I recently was reminded again that God know us well. He knows what is in our hearts and He know what we do not say.
I was in a waiting room at the hospital and in a lot of pain. I longed for a friend or family member to be with me and to take my focus off the pain. I longed for someone to be there to hold my hand.
“Father,” I whispered, (a little scared), “talk to me.”
‘Hold my hand.” came the firm reply
Mmmm…see, I couldn’t physically hold God’s hand. The Holy Spirit was not a physical presence. But I knew what God was doing. He had heard my heart cry. That itself was what I need to know from Him. There have been many times that I have talked to God and Has answered from what is in my heart.
There have been many times in my life I have known God presence when I have gone through “stuff”, and other time I have felt very alone. But always I have had the faith that even if I don’t hear Him or sense His presence, He is most certainly there. Today, He heard my heart cry, rather than my words.
Take this scripture –
And the Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness. For example, we don’t know what God wants us to pray for. But the Holy Spirit prays for us with groanings that cannot be expressed in words. And the Father who knows all hearts knows what the Spirit is saying, for the Spirit pleads for us believers in harmony with God’s own will. Romans 8:26-27 NLT
The comprehension that Almighty God knows every word in our heart, even the words we do not know how to express, is so amazing to me.
He is God. Why do I still get amazed at God?
The other important detail not to leave out here is that if you pray something remember that God hears what you do not say. A bit like this –
“God, help me to respect my husband” (when really inside we are saying, “and pigs will fly before that man gets any of my respect!!) or “God I want to love my wife” (when you are really saying, I can’t stand that woman”) or “God I forgive ……..” (when inside we are angrily saying, “strike him/her dead God!!.”)
He knows when I am pretending not to be angry, or I when I haven’t really forgiven someone. Pretention is something that Jesus tackled when dealing with the Pharisees of His day. He tackled their posing and falseness. And He remains this way to us today. The Holy Spirit knows exactly what is going on inside.
Do you see what I mean?
The fact that God sees our heart and still loves us is so like God. The fact that He seeks to change that heart is even more amazing. But don’t lie to God.
There have been times when I have opened my bible and said to God, “I don’t feel like reading this today, but show me something that I can take away and learn about you.” Do you think that God doesn’t know? Why not be honest and allow Him to change you…from the inside out?
Take this scripture –
“And you, my son Solomon, acknowledge the God of your father, and serve him with wholehearted devotion and with a willing mind, for the LORD searches every heart and understands every desire and every thought. If you seek him, he will be found by you; but if you forsake him, he will reject you forever. Chronicles 28:9 (NIV)
Everywhere I read in scriptures I keep seeing the same thing. God speaking to the hearts of people. Read the beginning of the Book of Joshua. God was telling Joshua to be strong and to be courageous. He was speaking to Joshua’s heart. Joshua had just started to lead (with God’s help) around 2 million people!
Here is another scripture that is worth memorising –
The eyes of the Lord search the whole earth in order to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him. 2 Chronicles 16:9a NLT
We all want strength from God…it is the best strength. Commitment of heart? Our God knows our heart, He knows what our motives are and what we really need to hear. If you want to hear from God, you must be willing to hear God speak to your heart, about your heart.
That is hard, I know. Believe me… I know. God is always loving and compassionate to me, but He will not lie to me or tell me things to make me feel better. He will only tell the truth.
When God asked me to hold His hand, He was not making me feel better, He was letting me know He saw my heart and He would be with me… no matter what I go through. I am still believing for healing – complete healing – but I know God hears that too.
Whatever the desires and the cries of your heart – just tell them to God, He knows anyway. God’s Spirit is with you, in you and listening to you. God knows you.
Be blessed.
Hi,
I have a question and i hope it doesn’t come across is rude, but i am unable to ask in a more delicate way.
What makes you so special that God speaks to you? I read my bible and pray daily, i am wholeheartedly seeking Gods guidance and voice but nothing. Infact everytime I thought God may have guided me it wasnt Him at all. For 10 years i have seeked Him and relied on that He is in control but yet He is silent. He seems to speak and guide everyone else but me.
Hi Violet,
You have a good question, and the way you have asked is just fine and it is not rude.
I am not special. I have been a christian for 35 years. It has only been in the past 9 years that I could say that I have actually understood that God “speaks” to me. God semed to be very silent in the years before that.
About 7 years ago, I thought I heard something from God and acted upon it. It was wrong, very wrong. I went to God and cried about it for days. I took about a week of my complaining to God before He spoke to me. It was more like a picture with strong thoughts. Those thoughts told me that I have to be careful about where my heart is at when I seek Him for any answers. If I have my mind made up about an answer (eg. really want something badly), then I will not get past my own thoughts. While I then complaining to Him that I was probably wrong in what I just heard, He was then silent.A few days later I picked up a book and it opened to someone saying the same thing. Coincidence? I think not.
God often “speaks” to me through scripture. He will have me turn to a verse and it is an answer to the question I have been asking. I have had Him tell me to open to a book page, and it is like I cannot tear my eyes away from the page. I have had people have sent me text messages, cards, or just woalked up to me and start on a subject that I needed to hear.
Other times I hear clearly something that has been said directly to my heart (like words spoken out loud), these ones I usually test while still trusting God that He will guide me if I have it wrong. I test everything. I tread carefully.
But over the past 9 years I have only had about a handful of times where I have heard wrong. When I have it wrong, I stop very quickly and take it back to God. This is often a faith shaker thing and I struggle for a time after.
The biggest thing I do is I commit everything I do to God. I know that He will change things ahead if I have my heart commited to Him. That is what you are doing. God may be “speaking” to youm, but you are not aware how He is doing it.
God “speaks” to everyone differently. Sometime I have a sense that I am to clean the house rather than sit down to write. People have turned up to stay. I have had the sense to go up town to get something from the shop and someone up town has seen me and needed to speak to me. I have had a sense to go and check on my children and found them in trouble. Yet the “sense” was very strong. I have also ignored some “senses” and found that I should not have done so.
It is often a lazy thing or not knowing how else to say that “God spoke to me”. Scriptures, knowing, senses, books, sermons, other people and books are all the ways that God “speaks”.
Then there is the other way.. when the problem, opportunity, or road just happens. I have had car problems only to find that I missed a really big accident. I have fallen asleep and missed appointments, only to find that somebody came by and needed my help.
Do you see what I mean? I am not special. I have just learnt over time to look at everything in front of me and trust that God, who promises to be with me. I trust also that He is truely “a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path”. That speaks of a step by step walk into a journey where you can see very little in front of you.
He know my motives for asking something and He get when I am asking for all the worng reasons. He knows you well, and that is a really good thing. Don’t give up.
Start small. Ask God to give you scripture. I read the bible through once a year. I ask God to give me scripture as I read. He does so. I often ask Him to show me where I need to change for His sake. I listen to what I hear and then ask myself “do I feel condemned or loved” while He showed me those things. I learnt that there was a particular way my heart sense when God was near. I had to learn to hear God, the way I had to learn to hear my husband’s voice over a crowded room, or how I learnt how to hear what type of cry my baby had when he was needing something.
You see, there is no right or wrong, and we are all different. God saw those words you have just written, He knows how much you desire Him. He knows you and me…very well.
I probably need to add one more thing. Just because I followed what I hear and it turned out wrong, does not mean that you heard wrong. Read Acts. Paul was walking with God and He encountered all sorts of trials and struggles.
I hope I have been helpful. Our God is a practical God. He will work in you and one day you will look back and say, “look where God has taken me”. I will pray for you Violet. Bless you