Sharing the word of God's love and Salvation through our Lord and Savior.... Jesus Christ
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Talking and Listening To God
The
really sad thing about not talking and listening to God, is that you miss
a golden opportunity to draw closer to God, to get to know him better, and
to let him know that you realize that you want and need his help. When you
fail to talk and listen to God, you greatly limit God's ability to
accomplish the things that he wants to do in your life. When you don't
communicate with God you miss the Godly advice given at James
4:8, "Draw close to God, and he will draw close to you".
Instead, when you don't talk or listen to God you pretty much tell him
that you don't need him, that you can do things on your own, that his
advice and his concern are not needed, that you are very capable of going
through your life under your own power and doing it your own way.
Talking to God
We talk to God in order
to constantly build and strengthen our relationship with him, to get to
know him better, to learn what he expects of us, what we can expect from
him, and to find out how we can best accomplish the things that he wants
us to do. We also talk to God in order to seek his advice and help, to
show him that we recognize his existence and awesome power, and of course
to show him that we have trust and confidence in him.
And
talking to God should be the same as if you were talking to your best
friend. You should tell him your thoughts, desires, hurts, and problems,
as well as giving him your thanks and praise. Talking to God not only
tells God that you have knowledge of him but that you also have faith in
him. Talking to God also tells him that you have a desire for his presence
in your life and that you need him and are dependent on him. It also shows
God and that you want to be obedient to him. He wants to hear these things
from you. He already knows what they are but he wants you to tell them to
him. He wants you to make the effort to talk to him and not to take him
for granted.
If you really want to communicate and talk to God, if you want to become close to him, if you want to begin to grow strong spiritually, and if you want to begin a glorious and meaningful relationship with him, then do two things.
1)
Talk to God daily, in a normal everyday type of conversation. Remember
that God can read your mind and that he is constantly observing your inner
most thoughts at all times, so he knows what is going on in your heart and
your mind far better than you do. So your conversations with God do not
have to be vocal and you can mentally talk to God anytime you want. God
gave us little taste of his ability to search the hearts of men and read
their minds back in Jeremiah
So
you can easily talk to God in your thoughts, and these conversations can
be done anytime or anyplace. They can be done in school, at work, or at
any other place, even if the rules of the world are against it.
2)
The second thing you need to do in order to better communicate with Jesus
is to read the Word of God each and every day. The Bible was the one thing
that Jesus left for each one of us to read and study so that we would be
able to find out about God. Only by reading the very word of God can we
hope to draw near to him.
When
Our Lord sees that you are taking the time to read his word every single
day then what he is going to do is begin to peel away the layers of
cloudiness that are covering your eyes and that hide the truth. Once he
sees that you are serious about reading his word, Jesus Christ and the
Holy Spirit will begin to open your eyes and mind, and allow you to begin
to understand the Word of God and the incredible meaning that it has on
every aspect of your life. It won't be long before you realize that the
Bible isn't difficult at all to read and understand, and to your amazement
you will begin to also realize that you and Jesus have been drawn closer
together. Suddenly you will know that indeed he is communicating with you.
It
is really a joyous occasion to see a believer who has devoted the time to
talk to God and to read his word daily, suddenly realize just how much God
is speaking to them. The true believer takes great comfort in knowing that
Jesus Christ is constantly talking to them, directing them, guiding them,
and teaching them throughout each and every day.
Also
keep in mind that the way you talk to God is extremely important. Do you
talk to him only when you are in trouble and need help? If so then it
shows God that you are simply taking him for granted. However if he sees
that you are setting aside certain periods of time during each day just to
talk to him, then what you are doing is opening up the channels of
communication between you and God.
We
are living in a world that rarely thinks about Jesus and seldom talks to
him, and if Jesus sees one person out of a million who is actually taking
the time each and every day just to talk to him, then you are going to put
great joy in his heart. Just think of it. The creator of the entire
universe will be personally listening to you each and every time you talk
to him.
He
may watch for a while to see if what you are doing is only temporary and
whether or not you will stop it after a few days. But if you continue,
then God is going to be extremely pleased and I believe he won't be able
to wait to begin to communicate with your heart, your conscience, your
soul, your spirit. In fact you will not believe how much God will be
talking to you.
