I don’t recommend you do this (I do really, but maybe not when you are waiting in line to pay for your groceries).

I used to work for a newspaper. Not as a writer or undercover reporter or anything glamorous like that. I just laid out the pages and designed ads for local businesses. 

The press office was over the road from a supermarket, so lunch usually comprised of wandering across the street and a cheap sandwich. Amazing how routines play out day after day. 

My other routine is to chat with God as I go about my business. So much so, I sometimes do it without thinking.

Thing is, I forget that many (most) other people don’t share that routine. 

On this particular day I arrived back in the office, and Kate, one of my colleagues, said (in a friendly way, I think), “I used to think you were crazy, but now I know that you are.” 

Feigning hurt, I asked her why.

“I saw you stood in line at Asda (the name of the supermarket chain) talking to yourself.” 

Supposedly, the saying goes that talking to yourself is the first sign of insanity. At least that’s what the devil would like you to believe. It really depends what you are saying, I guess.

I corrected Kate of course, and told her that on this occasion I was not talking to myself, I was talking to God. I also informed her that talking to God is actually the first sign of…

Sanity.

Want to read more?

Talking To God In The Supermarket And The First Sign Of Sanity

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00:00:02.300]
Hey there. And a massive welcome to the David Martin show. This is where we bring Christ and creativity together and really discover your awesome. Hey, guys, hopefully all is well in your world or even in the midst of all the madness that’s taking place. And funnily enough, what I want to talk about today is a time where someone at work, colleague of mine, actually accused me of being mad. A lot of people don’t know that. I used to work for a newspaper and the press office was stationed just across the road from a big supermarket.

00:00:47.140]
My typical way of dealing with my lunch was to wander across the road. It was a big supermarket called Asda and I’d go across the road and purchase a cheap sandwich or something along those lines. And apparently one day I was I was in the supermarket and I was lining up to purchase my sandwich, which was my common practise. And it seems that another common practise of mine was very apparent to one of my my work colleagues. So I get back to the office and I sit down to enjoy my lunch.

00:01:24.850]
And this lady, Kate, comes up to me and says, you know, I really did think that you were a bit crazy, but now I know you are not. And I asked her, well, what do you mean, Kate? Feigning offence, really? You know, how dare you? And she said, Well, I was just over at the supermarket and I saw you talking to yourself. Now, I don’t know about other places, but here in the U.K., they say that the first sign of madness is when you start talking to yourself.

00:01:58.210]
And I corrected her and I said, Kate, it’s not really I wasn’t really talking to myself, although I do actually, if I’m honest, believe in talking to yourself. As long as you are saying the right things, you know, you are the number one person that you trust, whether you like it or not. You are the number one person you trust. A lot of people, particularly Christians. If you ask them who is the who, who do you trust more than anyone else, they would come out with the stock answer, which is obviously, well, I trust God or whatever I trust.

00:02:35.110]
But in reality, the person that we trust the most and the words that we trust the most, the words that affect our lives the most are often the ones that come out of our own mouth into our own ears. And and so I do actually believe in talking to yourself as long as you choose your words carefully, because what you speak will determine where you walk into your future. Words are powerful. But anyways, this day I corrected Kate and I said, Kate, no, I wasn’t talking to myself.

00:03:15.520]
I was talking to God. Didn’t you realise that? That’s the first sign of sanity is talking to God. And then I asked the question, do you know what the second sign of sanity is? And, of course, Kate kind of rolled her eyes and said no. And I said the second the second sign of sanity is when God answers back. And I actually totally believe that, you know, God is talking, God is speaking. If you are a believer, if you’re a Christian, if you have entered in to this fellowship and this relationship with God, the Holy Spirit is living in you.

00:04:02.680]
And he is speaking all the time and he wants to speak into every area of your life. God is talking and the scriptures tell us that faith comes by hearing now we’re told to in the scriptures to live by faith. We told that we walk by faith, not by sight, were told that faith, a faith pleases God. Faith is the thing that pleases God. So but elsewhere. And this is such a key, key, key, key, key thing.

00:04:40.320]
In in Romans Chapter ten, it tells us that faith comes by hearing. Okay, faith comes by hearing. I believe it’s Roman Ten Seventeen. But I’m you may need to correct me on that. Go go look it up for yourself. But faith comes by hearing and say if we’re not hearing, we’re just walking. If we’re not hearing, we are just living. If we’re not hearing. We were simply pleasing ourselves and making this whole thing up as we go along to to live the life of faith means to be hearing God speak and counsel and engage with you.

00:05:27.610]
And, you know, this is this like my my pet subject, if you like. It’s it’s it’s the number one thing that has deeply affected my life. It’s deeply affected my marriage. It’s deeply affected my business in Illinois. And I have been able to build a six figure business in just a very well. To me it seems like a short period of time. It’s in kind of five to six years. We’ve gone from pretty stationary ride through to a six figure lifestyle business where I make money doing what I love to do, what I like to do.

