace!

Peace can only be found in experiencing God's love through Jesus Christ.

Until we remove the slavery sin holds over our lives, we will never break down the walls that are between us from knowing God and claiming everlasting peace.
When you realize that going to heaven has nothing to do with you, or that the forgiveness of your sins has nothing to do with you "deserving it" or "earning it" ... it is then you are free from the imprisionment of your own failure, from your own guilt and from the lies you've held your entire life. Its then for the first time in your life, you'll be able to live in the freedom that is found in living in Jesus Christ. Knowing Jesus Christ personally produces everlasting Hope, Joy, Love, and Peace. Knowing Christ not only removes the sins of your past, but it completely erases sin from your life all together. As a follower of Christ, I remind myself that all the time, because its easy to feel like your battling sin ...but in reality Christ freed you from all sin, on the basis of his shed blood on the Cross (*the resurrection*).

Jesus Said ...
"Peace I leave you, my peace I give you! I do not give to you as the world gives (temporarily). Do not let your hearts be troubled ..." [John 14:27]

Unshakeable Peace is only found in Jesus Christ. Those who do not know Him, cannot experience everlasting peace ... for Peace come from the Love found in Jesus Christ!

[Isaiah 57:20-21]

20 “But those who still reject me are like the restless sea, which is never still but continually churns up mud and dirt. 21 There is no peace for those still in sin, who reject me,” says my God."

Does your life have unshakeable love and peace?

It is never to late to claim the victory, the love, and the peace that is found only in living a life in the Love of Jesus Christ. I pray that you will claim the peace that is rightfully yours, today!
If there is anything else out there that offers unshakeable faith, love, joy, and peace ... please tell me ... but as for me ... I have ALL I need in Jesus Christ ... who has freed me from myself and shown me "life" :)

Brief Comment on the Blog Below -- The Resurrection -- Loves Victory over Sin (Jesus Christ)

Hey gang,

I decided to stick to mainly scripture for this years Easter dedication and blog (Below this blog). I know God's Word can speak to your hearts better than I ever could. I pray that you read it with an open heart and that God reveals to you what He revealed to me 2 years ago.

I've been a follower of Jesus Christ for 2 years now. On Easter 2007 (April 8th) I placed my hope, my love, my life, and my faith in Jesus Christ. Since then my heart, my mind, and my life have been transformed by His love and through my relationship with God in Jesus Christ.

I spent 22 years of my life living a lie, lost and confused, struggling and defeated, sorrow-filled, prideful, selfish; a slave to my own sin and most of all ... hopeless. I want all to know that there is TRUTH ... that there is HOPE ... that there is TRUE LOVE and a PURPOSE for your life.
God made us ... To Love Us ... and For Us to Love Him ... To Know Him ... and To Live With Him, In Him, and Him living within us Forever.
Through faith in Jesus Christ ... You will find the fulfillment of your life. I tell you the Truth!Jesus Christ is the Only thing in my life that I hold as truth. There is victory for this life in Jesus Christ ... and I pray that today you will claim ... the Only Hope ... the Only Way ... the Only Truth ... and the Only Life.
I pray that today you claim the Love that is yours ... In Jesus Christ :)

The Resurrection -- Love's Victory over Sin (Jesus Christ) -- The signifigance of Easter

Prophetized by Isaiah the Prophet: Speaking about the Saviour/Messiah/Christ that would come and provide salvation for the world ... the reconciling of all separated from God because of sin ... the Forgiveness of Sins ... and the bridge to eternal life in Heaven with God.

{Isaiah 53} --{The Dead Sea Scrolls written hundreds of years before Jesus Christ}

"1Who has believed our message and to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed? 2He grew up before him like a tender shoot, and like a root out of dry ground. He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him. 3 He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering. Like one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not. 4 Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we considered him stricken by God, smitten by him, and afflicted.

5 But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed.

6 We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all. 7 He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is silent,so he did not open his mouth.8 By oppression and judgment he was taken away. And who can speak of his descendants? For he was cut off from the land of the living; for the transgression of my people he was stricken.9 He was assigned a grave with the wicked,and with the rich in his death, though he had done no violence,nor was any deceit in his mouth.

10 Yet it was the LORD's will to crush him and cause him to suffer, and though the LORD makes his life a guilt offering, he will see his offspring and prolong his days, and the will of the LORD will prosper in his hand.
11 After the suffering of his soul, he will see the light of life and be satisfied;by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many, and he will bear their iniquities.

12 Therefore I will give him a portion among the great, and he will divide the spoils with the strong, because he poured out his life unto death, and was numbered with the transgressors.

For he bore the sin of many,and made intercession for the transgressors (salvation for all sinners)."

The Gospel is simplistic in its message:

"Everyone has sinned. Everyone needs forgiveness from sin. Jesus provides that forgiveness."