Listening to God
Listening
to God is probably the most important thing that will ever happen to a
person. In fact your entire eternal future is based on you hearing God
speaking to you and whether or not you listen to him. And this is because
your spiritual life doesn't begin until God speaks to you and you finally
decide to listen. This is so beautifully described in John
10:27-28. "My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they
follow Me. And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish;
neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand".
It
is for this reason that you need to not only talk to God constantly about
everything, but you must also listen for God to speak to you. And the best
way to listen for God to speak to you is to look to your heart and your
mind for his answer. Most people expect God to answer them in some divine
way or somehow speak to them verbally, right out of the heavens, but that
isn't the way God operates. God speaks to a persons heart. To their mind.
To their sense of moral righteousness and fairness. To their sense of what
is right and Godly. When Jesus Christ is dwelling within a person he is
communicating constantly with that person's, heart, conscience, soul, and
spirit. His answer may even be in that certain feeling that you have. That
unexpected feeling that came out of no where and that shines additional
light on the problem. His answer may lie in that sudden pause that you
experience. That pause that gets you thinking about a different path to
take.
And
those methods of communication that God uses are extremely loud and clear.
The true child of God can hear God speak just as clearly as if God was
standing right along side of them and verbally talking to them. However
for most people, especially in the beginning, they need to be quiet and
really listen for God's answer because it is so very easy to block his
answer out. You can get busy watching a TV program or cleaning the house
and you never really hear his side of the conversation.
It's
amazing, but a true child of God is carrying on a constant two way
conversation with God all day long. This is why talking and listening to
God is so easy. It's like listening to music. That's why if your driving
down the street going 30 miles over the speed limit, you know that's the
voice of God telling you that you are wrong and that you must get back to
the proper speed limit. That speeding is against the law, that you very
possibly might hurt or kill another person, that you will be stopped by
the police and given an expensive ticket, that your insurance rates will
go up, or any number of other reasons. (You know it's not Satan talking to
you because if it was Satan he would be telling you to go faster, that a
little extra speed doesn't matter, that the other drivers owe you, or that
it is ok for you to speed because you are in a hurry).
Another
example might be if you are at work and you see something that you would
like to have at home, and you suddenly begin to think that your employer
will never miss it, and that it really isn't that expensive. Well, that's
God speaking to your entire being through your conscience. He's pleading
with your heart not to steal that item. He's telling your mind that it
will only bring dishonor and guilt upon you and upon God. He telling your
moral righteousness that it is very wrong, and that nothing good can ever
happen when you steal from another.
After
a while God is carrying on a conversation with you even while you are
talking to other people; and you are tuned in to God just as much as you
are to the other person. When was the last time you and another person
were talking and that person used the name of God in vain. Did your mind
not hear the Lord cut into that conversation and instantly begin to tell
you that the conversation was wrong. That it is wrong to be around someone
dragging his Father's name through the dirt? Or how about the time when
you were talking with another person and one of you happened to mention
vicious gossip about another person. Didn't your heart hear God tell you
that it wasn't right to gossip? Did you feel that gentle warning letting
you know that you were traveling out of God's camp and into an area that
is owned and ruled by Satan. That was God simply talking to you. And it
will be one of the most glorious days of your life when you finally
realize that you can conduct a constant two way conversation with God 24
hours a day.
Also
a great many people love to say that God works in mysterious ways. That
they have absolutely no idea how or why God does what he does. But for the
true believer, God's ways aren't mysterious. His ways aren't concealed
behind smoke and mirrors. It is just the opposite. Because once you begin
to understand Jesus Christ, once you begin to learn what he is all about,
once you begin to understand what he is trying to do in this world and in
your life, once you begin to understand the tremendous importance that he
holds for all of mankind, then his actions will not be mysterious. That's
when his ways will become crystal clear. In fact many times you will
actually be able to predict what he is going to do.
The
believer, who has surrendered his life up to Jesus Christ, will see God
actively working in their daily lives. But this seeing will not be a
visual image focused in our eyes. Instead, God has allowed his children to
see him through his faithfulness, his blessings, his guidance, his
encouragement. Our very spirits tell us that he is very near to us. Do we
not see him by the feeling of peace and calm that his very presence
brings? Do we not see God through the daily provisions that he brings for
our many needs? We see God when he is carrying our burdens, when he is
lighting our paths, and when he is nestling us in his arms. The believer
that has surrendered, is able to see God all day long.
