Is God Speaking?

God does speak to those who pray.  Because God is always answering prayer, I can say this with confidence.  Our struggle is often because we forget that God can answer in a way we didn’t expect.  We forget that he has a sense of humor (yes, God created laughter, too), and we forget that sometimes he answers in ways that we may not want to hear.  Sometimes God answers in ways that teach us valuable lessons that we need to hear, like he did for me this week.  Here is what happened…

In the past two weeks, I have had not one, but two dental emergencies.  I fell and have bruised ribs.  A medical procedure I had done came with some complications.  On Sunday evening, I fixed a wonderful meal and after only two bites another crown on my tooth broke.  Monday morning found me hurrying across our back deck to my prayer barn for work when the strap on my shoe broke, I slipped and fell off the deck and landed on my rear in the wet grass!

As I picked myself up, I began praying.  I said, “Lord, I don’t mean to complain, but I need some encouragement here.”  After finding a stick to swipe away a giant spider and his web off the front of my prayer barn door and praying for the enemy to get out of my prayer barn and stay out, I sat down a moment to continue praying.  Obviously, folks, I was in need of prayer.

My devotional, by Lettie Cowman is on the couch in my prayer barn and I picked it up, once again seeking some encouragement.  Here is what I read…

God had to bring Abraham to the end of his own strength and let him see that with his own body he could do nothing.  He had to consider his own body “as good as dead” (Heb 11:12) and then trust God to do all the work.  When he looked away from himself and trusted only God, he became “fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised” (Rom 4:21)

This is what God is teaching us, and He has to keep results that are encouraging away from us until we learn to trust Him without them.  Then He loves to make His Word as real to us in actuality as it is in our faith.  A.B. Simpson

Yes, friend, God was talking to me, and I heard him loud and clear.  God reminded me that I need to trust him when there is no encouragement.  I need to trust him when I cannot, yet, see the answers to my prayers.  I need to live trusting Him.

Does God speak to us?  Only, if we’re listening.