When God Has To Tell You More Than Once...

Over the weekend, I traveled to Wesson Baptist Church to speak at their ladies retreat. They had to move the location of the retreat because so many women signed up to come. They were such a delight to be around! The women were all ages and from different backgrounds and were spiritually hungry, and those are the best groups to speak to. Several of the women came up to me and said, "I've felt like I needed to do something about a problem I have, but hearing you today affirms what I need to do!" That is a 'God thing' for sure because I have no idea what is going on in people's lives. But that doesn't mean that we don't look at what we're facing and get nervous about it.

Romans 10:17 says, "So then faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God." It is no great secret where faith comes from. Faith is the by-product of the Word of God (the Bible). Sometimes we don't understand it the first time around, so God will repeat it. Jonah was someone whom God had to repeat Himself to.

You know the story of Jonah. In Jonah 1:1 it says, "The word of the Lord came to Jonah." God wanted Jonah to go to Ninevah to preach to the people there (some would've called them 'heathens'!). But Jonah didn't want to go and got himself in a big mess--in the belly of a whale. The Bible says that seaweed was wrapped around his head while he was in the whale's belly! And after 3 days, he was spit out of the whale. If you look in chapter 3, notice what it says: "And the word of the Lord came to Jonah a second time." In other words, if God doesn't get your attention the first time, He'll try again.

Has God ever told you anything more than once? He has told me some things many times. Sometimes He will say the same thing exactly, and sometimes He will use someone to say it a little differently so I can understand it.

So take note when God tells you to do something or opens up the scripture for you to understand it better. There is a reason behind it!