Listening To The Whisper

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Download the units stap and use the 0:01:18.800 --> 0:01:20.840 code I heeart fifty at sign up to receive a 0:01:20.880 --> 0:01:23.400 fifty dollars bonus when you find your account. That's code 0:01:23.400 --> 0:01:26.400 iHeart fifty when you sign up at unest dot co 0:01:26.760 --> 0:01:29.280 for a fifty dollars bonus. See terms and conditions at 0:01:29.440 --> 0:01:30.120 UNEs dot co. 0:01:30.880 --> 0:01:34.319 If you'll be sensitive to that still small voice, not 0:01:34.480 --> 0:01:37.600 talk yourself out of it, God will lead you places 0:01:37.680 --> 0:01:40.760 that you've never dreamed. See. The Holy Spirit is on 0:01:40.800 --> 0:01:44.080 the inside of each one of us. He's called our helper, 0:01:44.440 --> 0:01:48.440 our counselor our guide. The more sensitive we are to 0:01:48.560 --> 0:01:53.400 his whispers what we're feeling, the promptings, the nudgings, the 0:01:53.440 --> 0:01:56.880 further we're going to go. HI. This is Joel and Victoria. 0:01:56.920 --> 0:01:59.800 Thanks for listening to our podcast and thanks for supporting 0:01:59.840 --> 0:02:00.640 the ministry. 0:02:00.760 --> 0:02:03.120 If you enjoy today's message, why don't you be a 0:02:03.160 --> 0:02:04.680 blessing and share it with a friend. 0:02:05.000 --> 0:02:07.720 We appreciate you and pray for God's very best in 0:02:07.760 --> 0:02:11.040 your life. God bless you. It's great to be with 0:02:11.080 --> 0:02:13.760 you today, and I hope you'll stay connected with us 0:02:13.840 --> 0:02:17.320 during the week through our daily podcast, our YouTube channel, 0:02:17.440 --> 0:02:21.680 social media. We'll keep you encouraged and inspired. I like 0:02:21.720 --> 0:02:23.800 to start with something funny, and I heard about this 0:02:23.919 --> 0:02:27.320 pastor and song leader that weren't getting along, and it 0:02:27.400 --> 0:02:31.160 started spilling over in the services. One Sunday, the pastor 0:02:31.240 --> 0:02:34.720 preached on the importance of being a giver. Afterward, the 0:02:34.760 --> 0:02:37.640 song leader got up and led the song Jesus paid 0:02:37.639 --> 0:02:41.240 it all. The next week, the pastor talked about not gossiping, 0:02:41.360 --> 0:02:44.120 watching your tongue. The song leader got up and led, 0:02:44.520 --> 0:02:47.720 I love to tell the story. The pastor was so 0:02:47.840 --> 0:02:52.320 frustrated finally resigned, told the congregation Jesus brought me here 0:02:52.600 --> 0:02:56.160 and Jesus has taken me away. The song leader then led, 0:02:56.520 --> 0:03:00.720 what a friend we have in Jesus, Like you mean it. 0:03:01.120 --> 0:03:04.000 This is my Bible. I am what it says I am. 0:03:04.400 --> 0:03:06.760 I have what it says I have. I can do 0:03:06.840 --> 0:03:09.480 what it says I can do. Today I will be 0:03:09.560 --> 0:03:13.400 taught the word of God. I boldly confess my mind 0:03:13.520 --> 0:03:16.760 is alert, my heart is receptive. I will never be 0:03:16.880 --> 0:03:21.760 the same. In Jesus' name, God bless you. I want 0:03:21.760 --> 0:03:24.720 to talk to you today about listen to the whisper. 0:03:25.639 --> 0:03:29.160 We don't always realize how God speaks to us. We've 0:03:29.200 --> 0:03:32.280 seen in the movies where God spoke to Moses. The 0:03:32.400 --> 0:03:35.920 voice boomed out of the heavens, sounded like thunder, so 0:03:36.120 --> 0:03:40.240 powerful and dramatic, gave you goosebumps. But most of the 0:03:40.320 --> 0:03:44.720 time God speaks to us in a gentle whisper. It's 0:03:44.760 --> 0:03:48.880 not something loud, it's not forceful. It's called the still 0:03:49.040 --> 0:03:53.920 small voice. We feel an impression, a prompting, not in 0:03:53.960 --> 0:03:57.080 our head, but in our heart. It's like a suggestion, 0:03:57.720 --> 0:04:00.400 something that we suddenly know we're supposed to to do. 0:04:01.120 --> 0:04:04.480 That's not random, that's not you just thinking up things. 0:04:04.840 --> 0:04:08.840 That's God speaking to you. Six times in the Gospels, 0:04:09.120 --> 0:04:12.920 Jesus said, he that has ears, let him hear what 0:04:13.040 --> 0:04:17.159 the spirit is saying. Everyone has ears. He wasn't talking 0:04:17.160 --> 0:04:21.960 about physically, He's talking about your inner ears. He was saying, 0:04:22.360 --> 0:04:25.839 are you sensitive to the whisper? Are you paying attention 0:04:26.120 --> 0:04:29.200 to what you're feeling in your spirit? It's easy to 0:04:29.279 --> 0:04:33.120 ignore it, push it down, but if you'll start obeying 0:04:33.160 --> 0:04:38.200 these promptings, the suggestions, the gentle whispers, God will lead 0:04:38.279 --> 0:04:41.719 you down the best path for your life. You see 0:04:41.720 --> 0:04:44.360 that coworker and suddenly you have the desire to be 0:04:44.480 --> 0:04:48.680 good to them. You feel compassion. Something says let them 0:04:48.680 --> 0:04:51.840 know that you care. You'll be tempted to reason it out. 0:04:52.320 --> 0:04:55.400 They look like they're doing fine. They don't need my encouragement. 