In the stillness, He is speaking.

Grace, peace, and mercy from God our Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!

So often we hear people say, "And God said to me." I am certain that you have read that in my blog several times. I often use the term "God spoke to my heart." Often times, people hear this phrase used and they are confused or even envious. 'Why doesn't God speak to me like that?' is a question I have heard believers ask. He does. Are you listening?

When we think about God, we usually picture God as being in the upward direction. After all, Christ did ascend into heaven when He was resurrected. So we pray, looking at the ceiling, and expect the answer to fall from the sky. When the clouds do not part, we grow frustrated, wondering if a distant God can even hear our prayer. The enemy will use this frustration to convince you that you must be misguided, that God does not exist at all and that all these years of faith have been in vain. God is listening. He is speaking to you too.

Let me digress a bit. One of the greatest deceptions that the enemy uses is to teach us that are our hearts are not good. "I'm just a sinner" and "I just don't have the heart" are phrases I hear way too often as an inaccurate attempt at "Christian humility." Somehow, somewhere, Christians forget that when we accepted Jesus as Savior, that God gives us His Holy Spirit. And where does the Holy Spirit dwell? In our hearts! Therefore, how can our heart be evil? It cannot be!

If the Holy Spirit dwells in our hearts, where will God speak to us? He will speak to our hearts! Rather than expecting the voice to come from outside of us, the voice will come within us! In the quiet, in the stillness, God is speaking. Ask God to teach you His ways, to show you how to listen. Set aside time for God to talk with Him, to hang out with Him, as you would any friend or colleague. Christianity is a relationship with Christ. If you are doing all of the speaking, how can the relationship grow?

I encourage you all to pick up Waking the Dead by John Eldredge. It speaks just about this matter.

God bless you all.