Psa 50:3 Our God comes, He does not keep silence…
Even when God is silent on major issues of life direction, is He silent in other areas?
If you have grown in discipleship and have devoted anytime at all to the discipline of Scripture memory, throughout the day, the Holy Spirit will bring verses to mind. Every time a verse ‘pops’ into your mind, stop and think about it. Ask yourself, is this the Holy Spirit communing with you?
MOST of the time when a verse comes to mind, it is clearly the Holy Spirit talking to me. Unfortunately, many of these times, I’ve blown it and sinned and now God is revealing truth to me. He is pointing out a specific sin. Or, He is teaching and instructing me on some aspect of life and relationships that I should have done better. I am reminded of 2 Tim 3:16, “All Scripture is inspired by God and is profitable for teaching, for reproving, for correction and training in righteousness…”
Other times when Scriptures come to mind it could actually be the Evil One, using that which is good to try and get me to sin… We see this in Matt 4 in the temptation of Christ. Satan quoted Scripture to try and get Jesus to kill himself… Jesus immediately responded by quoting another verse to counter the verse thrown at Him by Satan. During these times, I always find the Holy Spirit right there offering competing verses to counter the Evil One’s plots.
Throughout the day, if I feel the inner urge to pray… this is from the Lord. 1 Cor 1:9 says, “God is faithful and has CALLED us into fellowship with His Son Jesus….” The urge to pray is NOT natural for those who do NOT know God. Psa 14 says, “No one seeks for God…” This desire to commune and to call out to God comes from the Holy Spirit. Rom 8 says, “When we cry ABBA Father, it is the Spirit Himself bearing witness with our spirit that we are sons of God…” The desire and urge to pray never comes from the Evil One.
Two days ago, when my wife got into the car to drive the 75 minutes to the San Jose airport, I felt the strong urge to immediately pray for safety while driving. I looked over to her and she was just getting settled in so I prayed quickly and silently. Five blocks later, before we had even gotten out of town, a car ran a stop sign and pulled right in front of us. I slammed on the brakes and our car stopped a mere 2 feet from the other car. The other car had also slammed on their brakes and stopped right in front of us. If we had not been able to stop the car, we would have T-boned the other car. Right in front of our stopped car, the offending car carried a young child in the back seat, strapped into a car seat. We would have impacted right where that child was sitting. I immediately thought of Psa 19 which says, “Moreover by them is Thy servant warned…” God was calling me to pray in preparation for that moment. God has spoken to me several times that morning in and around that near wreck.
He alerted me to pray, preparing me and protecting us from accident. He also alerted me after the fact that He had warned me. This led my wife and I to have a time of mutual prayer, which included thanksgiving and praise for the Lord’s protection.
Every time you are convicted of sin, the Lord has spoken to you. Every time you feel the urge or need to pray or to spend time in the Word, God is speaking to you. Every time you feel or sense that inner voice to witness to someone, it is the Holy Spirit vectoring you to someone who needs Jesus.
I pray that you would listen to the Voice of God and that you would obey by either repenting, seeking His face or by witnessing…. He may not be as silent as you think.
Related posts:
Bob, thanks for the reminder! Sometimes it really doesn’t feel like he is speaking, and I just feel like I need to get into his word. I never would’ve thought that was the Spirit trying to move me in the right direction.