Monday, November 5, 2007

Hearing from God in the 21st century

Recently I was joking with a friend that I need to sharpen my spiritual ears, that it seems I’m hard of hearing God clearly these days…too many distractions…but seriously, stop and think for a minute, how sharp are your spiritual ears? Do you hear God clearly? You know the lingo.."The Lord said to me..." ..."The Holy Spirit told me..." Ok, let's take this further....do you involve God in your decision making process, big or small? How do you make simple everyday and/or life-changing decisions not explicitly stated in the scriptures? Does God speak to us today outside of His written Word? The choice of where to live, where to work, where to school, who to marry, etc etc…how can you know for sure you’re making the right decisions?

5 comments:

Akin said...

Do I hear God in the ways of the men of old? Apparently not. He has not spoken to me...yet...in any thunderous voice from heaven. I barely remember the dream of last night. I've not heard Him in the wind and neither in an earthquake. I can't remember when last He opened the mouth of an ass (a donkey) to speak to me. But somehow there've been times in my life when a thought will drop in my heart that couldn't have come from anyone else but God. I've had occasions when I'd be looking for a missing item for days and somehow a thought will flash through my mind to go look at a particular spot.....and whala!!!!The stuff is right there.

I don't believe there is a hard and fast rule about how He speaks to the world today.....He is a God that cannot be put in a box. He speaks any which way He chooses. He speaks through events...good or bad. He speaks through nature.....fierce or calm. He speaks through dreams and visions. He speaks all the time through the Scripture....the best and the clearest way He speaks to us today. And well He might speak through a donkey to some of us yet....

How then do you answer the questions: Who, What, Where, When, How? It might simply be by your preferences....those things you love to do or hate to do. If you hate to see people sick, God may be calling you to be a nurse, a doctor, pharmacist, or even into the healing ministry. If you love to talk God may be calling you to be a Preacher, a lawyer....

The preferences we have are not always wrong....as long as they within the boundaries of what the scriptures say...again the good old scriptures. If you prefer a tall man well it may be that's who God has in store for you....If your preference is for a short one like me, that is good as well.

The scriptures say the expectations of our hearts will not be dashed and also that the footsteps of the righteous are guided by the Lord. The Word of God is a lamp unto our feet and a light unto our path....you know the drift....

The most important proof test of all...whether it is God speaking or not...is that whatever you are hearing...note our ears can develop itchiness at times....must conform with God's Word. There is usually a peace and a restfulness that comes with doing, or being in, God's will....and a restlessness that consumes our hearts when we've gone astray.

Like the guy that pumps iron and takes steroids to build his muscles, we can build our own spiritual muscles too by daily feeding upon His Word.....not just the "to fulfil all righteous" type of daily reading we all do. It has to be a much deeper studying of the scriptures. Now the understanding of the scriptures is given by the Holy Spirit.....the Sciptures are inspired of the Holy Spirit and it will require the Holy Spirit to give us the revelations. Unfortunately most of what we know or understand of God's Word are what some else has told us...even when we read it ourselves we fail to still see for ourselves what the Word is saying. We have to pray, pray and pray in order to bring our hearts to a place where the Holy Spirit can begin to breathe upon, and unveil, the scripture to us personally. It is a lifelong commitment. And gradually we find spiritual muscles begin to bulge and our understanding begins to get enlightened.

simplynues said...

Also Aftres, in somes cases we "spiritual people" feel we do not hear God speak because he has not said what we want to hear. If the answer to a certain request is NO then we keep praying and praying and seeking and saying God has not answered when indeed he has... just not what we expected. I have to admit I am guilty of somtimes.
God speaks to us in differnt ways and by different means. Some in dreams... some through experience and trials and tribulations, some through the still gentle voice.

Akin said...

Simplyneus you are absolutely right. We often only hear what we want to hear - consigning sound reasoning to the scrap heap of missed opportunities. This is amply demonstrated in the story of Balaam and his donkey, in Numbers 22 - read the whole chapter and the next. Apart from the rich lessons that can be learned in the chapter, the story itself is quite interesting...a man of God, full of fury, engaged in a debate with an ass....

MSTARDSEED said...

If we were to cut down the clamor of our emotions, our wants, our lusts...

If we were to hush our mind from venturing off to all the how's and when's and what's -- the cares and wears of this world...

If we would just STOP and shut out every other voice murmuring in and around us... especially our own...

We would surely hear THE VOICE of God...

For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ - 2 Corinthians 10:4-5

XtianDoctrine said...

And that's very true. The mind has a way of wandering off tangentially when we pray. I've heard it said, in some christian circles, that yoga may help to keep the mind focussed. Now I don't know about that....that's probably crossing the line into the realm of the occult as far as I know...