I think most of us are good at talking to or at God rather than talking with Him. But is that really having an intimate relationship with Him? When we talk at or to Him we are just expecting God to fix everything or just acknowledging His existence without actively seeking His input or surrendering anything. It’s a monologue -a one sided conversation.
When we talk with God in a two-way conversation or a dialogue, we are expecting to hear from Him. It signifies a relational conversation focused on building a deeper connection, not just making requests, it leads to a personal transformation and, guidance-seeking relationship. It puts God in the center and lets Him take the driver’s seat. This helps us move beyond just self-reliance to co-piloting with God’s divine wisdom.
It becomes about expressing our feelings, and then listening for His voice through scripture, conscience, peace, and surrendering control that can foster a dynamic relationship where God’s perspective can shape our path.
When we can shift to talking with God, rather than just talking to or at Him, God helps us see our issues differently, and we can gain new insights.
When can we let go of our control and let God have more control it moves us from self-sufficiency to recognizing God as our provider, healer, and sustainer, and empowers us to cast more of our cares on Him.
It’s about pursuing a relationship, not just a roadmap, fostering a constant connection where we can learn to walk with Him.
Family traditions helps strengthen our bonds to help family trust each other. Sadly Americans are moving away from traditions due to increased work demands, and rising individualism and changing cultural values. Often family often spreads apart by distance which makes it harder to keep traditions alive.
These factors combined create a cultural environment whet family traditions take a backseat to convenience, personal choice, and the pressures of modern life that impacts family bonding.
Something we do every year is spend Independence Day together because that’s usually when my children have time off of work together. And then we try to get together in April for a trip to Nevada.
My cat definitely shows his Siamese side, he is as stubborn as he can get. Siamese are known for their high intelligence and strong will. And he is an attention seeker, the moment I’m doing something he demands he starts acting up. I wish he could understand that he needs to wait.
“For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation” -Romans 10;10
The God kind of faith is of the heart, it is not from our minds that we believe. It is from our hearts. We can have doubts in our mind, yet still believe in our hearts what God says about our situation,
It used to not understand why Abel’s sacrifice was accepted but not Cain’s as told in Genesis 4:3-5. But, Hebrews 11:4 tells us that Abel’s faith came from the heart while Cain’s did not.
Just as we can agree with something in our minds, but not believe it in our hearts.
Cain’s anger to murder his brother was him acting emotionally. And that didn’t come from the heart. Our words are a clue as to what we truly believe. Jesus tells us in Matthew 12:34, that out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks.
“Either make the tree good, and its fruit, or make the tree corrupt, and its fruit corrupt, for the tree is known by its fruit. You offspring of vipers, how can you, being evil, speak good things? For out of abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks” -Matthew 12:33-34
Paul tells us in 2 Corinthians 4:13, “We having the same spirit of faith according as it is written, I believed, and therefore have I spoken, we also believe, and therefore speak.”
If what is coming out of your mouth is fear or the circumstances, then it is not the God kind of faith. The God kind of faith speaks only what the Word of God says about the situation. It speaks the promise of God in our lives. It is not moved by how we feel, or see.
“For we walk by faith, not by sight” -2 Corinthians 5:7
God kind of faith is only moved by what God says.
When the disciples asked Jesus why they couldn’t cast out a demon from a boy, Jesus replied, “Because of your unbelief, for verily I say unto you, if you gave faith as a grain of mustard seed, you will tell this mountain, move from here to there and it will move, nothing will be impossible for you”(Matthew 17:20).
When we are saved (burned again) we receive the measure of faith. Romans 12:3 says,
“For I say through the grace that was given me, to every man who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think reasonably, as God has apportioned to each person a measure of faith.”
Every born again believer is given the gift of faith. In fact, it is one of the nine fruits of the spirit we receive when we confess Jesus as our Lord and Savior. So, since we already have been given faith, we simply need to stir it up.
If you find yourself speaking the circumstances instead of God’s Word, then stir up your faith. Roman’s 10:17 says, “So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God.”
Listen to the Word of God, speak the Word of God, and immerse yourself in His promises. Speak only what God’s promises say about your situation.
Jude 1:20-21 tells us, “Build yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit.”
We have to build ourselves up, and not rely on others to do it. When we pray God’s Word over ourselves we build ourselves up.
In order to increase our faith, it is important to forgive and walk in love. Faith works by love. In order to operate in faith, we must choose to walk in love.
“For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, but faith working through love” -Galatians 5:6
As we continue to do these things, our faith will increase, and eventually we can believe not only in our hearts, but our emotions will line up as well. We will be fully convinced that what God says is more real that what we see or feel. That God kind of faith will become real. Then the mountains in our lives will move.
One thing about being a follower of Jesus, He teaches us that you either have to be “all in or all out.” Either you’re in Christ Jesus or in Satan. You’re either saved or lost.
As the world gets darker, it’s plain to see that good vs the bad.
Some people like to tap dance along the fence, not deciding one way or another. They put off salvation. They decline to think of spiritual things, but they acknowledge God and His creation and presence of sin. They just don’t do anything about it. But there is no neutral ground, no safe place from which they can simply watch what is going on.
