God Leads Us Through Our Hearts
‘….after those days, declares the LORD.
I will put instructions within them
and inscribe it on their hearts.
And I will be their God,
No longer will each man teach his neighbor or his brother,
saying, ‘Know the LORD,’
because they will all know Me,
from the least of them to the greatest, declares the LORD.
For I will forgive their iniquities
and will remember their sins no more.”
One day during a particularly powerful praise and worship time at church, I felt a strong thought begin to play inside of my heart. The thought was very strong and unusually repetitive. It played over and over again in such an unusual fashion that it got my attention.
God wants to heal people from cigarette smoking, I should tell the pastor.
Over and over, from down on the inside of me, this “thought” just kept replaying along with a powerful impulse to share it with the pastor. It was like fire in my bones and it would not stop. At the time, I was brand new to learning how to hear from God and I had no idea how He spoke to people. I had always imagined that hearing from God would always be like speaking to a person face to face. So while I thought that I should share the message that was continuously replaying on the inside of me, I thought that it might be my imagination and not God.
I didn’t want to step out and look like I had lost a few of my marbles but on the other hand, I didn’t want to disobey if it was God so I prayed in my heart, God, if this is You, please confirm it through someone else and next time I promise to do whatever you ask. I just want to make certain that it is You and not me.
With eager anticipation, I stayed put, and waited for confirmation. I thought that if God was going to confirm someone would give a word right after praise and worship (which is when “words” normally came forth), but the pastor went up to the pulpit and began his sermon with no confirmation.
Although I was a little disappointed that there was no confirmation, I was delighted that I didn’t step out and embarrass myself. I was still mentally congratulating myself for being on the right side of a near-miss when, abruptly, and in the middle of his sermon, the pastor stopped mid-sentence and said, “Oh, before I forget; God wants to deliver people from cigarettes.”
My jaw dropped like the Genie from Aladdin. I was shocked and amazed that I had really just heard from God.
After this experience, I began to pay very close attention to the thoughts that bubbled up from inside of me. I learned to pay attention to thoughts that came “out of nowhere” or that came back to me repeatedly. I learned to share them or to act on them and learning to follow God by acting on those thoughts have led to countless testimonies.
A Bible example of inspired thoughts is the woman with the issue of blood. She knew, “If I just touch the hem of His garment. I will be healed.” She heard from God in her heart, she believed Him, and she did everything in her power to follow – Her faith made her whole. Listening to her heart, believing what it said, and following no matter what, was her assurance that she would receive God’s promises. That’s faith, and it made her whole.
To finish out my lesson on paying attention to internal thoughts God showed up one day on an out with my mother.
When I lived close to my mother, every year for Mother’s Day, I had a standing date to treat my mother to a game tournament at her club.
On one particular Mother’s Day, after arriving at the club, we were sat at the same table. We had been playing for a little while when a gentleman sat down in an empty seat directly across from me.
As soon as he sat down, I thought he was worried about a payment he couldn’t make. His wife had overspent, which meant he was short, and the payment was of great concern. I also knew that God was saying that He was going to take care of the problem.
The thought came back to me to tell this man this, but, at first, I blew it off. I didn’t rush to tell him because a.) I was in a tournament and would have to tell him this in front of a table full of people. b.) I didn’t know him, and I’m incredibly introverted. And c.) I wasn’t going to do it unless I was sure it was God.
So, I ignored the revelation and went back to playing. I quickly forgot about him and the message until I happened to look at him again a little while later. As soon as I did, there was the same message. Again.
Thinking to myself, If it’s God, it will come back to me like it did before, I turned away and purposely thought about something else.
Very soon after, I happened to look at him again, and the same thing happened again. Again, the message was in my mind: He is deeply concerned about overspending, which was a grave concern, but God’s got it. No need to worry.
Again, I turned away.
This same thought came back to me four or five times. Until, finally, there was no doubt that it was God. From prior experience, I knew the message wouldn’t go away until I followed it or until it was too late.
Deeply aware that all eleven sets of eyes were going to soon be staring at me and uncomfortable because I did not know what his response would be, I took a deep breath and said, “Excuse me, sir. But you’re concerned about a payment that needs to be made. Perhaps your wife overspent some money, and it’s causing you concern. God wants you to know that everything is going to be okay. He’s got this.”
I didn’t know how he would react, so I was feeling trepidation about sharing. I did not know what to expect, but the last thing I expected was for him to whoop and holler and to jump up from his seat and run around the table to where I was to high-five me. But that’s exactly what he did. And every person at the table was a witness to God reaching out to comfort a stressed-out soul. It was an awesome experience and I learned the lesson well.
Inspired Thoughts
Inspired thoughts are one of the most common and overlooked forms of communication from God.
- Inspired thoughts are thoughts that bubble up from our heart. – Jeremiah 31
- Inspired thoughts are very similar to our conscience and we are very accustomed to these internal thoughts and confuse them with our own thoughts.
- When we follow these thoughts (which is God leading us) they usually lead to an amazing ending that brings God glory (aka proof of God.)