Challenges to Knowing and Hearing from God Part 7

We are challenged to deal with our individual temperament’s strengths and weaknesses.

MIND (what we think/believe) God gives us understanding and wisdom despite our temperament, not because of it.

WILL (what we choose to do) Some of us have no trouble acting swiftly on the direction we hear from God. This needs to be tempered, according to His training. We’ve all heard stories of people who’ve acted on what they believed was the word of the Lord for them, and got married, moved, quit a job, sold their house, etc., even with the encouragement from those in “authority” over them, only for disappointing consequences to follow. God calls us to act despite our temperament, not because of it.

EMOTIONS (what we feel) The level of our emotions, and their expression to others, depends on our temperament. As with the mind and will, social expectations and personal history also play a role. Because of their temperaments, many are “turned off” from receiving ministry from those who express strong emotion, and often reject God’s Truth and Life because it did not come they way they thought it should. God motivates us with compassion and desire despite our temperament, not because of it.

We are challenged to take risks, make mistakes, be wounded and rejected.

Because of our temperaments, personal history, etc., each of us has our own set of fears, though when it comes to God, they generally fit into three categories: fear of punishment (God will make me, or others that I love, pay for my mistakes), fear of failure (disappointing God) and fear of abandonment (God won’t take care of me unless I meet His conditions).