Whispers in the Night: When God Speaks: Ep 1: Recognizing the Call

0:00 Music. Welcome to the Diary of a Black Woman podcast with your host, Connie Morris, where truth speaks, healing begins, and every word is rooted in faith. Before we begin, let us go before the Lord in prayer. Father God, we thank you for this moment. We thank you for every listener, every heart, and every home represented. We invite your presence into this space. As we begin, we stand on the words of Jabez in 1 Chronicles 4.10.

0:42 And Jabez called on the God of Israel, saying, So that thou wouldest bless me indeed, and enlarge my coast, and that thine hand might be with me, and that thou wouldest keep me from evil, that it may not grieve me. And God granted him that which he requested. Lord, today we echo that same prayer. Bless us indeed. Bless every woman listening. Bless her mind, her body, her relationships. Her dreams, and her destiny. Let your blessing not only surround her, but transform her. Enlarge our coast. Stretch us beyond what we thought was possible. Expand our influence, our impact, and the reach of this message.

1:24 Not for our glory, but for yours. Let your hand be with us. Go before us in every conversation. Guide our words, anoint our purpose, and let every episode carry your truth with clarity and power. Keep us from evil that it may not grieve us. Shield us from harm, from cycles of sorrow, from spiritual attack and emotional heaviness. Cover us in your grace so we rise in strength, not in grief, in wholeness, not in wounds. And just as you granted Jabez what he requested, Lord, grant it unto us. Let this podcast be a wellspring of truth, a refuge for healing, and a launchpad for purpose. In the mighty name of Jesus, amen.

2:09 Welcome back to the Diary of a Black Woman podcast. We are beginning a new episode with our Faith on the Go series. This title you're going to love is called, it is titled, When God Wants to Talk, The Whisper in the Night. But before we begin, I want to activate the prayer of Jabez like I always do. Do. So we want to welcome and declare that God's hand is upon us. Our territory is expanding and we are kept from harm. Our prayers are heard and they will be answered. Here we rise from pain, walk in truth, and return to deep intimacy with God, healed, empowered, and walking boldly in divine purpose.

2:53 And I just want to reach out and say thank you to each and every one of my ladies. And even if there's some gentlemen out there listening, what you have really empowered me to do with this podcast. I've even upgraded a little bit. You want to notice a little music in the beginning, the prayer of Jabez, and at the end, as we always activated the promises of Jeremiah, a little music beat just to get you going. I didn't want a lot of music. I have promised you from the beginning that I'm just going to have straight up word. I don't want any distractions, but I like a little music. I know you do. So when I pray in the morning, I do have little music on.

3:36 And so I wanted some signature beat just to remind you that we are going live, right? And so as I go on with this series, it's called, this title, like I mentioned earlier, When God Wants to Talk, the whispers in the night. And as I was preparing this, I just had this warm feeling in my heart how God really wants to talk to each and every one of you. And usually the times that he wants to talk to us is when it's quiet and you might feel that little warm feeling in your heart as I do now, that he really wants us to turn off all the distractions and come closer to him. So I just want to get started. I'm your host, Connie Morris, and we're just going to just go and we'll see where it ends today.

4:21 So there's something sacred about the stillness of the night and the quiet when the world is asleep. You know, that can happen in the morning and the distractions fade. God often chooses to speak. His voice isn't always loud or commanding. Instead, it comes as a whisper. A gentle nudge, a stirring in the soul, or a scripture that suddenly comes alive in our hearts. These are moments when the creator of the universe desires to commune with us, not to demand, but to invite. And we know that happens usually when we are usually in prayer or we're waking up, and God just suddenly stirs our heart with a scripture, a reminder of a promise that He's already spoken to us.

5:06 But many times, and if you're like me, we're in a rush and we said, was that the Lord? What was that? But I want to remind you that when God wants to talk, it's usually in a whisper, you know, and so slow down a little bit. In today's world where technology is always within reach, our first instinct when awakening may be to grab a phone or a tablet, distracting ourselves from the noise of the digital world. But in doing so, we may miss the opportunity to hear from God. Instead, what if we allow ourselves to sit in the quietness, embrace the stillness, and tune our hearts to His voice? Psalms 46.10 reminds us, be still and know that I am God.

