I didn't spend a lot of time on the "God speaking" thing before, and I've been wanting to go back to this because I have been collecting.
There isn't just one "way" that God speaks to His people. There are many, many ways. This being the case, it's likely that we do not all "hear" God speak in all the possible ways. We may only "hear" Him in two or three ways. They ALL require faith (mythic eyes) to believe that they are really Him speaking.
Now, I believe there are one or two ways that are universal, but many more that are only occasionally experienced by some. I believe that once you discover the way(s) that God speaks to you, you will experience them continually, as long as you keep listening for it at every turn. If you believe that it happens, then it will be happening all the time.
So, here are a few of the "ways" I believe God speaks to us today:
In an audible voice. It's clear that from time to time He speaks with an audible voice to some people. He uses our physical sense of hearing (using the ear drums). I've never experienced this, and most people haven't either. My, but there are so many other ways He can communicate. Thankfully, most of the rest of them have a lot more mystery.
In an inaudible spirit voice. Sometimes the deep places in our hearts catch on to a message that comes to us without words, or maybe with only a couple words. I believe God has spoken to me in this way a few times. Never on demand, but sometimes when I've asked something pointedly. All I can say to you is, when I turn off all the voices I hear in my head, allow the echoes of the day to fade, and turn away from the voice of my own will, when I reach the end of myself, then there is an empty space and a silent moment inside me where and when God can communicate with me. Fairly clearly. But I can't prove it, and I can't replicate it, and I can't offer anyone a "how to" for how this works. It's a matter of faith for me to believe that it even happens, but it does, and it brings words of comfort to me, and I love to be there.
Through the desires of our hearts. Nehemiah never claimed to have "heard" the voice of God, but twice he said, "This is what God placed on my heart to do." God does this ALL THE TIME in believers and in non-believers. Look around at the people in your world. Why do they want to do the things they do? I'm not asking why they do them; I'm asking, why do they want to do them? The kinds of things I'm talking about are actions that take us away from ourselves and toward someone else. Loving acts, heroic deeds, great accomplishments. Where do those desires come from?
In the changing moods of our hearts. Foreboding is a sense that may come from God. Anxiety may be from God. Anticipation, expectation, longings, loneliness, satisfaction, hunger--these may be God speaking to the world through your heart. Dreams often leave us "feeling" a certain way, a lingering taste of an emotion. So faint that it takes faith to believe that it may be from God. Just for fun, act on those whispy feelings sometime. See where it takes you. Call a friend and ask if they're ok. Tell someone what you think God would have them hear from you.
In the way things are. He speaks of Himself in the way people are, the way nature is, the way the cosmos is constructed, the way beauty comes to us. These messages can be received by anyone, believer or unbeliever. He sat down one day before He formed up the creation and said, "How shall I put reflections of myself in my work?" and then he made the mountains rise up majestically, the clouds to roll by in infinite patterns, the water to rise invisibly and fall to the ground again. He made babies coo, and wind to whisper. He caused water to boil and fire to consume. He made the seasons, and he gave us a measure of influence on the things that will come to pass. He made us wonder, and He made us care. And He gave us the ability to choose. All these things speak to us of Him.
In the invitations of life. What calls you to come forth? What places call your name? What brings out the best of you? What invites you to engage with all your strength, or to unveil your beauty? Who do you think puts these things in front of you? Where do these tailor-made opportunities come from? Read the book of Job, and listen to him and his friends wrestle with this whole question. Fascinating.
In the expressions of the deepest longings of our hearts, whether they be expressions of our hungers or our desires to get something done. These may be artistic expressions, or they may be courageous, or impulsive. They may be loud or quiet, joyful or anguished. People feeling what God feels in the way that God feels it. Remember what Eric Liddell said, the guy in Chariots of Fire: "But He also made me fast, and when I run, I feel His pleasure..." That's what I'm talking about. You feel His pleasure. What if He IS your pleasure?