0:04:56.080 --> 0:04:59.520 Don't ignore the whisper. God wouldn't have given you that 0:04:59.600 --> 0:05:02.520 in press if they didn't need it. You don't know 0:05:02.600 --> 0:05:06.200 what people are going through. You can't judge by the outside. 0:05:06.839 --> 0:05:10.360 That whisper is God leading you. The more you obey 0:05:10.480 --> 0:05:13.920 that still small voice, the more God can entrust you with. 0:05:15.000 --> 0:05:19.160 And sometimes you feel an unrest and uneasiness, like an 0:05:19.200 --> 0:05:22.040 alarm is going off telling you not to do something. 0:05:22.520 --> 0:05:25.720 Stay away from that person, don't take that business deal, 0:05:26.160 --> 0:05:30.960 don't get involved in that situation. Looks fine, Everything seems okay. 0:05:31.760 --> 0:05:35.360 Don't go against the whisper. God sees things that we 0:05:35.440 --> 0:05:39.080 can't see. He knows where the dead ends are. He 0:05:39.160 --> 0:05:41.320 knows the people that are going to pull us down 0:05:41.400 --> 0:05:44.840 and waste our time. And when we look back over 0:05:44.880 --> 0:05:50.160 our life, mistakes we've made disappointments, failures. If we're honest 0:05:50.680 --> 0:05:53.840 most of the time, we can see how God tried 0:05:53.880 --> 0:05:57.839 to warn us. We felt the uneasiness, we knew something 0:05:57.960 --> 0:06:01.159 wasn't right, but we wanted our way so badly we 0:06:01.279 --> 0:06:05.520 overrode it. If there's an unrest, if that whisper is 0:06:05.560 --> 0:06:09.159 saying back off, it's not because God is punishing you, 0:06:09.760 --> 0:06:14.159 keeping you from something good. He's protecting you. He's keeping 0:06:14.200 --> 0:06:17.560 you from heartache. The reason that whisper is saying no 0:06:18.160 --> 0:06:21.719 is because He has something better in store. When you 0:06:21.800 --> 0:06:25.880 have big decisions, things you're concerned about, it's important to 0:06:25.920 --> 0:06:29.600 get quiet and listen to the whisper. Listen to what 0:06:29.640 --> 0:06:34.080 you're feeling. You can't hear it if you're always busy, noisy, 0:06:34.320 --> 0:06:37.840 stressed out, getting opinions from others on the phone all 0:06:37.880 --> 0:06:41.279 the time. It's not that God isn't speaking, it's that 0:06:41.360 --> 0:06:45.279 it's too loud around us. You need times of peace, 0:06:45.920 --> 0:06:48.880 times where you can get quiet and hear the whisper. 0:06:49.800 --> 0:06:52.720 Every morning I start the day off saying, God, help 0:06:52.760 --> 0:06:56.599 my spiritual ears to be sensitive to your voice. Help 0:06:56.640 --> 0:06:59.720 me to hear what you're saying today. It's not going 0:06:59.800 --> 0:07:02.680 to be your mind, just to feeling down in here 0:07:03.200 --> 0:07:06.520 and impression. All of a sudden, you have a desire 0:07:06.560 --> 0:07:09.400 to check on your children, a prompting to go to 0:07:09.440 --> 0:07:12.960 a certain place. It's easy to dismiss and ah, that's nothing, 0:07:13.120 --> 0:07:16.480 that's just me daydreaming. No, that's God speaking to you. 0:07:17.080 --> 0:07:21.840 Pay attention to the whispers. There are times these whispers 0:07:21.920 --> 0:07:24.920 are going to ask you to do things you don't understand, 0:07:25.440 --> 0:07:28.520 things that don't make sense. If you reason it out 0:07:28.600 --> 0:07:31.600 and look at it only from a logical point of view, 0:07:31.880 --> 0:07:34.720 you'll talk to yourself out of it. When Victoria and 0:07:34.760 --> 0:07:37.440 I were first married, we found this town home that 0:07:37.480 --> 0:07:40.000 we really loved. It was a beautiful place with big 0:07:40.040 --> 0:07:44.000 windows looking out to the woods, tall ceilings. We got 0:07:44.000 --> 0:07:47.280 it for an amazing price, almost half of what it 0:07:47.360 --> 0:07:50.720 was worth, and we were so grateful. We never dreamed 0:07:50.720 --> 0:07:52.800 that in our mid twenties we would have a place 0:07:52.880 --> 0:07:56.679 that nice. But about a year later, Victoria said, Joel, 0:07:56.760 --> 0:07:59.840 I feel so strongly we need to sell this place 0:08:00.040 --> 0:08:02.600 and buy a house. I thought, what do you mean, 0:08:02.840 --> 0:08:06.440 this place is perfect? We just got here. That didn't 0:08:06.440 --> 0:08:09.400 make sense to my mind. But when I got quiet 0:08:09.720 --> 0:08:12.800 and listened down in here, I could hear that same thing. 