5:49 It is in the stillness that we hear His whispers most clearly. So we can get into a routine of. Waking up in the first scene, grabbing our phone or our tablet to see what's happening first in the world, instead of just pausing and being still to see what is God saying to us? What is his word for us today? So through this journey for the next, I think I speak to you guys about 11 to 12 days in the month of July, I wanted you to be encouraged to resist the urge to distract yourself when God calls. Resist the urge of these habits we have of looking at our phone or our tablets the first thing in the morning, or even checking our emails.

6:37 Instead, you'll learn how to sit in his presence, listen for his voice, and respond in faith. By embracing these divine moments, you may discover new depths of peace, purpose, and a new connection with our Heavenly Father, by the Holy Spirit or even Jesus, you know, they all work together in unison. If God has been working, waking you up in the night or stirring your heart, it is not by accident. He wants to talk to you, but are you ready to listen? Once again, the title of this series is When God Wants to Talk, The Whispers of the Night. Have you ever found yourself awake in the middle of the night, unsure of why.

7:19 Perhaps you've reached for your phone or tablet to pass time, distracting yourself when scrolling our videos until sleep returns. Sometimes you may wake up and you can't go to sleep and you pick up your iPad and you just want to watch some videos to put yourself to sleep. But what if these moments were not interruptions, but invitations? What if God himself was calling you to a sacred conversation. Through scriptures we see, God often chooses the stillness of the night to speak to his people. It's when the noise of the day fades and the distractions of life are momentarily set aside that our hearts become more in tune to his whispers.

8:00 We see here in 1 Kings 19.12 that God speaks to Elijah, not in the whirlwind, not in the earthquake, not in the fire, but in a gentle whisper. This same gentle voice calls out to us often in the most unexpected times. However, in the face of our technology-driven world, it's easy to miss these moments. Our devices have become extensions of ourselves and the temptation to fill every silent space with noise is overwhelming. But when God wakes us, it is an opportunity to resist the urge to distract ourselves and instead lean into his presence. Wow. So this.

8:47 Faith on the Go series is an invitation to learn how to recognize and respond to those divine wake-up calls. It will guide you into resisting distractions and embrace the stillness. And that's very uncomfortable because if you ever notice in society, people are walking around with their phones glued to their faces. It's like if it doesn't happen on YouTube or TikTok or on the news thread, then it didn't really happen. but God wants to speak to you in that stillness. Sometimes you can just take your phone and tuck it away in your purse and your backpack and just even on your drive home, find that quiet time to just listen to the Lord.

9:32 You also learn how to recognize the ways God speaks in the quiet hours. Reflect on his word and his promises and purposes for you. Respond with faith, trust, and obedience. Many of the devotionals that I have written has come from these times. And many times, if it's not in the night that he's awakened me, it's early in the morning after maybe a good rest and you're asking the Lord, like you just wake up and he's speaking to you. It could be in a song. It could be in a verse. It could be in a word. God has many ways to communicate his direction to you. And then our response to his direction to us should be faith, trust, and obedience.

10:16 Even when you don't know, how do you do it in faith? You write it down. How do you do it in trust? You ask more questions. I don't know what this means, Lord. Or sometimes it's a confirmation. It could be a great thing to have a daily communion with God when God gives you the answers before you even ask. When you write it down and you meditate on it as you're preparing your day, and then when you get to work or wherever you go in to that day, whatever that may be during your daily activity. And you already have, God has already prepared you for what may come, and you have your answer. You may find that God uses these moments to reveal insights, give direction, or remind you of his love and faithfulness.

11:00 Whatever the reason, when God calls, he always has something important to share with us. How fun is that? That he always has something important to share. God of the universe speaks to you is not a waste of time. I'm a retired police officer, and I can't even count the numbers of time that I hear people say something told me. So that means And God is always warning, talking, revealing to us different ways to avoid getting ourselves in trouble, answers to prayers that we have already asked for. So as you journey through this Faith on the Go series, I want to encourage you to create a sacred space during these nighttime awakenings or morning awakenings to put away your phone or tablet, open your heart to allow God to speak into the quietness of your soul.

