{"id":21362,"date":"2017-04-21T00:10:03","date_gmt":"2017-04-21T07:10:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lccredding.com\/lcc\/?p=10611"},"modified":"2017-04-21T00:10:03","modified_gmt":"2017-04-21T07:10:03","slug":"april-21-2017","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lccredding.org\/church\/2017\/04\/21\/april-21-2017\/","title":{"rendered":"April 21, 2017"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

\u201cThe voice of the Lord is powerful; the voice of the Lord is full of majesty.\u201d<\/em> Psalm 29:4<\/span><\/p>\n

Voices<\/span><\/strong><\/h2>\n

One wintry mid-morning, I felt like having a piece of warm, buttered toast. I knew there were a couple of slices remaining of a yummy, seed-encrusted loaf, so I pulled them out of the bag, only to discover two heels. I don\u2019t like the heels and normally throw them out to the birds, but the tastiness of this particular bread beckoned. Little did I know that I was about to be given a spiritual lesson.<\/span><\/p>\n

I popped one piece into the toaster oven, and went back to my computer while the bread toasted. Soon I smelled it burning, and ran to take it out. It was black, just short of smoking! I don\u2019t like burnt toast, and I don\u2019t like heels, and I certainly don\u2019t like burnt heels.<\/span><\/p>\n

But there were voices in my head. I heard my grandmother\u2019s oft-used phrase: \u201cWaste not, want not.\u201d I heard my mother\u2019s insistence: \u201cDon\u2019t be so picky; just scrape off the black and it\u2019ll be fine underneath.\u201d And I heard my own voice: \u201cIt might still be yummy; just try it!\u201d I buttered it, and ate it; it wasn\u2019t exactly yummy, but certainly edible, and warm. In everything give thanks.<\/span><\/p>\n

What was the lesson? God-honoring voices from the past still speak to me. God has placed righteous voices in my life to speak the truth to me, and I would do well to listen, no matter how long ago they lived. This includes not only my mother, grandmother, and aunt, but teachers I\u2019ve listened to, writers who shared their testimonies of God\u2019s work, church leaders who love me and are gentle and patient with me, and friends (such as all of you) who have encouraged me, reminded me of who I am in Christ, corrected my wrong interpretation of Scripture, and comforted me with the same comfort you have received.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

I\u2019m not saying we should listen to every voice from the past. The enemy still speaks from the place of pre-forgiveness with its shame and guilt. Our pre-redeemed thoughts still insist and scream to be heard. Some of us had family members who did not honor God with their words or their actions towards us, and we have not forgotten (even though we have forgiven) what they said or did. There are many voices from the past we should not listen to.<\/span><\/p>\n

Perhaps it goes without saying, but there is a voice we should always heed\u2014the voice of the Lord. Ancient of Days has spoken to us with great words of power, wisdom, and grace. His is the voice of truth and majesty, love and forgiveness, correction and comfort, reconciliation and restoration. \u201cI will hear what God the Lord will speak, for He will speak peace to His people and to His saints\u2026\u201d<\/em> (Psalm 85:8).<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cFather, may we properly discern the voices we listen to. Let Your voice be loud and clear. Amen.\u201d<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cThe voice of the Lord is powerful; the voice of the Lord is full of majesty.\u201d Psalm 29:4 Voices One […]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[47],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21362","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-women"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p92wjD-5yy","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lccredding.org\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21362","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lccredding.org\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lccredding.org\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lccredding.org\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lccredding.org\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21362"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lccredding.org\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21362\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lccredding.org\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21362"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lccredding.org\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21362"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lccredding.org\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21362"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}