0:08:13.760 --> 0:08:17.800 Don't be surprised if that still small voice whispers things 0:08:18.080 --> 0:08:22.360 that go against your logic. God's ways are not our ways. 0:08:22.560 --> 0:08:25.800 That's a test. You have to trust that God knows 0:08:25.840 --> 0:08:28.680 what's best for you. We took that step of faith 0:08:28.720 --> 0:08:32.120 and sold it. A few months later, Victoria called and said, Joel, 0:08:32.280 --> 0:08:35.160 I found our new house. Meet me at the property. 0:08:35.800 --> 0:08:39.559 I pulled up. It was this old rundown house, hadn't 0:08:39.600 --> 0:08:44.200 been lived in in years, had broken windows, foundation problems. 0:08:44.679 --> 0:08:47.400 The kitchen had buckets of water on the floor from 0:08:47.480 --> 0:08:51.240 the holes in the roof. It wasn't even livable, but 0:08:51.320 --> 0:08:54.720 it was on a beautiful half acre lot close into 0:08:54.760 --> 0:08:58.080 the city. All of our logic said, are you crazy? 0:08:58.559 --> 0:09:00.960 You moved out of your beautiful time home to this 0:09:01.040 --> 0:09:04.520 piece of john. But down in my spirit I could 0:09:04.559 --> 0:09:08.880 hear that whisper saying, this is it. Move forward. The 0:09:08.920 --> 0:09:14.160 scripture talks about peace that passes understanding. That means sometimes 0:09:14.360 --> 0:09:18.200 your logic is not going to understand, your intellect is 0:09:18.240 --> 0:09:21.040 not going to get it. But down in your spirit 0:09:21.440 --> 0:09:25.400 there will be a piece a rest a knowing you 0:09:25.480 --> 0:09:29.120 can't explain it doesn't make sense on paper. You just 0:09:29.280 --> 0:09:32.720 know that you know it's right for you. We bought 0:09:32.720 --> 0:09:35.079 the house and we're going to fix it up. The 0:09:35.200 --> 0:09:38.480 day we closed on the property, I was standing in 0:09:38.520 --> 0:09:41.760 the front yard and this car pulled out. Lady got 0:09:41.800 --> 0:09:44.080 out and asked if we wanted to sell the property. 0:09:44.559 --> 0:09:47.360 I said no, ma'am, we just bought it. She said, 0:09:47.360 --> 0:09:49.240 how about I pay you more and you make a 0:09:49.240 --> 0:09:52.000 good profit. I said no, thanks, we really want to 0:09:52.040 --> 0:09:56.760 stay here. She said, congratulations, you just bought your dream house. 0:09:57.559 --> 0:09:59.959 I didn't know what she meant. Well, the neighborhood woul 0:10:00.160 --> 0:10:03.600 in the process of changing the deed restrictions so you 0:10:03.600 --> 0:10:07.760 could subdivide the property. A year later, a builder knocked 0:10:07.760 --> 0:10:10.600 on our door and wanted to buy it. We sold 0:10:10.679 --> 0:10:13.280 half of the property for more than we paid for 0:10:13.320 --> 0:10:16.840 the whole property. He built two houses, one for him 0:10:16.920 --> 0:10:20.320 and one for us. Our house he built for no fee. 0:10:20.760 --> 0:10:24.080 We just paid the materials and the labor. It was 0:10:24.160 --> 0:10:27.400 more than we could ever imagine. We went from a 0:10:27.440 --> 0:10:31.840 small town home to a beautiful new house in a 0:10:31.920 --> 0:10:36.479 nice area in Houston. This all started from a whisper, 0:10:37.160 --> 0:10:41.120 a simple suggestion down in our spirit, if you'll be 0:10:41.240 --> 0:10:44.480 sensitive to that still small voice and not talk to 0:10:44.520 --> 0:10:47.560 yourself out of it. God will lead you places that 0:10:47.640 --> 0:10:51.400 you've never dreamed. See. The Holy Spirit is on the 0:10:51.440 --> 0:10:54.880 inside of each one of us. He's called our helper, 0:10:55.200 --> 0:10:59.600 our counselor our guide. The more sensitive we are to 0:10:59.679 --> 0:11:04.800 his whispers, what we're feeling, the promptings, the nudgings, the 0:11:04.840 --> 0:11:08.079 further we're going to go. This is something I've learned 0:11:08.080 --> 0:11:11.960 so strongly, especially the last twenty years. I won't go 0:11:12.000 --> 0:11:16.439 against what I'm feeling on the inside. I trust my censor. 0:11:16.960 --> 0:11:20.240 That's where God speaks to you. No matter how good 0:11:20.320 --> 0:11:24.440 the opportunity looks, no matter how impressive, if you don't 0:11:24.480 --> 0:11:28.600 have peace about it, don't move forward, or just the opposite. 0:11:28.840 --> 0:11:32.760 It may seem impossible. The odds are against us, all 0:11:32.800 --> 0:11:35.839 the circumstances say it's not going to happen. But if 0:11:35.840 --> 0:11:39.320 you have peace, that knowing, take that step of fame. 0:11:40.040 --> 0:11:43.359 When you develop this skill of listening to the whisper, 0:11:43.840 --> 0:11:47.560 following that still small voice, God will not only take 0:11:47.559 --> 0:11:50.840 you further, but he'll protect you from things that would 0:11:50.840 --> 0:11:54.480 have caused your heart ache and paign. My brother in law, Kevin, 0:11:54.880 --> 0:11:57.320 was working on his washing machine a while back, and 0:11:57.800 --> 0:12:01.600 Kevin can fix anything connected the hose in the back 0:12:01.679 --> 0:12:04.480 and turned the water off at the valve. Needed to 0:12:04.520 --> 0:12:07.120 run up to the store and get some parts. As 0:12:07.120 --> 0:12:09.840 he was about to lead, something said to him out 0:12:09.840 --> 0:12:13.160 of the blue. Wasn't even thinking about it. You need 0:12:13.200 --> 0:12:15.880 to put a cap on that fawcet in case the 0:12:15.960 --> 0:12:19.200 valve breaks. Well. Normally, when you turn the falcet off, 0:12:19.320 --> 0:12:21.280 you don't need to cap it. But he heard it 0:12:21.360 --> 0:12:26.679 several times, not out loud, just an impression, a gentle whisper. 