Sharon Jaynes - Becoming a Woman Who Listens to God

HARVEST HOUSE PUBLISHERS
EUGENE, OREGON

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION. NIV. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 by the International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved.

Verses marked NASB are taken from the New American Standard Bible, 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. (www.Lockman.org)

Verses marked AMP are taken from The Amplified Bible, Copyright 1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation. All rights reserved. Used by permission. (www.Lockman.org)

Verses marked KJV are taken from the King James Version of the Bible.

Cover by Dugan Design Group, Bloomington, Minnesota

BECOMING A WOMAN WHO LISTENS TO GOD

Copyright 2004 by Sharon Jaynes

Published by Harvest House Publishers

Eugene, Oregon 97402

www.harvesthousepublishers.com

ISBN 978-0-7369-4761-9 (pbk.)

ISBN 978-0-7369-4762-6 (eBook)

The Library of Congress has cataloged the edition as follows:

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Jaynes, Sharon.

Becoming a woman who listens to God / Sharon Jaynes.

p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references.

ISBN 978-0-7369-1350-8 (pbk.)

1. Christian womenReligious life. 2. ListeningReligous aspectsChristianity. I. Title. BV4527.J384 2004

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any meanselectronic, mechanical, digital, photocopy, recording, or any otherexcept for brief quotations in printed reviews, without the prior permission of the publisher.

Printed in the United States of America

12 13 14 15 16 17 18 / LB-CF / 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

This book is dedicated to the two special men in my life.

One captured my heart the first time our eyes met at a college Bible study,
and the other the moment our eyes locked in the delivery room.
I thank God every day for the gift of you,

my husband, Steve, and son, Steven.

A special thanks to

My friends who are mentioned in this book. My life has been enriched by knowing each of you. Thank you for allowing me to share your lives with others.

Carolyn McCready, LaRae Weikert, and Terry Glaspey of Harvest House Publishers. Your passion for sharing the hope of Jesus Christ through print is evident in all you do.

My editor, Kim Moore; managing editor, Betty Fletcher; publicist, Teresa Evenson; and cover coordinator, Barb Sherrill. Your enthusiasm is contagious and attention to detail superb. Thank you for all the hard work and many hours invested in helping others become women who listen to God.

The staff of Proverbs 31 Ministries: Lysa TerKeurst, Bonnie Schulte, Marie Ogram, Glynnis Whitwer, Shelly Chen, Barb Spenser, Sherri Killion, Laurie Webster, Van Walton, Jill Tracey, Renee Swope, and Mary Southerland. Each one of you is a woman who has her ear pressed to the heart of God. What a joy it is to serve Him with you.

My husband, Steve, and son, Steven, for enduring piles of paper and hearing stories read time and time again.

Most of all, I thank the Lord for opening my eyes to sense His presence and quickening my heart to hear His voice in ordinary life situations.

B ecoming a woman who listens to GodI dont know of any greater passion or purpose that has ever taken hold of my heart. It encapsulates my deepest longing. And as I read the pages of my well-worn Bible, I see God speaking to Adam and Eve, calling them as they walked together in the cool of the evening; to Cain, warning him that sin was crouching at the door; to Noah, instructing him on how to build the ark to save his family from destruction; to Abram, promising him he would be the father of a great nation; to Rebekah, foretelling the future of the twin boys that struggled in her womb; to Moses, calling him to lead the enslaved Israelites out of Egypt and into the Promised Land; to the prophet Samuel, leading him to anoint a mere shepherd boy the next king of the Jews. I see Jesus calling out to Saul from a blinding light saying, Saul, Saul, why do you persecute Me?

Tell me, havent you longed for God to speak to you in the same way?

Admittedly, it is hard to hear anyones voice surrounded as we are by the cacophony of noises in our busy world, where the TV is blaring, the radio is booming, the washing machine is spinning, the vacuum cleaner is roaring, the kids are yelling, the dog is barking, the baby is crying, the telephone is ringing, and the doorbell is buzzingall at the same time. Ive often thought, if I could just get away from the clamor and calamity of everyday life, perhaps I could hear that still, small voice. But when I pored over the pages of Scripture, I discovered that some of Gods most memorable messages were not delivered while men and women were away at a spiritual retreat, but right in the middle of the hustle and bustle of everyday life. He spoke to Moses while he was tending sheep, to Gideon while he was threshing wheat, to Zechariah while he was performing his duties at the temple, to shepherds while they were watching their flocks by night, to Peter and Andrew while they were fishing on the sea, to the woman at the well while she was drawing water for her household chores, to Matthew while he was busy in his tax office, and to Martha while she was baking in the kitchen.

Does that mean that God could speak to you and to me in the midst of our ordinary days? I dont believe it is a question of whether or not He will speak, but whether or not we will listen. Henry Blackaby, in his book Experiencing God, said, Right now God is working all around you and in your life. One of the greatest tragedies among Gods people is that, while they have a deep longing to experience God, they are experiencing God day after day, but do not know how to recognize Him. I see that longing to experience God in the sea of faces when I am speaking from the podium at a conference or womens retreat. I sense that longing in the e-mails that travel to my computer screen. I read that longing in the tearstained letters that come to my mailbox. I hear that longing in the voices of women I talk to every day. I feel that longing in my own heart each morning when I step out of bed to meet a new day. Lord, I want to hear You today.

There are some who say that God does not speak today, that the Bible is Gods complete revelation to believers. Yes, it is true that the Bible tells us everything we need to know about Gods character and His ways, and He will never tell us anything that contradicts His Word. But He will speak to us in a personal way to help us apply Scripture to our lives and move the truths from our heads to our hearts.

All through the New Testament Jesus taught the multitudes by telling them stories or parables to illustrate spiritual principles. He explained the unknown by using the known. Jesus said, The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed The kingdom of God is like treasure hidden in a field The kingdom of God is like a net that was let down into the lake and caught all kinds of fish Likewise, Jesus continues to illustrate spiritual principles through modern day parables. He shows up in our lives every day, but we must turn aside and pay attention.