Listening For His Voice

By Melanie Hoover

A one-year daily devotional on the theme of "Listening For His Voice." The daily entries feature Scripture reflections, illustrations and poetry. Additional contributions included by Brucie Hibma, Rick Hoover and others. A further volume is planned for a second year of daily meditations. Melanie Hoover is a Bible teacher and writes a blog on the same theme of "Listening..."

• Language: English
• Publisher: Pelican Wings
• Release date: Oct 4, 2013
• ISBN: 9781301833016

Melanie Hoover

Melanie Hoover is a Bible teacher from Florida who posts "opinionary" at her blog.

Book preview

Listening For His Voice

Volume 1

A Daily Devotional

by

Melanie Hoover

A compilation of devotional material

in prose and poetry

with contributions by

Brucie R. Hibma and Rick Hoover

Copyright © by Melanie L. Hibma Hoover

Published by

Pelican Wings

Smashwords Edition

License Notes

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient.

Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

Drawings – Melanie L. Hibma Hoover

Poems – Brucie R. Hibma

Cover Photo and Design – Rick Hoover

Table of Contents

Introduction

January

February

March

April

May

June

July

August

September

October

November

December

About the Authors

~~ ~~ ~~

Introduction

Francis Schaeffer wrote a book called How Should We Then Live? Over the years the question often stopped me in my tracks. What manner of life should we live as Christians? What manner of people should we be? Is our manner of life telling the story?

These questions lead me to a Scripture.

Ephesians 5:1 Be ye therefore followers of God, as dear children; 2 And walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling savour.

I want to share about the people who contributed to this effort of encouragement, challenge and love.

I wrote these devotionals with the help of my family. Our heritage is steeped in faith. Our grandparents on both sides served the Lord and our parents served the Lord. We were brought up in church and functioned in the world as Christians for as long as we can remember. Our faith grew as we grew. We are educated secularly and in our faith, as we pray you will be able to see. Neither shy nor gregarious at this point in our lives, we do see the everyday NEED to build our faith with Scripture, prayer and fellowship with other Christians.

I start with a story from Brucie, which will give you an idea of what kind man he is. His life is ordered to please the Lord and to LISTEN.

Several years ago on a motorcycle trip with some friends from church. We were on the Blue Ridge Parkway and The Cheeriola Parkway in North Carolina. We arrived on a Friday night and I roomed with a gentleman my wife and I had met on an earlier trip. We engaged in a conversation of jobs and life, heart desires and a number of other things to pass the time. I had recently seen the movie Tombstone. I gave him my take on the essence of Wyatt Earp, and I do take a little license here, when I give my personal thoughts on Wyatt. I believe God has moved on certain people throughout history to take a particular stand against evil, and sometimes even in their lack of understanding, they have intense a drive or bent toward righteousness. I believe Wyatt Earp was placed where he was to do a job for a time, in a place, that no one else had the wherewithal to accomplish. He stood up against those who were destroying the lives of communities for their own benefit. He stepped in, but not by himself. He developed relationships with people who were able to be a support to him in one way or another, and it was his will and his fire that drove them. There are many examples of men throughout history who had great influence on small communities and large alike.

We slept the night and were refreshed in the morning when we began our bike trip. The lead man seemed to be taking the turns in the road at a relatively fast pace and some of the other bikers were not as experienced, so they went a bit slower. Soon the lead with some of the more experienced bikers moved on out of sight. The man right in front of me was making a turn and hit a small grassy area. His bike wobbled and flipped him off under the bike and he slid about a hundred plus feet, hitting his head on a curb with such force he bounced, literally folded in half, and then came to rest with the bike on top of him. When I got to him his eyes were completely glazed over, and he was not breathing, and for a moment I was sure he was dead. Breath suddenly came to him and his eyes began to clear up. That moment for me was almost a relief, until I realized I was all by myself. Now I would have to take care of him and help him. He asked me to move the bike off him. I first told him that I realized he may be in a lot of pain, but he needed to take stock of his body from head to toe before I moved anything. The motorcycle had a rigged pedal and the place where the pedal was, was directly over his stomach. If that was penetrating him in any way and I pulled it off. Well I will leave that to your imagination. I removed the bike and administered first aid. Help came and he was moved to a hospital. His wounds were redressed and he spent the rest of the trip in his hotel room taking pain meds.