11:51 You may find that these moments of communion with Him will be the most cherished times of your spiritual walk. My question to you, God is calling. Are you ready to listen? That's the end of the introduction. I want to get right into our first devotional. Devotional for our Faith on the Go series. I call it devotional number one. It's recognizing the call. Now, as we said, you may be standing or listening or driving. When you really reflect back on recognizing the call, we can sit, if we really look at our routine, just take a moment and reflect. If you're driving, keep your eyes on the wall, on the wall, on the road.

12:33 Think about the scripture. Isaiah 50, verse 4. It says, He wakens me morning by morning, wakens my ear to listen like one being instructed. I'm going to read that again. He wakens me morning by morning, wakens my ear to listen like one being instructed. You know, it's the God who created the human body. So he's the one that puts us to sleep and he's the one that awakens us. So when he awakens us and the first thing we do is grab our phone. I mean, is that kind of out of a dishonor to him? Just something to think about. Have you ever considered that those nighttime awakenings are intentional?

13:17 Have you ever woken up in the middle of the night and you could not go to sleep and you know that you have to go to work in the morning and you're like, oh my gosh, if I don't get back to sleep, I am going to be tired. But then for that moment, you might say, Lord, is that you? And then you spend the time communing with him. But yet you still go to work and you are not exhausted because God will renew your energy. The feeling feels like this. Your body is stirring. Your mind is still foggy from sleep. But it's easy to kind of just miss this moment as coincidental or inconvenient. You know, it usually happens to me if I drink a lot of water throughout the day or if I happen to have a craving for like chips or something that, you know, and then I know that if I have chips, I know I'm going to have to get up in the middle of the night to go to the restroom.

14:11 So I try to avoid my craving for chips or any type of sweet things because that just seems to hold more water and cause me to wake up in the middle of the night. But even when I try to do everything properly in order, I still maybe have that morning time where I just roll over, maybe not even have to go to the bathroom. And I know that's too much information, but maybe that's the signal that God wants to talk to me. And I can wake up sometimes in those mornings to find that there's a song on my heart or awaken from a dream where God gives me revelation or a scripture or even an answer to an incident that may have occurred at work.

14:53 And now I can feel like pain. I can walk into work with an answer to some big problem I had, or maybe an answer to an issue or situation where I may not be getting along with someone. But the Bible continues to tell us that Scripture reveals that God often chooses the stillness of the night to speak to his children. And in those hours, free from noise and distraction of our daily life. That our hearts are most open to his whispers. In 1 Samuel 3, God called Samuel by name in the night. And though Samuel never recognized it at first, he responded. So you get a chance to read 1 Samuel 3.

15:35 At that time, there was no, God was silent. God was silent at that time. But yet he chose to speak to this little boy named Samuel. And at first, he never heard God's voice before. But he had a heart to listen at that time of the evening. So think about that. His willingness to listen, open the door to a lifelong relationship with God and a divine purpose. Similarly, when God calls us, it's an invitation to pause and listen, not with anxiety or frustration, but with reverence and expectation. So it's like God wakes you up instead of us thinking about, oh my gosh, I'm going to be so tired if I don't get any sleep. We can actually say, Lord, here I am.

16:20 Speak to me. You know, we don't have to be frustrated. We don't have to be anxious. We can just open the door so that God can speak to us. We can also ask ourselves, what if God is waking me up because there's something he wants me to hear? It reminds me just real quick of the, it's a story in the Bible. I believe it's in Matthew 1. It's the three wise and the three foolish virgins. You know, the three wise version came full with oil and the three foolish virgins didn't have enough oil. And then when they left to go get oil, the foolish version left to go get oil. Then the bridegroom came and they missed him.