Some have decided that the wisest choice of action is neutrality.
There are two sides to any fence. Simply put, God is on one side, and Satan is on the other. One side is good and the other is evil. On one side you confess Christ Jesus, on the other you deny Him.
Can they remain neutral? Not unless the choice had zero consequences, like deciding whether to put on your morning toast.
In any meaningful choice, neutrality isn’t possible. Climbing onto the fence rails and balancing is a choice and a precarious place. It is a choice against God, good, and light.
With everything going on in the world today, people may choose to sit on the fence. But when it comes to faith, that seat will keep getting warmer until they are forced to evaluate. Sadly, the only side available will be Satan’s side.
We must not fall into the trap of the world and satan lies for those susceptible to distraction, rationalization, and attractive human wisdom.
In Revelation 3:15-16 Jesus tells us, “I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot, I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm -neither hot nor cold -I am about to spit you out of my mouth.” This is a warning against spiritual complacency and half-hearted faith, preferring fervent passion -hot, or clear conviction -cold, over useless tepidness.
It’s important to recognize that choice, because it determines which door to eternity will be opened for us.
I for one do not want to hear Jesus say, “Depart from Me, I never knew you” -Matthew 7:23.
My childhood was broken by my mother’s shouting as well as her silence. I didn’t feel loved for many years. I felt like I was an accident that never should have happened. It wasn’t until many years after my brother drowned on a group camping trip, that I felt loved by my father. It seems that as the years passed my father began to spend time with me. That’s when I finally began feeling protected. The long rides, and fishing trips seemed to be my safe place away from my mother. Before then he seemed to be trapped in the guilt over letting my brother go on a trip that ended his life. It may not seem very positive, but the fact that I felt loved by a parent was very positive.
There’s a silence that comes from spending time with God. The world likes to keep us distracted to keep our mental chatter at a high level, but God works miracles in silence.
The Bible shows us what Jesus did before He performed miracles or spoke to the crowds. He went off by Himself to pray. Not to complain, or talk mindless chatter, but to sit in silence with His Father. For God to speak to Him, and fill Him up to do God’s will.
I think this is something the modern day church doesn’t teach or sometimes doesn’t even do themselves. I think this is where we go wrong.
God has been laying on my heart to get closer to Him this year. And with the world in chaos, it’s something that will be harder to do than ever before.
The truth is the silence between our mental chatter is the peaceful, often fleeting gap between thoughts, it is a state of quiet awareness that mindfulness and meditation cultivate to offer rest from the constant internal noise, revealing clarity and a deeper cause by observing our thoughts without being swept away by them. This is what I am aiming for this year, not the usual “new year’s resolution.”
The challenge will be not to get stuck. Not to let my voice of the nag, not to, et my mind uselessly loop over the same things again and again.
I believe that our inner voices can be one of our greatest strengths when we can control them. They can take us to a whole other realm. Our inner voices can allow us to imagine different pasts or exciting futures, but they can also trap us in a hell of our own making.
Mental chatter can make it really hard for us to think and perform well, and the reason is that we only have so much ability to focus at any given minute of time. If all of our focus is devoted to our mental chatter, we won’t get much done.
The silence between the mental chatter can provide a break from the constant stream of consciousness that can reduce mental fatigue and stress, that the kind of silence I want to strive for, only in longer intervals.
There’s a place I still haven’t gone to, and probably never will. It’s the Mormon temple. I won’t go because of their “rules” and my belief that Jesus accepts us as we are and it’s not about having to wear suits, dresses, or special garments under your clothes or not drinking coffee isn’t what gets you into heaven.
From a human perspective, we have a hole that seems unfillable. We all dance with the unfillable hole inside of us.
Everyone tries to fill their unfillable hole with different things, money, sex, drugs, alcohol, food, diversion, amusement, work, the list goes on and on. The problem is that we can create, but everything we create cannot fill that hole. So, we try to redefine reality and create a world without the unfilled hole. Our flesh and our world are so broken that we tell ourselves broken is by design. We all fall short.
We need something or someone else to fill the hole. We need the One who created us to make it right. Jesus fills that hole when we choose to follow Him. We reveive eternal life in God’s kingdom and through the Holy Spirit, who fills that hole.
When we truly know Jesus, we experience fulfillment. We will understand the joy and peace when we focus on Him and fill His Holy Spirit. His life and peace fill our unfilled hole. We no longer dance with an unfilled hole. We need not be so focused on our circumstances, or we will join the dance of sin to fill the hole again.
I hope we live in a way that people may see not only our good works, but that we glorify God in heaven when we do.
My father named me Kathrine which is derived from the word katharos. It’s a classic, timeless name linked to St Cathrine of Alexandria. But all my life I’ve gone by Kathy.
But what I find interesting is that my name in Jesus’s language -Hebrew it tells me my destiny. With the Hebrew letter and number system the numbers tell me the Psalms for my name which tell a profound story of my life. And the letters give me clues to my personality.
From Pity to Praise 