So, I had been telling the story of how God places a man in a particular time and place for a purpose. I did not realize that the ‘man’ for this time and this place would be me. I was told later that there was no one on this trip that had a clue about what to do, but me, how interesting!

There is a man

There is a man set up in a place and time

To deal the righteousness of God sublime

To clear the way for the peace in that place

Unerring, relentless, regretless, and base

Who is solid and upright to discharge the case

Giving himself to a particular cause

Set to the task with not even a pause [BRH]

The stories of mission trips to Haiti and all of the poetry were written by this man of God, my brother. He writes what he hears while listening to the voice of the Lord in his daily life. I find myself smiling, crying and touched to the quick of my heart as I read what God has been speaking to my brother. I hope you will blessed, too, as you read

Some of these devotionals are based on entries my husband has posted to his blog over the years as part of his ministry as an Episcopal deacon in our local parish.

Me? I love Jesus. I am listening for His voice in the smallest and greatest moments of everyday life. I began writing years ago, but that’s not when I was listening in the manner I am today. For years I have taken notes on sermons, Bible studies, Sunday school classes. In the past 2 years the Lord has, through attention to my walk with Him daily, in devotions and study, begun to give some of the most interesting insights on how our daily life is really HIS life. When I began to share some of my devotional reflections on my Facebook page I was amazed at the positive reaction from my friends! I live amazed!

We are to show forth Christ, as a witness, as a person who disciples others by the way we live, speak, and act. I pray these pages will encourage your daily walk.

Melanie Hoover

January 1

Listening for His Voice

I Kings 19:12 And after the earthquake a fire; but the Lord was not in the fire: and after the fire a still small voice.

The voice of the Spirit of God is as gentle as a summer breeze— so gentle that unless you are living in complete fellowship and oneness with God, you will not hear it. The sense of warning and restraint that the Spirit gives comes to us in the most amazingly gentle ways. And if you are not sensitive enough to detect His voice, you will quench it, and your spiritual life will be impaired. This sense of restraint will always come as a still small voice." --Oswald Chambers

Our daily walk can be cluttered and consumed with so much STUFF - places to go, people to see, things to do - that we are not still long enough to hear what the Holy Spirit is saying. If we do not take time to be still before the Lord and learn how to hear and recognize the voice of the Lord, how will we hear His voice in the noise and bustle of our day?

The peace in the midst of a storm is there because we can hear the still small voice in our hearts, giving comfort, peace and direction for the day. God’s Word promises for the day. Don’t worry, fret, or be anxious about tomorrow because tomorrow will take care of itself. There is enough evil in each day. God promises to walk through them with us.

John 14:27 Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world gives, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.

January 2

Button, button

Button, button, who's got the button is a traditional children's game normally played indoors on rainy days. When played by larger numbers of children, the added hubbub adds to the entertainment.

It is a rainy day today this little game came to mind. Soon I was pondering another question. Who pushes my button?

The scripture from one of the devotionals I heard today was Paul teaching the new disciples that, yes, there are button pushers. But Paul saw a purpose for their presence in our lives.

Ephesians 4:24 Put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.25 Wherefore putting away lying, speak every man truth with his neighbor: for we are members one of another. 26 Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath: 27 Neither give place to the devil.

The world is full of button’ pushers, people themselves living out their philosophies, their habits, their conversations, all pushing my buttons.

Who steals your peace and why do you let them? Do we not answer to our Creator? Are we not behaving ourselves in a manner worthy of our Christian testimony? When someone pushes my button, I pray immediately. The searchlight has been turned on to help me recognize the button. It’s a signal to respond with grace, keeping the peace that only Jesus can give.