Various
Ways We Listen To God Speak
We can listen to God
speak to us through his Word. As mentioned above, God uses the Bible as
his foremost tool to impart his daily instructions to us. That is one
reason why it is so very important to read the word of God daily because
God will direct you to specific passages that will have a direct impact on
the problems you are facing and the questions that you have. You will find
specific answers to specific questions that you are presently facing or
will face shortly. It is absolutely incredible how this works but it does
and it happens almost on a daily basis. However if you don't read the word
of God everyday you will miss out on this extremely important method of
communication that God uses to inform and teach you, to answer your
questions, and to guide you along your spiritual path.
Do
you realize that 10 men can read the exact same passage of scripture in
the Bible and each man will come away with a little different meaning for
that verse. God will reveal that passage differently to each man,
depending on each man's background, his age, his life experiences, his
circumstances, his environment, his present situation, and many other
factors. We all have different needs, we all find ourselves passing
through different trials and tribulations, we all have different fears,
and we are all on different missions and goals from God. That is the
incredible power that lies behind the Bible. And why shouldn't it be this
way considering each word in the Bible was inspired from God directly to
the Bible writers.
And
just as incredible is the fact that as each of these men grow spiritually,
they will interpret that same passage a little differently each time they
go back and reread that verse. They can take what they have recently
learned and use that information as building blocks so that they are able
to get a better and clearer understanding of that verse and the
information and knowledge that verse contains.
That
is how an unquenchable thirst for knowledge about God grows and grows.
It's also how God continually instructs a person, how he allows a person
to grow in their spiritual daily walk, how he gets the believers character
and moral fiber to improve in a Godly manner on a daily basis, how God
reveals mysteries that the believer never dreamed he could possibly
understand or comprehend, and most importantly how the believer is able to
love and trust and obey God more today than he did yesterday. The
knowledge about God is through the pages of your Bible.
We
listen to God through the Holy Spirit who is with us every second of the
day. It is the Holy Spirit who teaches us, guides us, and instructs us. It
is the Holy Spirit who is our helper and our educator. It is the guidance
of the Holy Spirit that is going to bring Jesus Christ into your life. The
Holy Spirit is the one who opens the hearts and the minds of men. The Holy
Spirit is the one who educates and instructs a person in how to lead a
life which is pleasing to God The Father, and it is The Holy Spirit who
tells you and the rest of the world about Jesus Christ.
We
listen to God speak to us when we pray. God can communicate with us when
we pray because this is the time when we are really concentrating on God,
and this makes our hearts and minds accessible to the voice of God. It is
in prayer where you can have a one-on-one conversation with Almighty God.
It is in prayer that God can impress his desires on our spirits, have
impact on our minds, and have the ability to change our hearts. Our prayer
gives God the authority to have incredible communication with us.
We
listen to God speak to us through other believers. When you are faced with
a problem or have a question, who better to go to then another believer
who will give you good Godly advice that is based on the Bible. Someone
who is already letting Jesus Christ lead them in living their life, and
who has a firm understanding of the Bible, and who will want God to advise
them on just how to answer your question.
We
also listen to God speak to us through divine circumstances. We are all
living under heavenly guidance and many times God will do certain things
in our life which will absolutely astound and amaze us. Many times these
happenings are absolutely incredible, but unfortunately most people will
say that these things are just due to pure luck or fate. But the true
believer can see the hand of God written all over these occurrences and
realizes that they are just another way that God uses to communicate with
us.
Since
God has unlimited ways to talk with you, he may do so using other forms of
communication. He may lead you to other Godly people for certain answers,
he may guide you to certain verses in the Holy Word of God or other
literature for answers, he may arrange your future circumstances so that
that specific things become very visible and you find the answer there,
you may even see an answer in another person whom God has brought across
your path. The possible ways in which our Loving Father can answer us is
absolutely incredible.
God - Was That You, Was That Me, Or Was That Satan
When
looking for answers from God, most people ask how in heaven's name can
they tell if the possible answers and solutions that they have floating
around in their heads are from God? Or are they just my own thoughts, or
could they even be from Satan? Or they may say that I have a number of
answers or solutions to a certain problem, so how can I tell which one is
from God? Which one is the one that God wants me to follow?
