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Now, here's today's podcast from Pathway to Victory. Hi, this is Robert Jeffers, and I'm glad to study God's Word with you every day on this Bible teaching program. on today's edition of Pathway to Victory. God will communicate his direction, his peace, and his desires. How many of you believe that?
Raise your hand. You really believe that? Then let me ask you the question. If the sovereign God of the universe wants to talk to you about direction, he wants to give you his peace, he wants to show you his good desires for you, why don't we spend more time in prayer? Welcome to Pathway to Victory with author and pastor Dr.
Robert Jeffers. Have you ever tried to talk to someone over the noise of a TV or maybe another conversation? It's frustrating to say the least, yet many of us expect God to speak to us over the distractions that fill our lives. Today on Pathway to Victory. Dr.
Robert Jeffers explains that we need to get away from the noise in order to hear God's voice. But first, let's take a minute to hear some important ministry updates. Thanks, David, and welcome to Pathway to Victory. Every day we're faced with making hundreds of decisions.
Some are big, like What church should we attend?
Some are small like Which movies should we see? And here's the underlying issue for any question that comes our way. How do we know if it's truly something God wants me to do? or if it's simply something I'm personally driven to do.
Well, God doesn't want our lives to become a guessing game. The next time you hit a crossroad, you can have confidence that God wants to show you whether to turn right or left. This is the topic we're addressing right now on Pathway to Victory. and it's the subject I've addressed in a practical book called How to Make Wise Decisions. The joy of discovering God's will for your life.
When you give a generous gift to support the ministry of Pathway to Victory, I'll make sure you receive a copy. My book will help you understand how God makes His plans known to His children. And how we should act on those plans. And my book is a natural choice for a son or daughter. Perhaps a grandchild, who's in the middle of making a big decision, too.
I'm going to say more about my book and other resources after today's study.
So be ready to jot down our contact information. But right now let's focus our attention on the subject at hand. I've titled my message, The God who speaks. We think prayer is just a one-way conversation. We talk to God.
But not only do we talk to God in prayer, God actually talks to us.
Now, I have to admit to you, I have a lot of questions about prayer. Yet all of my questions about prayer melt away when I look at the example of Jesus Christ. I want you to turn over to Mark chapter 1 for just a moment. Mark chapter 1, beginning with verse 35.
Now It's interesting to note when this event in Jesus' life occurred. And the day before this event occurred was the busiest recorded day in Jesus' ministry. But then look at what happens on the next day, verse 35. And in the early morning, while it was still dark, He arose and he went out, and he departed to a lonely place. and was praying there.
Now if I were Jesus Uh I could have come up with a lot of reasons to stay in the sack that morning. But you see, for Jesus, prayer wasn't a nicety, it was a necessity. He was committed to praying. And ladies and gentlemen, if prayer is essential for the Lord Jesus Christ, the perfect Son of God, if prayer was vital to him, how much more important is it for us? Jesus was sold out to prayer, not only so that he could speak to God, but so that he could listen to God as well.
Well, what sort of things does God want to talk to us about? Let me mention three things that God communicates to us in prayer. First of all, God will communicate His direction through prayer. Do you spend even five minutes? A day.
Asking God to show you His will. All of us Christians would do well to take that question to heart. Praying for God's will is a daily responsibility. And one for which a serious Christian must make time. God communicates His direction for our life.
Secondly, When we listen to God, He communicates His peace. through prayer. His peace through prayer. The Bible says if you will simply pray instead of worry, in some inexplicable way, the peace of God will flood your hearts. God communicates His peace to us when we pray.
Number three. God will communicate to us. His desires when we pray. For Pastor, what kind of things does he communicate? What desires does he have?
Let me suggest three.
Sometimes God wants to speak to us about sins that we need to abandon. Sins that need to be abandoned. Is there anything in your life displeasing to the Lord?
Sometimes he'll want to talk to you about those things. In Psalm 139, verses 23 and 24, David prayed, Search me, O God, and know my heart, try me, and know my anxious thoughts, and see if there be any hurtful way in me, and lead me in the everlasting way. David was saying, God, I want you to take the searchlight of your Holy Spirit, and I want you to shine that searchlight into my heart, look into the inner recesses of my heart, and see if there is anything displeasing to you.
Sometimes God wants to speak to us about sins that need to be abandoned. Secondly, sometimes God communicates to us, speaks to us about relationships. that need to be mended. Relationships that need to be mended. Have you ever had this experience?
You're in church. Semi-listening to the pastor. Or maybe you're at home trying to pray or reading the Bible, when all of a sudden the picture of somebody comes into your mind, somebody you're having a conflict with. And try as you may, you can't get that person or that conflict out of your mind. I used to think when that happened, that was Satan trying to interrupt my worship time.
