Daily Devotional
May 18, 2012
Remembrance and God's voice
"I thank God, whom I serve with a pure conscience, as my forefathers did, as without ceasing I remember you in my prayers night and day, greatly desiring to see you, remembering your tears, that I may be filled with joy, when I call to remembrance the genuine faith that is in you, which dwelt first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice, and I am persuaded is in you also." 2 Timothy 1:3-5
Paul illustrates in these verses that the Lord's voice speaking to him is in and through his thoughts. It is in the normal avenues and channels of his being. The Lord's speaking to Paul came in the form of his remembrance. The remembrance of Timothy was a call to pray for Timothy. This example out of Paul's life corresponds to God's new covenant way of imparting His laws into our mind and inscribing them upon our heart (Heb. 8:10). When we understand this new covenant way of God's speaking, we must confess that we all have heard more of His voice in our daily life than we realized. For example, God's speaking has come to us many times in the form of desires within us. We may have a desire to go to the church meeting. That very desire within us is God's speaking in the form of an inclination inscribed on our heart.
Also, the Lord's voice often comes in the way of His bringing something to mind. For example, in Matthew 5:23 the Lord says, "Therefore if you bring your gift to the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you . . ." In other words, while you are fellowshipping with the Lord, something comes to mind. You remember your brother. When it comes to mind, that is the Lord speaking to you. Thus, we can see how simple and intimate is the Lord's voice to us and in us under the new covenant. His speaking is imparted into our mind.
- Bill Freeman, The Supplied Life