"God said..."
"I heard God tell me..."
"God spoke to me..."
I remember hearing other Christians use those phrases when my faith was new to me and wondering how that all worked. Did they mean that God actually talked?! Did they hear a big, booming voice from above?
Somewhere along the way, I came to the understanding that people were not actually referring to hearing voices in their heads. Rather, hearing God was more about the heart. "Sensing" in your heart that God was trying to speak to you, whether through His Word, through a song or a sermon, through the words of a friend, and the like. I am now one of those people who tends to say, "God told me to..."
In my quiet time this morning, the study guide I am using posed a question: When was the first time you heard God speak to you?
I can't really remember the first time. I remember before, and I know after, but that first moment eludes me.
How about you? When was the first time you heard God speak to you?
I think we are usually oblivious to the 1st, 2nd, even many times, before we become aware that the nudge or impression are from the the Lord...something like little Samuel in the well known Bible story.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Lucille. Oh, but there are times I remember wrestling with my God over what He told me to do. I didn't want to, yet I wouldn't let Him go. Like Jacob, I wrestled and asked for a blessing. I walked away changed, obeyed a little, and was blessed a lot.
ReplyDeleteI absolutely remember the first time - because it was so clear. You were around 14 and I was contemplating asking your dad for additional child support. I took it to the Lord in prayer and even though I didn't hear it externally, it was just like someone clearly spoke in my ear, "No." Needless to say, I didn't pursue it. I've never forgotten how God speaks into the everyday things of our lives - we have only to ask.
ReplyDeleteyour Mom