0:12:27.200 --> 0:12:29.640 He was in a hurry, and I thought, there's no need. 0:12:30.080 --> 0:12:34.000 I'm just being overly cautious. A few hours later, his 0:12:34.160 --> 0:12:37.520 children call Daddy, hurry home. There's water all over the house, 0:12:37.760 --> 0:12:41.240 the kitchen, the den, the study. He said, Joel, I 0:12:41.320 --> 0:12:45.280 heard it so strongly, but I kept ignoring it. Pay 0:12:45.280 --> 0:12:49.080 attention to the whispers, especially when it won't go away, 0:12:49.520 --> 0:12:53.840 keeps coming back. That's God speaking to you. Sometimes the 0:12:53.880 --> 0:12:58.560 whisper is very practical. You're drinking too much caffeine, You're 0:12:58.559 --> 0:13:01.480 not eating healthy. Is not good for you. You keep 0:13:01.480 --> 0:13:05.160 hearing it again and again, pushing it down. Don't ignore it. 0:13:06.040 --> 0:13:08.560 Maybe you hear that whisper. You need to get to work. 0:13:08.600 --> 0:13:11.800 On time. You need to treat your spouse better. You 0:13:11.880 --> 0:13:17.199 need to watch your words. Gentle. Whispers impressions in your spirit, 0:13:17.720 --> 0:13:21.200 not your mind. Your intellect may say it's fine, but 0:13:21.320 --> 0:13:23.959 down in here it's something you know you should do. 0:13:24.960 --> 0:13:28.079 When we understand that the whispers are for our benefit, 0:13:28.720 --> 0:13:31.440 the whispers is God leading us down the best path, 0:13:31.920 --> 0:13:34.520 then we won't ignore it. We won't push it down. 0:13:34.679 --> 0:13:38.120 We'll be quick to obey. At the mall, you don't 0:13:38.120 --> 0:13:40.960 feel good about that purchase, you don't override it. You 0:13:41.040 --> 0:13:44.600 put it back. At home, you feel that prompting to 0:13:44.640 --> 0:13:47.480 spend time with your child, you turn the TV off 0:13:47.520 --> 0:13:51.600 and obey. At work, something says, don't hang around that person. 0:13:52.120 --> 0:13:55.240 You feel uneasy. The alarm is going off. You don't 0:13:55.280 --> 0:13:57.920 reason it out. Oh they look fine to me. You 0:13:58.040 --> 0:14:02.559 trust your censor. You may change. My father was driving 0:14:02.600 --> 0:14:04.959 down the freeway one day and when he got off 0:14:05.000 --> 0:14:09.240 the feeder, he felt something whisper, you better slow down. 0:14:09.400 --> 0:14:14.000 There's a policeman around the curve, just an impression of prompting. 0:14:14.480 --> 0:14:17.439 He didn't pay any attention. He kept feeding along and 0:14:17.520 --> 0:14:20.120 he got around the curve, and sure enough there was 0:14:20.160 --> 0:14:23.440 a policeman with his radar gun waving him into the 0:14:23.480 --> 0:14:27.560 parking lot. Daddy pulled in. The officer came up to 0:14:27.560 --> 0:14:30.840 his car. My father said, officer, you won't believe this, 0:14:31.240 --> 0:14:34.320 but the Lord told me you were here. The officer 0:14:34.400 --> 0:14:36.240 looked at him, like, yeah, right, who's this guy? And 0:14:36.800 --> 0:14:38.960 he took his driver's license, went to his car, and 0:14:39.000 --> 0:14:41.680 he came back a couple minutes later and handed it 0:14:41.720 --> 0:14:44.080 back to my father. He said, listen here a preacher. 0:14:44.440 --> 0:14:46.760 I'm gonna let you go, but the next time the 0:14:46.800 --> 0:14:51.720 Lord speaks to you, you better listen. How many times 0:14:52.240 --> 0:14:55.680 is God whispering to us throughout the day, but we're 0:14:55.680 --> 0:14:59.280 not sensitive to it? Just a whisper. Slow down on 0:14:59.320 --> 0:15:03.440 the freeway. Be kinder to your spouse, call that friend 0:15:03.480 --> 0:15:07.160 and encourage them. Stop buy and see your parents. Turn 0:15:07.200 --> 0:15:10.400 off that computer, get some more sleep, take care of yourself. 