In the selfless actions of our truest identities. Ever notice when someone is so filled with the moment that they are completely unaware of themselves, how lovely it is? How their face is radiant, or somber, or concerned, or exhuberant? How what flows with the least effort from inside them is almost divine? I love to be around these people. I call those moments "unveilings." They are truly the glory of God on the earth, and they are as valuable to us as if He had spoken out loud. The messages are just as clear. They say, "I love you," or "I am concerned about you," or "I feel the pain you are feeling."
There are many, many more "ways." What have you noticed?
By the way, I don't believe that a person can convince God to start speaking to them. It's not a case of believing strongly enough, then finally God rewards a person by speaking.
ReplyDeleteI believe that when a person believes, when they open their hearts to the possibility that God speaks, when they become naive like a child, then they are given ears to hear, and they begin to hear what He's been saying all along.
There's a huge difference.
visions.
ReplyDeleteLast fall I was in a church, near the front of the sanctuary, and looked back toward the rear of the room (commonly called sanctuary or worship something).
When I looked back, I saw (not physically, but it was incredibly vivid) an earthmoving machine (with a huge vertical wedge on the front of it) pile-driving its way from the back right up the middle, splitting through pews, the wedge throwing dirt and wood and cushions to the side as it plodded forward.
I knew what I had just seen (not in a physical sense, of course).
The following Sunday, prior to the beginning of a meeting (commonly called "service"), I was at the front of the room and looked back again. I "saw" the same thing as a week and a half before, the earth moving machine with a vertical wedge coming up through the middle.
Second rep, same vision. In the coming weeks I met with the senior pastor of the church. I told him about the vision. I told him upon seeing what I saw that I wasn't sure if it meant a breaking of the ground toward a new, fertile season, or whether it meant division.
I told him it was impressed upon me that the vision meant some type of division in the church was forthcoming. Not fertile ground.
Within four months this same gentleman had resigned as senior pastor of the church. Over the next months various families and couples began leaving the church.
Next Sunday, Oct 22nd, will be the final Sunday for this church. The greatly dwindled congregation is dissolving, and those who remain are going to blend in with another church a few miles away.
I've had visions before, so this taking place was not new.
Some have been visions of life, others visions of death, such as this vision of a church being divided.
Interesting how there is a wide-spread "belief" in churchdom today that ANY vision has to be "positive" or "encouraging".
What a crock.
Anyway...as a p.s. I'd like to add that if it weren't for the inaudible spirit voice I would be in the ground or somewhere far, far away.
The Holy Spirit has given heads up of a LOT of things in the past twenty-one months, the majority of them unpleasant from a humanly circumstantial view. Selah
Fascinating. Seems like the impression it left on you is a sense of warning. Not unlike a prophet of old--
ReplyDeleteIf things keep going the way they are going, it's gonna get bad. It might look like this...
A murky scene plays out in a moment inside you. Can't reproduce it, can't verify it, can't know for sure what it means, or that it even happened at all. It's just like everything else in this day of faith. Can't be sure, but have to act anyway.
I wonder how many prophets we have walking among us who have no idea what to do with these impressions.
I suppose you have to expect to hear something. Kind of like if you were walking in the woods and you go to a place where you have been told a certain creature abides. When you get to that place you stand still and you listen carefully to hear if any twigs snap. You look around carefully in places you think you might see the creature. All of your senses heightened in aniticipation to get a glimpse of whatever it is your looking for.
ReplyDeleteI was praying this morning asking God to show me what He wants.
While I'm trying to pray, I keep noticing things around me. The computer fan whirring. The dog chewing on a bone. Indigestion. Whatever. Either way, I was not praying expectantly. I wasn't expecting to hear him or sense him.
What if God was just waiting for me to shut up, stop talking and pay attention. I humor myself thinking maybe God was getting frustrated with me and maybe he is thinking... "If only that kid could start to focus and listen!"
Woah! That's way too far outside my box.
ReplyDeleteI'll have to think about that one for a while.
This is a trust thing, right? : )
Turning prayer in to a chore I can feel good about doing.
I get your point... I think.
Sweet, I finally got to you.
ReplyDeleteIt's amazing just how deep the whole freedom thing goes. There truly isn't a model, a pattern, a methodology, or a standard for how to walk with God.
It takes as many forms as nature itself.
Steve, dude. That was a load, brother.
ReplyDelete