How God Spoke to Us

“It is crucial that Christians clearly understand what God is communicating to them and know how to respond appropriately. The question, then, is not whether God speaks to his people but how he does so. (Hearing God’s Voice, 17)

“God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son . . .” (Heb. 1:1-2 ESV).

God spoke to people in the Bible to reveal Himself, His plans, and His purposes for them. He spoke by many different means, including angels, burning bush, casting lots, creation, donkey, dreams, fasting, God the Father, Holy Spirit, Jesus, miracles, people, prayer, preachers, prophets, Scripture, signs, wonders, and visions.

Henry and Richard Blackaby said, “Some may see the concept of God speaking today as a threat to the Bible’s authority. Is the Bible the only means God has at his disposal for speaking to people?  . . . While there certainly have been abuses by some who claimed to hear from God in nonbiblical ways, does that discount the legitimate avenues through which God speaks? While the Bible is God’s definitive, authoritative word to us, is God not capable of applying that word to our lives in numerous ways? (Hearing God’s Voice, 6.)

The Spirit of God daily speaks to us. He impresses upon our hearts and minds what He desires that we do and the attitudes we should have. He seems to speak to me through His Word, other devotional readings, friends, family, in prayer and worship services, and strong, but quiet impressions and urgings.

God simply speaks to us in very ordinary ways about very normal living experiences. In Numbers 27, we see how God instructed Moses on some very practical matters. As the people of Israel were entering the Promised Land, Moses distributed land to the different tribes. The daughters of Zelophehad could not inherit land because it was only passed on to sons and there were none. They asked Moses to give them property among their relatives.

“Moses brought their case before the LORD. And the LORD said to Moses, The daughters of Zelophehad are right. You shall give them possession of an inheritance among their father’s brothers and transfer the inheritance of their father to them’” (Num. 27:5-7 ESV).

When God speaks to us He has a specific purpose, a lesson He desires us to learn, a truth He desires us to grasp. He has a plan that He will accomplish and knows our present and future needs and guides us accordingly.

Once God speaks to us about what He desires of us, His Spirit will guide us throughout the process. He doesn’t tell us everything all at once. He prepares us for what He desires to do, and then takes us through a process as He reveals His purposes and plans a step at a time. What seemed to be God’s plan in the beginning may turn out entirely different than we expected or could imagine, which has happened to us time and again. 

Before we moved to Santa Maria, the Lord began impressing upon our heart that is what we were to do. I desperately wanted to leave Garden Grove, because our neighborhood had turned into a high crime area, and wanted to move to a quieter area. Our sons also wanted us to make the move near them and urged us to do so as soon as my husband Ron retired. Over the next five years, I wasn’t sure if this was God’s will or my own, but the desire to move grew more urgent.

God began to reveal His will to us as I applied for a part time job at the community college in Santa Maria and was hired to teach English as a second language. We sold our house in Garden Grove, or so we thought, and I came to Santa Maria to begin teaching while Ron retired and finished his last six months of work. Then the sale of our house fell through. Were we making the right decision? Had God spoken to us or were we just desperate to move?

Finally, the house sold and closed escrow, but the job Ron thought he had did not come through. I began to worry again, but in two weeks he found another job. Later, our youngest son and his wife bought a home three doors away from us. We weren't sure that being so close would be ideal, but we would soon realized why God had provided them with a home nearby.

Ron and I had settled into our local church, and I expected that we would have a nice leisurely retirement. I could spend time with friends, write, sew, and do pretty much what I pleased. But that wasn’t God’s plan.

Ron suddenly went blind while driving. He made it safely home but never drove again. Our lives were turned upside down, and we were faced with hard adjustments. Having our son so close has been incredibly helpful, and I don’t know how I would have made it without him. Then he and his wife adopted three girls.  The journey through the adoption process was a six and a half year ordeal. They had seven children until they finally were able to adopt an infant girl and later two sisters. We have had the joy of  helping our son and his wife through the adoption process and taking care of the girls.

I can see God’s plan now, but would never have dreamed that when we felt so urgent to come to Santa Maria what we would be facing. God already knew our future and all of our needs, and He spoke to our hearts and prompted us to make the move.

 

 

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.

 

 

Introduction: Struggles with Prayer

Soon after my husband Ron suddenly lost his eyesight we went to the Braille Institute, which offers many helpful services for blind people. I was trying to lead him by the hand into the building.

The changing shadows and the rough and smooth textured sidewalks frightened him, certain I was leading him into an obstacle he would trip over.

I kept saying, “Trust me. Just trust me.”

But he was terrified as we walked from the sunlight into the shadows, and from darkness back into the light again. I kept reassuring him, “The sidewalk is clear.”

