Category: What do you think?

Where to go when you want to hear the voice of God

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JEFF TURNER

Hebrews 12:25 warns believers not to refuse the one who is speaking, and some have used that verse to suggest that God still speaks audibly to people today, perhaps through inner impressions or voices from heaven. But the place where God’s voice is found reliably and truly is in the pages of scripture. That is where he has spoken, and that is where he continues to speak to anyone who reads and listens.

Jude’s letter describes the faith as something that was delivered to believers once and for all, and the close of Revelation contains a firm warning against adding to or taking away from what has been written. The Bible calls itself the word of God, and Hebrews describes that word as living, active, and sharper than any two-edged sword. Waiting for a voice to drop into your mind from outside scripture is not what the Bible describes or encourages. When God speaks to a person, he does so through what he has already said, and what he has said is enough.

All Scripture is inspired by God and beneficial for teaching, for rebuke, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man or woman of God may be fully capable, equipped for every good work

2 Timothy 3:16-17

Finding peace when life falls apart

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JEFF TURNER

There is not a person alive who has escaped seasons of doubt, confusion, and fear. Life, by its very nature, brings hardship to every door. And yet, Scripture does not look away from that reality. It meets us in the middle of it. The Bible is honest about the weight of adversity, while at the same time pointing us to a God who has made a remarkable promise: He will never leave us, never walk away, never abandon us to face our troubles alone (Hebrews 13:5-6). When fear comes, and it will come, the right response is to bring it straight to God, speaking our worries plainly and then stepping forward in faith, trusting that He is already at work, weaving something purposeful out of what feels like chaos (Psalms 56:3-4).

Consider what God may be doing in the very hardship you are carrying today. Difficult seasons are not wasted in His hands. Adversity becomes a refining fire, burning away what is weak in our faith and leaving something more genuine in its place. It is worth pausing to ask, honestly, whether the trial you are walking through might be one God is allowing to draw you closer to Himself. He is sovereign over all things, including the hard and confusing chapters of your personal story. His promise is not that life will be easy, but that He is working on your behalf, shaping something good, something you may never have seen coming. Trust Him with it.

And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.

Romans 8:28

Because Jesus is alive, the work we do for him is never wasted

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TEXAS GOSPEL VOLUNTEER

It would be easy to read Paul’s teaching on the resurrection and think of it only in terms of what happens after we die, but Paul himself would not allow that. He closes his long discussion of the resurrection in 1 Corinthians 15:58 with a call to action that is rooted in the present. Because of everything that is true about the risen Christ, believers are called to be steady, not shaken, and always giving themselves fully to the work of the Lord.

The work done in the name of Jesus is not pointless effort. Because sin has been paid for and the grave has been conquered. We are not fighting a battle whose outcome is still in question. The victory has already been won. There is no reason we should give up.

Therefore, my beloved brothers and sisters, be firm, immovable, always excelling in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.

1 Corinthians 15:58

The power God has placed toward those who believe is beyond measure

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TEXAS GOSPEL VOLUNTEER

Paul’s prayer for the Ephesian believers in Ephesians 1:19 includes something that is easy to pass over quickly but worth stopping to take in. He prays that they would know the power of God that is directed toward those who believe, and he reaches for a word that means it simply cannot be measured or quantified. This is not a resource that runs low. It is not a strength that fades when drawn upon too heavily. The power of God available to his people is without limit.

That does not mean that following God will mean a life free of difficulty or suffering. Paul himself knew suffering well, and the Bible is honest about the fact that believers walk through hard things. But within all of that, the power of God to accomplish good for his people is not constrained by circumstances or circumstances or anything else. There is no situation so heavy that His power is not greater. There is nothing you are facing that places you beyond the reach of a God whose strength toward you has no ceiling.

Ephesians 3:20

Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us,

What Philippians 4:13 actually means when it says you can do all things through Christ

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JEFF TURNER

Philippians 4:13, says “I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.” It is one of the most widely quoted verses in the Bible, and also one of the most misunderstood. It shows up on clothing, jewellery, and motivational content, often used to suggest that a Christian can achieve anything they set their mind to with Jesus on their side. But the context of the verse tells a very different story.

Paul wrote this from a place of hardship, not ambition. He had just been describing his experience of going through seasons of abundance and seasons of having almost nothing, and saying that he had found contentment in both. The “all things” he was referring to were all kinds of circumstances, not all kinds of achievements. His point was that Christ gave him the inner strength to endure anything life brought his way, whether that meant suffering with dignity or enjoying blessing without becoming proud. That is a deeper and more honest kind of strength than the motivational version, and it is available to every believer in the hardest moments of life.

Not that I speak from need, for I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am. I know how to get along with little, and I also know how to live in prosperity; in any and every circumstance I have learned the secret of being filled and going hungry, both of having abundance and suffering need.

Philippians 4:11-12