"I see dead people" is probably one of the most famous lines from a movie next to "Show me the money". Ok so maybe it's not as famous but everyone knows what you are talking about when you say it.
We Christians have a similar saying "God spoke to me". Non Christians immediately look at you like you stepped in something and depending on how you say it, or what the sign is, even your Christian counterparts might furl their brows a bit. But it's true. He does talk to us but we don't always hear Him.
To me god talks through music, the Bible, conversations with friends, dreams, and normal everyday occurrences in life. Many people consider what I call "God Talking" to be just a coincidence. I do not believe in coincidences anymore. I used to all the time, the thing about a coincidence is that it can be easily dismissed. You can justify it, quantify it, or explain it away etc. But if you look at it as God talking to you it's hard to turn your back on it.
I do not think it's a coincidence that every time I get asked for money or help from a homeless person, that it's typically when I have cash in my pocket, which is something I tend to not carry. I used to just walk on by and say I didn't have any change and at one point I'd avoid people who were asking for help all together. But now I see this as God reminding me to be compassionate to others. To be willing to give to those who do not have. Sure you can say I'm enabling an addiction they have, not helping the problem and just giving them a reason to stay on that corner. This is all probably very true 99% of the time, but that is between those people and God. I'm looking at that 1% of the time where my little act of kindness, my prayer for the broken, or my attempt to feed a man in need does more then those things mentioned above. I look at it as me obeying God and listening to what He is telling me.
I do the same thing now in friendships and relationships. I listen to what God tells me and I have at it. I don't always like what I hear but I know that as long as I obey Him then everything will turn out in the long run. I think it's this act of obedience that causes so many people to look at God talking to us as a coincidence. We say we want to give our lives over to Him. We say we want to follow his plan but in reality we do not. We want to hold on. We want to have the perfect guy or girl. We want that job which pays the big bucks. We want, we want, we want.
But what does He want? Have you asked Him lately? Better yet has He answered you? Keep in mind not every sign will be directed towards you. Sometimes my best signs and best words from God come from the people closest to me. God puts people in our lives to help guide us, to help us survive, to fellowship with and to love. We have to learn to recognize that God will not always talk directly to us, but if He's doing good in us through someone else then He's indirectly talking to us.
For example. In my early days of going to Buckhead I went to dinner with two buddies of mine and this girl. They took me to this dive of a place downtown which served some of the best southern home cooking. It was a real treat for someone who had been living off of hot pockets, frozen pizza's and pizza rolls for the past few months. The plates were generous and the food was heavenly. When we left the girl had left overs. She got a to-go box and off we went.
Then it happened.
God spoke to me. As we walked out there was a man asking for money. Of course I didn't give Him any because I didn't want to "enable Him". I think one of the guys might have given Him a couple of bucks and then we kept walking. Then the girl says "Oh wait a minute". She turns around walks up to the guy and offers Him her left overs. He thanks her, smiles big, looks at me and then walks away.
I was crushed.
I had like 10 bucks in my pocket and did nothing. Here these people without even thinking offered up money and food and a kind word without much hesitation at all. It was at that moment that God was telling me to get over my fear. To love everyone and to get involved. The next Tuesday I was invited to join the Unthinkable Project and I've never been the same.
So when I get in my car and ask God to pick me a song on my iPod, I believe He will pick me a song. Now granted sometimes He's "got nothing" and that's ok. Sometimes He wants us to just do it and trust in Him. He's given us all the signs we need in order to know what his will is. He's provided us the tools, the life experiences, the wisdom, the friendships, the relationships and the trust in Him to do it.
He wants us to do.
He wants us to try.
He wants us to trust Him and know that He's prepared us for this very moment. He knows that we might mess up, we might even fail Him. He knows we won't do exactly what He wants us to do. But He gives us the chance, the opportunity to shine or to crash. Either way we grow closer to Him and our faith grows stronger. When we succeed we become stronger in our beliefs. When we fail we grow stronger in our commitment to Him and in our need for his grace.
Succeed or fail we grow.
God gave Adam and Eve an opportunity to NOT eat of the tree of knowledge and they failed Him. So He sent them out of the garden and into the world. God knew they'd fail but He also knew what the outcome was. Take a look around your room, you office, your life. Sure if Adam and Eve wouldn't have eaten the fruit they would have lived forever. But they did and because of that we are alive and where we are today. We are able to do, what we do, every single day of our lives. True it might not be the best place but we have no idea what the future holds. We have no idea what God is planning. God knows this and I promise you He's smiling down on each and every once of us every time we succeed, every time we fail, every time we listen to Him and every time we ignore Him.
So are you trusting Him? Are you doing what He's shown you to do? If the signs have told you to do X then do X. If they tell you to do Y then do Y. If you trust in God, and you trust in his desire for you to be happy then following his will can only bring you joy. Maybe not right away but keep following those signs and you too will get there.
God talks to me. I know He talks to you as well. Are you listening?
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