Tonight was another night that I found myself driving at 1 am around Danville. I don't know what it is about driving around my hometown that puts me in a state of thinking, but it did a good job tonight and it was worth every penny of gas that I used. I get way to much on my mind and instead of finding someone to talk to, I just drive and talk to God. I am sure some can relate to this. One of the thoughts that stuck out more than the rest was a recent conversation that I had with a friend...about Gods will and how we know its Him speaking and not our selfish ambition...
First off, I love having conversations with people when it involves questions of wonder about God. The conversation I had with this particular person was one that sticks out above every other conversation I have had because I learned a lot through it myself. So that is where this blog is coming from, I hope this can help you out if you struggle with this like myself.
There is a lot of speculation about God speaking in the world today. A lot of people will complain that they bring their troubles to God through prayer and he doesn't respond. Thus, giving them a reason to believe that God has forgotten about them. Some people can not grasp the fact that God really does answer our questions. Others have trouble deciphering whether or not the answer they feel they have received is that of their own or Gods will. While others will ask and not search for an answer thinking God will bluntly come out and give it to them.
To be honest with you, and I will speak amongst many believers and myself, it can be hard to tell the difference between selfish answers and Gods answers. Speaking for myself and what I want to share with you through this blog is what helps me decide whether of not this is God speaking or myself.
The first thing that helps me decided whether or not God is answering my question or if I am, is how my walk with God is going at that particular time. If my walk with God is slipping then I know that their is a chance that my selfish ambitions are slipping through. The reason why I say this is because if we are fixed on Gods heart and really searching the world for what breaks his heart, by spending time in prayer and fellowship along with reading the Bible then our wants and needs turn into his wants and needs for our lives. But the second that I slip and find myself not searching after Gods heart, I find my selfish ways shining through and not Gods light. When we are after Gods heart, its like we don't have to question whether or not this is Gods will because it all makes sense and fits right into place. You start to see what you can't live without!
The second thing that helps me decide whether or not God is speaking is being willing to hear the two letter word..."no." A lot of people, including myself, will go into prayer and automatically think that what they are asking for will be answered how they want it to be. I would say 99.9% of the time we are not thinking God is going to answer with a "no." The main reason we think this is because we know that God wants the best for our life. And at that moment in time, what we see best for our life is what God is saying "no" to. Its a hard lesson to learn, to know that Gods interest for our life looks far beyond what we can see. The reason why we really need to live by faith and not by sight.
The main thing that we need to do is fix our eyes on the cross. Spend our quiet times praising God though prayer and reading the bible while spending time in fellowship with others. That is when God shows us our plans for our lives.
I know this blog came out of no where but I felt like it needed to be written and sent out. If all goes the way it seems like it is, the next two blogs will be split up. One for the Ladies and one for the Gentlemen. This could get interesting...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FJ2_Gg6ka-k
Much Love,
JDB