January 3

The In-between Times

Where moments of praise fill my heart

Then times of a touch from God on my heart

Seem to strengthen me daily right from the start

I am good with that

It is all the in-between times I struggle the most

Where I feel left alone and the daily pressure is my host

I wander paths of thought; things of which I can not boast

I am never good with that

Longing for that time and touch from God

His presence and his closeness will I laud

I am always good with that.

It is the in-between times I need Him most

January 4

Kindness

Romans 2:4 Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance?

I heard a story about a fellow complaining to God about his bad day. His alarm didn’t go off, his car didn’t want to start, on and one. You know how these things work. It was a bad day in his opinion. But then God explained why each thing happened. God’s kindness ordered his steps and protected the young man from all that could have happened if God had not intervened.

Sometimes ‘kindness’ doesn’t look that way to us. But God has given us his Word, his Spirit and his people, to help us to not fall in a ditch, or get run over by a bus. If we recognize that God is in control of our life, that He has our back, we will be grateful for the kindness that don’t quite suit us.

Saul wasn’t too happy to be lying on the ground blind, on the road to Damascus. But it was a rescue. Shortly he became Paul whose spiritual sight has been a kindness in Scripture throughout the ages, teaching us about the treasury of gifts God has provided for the growth of his Kingdom and the benefit of our spiritual life.

Galatians 5:22…But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faith, 23 Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.

Is the fruit of ‘kindness’ present in the things I say and do? If kindness is truly the fruit I bear, all the other fruit will be evident in my life.

January 5

Attitude

Philippians 2:5 Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:

6 Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: 7 But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men.

Jesus was humble, purposeful, listening to and obeying every Word of the Father. He was in an intimate relationship with the Father.

So, how do we do this?

Romans 12:2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

How we hear, see, read, and respond forms the foundation of our thinking. How we think forms our attitude. Jesus was not in charge God was and is.

John 5:30 I can of mine own self do nothing: as I hear, I judge: and my judgment is just; because I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me.

If we are not in an intimate relationship with Jesus we will do what is right in our own eyes, thinking for ourselves. Eve did that. We do that. Eve walked and talked with God in the garden and listened to another voice, one that tempted her to think she was in charge.

What makes a difference in our attitude? Our obedience! Knowing God’s will and obeying, through knowledge of His written Word. This is the first step in getting a proper attitude.

January 6

Flattered

I do not like to be flattered in any way

Words of encouragement you may say

Words to lift you up to cheer your day

You say your hands have made this or that

The beauty released within your soul

Now your song and your elegant speech

How it resonates with life no sounds of droll

You take my hand and say to me

How we need you here and need you there

Because of what you know, the gifts you bear

You flatter me because of me or is it you

Is it I your flattering lips procure?

Or just the weight of the gifts I bear

January 7

Distracted

Isaiah 26:3 Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusts in thee.4 Trust ye in the Lord for ever: for in the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength:

I have become distracted over the last couple of weeks due to health, family and work issues. It has become a real struggle to keep my focus. This scripture from Isaiah gives me great hope that I will not lose spiritual ground.

I have been able to sit outside and read a book, listen to the fountain, watch the birds and squirrels, and neighborhood events, coming and going. The distraction of my health was beginning to wear on me, and I know it’s only temporary. It is a recurring problem when diet and schedule get out of sync. The anxiety I felt about letting others down, and more particularly letting the Lord down, was becoming my focus.

We sometimes forget in our zeal and fervor for spiritual excellence in our own lives, that God has placed us in a natural world He created for our pleasure, leisure and daily life, to enjoy, be grateful and at peace.

In times like these I need to remember He is giving me a time of rest and I need to be listening in the quiet days. God has helped, as He always does, in giving me peace in spite of my circumstances. I will trust in Him.

It’s a choice we must all make each and every day, in spite of whatever comes our way.

