Week One - Hearing God's Voice

Wow it's been nearly a month since I've last posted. There's just been SO much happening that I haven't had time to blog about it(Deanna I finally understand what you mean by "you won't have any time" now. haha)

After the first week of YWAM, our schedule has changed quite a bit. 

So.. yes it's a pretty full schedule. During the times we are free(mostly just on weekends) we use it to do our personal journals and book reports. 

I wish I could post up pictures of what we've been doing over the past few weeks, but my camera got some sand in the lens. :( I'm going to send it for repair really soon. 

On a brighter note, YPDTS classes have been so good! I really have to make it a point to record everything I've been doing here every week. After a month of not blogging there are definitely things that I have missed out. 

Week One - Hearing God's voice

During the first week of DTS, in the midst of all the fun and activities we had, we had a great series on hearing God's voice. I really wish I could share all the things I've learnt here, but I probably won't be able to finish writing everything down. So what I'll do for the first 4 weeks, is I'll sum up what I've learnt over a few sentences. :)

The most important thing about a man is not what they say or do, but what they believe God to be in their heart//God is a communicator and desires a relationship with us//God speaks to us through - Reading(Word), Hearing(His voice & people), See(Creation & visions), and Feeling(Still small voice & peace)//"The gatekeeper opens the gate for Him and the sheep recognize his voice and come to Him"//In seeking God we need both Desire and Discipline - we cannot rely on just one//

I'll be really honest and say that during the first week, I was feeling really insecure about what people thought about me. Would people see past me and see what was really deep inside? Would they judge me for the things I've done? Would they accept me for who I am? All this was in my mind and during the first week, I would be totally honest and say that I was putting on a mask and trying to be confident even though I wasn't feeling that great. 

Now every Friday we have an "application time" for class to practice what we have learnt. Being the week that we were talking about "Hearing from God", we were asked to spend around 20 minutes to listen to His voice. Over the past many months I've been hitting a brick wall in my prayers and not been getting much of a response from Him. But this time round I came with such a desire to hear His voice that the words came nearly immediately to me and broke down my first wall - my belief that maybe God didn't want to talk to me after all. 

These are the words I heard in my heart:

"Andrew, you are more than a conqueror. Many people have told you otherwise and you yourself have believed them. But by my strength and your trust in me, you can do all things. You have not fully developed yet, but through the next 6 months you will experience my power working in your life, helping you to destroy every work of the enemy. My grace is sufficient for you; my strength is made perfect in weakness"

God desires to have a relationship with us. Even when we don't believe it. Even when we've gone astray. If we just come to Him in humility and allow Him to speak to us, He will.