Image by Alenssandro Giordano – Pixaby

I am being led to talk to you about how how God/Jesus or the Holy Spirit speaks.  Sometimes we miss what He is saying to us because He speaks to us in a non-conventional manner.  Let us have a look at when Jesus chose His first disciples:

Luk 5:1  One day as Jesus was standing by the Lake of Gennesaret, the people were crowding around him and listening to the word of God. ² He saw at the water’s edge two boats, left there by the fishermen, who were washing their nets. ³ He got into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon, and asked him to put out a little from shore. Then he sat down and taught the people from the boat.  ⁴ When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into deep water, and let down the nets for a catch.”  ⁵ Simon answered, “Master, we’ve worked hard all night and haven’t caught anything. But because you say so, I will let down the nets.”  ⁶ When they had done so, they caught such a large number of fish that their nets began to break. ⁷ So they signaled their partners in the other boat to come and help them, and they came and filled both boats so full that they began to sink.  ⁸ When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at Jesus’ knees and said, “Go away from me, Lord; I am a sinful man!” ⁹ For he and all his companions were astonished at the catch of fish they had taken, ¹⁰ and so were James and John, the sons of Zebedee, Simon’s partners.Then Jesus said to Simon, “Don’t be afraid; from now on you will fish for people.” ¹¹ So they pulled their boats up on shore, left everything and followed him.

Who would have thought that Jesus will go and get His first disciples at the shore and call fishermen?  Who would have thought?  These are professional fishermen doing their business and here comes Jesus, who is not a fisherman but a fisher of men, telling them to cast their net into the deep water.  Peter and his partner knew that Jesus is not a fisherman and they could have ignored him and thought to themselves, who is this person, telling us to cast our net when we have toiled all night?  What does He know?  We have toiled all night and caught nothing?  And here we are, at day break, he is telling us to cast our nets?

May we not miss our day of visitation; may we not overthink things and miss God in the process; may we be conscious of Him to the point where we can hear that still small voice no matter what, especially when it whispers to us, amen.  If He spoke to people in the past, He still does. “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever” (Heb. 13:8).

Simon Peter knew more about fishing than Jesus but nevertheless, he did what Jesus commanded and the Lord honoured his obedient faith.  No failure is final if you come to the Lord for a new start.  May the Spirit of ‘but because you say so‘, come up us all.

The question is not, is God still speaking? The question is, are we listening? Jesus implored all seven churches of Asia, “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches” (Rev. 2:7).  God spoke then and is still speaking to you and I today.  Are you ready to obey Him when He tells you to do something that seems totally contrary to your situation?  Will you be able to say yes to Him, like Simon Peter did?

Our God is not in the vava voom; He is not in the noise, He is not in the wind either, ask Elijah.  His still small voice: Elijah was camping in a cave on Mount Sinai when God manifested Himself. Elijah saw a powerful wind, a mighty earthquake and a fierce fire, but God wasn’t in any of them. Instead, God spoke to him in a “still small voice,” also translated “a gentle whisper” (1 Kgs. 19:9-12). God often speaks to us by the inner witness of the Holy Spirit to our spirit (Rom. 8:14-16).

Someone said to me recently that it is a big deal to be alive and I could not have agreed more.  I therefore implore you as a Child of the Most High God to cultivate the habit of spending time with Him this year, more time than last year, as it will help your life journey and it will also help you to hear Him better.

Jesus said, “The words [Greek: rhema] that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life” (Jhn. 6:63). The rhema Word is a specific message the Holy Spirit inspires to you personally. It’s a specific word for a specific time and for a specific need. It occurs when the written or spoken Word comes alive with special meaning in your situation.

God will speak to us more often as we learn to recognize His voice. We expect to hear from Him at church, but God doesn’t just speak on Sundays. He wants to speak to us all through the week. Jesus indicated, “My sheep hear My voice” (Jn. 10:27). God is still speaking; are we listening?

God delights in talking to us and that is why He created the garden of Eden and put Adam and Eve in it, for Him to come and go as He pleases and fellowship with His creatures.  God wants to speak to you and I.  He is waiting for us.  Will you do Him the honour and ask Him to speak to you in that still small voice?

The paperback version of my books, are available for purchase from Amazon and the e-books are available on www.toladehinde.com :

• Prayer Personified

• Godly Declarations