God Is Speaking All The Time
God is speaking all the time, and as a result, we hear him far more than what we realize. However, it’s become a common teaching that if you want to hear God’s voice, than you must have a consistent prayer life. Also, on top of learning how to pray constantly, you must also learn how to be silent for some unknown period of time in order to give God his moments to speak in return. As crazy as it sounds, this practice isn’t taught anywhere in the Bible.
How To Pray
When the disciples asked Jesus how to pray he gave them the “Our Father” template. In it Jesus never teaches the principle of pray, and then be silent so God can have his turn to speak. Gideon prayed and then put the fleece out. Elijah prayed and then fire came down. Jesus prayed and then got up to check on his disciples. The list goes on… The fact is, God speaks all the time, to everyone of us, and in many different ways. The most important part is, are we obeying what he’s saying? The fist question we must ask is, when we feel a tug to make a decision after he speaks, do we obey? Second, when we hear his voice of encouragement while down, do we allow ourselves to believe his words? And third, when we hear “Forgive!” do we continue to hold on to grudges?
Does He Care Enough To Speak To Me?
If I continue to believe that God isn’t speaking to me than ultimately I am claiming that he doesn’t care enough to give me clear direction. And if he doesn’t care than he must not love me. And why doesn’t he love me like those who he is speaking to? Have you ever been in the middle of hurting and have reached out to God and said something something like, “don’t you care about me God? Can’t you see that I’m hurting” and then hear nothing in return? Does this mean that you did something wrong? Or that you didn’t follow some magic prayer recipe that if followed properly he would’ve heard your prayers and answered? No! God is speaking to you, you just haven’t understood how to tune into his voice, and most likely, this is one of the main reasons you are struggling as deeply as you are.
His Love Is His Voice
Remember, God made everything to sing his praises, and those praises are singing out his song of love to you and I. He uses this song to speak to us everyday even when we’re not tuned in and noticing it. Think about it this way, he’s the one who gave us our five senses to enjoy all that he’s made. He set the sun in the afternoon sky to give us its glowing colors. He made the birds to sing their beautiful songs so we could hear them and enjoy the melody. He made the snow to glisten in the sunlight. The flowers to give us wonderful smells and all their vibrant colors and even the different foods with their amazing tastes. He could have just placed us on a bare rock and said, “love me, love each other, and obey my commands”, but he didn’t. He made this amazing creation so that we could enjoy this life, and more importantly, so that we could see him in all of it. This is God speaking to you, all of the time! So how do I know God is speaking and how can I tune into his voice? Start being being mindful of the things around you singing out the beautiful love song of God. He made it all for you, so why not allow it to minister to you in your time of need.
Mark Showalter's Blog 