He still didn’t believe me, and I couldn’t understand why he didn’t trust me to safely guide him.

As we inched our way into one of the rooms, both of us feeling forlorn and frightened, Pablo, one of the employees introduced himself and said, “Let me show you how to guide him.”

Pablo told us about his grandmother who was blind as he showed me that Ron needed to hold onto my arm instead of trying to pull him along by the hand as I was doing.

When it comes to prayer, do you ever have problems trusting God to safely guide you? Do you feel as if you are stumbling into obstacles? Do you struggle knowing how to pray or you think your faith is weak? Are you afraid to trust God to guide you through the dark places?

I’ve been a Christian for fifty-two years, but I sometimes feel blind and lost. I still struggle with doubt and trusting the Lord. I don’t see how He will guide us when so many obstacles block the pathway ahead of us.

I also struggle with prayerlessness. During my devotions, I pray as I read. But I don’t pray using a list of requests. Some days, I am in an attitude of prayer and constantly seek the Lord’s guidance and intercede for others as I am working. I pray as the Lord brings people to mind, which He often does. Other days hours slip by without praying. I don’t pray as much as I should for our church or missions or the needs of the world at large.

I also struggle with feelings of spiritual failure when I read books about the kind of prayer-life I should have. Some books on prayer claim spectacular answers, numbers of people saved, great financial and personal successes, phenomenal church growth. The bigger the answers the better our prayer-life others seem to say, which only makes me question if my faith is weak.

When I read the lists of sins that prevent God from answering prayer I feel even more defeated. I am left with the impression that none of my prayers will be answered unless I am a sin-free saint. Until I conquer all the sins in my life, the Lord can’t or won’t respond to my requests.

I struggle with questions about prayer. What about Christians who have seen many ordinary answers to prayer but have been waiting for years to see their most important requests fulfilled? Waiting can break your heart. And what about prayers that were answered with a resounding, “No”? We question, what’s wrong with us and our faith that we don’t see the same kinds of spectacular “yes” answers as claimed in books or testimonies?

Many Christians struggle with prayer because they are told they should make specific requests or their prayers won’t be answered. But they honestly don’t know what to ask of the Lord.

We struggle with hindrances to prayer. Our fast-paced life is one. Our society places a high value on work productivity and instantaneous results. We must get the job done and it must be done now. Our jobs become all consuming, so we don’t feel we have time to pray.

We highly value personal rights and pleasures that consume our lives and keep us from prayer. Television also leaves us with the false impression that solutions are found and problems solved in thirty to sixty minutes. But the answers we desperately need may not come easily or quickly.

Moreover, prayer may seem like a waste of time considering medicine, science, technology, and even the internet that we can rely on for answers to solve problems. Why pray when we have so many resources to help us?

Others question that prayer works because they feel God has abandoned them as Job did when he prayed, “I cry out to you, O God, but you do not answer; I stand up, but you merely look at me” (Job 30:20). Still others are convinced that the Lord cannot forgive their sins or they’re not worthy enough for Him to answer.

We may feel as if God is deaf to our pleas, has hidden his face from us, or even rejected us (Ps. 39:12, 88:14). When heartaches become worse, we become disappointed in God and can’t understand where He is or why He doesn’t intervene. We also feel guilty because we’re so quick to pray in an emergency and so slow to pray when all is well.

We feel ashamed that we haven’t been praying as we should or hard enough or with enough faith. We may think that if we were a better Christian and had a powerful prayer-life this tragedy wouldn’t have happened to us.

So the cycle of guilt and failure about prayer continues. That’s certainly been true of me. But I am convinced that I am not alone in my struggles. One of the best-kept secrets among Christians is our sense of failure about prayer.

I can hear a vast array of Christians breathing a collective sigh relief that someone has said what we could never say aloud. We feel as if we’re the only ones who are poor pray-ers. If we ever admitted our feelings of inadequacy about prayer, we fear more pious Christians’d criticize us, or we don’t want others to think that we’re not as good or spiritual as we appear to be. We’d like to have a better prayer-life, but the fact is we don’t. That’s reality!

If you can relate to the struggles I have in praying, then you may find hope here. I’ve discovered that prayer is so much more than talking to God, asking and trusting Him to meet my needs. I have been greatly encouraged as I have discovered God’s role in prayer, the Spirit’s help in prayer, and how Jesus prays for us.

I have come to realize that I cannot maintain a prayer-life on my own. God initiates and sustains prayer. It’s is a “full circle of communication.” (Walter Wangerin, 41). Prayer is an ongoing dialogue between God and His beloved friends.

Once we realize that God initiates communication with us, we won’t be so discouraged by feelings of inadequacy about our prayer-life. We will be built up in our faith as we rely on His Spirit to pray with and for us.