| Good morning everyone, Our theme for this month: “Hearing from God” Our Bible verse for today: “You will call to me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you search for me with all your heart. I will be found by you.” Jeremiah 29:12-14 (CSB) Our thought for today: “God speaks to us through prayer” The primary way that we speak to God is through prayer, and the primary way God speaks back to us is through the Bible. But God does also speak back to us through prayer. Does He do so with an audible voice? Not in my experience. I have never heard the audible voice of God in prayer or in any other manner, and I don’t know anyone who has. But still, He does speak to us through prayer. In my experience, God speaks through prayer in three ways: First, through what is sometimes called, “The still, small voice of God.” That phrase is a reference to the subtle impressions God gives us in our heart. It’s an inner sense that God is impressing upon me a realization regarding the thing I have been praying about. However, a word of caution is in order here. This still, small voice of God is subtle and it requires a good deal of discernment and spiritual maturity to distinguish it from our own feelings. It is an easy thing to convince ourselves that we are hearing a word from God when in reality, it’s just our feelings. More cautionary still is when this suspected word from God just so happens to match perfectly with the answer we were hoping for. It’s so easy to confuse our own feelings with an answer from God that we should almost never take this as our sole source of concluding that we have heard from God. Always compare what you believe you are hearing from God in prayer with what the Bible says on the issue. If what you believe you are hearing from God does not squarely align with Scripture, then you have not heard from God. Another way God speaks to us through prayer is by answering the prayer. If the thing you have prayed about comes to pass in some tangible way, then give God the glory and take it as His answer. A third way God speaks to us through prayer is by means of prayer partners. This is why we have others pray about things with us. If we are all praying about the same thing, and if God is answering the prayer, and if we are all accurately hearing God, then we will all get the same answer. If you ask three friends to pray for God’s guidance about whether or not you should change jobs, God isn’t going to tell two of you one thing and two of you the exact opposite. If all four of you are indeed hearing from God on this issue, then all four of you will get the same answer. God does speak to us through prayer. But because those answers can so easily be confused with our own feelings, this method of hearing from God has to be confirmed in other ways, such as checking Scripture, relying on prayer partners, or through the other common ways God speaks to us, including circumstances and the counsel of wise Christian friends. Seldom does God speak in just one of those ways. Usually, He will confirm for us what He is saying by saying it in two or three different ways. So, listen for Him in prayer, but be careful not to confuse this with your own feelings. Be sure to take the time and make the effort to seek confirmation. God bless, Pastor Jim (If you like what you’re reading in these daily devotionals, and if you would like more content from Oak Hill Baptist Church, join us on Sundays at 10:00 – in-person if you are nearby or, if you are geographically distant or if you just can’t make it, online at www.YouTube.com/@oakhillbaptistcrossville) |
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