The past few posts have described the different ways that God may speak to us as individuals and some of the criteria we have for evaluating what we have heard.
Other ways in which God may guide include our circumstances. How often God speaks through the situation we may find ourselves in. The apostle Paul ministered in Rome because he was in prison there. An example: recently part of a small group interactive discussion that I was responsible for did not go that well. What was my response to be? I asked the Lord to teach me through what had happened, and He did, showing me how I might have better handled what went on. I could have just lamented the situation, but instead, God turned it into a learning opportunity for me.
God also speaks through His creation. We can learn about His incredible attributes–His majesty, power and glory–through the things He has made (Romans 1:20)
God speaks to those who desire to hear Him. He who has ears to hear, let him hear… The question isn't, "Is God speaking?" The question is, "Are we listening?" and are we open to the different ways He may choose to communicate with us.
In what other ways does God speak to you that have not yet been covered in these blog posts? From here, we will also look at how God speaks to us corporately as His body.
5 replies on “Other ways God speaks”
I appreciate your blogging on this topic. I’ve been pondering a bit on this lately.
Jesus said “No one can just come to me. The Father, who sent me, must bring that person to me, and I will bring that person back to life on the last day. It is written in the Prophets, ‘All will be taught by God.’ So, those who hear from God, and who learn of him come to me. No one has seen the Father, except the one who came from God, He has seen him.” John 6:43-46
I believe God has been showing me that hearing God and doing what he says is one of if not the most important thing in the Word. Im Mark 4, Jesus said take heed how you listen, to him who listens more understanding will be given, but to him who does not listen, even what understanding he has will be taken away. God speaks many different ways and as it says Today , if you hear his voice, don’t turn a deaf ear-MESSAGE. Give us ears to hear you teach us to hear and obey Lord
Stephen and Jim: Great verses to add to the discussion
My experience with Baptist/evangelical theology can best be described as a wild Roller Coaster ride: a lot of great psychological, emotional, and spiritual highs and a lot of deep psychological, emotional, and spiritual lows. Why?
In Baptist/evangelical theology, your Justification and your Sanctification—your essence as a follower of Christ…if you boil it all down…is really dependent on you and your feelings. Your salvation is dependent on you performing an action; a deed; a good deed: making a mature, informed, decision; the correct decision… for Christ. And your assurance of salvation is based on you maintaining a sufficient level of “feeling Christ’s presence within you” to confirm that your previous “decision for Christ” was done correctly and sincerely. Why else would so many Baptists and evangelicals report having multiple “born again” experiences?
Do I feel saved? Do I feel I really repented in my born again experience? Do I feel that I truly had faith when I made a decision for Christ; when I prayed a version of the Sinner’s Prayer? If I am really saved, why do I feel at times that my faith is so weak? Maybe I need to do the born again experience again; maybe I need to pray the Sinner’s Prayer again, just to be 100% sure that I am saved. I want to know without any doubt that I am saved, and if I do not feel saved, I begin to doubt my salvation.
Baptist/evangelical theology tells me that I will always feel Christ’s presence and strength inside me…if I am a true believer. But what if I don’t feel him there sometimes? If it is true that I should always be able to hear God speak to me, in an inner voice or feel his inner presence move me/lead me to do his will, what is going on when I don’t hear anything or feel anything? Have I committed some unknown sin and he is refusing to hear me? Or is the reason that I don’t hear or feel him present within me… is because I’m not really saved!
I was so incredibly happy to find orthodox (confessional) Lutheranism and find out that my feelings have nothing to do with my Justification, my salvation, or with my Sanctification, my walk with my Savior and Lord! My salvation was accomplished 100% by God. He placed the free gift of salvation in my “lap” before I even considered asking for it. He wrapped me in the “blanket” of salvation without my assistance. I am God’s by his choice, not mine!
http://www.lutherwasnotbornagain.com/2013/09/is-jesus-your-friend-or-your-king.html
Growing up fundamentalist/evangelical, I was told that as a born-again Christian God would “speak to me”, “move me”, and “lead me” so that I would know and could follow his will. I listened to others talk about how God spoke to them, moved them, and led them to do this and to do that…but He never did the same for me. I finally came to the conclusion that there must be something wrong with me because God had decided he didn’t want to talk to me. So I left the Church.
Many years later I became an orthodox Lutheran and was told that God doesn’t work like that. The evangelicals are wrong. The voice they are listening to is their own. According to “true” Christianity, God speaks to Christians in only one manner: through his Word, the Bible.
That gave me a lot of peace…until I found out that the “Word” is full of discrepancies, errors, and scribe alterations. The Bible was not written by an all-knowing god.
I was very sad (and angry) to find out—it is ALL nonsense.
So what about my problem of not hearing the “voice” that other evangelicals were hearing speak, move, and lead them? After deconverting completely from Christianity, I came to realize that it was THEM, not me, that had the problem. They were hearing voices. I was the sane one…who did not.