A wise man once told me..."God isn't speaking half as much as people are saying He is....and people aren't really listening half as much as they should be."
Does God speak?
Yes, He does.
Usually on this topic, the next thing someone would say to me is, "Well, I don't hear Him."
I believe that they do. They just don't recognize what they hear as being from God.
During our life, there will be ebbs and flows to our encounters with God (whether you are saved or not). God will be trying to speak to you and get your attention. If you are trapped in addiction, the message you'll get the most is "Turn from what you are doing." It may come in the form of thoughts that come to your mind. It may be what you perceive as your conscience speaking to you. It may be words from others who are concerned about you. All are used by God to talk to you.
God's Holy Spirit is all up into bringing conviction to us. Showing us the wrong that we have done. Showing us the state of our hearts and how far we are from God. Sounds like it would be party time for this to happen to us, doesn't it? Well, it isn't. It is a time of sorrow. What usually happens when someone in addiction encounters sorrow? They use. They want to stop what they believe are all the accusing voices reminding them of what they have done and who they are. They use to escape those voices and feelings. But conviction from God is different. Conviction points out the wrong, but then offers a way out from under all the pain and toxic emotions that are driving the individual to use more. God speaks to the heart.
Why is it we feel that God speaks so obscurely or vague? Well, in His mercy, He allows us room and time to respond. He lets us know that He is talking to us...but that we need to process what we are hearing. Sometimes we don't need much room or time. If God is drawing us into salvation, our heart will over ride what our mind is telling us and we will respond.
We need to always remember that it is God's heart to communicate with us. We read in Jeremiah 33:3 - "Call to Me, and I will answer you, and show you great and mighty things which you do not know." These are God's words. Jeremiah was probably in the darkest place a person could be. He had been taken away from his home and was living in a foreign land. A place with strange customs and belief's, under the rule of a dictator. Jeremiah was a slave. Funny isn't it? Addiction is a taskmaster that will take you away from home and family and put you under it's thumb as a slave. Yet, you will never be removed from God's sight or His ability to talk with you. I don't think the words of Jeremiah 33:3 have changed or that God does business differently now. To hear God, you simply cry out to Him.
What do you have to loose?
Sin...
Darkness....
Shame....
Guilt....
and the list goes on and on and on...
God on you....
mb
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