If we repent of our sins, place our faith in Jesus Christ, and accept his love and gift of salvation into our hearts as our personal Saviour ... then the barrier sin has placed between us and God is removed ... and we receive the "gift of eternal life in Heaven with God"

Jesus is the "living God" ... living in all who believe and all who believe living in Him. Jesus rose from the dead, He conquered death and destroyed the weight of sin. Life can only find victory in Jesus Christ.

Jesus said, {John 3:16-17} -

"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. 18Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God's one and only Son

{John 14:6}

"I AM the way and the truth and the life. No one come to the Father (Heaven) except through me".

Faithful in Prayer

{Philippians 4:4-8}

"Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your request to God. And the peace of God which transcends all understanding, will guard your heart and mind in Christ Jesus"

The Importance of Prayer ... Trusting in His Love

Jesus prayed continually to the Father. Everything Jesus did was reliant on the Fathers guidance and power. Even in the midst of stressful and troubling situations, Jesus remained calm, focused, and trusting ... that the Father is loving, faithful, and willing to hear every prayer and able to help us, providing for all our needs, all the time.


Complete surrender means complete trust. My prayer is that we will trust in his love and faithfulness to take care of all that we are and all that we need. My prayer is that we would pray more to Him and that we will trust in the fact that He hears us and will answer us according to his great love.


We will have challenges and troubles but we need to remember that His love stands firm by our side; His faithfulness waits on our call.
May we remain faithful in prayer, rooted and built up in the love and fortitude that are given "in" Jesus Christ.
Faith and love is the basis of life. Have faith. Keep praying :)
Peace can only come to us when we rest in his faithfulness.


(I'm away this week so I won't be able to get to the computer that often. Please pray for me, as we all need prayer; I need prayer especially ... so I thank anyone who takes the time to pray for me.)


May you find peace in His Love and receive an abundance of blessings daily!
Drew

The Hound of Heaven ... His love will chase you down :)

Within Dr. Charles Stanley's book, "Living The Extraordinary life" ... I find myself continually convicted by the meaning of "complete surrender to God" and the fullness of life that surrendering brings.

In one section of the book, Dr. Charles Stanley gives a refrence to a Poet named Francis Thompson, a former opium addict who wrote about his encounter with Jesus Christ (the Lord).
He described God as a "hound of heaven", who chased him down every street and alley of his life and mind until he surrendered to Christ and finally found peace.

"If you run from God, He will follow; if you avoid Him, He will pursue; if you hide from Him, He will find you."

"And when we begin to wander from the course He has set for us to live, He will go to great lengths to get our attention. All too often, the Lord's wisdom (voice) becomes muffled by the clamor of our daily life. Sometimes we start out with God's agenda but get so far ahead of Him that we can no longer hear His voice. Preferring to do things our own way, we lose contact with our only true Guide."

Learning how to tune our hearts and ears to be attentive, receptive and responsive to God's voice, will provide the light we need to shine and show us the way.
We can recognize God's voice by understanding why He is trying to communicate with us and exactly how He communicates with us.

"God's objective in communicating with us is to transform our mind and heart in a way that conforms us into the image of His Son Jesus and for us to express His love to the world (sharing Jesus). (But we can only express his love ... when we are able to experience his love!)

God speaks to us primarily in four ways -- (1) through His Word (the bible), (2) through His Holy Spirit, (3) through another person, and (4) through the circumstances in our lives."

God will do whatever it takes to get our attention because He loves us and desires us to know Him in a way that produces great joy, peace, love, and direction in our lives. He has a plan for your life and He knows the only way you can fulfill that plan is with Him and through Him.

His love for you never changes, it never leaves you, and will never fail. Turning your attention to Jesus Christ, to God, in Prayer ... is the first step to removing the static that stands in the way of hearing his voice clearly.

First, we must Seek Him ... and then He will "heal our land" and show us the way He desires us to go.

[2 Chronicles 7:14]

"If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land."

An awesome song :) One of my all time favorites

Here's just one of my favorite songs I listen to almost everyday, that speaks a great message of Love. This is just a snack before the blog I post later on. Hope you enjoy it.

Hillsong United - You Reign


Here are the lyrics if you want to listen and read at the same time (suggested for more meaningful experience):

#1
What could stand before You
As You chose to embrace
A cross so undeserved You took for me
The weight of sin upon You
When You offered Your life
As You walked the streets of men
With fading strength
#2
How could we live but not see
Your sacrifice Your glory
You reign, You reign
Over everything Lord, You reign
With power, and justice divine
Over everything Lord, You reign
#3
What was Your last thought
As You drew Your last breath
Where the victory was Yours for us to see
And all will know the truth
As we live by Your grace
Every praise to You alone

Repeat Stanza # 2
then ...
#4
See now the King of Glory
Love of God become my calling
Father I surrender all I am to you forever.

:)