Have you sent God his invitation yet?

When Jesus speaks to us do we believe what he is telling us?  Do we believe the words that are in the Bible are for us or that they are words that sound good on the page?   When the Holy Spirit speaks to you do you take the time to listen to what is being said or do you brush it off like nothing happened? 

You know you can tune the Holy Spirit in and out like you do on a car radio looking for a radio station.  You can shut down the soft still voice speaking to you.  You even can allow your voice or the voice of the enemy to speak louder than the voice of God. 

I think we all do this to some extent but I believe we all do it for very different reasons.

I know my mom will say to me, I just don’t hear from God.   I’ve found that to be a really odd statement, as I know that God speaks to everyone who loves him and believes in him, so why is he not “speaking” to my mom?  

On a recent Doctor’s appointment my mom and I, were discussing one of my favorite topics, which is God/Jesus/Holy Spirit and I was sharing with her the word I had received that morning.  She once again uttered the words that she has been saying to me for a while now, and that is, I don’t hear from God.  God doesn’t speak to me.  It finally dawned on me to ask her, do you ask him too?   She responds with a quizzical no, I don’t, and then says I assumed that if God had something he wanted to tell me, he would.  

I was kind of amazed for a moment that my mom thought that God would just speak to her without an invitation to do so.  Then I thought she’s probably not alone in this thought.   I proceeded to tell her that she has to ask God to speak to her.  She has to invite God and the Holy Spirit to share with her their plans for her life, for her day, for them to speak to her, and give her wisdom on her life and understanding.  

Something that seems so simple to me, but yet, she had no idea that she was supposed to ask God and the Holy Spirit to speak to her. 

I wonder how many other people out there have no idea that we have to invite God into our lives.  We have to say to God, I want you to be involved in everything I do, and please give me knowledge, understanding, wisdom and revelation about what you are doing in my life, or what you want me to do for your kingdom. 

God will speak to you in many ways and a lot of times we don’t even realize he is doing it.  I can’t tell you how many times I have sat at church or at a Conference and swore I was the only person in the room.  I just knew that God gave them a word to reach right where I was.  

That’s a way that God speaks to you.  He will speak to you through other people.   Now, in me saying that, please keep in mind that you have to also be very careful of what people say to you.   When God speaks to you through other people most of the time it’s not a God told me you should do this…  Usually it’s a confirmation of a word that God has already given to you.

For example, I have been struggling with a relationship that means a lot to me and I have been hearing from God about what was taking place in my relationship and I really needed confirmation from someone who wasn’t close to me.  I had a person in mind that I knew had a strong relationship with God, is in ministry and attends my church, so I knew where she was being fed.  I began to pray to God for about a week asking him if I should open up to her about what was happening in my life.  I never received a yes or no answer and the time came that I would be seeing her for my job, she ended up talking to me about my problem.  

I never heard from God that I should or shouldn’t talk to her about my problem, so I took that as stand still, and do nothing, and I did just that.  As she started to speak to me about Faith, and how having Faith is a hard thing to do, especially when you are having Faith for another person, I stopped her and said, you have no way of knowing this, but I have been praying for a week whether I should share my trial with you or not and I believe that God has just answered that with the sentence you just said.

 I proceeded to have a wonderful, eye opening conversation with her and then we prayed together and she said she would continue to pray for me and the relationship.   That was God working through her to build my Faith and trust in him. 

God will also speak to us through various other ways, a couple examples are: the Bible, music, pastors, anointed sermons and speakers, dreams, writing and that still small voice we all hear so much about.

I personally have been gifted with the ability to hear God through his voice and also through writing, but there are so many ways we can hear from God, so don’t be discouraged if I haven’t listed them here.  

 I believe God will take any advantage he can to speak to you, as long as you give him the chance to do so.  It’s kind of like an invitation to a party.  If you don’t receive an invitation to the party you aren’t going, why because you weren’t invited.   Likewise, if you don’t invite God, and the Holy Spirit to speak to you, you can’t be surprised, like my mom, that they are not. 

You will receive from God much more than you put into God, but you have to start the conversation.  You have to start with stepping out, opening your heart to him, opening your mouth and asking him to come into your life.  Unfortunately, God is not going to force his way into your life, he wants to be invited. 

If God forced his way into your life we wouldn’t have non-believers, and we wouldn’t need God if he forced his way in.  God wants to know that we desire him to be in our lives, so as much as you invite him in, is how far he will go with you. 

Again, you will receive more in the long run than he will and hopefully you will see the goodness of the Lord and want an even deeper relationship with him over time, but know that God is always knocking on your heart asking to be let in, we have to actually open the door and say please come in…  I promise you that will be the best invitation you will ever send!