Would you know it if God were talking to you right now?
But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.
Hebrews 11:6
When was the last time you kept praying until you knew you'd heard from God? When you heard from Him, how did He communicate with you? I believe many of us don't actually get an answer for one of 4 reasons; (1) we're not keeping His commandments (John 13:34-35), we're not doing the things that please Him (Luke 6:31), we don't really expect to hear from Him (James 1:5-8) or we stop praying before the answer comes. I have a problem with people who claim answered prayer from God, but their lives prove they're not in a place to hear from God. His word's really clear on this subject folks;
And whatsoever we ask, we receive of him, because we keep his commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in his sight.
1st John 3:22
If I know my life is lined up with His will, then I can expect to hear from God when I pray, but the opposite is also quite true. Another problem with interupted prayer is the simple fact that what we desire of God is selfish & carnal, completely out of His will for our lives.
And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask anything according to his will, he heareth us:
1st John 5:14
Again if you know you're where you ought to be with God, & you know that what you're praying for is within the confines of His will, then you have every reason to expect Him to communicate with you, or with your life. However, like James said, do you really expect God to communicate with you & with your life? What I mean by communicate with your life is a change in the circumstances you're praying about. sometimes God simply invades the natural world & changes your circumstances; more often however He communicates with you & shows you a way out of your dilemma. He communicates to us with 2 methods; (1) a word of knowledge, knowing something you have no natural way of knowing, & (2) a word of wisdom, communicating the answer to your dilemma to your conscious mind. I've prayed for people in my revivals & had God give me a word of knowledge about certain people in that meeting. I literally knew things about their lives I could never have known in the natural. @ other times God just gave me a word for someone there that was the answer to their prayers about a certain situation. However, God can communicate with you individually the same way. I'm reminded of the Israelites in the desert who depended on Moses to hear from God for them because they were scared to death of God. Far too many believers are just as scared of God today. if God were communicating with you right now however, would you know it? would you recognize His voice? God communicates with me in a means I can only call thought transference he actually places a thought in my conscious mind. Satan can do the same thing however, & he does it all the time. What we have to do is compare the thought we're receiving with what we know about how God works & how His kingdom works. is the thought you're receiving right now in line with God's will for you as revealed in His word? for instance, these nutjobs who say God told them to kill someone? Murder is clearly out of the will f God always. the evangelist who says God is telling him to leave his wife & kids & run off with the piano player? Adultery is clearly out of God's will. Most of the time however it's not so clear that it's not God speaking to you. You have to know God's word & His will for your life. I hope this helps some of you today.