Cautions about How God Speaks Today

“Some people contend that God no longer speaks to people beyond what he has already said in Scripture. They are reluctant to believe God gives specific guidance to individuals today. Others . . . are experience driven. They tend to be controlled by their emotions.” (Hearing God’s Voice, 17)

How can we be assured that God indeed is speaking to us? We need to learn to recognize God’s voice and understand exactly what He is saying to us, but we have to be very clear about what that means and doesn’t mean.

Henry and Richard Blackaby said in their book, Hearing God’s Voice, “When God speaks, he does not give new “revelation” about himself that contradicts what he already revealed in Scripture. Rather, God speaks to give application of this Word to the specific circumstances in your life. When God speaks to you, he is not writing a new book of Scripture; rather, he is applying to your life what he has already said in his Word” (Hearing God’s Voice, 18).

“Perhaps you have been confused about what God is saying to you. You may have been taught that God does not speak to people. Maybe you have grown disillusioned because of professing Christians who claim God speaks to them in excessive and unbiblical ways. If you have not heard God speak to you, perhaps you have come to assume your experience is normative for the Christian life,” said the Blackaby’s. (Hearing God’s Voice, 17)

God willingly reveals to us what He wants us to know, we just have to be willing to see what he desires to show us. What are some guidelines to help us know if God is speaking to us or not?

First, God never changes or lies, therefore, when He speaks to us it will always be the truth and consistent with Scripture. Therefore, we must learn how to discern between the Holy Spirit’s, our own, the worlds, or Satan’s voices. Otherwise, we will be deceived. Here is how we know the difference. The Holy Spirit is the truth, always speaks the truth, and cannot lie (John 14:17). Satan lies and twists God’s Word. The Spirit always directs us in perfect harmony with God’s will and His Word.

Second, the indwelling Spirit convicts us to stop committing specific sins and to change worldly attitudes and behaviors. He will never tell us to sin. “So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus” (Rom. 6:11 ESV)

We must be careful that we don’t listen to our sinful nature and give into “sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these” (Gal. 5:19-21a esv).

If it’s a relationship with another person or material goods we are desperately asking God for and are sure we can’t live without, we need to be cautious. Is it our own voice, the world’s enticement, and/or Satan cheering us on to beg God to give us what we want? If it’s questionable, we have doubts, and its one of those shady areas, we can be certain that the Spirit is not speaking to us.

We have this assurance that God will make His voice clear to us and will warn and convict us when we are determined to follow our own will, worldly lusts, and/or Satan’s enticement. Our conscience bears witness and confirms the truth or a lie to us by the Holy Spirit (Rom. 9:1). Moreover, God impresses upon us godly choices He desires us to make.

Third, God compels us to serve Him in ways we would never choose and to submit to His transforming work. He gives us specific directions as to areas of change we need to make, and how we should obey and glorify God. All we have to do is open our hearts, listen, and do, as He desires. Though this is simply stated, it is not easily done.

Fourth, God does not tell us to hurt or harm anyone, including children, friends, family, and strangers.

Fifth, He can speak to us through any means He so chooses, but constantly pleading with God to reveal Himself to us in some spectacular way can put us on an emotional roller coaster. We go from a spiritual high and then plummet to the bottom when the “miracle” doesn’t happen.

 “Many Christians use alleged divine revelations as a means of manipulating others. Perhaps they are troubled by what they deem to be restrictive in the Scriptures, so they appeal to visions and dreams to release them from what they find too restraining.  (Hearing God’s Voice, 17) They may act in outrageous ways, claiming God is speaking to them and blessing their lives or will do so soon. They act on their feelings and claim that God is speaking even if what they are doing contradicts scripture.

Sixth, another “approach to Christianity elevates doctrine about God over relating to God. This view can be adopted in reaction to the excesses of people who behave as if God constantly speaks to them in ways that contradict the Bible. Others who take this approach are uncomfortable with the idea of God being involved with people on a regular and intimate basis. They feel that God is above taking regular time to commune with ordinary people about seemingly ordinary things.” (Hearing God’s Voice, 17)

Moreover, we must also be clear about how God speaks to religious leaders and ministers of the Gospel so that we are not deceived. As the Blackaby’s state, “History brims with accounts of charismatic leaders who gathered gullible followers by citing divine visions. In recent years colorful, controversial televangelists have claimed outlandish revelations from God. Some have secured sizable donations for their ministries by promising certain favors from God.” (Hearing God’s Voice, 8).

