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I have often wondered, and more so over the past few months, how can one truly know the voice of God? Perhaps "voice" is too strong of a term, others have used the words: leading, yearning, pushing/pulling... etc. As we began the journey of this church that now calls itself The Center, we really didnt have any major goals or initiatives. We weren't trying to prove someone or something right or wrong, but we were simply following the voice of God. And that is what we are trying to do now.

The next two months will include many of us in leadership at The Center attempting to discern the voice of God. We ask for your prayers as well. We will be tapping the next leaders on the shoulder, training them and eventually handing the keys to the car over to the next generation of Leaders. This will be a process where we continually have to ask God for direction, but please know one thing, we will always be asking for his guidance.

So how can you truly know the voice of God?

We wlll be spending some time in the book of Joshua over the next two months and a close examination of that Transition. Now, I am not saying I am Moses and the next leaders are Joshua ! but, we can learn from their example. In Joshua 1:1 it starts off with a bang where it states that "The Lord spoke to Joshua saying...." We somewhat nonchalantly read past that to get to the story, but here was God speaking to Joshua. HOW? I suppose in order to begin to hear the voice of God two things must happen we must ask God to speak and then we must stop talking. It is hard to hear someone when your voice drowns out the conversation. Joshua then heard from God and did as he was told to do. God still told him to be courageous because he knew what he was asking Joshua to do would need a lot of courage. God still recognized that he was dealing with a normal person who would get afraid from time to time -- just like us.

I know the future and the future of this ministry can bring some fear about the unknown. However, we have a God who says repeatedly "Be strong, dont fear, be courageous... For I AM with you.

Perhaps this is a lesson Joshua will teach us as we examine this book further.