"GOD SPEAKS THROUGH PROMPTINGS"

Good Evening to All!

I am speaking the truth in Christ. I am not lying; my conscience [enlightened and prompted] by the Holy Spirit bearing witness with me. (Romans 9:1 AMP.)

In tonight's verse, Paul writes about being "prompted" by the Holy Spirit. "Promptings or nudges from the Holy Spirit are one way that God speaks to us. It's like a little voice inside me say do this or don't do that. For example, your spouse upsets you and you want to say something so bad you can "taste it", but something inside says "don't do it, so you keep your cool and everything blows over in a short time. It you had spoken out, your spouse might have left you, or God forbid hit you, or any number of things. The Holy Spirit is within us to guide us and teach us. If we follow His prompting, we can't go wrong. After all, God is omniscient, or all knowing. He is omnipotent, or all powerful, and omnipresent, everywhere. Why should we even entertain the idea that He wouldn't know what is best for us so we don't need to follow His voice or prompting? It is called prompting because as humans we have free will, therefore God, or "the Holy Spirit" with in us will not force us to do anything. it is our choice as to which path we want to follow, although it is much more prudent to follow the righteous path to God by following His nudges.

Don't make the mistake that ALL of the promptings are some big important decisions. He can and does prompt us about little things such as waiting a little later to leave for work for some reason, (then it turns out there is a pile up accident on the street that you normally travel right about the time you would have normally been there. That would be what I call "a God thing". Another is to apply for a certain job even if you don't really think you want it or could get it. If He prompts you to do it, then do it. There is a reason for it, and it bound to be a good one.

The same goes if He prompts you NOT to do something. We need to obey His voice at all times. Not doing so or even delaying to do so is disobedience to God and that is a big NO-NO. I have done that before, and felt guilty for a long time. I remember one time I was driving down the road in a hurry to get to town, (I'm always in a hurry. I'm one of those that doesn't like to take my sweet time getting anywhere). Anyway, there was a car stalled on the side of the road. Just as I passed them, I had the feeling I should stop and see if they needed help. Well, I was in too big a hurry and decided against it.

I have felt bad about that ever since, and often wondered if they got help. You never know on the highway what can happen. What if because I didn't stop, a person with shall we say "no scruples or conscience" stopped and did something to them? It would be my fault for not stopping. Anyway, I still think about that, and it happened many months ago. What if because I didn't pay my tithe the church was short that amount of money paying their bills? My fault again.

All I'm saying is it is better to heed God's Word, and His promptings. It will reassure our trip to heaven, because if we listen to the Holy Spirit, He won't misguide us and we won't get off the path to God. He uses our obedience to teach us more about Him. For example, you've heard "you reap what you sow" . Everything you do will return to you . If you treat people good, they in turn will treat you good in general. If you sow "good seeds" then good will return to you.

Another example of prompting is when the Lord prompted me to go over to one of the Ladies and put my hand on her shoulder and pray. I didn't know why God chose me, because I am not an "elder" in the church, and I still consider myself to be not a baby Christian, but not a "mature Christine either. I have only had a serious relationship with God for 12 years and considering that the lady I was prompted to pray for has been an elder in the church for many, many, many years, I couldn't understand why me. Also, I didn't know what she was needing to be ministered to about, but I trusted God because He knew, and He knew why He chose me. As I said, I hesitated a little bit, but I did it anyway. After church, she came up to me and told me that I has said just what she needed to hear because it hit the nail on the head, Of course, I won't relay it here because it is personal, but lets just say that God definitely ministered to her spirit by my praying for her. He told me in my heart what to say.

It is His prompting you when you get the "urge" that you need to call someone and check on them.

People discount it by using terms such as "a voice inside me", or I don't know why I felt this, but I just got the feeling I needed to let you know this or that. It's the Holy Spirit prompting you to do what's right. Now, this being said, you must realize that other voices can get in your head too. If you are prompted to do something, but it doesn't sound quite right, check your Bibles. If it doesn't line up with the Word of God, it's NOT FROM GOD. I mean let's face it. people can know right from wrong without being a Christian. The thing is, if you are a Christian, and get this "uneasiness" about what this voice is wanting you to do, check you Bible.

LOL! To show how positive I am about this, I started to say "even if you aren't a Christian, check your Bibles. Of course there are lots of people who own Bibles who are not Christians. It may be they've had Bibles handed down to them from family members as keepsakes, or they are "backslidden Christians, (people who used to have a relationship with God, and/or went to church but quit). There are lots of reasons for people to own Bibles. Anyway, if you aren't sure where the thought or nudge is coming from, check your Bible. I can't say that enough because in this day and time people are being deceived right and left. They are being told that certain practices that are an abomination to God in the Bible are now "socially acceptable". NOT SO! God is the same today, yesterday and FOREVER! What was a sin in Biblical times is still a sin today. The only difference is that we have an "advocate with the Father through Jesus Christ" and can be forgiven for them forever if we have repented and turned away from sin.

We must be sensitive to "nudges" from the Holy Spirit, no matter how small they may be, because we ourselves don't know how big of an impact on someone's life our obedience to God is going to be.

Good Night to All and May God Bless!