Have You Heard?

As most of you know, I am a woman's ministry leader.
I also write Bible study curriculum that gets published for a non-profit organization and distributed to their charter groups.
I also lead one of those charter groups, teaching a group of women in my community.
This position has also led to many other speaking engagements at women's conferences and seminars in other cities.
I love the work, because I love to meet the different Christian women and hear their stories.
One topic that Christian women seem to be really interested in - no matter where I am speaking - is hearing God speak. They want to know why they don't hear Him answer? They want to know what I've heard Him say, how they can hear Him, if He speaks to us today?
Truthfully? I think He's more eager to answer us than we are to ask. I think He's communicating with us all the time, and we are either too afraid or SOMETHING...because we are not seeking Him out. His Word is full of His thoughts on all kinds of topics. Once we recognize His words and personality, we will recognize His voice all over the place! We need to be spending time with Him daily and having experiences with Him...no different than any other relationship.
I want to write a book on the topic. (I've been saying this for about a year, now...maybe this is the year???)
God wants to have dialogue with us. Prayer is dialogue....talking and listening. We need to learn to listen to God.
Can it happen?
Sure!
In the past two weeks or so, I've heard SO MUCH from Him! Included are these things:

• One morning a few days ago: I was praying about a certain situation, and He told me to peel my fingers off the situation. It started with Mark 5:36..."Do not be afraid; only believe." It was the "Only believe" part He kept bringing me back to. I am a [recovering] fixer. ;) I like to fix situations for people so everyone is happy and everyone gets along. God told me that if I was meddling in the situation and trying to fix it, He couldn't work in that part of the situation. I think it went like this: "Pennie, if you do this in your own power - in the measure you help yourself, the life of God and power of God are diminished in the same measure." And then He added..."Only believe." I was instructed to have faith and pray on this particular situation and keep my mitts off.
• Then, just recently: God told me to never listen to human plans. He can work mightily when I persist in believing Him in spite of discouragement from the human standpoint.
• Just last week, at a prayer meeting: God told me that in the midst of spiritual warfare, if the enemy cannot take a person down by leading them astray with sin, he will try to keep them from God's will by leading them away with distractions to keep them so busy they cannot do God's will.
• While reading a Facebook post from a Christian Radio Talk Show Host: God reminded me that it is possible to make my love of friendships an idol.
• And for the past two days I have been convicted - and tomorrow I will meet at our regular time, regular place. (I can't wait!): God loves when I spend time in the morning with Him, reading Scripture and journalling. I have made that a priority in the past, but have fallen away the past few weeks due to a hectic schedule. He is not angry, but excited to get back to our routine because He misses our time even more than I miss it...which is A LOT!!!

I encourage you to try to listen for God's voice. It all starts with reading Scripture and asking the Holy Spirit to speak to you. Start with the Book of John. When you get to a Scripture that speaks to something you can relate to, then write it down. Memorize it. Mull it over. Many times God speaks to me when I am thinking His words over. Maybe He will speak to you that way, too. Or, maybe He will choose to do it another way. Everything He says will ALWAYS line up with His Word, though...He NEVER contradicts Himself. Ever.
I pray you come to know Him like I do. He's gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and rich in love. I've even found Him to have a sense of humor! (That was a wonderful surprise about Him I never expected!) I think you'll really like Him...and I know He already really loves you!