But I realize more and more, many times that's the voice of God speaking to me. God many times will speak to us about relationships, especially in the church, that need to be mended. Jesus had that. Truth in mind when he said in Matthew 5, verses 23 and 24, If therefore you are presenting your offering at the altar, and there you remember that your brother has something against you. By the way, will you notice?
It doesn't say you remember that you have something against your brother. Big difference. If you're worshiping... If you're driving along in the car and you remember you have something against somebody, you know what you're supposed to do? Forgive.
Right there. on the spot. Let go of it. That other person doesn't have to be present. They don't have to ask for your forgiveness.
You have the ability, Jesus said in Mark 11, right there while you're standing to forgive, to let go. That's not what he's talking about. He says in Matthew 5, verse 23: if therefore you are presenting your offering at the altar and you remember that your brother has something against you. Leave your offering there. Go your way.
First, be reconciled to your brother, and then come and present your offering. If there is some Damaged relationship in your life, especially with another believer. God wants that relationship to be mended. Many times he'll point that out to you. Number three, sometimes God speaks to us about commands that we need.
To obey, commands to be obeyed. And in fact, that's what God spoke to Abram about in Genesis chapter 17. Abram fell before the Lord, and God began speaking to Abraham. And one of the things he said to Abram was this. He said, Abram, I want you to be circumcised, you and all of your family.
Now, because there's a mixed crowd here today. And children in the audience, I won't go into the gory details of circumcision. But let me just say to you, circumcision was a very unpleasant experience, especially in the days before anesthetics, okay? Very unpleasant. And yet God said, Abram, I want you to circumcise yourself and then your family.
How did Abram respond to that? Did he look up at God and say, now God, let me get this straight? You want me to take a knife and you want me to do what? You've got to be crazy. Or did he say, God, you want me to do this?
I tell you what, God, let me pray about that a little bit longer. I'll be getting back to you. That's not how he responded. Look at what he did in verse 26. It says, In the very same day that God had spoken.
Abraham was circumcised, and Ishmael his son. Abram obeyed God immediately. As we'll see in the days ahead, that was one of the keys of Abraham's success in life. When God spoke, Abraham obeyed without question.
Sometimes God will speak to us about specific commands in our life. that he wants us to obey. God communicates his direction for the dilemmas we face. He promises to give us his peace when we're facing Turmoil. He promises to communicate his desire for our life.
Desires, by the way, that are always good and always for our best.
Now, how many of you believe everything I just said? That God will communicate His direction, His peace, and His desires? How many of you believe that? Raise your hand. You really believe that?
Then let me ask you the question. Why don't you pray more? Why don't you pray more? If the sovereign God of the universe wants to talk to you about direction, He wants to give you His peace, He wants to show you His good desires for you, why don't we spend more time in prayer? I think author John Piper might have the answer to that question.
He says it's not so much that we don't want to pray. He says it's because we don't have a plan to pray. Listen to what he says. Unless I'm badly mistaken, one of the main reasons so many of God's children don't have a significant prayer life is not so much that we don't want to. We don't plan to.
If you want to take a four-week vacation, you just don't get up one summer morning and say, hey, let's go today. You won't have anything ready. You won't know where to go. Nothing has been planned. But that's how many of us treat prayer.
We get up day after day and realize that significant times of prayer should be a part of our life. But nothing's ever ready. No time. No place, no procedure. And we know that the opposite of planning is not some wonderful flow of deep, spontaneous experiences and prayer.
The opposite of planning. is the rut. If you don't plan a vacation, You'll probably stay home and watch TV. The natural, unplanned flow of the spiritual life sinks to the lowest ebb of vitality. There is a race to be run.
and a fight would be fought. If you want renewal in your prayer life, You must. plan for it. I want this message to be intensely practical. And so let me suggest for you a plan for prayer where you can really hear, listen to the voice of God.
In many ways, this resembles a plan for reading the Bible. But I believe there are three essential ingredients if you really want to hear from God in your life. First of all, there has to be a period of time. A period of time.
Now, the truth is, we ought to pray at all times. 1 Thessalonians 5, 17 says, pray without ceasing. And you know that phrase without ceasing in Greek, it's a word that literally means to pray with the frequency. of a hacking cough. You know what a hacking cough is.
I'm listening to some of you with it right now. You know, you've got this tickle in your throat, and you try to suppress it as long as you can, but finally, you can't help yourself. And you clear your throat. And you go along for a ways with that, and then all of a sudden, there it comes again. As hard as you try, you can't suppress it.
