How Does God Speak to You?

How Does God Speak to You?
I love Hawks, I always have. Whenever I see a Hawk, I pause in awe at how beautiful and majestic they are. I also believe that they are one of the ways that God speaks to me. I sense His love and intimacy whenever I see a Hawk soaring or sitting on a tree limb along the highway. And many times, in my life God has used Hawks to confirm the decisions I am trying to make.

In 2004 God made it clear to me that I was supposed to leave my job and start a men’s ministry to rescue the hearts of men by creating safe places for them to be honest about their brokenness. The thought of leaving the security of my present job and launching out on my own was frightening, to say the least. I was trying to get up the courage to act on what God had clearly put in front of me, and in the process, God provided a mentor that was helping me think through the process.

One day we were on the phone and Gary offered to pray with me…we were asking Jesus what He wanted to say to me about the decision. I was kneeling on the floor in my home office while Gary led the time of prayer. Toward the end of the prayer, he asked Jesus if there was anything else He wanted to tell me. For some reason, I was nudged to look out my office window, and there sitting in the tree 30 feet from where I was kneeling, was a Hawk. It was facing away from me, and right then as I was looking at him in disbelief, his head swiveled completely around, and he was looking right at me. In the middle of the prayer, I blurted out “Holy s#@*”. Gary said, excuse me? I said, oh man I am sorry but there is a hawk sitting in the tree no more than 30 feet from me, and he is looking right into my eyes. We laughed as the reality of what was happening sunk in. Jesus was saying to me in that very moment, through a Hawk in my backyard no less, that He was going to be in this with me and that I had nothing to fear. What?!

That was 22 years ago, and I still sense Him saying that to me every time I see a Hawk. Do you believe that the Trinity wants to speak that way to you? I know, I know, it is easy to think that only the ultra-spiritual people have those kinds of experiences. I too believed that for much of my life. That stuff just didn’t happen to me because I was not spiritual enough, or I was too broken to have those experiences. My friends, God is crazy about you, and He is waiting for you to stop striving, performing, running, and hiding. He’s asking you to open your hands up in a posture of trust and surrender. He has so much He wants to share with you…so much He wants you to know about His love for you.

How about you? Do you believe that the God of the universe wants to speak to you? It starts with believing by faith that he does. As a matter of fact, I believe that it is our birthright as beloved sons and daughters.

John 10:27 “My sheep recognize my voice. I know them, and they follow me.”