Is that Your Father Calling You?

Observing three small grandchildren across the street I see that they often have a hearing problem. They don’t hear their mother when she calls them to supper, calls them to come in or calls them to get back in their own yard. It seems that the ability to hear is closely tied to the enjoyment they are having at the time they are called.  Playing in the creek or over at the neighbor’s house finds them totally deaf!

Then there’s the bone structure problems they have. No kidding! Call them home and they go limp and can barely walk. Tell them they can’t have ice cream till after supper and they almost crawl away from the refrigerator, arms hanging limply in front of them and their heads bent nearly to their chests.

Of course as people grow up they begin to respond much quicker to instruction and don’t display the skeletal problems children so often do.  I mean we’re grownups, so we are quick to obey and walk away from things without giving it a second thought. Right?

God speaks to my heart. It’s pretty easy to ignore God’s voice. We find ourselves in complete abandon to something we enjoy and He speaks softly into our hearts, “Come back to Me”, we flick a hand at our ear and go right back to our fun.  We lose our temper and stay mad and we hear “something” like “really is that the way you should behave?” and we want the anger more than the obedience.  We may feel our hearts being tugged to missionary work, changing jobs, checking on a neighbor, giving an extra dollar. The list goes on. We weigh the situation and often find that we’d just rather not listen to the still small voice trying to woo us to obedience.

We forget that obedience garners reward. Oh not always immediately, but reward does come for those who obey God’s still small voice. There’s punishment for the disobedient as well. Now children usually get grounded or get a spanking for their disobedience. But we believers are punished much worse I do believe. Because eventually we’re going to feel the Holy Spirit’s sting of conviction. We’re going to come to ourselves and realize we’ve messed up. And then we run home to the Father asking His forgiveness and praying that we haven’t lost complete touch with Him.

Just like a child must be trained to walk in obedience to their parents, we believers must train ourselves to walk in obedience to our Heavenly Father. We’re born again, we belong to the Family of God, but we have to learn to “act like it”. We have to train ourselves to listen for God’s voice and quickly follow, quickly answer, quickly respond.  I am still learning to hear Him, how about you?

Oh beloved, what a blessed child of God you are! Not only were you placed into an earthly family, with teaching, learning and growing, you were placed in God’s family! You have a Father who loves you unconditionally, the Son who obeyed all the way to the Cross for your disobedience and the Holy Spirit who keeps you able to listen to God the rest of your lives!  God knows the problems you encounter every day. There are so many things that would steal your joy, steal your heart and cause you to go deaf! But if you will trust the Lord and train yourself to listen to Him, you will find increased strength, increased stamina and multiplied joy and blessings! If you’ve found yourself in the wilderness of disobedience and you’ve quit hearing anything, today is your day to return Home to the Father! He is waiting outside your heart’s door to take you in immediately! He’s been searching for you as though you were a lost child out of earshot. He’s been calling you to repentance, which simply put is turning from your own desires to return to His fellowship!

Oh beloved, run to His Word this morning and hear Him speak: “I love you and I AM for you and that’s what you always need to remember to love Me, obey Me and live for Me alone”.

1 Samuel 15:22 Samuel said, “Has the Lord as much delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices As in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, And to heed than the fat of rams.

James 1:25 But one who looks intently at the perfect law, the law of liberty, and abides by it, not having become a forgetful hearer but an effectual doer, this man will be blessed in what he does.

Isaiah 30:21 Your ears will hear a word behind you, “This is the way, walk in it,” whenever you turn to the right or to the left.

Psalm 86:11 Teach me Your way, O Lord; I will walk in Your truth; Unite my heart to fear Your name.

God Speaks and You Can Count On Him!

I find life lessons in the most interesting places. Kind of like looking for a pair of glasses or your favorite jeans. You know you had them, but you just are amazed at where you finally find them!


When looking at the first dealership, we test drove a car on a Saturday and then let them give us a price. We had really only meant to look. I am not an impulse buyer of big things!

 As we sat at the desk with the salesman telling us our bottom price after telling us what he’d give us for our old car, I asked if we could have the paperwork to look over on the week-end. I explained that we just don’t make any final decisions without praying about it and we would let them know what we were going to do on Monday.

He stepped away for a moment and in came another man – the sales manager I believe. He began “encouraging” us to buy now. We shared our faith and said we’d have to pray. The price of our trade in went up $1,000! We shook our heads. Up another thousand! Red faced by now, he mentioned something about “If Jesus was giving me a good deal, I’d take it!” Another thousand was put on the table for our OLD car. Did I mention it was an OLD car with right at 200K miles on it? We’re up to $4,000 as a trade in!

No one but me knew, but there’s a headphone in my ear. I hear my beloved Speaker saying, ever so softly, “Are you going to let that buy your prayer time?” I am standing here with my precious husband, who wants to get me in a newer car, between two salesmen, one who is just plain angry by now and my Lord speaks to me. I felt that I was in a casino! The bets were being laid down – how high would they go? When would I be bought?

I also felt a chill in my spirit and the impulse to run! As we repeated that we’d have to take the deal and pray about it, red faced man told us if we left that day the deal was off. He went on to tell us that 85% of the people who walk out never return. We told them we weren’t like anyone they’d ever met.

I’m not saying that every time you buy a car or go to the store or stop in traffic that God is going to give you an object lesson, but He might. There are times that, regardless of the deal, we have to make a choice. For you see, beloved, God loves you. And because He loves you He will guide you through all the hard times and even through the good things, so that you will be blessed and He will be glorified.

Oh beloved, have you ever made a stand for God and been met with a thousand reasons not to remain standing? Maybe you’re going through this right now. You were thinking of giving in, going on or letting go and this morning you’re here reading about God speaking. He does speak to His people – maybe not an audible voice, but He could. Maybe not directly, but He can. He speaks through His Word and you can be sure that you should follow the Scriptures in everything you do. Every day is a choice we make whether to live in the light of His Word or live by our own wits. Rejoice today that you can let God lead you from a good deal to the best because He loves you and He’s for you and that’s all that really matters!

1 Corinthians 10:13 The temptations in your life are no different from what others experience. And God is faithful. He will not allow the temptation to be more than you can stand. When you are tempted, He will show you a way out so that you can endure.

Psalm 32:8 The Lord says, “I will guide you along the best pathway for your life. I will advise you and watch over you.”

Job 33:14-15 For God speaks again and again, though people do not recognize it. He speaks in dreams, in visions of the night, when deep sleep falls on people as they lie in their beds.

1 Corinthians 3:19 For the wisdom of this world is foolishness to God. As the Scriptures say, “He traps the wise in the snare of their own cleverness.”

Psalm 130:5 I am counting on the Lord; yes, I am counting on Him. I have put my hope in His word.

Matthew 4:4 But Jesus told him, “No! The Scriptures say, ‘People do not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”