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God Speaks When I…

When you reach the point where it seems like God is not speaking, it’s time to take stock of your life and ask yourself, ‘Why?’ I was in this place a little while back, needing to evaluate my relationship with Jesus and find out what it was that was holding me back. It soon became apparent to me that my own lack of obedience to what God had told me to do was the reason His voice seemed so absent. Something I’ve now learned is how important it is to always go back to the last time God spoke to you and check if you’ve obeyed what He said at that time. Often it’s not even intentional disobedience, just forgetfulness and life’s distractions that delay our obedience. I don’t write things down, so I hadn’t taken the time meditate on and process what God had ‘back then’ very specifically spoken to me.

This revelation began an exciting journey for me, and I soon saw that by spending time in God’s presence, I was enabled to hear and see His very clear plan and vision for my life. Obedience to His voice also meant I needed to take action. Every time I spent time with God and in His Word, I wrote down what He said to me and focused on putting it into action. The more He spoke, the more I took action… and, in turn, the more He spoke.

One of the key lessons I learned from one of our church leaders was that our default response to God should always be ‘Yes!’

In listening to God (for myself), I felt that I needed to focus on three prophetic words He had given me.

Those three areas were:

  • Worship – playing the trumpet
  • Teaching/preaching
  • Video production

God gave me a burning desire and excitement for each of these areas, along with ‘open doors’, and I found that once I had a clear understanding that these things were a part of God’s plan for me, I more easily identified opportunities that He sent my way.

One of the key lessons I learned from one of our church leaders was that our default response to God should always be ‘Yes!’ Now, whenever an opportunity arises that lines up with what God has shown me to be His will for my life, my answer is a big ‘Yes!’

Within 24 hours our church leader had called and asked me to preach at church. Our community was amazed how God authenticated His Word in a miraculous way.

A practical example of this was when I was sharing at our church’s community time early this year. I was emphasising the need for us to be outwardly focused and to be aware of what God is saying to us individually, as a community and as a congregation. 2 Timothy 4:2 says, ‘…preach the Word and be ready in season and out of season’. I illustrated this by saying that if one of my church leaders were to call me tomorrow and ask me to share the Word on Sunday, my answer would be ‘Yes’, as I believed (through God’s voice speaking to me) that ‘teaching’ was (and is) part of God plans for my life. Within 24 hours, our church leader had called and asked me to preach at church. Our community was amazed at how God authenticated His Word in a miraculous way.

I can’t stress enough how important the example of an authentic life is. God has a great way of validating His Word. On the Sunday I preached, I was also serving on worship, and so, in essence, in one morning I was living out two of the three prophetic words God had spoken over my life. What I didn’t know was the video Geared for Growth in 2017 ,which I had created in my studio, was being shown to the congregation that week too. So, amazingly, all three of the prophetic words I was using as an illustration in my teaching were confirmed by God in a single service.

I had heard God’s voice, He had given me a clear vision for my life, I had walked it out authentically, and then I had had the opportunity to share my experiences of God and how He had revealed Himself to me with others, in order to encourage them to do the same. We serve an amazing God who calls us to be authentic in everything we do and say!

Wayne is married to Rene and they have three grown daughters. Wayne is a part of Joshua Generation Church, where he serves passionately, primarily in the areas of film and teaching God’s word.

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