Is That You God??

Have you ever wondered how you will know for sure that you have heard from God and not just having your own thoughts or allowing the thoughts of others to influence you? In my counseling work, I hear this question over and over again. . . ."How can I know for sure when God is speaking to me?"

Henry Blackaby, in his book Experiencing God, identifies four ways that God speaks to His children.

1. Through , the Bible (God's Holy and authoritative Word)
2. Through our prayer time talking with Him (don't forget to be quiet and listen too)
3. Through life circumstances (there are no coincidences)
4. Through the counsel of other believers (not just anybody who offers an opinion)

You can be sure that you are hearing God when all of these forms of communication match up and begin to point in the same direction. Remember that God does not contradict Himself. When you hear from God, you will experience confirmation. . . .which is a peace that passes all understanding, the Peace of God.

Blackaby also reminds us that God is at work all around us all the time, both within and outside of our sight. Even when God seems to be "silent", we can have confidence that He is working. Remember how Jesus invited his disciples to join Him? He did NOT say, "come and follow me and we will go here and stay for x number of days, we will do this to take care of our needs, we will then move on to this next city, etc." He simply said "come and follow me". Amazingly, from my perspective, everyone of the disciples did exactly that. . . followed Jesus, without question. We must remember that we too are on an "as needed to know" basis and that we can trust in the fact that He will reveal His plan at the perfect time just like He did with his beloved disciples.

This "blind faith" is so very counter-cultural for us today. We go to trainings and seminars to learn how to do long-range planning and to learn how to use technology to help us manage our busy schedules. We are challenged and encouraged to plan for the future. Please don't get me wrong, I am not suggesting that planning is wrong, but we need to be very careful to leave plenty of room for God to lead us, and to remember that God's ways , more often than not, are not our ways.

On this life adventure, I have learned that flexibility is the key and that I need to listen to God. He is here, He is speaking and He is leading. I simply need to watch, wait and listen for His quiet voice and enjoy the ride!