We are just coming to the end of our 2 week stay in the Algarve with Tom's parents. It's been really lovely. 10 days of sun and a few of cloud (helping us get re-acclimatised to the UK no doubt!) and a bit of respite from the daily chores of UK life. It hasn't been what we used to call a holiday in the sense that we still have to care for Reuben, but a break it has been nonetheless.

Whilst here I browsed a couple of books: 'Living Water' by Brother Yun and another by a missionary called Jackie Emmens about her life in Brazil with her husband. Both great books. Notably they have renewed a burning desire inside me to live a life with God in its entirety, not just inviting God in to most of it. Jackie's book is full of a life lived like this and below are some bits from Brother Yun's book which I found poignant and I hope will illustrate what I mean. They are from the chapter on Hearing God's Voice.

'In Jesus I have a simple theology. I believe God speaks to His children all the time. We just need to listen and obey. When we start to obey His voice, we see His power and authority in us and operating through us...the main way that God speaks to His sheep is through the bible...but i also believe that the Holy Spirit guides followers of Christ by directing them and guiding them daily.

(in China) the house churches had problems when undercover agents came along to spy on the believers and see if they could gather information that might be used against them later. The Christians prayed and asked God what they should do. The Lord told them to stop announcing the place and time of their meetings and instead trust that the Holy Spirit would reveal the details to each person He wanted to come to the meeting. On the day of the next meeting, nobody except the leader knew where the church service would be held or at what time, but one by one believers began to turn up, all having been told by the Holy Spirit where to go when they were praying that morning.

I am convinced that one of the reasons many Christians struggle to hear God's voice is simply because they don't take time to be quiet and listen...to hear God's voice, you have to stop listening to your own heart and mind. You need to stop listening to the news and to people who love to air their worthless opinions. You also need to stop taking heed of the voice of Satan and giving attention to evil thoughts... He speaks in a whisper and only those who are willing to get away from the roar of the world will be able to hear Him speak. We have no right to be afraid of what people think or say about us. In fact, we have no right to even be interested in peoples opinions of us. we are meant to be dead to this world and everything that it represents. A dead person doesn't care what he looks like of what others think of him. All that matters is God!

It is time for more Christians to be like Augustine, who would read the gospels in the morning and then go out in the afternoon and put into action what he had just read... When you start to obey God and give your life unreservedly to His purposes, He will begin to share His heart with you.