How would you feel if your spouse, whom you see every day, did not speak with you? You would feel neglected and you would think that something is wrong. You would ask your spouse if he is fine, wouldn’t you? When we are in relationship with people, be it with our children, our friends, or our co-workers, we talk with them. One of the most significant ways that we communicate is by talking. When we talk with each other we are able to express how we feel. We can ask for what we need. We can open up our hurts. We can offer our help. We can communicate.
Does God still talk with His people today? Some Bible scholars limit God’s talking to canonical revelation, while others see God’s communication as continuing but never conflicting with canonical revelation. Scripture supercedes all and God will never tell you to do something that is in conflict with Scripture. He is not the author of confusion (1 Cor 14:33) and He is not in conflict with Himself.
The written Word (logos) is what we read, what we treasure, what we follow. It is the Christian’s guidebook for living effectively on earth, and at the same time, it offers a glimpse into our eschatological future. It tells us what we need to know to please God and what we can look forward to when He returns. It is inspired. It is true. More than enough manuscripts have been found to validate its authenticity. It addresses issues we face today: people skills, making right choices, loving others, pursuing and maintaining peace, justice, freedom, and stewardship. Scripture is inspired (because God empowered the individual writers to craft each book the way He wanted it done). We can trust it and we stake our claim on it. We desire to live according to it (even when we fail), and we use it to validate our integrity.
We are able to love because the Bible tells us to love. We forgive because God forgives us. We pray because Jesus prayed. We look out for the poor because Scripture dictates that we do. We give because God is a model-giver. He gives only the very best, the ultimate gift being Jesus Christ. We enjoy giving because the love we experience when we come to God propels us to give. Giving becomes part of our living. We are changed and transformed as we come to know Christ and follow Him day by day. He supplies what we need and we trust Him to reveal Himself to us.
He reveals Himself through Scripture but also through our times of communication (prayer). God works through the Holy Spirit to impress things on our heart. He will place a burden (deep concern) about a particular matter/person on your heart because He wants to use you to positively affect the people involved. God sits enthroned above (Ps 103:19) but He uses us to do His will. He is sufficient in Himself and does not need anyone to exist (because He created us) but in His design, He had always planned for us to be a part of whatever He does. He did not create us to be puppets. We can make our own choices and we have to decide if we want to join in God’s program.
When we accept Christ, we in essence tell God know that we are available for His service. We join in His plan for our life and we abandon our own plans. We turn over the entitlement to ourselves to Him. He responds by showing us how He wants to transform us and use us so that we may be better than we were. No one who has ever come into relationship with Christ can ever attest that his latter state was worse than his former. Coming to know the Lord is like stepping into the shower after a long day of yard work. You get cleaned up. He is the master cleaner and He knows exactly what you need. It’s like going to the spa for a day. You go there to be rejuvenated and refined. You get scrubbed, exfoliated, detoxified, and hydrated. You leave relaxed and refreshed. There’s nothing like it! In the same way, when you come to know Christ He cleans you up from the inside out-but it takes years, not just a day, to get the process done.
Imagine that you would say yes to God but never hear Him speak to your heart. You would feel like something is missing in your relationship. You would feel forlorn and somewhat disillusioned, as you would not know how to proceed in some areas of your own life. While Scripture has all you need in areas of right and wrong, there are times when you have to make personal decisions and you want God to speak to your situation. You want a rhema (spoken) word-a now word for what you need. You want to choose the best out of the good choices that are available. It is at times like those that God speaks. When your heart pursues His and you want to do His will, He does speak. God will even speak to you when you are out of fellowship with Him-because He wants you back into relationship. The problems is that most out-of-fellowship people are not listening to God and may not want to hear what He has to say.
We are in relationship with God and He has something to say to us. He wants to use you to bless someone, help someone, or encourage someone. He wants to use you to effect change in another. There are countless times when the Holy Spirit impresses things on my heart and when I obey I find that God was really at work. He may tell me to give some money to someone and then she will tell me how desperately she needed it. This has happened on countless occasions and I feel so blessed when I know that I am hearing from God, obeying Him, and following His will for my life. God will often confirm what He is telling you to do. Each time God speaks to you about something and you obey Him, you are building your faith muscles, and there will come a time when you will not need Him confirm what He told you. You will know His voice. There are times when God speaks to me to pray for someone and I just do it. I do not get a confirmation from that person because she is unaware that I have prayed. I do not need to have her validate that she needed prayer. I know that it is the voice of God that is telling me to pray. I have been walking with Him for a while so I know when He tells me to pray, it is serious business. While I do not always obey in His timing (sometimes I delay), I am learning that I need to move in God’s timing and not be afraid to step out by faith in Him. When God tells us to do something we must listen and obey. God wants us in our entirety (nothing held back) and He wants to talk with us all the time. Let us listen for His voice and follow where He leads. He is the Good Shepherd (John 10:1-18) and we are His sheep, so we will follow Him and we know that He only leads us into triumph.
Recommended reading:
Experiencing God by Henry & Richard Blackaby
Prayer for the week:
Dear Lord, thank you for being so kind to us. We are completely lost without you. Our sight is limited and our insight small unless you lead us. We want to hear your voice, heed your requests and follow you. May we never feel as though you have abandoned us because your Word says you will never leave us nor forsake us (Heb 13:5). We believe you Lord and we trust you. Help us to trust you more deeply and deepen our love for You. We want You more than we want air. You are everything we need and all we really need is you, so help us to trust and love You as You open our eyes to your love for us. Thank you Lord. We pray this in the mighty, powerful name of Jesus the risen Christ.