17:01 And so many times these are little clues to keep us alert for the bridegroom's coming. We know that Jesus will be returning, and we need to be alert to that. Could that be a practice for us to be alert for his calling, to be discerning when he's speaking? Because we notice if you get a chance to read that story, they all were waiting, that some just weren't prepared. And so when God wants to speak, are you listening? Are you prepared to not be so hungover to get that sleep and pay attention just like Samuel did?

17:42 So what if God is waking me because he has something to say? When the God of the universe has something to say, are you interested in that, what he has to say? It could be a reminder of his love, his guidance for a decision or call to intercede for someone in need. Let's talk about that for a minute. A call to intercede for someone in need. I remember as a new Christian, I remember I was half asleep. I remember, and this goes way back. And I dreamed this dream about, it was a female and it was really graphic scene that I was witnessing in my dream, but yet I didn't witness all of it. I felt like God tapped me on my shoulder to wake me up. And I woke up and I prayed for this, girl in my dream to be rescued from this situation. And then I ended up going back to sleep.

18:34 And it was so real to me because at the time I was a police officer. So I've seen a lot of things in doing my career. So I don't know if it was real or what it was, but in my dream, it felt real. And when I woke up and prayed, it felt real. And then I went back to sleep and just believed that God needed me at that time to intercede on behalf of this girl who was in this dire situation. So remember, we are God's vessels in the earth and we really don't know the power of our prayer because when we pray, when God asks us to pray, it's a dire need for someone to be intercepted.

19:14 And so that that person could be rescued, that person could be saved, that person could be delivered from whatever they're going through. Or it could be you. It could be you needing that prayer. And it could be you in your future needing that prayer. Amen. And so when God wants to talk, you don't know how important it is that you wake up. And it takes practice. Don't get me wrong. Don't get me wrong. The first time you always like, whoa. The second time, third time you get to know the voice of God. And then as you get to know his voice, you realize it's your turn. It's like when you're on a team, it's your turn to wake up and pray.

19:55 It's your turn to wake up and listen. But as you begin to honor that, and when you begin to realize that it's the real thing, when you get to realize that God loves you so much that he wakes you up to speak to you, he wakes you up to pray for people, he wakes you up to show you his love because he wants to personally have that attention. Remember, we have a God that does not sleep or slumber. So he's roaming around saying, I think I'm going to wake up Connie today. I'm going to wake up Barbara today. I want to just talk to them. And it's a two-way communication. Sometimes he does just talk, but then sometimes it's like, Lord.

20:36 Wow, thanks for waking me up. And that's a chance when you can have a two-way conversation. Because remember, he knows what's going on in your life too. So whatever that reason is, by honoring his voice, you begin quieting your heart and resisting the temptation to be distracted by your phone or your tablet. A lot of times I think it's easy to be distracted because we use our phone, our tablets for everything. It's like our alarm clock. You know, it tells us when to eat. You know, we use it. It's like really a tool. But the first thing you should do is like, I want to resist. I turn my phone over, you know, because sometimes when you touch it, it has that bright light. I turn it over and I, because I don't know what time it is. I have a clock on the wall, kind of in the hallway.

21:21 It doesn't light up. It's just a regular clock. And so that'll tell me what time it is. If it's around in the midnight hour and it's not before I have to go to work, I know that's got to be God. Because usually the alarm clock goes off for me about four o'clock. And so I know if I'm waking up, that's not the alarm clock. And so I look at the clock, then it has to be God. Then I'll lay there and see what he has to say and write it down. And then I need to pray, whatever it is. You can feel the urgency. You just have to get to know the voice of God. Let's go back to Psalms 46.10. It reminds us to be still and know I am God. In the quiet, we learn to recognize his presence and trust his purpose for calling us at that specific moment.

22:06 I mean, he's the God of the universe. He's not sleeping. He's up on alert. He's not on assignment, but he's watching over his word to perform it. And when he's ready to perform it, are you ready to receive it, right? So to honor this moment of divine awakening, we must first, number one, cultivate awareness. Begin to see nighttime awakenings as sacred interruptions, not annoyances. Keep a journal by your bed and write down thoughts or descriptions that come to mind. That's God talking to us, the Holy Spirit of God awakening us. Number two, waking us. Number two, practice stillness.

