From the Edges – Hearing the Voice – Morning Devotional

FROM THE EDGES – Morning Devotions
Hearing the VOICE
Pastor Calvin Cook – May 16, 2024

Scripture focus – Romans 8:15-16 (NCV)15 The Spirit we received does not make us slaves again to fear; it makes us children of God. With that Spirit we cry out, “Father.” 16 And the Spirit himself joins with our spirits to say we are God’s children.

One of the crippling aspects of life today in our culture are the many opinions, directions, voices we hear that altar our way of thinking within the realm of the Holy. We are continually barraged by media, news, other people, and even the voice of conscious that either talks us into things or out of things.

Exactly at this moment while I am writing these words a song is playing in the background and the words “Hurt people hurt people, broken hearts break hearts” are jumping out from the other words. I consider this a real gift and speaking of the Holy Spirit at this time and moment. The greatest lesson that we can learn from the scripture selection this morning is to cautiously discerning what the Holy Spirit is speaking into our lives this morning.

The Holy Spirit does not speak fear, does not speak unworthiness, does not speak insults, does not speak harm, never has and never will speak a word that separates us from the love of God. These are the voices that cripple us and strip us of our ability to be the beloved of God and stand on the solid rock which will never crumble or shift.

The Holy Spirt speaks love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness and self control. The Holy Spirit speaks encouragement into our lives to bring us from the pit of despair that we have become all to comfortable in.

The prayer that Jonah uttered from the belly of the great fish “In my distress I called to the Lord, and he answered me. From deep in the realm of the dead I called for help and you listened to my cry” (Jonah 2:2) really speaks volumes into our current situation.
This is what is important for today, not just today but all our life. Be cautious of which voices are your guiding forces. Which voice is dictating your demeanor. Which voice is guiding you. I truly believe that we will all experience break through but it will require us to listen to the voice of the Holy Spirit speaking into our lives.

My goal is take a moment every hour to step into a holy quietness and hear God saying through the Spirit – “You are mine, you are my beloved.” Step into that holiness of the Lord like you never have before.