God Speaks

As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.  Isaiah 50:10-11
Recently Vice President received some ridicule for saying he hears from God. One of the persons on the television that I heard, claimed to be a Christian but still ridiculed him for saying he hears from God. One of the major ways God speaks to us is through his word. That is why it is so important to read God's word. Sometimes Christian, including me get so busy trying to do something Christian, we fail to read God's word. In fact I like to write this blog but if I fail to read, I can miss hearing from God. I think of recent posts like the "The Lord has Spoken" or The fifth commandment, I came across scripture as I was reading that stood out to me. People have discussed and written about God's word for centuries and still as we read something stands out for us. God is speaking to us. I am reading in Isaiah and the Lord has spoken showed up many times as the prophet Isaiah is speaking to God's people. God pronounces judgement and it happens. I was reading about the fifth commandment and came across Proverbs 20:20 and it stood out. I was probably taught about the fifth commandment even as a child, but in reading for my self I see something I never saw before. God is speaking. It is important to assemble with other Christians to hear the word of God from a preacher. God sometimes speaks to us through a preacher. As a teenager I remember a sermon many years ago and one of my friends that heard the same sermon knew she heard from God when the Pastor spoke about being unequally yoked. Here she was dating a man that none of us knew about, and he was already married.  She took it as a warning from God. I remember as a teenager as we would read chapters for what we called 28 club. We were suppose to read 4 chapters a day. Sometimes just before our youth meeting we would catch up by reading a bunch of Psalms, the short ones and not Psalm 119, the longest chapter in the Bible. As an adult I read Psalms 119 and it is mostly about learning God's ways, his precepts, his commands by reading his word. It was a wonderful chapter that I had never read because it was so long. We need to read the Bible to hear from God. God's word is powerful, it speaks to us as the verse above explains, as rain and snow come down from heaven and water the earth so it produces bread for our nourishment. It is the same with the word of God, it will accomplish the purpose for which it was sent. God wants to speak to us and he does. One of the major ways is through reading his word. It is inspired and comes from God. We don't generally have a burning bush speak to us, and I only heard of that one time with Moses. One time in my life I felt God spoke words directly to my mind. Almost all the time it is from reading his word, or hearing his word from one of his preachers and teachers. Yes we can and do still hear from God if we want to.  God bless, LVZ.