DISCLAIMER: God is no respecter of persons!
Whenever I am asked, “How do you know when God is speaking to you,” I hesitate to answer – not because I do not believe He speaks to me, but because I know whatever follows next from my mouth will sound foolish to many. Yet, I have to say that God chooses many ways to speak to me: His Word (that is, the Bible, using various versions); His people (those taught by schools of divinity, those self-taught by years of study, and those who have pure hearts devoted to God); His correction (my hard earned mistakes and the mistakes of others); His creation (the signs He displays – think rainbows); and His humor (He can speak through a donkey, by having a man walk around naked for a year, by giving strength to a man if he lets his hair grow long). So I do not put limits on how God can speak to me. What I humbly submit is that even my foolish heart cannot outwit God’s plan for me each day.
Like yesterday when I reflected on all that I had wanted to accomplish. I raced to complete each task hoping to do my best and praying that God would show up. At the end of the day, I had to laugh at myself. Though everything was done, I realize that God does not dwell in my works. He reminded me of this when I read in 1 Kings 8, “The heavens, even the highest heaven, cannot contain you. How much less this temple I have built!” Reading those lines reminds me to not take my purpose in life so seriously because my relationship with God is more than doing good deeds.
I also heard God’s voice assuring me that my prayers to be used for the salvation of others is not going unheard. In Ezekiel 38, God says, “In days to come, Gog, I will bring you against my land, so that the nations may know me when I am proved holy through you before their eyes.” Ok, some of you know that my nickname for grandmother is Gog, so I may be stretching this one a bit. (I hope so since Gog is not exactly in the Lord’s army!) Still, I know for certain that God encourages us to intercede for the world.
God also speaks in a personal way to me when I need Him the most. For example, Psalm 28:6, “Praise be to the Lord, for he has heard my cry for mercy.” This verse has been rolling around in my head for the last several weeks after my ex-husband proposed to me. We were divorced in January of this year, and though I had accepted the separation and divorce as necessary, my heart remained broken over the love we had shared. If you think this verse too general to apply to this situation, you may be caught off guard to hear that on our wedding day, I had decided to study the books, chapters, and verses mentioned in this blog, and I literally fell to my knees when I read this one: Ephesians 5. Now anyone who has ever been married or is contemplating getting married is familiar with this text (or ought to be). This chapter has the famous words, “Submit ye one to another,” and other commands for wives and husbands. Wow! I had no idea that these words would be applicable to me any time soon. Then that same morning, we stood before the pastor, and he began to speak about marriage. Guess what passage of Scripture he used…just saying!
Sometimes I hear God’s voice quietly, but a lot of the times it comes like King David describes in Psalm 29. “The voice of the Lord thunders over the waters; The voice of the Lord breaks the cedars in pieces; The voice of the Lord strikes with flashes of lightning; The voice of the Lord shakes the desert; The voice of the Lord twists the oaks… And in his temple all cry, “Glory!” I often cry at the sound of God’s voice.
JSWilkinson
Sixty-six books in a year 