January 8

Crowd Mentality

Jeremiah 10:23 O Lord, I know that the way of man is not in himself: it is not in man that walks to direct his steps.

This 10th chapter of Jeremiah is all about following the crowd, the world and it’s own wisdom. In the 2nd verse God tells His people, don’t learn the ways of the world or follow them It will bring judgment in the end.

The Lord speaks to Jeremiah about the blessing of walking the way God requires.

Jeremiah 7:23 But this thing commanded I them, saying, Obey my voice, and I will be your God, and ye shall be my people: and walk ye in all the ways that I have commanded you, that it may be well unto you.

Any time we pick up a newspaper or listen to the TV or radio, we can hear and see the evil that is in the world, the darkness of mankind’s evil thoughts and deeds. Jesus is the LIGHT, the only WAY, TRUTH Himself. We must follow Him, not the crowd. He has called us to be a holy people, living in the light of His Word and His wisdom.

Do not follow the crowd on its wide and busy road to destruction. Allow the Lord to lead you on the narrow path to life everlasting.

John 3:19 And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.

January 9

Father Thinking of You

I think about you most every day.

In the morning when I rise, you are on my mind and then I pray

As I make coffee I think of you and anticipate my time with you

learning the deeper things of you so I can learn about myself

I think about you when I take out the dog and when taking out the trash

I think of you when I am listening to some sermons on the web

I think of you through out the day when in moments I am provoked

I wonder in your works, the universe and all its amazing parts

The movement of planets and stars, all wonders held within your word

I think of you before I eat, during my meal and the after dinner treat

I wonder at what you have done to bring us such variety to entreat

I think of you when talking to my friends while discussing who you are

And what about your character; which possess us to cherish you

I think of your love and care for us, and your hand upon our lives

I think of you when with my wife or all alone, while away or at home

I think of you while driving down the road or walking here and there

I think of you when talking to family or calling on my friends

I think of all the glorious things you have placed within my hands

I think of you before my bed with anticipation of that next day

When I can think of you again

Thank you for being mindful of us.

Psalm 115:12 The LORD has been mindful of us: he will bless us;

Psalms 105:8 He has remembered his covenant forever, the word which he commanded to a thousand generations.

January 10

Dream

Genesis 37:5 And Joseph dreamed a dream, and he told it his brethren: and they hated him yet the more.6 And he said unto them, Hear, I pray you, this dream which I have dreamed:

Joseph was a teenager of 17. He was the great, great, grandson of Abraham. God had made a promise to Abraham and to his seed to prosper him and make him a mighty nation. Jacob, renamed Israel, was unintentionally making the effort to fulfill it on his own by having lots of sons: Twelve to be exact. Joseph, although a favored son, was hated by his brothers and eventually sold into slavery. Everything he said to them irritated them more, but God had a plan.

When we are given a dream, it is not wise to share it randomly. We may not fully understand the dream. We might foolishly try to do what is not in God’s plan. If it is truly God’s plan, IT WILL come to pass and we will see God's glory revealed. Joseph became a ruler of Egypt, second only to Pharaoh himself. Our God-given dreams are revealed in God’s time not ours. Ours is to obey Him daily, listen and WAIT! Don’t try to bring it to pass. You may just mess it up.

Jeremiah 29:11For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.

Dream

I dreamed that one dream; you know

That one that causes your hope to grow

The one where you are receiving and giving

The one so deep it gets to where you are living

So real you sweat and toil to reach that goal

The one you carry day and night it takes a toll

That one from God that increases your soul

I dreamed that dream and it will not let go

January 11

Our Thought Life

II Corinthians 10:5 Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;

Are we daydreaming about the day when we will ‘have’ this or that or someone?

Exodus 20:17 Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbor's.

Looking at this commandment revealed sin in me. I was lusting after, coveting, desiring in my flesh to have a house that suited my eyes.