And Paul says our prayer life ought to be that way. Prayer ought to be like a hacking cough. Or it ought to be as natural as breathing. It ought to be just a natural response for all of us when we're driving along. Lord, protect me.
Or when we're stopped at a red light, Lord, please take care of my family today. Or before we go into an important meeting, God, give me direction, give me wisdom. We ought to pray frequently without ceasing. But there also needs to be a period of time every day that we've set aside not only to talk to, but to listen to God. For Jesus, it was in the early morning hours while it was still dark.
For some people, it might be over the noon hour. For some people, it might be at night. But there needs to be a time that we set aside as holy, sacred. to listen to the voice of God. We need a period.
Secondly, we need a place. We need a place. There needs to be a place that we meet with God to listen to God. A week ago, Friday night, um I was driving to one of our Sunday school parties, and Amy was at home working on her talk for the women's. Meeting the next day, and so I took my two daughters with me, Julia and Dorothy, and we were driving to Richardson.
And we were going down Beltline Road, and I pointed out on the left our high school, Richardson High School, where their mother and I went to school. They couldn't have cared less. But. Then I pointed out over on the right, I said to them, see this park over here, Cottonwood Park. And I said, when I was in high school, the four years I was in high school, just about every morning of the week.
I would ride my bicycle. Then later drive my little Volkswagen Beetle. down to that park. 7.30 in the morning. And I would sit on that park bench.
I would open up my old green living Bible. Remember those? I would read from it. And then I would pray and listen to God. I told my daughters it was in that park on that bench.
that God spoke to me about some of the most important issues in my life. The choice of a mate. About the ministry God wanted to give me. dozen other things. That place is a very special place to me.
And over the years, the place has changed. But the principle has remained. There are places that I go to to meet with God. And I want to just suggest to you that you find a place right now that you can meet with God. You know, for Jesus at the beginning of his ministry, that place was out in the wilderness where he went for 40 days of spiritual testing.
Later, we saw in Mark 1, he had some place. We don't know where it was. It was that solitary place that he went in the early morning hours. Even as he faced the greatest trial of his life. He had a place he went to, Gethsemane.
Many of us have been there before. By the way, I don't think that was the first time he went to Gethsemane that night. It was a special place for him. If we're going to be serious about listening to God, we need to have a prearranged place. that we're going to meet God at a certain period.
And then, third, for an effective prayer life, we need a pad. And by that I'm talking about A sheet of paper. and a pencil or pen. In fact, I become more convinced that this is the greatest essential to an effective prayer life than anything else. What do I mean by a pencil and pad?
Well, first of all, I mean a place where you can write down the things you're talking to God about. Your prayer request. I started this practice a long time ago. Maybe you've done it as well. Where I'll take a legal pad, I'll draw a line right down the middle.
And at the top of the page on the left-hand side, I'll write my requests. And then on the other side, I put God's answer. And I'll make a list of the different things I'm talking to God about, the things I'm asking Him to do, and I'll date it. And as God answers those requests, yes or no, I'll write the answer out beside it on the right-hand side. I've got dozens and dozens of pages I can go back and look at through the years.
Of requests that God has answered.
Sometimes, yes.
Sometimes no. The older I get, I'm more grateful sometimes for the no answers than I am the yes answers. But it's a record of God's faithfulness. And um I think it's important to keep that as a way of being effective and focused when you pray and talk to God. But a pad and a pen are also important.
for listening to God. Not only talking to God, but listening to God and recording what God says to you. Those of you who have employees, you've probably had this experience. You ask one of your employees to do something, they kind of have that blank stare.
Okay. And you know the chances of that getting done are about slim to none. But when that employee will take out a pencil and write down what you're asking him or her to do, you know they have an intent. They're going to be serious about that. They're taking your words seriously.
I think it's important for us to let God know we're paying attention when He talks to us. And when we write down the lessons he's teaching us, it's a way of saying, God, we're really listening. And that's why one of the things I encourage you to do with a pen and a pad is to keep a spiritual journal.
Now, a spiritual journal is simply a record of how God's dealing in your life. It's not like a diary that you keep every day. You write, you know, today, February 3rd, bowl of bran flakes for breakfast, you know, that kind of stuff. No, no, a spiritual journal is simply a way of recording the things God's teaching you, the way He's working in your life. You may not write in it every day, you may just write in it once or twice a week.
But as you write those lessons down, it will amaze you. As you go back over the months and years, to see the lessons God has taught you and the way He has dealt in your life. I believe a pad and a pencil are essential. for listening, hearing the voice of God in your life. Friday night, this past Friday night.
