Boot Camp verse: Proverbs 16:3 “Commit your work to the Lord, and your plans with be established”

• Commit your work to the Lord, and then listen to Him because he will tell us if he has a better plan.

Do you know it is possible for the Lord to speak to you and for you to hear his voice? The Bible tells us this is true. Here are a few of the verses that speak to this truth:

• Mathew 17:05 “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased: Listen to him?”
• John 8:47 “He who is of God HEARS the words of God; the reason you do not HEAR them is that you are not of God.”
• Job 15:8
• John 10:14
• John 10:27
• Isaiah 55:3a
• Matt 11:15
• Ecc. 5:1a
• Proverbs 1:23
• Psalms 143:8
• Heb. 3:7,8a

These verses offer proof that there are many promises regarding “hearing the voice of God”. But it takes time and practice to develop and strengthen your listening ear. Just as it takes time to practice and develop our physical muscles, so it is with our spiritual muscles. Especially the muscles of faith and the listening ear.

Remember to listen to God’s will for your day, rather than taking control into your own hands. Remember these verses:

• Proverbs 14:12 “There is a way which seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death.”
• Isaiah 55:8 “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, says the Lord. “
• Isaiah 55:9 “For as the Heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.”

When our spiritual listening ear is strengthened, sharp, and strong, we are able to instantly obey the voice of the spirit. RUDDER VERSE: Isaiah 30:20& 21 says “And though the Lord give you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, yet your Teacher will not hide himself any more, but your eye shall see your Teacher. AND YOUR EARS SHALL HEAR A WORD BEHIND YOU, SAYING, ‘THIS IS THE WAY, WALK IN IT’, when you turn to the right or when you turn to the left.”

It can be fun to name a verse that has been powerful in your life. I (Grandma Rosy) have done that with my RUDDER VERSE and BANKING VERSE, and now my BOOT CAMP VERSE. It’s ok to take ownership of a verse. They are God’s gift to us to use, enjoy, and share.

The BANKING VERSE comes in the middle of the BOOT CAMP and RUDDER verses. BANKING VERSE: Psalms 50:14, 15 “Offer to God a sacrifice thanksgiving, and pay your vows to the Most High; and call upon me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you and you shall glorify me.”

This verse speaks of the same principle I have been talking about. “Paying” your vows to the most High, and then on the day of trouble He will deliver us. It can be compared to putting money in the bank little by little. Then when a crisis comes we have sufficient funds to cover the needs. This is similar to our daily encounters with the Lord. Little by little we learn to listen and then when the crisis comes and we really need to urgently hear what He tells us, we are able to do so.

Another analogy that comes to mind is referring to Proverbs 16:3 as the Minor Leagues and referring Isaiah 30:20,21 as the Major Leagues. We practice daily in the Minor Leagues to listen to the little things of the day and make our listening ear stronger. Then when we get into Major League problems, we can hear what the Lord is telling us and instantly obey the voice of the Spirit, whether we are to turn to the right or the left.

I consider the following some of the issues we might face in the Major Leagues as far as needing to REALLY hear what the Lord is telling us….

• Should we move?
• Should I change jobs?
• Am I doing the right thing by holding firm with my decision with my teenager?
• What church should we join?
• I have a serious health problem. Do I have surgery or wait?
• Lord, I don’t want to sweat the “little things”, but I need to know what are the “little things” and what are the “big things”

These decisions are more than just planning the schedule of the day. But unless you have been trained in Boot Camp, you will not be able to hear the Lord’s voice when a major need comes.

“If one gives answer before he hears, it is his folly and shame.” Proverbs 18:13

This verse explains that if you give your answer to a certain problem, perhaps one of the above, before you hear a word from the Lord, you are going to be in BIG trouble.

Christians struggle with “How do I know God’s Will?” and “How am I led by the Holy Spirit?” But God does have a plan and a promise if we only become “doers of the word” and not simply hearers. James 1:22-25 “But be DOERS of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who observes his natural face in a mirror; for he observes himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and perseveres, being no hearer that forgets, BUT DO THAT ACTS, HE SHALL BE BLESSED IN HIS DOING.”

John 13:17 “If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them.”

May the Lord bless you as you learn to listen to Him.