"Do you not know?
Have you not heard?
The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He will not grow tired or weary,
and his understanding no one can fathom." Isaiah 40:28
Do you believe you have to be in a church or other Holy place in order to hear or to be heard by God? When I was a young girl I think I believed this although I was pretty sure he heard me when I was saying my "now I lay me down to sleep" prayers. Although I enjoy attending church where I can connect with others, the truth God is present everywhere, all the time, even in times when we can't feel him. We have to stop, look, listen and become aware of the Godly things around us.
I have recently been enjoying A.W Tozer's "The Pursuit of God." You know how you can read a book more than once yet each time it speaks to you in different ways? This time around I was completely spellbound by the chapter "The Universal Presence." Tozer writes, "The presence and the manifestation of the presence are not the same. There can be the one without the other. God is here when we are wholly unaware of it. He is manifest only when and as we are aware of His presence. On our part, there must be surrender to the Spirit of God, for His work is to show us the Father and the Son. If we cooperate with Him in loving obedience, God will manifest Himself to us, and that manifestation will be the difference between a nominal Christian life and a life radiant with the light of His face."
I hear God speak to me in my morning quiet time. I also know that he hears me. I love coming into his presence before I begin my busy and sometimes crazy day.
Does God speak to you as you work, play and move about with your life?
I would love to know how you hear and see God.
God is blessing you, Donna
Firstly, I have to say this upgraded site, with the 6 sections at the top are inspirational and exciting to see and read. I loved all the pics from a Holylands trip and in the other sections, anything to do with maintaining and improving mind, body and spirit gets me enthused! So thanks.
ReplyDeleteAnd also thanks for the link at bottom right of this page to get all of your new posts in my email inbox. Great! Yes I signed up! I got this blog post in my email inbox. Made me happy just to see it. It jumped out among all the emails I got from mundane or joke stuff so often arriving all the time.
To your question "Do you believe you have to be in a church or other Holy place in order to hear or to be heard by God?", honestly, not only do I not have to be in a Church but actually, being in a church is one of the places I have a lesser chance to fully feel His presence, at least during a service! Yes, I sense Him as we sing hymns and in the opening and closing words of the pastor, but for me there is so much going on between greeters, sitting, standing jumbo screens, whew!
It certainly is wonderful to see everyone, I sense Him in Holy Communion time, but mostly I sense His presence when I am back outside and meeting people on my way home, admiring neighbours flower gardens, avoiding squirrels happily scurrying, I, listening to Cardinals and Blue Jays that just love where my house and thus my Main Church is located.
Maybe just me but the words of the sermon and God's presence come to me more fully once I am in my garden or at the nearby cliffs and treed ravine I get to later and definitely throughout the following week! A Church service for me is often like going to the theatre and I reflect best on what I saw or heard afterward, more than during the film or whatever I went to see, or the sermon or service I heard.
I do not think it is my church as it is doing great work but for me, I feel His presence and wishes most clearly at other times, mostly in quiet times alone and abundantly when among natural settings or visiting a nursing home resident as a visitor or talking to a stranger on a park bench! Weird to some maybe but those are some of the most special times I feel His presence.
Out of the blue I do feel His strong encouragement of what I should do and it is always a sense of do this and NOW would be best!! I just Know I should do something or Not do something and it is an awesome feeling! It is so compelling! I do not know how to otherwise explain it but when I have done or not done according to whatever overwhelming sense has gripped me, it has always been so right! I have been Blessed by both His admonishment of me or after following a new path relationally, in business or whatever that I sensed was His pleasure for me to follow.
Thank you for the opportunity to pour out what I feel on these questions of Church and my feeling of God's way of "speaking" to me.
God is Blessing all, always
J-M
I feel the presence of God through the music at a church service. I am a singer and a pianist. I also feel God's presence in nature,
ReplyDeleteespecially at our cottage. I love to watch the birds and listen to their songs.
Yesterday, I saw my great niece, who is six weeks old and she is a miracle from God. She is responding to sights and sounds.
I see God in so many ways.
God bless all of you.
Liz
One more added thought:
ReplyDeleteI love a Chapel or anywhere with quiet solitude, perhaps if quiet music plays (as in a Gregorian chant or soft piano) a place with a Cross and a Bible to think also! I at times have found this type atmosphere and inspiration in a Christian Science Reading room and perhaps as I have always loved some aspects of Christian Science, sort of like my favourite screen/singer Doris Day ( Kappelhoff) who is a kind spirit, Christian Scientist and like me, loves dogs, those kind loving creatures who will love and love being loved plus leave bad moments behind quickly and move on!
So, all the quietness recharges me for Being Church in the community with God for the week until I can rechaege again!
Hope this makes sense, Donna and others!