I was finishing up some things in the office and uh Felt so relieved the desk was finally cleared, at least till Monday morning. It was clear. But to be honest with you, for a moment, while I sat there, I started to feel. overwhelmed. As I thought about all that was ahead of me.
and all that was ahead of us as a church, not discouraged. but just kind of overwhelmed by the task. And so I Wayne and I pulled out some of my spiritual journals. from twenty, twenty-five years ago. And I smiled at some of the things I read.
Because some of those things that seemed such a big deal 10 or 20 years ago. Me, I look at them.
Now I laugh. They weren't a big deal at all. God took care of them so quickly. But then I read about Some of the things I had prayed about. I read about God who was doing exceeding abundantly beyond anything I could have asked or thought.
Tears started to flow down my face. As I saw once again the faithfulness of God in my life. And I wasn't planning to do it. I just fell on my knees right there in my chair. And I started praising God, saying, God, thank you.
Thank you for your faithfulness over these years. And it was as if God started speaking to me. And he said, Robert, don't worry about these things. Just as I have taken care of you in the past. Just as I have blessed the other churches you served.
I'm going to take care of you now. And I'm going to bless this church beyond anything you can imagine. And the peace of God just flooded over myself. I got up. turned out the lights, went home with that assurance that God is in control.
Francis Schaefer wrote a book. Years ago. He is there. And he is not silent. God really is there.
And he's not silent. He's speaking to you. The question is Are you making time? to listen. Whether you're facing big decisions or small decisions, God is standing by to help you navigate your way.
As an added resource to help you, please be sure to contact Pathway to Victory to request the book I mentioned earlier. It parallels our September teaching series and will guide you in making important choices. My book is called How to Make Wise Decisions. Together in this book, we'll explore the three most important elements to discovering God's will. First, understanding God's voice.
Second, hearing God's voice. And third, obeying God's voice. If you or someone you love is asking important questions that scripture doesn't seem to directly answer, questions about your career. your marriage, or your finances. My book walks you through the biblical prescription for hearing God's small still voice.
Again, my book is titled, How to make wise decisions, and it's yours. when you give a generous gift to support the ministry of Pathway to Victory. At Pathway to Victory, we're looking to add 50 new Pathway partners to our family of supporters. A pathway partner is someone who elects to give a monthly contribution in the amount that suits your desire and capacity. In effect, our pathway partners are like ambassadors.
who represent the gospel of Jesus Christ in faraway places. Our pathway partners are like missionaries. who lovingly share the good news with others they might never otherwise meet. Our pathway partners are like seed sowers who cast the seed of the gospel into fertile soil. would you be willing to become one of our valued pathway partners?
Here's David, with all the details. To join our team of Pathway partners, simply give us a call at 866-999-2965. Or, even easier, you can sign up online at ptv.org. And when you give your first gift as a new pathway partner, or when you give a generous one-time gift, we'll say thanks by sending you a copy of the book by Dr. Jeffress called How to make wise decisions.
and when your generous gift is $75 or more. We'll also send you this month's complete unedited teaching series on CD and DVD. One more time, call 866-999-2965 or visit ptv.org. If you'd prefer to make your request by mail, write to PO Box 223-609 Dallas, Texas, 75222. That's P.O.
Box 223-609, Dallas, Texas. 75222. I'm David J. Mullins. As Christians, we don't look to the stars or the cards for direction in life.
But what about using our circumstances or unusual signs to determine God's will? Join us Tuesday when Dr. Jeffers explains what the Bible says about the role of supernatural revelation in decision-making. That's next time on Pathway to Victory. Pathway to Victory with Dr.
Robert Jeffress comes from the pulpit of the First Baptist Church of Dallas, Texas. When was the last time you truly unplugged and refreshed your spirit? Step away from your daily routine and immerse yourself in God's masterpiece. On the Pathway to Victory cruise to Alaska, picture yourself on the deck of Holland America's elegant Koningsdam, sailing past towering glaciers while enjoying fellowship with like-minded believers. To book your spot on the 2026 Pathway to Victory Cruise to Alaska, call 888-280-6747.
or go to ptv.org. You made it to the end of today's podcast from Pathway to Victory. And we're so glad you're here. Pathway to victory relies on the generosity of loyal listeners like you to make this podcast possible. One of the most impactful ways you can give is by becoming a Pathway Partner.
Your monthly gift will empower Pathway to Victory to share the gospel of Jesus Christ and help others become rooted more firmly in His Word. To become a Pathway Partner, go to ptv.org/slash donate or follow the link in our show notes. We hope you've been blessed by today's podcast, From Pathway to Victory.