00:06:12.730]
And, you know, we just need to hear the voice of God and we need to hear him speak in every realm of life. You know, how many people listening right now just feel as though they’re walking a life of, like, concurrent accidents. It’s like we just walk from one accident to another hoping that somehow it’s going to work out, just waiting for God to give us a big break. But, you know, God is there right now.

00:06:44.290]
God is with you right now waiting to speak into your heart, waiting to speak into your life. There’s a great verse in Deuteronomy, Chapter 11, verse 18 to 21, talks about laying up the words of God in our hard yeah and and in your soul and then using them, bringing them to remembrance, discussing them, talking with them, sharing them with your with your family, with your children, with the people around you really believing them.

00:07:29.200]
You mean this is the thing. You know, we will not be afraid and we will not be ashamed to talk about the things that we truly believe. OK, the world outside your window today makes that absolutely clear. You know, people are ranting on about every everything you can possibly imagine, and they’re doing it because they believe it. Yeah, but we believe in a God who speaks. We believe in a God. He converse is with us.

00:08:04.990]
We believe in a God who is intimately involved with every aspect of our life. And this these verses in Deuteronomy really bring this out. It says you shall teach them to your children. Speaking of them, when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, when you rise up, basically any time, anywhere, all the time, every day. It’s as simple as that.

00:08:36.130]
But this is the promise that’s attached to those who will live this life of conversation. Okay. Live enter into this conversation with the Godhead, not just on a Sunday morning, not just on a Wednesday night in your home group or whatever, not just during that little slice of time that you set aside called quiet time, loud time, devotional, whatever way, whatever flavour you love to engage with. Yeah, but that little slice.

00:09:12.370]
Yes, it’s important. But this is talking about men. If you’re sitting down, think about it, speak about it. If you’re, if you’re lying down. Yep. That’s a good time to do it too. When you’re walking in the way and when you’re not walking in the way all the time God is speaking. And the promise attached to this is, is amazing. I’m just going to read it for you that your days may be multiplied and the days of your children in the land which the Lord swore to your fathers to give them as the days of heaven on earth.

00:09:49.600]
And how big a promise can you get? That God wants to bring you into an experience that can only be described as days of heaven on the earth, if it wasn’t there in the book, if it wasn’t there in the scriptures, seriously? Yeah, it would be hard to believe, but it’s right there for each one of us to engage with days of heaven on earth. And the interesting thing is the word the Hebrew word here for word or words is the Hebrew word dabar.

00:10:35.210]
And it means both to talk and to take action. It means that, you know, the best way to describe it would be a non-existent English word. That would be word event, word event. It is actually happening. God’s words are happenings. God’s words are active. They they when he speaks them, they bring things into existence. They are that the elsewhere the scriptures talk about how God’s word is alive and active, sharper than any two edged sword, etc.

00:11:19.550]
, etc.. You know, there’s this sense in which the words that God speaks to our heart can prompt and empower actions that we need to take to see them come to pass in our life. If we’re not hearing him, if we’re not listening to him, if we’re not leading our heart into the promises that he has given us, it is very, very difficult for us to live out this dream, live out this promise that God will bring us to a place where we will experience heaven on earth, where we will experience something of the world to come in the world right now.

00:12:12.980]
But it’s my absolute belief that God wants to usher us in to a new place of intimacy. He wants to speak into our business. He wants to speak into our marriage. He wants to speak into our families. He wants to speak into our ministries. And he wants to. And in the speaking and the reception of that word, something happens, something takes place. God’s word is an event. God’s word is an event. And if you’re looking for something to change, if you’re looking for something to break open, if you’re looking if you’re looking for a shift in the in in the things that you’ve been believing for pressing, for desiring and seeking, then this this is the key is hearing what God has to say into that, that specific area.

00:13:19.430]
So do not consign God to some religious little box where you have to kind of you know, you corral him into this is the way God is and this is the way God acts. And this is these are the things that God is involved in. And then over here, I’ve got the rest of my my life, you know, this is what I take care of, you know? Well, I can assure you, God can far better take care of these other realms as well.

00:13:52.520]
He wants to step into partnership with you. Now, I’ve not seen Kate. The lady accused me of being crazy for many years. But here I am good like twenty or more years and actually more than twenty years. It’s it’s shocking. And I hear I have another 25, 30 years down the line and I am as crazy as ever. So crazy, in fact that I’ll jump on to a live feed. Yeah. And just put it out there that God is speaking.

00:14:28.400]
I’m listening. I’m hoping that you are doing the same thing because that’s the thing that will make the difference in your life. God’s words are the events that you are looking for and you just need to turn your ear to him and allow him to speak into your situation, whatever it may be. I hope you found today’s episode encouraging, if you want to connect with me further, you can do so over at my website. Davidleemartin.com.