God Speaks to You

Matthew 7:7, 1 Timothy 2:3-4

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Over the course of my ministry, I have often asked people about their personal devotional lives, and many people will give the response pastor, I just don’t spend enough time in God’s Word. I’d like to spend more. Other people say they have a certain routine, a certain time of day, where they open up their devotion books or their Bibles to spend time in God’s Word. I think perhaps the most puzzling response that I get from people, though, is when they tell me, Well, Pastor, I pray all the time. I speak to God every day. The reason I am so puzzled by that response is because I wonder if they have a misunderstanding concerning prayer.

Prayer is a way in which we can speak to God. In fact, God encourages us to do so. He encourages us to pray continually. Jesus himself said,

Keep asking, and it will be given to you. Keep seeking, and you will find. Keep knocking, and it will be opened for you. (Matthew 7:7)

Through our prayers, we speak to God. But God doesn’t speak to us through them. Now I know there’s many people that feel that God maybe speaks to them in a variety of ways. Maybe God puts a thought in their mind, or maybe they can claim to even hear God’s voice audibly, or maybe have claimed to see visions of angels. And God has given them a special message through that angel. Certainly we see miraculous things like that that have occurred in the Bible. However, God doesn’t promise to speak to us in those ways. He has, however, promised to speak to us through his word.

Through his word he promises to tell us what we need to know. Through his word he tells us what he wants for us and for our lives. Think of that passage from First Timothy Chapter two verses three and four that says,

God, our Savior wants all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. (1 Timothy 2:3-4)

The Scriptures tell us plainly, God wants everyone to be saved. He wants everyone to know Jesus as their Savior. He wants you to know Jesus. He wants you to know His forgiveness. He wants you to be with Him forever in heaven. The Scriptures also tell us concerning God’s will, that it is God’s will, that you be sanctified. God wants us to live holy lives, and He has given us His Holy Spirit to help us to do that as he guides us with His Word.

You know, so often, I think in this day and age, there’s a lot of people that are faced with many difficult decisions, especially Christians, and they wonder, which way does God want me to go? Which way is he directing me this way or that way? And so maybe they look for some sort of sign in their own life or they maybe wait for maybe a voice that they might hear or a feeling they might have. Where does God want us to go, though? Where does he speak to us? Where does he communicate to us? Through his word.

How important it is for us to go back to that word, especially when we’re facing a decision, this or that. To say is one of those options a sin? If it is, God tells us clearly. I don’t want you to sin. It’s a we know that options are out of the question. God doesn’t want us to do that. Sad to say, though, so often we follow our own sinful flesh instead of God and what He says in his word. We merely want to say, well, I had this feeling. Was it actually God speaking to you? What does his word say? How does this word guide you? May God help us to understand His will for our own lives through his word, and also let us understand the importance of not just coming to God in prayer on a regular basis, but also being fed by that word. That word that assures us of our forgiveness and of God’s love for us. And Christ assures us that we are His dear children. That word that guides us in our own lives to live lives of gratitude according to his commands. Yes. May God bless our study of his word. Amen.