#MorningMessages Wait.. so how is God speaking to me????
- graceokutubo
- Apr 3, 2020
- 4 min read
Good morning friends! Hope you’re well! Today’s morning devotion is going to be a continuation of the previous topic on the Holy Spirt (if you haven’t read that definitely check it out!). Hope you enjoy!
The notion of God ‘speaking’ to us has always confused me, just because for so long I was waiting for an audible voice from God, as from reading the Old Testament there are examples of God speaking to the likes of Moses through a burning bush (Exodus 3) or God speaking to Samuel (1 Samuel 3) in a loud clear distinct voice & because I never heard God speak to me in these ways I just naively assumed that God wasn’t speaking to me at all. Little did I know, that he was - just not in the most conventional straightforward way. To explain what I mean let’s delve into the word. Let’s start at the basics - as in literally the beginning - Genesis 1. In this chapter of the creation story God is not only speaking things into existence ( ie. let there be light), but he is also directly speaking to human beings. This is what started the trend of God showing himself to us as humans. He continued to do so through objects, prophets, his audible voice & so many other ways. He did this for the entirety of the Old Testament, but notice how the moment we touch the New Testament the focus shifts and God begins to speak in another way - through Jesus Christ. I’m sure we’re familiar with the birth story of Jesus ( Christmas Nativity ) but long story short God brought Jesus Christ to redeem us human beings from our lifestyle of sin. Through Jesus, God spoke to us about the nature of his heart and God gave us Jesus as an example of how we should live our lives. Lastly, when Jesus’ physical time on earth was done & he had to return back to heaven. Jesus gave us his parting gift - the Holy Spirt ( John 14:16-31). This is what we spoke about in the previous devotional, but God uses the Holy Spirt to prompt us i.e. he resides in our heart and he is readily available at our disposal.
Anyway, from this what I want us to understand is that God ‘speaking’ takes different forms depending on the context and most importantly the individual. I can’t lie I’m not entirely sure there is a correct answer on why exactly God does this, but what I can say is firstly God is just that guy, like he knows what’s best for us and what’s best fit for our unique every need- so he speaks to us in a way in which he deems to be a suitable way to get our attention. This is why I believe he doesn’t speak to us all in the same way and why perhaps his methodology changes from OT —> N.T —> Now. The second thing I want to say is that we shouldn’t focus on the why’s; like why wouldn’t he reveal himself to me in a bush like Moses but conversely we should focus on how exactly God is currently trying to speak to us now.
The most obvious way God speaks to us is through the Bible. Okay so I’m going to be honest with you, I used to find reading the bible very tedious, it was so big I didn’t know where to start & I just generally thought it was a very outdated book. Little did I know that this is the main way God reveals himself to us on a day to day basis, we get to know more about who God is - his grace & his mercy (tehehe🙈), his love & his authority. Occasionally God SCREAMS at me directly through the bible, genuinely he’ll slap me & leave me thinking “rah so it’s like that God?”. I mean this metaphorically, but he does plant thoughts into my mind - so I would say he speaks through intuition. Whilst this does happen there are of course times where I feel like I’m not hearing anything from God - but it’s in this “silence” ( lack of a better word) that I am proactive.
This is another way God speaks to us, through proactivity. By this, I mean God speaking to me after I’ve done something, from personal experience what I’ve found is that perhaps I tend to use the mentality of “as the spirt leads” as a scapegoat and an excuse not to be active because I’m waiting to hear Gods voice. But sometimes he just wants me to get on with it, stand up & do it and in that process he’ll show me the way to go. In that process he’ll light up my path. There are many verses that reinstate the promises of God, but one that resonates with me is (Proverbs 16:9) which says “You may make your plans, but God directs your actions.” This is a promise to say that our actions will always be guided by God, but we need to first make our plans! With this so much peace will come.
Summary:
So today my dear friends, what I’m trying to illustrate using these 2 examples is that us ‘hearing’ Gods voice is a form of us hearing and understanding Gods heart! It’s foundational in our relationship with God as it gives us an insight into the nature of God. This is why I urge us to think about the unique ways God is trying to reveals himself to us - maybe it’s more obvious than we think because rest assured he is always trying to speak to us.
Today’s Prayer:
Today I pray God reveals himself to us and continues to remind us that regardless of our situations that he is at the centre of it all. That we will silence everything in our world and using the Holy Spirt try to recognise the voice of God. That whilst we’re reading the word it comes alive to us.
Action Plan
Have some alone time with God - find a secret place ( literally anywhere it could be your bathroom) and have a conversation with God. As in like an actual conversation, speak to him share your heart with him & then listen to what he has to say. He’ll surprise you!
There are so many ways God speaks to us obviously I can’t go through all but here are a couple of links.
Song of the Day
Still by Hillsong
Sermon of the Day:
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