When God Speaks
Eva came home from church yesterday quoting a memory verse she had learned. She said proudly and with hand motions to accompany, “You will seek me and you will find me when you search for me with ALL your heart.”
I smiled.
Yes, sweet girl. Oh how I long for my children to know this. For everyone to know this. I teach my Bible students everyday and ache for them to come to this understanding. I feel this longing, because I remember growing up in the church and having such a big faith. I so desired to know His truths and to hear his voice. And yet, I also didn’t completely understand how to know when He spoke. Sometimes the Bible felt so big and I struggled with how it transfered from head knowledge to heart knowledge. How could I not just know it, but live it?
I have come to realize that God is always speaking and always working. The question is - are we listening and are we looking?
JJ and I had another conversation last night. We were speaking on this exact thing - how do we go from knowing truth, to living truth? How do we get unstuck? How do we squash the lies of the enemy and walk in who we truly are?
I told him what the enemy wants him to believe - You are not worthy, You are not good enough, You deserve pain, No one loves you, You are alone. And then I told him the truth - You are made worthy through Jesus, Jesus is enough in you, You do not deserve pain, You are dearly loved and bought at a price, You are never alone.
We decided we were going to spend this week distraction free from our phones and xbox and instead actively praying, reading the Word, and memorizing scripture. We were going to seek Him. And then we prayed. We prayed boldly, asking for the courage and faith to live by His TRUTH.
If you don’t believe God speaks, keep reading.
A bit later we went upstairs. We read a kid’s devotional every night before bed. This was last nights:
Say It Isn’t So
“Lord God, you are God, and your words are true.” 2 Samuel 7:28
“Elephants drink water through their trunks like a straw. Bats are blind as a, well, bat. An ostrich hides by sticking its head in the sand. Touching a toad will give you warts. Bulls will charge at the color red.
How many of these “facts” have you heard? As it turns out, they aren’t true! Here are the real facts. Elephants suck water only part of the way up their trunk and then pour it into their mouths. Bats mostly use sound to navigate, but they can also see. Ostriches don’t stick their heads in the sand, though they might flop on the ground and play dead. No, you won’t get warts by touching a toad. And bulls will charge at the color red, along with blue, green, yellow - any color at all, if it’s moving.
We hear some things so often that we start to think they must be true. But the thing is, this world - and the Devil who roams around in it - likes to lie. It says things over and over again, like You aren’t important, No one really cares about you, You’re not good enough, or You’ve got to face your troubles all by yourself. Don’t believe it! Arm yourself with God’s truths by reading the Bible everyday. You’ll learn how special you are, how much you’re loved, and how you’re never alone. Then you won’t be tempted to believe the lies.”
I looked at JJ. I asked him, “JJ, did you hear that? That is what we were just talking about and praying about. Do you think that was coincidence?”
Wide eyed, he shook his head, “No, that was God.”
His mind was blown. And I’ve learned to know just as he said - THAT’S GOD.
God speaks, friends. When we seek Him, we will surely find Him. He promises, “I will be found by you.”
Jeremiah 29:11-14
