He Speaks to Me

I am eager to share what God is teaching me in my Tuesday night Bible study. It is a study by Priscilla Shirer titled He Speaks to Me. Priscilla starts off by asking us,

“Could our inability to hear God have less to do with His desire to speak and more to do with our lack of preparedness to hear?”

What a great question! I know in my life I often wait around for God to reveal to me His Will or direction. What if God has already shown me His Will and I just didn't listen? I am asking God to help me listen for Him. This study will show us how to prepare ourselves to listen for God, how to listen and how to obey.

First we are reminded that God will speak to us and meet us where we are; just as He spoke to Samuel when he was just a boy. We see in 1 Samuel 3:4 after four hundred years of silence God chose to speak to Samuel instead of Eli. Samuel had little to no education and no fancy title. Why a child? Jesus tells us in Luke 18:16,

"Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these."

He wants us to come to Him in child-like faith. He wants us to need Him completely, trust Him completely and with expectation. (Matthew 18:3)

I need to begin with simple obedience and ask God to show me areas I am not being obedient. Obedience will take sacrifice but as Author Eugene Peterson states,

"You know well enough from your own experience that there are some acts of so-called freedom that destroy freedom. Offer yourselves to sin, for instance, and it's your last free act. But offer yourselves to the ways of God and the freedom never quits." (Romans 6:1, The Message)

I can't fathom what Abraham must have been thinking or feeling when God commanded him to offer up Isaac as a sacrifice. It is a good thing he didn't tell Sarah beforehand! Abraham obeyed and God blessed him abundantly! He spared Isaac's life as well as made Abraham a father of many nations. As for how we might be rewarded for our obedience read Deuteronomy 28:1-14.

I have heard it said many times over the years to "fear the Lord." I never really got what this meant or how to even go about it until now. It isn't to shake in my boots or try to hide but rather to show reverance and respect. If we are going to prepare to hear God and receive His wisdom we must fear Him.

"The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge" Proverbs 1:7
"The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom" Proverbs 9:10

Respecting God allows us to gain spiritual insight and the ability to skillfully apply that insight so it transforms our lives. Ecclesiastes 12:13 tells us that our duty is to fear God and keep His commandments. If we refuse to fear and honor Him then our thinking will become futile, our minds darkened and we will become fools. (Romans 1:21-22)

One of God's greatest blessings in my life is that He has always and will always equip me with everything I need. Please pray for me during this study that I will faithfully obey and show reverence to the Lord.

Stacey