Something I have been working on and dealing with since leaving for the race…and my whole life honestly, is figuring out how I hear God.
Sometimes it is super clear when it is God speaking to me but sometimes I get confused if its me, Him, or the enemy.
I started reading a book the other day called Hearing God: Developing A Conversational Relationship With God by Dallas Willard. I am literally less than a chapter into the book and it has already helped me understand so much about my relationship with God.
Author, Dallas, talks about how God communicates with all of us differently but it should still be continual. We may not hear Him from a burning bush like Moses did but He still wants to talk with us. Dallas says, “Being close to God means communicating with Him, which is almost always a two-way street. In our ongoing friendship with God we tell him what is on our hearts in prayer and learn to perceive what He is saying to us. It is this second part of our conversation with God that is found by many to be so difficult or even unapproachable. How can you be sure God is speaking to you? The answer is that we learn by experience.” (Page 9, Hearing God, Dallas Willard)
This book has got me thinking of all the times I have felt God speaking to me and how in those moments He was communicating with me. Some examples being when He told me to be a teacher and when He told me to go on the World Race. Neither of these things were the first thing I would choose for myself but they also both interested me and both bring me a joy unlike anything. That shows me that it wasn’t me choosing it…it was God speaking to me in those moments.
Today, I had another one of those obvious God speaking moments.
A little girl church came over to me during worship, grabbed my hands, stood in front of me, and just stayed there. No big deal…I love holding and loving on kids so I was totally down to worship with a sweet little girl holding my hands. Never did i expect for God to speak to me so clearly in that moment.
Here are a few things God said/showed me while I held this little girls hands:
God told me to picture this little girl as me and to picture me as Him.
She used my hands to cover her eyes a few times.
He said that He will protect me and hide my eyes from pain and hurt at times, but that when I can handle it…He will give me His eyes to see what He sees.
She guided by hands at times and of course I let her, but ultimately I had full control over my hands and hers.
He said that He give me free will to move where I wanna go and make my own choices but ultimately He is always in control and He will not let me go too far from the path He has for my life.
She looked up at me several times with a huge, joyful smile that made me smile from ear to ear too.
He reminded me that He LOVES when I look up to Him with a big joyful smile. He told me that He gave me an unbelievable joy for a reason and that I should use it to bring more people to Him.
She swayed and danced with me.
He reminded me…again…just how much He loves dancing with me and He gave me a love for dance to worship Him.
She wanted to hold my hands the whole time…and I never let go.
He has NEVER let me go.
I leaned over her several times and gave her a big, whole body hug.
I closed my eyes in that moment and He gave me the vision of Him leaning over me giving me a huge, whole body hug. He just stayed there with me, holding me.
Maybe God speaks to you differently, but I pray that everyone reading this has heard God…in some way. Maybe you never have heard Him…if this is you I encourage you to just stop what your doing and talk to Him. Ask Him to speak to you. Honestly, before the race I didn’t really wait for Him to respond to me in my prayers. I would just give God a laundry list of items I wanted to happen…I didn’t wait for an answer to question or have a continual conversation with Him. That is not the case for my relationship with God anymore. I give Him space to speak to me and try really hard to hear Him. It is still not a constant back and fourth conversation, but it much more of a conversation now than it used to be.
Maybe it has been a long time since you last heard God. There is no shame in that! I encourage you to think back to a time when you last heard God and see if He asked you to do something and you said no…that may be why He hasn’t talked to you. Maybe you haven’t given Him the space to speak and you fill your prayer time with what you want to talk about. Give God space to speak to you. He deserves it and He wants to grow in intimacy with you.
God is ALWAYS there to chat! Just call upon His name.
Blessings,
Niki
