Are You Listening? – Genesis 46:2

2 God spoke to Israel in a vision that night: "Jacob! Jacob!" "Yes?" he said. "I'm listening." 

– Genesis 46:2

Are You Listening?

Do you know when God is talking to you?  Can you tell when He is trying to get your attention?  Sometimes it's subtle, but then sometimes He shouts your name twice, "Jacob! Jacob!"  I'm afraid that I'm such a heavy sleeper that I probably would snore right through an earthquake, but I don't think I would sleep through God shouting my name.

If you're like me, you spend a lot of time trying to figure out what it is that God wants you to do.  In fact, I am always asking Him, "Lord, what do You want me to do?"  I never hear Him shouting my name (let alone shouting it twice!), but I trust that in the everyday things that I do and the places I go, God speaks to me through people, and in circumstances, and through events that are always taking place around me.  I try to keep myself in position to be in just the right time and place so that when God is ready to move, I'll be ready to get in on the action.

Now there was one time when I was awoken in the middle of the night by what seemed like an audible voice shouting "Go Home!"  I was living in Oregon at the time, and I believe it was God telling me to move back to Texas.  I had spent enough time escaping from the pain of my divorce and it was time for me to grow in God's new plan.  I went back home and a lot of healing took place. I also grew closer to the Lord and I learned a lot about myself.  The Lord blessed me and He used me in ministry. 

God speaks to us in many different ways but we have to be listening in order to hear what it is He is trying to say.  We have to be talking with Him every day, throughout the day (not just for 5 minutes during an obligatory prayer and devotion time).  We have to be in relationship with our Father in order to hear and recognize His voice and the way or the mannerisms He uses when He speaks.  It could be through music, or maybe conversations with friends; it could be in times of quiet and reflection, or it could even be in the middle of a crowded office during working hours.  God speaks all the time, we just have to be in a place where we can understand that it's God, and then act as the Holy Spirit guides us.  

Who knows, God could be getting ready to take you on the adventure of a lifetime . . . you got your ears on?

Prayer

Father, help us to hear Your voice. Help us to recognize that it is You and to answer without fear or reservation.  Birth in us the desire to listen and to obey.  Draw us closer in so that we can know You better and so we can understand what it is You are trying to say to us.  Thank You Father!

Have a Blessed day everyone!

– Richard