Opening Prayer: Holy Spirit, give me guidance through your Word to reveal your plan for me. In Jesus name. Amen.
When God speaks
…But we have the mind of Christ. (v. 16)
Today’s writer relates a personal story about buying a home and how she felt God’s hand in guiding her to a decision. I don’t know about that. I don’t know God’s mind in her case, but I have to have faith that she felt God’s presence and God spoke to her about what home they should buy. Yesterday, we read that no one knows the mind of God or the reasons why He does things. Our job is to listen and to have faith.
God speaks to each of us in real terms and in different ways. As our writer says; “God’s voice is not always so clear, nor God’s direction so forceful.” In my experience this is true, but there are times when His voice is crystal clear, the more we talk to Him and the more we listen to Him the more we will realize He is giving us direction.
There are many ways in which God speaks to us. Clearly He speaks to us through the Bible. He sometimes speaks to us through worship, or through group bible study, or through the prayers of our pastors or friends. He speaks to us through other people and even some we do not know. But we have to be listening when He is speaking. We listen by prayerfully asking Him for guidance every day and reading His Word. Someone once told me that if you want to talk with a friend you have to go where they are or call them up. If God is present in prayer and in the scriptures, that is where we should go to talk and listen to what He says.
Again our writer says; “When we open our hearts and truly listen,, Christ is always ready to speak a word of guidance, encouragement, or hope.”
Prayer: “God of all wisdom, thank you for the gift of your Spirit. Keep my heart always open your voice. Amen.”
1 Corinthians 2:12-16 (New International Version)
12We have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely given us. 13This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, expressing spiritual truths in spiritual words.[a] 14The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned. 15The spiritual man makes judgments about all things, but he himself is not subject to any man’s judgment:
16"For who has known the mind of the Lord
that he may instruct him?"[b] But we have the mind of Christ.
Gary's Devotion Comments 
"Now instead of the spirit of the world, we have received the Spirit that comes from God, to teach us to understand the gifts that he has given us." v. 12 To understand the gifts that He has given us … Wow, that’s a tall order. At least for me. I look at some people and so clearly see what their gift is/gifts are. Yet, I have occasionally referenced someone’s gift and had them look at me in total surprise, as though they had no idea they possessed such a thing; or they don’t see it as clearly as those around them do. Understanding the gifts that He has given us. I think it’s a lifetime exercise. God gives different gifts to different people, each gift a piece of the bigger picture. We may not always know what a person’s gift might be, or why they have that gift, how they are to utilize it. And we may not always appreciate the gift(s) someone has, but we can always know that God has given gifts to each of us, gifts He deems appropriate to His plan. Like the gift or not, like what the gift produces or not, the recipients of those gifts are not to be judged by other men (v. 15).