God is always calling. Have you noticed?

God is always calling. Have you noticed? As I prepared to speak a lesson in hearing from God at a women’s luncheon, I was reminded of this fact. Not like calling on the phone or yelling my name to come in for dinner. No, more like beckoning, inviting, speaking really.

As I practiced my message of hearing, trusting and obeying God, I began to remember my own journey. I love God and love to talk about God. It’s my passion. When we encounter God, God changes us. When we hear from God, that’s when everything changes! That’s what happened to me. I think I can help you begin to hear from God, if you want to.

This is just about as close as one could get to the Presence of the Lord.

We know by the proximity of where he slept, he was eager to hear from God.

The Lord came and stood by Samuel and called to him three times. Samuel, not recognizing the voice of the Lord, got up and ran to Eli. Eli, finally realizing that it was the Lord, instructed the boy to go back, lie down and the next time say, “Speak Lord, your servant is listening?”

Do you recognize the voice of the Lord?

Have you ever heard God speak to you?

Have you felt the nudge to do something for someone else?

What are the ways God may already be speaking to you? 

As I studied this passage, that I have both written and spoken about, I could see God standing before me. In the sweetest, softest voice I’ve ever heard, God was calling my name, over and over again. With chills, I understood that God has always been calling me. Maybe I wasn’t eager to hear God before? Maybe I was preoccupied, busy or I just didn’t recognize His voice? Now I understand, God has always been calling me. Just like He has always been calling you.

This is an important fact. I can teach this passage, share my stories of God calling me and the crazy things He has done in my life but until you have your own experience with God, they will always be my stories. I want you to experience God. I want you to hear God whisper your name. Because when we encounter God, God changes us. God is calling you. Have you noticed?

The morning I was to teach this powerful message of hearing God, I turned to July 25th in my Jesus Calling devotion. “There is no limit to the variety of ways I can communicate with you. Your part is to be attentive to My messages, in whatever form they come.” My body tingled with the acknowledgement that God was speaking directly to me. The devotion referenced Jeremiah 29:13, “You will seek Me and find Me when you seek Me with your whole being.”

God is still teaching me how to hear Him, trust Him and respond in obedience. That’s why we sold our house several years ago, left the only church I had ever known, moved from the community I grew up in and then sold my business of 20 years. All those acts of hearing, trusting and obeying God, somehow put me on a path which led to publishing my first book, The Me Disease. But the journey isn’t over because God is still calling. Have you noticed?

Let us pray: