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All of you that believe that God still speaks to us today, raise your hands. Hmm… Perhaps that wasn’t such a good idea since I can’t see if your hands are raised.
I’m not talking about an audible voice or that kind of speaking, but all Christians should believe that God still speaks today (after all, Jesus is called the Word) so here are four ways Christ speaks to us today:
The Bible
The Holy Spirit takes the written Word of God and applies it to our lives.
This looks something like this:
- You read the Word of God- the Bible.
- The Spirit of Truth takes the Word of God and reveals truth.
- You adjust your life to the truth of God.
- You obey Him.
- God works in and through you to accomplish His purposes.
One of the Holy Spirit’s key jobs is to bring to remembrance what Christ has told us. To do that, He can use the Word of God, or He can also use…
Prayer
We know that the Holy Spirit prays for us, because we don’t know what we should pray for as we ought. But how does this work?
- God takes the initiative by causing you to want to pray.
- The Holy Spirit takes the Word of God and reveals to you the will of God.
- In the Spirit you pray in agreement with the will of God.
- You adjust your life to the truth (to God).
- You look and listen for confirmation or further direction from the Bible, circumstances, and the church (other believers).
- You obey.
- God works in you and through you to accomplish His purposes.
- You experience Him just as the Spirit revealed as you prayed.
The other two ways are not as easy to discern:
Circumstances
Circumstances are a little harder, because they include the whole “Was this from God or Satan” aspect. The rule of thumb here is to always compare your experience with Scripture.
We cannot know the truth of our circumstances, until you have heard from God. God had to explain to Moses Pharaoh’s resistance so that Moses understood the circumstances.
Jesus was in the back of the boat, the disciples in the front. The truth for them was that they were perishing. But Truth was in the back of the boat. He told them the truth of their situation was that He was in control.
Our situation may look puzzling, but if we look to God and seek His perspective we will get the Truth of the situation.
In order for us to know whether circumstances are a part of God’s work, we need to know what God has been doing in our lives. We can see Him at work through past decisions, through previous calls or through a time of transition, decision or direction where we knew God’s leading.
The Church
We’ll cover this more in a series I’m spinning off about the The Health of the Body of Christ, but let this whet your appetite:
Apart from the body, you cannot know God’s will for your relationship to the body. Every member needs to be listening to what the other members are saying. If the members are not talking about what they sense God is doing, the whole body is in trouble.
What you do says more about what you believe about God than what you say.
Raising my hand! I think the most important thing for me is to remember is to pray before consulting His Word, asking Him to speak to me. It is so easy to crack open the Bible and find a verse that seems to justify whatever I want to hear, but that is a dangerous game. When we approach Him first, and ask for His guidance, not only does it show reverence, it also opens our hearts and minds up to hear something that may surprise us. Great post, M!
Alicias last blog post..Things are weighing heavily on my mind…
@Alicia: It reminds me of the old guy that thought the Bible told him to commit suicide. He opened up to the part that said, “And Judas went out and hanged himself,” then flipped and found, “go and do thou likewise.”
A lot of the “problems” of Scripture result from us coming at the Bible without the aid of the Holy Spirit, and with the wrong focus.
You’re right, Alicia. We need to hear from Him. This may require a lot of work, but only then will we know what He expects from us.