Matthew 7:11 English Standard Version (ESV) If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!

This is a tale of what I wanted in my heart but never did pray about.

Our house had a galley kitchen where a wall separated the living room from the kitchen. If my wife was in the kitchen I could not see her nor could she hear me clearly. It was like we were shouting at each other. I wanted an open kitchen design.

After my stroke and the loss of my job I was on long term disability and with a steady income, we decided to take off on an extended vacation. We went around America seeing many national parks, visited friends and family with no real set agenda.

When we got back we learned that our house had been burglarized and set on fire. The first thing I asked the contractor was about redesigning the kitchen. “Can these walls come down?” He said yes.

We spent half the insurance money on our dream kitchen. I got what I wanted without actually praying for it.

When it came time to move on that kitchen was the best selling point for the property. We got three times what we paid for the house just because of the kitchen.

How much of what happened was put into motion by God?

What I left out was my wife having this feeling that we needed to increase our house insurance before we went on vacation. I listened to her and that made a big difference in the remodeling plans. Did God put that on her heart? It sure felt like it.

This wasn’t a wish or a prayer, it was just a feeling.

Now it is time to decide just how much of all the good that has happened is going to be a tale of a blessing from Father God and praising Him.

God put it on Pharaoh’s heart to resist Him in order to show Himself stronger. Is it possible that God put it on our thief’s heart to burn our house as well?

I do not know and I do not care.

I praise God in all of it because I believe He looked into my heart and said, “Yes, you can have that open design. Now stop yelling at My daughter.”

Isaiah 32:2-4 English Standard Version

2 Each will be like a hiding place from the wind, a shelter from the storm, like streams of water in a dry place, like the shade of a great rock in a weary land.

3 Then the eyes of those who see will not be closed, and the ears of those who hear will give attention.

4 The heart of the hasty will understand and know, and the tongue of the stammerers will hasten to speak distinctly.

Let those who have ears hear. Amen

Do you hear the Spirit speaking to you?

If not, do you want to hear the Spirit?

Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God.

Look at the healing ministries of Jesus before the Cross. The deaf could Hear. The mute could speak. The blind could see. The lame walks. The dead rose up. The leper was made clean.

After the Cross those who have placed their faith in Christ have received the Holy Spirit.

They can hear in the Spirit. They can see in the Spirit. They can speak in the Spirit. They walk by the Spirit. They are quickened by the Spirit. Once shunned for being untouchable they now have fellowship with the saints in the Spirit.

All this is made possible because faith in Christ is faith released in those who have received the Holy Spirit. Everything they do in the Spirit is by faith in Jesus Christ.

We all had a life that tried and failed. We may or may not feel like we failed, but we truly did because we did so without faith.

It is impossible to please God without faith.

This post began with chapter and verse.

Things have been said that will stir up the faith in some to know the scriptural references. Some will have a vague memory, others will know chapter and verse. Hearing with those spiritual ears takes practice. It is not unlike learning a foreign language. The more one uses it, the better they get at it. 

“Repetition is the price of knowledge.” Dr. Keith Lamb ThD