How is it that some people claim to hear from God all the time, and you feel like you never hear from him? How is it some people just seem to have this big, bold, blind faith that leads them into miraculous unfoldings, and you’re struggling to know what to cook for dinner? How do we become that person with that faith? How do we tune in to the frequency where God is always prompting and guiding?

I’m so glad you asked. You’re not the only one asking. This is something I hear all the time. Pamela, how do you know where God is leading you? How do you know when the time is right? How do you hear God’s voice? How do you get divine guidance?

The answer is so simple, most overlook it. It’s kind of funny how that’s typically the case. We make things so much more difficult than they have to be. We create 10 step plans when there’s really only 1 step. Could big questions really have small, simple answers? Yes!

The answer to these questions is little. No for real, that’s the answer. Little. Start little.

When you think God might possibly be prompting you to do a little something, do it. You see, here’s the problem … We dismiss all these little promptings and little opportunities, waiting for something big, but God always begins small. If you never learn to respond in the little things, you never get the opportunity to step into the big things.

Jesus said in Luke 16:10, “If you are faithful in little things, you will be faithful in large ones. But if you are dishonest in little things, you won’t be honest with greater responsibilities.”

So God starts by prompting your Spirit with little things like, “Shut your mouth now. Don’t say what you’re thinking. Just be quiet.” Once you show yourself to be faithful with God speaking to you in that little matter, he will start talking to you about bigger things. Then you move on to, “Go here and do this. Say this now. Take this next step.” But, honey, if you haven’t first learned to be faithful with shutting your mouth at the right time, you never get to experience being filled with divine words you couldn’t possibly come up with on your own. If you haven’t mastered being faithful with being still, you never get to experience God supernaturally guiding your next big, bold steps of faith.

We all want those big, bold steps of faith that just can’t fail. We all want the miraculous come back story only God could have written. And God wants to write that for you even more than you want it. But, God can’t write your come back story until you’ve proven yourself faithful in the low down part of your story. Until you’ve proven yourself faithful with the $20 you do have. Until you’ve proven yourself faithful with the people you do have. Until you’ve proven yourself faithful with the business you do have. Until you’ve proven yourself faithful with the little house you have, the energy you have, the strength you have. God gives more to those who have been faithful with little first.

Jesus taught a story about a boss who had several employees. The boss gave responsibilities to each of them while he was away. When he returned, he wanted an account of how they had handled what had been given to them. Some were found to have done nothing with the little they were to be doing. The master was upset. But to the one who had actively worked with all he had been given, Jesus taught in Matthew 25:23, ““The master said, ‘Well done, my good and faithful servant. You have been faithful in handling this small amount, so now I will give you many more responsibilities. Let’s celebrate together!”

God speaks to each of us. His Spirit prompts us with what some call little gut feelings or intuition. It’s the prompting of, “you should call” or “press play on this episode.” It’s the thought of “you should go there” or “no, this isn’t right”. It starts small. These are God’s invitations to respond to his promptings in little ways. The more you respond in faith, the more your faith grows. The more your faith grows, the more profound the promptings become. The more profound the promptings become, the bolder you grow. Then Jesus says, wow, you have been faithful, let me give you more! More guidance. More strength. More big next steps. More ideas. More connections. More opportunities.

Why does he give you more? Because you’ve first been faithful with little. You started with a little thought, a little feeling, a little nudge, and you weren’t sure if it was God or last night’s burrito, but you decided to respond. Then comes the next little thought, little feeling, little nudge, and you know it’s not the burrito, this could be God, so you respond again.

This is how faith grows! This is how God’s voice becomes louder and louder in your life. You practice responding.

I started writing daily devotionals 10.5 years ago. Well, if I’m being honest, I wasn’t writing them for the first few months, I was plagiarizing off Joyce Meyer’s little devotional book. I’ve already apologized and asked for forgiveness of that. But you see, I don’t think God is mad about it. Back in January of 2013, I felt a prompting that said, “Start hosting live devotional calls.” The problem was, I didn’t know what a devotional was. I argued with God and told him I can’t possibly be the girl for the job, but I couldn’t get away from this feeling I was supposed to do this.

So, my faithful husband drove me to the Barnes and Noble, and helped me find my way to the Christian book section. There I grabbed the first book labeled “devotional” and the next morning I hosted a conference call where I did nothing more than read one little paragraph from the book and cried the majority of the time. It was a rough start, but it was a start. I was just trying to be faithful.

And Jesus said, “Yay, let’s celebrate together!”

It was so far from perfect, but it was a step of faith in response to what I thought might be God’s voice. Ends up, it was.

Here’s the thing, let’s say I was wrong. Let’s say it wasn’t God’s voice and it was just the burrito. Okay, so I hosted a conference call where 7 people showed up, I read a devotional I didn’t write because I didn’t even know what a devotional was supposed to sound like, I cried, I felt slightly foolish, it failed, so I didn’t do it the next week. Big deal. Life goes on.

I believe God honors our faith filled steps, even when they’re a little off. He’s not looking for your perfection, he’s looking for your devotion. He’s not asking you to know for sure, he’s asking you to take the next step when you’re unsure but trusting him.

Now, nearly 11 years later, I still sit down every weekday morning, and I write a devotional, but now I actually write them instead of plagiarize. God’s voice has grown so loud I absolutely know without a doubt what he wants me to say each morning. It’s so clear. It’s so powerful. The scriptures just come. The topics just pop up. The words just flow. And it all happens within 45 minutes of me going live with the recording. But this is only because I’ve been listening and responding for a long time.

I have a friend who has the undeniable gift of prophesy. When she says, “God just said” or “God just showed me”, I listen. The word she shares is no doubt from God and it hits right every time. Guess what … that gift started small. It started uncertain. It probably started with her first learning to be still and shut up. Once she proved she could be faithful with that, then God began giving her little nuggets to speak. As she remained faithful with that little, it grew and God trusted her with more. She didn’t just wake up one day totally different. It grew from a small prompting most of us ignore.

Stop ignoring those small promptings. You have no idea what they could grow to become.

Where could God lead you in the future if you practiced responding to those little promptings now? Somewhere unimaginably greater than you could ever ask, think or imagine. You could be one of those people that hears from God all the time. You could be one of those people with big, bold, blind faith continually walking into miraculous unfoldings. You could be one of those people totally tuned in to the frequency where God is always prompting and guiding. God wants that to be you! So today, he’s giving you little opportunities. Little promptings. Little nudges. Little thoughts that just pop up. Little choices. Tiny, itty bitty steps that you think might possibly be God, or they might not be. Step in faith! God honors that!

Start small. Be faithful with little. God will do the multiplying and he will blow your mind, but for now, practice with the little stuff and be faithful today. That little voice you’ve been ignoring might just be the little step that would lead to the opportunity of a lifetime.

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