0:15:10.920 --> 0:15:15.120 Gentle whispers, they're not loud. God's not going to force 0:15:15.160 --> 0:15:18.360 you to do it. It's just an impression. The word 0:15:18.480 --> 0:15:23.040 obey in the original language means give ear to to 0:15:23.080 --> 0:15:25.960 be obedient, you have to give your ear to what 0:15:26.040 --> 0:15:29.280 God is saying. You have to be a listener, be 0:15:29.480 --> 0:15:33.120 sensitive to the whisper. What are you feeling in your 0:15:33.160 --> 0:15:37.720 spirit may not be words, just a knowing something deep 0:15:37.800 --> 0:15:41.400 down you know you're supposed to do. I've heard it said. 0:15:41.680 --> 0:15:44.880 The loudest voice in your life should be the still 0:15:44.960 --> 0:15:51.640 small voice. The whispers will be quiet. Other voices, thoughts, reasoning, 0:15:52.000 --> 0:15:55.920 people's opinions, news will be much louder. But you have 0:15:56.000 --> 0:16:00.200 to learn to give the whispers the most attention. When 0:16:00.240 --> 0:16:03.280 you let the still small voice be the voice you follow, 0:16:03.720 --> 0:16:07.280 then you'll make the best decisions. A friend of mine 0:16:07.360 --> 0:16:11.400 that attends Lakewood was a senior in college, was a 0:16:11.440 --> 0:16:14.960 young man in her math class that she became friends with. 0:16:15.520 --> 0:16:18.080 She would see him from time to time, they'd talk, 0:16:18.520 --> 0:16:21.760 go to the math lab together. One day something said 0:16:21.800 --> 0:16:25.240 to her invite that young man to church. But she 0:16:25.280 --> 0:16:28.040 didn't know him that well. She didn't know what he believed. 0:16:28.400 --> 0:16:30.800 She thought, that's going to be kind of strange. He's 0:16:30.840 --> 0:16:33.720 going to think that's too forward. On and on. She 0:16:33.840 --> 0:16:36.840 kept coming up with all these excuses and wouldn't do it. 0:16:37.480 --> 0:16:41.600 Week went by, two weeks, a month, but she couldn't 0:16:41.600 --> 0:16:44.960 get away from it. One way you know it's from God, 0:16:45.160 --> 0:16:49.160 is it won't go away. That impression that prompting it 0:16:49.280 --> 0:16:53.160 keeps coming back every time she saw him down deep, 0:16:53.320 --> 0:16:57.720 she heard that whisper invite him to church. Sometimes God 0:16:57.760 --> 0:17:00.440 will ask you to do things that are uncom trouble, 0:17:01.000 --> 0:17:03.800 where you have to stretch and take a step of faith. 0:17:04.560 --> 0:17:06.920 And the last week of school she got her nerve 0:17:07.040 --> 0:17:10.320 up and did it. She invited him to Lakewood. They 0:17:10.359 --> 0:17:14.399 both graduated and went their separate ways. She never knew 0:17:14.400 --> 0:17:17.400 what he did with the invitation, but she felt good 0:17:17.480 --> 0:17:21.080 that she obeyed that still small voice. Two years later, 0:17:21.440 --> 0:17:24.399 she met her husband here at Lakewood. They fell in 0:17:24.440 --> 0:17:27.959 love and were married. Life was good. One day they 0:17:27.960 --> 0:17:31.000 were leaving the service and she saw the young man 0:17:31.119 --> 0:17:34.480 from college at the back of the auditorium. He had 0:17:34.520 --> 0:17:38.240 a badge on. He was an usher. She was amazed. 0:17:38.280 --> 0:17:40.960 She said, I can't believe you're here and that you volunteer. 0:17:41.720 --> 0:17:44.399 Her husband went over to him, gave him a big hub, 0:17:44.720 --> 0:17:47.560 say hey, how you been doing. They begin to talk 0:17:47.600 --> 0:17:50.399 like they were old friends. She looked at her husband 0:17:50.400 --> 0:17:53.639 and said, how do you know him? Her husband said, 0:17:53.880 --> 0:17:57.240 he's the one that invited me to Lakewood. He's the 0:17:57.320 --> 0:18:01.760 reason that I'm here. The whole time she was hearing 0:18:01.760 --> 0:18:05.359 that whisper invite him to Lakewood. She thought she was 0:18:05.400 --> 0:18:08.360 doing him a favor. In fact, she was doing herself 0:18:08.359 --> 0:18:13.040 a favor. That gentle whisper was saying, in effect, invite 0:18:13.080 --> 0:18:17.480 your husband to church. God sees the big picture. He 0:18:17.640 --> 0:18:20.600 knows how to connect the dots. We're never going to 0:18:20.720 --> 0:18:25.080 understand at the time all that he's doing, how he's arranging, 0:18:25.280 --> 0:18:30.120 moving and preparing. Anytime you feel that whisper, that impression, 0:18:30.680 --> 0:18:33.480 it may be to be good to someone else, but 0:18:33.560 --> 0:18:37.760 it will be instrumental in reaching your destiny. There will 0:18:37.800 --> 0:18:42.160 be these times where you're uncomfortable. You have to stretch. 