Hearing the Voice of God

This week marked the 3rd week i have been in Australia. It seems like i have been here for a lot longer yet so much shorter. Anyway last Saturday we had a day off lectures and took a trip up the coast about 30 minutes to a town called Nussa. The beaches there were absolutely beautiful and some of us took a scenic hike up to a cove called "Hells Gate". This was one of the prettiest places I have seen, and I'm sorry for all yall up in the snow but I was and still am enjoying so much sun and it has still yet to rain but as I'm typing this I'm seeing rain clouds come over the horizon and it hopefully is carrying much needed rain.

Lectures this week were on the topic "Hearing Gods Voice", on Monday we had two former DTS students come and speak on how they hear God and put it into terms college age kids can understand. Then the next four days the lectures were given by Borris a 37 year old German born surfer who works here at the Sunny Coast base. Borris had an amazing teaching style, he would tell life stories that helped us grasp the idea of hearing God and communicating with him. Since there is not really a 3 step process or exact way to hear God, these stories really helped.

One of the first things that was said was, "In order to do Gods will you have to hear God". This freaked me out because I felt to hear God was a one in a million chance and i truly want to live out my calling but i didn't feel i could truly hear God in my life. As we continued through the week I kept feeling something inside of me telling me that i wasnt fully giving everything over to Christ. The next day in lectures we talked about how we have to give up our rights, and just be willing to say yes to God. So that night i made a decision while praying that whatever came to my mind i would give up. Lots of things came to my head as i prayed and i wrote them all down. While i did this i realized that During this prayer while i fully handed those things over to Christ i could hear and feel him more clearly. The next day i challenged myself to do as we had been taught in our lessons and i tried to focus on blessing others and making my own life a byproduct. This became a huge blessing to me. Throughout the week little things kept coming into my head of things i should do, and i had no idea if it was God or just me so i finally said while laying in bed, "OK God I'm just going to try and do all these things that are coming up and if they are from you then cool but if not ill just be content looking like an idiot". Once i declared this i began doing things that i thought were stupid, but in the end i was truly blessed by the actions i was making. Hearing God has been something i have made seem almost impossible but through this week i have found that it really isn't all that insane, and God actually wants to speak to us. I know that this might seem like a crazy topic for some of you but here are some lecture notes i have that might help you:

1. You must be seeking God WHOLEHEARTEDLY and have fear for the Lord.

2. You must be willing to give up your rights.

3. God will speak however he feels. Crazy or normal he will speak however.

4. You must have character.

5. Try new ways to hear God. But, don't compare yourself to others. God speaks differently to all people. Just because he doesn't speak words to you he might wanna speak a different way. Don't be discouraged.

6. Just be willing to say YES.

7. If your having trouble giving up rights, ask God why your struggling.

8. Never specify to God how to speak to you.

9. Be proactive about God coming through.

10. If your desperately seeking God, its OK to be frustrated.

11. If your sincere on asking God then you cant go wrong.

12. Matthew 7:7, ask, seek, find

13. There are three voices in our head: God, us, and the enemy. The bible is a great tool to discern with, if its not biblical its not from God

14. God speaks to available people not cool people.

15. Hindsight is a beautiful thing when hearing and following through on Gods call.

This week we will be heading to beautiful Byron Bay Australia a town south of Brisbane for a week of evangelism. We will head out on Sunday morning and return the following Saturday. Please pray for us on this trip.

I ask for continued prayer for me and our group. I pray that i continue to have strength to give up my rights and surrender fully to God and his will for my life. Pray that our group is safe from the opposition and continues to hear Gods voice. Pray for all the outreach teams as we prepare to head out onto the mission field. Pray for my outreach team as we prepare for Nepal and India. Pray for India and Nepal. And most of all just pray to pray because that's where God meets us.

in Christ,

Andrew Thetford

any questions or anything just email at thetfordaw@mail.lipscomb.edu