But when I ring my wife I say, She says, hi!’ I don’t have to say, ‘Hello!’ ‘Oh, hello, my name’s Nicky Gumbel’; she recognises my voice because she ‘Oh, knows me well. And when we know someone well, we begin to recognise their voice. The same is true of the Holy Spirit. As we develop this relationship, we begin to recognise the voice of the Holy Spirit. And the Holy Spirit leads us in a number of different ways. First of all, God speaks to us when we pray. In Acts, chapter 13 we read of: they were ‘As worshipping the Lord, the Holy Spirit spoke to them.’ Prayer is a two-way conversation that’s what we looked at a couple of weeks — ago. It’s not just a question of us sort of pouring out our requests to God and then going off without ever listening, because he may want to speak to us when we pray. [You may reword the text in red for contextual or cultural application.] It’s a bit like, you know, if we go to the doctor. Supposing I go to the doctor and I say, hello, good morning, doctor! I’ve got a number of problems today. I've ‘Oh, got some fungus growing under my toenails, and I’ve got this problem with my cartilage in my knee, and I think I’m getting a bit of arthritis in my hips. And, oh, I get this tennis elbow. And I think actually I’m beginning to develop flu symptoms. And I have a problem sleeping at night.’ And I pour out all my problems to him, and I say, well, it’s been very nice to see you, doctor. ‘So, Goodbye!’ You know, the doctor might say, `Well, hang on a second, do you want to hear what I have to say?’ And sometimes I think God says to us, you want to hear what I have to say?’ ‘Do And that’s why when we pray I think it’s a great idea to have a kind of notebook, or I often use my diary, just to jot down things, thoughts that come to mind, maybe what you might call a sort of impression: I ought to ring that ‘Maybe person. I wonder whether I ought to write a letter to that person?’
But when I ring my wife I say, ‘Hello!’ She says, ‘Oh, hi!’ I don’t have to say, ‘Oh, hello, my name’s Nicky Gumbel’; she recognises my voice because she knows me well. And when we know someone well, we begin to recognise their voice. The same is true of the Holy Spirit. As we develop this relationship, we begin to recognise the voice of the Holy Spirit. And the Holy Spirit leads us in a number of different ways. First of all, God speaks to us when we pray. In Acts, chapter 13 we read of: ‘As they were worshipping the Lord, the Holy Spirit spoke to them.’ Prayer is a two-way conversation — that’s what we looked at a couple of weeks ago. It’s not just a question of us sort of pouring out our requests to God and then going off without ever listening, because he may want to speak to us when we pray. [You may reword the text in red for contextual or cultural application.] It’s a bit like, you know, if we go to the doctor. Supposing I go to the doctor and I say, ‘Oh, hello, good morning, doctor! I’ve got a number of problems today. I've got some fungus growing under my toenails, and I’ve got this problem with my cartilage in my knee, and I think I’m getting a bit of arthritis in my hips. And, oh, I get this tennis elbow. And I think actually I’m beginning to develop flu symptoms. And I have a problem sleeping at night.’ And I pour out all my problems to him, and I say, ‘So, well, it’s been very nice to see you, doctor. Goodbye!’ You know, the doctor might say, `Well, hang on a second, do you want to hear what I have to say?’ And sometimes I think God says to us, ‘Do you want to hear what I have to say?’ And that’s why when we pray I think it’s a great idea to have a kind of notebook, or I often use my diary, just to jot down things, thoughts that come to mind, maybe what you might call a sort of impression: ‘Maybe I ought to ring that person. I wonder whether I ought to write a letter to that person?’
Alpha-Script-Week-7-How-does-God-guide-us.docx