In my morning prayer and worship time, there is one thing that keeps coming to the forefront. It's a strong desire, an urging, a stirring in my spirit to become "sensitive" to the voice of Holy Spirit.

To become more "in tune" to His still small voice. His urgings, His leading. I believe this is the key to fulfilling God's perfect will for your life.

In 2009, I took a bit of pride in the fact that I read through the Bible in 5 months and read through the New Testament 3 times. I would rise early and read as much as I could in the time I had. Reading through the Bible had become priority #1 with me.

As good a goal and noteworthy as that may have been - I may have missed God completely. I had very little time to stop and meditate each verse of scripture. The clock was running - I had to read as much as I could in the short time I had allotted.

This year, God is leading me in a completely different direction. I won't be reading my Bible from "cover to cover" to this year. Instead, my number one goal and priority is to become more sensitive to the voice of His Holy Spirit. Prayer and worship will take first place.

The first thing I will do every morning is to fall on my knees before Almighty God to (1) confess any sins, and (2) to pray and intercede for others. I will then enter into a time of worship and praise. Just spending time with arms raised, worshipping the Father who loves me and cares for me. To spend time just basking in His glory and thanking Him or His many blessings. Then, after I feel a peace and release - I will open the Word of God, asking Him to lead me in reading, meditating and understanding what it is He has for me today. To chew slowly on every scripture, as a cow chews on his cud - to turn it over and over, meditating and gleaming everything I can from it, and to seek guidance, direction and insight into that particular verse and how to apply it to my life. I may read that one verse in three or four different translations - the authorized King James, the Amplified, and maybe the International version and The Message Bible. I'll follow the supporting reference scriptures that pertain to each verse - and I will research words in a Greek & Hebrew concordance to gain additional insight. The main insight however will come as I pray and ask God to reveal the scripture to me and show me its meaning.

Seek Not Man's Opinion

Many times what we have allowed ourselves to do is to read scripture in light of our denominational preferences. We will read a scripture - and then turn to a denominational commentary to "explain" the scripture to us.

Mark 7:13 (King James Bible)

Making the word of God of none effect through your tradition, which ye have delivered: and many such like things do ye.

I challenge and warn you not to do this. Ask God to correct your theology. In prayer, ask God to show you where you are missing it in your theology and show you through His Word and prayer - the correct interpretation. Do not rely on man or seek someone else's opinion. Seek God and rely on the Holy Spirit to give you guidance and insight to his Word - whether it lines up with your denomination or not.

I believe we all need to come to a place when we hear the voice of The Shepherd and follow the promptings of the Holy Spirit.

John 10:14 (Amplified Bible)

¹⁴I am the Good Shepherd; and I know and recognize My own, and My own know and recognize Me

I believe if we learn to listen to and obey the voice of the Spirit, all of our steps will be ordered and directed by the Lord. He (the Spirit) may speak to you very gently about not boarding that plane, or taking a different route to work. He may speak to you by putting a "check" in your spirit regarding a business deal, or He may place someone in your mind for no apparent reason. It is these times, we need to be listening -becoming  sensitive to His presence and those gentle nudgings.

That will be my goal this year. To condition myself through prayer, fasting, worship and Bible study to hear Him every single time He speaks. To know and become familiar with His voice. Only then will we be able to "walk in the light as He is in the light" (1 John 1:7 - "But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.")