Can You Hear Him?

For his Spirit joins with our spirit to affirm that we are God’s children.  Romans 8:16




How does God speak to us? Can He speak to someone who hasn't received Him?
Do you remember as a child attaching a long string to 2 tin cans and using it as a telephone to your buddy?

Our connection to God is a Spirit to spirit one. The string that connects us to God is his Spirit living in us. He cannot speak to our flesh or our reason - they dont have God in them. But our spirit is indwelled with God's spirit when we commit to communion with Him - receiving Him into our life.

Our flesh and reason is under our command - we have the power through Christ to make them obey and come into line. But our spirit is the temple where God speaks. If we aren't in tune with our spirit, we won't be listening for his voice. We must find Him where He is and then listen.

Can you hear Him? Tighten up that string.

Satisfy Your Soul

My soul yearns for you in the night;
       in the morning my spirit longs for you.
       When your judgments come upon the earth,
       the people of the world learn righteousness.  Isaiah 26:9

Nothing satisfies our soul except fellowship with God. We were created to know Him, worship Him and learn of his character. He makes himself known to us in creation, in spirit and in all that is true.

We can avoid serving God by staying ignorant of his ways—hiding from what is seen all around us. We can refuse to commune with Him and be lacking in the knowledge that will give us life. But we will deny our hunger to the point of starvation. Our inner longing can be neglected but at a price.

Are we willing to pay the price? What will we gain by going the way of the world but losing the life our spirit longs for? We can try to push God to the back of our lives but our inner consciousness will still long for Him.

Seek Him and satisfy the longing in your soul. He waits.

Knock, Knock, who's there?

For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. Romans 1:21

The Word of God tells us that He has made himself known to us through his Spirit, his word and through creation. Our inner conscience has witness of Him when He enters our lives. Nothing will fulfill our longing for God except communion with Him. It’s not enough to admire the creation, attend church, or say grace at the dinner table. It’s fellowship we need.

Knowing about God isn’t sufficient to enter into the kind of fellowship He desires to have with us. Our love, worship and service for and to Him must be genuine—seeking to know Him more. It’s in these times when He speaks to us, and shows us his way of living. God communicates his will for our lives whenever we care to listen. More than listen—we must hear. It’s our choice.

The result of rejecting intimacy with God is that our Christianity is ineffective. When there is no true fellowship we cannot know what He wants for us. If we don’t know what He wants for us, we can’t do his will. If we don’t do his will, He won’t get the glory. See the cycle?

Who wants a heart that is darkened by futile thinking? Of course, none of us do. Yet the more we refuse to hear Him, and the more we neglect to worship and praise Him, the farther we get from his voice.

What an awesome thing that the God of the universe would want to commune with us. The Bible says He stands at the door and knocks. It’s our decision to let Him in to fellowship.

Model For Prayer

"Our Father in heaven, Hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us day by day our daily bread. And forgive us our sins, for we also forgive everyone who is indebted to us." Luke 11:2-4 Matthew adds: And do not lead us into temptation. But deliver us from the evil one. For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen

The disciples that followed Jesus were in a position to observe His communion with the Father. No doubt they could sense there was special power in Jesus' prayers. If it were me, I would have wanted to have the kind of communication that existed between Jesus and his heavenly Father. His followers had been given a glimpse of the true Kingdom, but weren't sure how to enter into a fuller understanding of belonging there.

This model of prayer that Jesus gives them speaks to God's holiness, life on earth, provision, forgiveness and sin. Embedded in the words are declarations, praise and supplications. It is a guide for concise and deliberate prayer or conversation with God. It's simple, to the point and powerful.

We need not make prayer a complicated endeavor. God already knows our heart and the thoughts rolling around in our brain. I believe it is the praise and declarations that provide effectiveness for our prayers, and continual communion with our heavenly Father provides us with stability and peace.

Lord, help me to continually commune with you. I desire to seek your Kingdom and know You more.