Knowing about God is different from knowing God….It is about a relationship with a living God who wants to communicate with us. Allow me to give a recent example.
I have been asking God every day…early in the morning…to help me recognize when He is speaking to me…that I would know that I know it is HIM and immediately obey. In the past, I have heard Him speak to me as a “voice in my head.” Psalm 5:3 expresses my thoughts well, “In the morning, Lord, you hear my voice; in the morning I lay my requests before you and wait expectantly.”
Just the other morning I was leaving “Eggs Up Grill” on Devine Street in Columbia after having breakfast with a dear friend. I headed down Berkley Street to go to the gym to workout. I heard the voice in my head say, “Text Pat now!” Pat is my college roommate, dear friend, and neighbor…who tragically lost her son this summer. Pat has been suffering for years with migraines to the point that they are so debilitating for her. She spends many days in the dark and in bed sometimes for weeks at a time.
In the past I have reached out but wouldn’t hear from her and understandably so. I haven’t texted her much… knowing it might bother her or interrupt her rest…but on Thursday morning the voice was clear…so I pulled over and texted her, “Do you feel up for a visit?” As I sat there starting to pull back out onto the road…I saw the 3 grey dots on my text meaning she was typing. I waited and a text came right back “Sure.” So I turned onto my street and within minutes was sitting in her den with her.
It was a great visit. I love her and I have missed her…my heart has been heavy for years knowing of her suffering…praying for her…but not feeling like I could do much else. In recent days I have prayed for her as I have crossed the street she lives on in my neighborhood. As I entered her front door, it was good to just see her even though she looked so weak. It was good to visit with her, hear her share her heart and pray with her.
Funny….while I was sitting there, we were talking about a mutual dear friend from college who cheered with us at Clemson, Sheryl. Pat mentioned that Sheryl came to her son’s funeral and sent her a book. Pat really wanted to talk to Sheryl and thank her. At that very minute, as Pat uttered those words…..my phone started to vibrate. I looked to see who was calling and it was Sheryl……..
DO YOU SEE WHAT GOD WAS SAYING TO ME????? At that very moment, God was confirming to me that not only had I heard HIM and obeyed, but He was showing me absolutely without a doubt that He had my minutes timed out and planned….the timing of Pat’s words and Sheryl’s phone call sent chills down my spine.
I know what this said to me…..What does it say to you?
I want you to understand, God doesn’t just do this for me….He wants to do it for you…He desires to have a PERSONAL…COMMUNICATING RELATIONSHIP WITH YOU…….He will speak to you and then confirm it with you!
The more I pray and read scripture and Seek God out…..Guess what? I see HIM, I hear HIm and I follow HIM. I know that God is going to continue to do these kinds of things…so that I will keep moving behind HIM following HIM….He knows my heart and the sincerity of my desires. I urge you today….don’t just know about God……..KNOW God Personally…..
Let me just add here…Sheryl lives in Charlotte. She is my dear friend who buried her husband just a few years ago. She is a Christian and very in tune to the Holy Spirit. We don’t talk daily, more like monthly. When she called that morning, I hadn’t talked to her in a week. God’s timing is perfect….All we have to do is follow HIM. He has designated things for all of us to do….and appointed times to do them.
I shutter to think of the missed opportunities I have had when I was not in tune with the Holy Spirit. I want to get to the point where I have “chills and hair standing up on my arms” hourly. Or maybe I experience God so much that it becomes routine and expected …..regardless….I want you to have what I have experienced.
Look for God to be at work today. Look for opportunities to bear fruit. Look for opportunities to love one another as described in John 15:15-17, “No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you. You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you. These things I command you, so that you will love one another.”