You can be certain God is not speaking to religious leaders or ministers of the Gospel who use their powers to be abusive, extremely condemning, over-controlling, or to manipulate you with promises of wealth and prosperity if you give to their ministry. You are not contributing to God’s work; you are more than likely supporting the religious leader’s lavish lifestyle.

 “Tragically, delusional, paranoid cult leaders continue to gain followings by claiming to receive messages or visions from God. Even when the Word they purport God spoke to them completely contradicts what God has said in the Bible, people will often accept their leadership uncritically.” (Hearing God’s Voice, 8-9).

God does not give any person total authority over us. False religious leaders demand that you not relate to other Christians outside of their sect or associate with family or other people. They may claim God is giving them special revelations for your life and how you are to obey them without question. Cult leaders twist the meaning of Scripture for their favor and try to take complete control over how you live and think.  

The Scripture says in Matthew 7:15-16, (ESV): ”Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will recognize them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thorn bushes, or figs from thistles?

Or as The Message says in the same passage: ”Be wary of false preachers who smile a lot, dripping with practiced sincerity. Chances are they are out to rip you off some way or other. Don’t be impressed with charisma; look for [godly] character.”

 

Note:

In our next look at prayer, we will see how God speaks to us today and how He spoke to people in the Bible.

In this study, Prayer Begins with God, we will be looking at God’s role in prayer,  followed by the Holy Spirit’s role in prayer, and Jesus’ role in prayer. I hope that as we progress, you will realize the depth of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit’s roles in prayer, which I pray will encourage you in your prayer life. That will be followed by a study on the Lord’s prayer and what Jesus taught us about prayer.

Prayer Begins with God

In the beginning, God spoke the heavens and earth into being.

“Let there be light, ” (Gen. 1:3 ESV) He said, and the light appeared.

“Let there be. . . ,” He said, and you were born.

God speaks and life comes into being.

God speaks and prayer is born.

 God created prayer. It begins with Him. He is speaking to us all the time.

But shouldn’t prayer begin with us? Shouldn’t we be praying all the time?

The truth is I forget to pray and I don’t pray hard or long enough. For years, I felt like a failure in this area of my spiritual life.

How does the Spirit of God speak to us and help us pray? Henry and Richard Blackaby state, “Every day numerous events magnify the awareness that Christians need a timely, specific word from God. Most Christians acknowledge their need for God’s guidance. Many people regularly seek it. The problem is that they are not sure they recognize God’s voice.”

Hearing God can be compared to making a business call that can be extremely complicated. You almost never get a human voice. Instead you get a dizzying selection of menus to choose from, none of which may be the one you need.  You make your best guess and after you’ve pressed all the numbers, you find out you still have more options to choose from. One mistake, and you have to start all over again.

Or you get a voice mail recording telling you to leave a message. What’s worse is when you finally reach a real human voice only to find out you have the wrong person. You get transferred or you have to start over and work your way through more menu options.

When we pray we may feel the same kinds of frustrations. How do we reach God and does He really hear us?

A friend of mine said, “My struggles with prayer are very much like the struggles I first had with leaving a message with voice mail. It’s easy to talk to someone you can see and hear — someone who responds to you at that very moment. But to talk and continue talking with no feedback or immediate response is hard for me.”

The difficultly with prayer is that God does not communicate with us in the same way we do with people. We can’t have face-to-face, back-and-forth conversations with the Lord as we do our loved ones and friends since He is not visibly present.

We cannot do things with God as we do loved ones, such as play sports, eat a meal together, or do other activities. We cannot see God’s face or hold his hand or hug Him. Prayer is not even like talking on the phone because we can’t hear His voice audibly.

Moreover, you may be “understandably wary of any talk about hearing a direct word from God because of the rampant, exaggerated abuses of this claim, both now and throughout history. People can recoil from talk of God speaking to people because they think this can refer only to God’s audible voice,” said the Blackabys. (Hearing God’s Voice, 6,)

 How do you discern when God is speaking to you?  You need to know God, which “comes through experience as He reveals Himself to you.” (Experiencing God, 57.)  He desires to guide you, have a personal relationship and open communication with you. He is the only One who fully knows you and your needs because He is the only One who is with you twenty-four hours a day seven days a week.

To hear God, we need listen to His Word and open our hearts to what He is saying to us through His Word. If we only listen for what we want to hear or what we want from Him, we will be deaf to what He is saying to us. He makes His presence known to us as we open our heart to Him and listen. Knowing God is a growing experience; it’s a process that comes over time as He reveals Himself and His plans to us and as we share ourselves with Him in return. The Lord gladly guides us and gives us the wisdom to live and be the godly person He desires us to be. But how? That is the question we need to answer.