I have the honor with meeting early Tuesday mornings with a small group of guys. They make me stronger and challenge me a great deal. Most of the time we are reading a book together, and our current book is “Whisper” by Mark Batterson. It is about listening to the voice of God and is a incredible book.
That is why I am simply going to give you a few quotes from the book and specifically from chapter 6 that talks about gladness. This stuff ought to encourage you as it has our guys group.
Page 78. What’s the point in trying to be who you aren’t? If you succeed, you is who you ain’t, and you ain’t who you is. You’re actually less lie the person God designed you and destined you to be. That isn’t succeeding; it’s failing. And I, for one, would rather fail at something I love than succeed at something I don’t…
Page 79. God delights in what He does, and He wants nothing less for us. He wants us to delight in His creation. He wants us to delight in one another. And above all, He wants us to delight ourselves in Him.
Page 82. In John Piper’s words, “God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him.”
Page 83. At the end of the day, passion wins the day… Life is too short not to love what you do, so do what you love. The key is finding the place where your gifts and desires overlap.
Pages 91-92. Instead of following our God-ordained desires in the direction of individualism, the voice of gladness is drowned out by the voice of conformity… It’s the fear of people that keeps us from hearing and heeding the voice of God. We let the expectations of others override the desires God has put in our hearts. The net result? Those desires get buried about six feet deep. Eventually, we forget who we really are.
Page 93. The Bible calls us “a peculiar people.” So why are we trying to be normal? If uniqueness is god’s gift to us, then individuation is our gift back to Him. And it starts with hearing and heeding the voice of desire. And when God’s voice is the loudest in our lives, we can dare to be different.
Psalm 37:4 NLT
Take delight in the Lord, and he will give you your heart’s desires.
NOTE: there will be a new group starting in the months ahead. If you are a guy and live in our area and are interested in meeting with a men’s small group, let us know.
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