0:18:42.560 --> 0:18:46.000 You have to push past the fear, the uncertainty, and 0:18:46.160 --> 0:18:48.440 do what you know God is asking you to do. 0:18:49.520 --> 0:18:53.480 Every act of obedience leads to a blessing. You may 0:18:53.520 --> 0:18:56.120 not see it right now, but down the road, God 0:18:56.160 --> 0:18:59.960 will connect the dots. That gentle whisper may be telling 0:19:00.160 --> 0:19:03.560 you to forgive, to let go of that hurt, Quit 0:19:03.600 --> 0:19:07.680 holding on to the grudge that's uncomfortable. Your mind will say, 0:19:07.720 --> 0:19:10.760 no way, they hurt you too badly. You get to 0:19:10.880 --> 0:19:15.359 choose which voice are you going to obey? The loud, forceful, 0:19:15.560 --> 0:19:19.160 don't change, take the easy way out voice Now let 0:19:19.200 --> 0:19:23.880 the gentle whisper be the voice you follow. Maybe uncomfortable, 0:19:24.119 --> 0:19:27.720 but God knows what he's doing. When you're sensitive to 0:19:27.840 --> 0:19:31.159 the still small voice, when you're in tune with what 0:19:31.200 --> 0:19:35.040 you're feeling in your spirit, not just living by your intellect, 0:19:35.320 --> 0:19:38.280 but listening to the promptings, then you're going to go 0:19:38.640 --> 0:19:42.080 down the best path for your life. When my father 0:19:42.320 --> 0:19:45.359 was in his mid seventies, he had to go on dialysis. 0:19:45.840 --> 0:19:48.480 He'd struggled with high blood pressure most of his life 0:19:48.480 --> 0:19:51.720 and it had damaged his kidneys. Many times I would 0:19:51.760 --> 0:19:54.600 take him to the clinic. One morning, he called me 0:19:54.640 --> 0:19:57.800 at three point thirty said, Joel, I can't sleep. I 0:19:58.000 --> 0:20:00.800 like to go up and have dialases now. I said, okay, 0:20:00.840 --> 0:20:02.840 I'll come pick you up, and I drove him to 0:20:02.880 --> 0:20:06.120 the clinic. After we got him all hooked up and settled, 0:20:06.320 --> 0:20:10.280 it would take about four hours. Normally I'd go run errands, 0:20:10.440 --> 0:20:13.920 go to work, come back later. There's only three forty 0:20:13.920 --> 0:20:16.400 five in the morning. I was planning on going back 0:20:16.400 --> 0:20:19.760 home and sleeping, but as I was about to leave, 0:20:20.240 --> 0:20:23.560 I heard something whisper, Joe, you need to stay here 0:20:23.640 --> 0:20:26.680 with your father and visit with him, keep him company. 0:20:27.160 --> 0:20:31.439 I felt him so strongly, not out loud, just an impression. 0:20:31.760 --> 0:20:35.879 I knew I was supposed to stay. Now. My mind said, Joel, 0:20:36.240 --> 0:20:38.879 you can visit later. It's four o'clock in the morning, 0:20:39.280 --> 0:20:43.600 go back home. These loud thoughts came telling me something different. 0:20:44.359 --> 0:20:46.959 If you're going to listen to the whisper, you have 0:20:47.000 --> 0:20:50.240 to have your ear tuned to what you're feeling. Don't 0:20:50.280 --> 0:20:54.200 let the loud thoughts drown out the gentle whisper. Develop 0:20:54.240 --> 0:20:59.080 your ear to where the whisper becomes the loudest voice. Well, 0:20:59.119 --> 0:21:01.600 my father thanked me for bringing him, said he had 0:21:01.600 --> 0:21:03.159 seen me later. I said, no, daddy, I'm going to 0:21:03.160 --> 0:21:05.840 stay with you today and we can visit. He was 0:21:05.880 --> 0:21:09.000 so happy. We talked for four hours and time went 0:21:09.040 --> 0:21:11.840 by so fast. I brought him home at eight o'clock 0:21:11.880 --> 0:21:15.560 in the morning. We were standing in the kitchen. He said, Joe, 0:21:15.680 --> 0:21:18.680 you're the best son a father could ever hope to have. 0:21:19.440 --> 0:21:23.600 And leaving that morning, I felt so satisfied, so at peased, 0:21:23.720 --> 0:21:26.879 so fulfilled. My father knew that I loved him, and 0:21:26.920 --> 0:21:29.320 I knew that he loved me. Well, those were the 0:21:29.400 --> 0:21:32.040 last words I ever heard my father speak to me. 0:21:32.720 --> 0:21:34.879 That night, he had a heart attack and went to 0:21:34.880 --> 0:21:38.320 be with the Lord. I'm so glad I didn't ignore 0:21:38.359 --> 0:21:42.400 that whisper to stay with him. God knows the future. 0:21:43.080 --> 0:21:46.119 He knows what we're going to need, what to avoid, 0:21:46.480 --> 0:21:49.359 what not to do. At the time, we may not 0:21:49.560 --> 0:21:53.800 understand it. Does it make sense. We're uncomfortable, But you 0:21:53.840 --> 0:21:57.760 can trust the whisper. You can trust that knowing not 0:21:57.880 --> 0:22:01.719 your mind, but in your heart. Don't override the still 0:22:01.840 --> 0:22:05.480 small voice. God is leading you down the best path. 0:22:06.200 --> 0:22:09.840 You can't accomplish your purpose on your own. The whispers 0:22:10.040 --> 0:22:13.400 are what gives you an advantage. The whispers will give 0:22:13.440 --> 0:22:17.399 you inside information. The whispers will take you where you 0:22:17.440 --> 0:22:22.320 can't go on your own. One King, Chapter nineteen, Elijah 0:22:22.400 --> 0:22:25.120 was in a difficult place. He had just called down 0:22:25.160 --> 0:22:28.520 fire from heaven destroyed four hundred and fifty of the 0:22:28.560 --> 0:22:31.760 false prophets of bail. It's one of his greatest victories. 0:22:32.280 --> 0:22:35.160 But when the king's wife heard about all these men 0:22:35.200 --> 0:22:38.119 they had lost, she was furious. She set out to 0:22:38.200 --> 0:22:42.840 kill Elijah. He was hiding in a cave, discouraged and afraid. 