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It is notable that Jesus did not
begin His earthly ministry until the Holy Spirit had come upon Him at His
baptism. From that point onwards,
the Holy Spirit led Him. Philippians
2:7, 8 says “When the time came, he set
aside the privileges of deity and took on the status of a slave, became human!
Having become human, he stayed human. It was an incredibly humbling process. He
didn't claim special privileges. Instead, he lived a selfless, obedient life
and then died a selfless, obedient death… (The Message) When
Jesus went to be with His Father after His resurrection, He asked the Father to
send the Holy Spirit to us (John 7:39; 15:26). The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of truth. He leads us into all truth (John 16:13).
He helps us to communicate with the Father (Romans 8:26-27). When we become a Christian, the Holy
Spirit makes our Spirit alive and dwells within us. He awakens within us a God-given ability to hear what the
Father is saying.
So how does God speak to us? Is He limited to speaking through His
Word? Can we learn to recognize
His voice? Does God speak in an
audible voice? Does He speak
through our own thoughts? If so,
how do we distinguish between our own thoughts and what He is saying?
A quick read through the New
Testament shows that the early disciples expected God to speak to them. In Acts 2, Peter knew that what they
were seeing on the Day of Pentecost was a fulfillment of the prophecy in
Joel. How did He know that? In Acts 13, the Holy Spirit spoke to a
group of prophets and teachers and told them to set apart Saul and Barnabas for
a specific work. How did they hear
Him say that?
The majority of Christians here
in the West rarely experience this vibrant and alive walk with Jesus. Most struggle to know when God is
speaking. Probably 90% of us are
not sure if we hear God clearly. We have learned to rely on others hearing
God’s voice for us, whether that is through the Sunday sermon or a Christian
book. And our walk with the Lord
is the poorer for it.
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5 replies on “How Did Jesus Hear God Speak?”
Felicity,
This is such a key question! Every where I go I ask people if they are able to hear God’s voice on a regular basis. The answer from an amazing number of Christians (including leaders) is “no”.
I recently met a Young Life leader from Dallas who mentioned that she was discipling 40 high school girls. I asked her how many of her girls were able to hear God’s voice. With a startled look on her face, she said, “I don’t think any of them”. I had lunch with a Campus Crusade staff member recently and asked the same question. He said that the only time he was sure that he had heard God speak to him was when the Lord told him that he would marry the woman who is now his wife. That was the only time.
Amazing!
My sense is that it’s not that Christians don’t want to hear God. Rather, they have never really thought about it (again, amazing!) or they simply don’t know how.
John is on to something… Most of us don’t know what it means to turn “inward” to fellowship with our Lord there. God is faithful who has called us into the fellowship of His Son.. who dwells in our hearts.. where the the Kingdom of Heaven is.. We have the invitation, the call, from the Father to commune there… but I never heard that for decades of being a Christian. Sure, he speaks through the Bible… and He especially speaks through Christ in our brothers and sisters,.. and elsewhere.. but there is something to getting alone.. getting quiet.. still… and beholding Him.
yes. it is very good.
ive prayed for years on and off i got baptised when i was 12 but i self destructed and have suffered a lot!!! the last few months i have turned to praying a lot very intensely and i always thought god would answer me in an audible voice but 3 weeks ago i was in bed praying if i had made a right choice about cutting a friend completely out of my life will i be ok without her and he took me to memories of my dad who died over a year ago and i was talking to my dad saying.. remember this dad and remember when we did this ect i was crying then laughing and i fell asleep smiling i realised the lord had said u lost your dad u still got all these memories they will always be there but . even tho hes not with you you are ok your doing fine . so with that i took it as he was saying im gonna be fine without this friend , the last 3 weeks since that moment my life has changed i stiil take medication for depression but im out and about doing things with my kids pushing myself to do better i’ve done more in these last three weeks and left the house than i have in the last 6 months .so thats how he spoke to me and i can tell u the next day i shot up i was so excited that he had finally answered me ive never felt that happy in my life lol
I love it! God has obviously met you in a wonderful way. So glad that he’s speaking to you and healing you.