Every life lived for the glory of Jesus Christ must by necessity hear the voice of God and engage missional discipleship. For that very reason, I am excited that our devotional look at Mark Batterson’s book, Whisper, as well as Alan Hirsch’s boom, Untamed, has progressed into this week as well. I am looking to complete reading through them and offering up these devotional details by the end of this week.
In the next portion of Whisper, Batterson offers powerful insights regarding our listening to the Holy Spirit through closed and open doors. He writes, “The Moken, Thailand’s sea-based tribe are a metaphor. Like these seafaring people who speak the language of the sea, we speak the language of the Spirit. And on the Spirit’s dialects is doors: open doors and closed doors…Jesus warned against signs and wonders serving as the litmus test of faith, but that doesn’t negate their value when it comes to navigating the will of God”.
Lord, Give Me A Sign
I rather appreciate Mark Batterson’s balanced approach to our discerning signs. He writes:
“Ignoring signs is ignoring the God who speaks through them, and we do so to our own detriment”.
“If Noah had ignored the sign, he and his family would have died in the flood…If Joseph had disregarded Pharaoh’s dreams, two nations would have been destroyed by the famine. If Moses had kept walking, the exodus of Israel would not have happened, and the Promised Land would never have been possessed. If the wise men hadn’t followed the star, they would not have discovered the Messiah”.
“…we must learn to read the signs the way we read Scripture – with the Holy Spirit’s help”.
“…the words that close Mark’s gospel set precedent: “signs following”. We wish it said “signs preceding”, right? That would be much easier….But Moses had to extend his staff first. The priests had to step in the water first. Only then did God part the waters. Faith is taking the first step before God reveals the second one”.
“It’s human nature to second-guess difficult decisions, and that’s why God is gracious enough to give us confirmations”.
“Discerning the will of God is about more than doing His will. Discerning His will is about knowing His heart, and that happens only when you get close enough to hear Him whisper”.
Testing the Spirit
Mark also provides 5 tests for us to utilize in our discerning the will of God. Prayerfully, you will find ample opportunity to implement these tests in your life and decision-making.
1. “Goose bump test” – “The will of God should make your heart skip a beat”, “…when you go after a God-sized dream or God-ordained calling, you should get goosebumps every know and then”.
2. “Peace Test” – “you know in your heart that it is the right thing to do”.
3. “Wise Counsel Test” – “Surround yourself with people who have been there and done that. Surround yourself by people who bring out the best in you. Surround yourself with people who have the permission to speak the truth in love. Simply put, seek wise counsel (cf. Proverbs 15:22)”.
4. “Crazy test” – “…a God-sized dream is always beyond our abilities, beyond our logic, and beyond our resources”., “If you aren’t willing to look a little crazy, you’re crazy. And when it’s the will of God, crazy turns into crazy awesome”.
5. “Released – from and Called -to Test” – “You can’t pray for open doors without accepting closed doors”. ; “You can’t base all your decisions on timing, but divine timing is one of the ways God reveals His will”.
Check in the Spirit
Also, along with discerning closed and open doors, Mark Batterson challenges us to pay intuitive attention to “checks in the Spirit”. He says, “A check in the Spirit is difficult to define, difficult to discern. It’s a feeling of uneasiness you can’t ignore. A sixth sense that something isn’t quite right.
“Like Balaam, we get frustrated when something gets in the way of where we want to go…But sometimes the obstacle is the way! God gets in the way to show us the way”.
Coupling Mark Batterson’s insights regarding hearing God’s voice with Alan Hirsch’s challenge for us to become untamed in our discipleship comes together rather well.
Becoming Untamed
Alan starts this next portion of Untamed with the challenged that we must “seek first the Kingdom of God”. He quotes William Law, “If you have not chosen the Kingdom of God, it will make in the end no difference what you have chosen instead. Will it really make no difference whether it was women or patriotism, cocaine or art, whisky or a seat in the Cabinet, money or science? Well, surely no difference that matters. We shall have missed the end for which we are formed and rejected the only thing that satisfies. Does it matter to a man dying in the desert by which choice of route he missed the only well?”
What I enjoy about “missional discipleship” is that it’s not a program, but rather is based on an authentic experience of the Spirit. Alan notes, “All God encounters should contain these two basic dimensions: holy awe together with, and at the same times as, divine comfort and grace”.
Alan challenges us to “think outside the box” in how we live out our relationship with Christ, may we all find ways to implement this following wisdom:
“Our standard approach to learning in Western church circles is usually through the head. But this is not enough the ensure a right knowledge of God. Besides, it was not the way Jesus formed His disciples. He gave instructions and set tasks for the disciples, and then taught them once they had attempted them. Be brave and risk being led by God’s Spirit into new things – things that will challenge you to draw out of your comfort zones”.
Authentic Experience with the Holy Spirit
I enjoyed the 3 quotes that Alan Hirsch shares in urging us to consider authentic missional discipleship.
The first quote by Abraham Heschel, a leading 20th century Jewish rabbi and philosopher, who said, “The fire of evil can be better fought with flames of ecstasy than through fasting and mortification”. In other words, our obedience to Christ is seen more in how we live out our joy and satisfaction in Christ rather than what focusing on things not to do.
Another quote was shared from John V. Taylor, a British missiologist who notes, “Spontaneity, total commitment, and primal responses that arise from the depths- these are the raw materials out of which a missionary church is made”. I truly believe the contemporary Christian life and Christian church is desperately in need of an authentic growth in “primal responses that arise from the depths”. How is God challenging you to authentically respond to Him today?
And last quote comes from another famed missiologist, Leslie Newbigin, who said, “A proper confidence in the ancient promises of God must not become an improper and eventually fatal barrier against recognizing and rejoicing in the action of God now”.
It was just yesterday morning that I found myself listening to our discussion in our Adult Sunday School at The Blue Point Bible Church and felt compelled to remind us that rather than abstractly talking about the history and theology of the Bible, we should internalize the truths for “rejoicing in the action of God now”. Amen and amen!
Prayerfully, this devotional continues to encourage and challenge you in regards to hearing God’s voice and growing in your discipleship. May God be glorified through all our efforts and all of our lives.
In and through the Son,
Pastor Michael Miano