Well,
there is a rather easy way to tell which answer or solution is from God.
And this method will never ever fail. It doesn't matter if the problem is
big or small or if you have 2 possible solutions or a 100. It always
works. So if you follow this method then you will have God's answer.
The
method to determine which solution is the one from God consists of 7 very
simple questions that you ask yourself regarding each possible solution or
each possible answer.
The seven questions:
1
- Is it consistent with the word of God? Does this solution fit the
principles that are in the Bible? Does it violate anything in the Bible?
2
- Is it a wise decision? In your own heart and mind is it the type of
solution that Jesus Christ himself would agree with? Would Jesus implement
this solution himself?
3
- Are you confident in asking God to enable you to achieve this solution?
Can you look upon this solution as one that God would send into your life?
4
- Do you feel that it is a God given solution? Deep within your heart do
you feel or sense that this solution is the will of God?
5
- Does this solution fit a child of God? From all that you know about God,
does this solution or this answer fit a person that truly loves, believes,
and trusts God?
6
- Does the solution fit God's overall plan for your life? Does this
solution fit in with God's guidance and direction of your life?
7
- Does this solution honor God? Does it bring glory and praise to Almighty
God?
But
what happens if you have a number of possible solutions and none of them
satisfy all seven of these steps? Or even worse, you still don't have any
solutions or answers. Then you need to remember that we are all on God's
time schedule, and we have to simply be patient and wait on the Lord. He
will bring you the answer or solution but only when the time is right and
only God can see your entire life so only he knows when the time is right.
The
Bible is jammed full of examples of men and women who for one reason or
another were not patient, who refused to wait on the Lord, who decided to
do it their own way, and thus made the decision to bypass God and take a
shortcut. And what were the results of these many examples of people
taking shortcuts around God? Failure and heartbreak in every single
example. In fact ask yourself this question. If you have saved for years
and now have enough money to build your first brand new house, would you
be happy to see the builder suddenly start to take shortcuts in building
your new home? Or you are in the hospital for life and death surgery, and
suddenly the surgeon tells you that he has got a number of time saving
shortcuts that he is going to be using. Would that make you happy?
So
this would be a very good time to remember some of the great many Biblical
verses about patience and about waiting on the Lord. Verses like:
2
Thessalonians 1:4 "So that we ourselves boast of you among the
churches of God for your patience and faith in all your persecutions and
tribulations that you endure."
2 Thessalonians 3:5 "Now may the Lord direct your hearts into the love of God and into the patience of Christ."
1 Timothy
2 Corinthians 6:4 "But in all things we commend ourselves as ministers of God: in much patience, in tribulations, in needs, in distresses."
Luke
So if you are observant and pay attention
you will hear God as surely as if he was standing right in front of you
speaking to you orally. God wants you to talk to him and to trust him. In
return he will love you and bless you and teach you. He will show you how
you can achieve a life filled with peace and happiness. God wants to be
involved in every single aspect and facet of your life, because as it says
at Galatians
So the true child of God is letting Christ live their life. Christ is in charge. Christ is running the whole show. You might say that you are along just for the ride. There is nothing that you should not involve God in. Each and every single thing you do, from opening your eyes in the morning to shutting them at night, should be done by both you and God.
So in conclusion, the really sad thing about not talking and listening to God, is that you miss a golden opportunity to draw closer to God, to get to know him better, and to let him know that you realize that you want and need his help. You would have missed the Godly advice given at James 4:8, "Draw close to God, and he will draw close to you". Instead when you don't talk or listen to God you pretty much tell him that you don't need him, that you can do things on your own, that his advice and his concern are not needed, that you are very capable of going through your life under your own power and doing it your own way. If so, do you feel a little like Matthew 13:15 with your eyes starting to shut, your ears starting to close up, maybe your heart beginning to become a little harder?
This is because without that communication between you and God, you will soon find yourself drifting further and further away from God. And as the distance between you and God increases, your heart will indeed become harder and the ways of the world will begin to become ever more important.
This life on earth is simply a training school that allows us to refine and perfect ourselves, to learn from our mistakes and our errors in judgment. But to be successful at this requires complete faith and trust in our Lord. So listen for that soft gentle voice filled full of love, intelligence, and caring.
Last revised 02/09/2006