God Speaks

At Regeneration we are going the Alpha Course. It is a great basic introduction to Christianity. It has been wonderful to go through and re-examine what I believe and why I believe it. Tonight's talk was on how God guides us. There were five CS's of ways leads us that the speaker mentioned in the talk. These five things really stuck out to me and I thought I would share them.
1) Commanding Scripture
2) Compelling Spirit
3) Common Sense
4) Counsel of the Saints
5) Circumstantial Signs

As we were discussing the talk in our small groups it stuck me that I tend to look for guidelines though the Commanding of the Scripture and through the Compelling of the Spirit but I forget about the other three. Then on the way home I was talking with Kathy about an up coming 40 day fast that I have been praying about. I was talking about how I didn't want to feel led to do it just because my friends were participating. I want to participate because it is what God is calling me to. Then Kathy looked and me and said that she thought it is really amazing to see the kind of people I surround myself with. I am debating whether or not to join my friends in a 40 days of fasting and prayer not should I go down to Dickson Street and go bar hopping on Friday night. In that moment I realized that I do have a huge Counsel of Saints that I rely on. They are my family and my closest friends. And when I really think about it God uses them everyday to speak into my life.

God speaks to me in so many ways every single day and yet most of the time I choose to ignore it or I don't even notice. I think this is because I choose to distract myself in so many other ways. So tonight I have decided to participate in the 40 day fast in a little different way. I still don't know about the food part but I do know that I am going to join in by doing and entertainment fast. I am going to disconnect my cable and not watch any movies or Television for 40 days. I am doing this for several reasons, number one I feel God is leading me to do this. Two, I plan on using the hours that I will regain praying, reading the Word, and just seeking God's face. Three, I have begun to realize just how desensitized I have become to sin that is around me and I think this has alot to do with the fact that I allow myself to be bombarded with it all the time from the entertainment world.