Devotional: Prayer IV

Looks like we will be talking about prayer for the foreseeable future. I guess I should stop calling it a devotional and instead call it a bible study because that is what it is. But anyways,  just hunker down and enjoy the ride. LOL! So we were talking about how GOD speaks to us the last time and the focus was on the quiet voice that we need to listen for. Actually, that is the primary way GOD speaks. All the other ways that we are going to examine are all supporting mechanisms so to speak. The quiet impression from GOD – that is the most important and fundamental mechanism that needs to be cultivated.

Today, we examine GOD speaking through HIS word.  As the word says:

2 Tim 3:16

16 All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness

And:

Heb 4:12

12 For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.

When you combine these two passages, do you know what you get?

The living word of GOD that is personalizable(is that even a real word??) to you!  Yep. You ever walked into a church and wondered who told the pastor all your stuff? LOL!

So here is how it works with prayer: When you are looking for direction or an answer, or asking GOD for a plan of action, GOD can speak through HIS word. Many times, once again through the still quiet voice, HE can lead you to a particular passage of scripture and personalize it for your situation. Or after prayer you are reading a particular passage, and it just GRABS a hold of you and starts to make a special kind of sense. You know you have read it a million times, but all of a sudden – it makes sense. Sometimes its an instruction, sometimes it’s a promise, sometimes its comfort or reassurance, but always, its GOD speaking. It does not always happen immediately though. At times, you are doing something else when the word is dropped into your spirit.

Now for it to work – you have to know the word. Yes, GOD will use the scripture that you know to speak to you. That is why the prayer, bible study and meditation always go together – that is what you do in quiet time. And as I stated the last time, for those of you who fill your mind with Lady Gaga, MTV crap, popular culture, politics, mindless entertainment 24/7 – without leaving any space in your mind for the word, for meditation or for prayer, well guess what? There is nothing for THE HOLY SPIRIT to use when HE wants to speak to you.

So, today, take some time out to listen to GOD. HE is always speaking. Hear HIM.

Song for today: very funky - I loved it back in the day, and Hammer is now a man of GOD. ooooh Yeaaaaah! I want some hammer pants. LOL!

Enjoy.