In the beginning of my christianity my teacher in Christ used to tell me: when you pray, do not keep on babbling, because you will be like pagans. At first I was a little bit surprised by such words of his, but later on I understood what he really meant by them.
We hear the voice of God for the first time when we start to read the Gospel. We are taught that Gospel is God who is speaking to us. Then we come to know about some other ways of communication with God.
I would like to discuss one of them. It’s when we need an urgent answer from God in a situation which is very cute and even extreme. Sometimes we come across «crisis situations» in our life, when we can get the answer only from God. And many people appeal to God for help in such situations (they are asking Him for something in such moments — it’s one-way intercession): «Lord, help me!» But they don’t realize that at these very moments God is speaking to them (through thoughts or speaking directly) telling people what they should do. But people are expecting the answer which comes as «peace in their hearts», instead of getting from GOD the answer to their problem by hearing His voice or by the definite thoughts which He sends to their minds.
For example, after I was born again, I had a situation at work when a technological device didn’t start. For three days long I was living at my working place. I rearranged the device for many times, but still it didn’t work. I was in despair that was growing. It was very late already, and I was alone at work. In despair I fell down on my knees (by that time I was a believer already), and called out to God with a challenge: «Lord, do help me!!» In an instant a thought came to my mind: «make slower the idle speed». I was shocked by two things. Firstly, I realized it was God who had spoken to me, and I was happy. And the second thing — I thought: «Why did I fail to do it earlier, it was so simple!» That is, for the first time in my life I heard God speaking through my thoughts. Afterwards, there were many times when I called out to Him with definite questions and He always gave me the answers.
One more example. A sister came to me with a need for help. She prayed a lot (with intercessions and pleadings), and their home church also prayed, but the answer didn’t come and the situation remained the same. I regarded the problem and realized that only God could solve it. I closed her in a room and told her: «You’ve got only one hour and you must hear the answer from God». After an hour I came back and she told me: «I didn’t hear His answer, but now I know what to do». She lived in a private sector. She went deep into the forest and prayed loudly to God from the depth of her heart, and heard the answer that He had solved her problem (as she witnessed about it later). Later on, she always thanked me for that. But I only «organized her meeting» with the One who can do everything.
Now let’s get back to the habit of «bubbling many words». All believers realize they should spend time with God and in His presence. But we must also be able to listen to the voice of God and hear what He tells us. Yes, it’s not easy. As soon as I was about to reach His presence, the neighbors started tapping the radiators, threatening or swearing, or my cell-phone called unexpectedly.
But what is «bubbling many words»? When you are visiting a President, you keep silent and listening more than speaking. I saw people who in God’s presence were speaking more that listening, and their words were out of order. They were simply not able (not free) to hear God, they were «twisted and turned», they were over-excited and couldn’t calm down. There is no mentioning about many-hours communication with God. There was such a case. A man told me he had communication with God. And because these people (who hear Him) are very much alike, I just asked this man what his communication with God looked like.He told me: «I was just sitting in the park listening to the breath of wind and rustle of tree leafs — this is all God’s creation». He didn’t even suspect he communicated with himself, with his own soul. The following situations also happen: in order to communicate with God people go to the forest (to get comfort for their soul), go to Jerusalem etc. But don’t let’s waste time on this romanticisml!
One sister declared: «I spent the whole day at home communicating with God». I was really happy to hear that from her. But when I visited the place where she spent her time praying to God (it was a room), the atmosphere was really demonic there (I mean the spiritual atmosphere). She was under delusion sitting there the whole day and just listening to her own soul. When I was a leader of the home church and prayed to God before it started, the sister was the first to come to the group and she instantly felt the presence of God in the room.
You must come into God’s presence in reality, and only then listen to what He says to you. You shouldn’t just look for a comfortable corner or an arm-chair where your soul would feel comfortable. Sometimes people say: «I am talking to God for the whole day in any place (in metro, in a closet etc., and it goes 24 hours round), but in fact, even Jesus didn’t do it. Let’s be honest in question of our communication with God, and let’s treat Him with respect.
So, we have to understand that God speaks to us not only through His Word, but also directly, (the way He talked to Moses, for example), but we don’t feel like coming into connection with Him. When we face a threat, a difficult situation or extreme circumstances, we shouldn’t blame Satan or feel pity to ourselves. More evident that God wishes us to have contact with Him and hear the answer from Him. After our long pleadings to God with prayers and requests we sometimes hurry up to leave the room where we prayed and we don’t hear God answering to us, but we finish our prayer and «hang up» the receiver. When we get peace in heart after praying to God for a certain problem — it’s also a kind of answer from Him, but this is the subject of another sermon. Amen!
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