Remember Eve saw that the fruit looked good to eat. It was not. This commandment about coveting is about your neighbor’s wife, another’s spouse. If you are married or single, it doesn’t matter. Even if it’s a person from your past, they belong to another and you belong to the Lord. I had an old boyfriend about whom I daydreamed. The Lord revealed that as SIN! I had to make a decision.

Do you want God’s perfect, blessed and holy will in your life? Is your prayer Thy will be done, or do you want to follow the way of the world, the flesh and the devil?

James 1:14 But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed.15 Then when lust has conceived, it brings forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, brings forth death.16 Do not err, my beloved brethren.

January 12

What weight is this?

Jesus said, My yoke is easy and my burden is light. Our hearts are touched with the infirmities of those around us, whether by sin or sickness. Jesus, and our brothers and sisters in Christ, share in the burden and it becomes lighter.

Each day I move around with a weight upon my back

I look for answers knowing that weight; so much I lack

My heart so overwhelmed for the answers I seek

Struggling to stand for the strained and the weak

Could there be one way to encourage the planted seed

If there is a help to satisfy the continual need

Saying this weight is not mine to bare

How is it not if it’s always there?

Do we not care of the burdens we share

January 13

Our Effort?

This little devotion title has stumped me for a couple weeks. There are so many examples in the Word of God where the ‘effort we make is so feeble and the minute we listen and obey God’s instruction to us, it no longer seems to be an effort. We still participate, but it begins to bear fruit when we obey.

Luke 5:4 Now when he had left speaking, he said unto Simon, Launch out into the deep, and let down your nets for a draught. 5 And Simon answering said unto him, Master, we have toiled all the night, and have taken nothing: nevertheless at thy word I will let down the net .6 And when they had this done, they enclosed a great multitude of fishes: and their net brake. 7 And they beckoned unto their partners, which were in the other ship, that they should come and help them. And they came, and filled both the ships, so that they began to sink.

This is only one of the many examples of sheer obedience that brings all our efforts into perspective.

On the mount of transfiguration, after Peter’s inane and silly outburst, God comes down and says, This is My Son. Listen to Him! Are we listening to Jesus through the Word, prayer and fellowship, to hear His will, or are we working the kingdom on our own efforts? The only effort we need make is the decision to obey. Then He will carry us and bring it to pass.

January 14

Change

Ephesians 5:1 Be ye therefore followers of God, as dear children;

2 And walk in love, as Christ also has loved us, and has given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling savor.

We have seen children imitate parents. Even commercials on TV and movies have little boys mimicking their father’s gestures and walk.

Romans 12: I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service..2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

Even the smallest child understands transformation. They probably own at least one Transformer.

The concept is not unfamiliar, so it is not difficult to understand. But to ‘imitate’ and be ‘transformed’ we must know what the Word of God says, and the second verse of Ephesians here tells us how that works. God ‘loved’ us and sent His Son. The Son of God, Jesus, ‘loved’ us so much He obeyed His Father and gave up everything for us. We must walk like, talk like, and live in like manner, as God the Father and Christ Jesus the Son did and do this day for us. We must ‘love’ one another. It is the offering of our life in ‘love’ that is a fragrant offering and a real sacrifice to God. Jesus said that we would be known as His own, by our ‘love’ for one another.

Imitation is said to be the highest, sincerest, best form of flattery. God doesn’t want our flattery, He calls for our obedience. Let us obey as Jesus obeyed.

January 15

The Difference

Looking from here to there has overwhelmed my soul

Sometimes so far from here; what price and what toll

Knowing a price to be paid; doing nothing what is the difference

The cost of going can be much or can be just a pittance

I contemplate all my ways; the emptiness of my heart

Looking deep within to all the corners wisdom to impart

Searching out the mysteries of God has been my balance

And it is knowing Him that has made all the difference

January 16

I have this friend

Take a moment to read Psalm 37.

Life doesn’t go as smoothly as we would like. The car breaks down, someone in our family dies, our home gets flooded, we get older and our bodies don’t work like