PART 4:
What is it that I can I expect God to say?
and
Just how does He do that?
First, here's the scripture that shows you that He will in fact answer you:
"Call to me and I will answer you
and tell you great and unsearchable
things you do not know."
Jeremiah 33:3
What if God
doesn't seem
to be saying
anything?
doesn't seem
to be saying
anything?
1) First, make sure that you are leaving time for Him to answer. There have been numerous occasions over the years, where I've spent plenty of time with God... worshipping Him, praising Him, talking to Him, only to give Him some miniscule amount of time in comparison to respond. LOL. After about 5 minutes of waiting, I'm thinking, "It's time to go now!" As ridiculous as that sounds, it's oh so very true. Sitting in God's presence and waiting for Him to respond is not easy. Just try it and you'll see what I mean. Even if you think that it's just about sitting there and not speaking, (which it is, by the way), you'll be bombarded by every thought, voice and distraction imaginable. What's that old saying? "Practice makes perfect." -- well I don't know about perfection, but it does train you to be a better "waiter." LOL.
2) Sometimes I've found that God doesn't say anything, because He's working something in me. He's causing me to keep pressing in to Him until I find out what He thinks. Like the persistent neighbor, He wants me to KEEP ASKING and NOT GIVE UP until I'm satisfied that I KNOW HIS HEART on the matter. This parable, found in Luke 11:5-10, may be small but it's not insignificant. Here, He shows us what He expects of us... To ASK, SEEK, and KNOCK, and to KEEP AT IT until He answers.
3) Thirdly... If you have a track record of NOT doing what God suggests, after a while, He may not make any more suggestions.
There's something called...
"Quenching the Spirit."
The dictionary describes it as...
"Putting out the Fire."
God shows up to do something or say something, and you shut Him down, shut Him off, or totally disregard His power, authority, holiness, expertise, wisdom, etc. You "dis" Him. You blow off His counsel.
"Do not quench the Spirit."
1 Thessalonians 5:19
That doesn't mean that God's way is easy. Often it's not. It can be darn hard following through on God's suggestions. I will say this, though...
"The Father always knows best!" He always has my best interests in mind, even when I don't.
But let's flip this around. What about when God's speaking, but I'm not listening? Subconsciously... I know exactly what God's saying, and I don't like it! It's not what I want! So I tune Him out. It's not all that difficult to disregard His voice and convince myself that God simply isn't saying anything.
Picture a little kid,
with his fingers plugging
his ears shouting,
"la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la..."
OUCH!
4)Forthly... God sometimes doesn't respond, because my matter isn't relevant. It's not what He's doing in my life right now. Therefore, it's not on the agenda for discussion. Perhaps He'll have something to say on the matter at another time, but that time isn't now.
5) For some of you, there may be times when God is speaking, but subconsciously, you don't believe you're worthy to come into His presence and hear what He has to say. That's referred to as condemnation. There's no hope for you. You're a sinner. You've done too many bad things, so God won't speak to you. That's not not what the Bible teaches. It's a lie from the enemy of your soul to keep you from God. Here's what the Bible does say...
"There is now no condemnation
for those who are in Christ Jesus."
Romans 8:1
"Let us then approach God's throne of grace
with confidence, so that we may receive mercy
and find grace to help us in our time of need."
Hebrews 4:16
5) Finally, there are times when God will turn a deaf ear:
*He's not one to sit and listen to gossip, whining, complaining and vulgarity. He doesn't attend pity parties!
*He doesn't have time to go over the same thing again and again just because you don't like His answer.
*He also doesn't put up with inappropriate, disrespectful behavior. Remember, you are talking with
The King of Kings.
All that said, I know personally that He's extended His grace to me on many occasions when I've been frustrated over something. He does allow me to express myself. He'd rather me wrestle something out with Him, than avoid a much needed conversation. And He'd rather me speak my mind, than resort to some pious, religious babble that even I don't understand. He wants me to be real with Him. He wants me to speak from my heart.
The ultimate goal is communication
- a meaningful verbal exchange between one another.
Tomorrow, we'll look at 3 other things you can expect God to say when you're listening for His voice.
In RED shoes,
Gail