0:22:43.320 --> 0:22:46.080 He needed direction, and God told him to go stand 0:22:46.119 --> 0:22:49.320 on the mountain he was about to pass verse eleven 0:22:49.400 --> 0:22:53.640 says there was a great and powerful wind that tore 0:22:53.720 --> 0:22:57.480 the mountains apart and shattered the rocks. You would think, 0:22:57.520 --> 0:23:01.040 surely God just showed up, that was so powerful, But 0:23:01.119 --> 0:23:03.879 it goes on to say God was not in the wind. 0:23:04.760 --> 0:23:08.200 After the wind, there was a great earthquake, something even bigger, 0:23:08.560 --> 0:23:11.679 that split the ground open, But the Lord was not 0:23:11.760 --> 0:23:14.960 in the earthquake. After the earthquake, there was a great 0:23:15.040 --> 0:23:18.399 fire that burned things up, but God was not in 0:23:18.440 --> 0:23:22.480 the fire. After the fire, the scripture says there came 0:23:22.960 --> 0:23:27.200 a gentle whisper. God was showing us how he speaks. 0:23:27.880 --> 0:23:32.440 When all the circumstances are loud. It's noisy thoughts telling 0:23:32.480 --> 0:23:35.480 you what's not going to work out, people coming against you. 0:23:36.040 --> 0:23:40.120 It's easy to get stressed, confused. You have to come 0:23:40.160 --> 0:23:44.600 back to that quiet place. The reason God whispers is 0:23:44.640 --> 0:23:48.440 because he's close to you. You don't whisper to strangers. 0:23:49.200 --> 0:23:52.200 You don't whisper to people you barely know. You whisper 0:23:52.280 --> 0:23:56.000 to your spouse, You whisper to your child, You whisper 0:23:56.080 --> 0:24:00.120 to someone you know and love. That's why God whispers 0:24:00.160 --> 0:24:04.840 to you. You're his child. He loves you, He trusts you. 0:24:05.160 --> 0:24:08.320 He wants the best for you. He's not going to shout, 0:24:09.000 --> 0:24:13.680 be loud, forceful. He'll lead you by these gentle whispers, 0:24:13.800 --> 0:24:18.080 by the still small voice. Psalm twenty five says, the 0:24:18.119 --> 0:24:21.440 secret of the Lord is with them that fear him. 0:24:21.920 --> 0:24:26.040 When you honor God, he'll tell you secrets. He'll whisper 0:24:26.160 --> 0:24:28.879 things in your spirit that you had no way of knowing. 0:24:29.720 --> 0:24:32.840 He knows, like you did with me. When you need 0:24:32.880 --> 0:24:36.280 to spend time with someone, he knows where the property 0:24:36.440 --> 0:24:39.359 is that's going to increase. He knows, like my friend, 0:24:39.520 --> 0:24:43.240 where your spouse is. He knows where the good breaks are, 0:24:43.400 --> 0:24:48.919 the promotion, the resources, the abundance. He'll give you inside information, 0:24:49.320 --> 0:24:53.400 a gentle whisper. It's the secret of the Lord. Won't 0:24:53.400 --> 0:24:58.080 always make sense, may not seem logical, the facts say otherwise, 0:24:58.520 --> 0:25:03.199 Trust the whisper, obeyed the promptings, the knowing, the still 0:25:03.320 --> 0:25:08.440 small voice. That's God whispering secrets. A man I bought 0:25:08.440 --> 0:25:12.240 some property years ago, way out in the middle of nowhere, 0:25:12.760 --> 0:25:15.800 hardly paid anything for it, less than one hundred dollars 0:25:15.840 --> 0:25:20.760 an acre. He bought several hundred acres, and logically speaking, 0:25:21.040 --> 0:25:23.639 as an investment, it looked like a waste of money. 0:25:24.200 --> 0:25:27.760 The land was dry and barren, couldn't grow crops on it, 0:25:27.880 --> 0:25:31.960 couldn't raise cattle. It was just rocks, clay, and cactus. 0:25:32.680 --> 0:25:34.359 He used to go check on it every once in 0:25:34.440 --> 0:25:38.199 a while. It always puzzled me as to why he 0:25:38.280 --> 0:25:41.240 bought the property. I thought maybe he had family in 0:25:41.280 --> 0:25:44.040 the area, or some kind of plans to develop it. 0:25:44.640 --> 0:25:47.360 He said, no, Joel, I was just driving by one 0:25:47.440 --> 0:25:50.480 day and I felt so drawn to it. I knew 0:25:50.560 --> 0:25:54.080 it was supposed to be mine. Just a whisper, just 0:25:54.119 --> 0:25:57.760 a prompting that he felt in his spirit. God will 0:25:57.840 --> 0:26:00.760 ask you to do things that are not always it's logical. 0:26:01.680 --> 0:26:04.760 The battle will take place between your mind, all the 0:26:04.840 --> 0:26:09.480 loud voices and the gentle whisper. When it's from God, 0:26:09.640 --> 0:26:13.720 it's more of a knowing. You can't explain it on paper. 