06/07/2026
It’s the Lord’s Day!
I should admit at the outset that I’ve never considered myself a cat person. Beth has two beautiful cats at her house and is a devoted cat Mom, and my three kids and five grandkids have several cats between them. But I myself just never considered having one as a pet. Always was a ‘dog guy’ growing up.
But this past December, Christmas Day actually, I was “gifted” a cat by a neighbor and friend who was moving to St. Louis and couldn’t take the cat with them. In came the cat, who knew me from visiting my patio a few times. Along with said new pet came his litter box, a food bowl, and no instructions.
Ok, I wasn’t a cat person. I didn’t even know whether it would come back if I let him out, but he found the correct door in the neighborhood each time. It’s the one wherein were located the “Delectables” lickable treats which he is now addicted to.
Suffice it to say, he has now worked his way into my heart. He is the “Master of this house” and I’m his loyal staff I suppose. He does make me laugh sometimes with his antics, which he does during the 14 1/2 minutes he’s awake during the daytime. Nighttime is for prowling and exploring. He locked himself in the hall closet once and I didn’t find him for two hours! His name is Socks, so named by me because of his white paws contrasting his otherwise grey coat. He’s a somewhat handsome feller, as far as cats go.
After a few weeks, we bonded pretty well. The other day I wasn’t feeling great, the results of a UTI, and Socks curled up beside me with his paw on my arm, and slept there for about an hour, as if to say “I’ll take care of you Dad, just rest”.
Which he didn’t. At all. He just wanted to sleep near body heat.
Here’s a totally amazing encounter we recently had though. I was in my recliner resting, and asked him to bring me the remote, which was just out of my reach. As he sat upright on the floor staring at me, he lifted up his right paw and licked it for a few seconds, set it back down, looked back at me, and casually meandered out of the room.
I know, right? Totally useless. Dogs fetch. Cats look at you with disdain like you asked them to clean out the gutters. . Having given you the “look”, they then leave the room, wondering how you have ever survived on your own, since you’re just an incompetent human being.
But there’s a point to all this. Are WE like cats when it comes to God?
Do we expect Him to provide all that we need, answer every request we make, protect us and keep us well, yet we hardly give Him the time of day?
Is His speaking to us similar to our speaking to a cat? Dogs seem to acknowledge phrasing and certain words, cats not so much. Are we unable to understand when God does speak because we, like cats, don’t comprehend our Father’s language?
I hear people say that they have never heard the voice of God. The truth is though, God is always speaking. He is speaking through the Holy Spirit though, which dwells in us if we are believers.
But it’s not a foreign language that He speaks, like our words must seem to a cat. His voice is tender and rather quiet. And it is deep within our spirit, not in our minds. Our minds are where we dwell, and also where Satan communicates. The Holy Spirit and the devil cannot occupy the same space, trust me, so the Holy Spirit is communicating with our spirit in our soul. The devil on the other hand, can only put thoughts in our minds.
You must condition yourself to hear the Holy Spirit. You must train yourself to hear Him from within you. You must get quiet. You must be in an attitude of worship. You will then hear Him. But it’s more of an impression than an audible voice. But He was sent by Jesus to help you, so why would He remain silent?
“And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, to be with you forever— the Spirit of Truth, whom the world cannot receive and take to its heart because it does not see Him or know Him, but you know Him because He the Holy Spirit remains with you continually and will be in you.”
John 14:16-17 Amp
“I have told you these things while I am still with you. But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name in My place, to represent Me and act on My behalf, He will teach you all things. And He will help you remember everything that I have told you.”
John 14:25-26 Amp
““I have many more things to say to you, but you cannot bear to hear them now. But when He, the Spirit of Truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth, full and complete truth. For He will not speak on His own initiative, but He will speak whatever He hears from the Father—the message regarding the Son, and He will disclose to you what is to come in the future.”
John 16:12-13 Amp
The Holy Spirit is there for you, dwelling in you to exalt Jesus, to direct you, to give you wisdom, to give you understanding, and to give you knowledge.
And again I’ll say this….its not audible. It’s more of a knowing. It’s an understanding that you have. It’s something that you didn’t come up with on your own also. An example would be just an urgent sense in your spirit, literally in your chest, that you need to pray. You don’t even know what you’re praying for. You just know you need to get quiet and pray. Or maybe you’ll have a sense to do something as mundane as checking your emails or your mailbox. Or maybe you feel prompted to call a parent or loved one to check on them. There will always be a reason you will have an impression down in your spirit from Him that you need to do something, or make something right. Some would call that your conscience, but it’s always the Holy Spirit convicting you, if you’re a believer.
All believers have the Holy Spirit in them. Each one of us! It’s a promise Paul told us about. He called it a guarantee the Father gave to us to show us we are truly saved…..
“And now you Gentiles have also heard the truth, the Good News that God saves you. And when you believed in Christ, He identified you as His own by giving you the Holy Spirit, whom He promised long ago. The Spirit is God’s guarantee that He will give us the inheritance He promised and that He has purchased us to be His own people. He did this so we would praise and glorify Him.”
Ephesians 1:13-14 NLT
Praise God for that guarantee or pledge to show us we truly have eternal life in Christ Jesus!
So when God is speaking to you through His Holy Spirit, don’t be like cats who simply stare at you. At least dogs will c**k their head like they are trying to understand! We are given the gift of reason. We are given the ability to reason so that we can have a relationship with God and to walk with Him while here on earth. Take advantage of the fact that you are filled with the Holy Spirit of God!
You have the Creator of the Universe dwelling within you! Tap into the wonder of who He is! Don’t be like Socks, who couldn’t care less what I’m saying and then leaves the room. Spend time with the Lord. Sit quietly before Him and listen.
He is waiting. He won’t even stare and yawn when you call on Him.