I'm Listening.

Lately I have been praying that God would teach me to hear Him more easily. I know I hear from Him. I can identify what is Him and what's me. I just would love to hear Him more often!

Last night I sat down with Mom and Adam to watch a Spiritual Gifts Seminar on CBN's website. Their speaker for the evening was Pastor Travis Thigpen. He and his wife, Ann, founded Gateway Ministries in Richmond, Virginia. It should come as no surprise that he was speaking on prophecy and hearing God more readily. God is just that good! I was excited to hear what he had to say and get some insights.

He started speaking about people he knows that have heard from God and saw huge miracles as a result. One woman worked in a hospital and as she was walking down the wing she worked on she came across the room of a 6 year old that was in a fire and was burned so badly he wasn't expected to live. The woman paused at his door and felt God ask her to pray for this child. She didn't go in. She didn't cause a scene. She simply stopped walking, stretched her hand towards the child, and prayed "God, I can't believe that you would want this child to die. I pray you heal them in the the name of Jesus, for your glory." After she opened her eyes she looked into the room and the child sat up in his hospital bed. It only took this woman being obedient to what God asked her to do. She didn't have to know a flowery prayer. She didn't need to yell down the hall and call down the fire of Heaven. She simply needed to hear God, listen to Him, and do what He asked of her.

The story was beautiful, but I felt myself thinking "Sure. That worked for this woman, but I'm fairly certain God couldn't trust me with something as big as healing a child that was near death." Then, like God does, Pastor Thigpen said "I'm sure some of you are thinking, 'there is no way God would trust me with something that big!'"

*Uhm, woah! Okay God, You've got my attention now!*

He went on to say that God speaks to nonbelievers just as He speaks to those that believe in Him. At this point, he said something that really hit home with me. He said, "If God speaks to nonbelievers and they hear him, don't you think He would want to speak to believers even more? Wouldn't he say more to us, as his followers, and say it more often?" The rest of his message was exactly what I needed to hear. God speaks to us. He speaks to us often. He uses many different channels to get through to us...it's just not always audible. HE said that once we begin hearing God and obeying what He asks us to do, He'll speak more often and trust us with more. It's like any other spiritual gift...it must be developed and practiced before we become "good" at it.

I have decided to continue praying I would be open to what He's saying, and trust Him to get it through to me. I know God used Pastor Thigpen's message to speak to me last night. I know that if He's asking me to do something it's because He has equipped me to complete the task. I can't be afraid of what He asks me to do because He knows I can handle it. I'm excited to see what God wants me to do...I know His plans are a lot bigger than what I can come up with. And really...it's not a pretty great feeling knowing that God has that much faith in me!