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Update 2025: Here I Am

Isaiah 6:8 (AMP)  Then I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us?” Then I said, “Here am I. Send me!”

One January eighth of this year I wrote a blog called “2025: Here I Am.” Here is what I wrote: “Here I am” is a heart position to be all in. It is a response to God that you are sensitive to His call. It is a willingness to listen and to obey His commands. “And this commandment we have from Him, that the one who loves God should also [unselfishly] love his brother and seek the best for him” (1 John 4:21). Seeking the best for others requires a lot of dying to self. That lines up with what Christ said we would have to do to be His disciples (Matthew 16:24-26). So that new thing He is doing in me, has a lot to do with my surrender. God doing a new thing requires me changing (Isaiah 43:19).

When I dedicated this year to answer the call with, “Here I Am,” I did not know where it would take me. Some would hope it would take them across the world. Some would expect a change of scenery. Some would expect a huge move. What it did in me caused me to make a holy shift to Your will not my will, Lord. I have answered calls that I did not want to. I have gone into homes that I did not want to. I have made trips to spend just a few moments with someone, that was way out of my route for the day. Why? “Here I Am.” How can we say we want to do great things for God when we will not give Him the fifteen minutes, or even a couple of hours, that will make us uncomfortable for someone else? He has given me a heart for people like never before. It is not to point out what is wrong in their life, it is to point them to the person who will make them whole. I am not there to fix their problems; I am pointing them to the One who can ground them in Truth.

This still rings true today: What should we be praying for the church? That God becomes real to us. That we stop going through the motions and desire a real relationship with God. You can listen and not hear. You can look and not see. This will happen until you surrender your ideas. We have the luxury of doing so much research that we have not need to sit and listen for His voice. We have access to so many books and teaching online, that we do not need to read the Bible for ourselves. We read the Bible through the lens of experience and not really listen for His voice. We depend on scripture taken out of context and wonder why God is not doing what I want. It is not until we surrender that we will be rooted and grounded in Christ. This is where love starts. We cannot love each other when we are only worried about ourselves. Serving only those we want to serve is really self-serving. Only reading what we like is self-serving.

“Here I Am” is a call for deeper surrender. I do not know why God has me doing this. I spend my week with people. People that I am not looking for anything in return. I asked God why, especially since church attendance was looking sad this past Sunday. It can be disheartening when we look at people. I have to keep my eyes focused on Him. It is not about what I see in the natural, it is about what He is doing when I am obedient. I put my trust in Him. At the right time (His time).

Galatians 6:9-10 (AMP) Let us not grow weary or become discouraged in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap, if we do not give in. So then, while we [as individual believers] have the opportunity, let us do good to all people [not only being helpful, but also doing that which promotes their spiritual well-being], and especially [be a blessing] to those of the household of faith (born-again believers).

Here I am, send me. I am choosing not to give it, not giving up.

Abba, Father, we are in awe of You. You are Holy, Marvelous, and Righteous. Help us to fully accept Your Son for who He is, the One who came to make us whole and whose peace fills us completely. When we love You and put You first, everything else finds its rightful place. When Your voice is our priority, all other voices fade away. When Your Word is first in our lives, distractions lose their hold. When we follow Your principles, the promises of Your Word become evident in our lives. Lead us back to putting You first. Let us say, “Here I am.” We repent for prioritizing ourselves over Your Word, Your voice, and Your guidance. Help us to open Your Word and crave it like the most satisfying meal. Thank You for Your forgiveness and Your mercies that are new every morning. We choose joy today. We choose hope today. We choose forgiveness today. We choose love today. In Jesus Name, Amen.

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Whoever has ears, let them hear!

Acts 2:17 (MEV) ‘In the last days it shall be,’ says God, ‘that I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams.

Why does God choose to speak to us in different ways? Some have dreams, some see visions, some see angels…how does God speak to you? The bigger question is, are you really hearing and doing what He speaks to you?

When the Holy Spirit pour out on your life, He will inspire dreams and visions, which will picture not just your present and future, but those you are to impact for His glory. Dreams and visions always conform to biblical truth. They will not present individualism. They will not cause you to fight against flesh and blood. Their purpose is to establish His Kingdom here on earth.

What if you say, “God does not talk to me.” What if the real reason is because we have become selective in what we choose to hear? For Mother’s Day I have this big pile of giveaways for our church, enough to require a table to be brought out to display them all. I had asked for my oldest to come with me and instructed him to grab the small table in the room we were in and that I would be on my way with a table cloth to put on the table. As I walked into the room, and the place we put the table, I see the large table and them placing the items on the table without table cloth. My son heard “table” and that is what he went on.

A lot of the times God is speaking, but we are selective in what we choose to hear. Or, we do not like how it is being brought to us. We want to hear His audible voice like he spoke to Samuel in (1 Samuel 3). God is not a human being. He is God. He can talk to you however He wants to, not the way you want Him to. Humans are limited, God is not. He can communicate through other followers, through experiences, through your gifts, through dreams, through visions, through nature…the list is endless. When you have ears to hear.

Matthew 11:15 (NIV) Whoever has ears, let them hear.

The Hebrew word for hear is shama. It means to hear, to listen, to pay heed, to obey. The voice of God will always line up with His Word. Here is my test: 1) Will it cause division? This is me being self seeking, the benefactor is me and it does not matter what division it will cause in the body of Christ. This will not line up with God. 2) Will it help establish His kingdom here on earth? This is the heart of a servant. My actions benefit God’s plan and purpose in others and me. This glorifies God and I can believe that it is His voice (no matter if it is out of my comfort).

If you get the chance today, read Acts 10. It is a great example of how God speaks to us and what happens when we obey. He can speak to us in different ways. He speaks to me in different illustrations of His Word. He speaks to me to be generous. He speaks to me to bake and deliver goodies. He speaks to me to buy flowers and deliver them. Whoever has ears, let them hear!