An Email Confirmation

We expect when we order something online that we will receive an email confirmation of our purchase. God is in the business of confirmation as well.

My friend Tom shared this story:

“A few years ago I was reading an article about the booming housing market in Canada. After I finished I began to think about my friends Eileen and Brian. Around that time, they had chosen to retire on Prince Edward Island but had kept a home in Toronto. The thought came that if they were ever going to sell the house in Toronto, this would be the time. The impression was strong enough that I searched through my e-mail address book, found an address, and wrote a short note suggesting they think about selling the house while the market was so good. I hit send on the e-mail and essentially forgot about it.

A few days later I got a note back from Eileen telling me they had been discussing selling the house the day before and my note was a confirmation to what they thought the Lord was already saying to them. They put the house on the market and it sold within a couple of weeks. The Canadian market is currently way down from when they sold.

I think the Lord likes to speak to us firsthand about a decision and then confirm it through others. It is also especially helpful if the confirmation comes from someone who does not know about our need or has not heard all our pros and cons that we have been weighing in our head.

The Lord wants us to make right decisions even more than we do, so He is willing to speak through impressions in our spirit, or through His word and then confirm it through others or through circumstances. Our part is to ask and expect answers.”

God is not playing hide and seek with us. He wants us to know His will and follow Him. In this post about the 5 M's of Correctly Hearing God, one of Priscilla Shirer’s points when learning how to hear God is to ‘Expect the mercy of confirmation.’ It is okay to ask God in prayer to confirm what we think we heard. This is especially important when making a major decision.

Usually, we receive an impression about something God is inviting us to do. (i.e. Feed the poor. Help the homeless. Love your neighbor. Share Jesus. Serve others.) Then, an opportunity presents itself (or God presents an opportunity). Sometimes the impression is so strong, and if we have been reading God’s Word and praying to know His will, we know right away what He wants us to do. Other times, we can pray for the Lord to confirm that impression. 

Henry Blackaby, in his book Experiencing God, says “God speaks by the Holy Spirit through the Bible, prayer, circumstances and the church (fellow believers) to reveal Himself, His purposes, and His ways.”

In Tom’s story, his friends received the confirmation they needed to make a decision, because God impressed a fellow believer and friend to send them a message.

Don’t you love it when God does that? Isn’t it great to receive confirmation to we know God wants us to move in a certain direction? Can you share a time when you received confirmation from the Lord?

This is day 24 of the write31days.com writing challenge. To read the others in this series click the topics below.

Day 1: Take Off Your Sandals
Day 2:  God in the Grocery Store
Day 3:  God in the Grocery Store - Part2
Day 4:  Peeking During Prayer
Day 5:  How Do We Know God's Voice?
Day 6:  A Young Mom, Toddler Toys and Hearing God
Day 7:  Hearing God When Making Decisions
Day 8:  Lining Up Those Ducks
Day 9:   Hearing God for Our Kids
Day 10: God or Genie in a Bottle?
Day 11: The Perfect Day to Hear God
Day 12: Hearing God in a Crisis
Day 13:  7 Ways to Test an Impression
Day 14:  Remote Assignment
Day 15:  God's Silence
Day 16:  Hearing God While Dating
Day 17:  Hearing God Bible Verses
Day 18:  What Others Say About Hearing God
Day 19:  Hearing God Through Distractions
Day 20:  Hearing God as a Child
Day 21:  Hearing God in Confusion
Day 22:  Hearing God's Encouraging Voice
Day 23:  Hearing God on a Tractor
Day 24:
Day 25:  Do You Really Want to Hear From God?
Day 26:  Why Hear God?
Day 27:  Are You Texting God?
Day 28:  Hearing God in Our Depression
Day 29:
Day 30:  Desperate to Hear God
Day 31:  Desperate to Hear God (Part 2)