Should I expect a continual conversation with God? I mean moment by moment, God directing my every action? I believe that is certainly possible but not necessarily ideal. I don't need God to tell me not to steal or not to lie. I already have standing principals from God's word that guide me in this way. Perhaps I need a nudge or even a push from God to do a good deed. But prayer, Bible reading, meditation, worship and even common courtesies ought to be second nature habits. Although there are wonderful tales of the person who needed a word from God and would just open a bible and blindly stab at a verse to discover just the perfect exhortation he needed at that moment. I admit, I've done it too, and it is curiously interesting how appropriate the verse might be. It's like hearing that sermon being delivered to thousands of people and knowing that it is being delivered to you alone. That's God's providence. And the roulette wheel approach works because you are stabbing at nuggets of truth and such truth is universally applicable. That is not to say that God is not in control of even these situations:

Proverbs 16:33 (NKJV)

The lot is cast into the lap,But its every decision is from the Lord.

But this is not the way we should run our lives moment by moment. The preparation for the crisis moment comes in the quite moments where we occupy ourselves with prayer and meditation on God's word. Following is a verse that describes a wonderful communication with God.

Isaiah 58:9,11 (NKJV)

Then you shall call, and the Lord will answer; You shall cry, and He will say, 'Here I am.' "If you take away the yoke from your midst, The pointing of the finger, and speaking wickedness,

The Lord will guide you continually, And satisfy your soul in drought, And strengthen your bones; You shall be like a watered garden, And like a spring of water, whose waters do not fail.

Am I there yet? No, but I want to be. Now it is time to discover the basis for this verse. Go and read the whole chapter 58. There is a contrast between the wrong way and the right way. The basis for the promise above starts in verse 6. Isaiah speaks of fasting and doing things that please God. These things are the evidence of a person who delights in the Lord and that delight is evidenced by concern for others who are oppressed, hungry, poor and naked. This becomes the ground upon which the "Then" is founded.

OK, I know what to do.

John 14:21 (NKJV)

He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him."

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