Hi Sweet Friends,
I hope your heart and soul are beginning to feel refreshed as you set apart time during our 6-week study to pray for yourself!
Do you struggle to believe that God actually hears you? Number 5 from the survey I conducted (and if you took the survey, thank you!), the fifth most desired topic to pray for and what we will be tackling this week in our prayer time is: MY GOD HEARS ME.
I grew up feeling like my voice wasn’t heard and didn’t really matter. Years later, my troubled marriage only heightened those feelings. My heart ached to be heard and understood, and as I immersed myself in Scripture I made a stunning discovery: The Creator of the universe always heard me.
This revelation left me feeling stunned.
And relieved.
And utterly loved.
Your Assignment for Week #2: Read Prayers for a Woman's Soul Chapter 2, My God Hears Me.
Chapter 2 Excerpt: “Jesus’s thrilling words declare what my soul now knows to be true: God is deeply interested in what we have to say and hears every word we utter, even when it doesn’t feel like He’s heard us.”
If feeling heard is a foreign concept for you, (and let’s face it—we all endure seasons when we don’t feel close to God or heard by Him), then as you pray this week ask God to displace doubt with the confidence that He does in fact hear you. Soak in the Scriptures, because God’s truth displaces lies!
This Week’s Verses:
Evening, morning, and noon I cry out in distress, and He hears my voice. (Psalm 55:17)
I love the Lord because He hears and answers my prayers. Because He bends down and listens, I will pray as long as I have breath! (Psalm 116:1)
This Week’s Questions:
- Are you in a season of hearing God’s voice, or a season of silence?
- This week, when you feel as though others are not listening, read John 11:41-42. Are you willing to believe that God is listening?
I will be praying for you all week long as together we pray for and about knowing God hears us (and He does!).
If you desire and are able, please join us on the Prayers for a Woman's Soul COMMUNITY FACEBOOK PAGE any time during the week and share your thoughts and experiences!
Through my books I love to help readers know God, know Scripture, and know how to pray. Click on the images below to learn more about each book.
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8 comments:
Julie,
Thank you for this study. What a gift. I have definitely sensed your prayers and the Holy Spirit speaking to me through your words. I I love the verse you posted from Psalm 116:1. Pretty breath-taking!
I have a question in regards to last week's study on decision making. This is an area I struggle in. I used to make decisions quickly based on my gut or what I thought God was telling me to do. After a while, that began back-firing and I found myself in some hot soup. Now I employ more patience, thoughtfulness and wisdom...in addition to what I sense as God's initial leading. I guess where I'm stuck is that my decision making has gotten pretty slow now. It is careful but I wonder if it is overly slow out of doubt in my ability to trust that God hears me or that I hear Him correctly. And fear of potential negative consequences of a poor decision. In addition, in regards to the peace the Holy Spirit will bring surrounding a decision. Do you think it's possible that emotional brokenness could at times prevent us from hearing or receiving this peace? If so, what is your advice in these types of situations?
Thank you. I look forward to your thoughts.
Hi Anonymous,
I don't think any of us don't struggle at least part of the time when we're making decisions. I do know that God promises to direct us if we ask Him (Proverbs 3:6 and Proverbs 16:3 are good examples), and as His daughters His peace is rightfully ours--He bequeathed it to us (see John 14:27). I do think sometimes our emotions can get in the way, but ultimately His peace can burst through our emotions.
Joyce Meyer said she was once making a very important decision and wrestled and wrestled with it. She was SO scared of making the wrong decision. She said, "Lord, I don't want to mess this up and go the wrong way!" Finally, God spoke to her heart and said something to the effect of "Joyce, if you mess up and go the wrong way, I'll find you!" I guess the point is that God redeems our mistakes and ultimately we can trust Him in spite of our own shortcomings. He knows our hearts and that we want to please Him.
I hope this helps! :-)
I'm grateful for your work in sharing this study. This season is a struggle for me through grief, I wrestle with much. This verse is an encouragement, and motivates me to continue taking my aches to His throne.
Oh Jenn, I am so sorry. I am praying that God's very real presence and comfort will surround you continually as you walk through this difficult time.
Hello sister Julie. So good to know you through your profile on the blogger. I am also glad to stop by your blog "Julie K. Gillies" and the post on it "My God Hears Me Week -2 (Prayers for a Women Soul on line Study). I am blessed to know you as a speaker helping women believe, pray and dream (more). Well I will be so happy to have you come to Mumbai, India to inspire and help our women to believe, pray and dream more. We would love to have you come and conduct some Seminars for the women in the churches. We have a good net working of the Churches and many women can take advantage of your Seminars and can be benifited. Well beside this since I am a Pastor of a local church in Mumbai for last 34yrs we do have a ministry to reach out to the poorest of poor in the slums of Mumbai, India to bring healing to the broken hearted. We also encourage young people as well as adults from the West to come to Mumbai and work with us during their summer vacation on a short / long term missions trip. I am sure it would be a life changing experience for the one's who would come from your church. Looking forward to hear from you very soon. My email id is: dhwankhede(at)gmail(dot)com and my name is Diwakar Wankhede
Hi Julie, It's "Anonymous" here :). Thank you for your reply post. Yes, it helps a lot. For me your post was reassuring that God is GOOD and we have GRACE. Two things I have struggled to believe due to my upbringing. Thank you for the examples you provided (I like the one by Joyce Meyer) and for the scripture. Best to you!
Evening, and morning, and at noon, will I pray , and cry aloud : and he shall hear my voice. ~ Psalms 55:17
Our God is a God who hears. In this passage "hear" is from the Hebrew term "shamah," or to hear with interest and attention. It's the same "hear" as in Psalms 5:3. God is interested in our prayers and hearts cry. He pays attention to the cries of our heart. Psalms 55:17 really spoke to my heart. I was able to sense a new level of God's love.
Thanks again Julie for Prayers for a Woman's Soul.
Ladies, be encouraged. God is interested in you. He pays attention to you. Cry out in expectation!
Hi Julie,
Thank you for the work you are doing. I am reading this in the year 2020 and I must say it has resonated with me so much. Just like you grew up in an area where my voice wasn't heard and got into a relationship where anything I said was taken as me complaining and would cause strife in the home. So what I did, I kept quiet and no longer voiced an opinion or said anything. I must say, I struggle knowing that God listens to me, as in ME, I see him working in other people's life and in his word he has been working. I ask for His forgiveness when I don't trust that he hears me. Please pray for me, I need a clear direction on my marriage should I leave what is God saying about it. I am searching in the word and waiting for a clear message. Be blessed
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