22:47 Instead of reaching for that device or turning on lights, remain in the quiet, closing your eyes, breathing deeply. Lord, what would you have me to hear or do? Lord, I'm listening. Lord, I'm available. I'm here. I'm just laying there listening. You know, being available, you know, not rushing up out of the bed. That's why I always like to set my alarm clock a little bit earlier because sometimes we set it, you know how we do, we set it just enough time to do our 12 things and get out the door instead of setting that little space so that we can spend a little bit of time listening to the voice of the Lord before we head out into the world.

23:29 I like to say into them streets, you know, but into the world, into our busy day. Number three, you want to seek confirmation. If a thought, name, or scripture arises, reflect on it. Give it time. And that's something you're going to think about when God gives you a scripture or verse or a song. Sometimes the songs that I wake up hearing in my heart is the songs that I'll sing throughout the day. Remember, it's the victory song that God has on your heart. That's the song that he's moving. Remember that victory song, it steals the enemy. So he wants to sing it through you. And he said, God often confirms his messages through his word or circumstances.

24:10 And so in a way of going deeper here and honor these moments, you cultivate his awareness by acknowledging that this is a sacred time. Practice the stillness by listening and not meditating on or asking him Lord, what would you have me to do? I'm listening. And then seek confirmation on what scripture arises. And maybe he went to sleep. I don't know about you, though. Seek confirmation. We got cultivated awareness, active stillness, and seek confirmation. Many times you can go to bed with a question and wake up with an answer. Come on now. Some scriptures I want you to focus on. Exodus 33, 1.

24:52 Lord would speak to Moses face to face as he would a friend. So when he, think about this, out of all the people in the world, we don't know what's happening in the world, but you know, if God chooses to tap you on the shoulder in the middle of the night, would you consider this the Exodus 33, 11 moment that the Lord would speak to Moses face to face as one speaks to a friend that maybe he is considering this a personal intimate communication with us. Maybe he wants to kind of create a friendship. Hello. I don't know. Right. You know, some people don't get that awakening. Is special. Psalms 119.62 says, at midnight, I rise to give thanks to your righteous laws.

25:36 Nighttime can be a time of praise and communion with God. Have you ever gotten an answer? You might be on your way to the bathroom and God speaks your answer and you're praising him in the midnight hour, like Paul and Silas, because you have your answer. You went to bed with a question. Maybe you were worrying and fretting and you got your answer. And as I was thinking just Now, many times we go to church and God's answer is available all throughout the service and we might miss it. I get my answer sometimes during offering, praise and worship. Sometimes you just have to just tap in to what God is saying. This is about when God speaks and this is at that midnight hour when God wants to talk, but he wants to talk all the time.

26:19 So I want you to always be alert. Yes, in the morning. Yes, at night. But yes, during the day. Yes, in services, all levels of the services, you know, on your way home when God wants to speak. And then Psalms 42.8 says, By day, the Lord directs his love. At night, his song is with me. A prayer to the God of my life. Psalms 42.8. I'm going to read that again. It's so powerful. It says, day the Lord directs His love. At night, His song is with me, a prayer to the God of my life. God presence spans every moment, including the stillness of the night. Something like I just said, like God is always speaking.

27:00 Are we listening? Like some action steps that you can take place. I know this is a long, longer podcast because this is really on my heart. Really, if it's on my heart. God's put it there. It's like he wants to talk to his people. Things are happening in the world and they're happening at a faster rate. And I want. This Diary of Black Women podcast with your host Connie Morris. So just to get our women, get the women to listen, not to be the foolish versions, but to be part of the wise versions. And so some action steps that I want you to partake in for the month of July as we go through this Faith on the Go series.

27:41 When God wants to talk, it's going to be filled with all kinds of wisdom and information that you can use, but just for this first devotional, it says, what I have down is create a sacred nighttime routine. Before bed, pray and invite God to speak to you in the night. Dedicate unexpected awakenings to him. So now you're already, instead of it being a surprise, you already know that when you wake up, it's God. So you're not hoping, is that you, Lord? You're waking up, you know, you already set a tone that if I wake up and I can't go back to sleep, that that is my invitation that God wants to talk. Number two, build a listening toolkit.