0:26:13.760 --> 0:26:16.840 It may not make sense, your reason can't justify it. 0:26:17.080 --> 0:26:20.240 But deep down you have this peace. You know you're 0:26:20.240 --> 0:26:24.520 supposed to do it. Fifteen years later, he received notice 0:26:24.560 --> 0:26:28.119 that the state was putting in a highway. It just 0:26:28.160 --> 0:26:30.920 so happened out of all that land it was going 0:26:30.960 --> 0:26:33.800 to run right through his property. They had to buy 0:26:33.880 --> 0:26:36.600 him out. He ended up making more than one hundred 0:26:36.640 --> 0:26:39.800 times what he paid for it. This man is an 0:26:39.840 --> 0:26:42.920 older gentleman. He's kind of country in. A reporter from 0:26:42.920 --> 0:26:45.800 the regional paper was talking to him, said, sir, you 0:26:45.840 --> 0:26:49.080 sure know how to pick a piece of property. He said, yes, 0:26:49.359 --> 0:26:53.000 my father told me about this place. The reporter said, 0:26:53.160 --> 0:26:55.560 I didn't know your dad was in real estate. The 0:26:55.640 --> 0:26:58.480 man pointed up, said, I'm talking about my heavenly Father. 0:26:59.040 --> 0:27:03.560 He knows where everything. When you listen to this still 0:27:03.680 --> 0:27:09.520 small voice, you'll come across blessings, favor, good breaks, things 0:27:09.560 --> 0:27:12.719 you had no way of knowing. You can't explain it, 0:27:13.320 --> 0:27:15.600 you don't have any data to back it up, but 0:27:15.680 --> 0:27:18.800 you do have the most high God living on the 0:27:18.840 --> 0:27:23.439 inside of you. He'll whisper secrets to your spirit. Some 0:27:23.520 --> 0:27:27.879 of these whispers are destiny moments. They are vital for 0:27:27.960 --> 0:27:30.959 you to see the fullness of what God has in store. 0:27:31.600 --> 0:27:34.720 The reason you feel it so strongly is because it's 0:27:34.760 --> 0:27:38.119 about to launch you into a new level of your destiny. 0:27:38.800 --> 0:27:42.399 God is about to whisper some secrets. He's going to 0:27:42.440 --> 0:27:46.679 give you insight into things that propel you ahead. You 0:27:46.760 --> 0:27:52.080 are one whisper away from stepping into greater favor, greater influence, 0:27:52.320 --> 0:27:57.040 greater reefsources, something more than you've imagined. Now, it may 0:27:57.040 --> 0:28:00.680 not happen the way you think. It may not make sense. Logically, 0:28:01.240 --> 0:28:03.240 your mind will try to talk you out of it. 0:28:03.760 --> 0:28:07.120 Follow the still small voice. You can trust your censor. 0:28:07.960 --> 0:28:10.880 I believe that God is whispering something to all of us, 0:28:11.640 --> 0:28:14.760 maybe an area we need to grow, come up higher, 0:28:15.000 --> 0:28:18.600 make better decisions. We've heard it, we keep ignoring it, 0:28:18.960 --> 0:28:22.280 but it won't go away. Now is the time to act. 0:28:23.200 --> 0:28:26.200 Maybe it's a whisper where we need to stretch, get 0:28:26.200 --> 0:28:28.760 out of our comfort zone, take a step of faith. 0:28:29.560 --> 0:28:33.480 My challenge is pay attention to the whispers. Be sensitive 0:28:33.520 --> 0:28:37.439 to what you're feeling the promptings. Let that still small 0:28:37.520 --> 0:28:40.840 voice be the loudest voice in your life, the voice 0:28:41.040 --> 0:28:44.280 that you choose to obey. If you'll do this, I 0:28:44.440 --> 0:28:47.800 believe and declare, God is going to whisper secrets to you. 0:28:48.280 --> 0:28:51.640 He's going to give you inside information. You're about to 0:28:51.800 --> 0:28:56.440 rise higher, accomplish dreams, and become all you were created 0:28:56.480 --> 0:29:00.000 to be in Jesus' name. And if you receive it, 0:29:00.320 --> 0:29:03.800 can you say a man, I'd like to give you 0:29:03.840 --> 0:29:06.880 an opportunity to make Jesus the Lord of your life. 0:29:07.360 --> 0:29:11.880 Would you pray with me? Just say, Lord, Jesus, I 0:29:12.040 --> 0:29:16.920 repent of my sins. Come into my heart. I'll make 0:29:17.000 --> 0:29:21.160 you my Lord and savior. If you prayed that simple prayer, 0:29:21.200 --> 0:29:24.040 we believe you got born again. We'd love to send 0:29:24.040 --> 0:29:26.600 you some free information. You can text the number on 0:29:26.640 --> 0:29:29.280 the screen, go to the website. I hope you'll get 0:29:29.280 --> 0:29:33.240 into a good Bible based church and keep God first place. 0:29:33.800 --> 0:29:36.800 Thanks so much for listening to today's message. I hope 0:29:36.800 --> 0:29:40.200 you'll subscribe so you can receive the latest podcast to 0:29:40.280 --> 0:29:42.800 keep you encouraged and inspired all through the week. 0:29:42.960 --> 0:29:45.200 Help us to continue to share the message of hope 0:29:45.200 --> 0:29:48.640 with those all around the world. Visit Joelosting dot com 0:29:48.760 --> 0:29:51.360 or click the link in the description to partner with 0:29:51.440 --> 0:29:51.959 us today. 0:29:52.200 --> 0:29:54.680 We hope you'll share this message with a friend and 0:29:54.760 --> 0:29:57.560 be sure to follow us on social media. We're praying 0:29:57.640 --> 0:30:00.320 for you. I know God's best is still a head. 0:30:00.520 --> 0:30:03.120 We'll see you next time. M