Hearing God

Castro Marim, Portugal, originally uploaded by duopastorale.

LORD, You have searched me and known me. You know when I sit down and when I stand up; You understand my thoughts from far away.

You observe my travels and my rest; You are aware of all my ways. [This] extraordinary knowledge is beyond me. It is lofty; I am unable to [reach] it.
Psalm 139:1-3 and 6

Here is a scene from my recent travels to Portugal. It was just wonderful to see so many wildflowers on the hillsides and taste a little warm sunshine after the snow we had here in London just 10 days ago.

The week turned out to be quite surprising in many ways. I had not booked my flight until the last minute because I had decided that I was not going. However, after some prayer God confirmed to me very clearly that He wanted me to go and stay with a friend who spends the winters there. The feeling was so unusual that I was sure that God had a purpose in it all. The weeks before I left were spiritually difficult. One night I had a nightmare and woke up sensing that there was a spiritual attack. Then the following day I found my car had been vandalised in the the church car park. Even the day before I left I received prayer because I was feeling in a spiritual cloud and unable to sense the Lord's Presence. But on the day I travelled I was wonderfully blessed with His Presence and the journey became for me a great time of reflection and renewal.

In the days after I arrived it became evident that my friend was seeking guidance and confirmation of a vision that she felt God had given her, a vision that could only come to fruition by a huge miracle! As she spoke, I felt that this was why I was here, to pray and seek God for a word. I was sceptical and as we travelled to the place where she felt that God was going to fullfil this vision, I felt even more sure that she was wrong and wondered how I was going to put this into words. We stood and prayed and I felt nothing. After some considerable time a scripture came into my head, buried in the Old Testament. As I turned to it, I could not have been more amazed as it was totally relevant to the situation. God was promising that He would indeed fullfil this vision. My friend's eyes opened wide and we both had the wonderful sense that God had spoken.

I have over recent years come to distrust my feelings when it comes to spiritual things and hearing the voice of God. What surprised me here was that God does not need us to be high on emotion before He can speak to us. He can just drop a word into our minds so quietly that if we blink we might even miss it.