28:22 What is a listening toolkit? It's keep a journal, a Bible, a pen nearby. If you wake up, jot down what's on your heart or read a verse that resonates, right? And so you might, usually for me, I'll get a word, a phrase, something maybe I've never heard of before. First thing I'll Google, is that in the Bible? Find that scripture. Lord, what are you saying through this? I might kind of marinate on it for a while because usually you marinate on it. We have a vast memory and we can kind of relate that to something that may have happened in our life. And God and the Holy Spirit can help pinpoint where that is and draw a picture. So before I even kind of figure out where it is in the Bible.

29:05 I want to kind of see, Lord, where are you pinpointing this? Where is that in the Bible? What scripture do you have? I'm trying to see my vast knowledge of scripture that I have already in me. What are you saying with that verse? Or that word. And the action step says here, it says embrace stillness as worship. You know, sometimes we are so busy, we don't get a chance to even sit still. You ever notice that? We move, move, action, action all day long, and we never actually get a chance just to sit and be still before the Lord. So view sitting in silence with God as an act of worship. No word may be needed, just your presence in his presence.

29:46 And so if you have had a busy day, you can actually just, before you even pray that prayer, just sit in silence, maybe open up your Bible, get into a routine to prepare yourself for sleep. Sometimes we're so exhausted that we take a shower, prepare for bed and go to sleep without even preparing for that moment. Like putting that oil in our lamps, like the foolish, like the wise virgins to prepare for that moment where we prepare for that bridegroom, right? And so I'm going to close this out. I want to do a prayer and then maybe see if we can have a challenge for you and see what happens. I like to keep it active because God is active.

30:27 Heavenly Father, thank you for loving me enough to call me into your presence. Even in the stillness of the night, teach me to recognize your voice and respond with faith. Help me to quiet my heart and resist the distractions that I may fully exercise, fully experience what you have for me. Guide me, Lord, and let these sacred moments draw me closer to you. In Jesus' name, amen. It's a little challenge for the week. I gave you a lot of things to do, but the next time you're waking in the night, you already invited him. Now you're already saying, okay, this is the Lord. So avoid distractions, sit quietly in His presence, and allow God to minister to you.

31:08 Write down anything He says, like we said, in your heart, and just pray over what He said. Sometimes when you go back to sleep, He'll give you more insight, you know? But just making that your chance to just connect with the Lord. You may even say, Like he said, speak, Lord. Like Samuel said, your servant is listening, you know? And so I'd like to close out today. I'd like to thank you for joining us. Diary of a Black Woman with our Faith on the Go series. I look forward to continuing to have this conversation with you. And if you want to, this podcast has touched you in any way, go ahead and subscribe so you don't miss an episode.

31:50 This copy of this devotional will be on the website, diaryofblackwomenllc.com. And all my information. Diaryofblackwomenpodcast.gmail.com. Excuse me if you want to reach out. Otherwise, until next time, I'll see you then. Goodbye. As we close this episode of the Diary of a Black Woman podcast, we declare the word of the Lord from Jeremiah 2911. I speak this over every listener. You'll rise again. You'll recover what was lost. And you'll walk boldly into what God has prepared. With no shame, no fear, and no apology.

32:30 May every broken place become a place of breakthrough. May every delay become divine preparation. And may the fire of God stir up every gift lying dormant within you. This is more than a podcast. This is a call to arms. We're not just healing. We're rising. We're not just telling stories. We're building an army of women walking in truth, in power, and in purpose. This has been the Diary of a Black Woman podcast with your host, Connie Morris. Don't forget to subscribe, leave a review, and share this episode with someone God is calling higher. Visit www.diaryofablackwomanllc.com to stay connected, get resources, and join the movement. And I'll see you on the next episode, because God's not finished, and neither are we.

33:22 Music.