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'The Still Small Voice is written with simplicity
and elegance by a pilgrim for pilgrims. It combines
practical counsel with devotion, marrying a depth of
Scriptural insight with the wisdom of the Holy
Spirit. I found it an inspiring and encouraging
read, bringing fresh and renewed light into my soul.
This Pilgrim's Guide to Listening to the Lord is
well structured, accessible, full of balance and
sound good sense. The fruit of someone who has
sought hard to understand the Lord's ways of
communicating, it explores many of the diverse ways
God speaks: in dreams, visions, nudges and through
silence. Robert helps us understand times of drought
and delay and addresses, amongst many other issues,
the perennial problems of disappointment,
disillusionment, deception, warfare and confusion
concerning timing. It is particularly excellent on
discernment and waiting on God.
At the same time it moves the reader away from
'listening' as a purely personal pursuit and places
it in the context of hearing God's heart and
strategy for His world. The times for Reflection and
Prayer at the end of each segment help to establish
a rhythm of response to the teaching and also to
distil one's own thoughts, making sure that the
information gets quickly turned into prayer.
I found the guide really helpful, with Robert
emerging from its pages as a seasoned and
trustworthy guide for the journey. You will find
fresh confidence to believe that you can hear God,
and wise instruction on how to be more sensitive to
the Still Small Voice of God. I commend it to you.'
Revd. Paul Miller
New Day Ministries & World Prayer Centre
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Click on the chapter title to access the relevant
section. |
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Lord, You
love to speak
Lord, You love to speak,
even without the need for words.
You listen to our inmost thoughts.
and You bring us to a place of stillness.
One word from You imparts life
and direction to our souls.
Guard our hearing, for listening
is the gateway to the intimate communion
that both we and You are longing for.
You taught us, Lord, that the pure in heart are blessed,
for they will see God.
Make our soul full of eyes
so that we can see and understand Your ways;
Never stop speaking,
even if You have to say the same thing time and again.
We need to hear what You are saying,
even if it is not what we wanted to hear;
and then let us respond in faith and trust
until all that You have promised is accomplished.
Fill our hearts with a compassion that mirrors Your own.
Show us where to go and what to do –
and as Your hand rests upon us,
may we take the beauty of Your presence wherever we go.
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As we start of
this journey, Lord,
May Your presence be close at hand.
We long to meet with You today, Lord.
In the stillness draw near.
We throw open the doors of our heart
and celebrate the love that calls us to Your service.
May the grace of Christ light our paths;
our journeys and encounters,
our hopes and our dreams..
We offer them, Lord, to You;
direct us for Your glory.
And as we embark in the flow of your Spirit’s leading,
Unlock the springs of creativity in our heart,
Ideas and inspiration that flow to Your glory
Let the power of God rise up as we worship,
The love of God as we reach out to others
And the joy of Christ as we live this day for You.
Oh let me hear Thee speaking in accents clear and still,
Above the storms of passion, the murmurs of self will;
O speak to reassure me, to hasten or control;
O speak, and make me listen, thou guardian of my soul. |
Author’s Introduction
Imagine the Bible shorn of all references to the Lord
speaking directly. We would be left with no key to
understand why the historical episodes relating to
Moses, Joshua, David and the like happened. We would be
none the wiser as to who had initiated them or what they
were pointing to. Our spiritual understanding would be
severely impoverished.
One word from heaven is
worth a dozen of our own bright ideas.
The whole history of the Bible is of the Lord taking
hold of people’s lives and directing them to attempt things they
could never have achieved by their own efforts. He loves
to speak to His children!
The ‘Still Small Voice’ of God births visions, counteracts unbelief,
overcomes prejudices, dispels confusion, restores joy
and enables us to find fresh direction – even if we have
taken wrong ones in the past.
Martin Luther declared that God only speaks ‘baby talk’
to us because that is all we are capable of
understanding. With considerable trepidation, I have set
out to show that the Lord can take us beyond ‘baby and
toddler speak’ to the point where He can share more of
His heart with us.
Does that mean we need to be high flying prophets to
hear anything of value? By no means! Even those we look
up to in Scripture as giants of faith have their flaws -
sometimes gaping ones. Deuteronomy 30:14
reassures us, however, that The word is very near you; it is in your
mouth and in your heart so you may obey it.
The best way to use this book is to take as much time as
you can to turn the teaching, as well as the
meditations, into prayer.
As you do so, may the Still
Small Voice refresh your spirits, enlarge your vision,
and make your days more and more a heavenly
adventure. The urgency of our times and the Lord’s own
longing require no less.
Robert Weston, Malvern
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