INTRODUCTION: The reality of the new creation man is that God speaks to him or her every day. The challenge however, is that how can we actually know that the voice we hear is God’s voice. This question is what would make us examine why and how God speaks and guides. To this end, we shall look at some reasons why God speaks to us and several ways he speaks and guides us. Then we shall examine how to hear when God speaks and know that this is the voice of God.
Four reasons why God speaks to us:
1. He has mouth and can speak. In fact he created our mouths to be able to speak.
2. Speaking to us is the means by which He guides us in life to protect us from destruction and cause us to walk in the way of righteousness - Job.33:14-18
3. He wants to instruct us and He does so by speaking to us. Ps.32:8
4. His wisdom, knowledge and understanding are communicated to us by the vehicle of His words which He speaks to us – Prov.2:6
HOW GOD SPEAKS AND GUIDES
1. Through the audible voice – 1Sam.3:1-10; Acts9:1-7
2. Through the inward witness or inner perception – Rm.8:16; Acts27:10.
3. Through dreams or visions of the night – Dan.2:19; Job33:14-16
4. Through trance – Acts10:1-6; 22:17-19.
5. Through open visions – Acts10:10; Lk.1:8-12
6. Through the bible which is the written word of God – Isa.8:20; 1Jn.5:7-8.
7. Through circumstances - 1Sam.14:6-15;
8. Through preaching and teaching the word - Isa.30:20-21
9. Through prophecies - 2Chron.20:13-17; Acts 11:28; 21:10-11
10.Through angels - Mat.1:20; Judges 6:11-21
HOW TO KNOW THE VOICE IS GOD’.
1. The voice of God carries peace with it – Phil. 4:6-7, Ps.85:8.
2. The voice of God agrees with the principles of the Bible – Isa.8:20; Jer.23:25-26.
3. The voice of the Lord does not encourage hastiness – Isa.28:16; Heb.6:12
4. The voice of the Lord does not release fear but faith in your heart – Rm.10:17; 1Jn.4:18.
HOW TO RECEIVE GOD’S DIRECTION FOR OUR LIVES
We shall examine four steps we must take to receive the voice of God. Hab.2:1-3
1. Stillness - This means to be quiet in your heart and allow God's voice to come in through your spirit because the bible says in Rm.8:14 & 16 that the Holy Spirit will communicate to us through our spirits. God is Spirit and man is also spirit so Spirit communicates with spirit. See Jn.4:23-24.
2. Vision: Each time God speaks to you, you can easily envision what he says as his words would paint a picture in the canvass of your mind. Vision enhances your faith because you can only receive what you can see with the eyes of faith. The importance of vision cannot be overemphasised. In fact, in Gen.15, God had to cause Abraham to come out of his tent to count the stars in the sky to enable him visualize the multitude of children he was going to give him before Abraham then Abram could beleive and could be regarded as righteous. In fact, to emphasize this, God also told him to envision the sand on the sea shore and of course we all know that they are uncountable and he told him that his children would be that many. I dont know what you have believed God for this year, but if you can just envision it, it would be yours. Remember, that in Gen.11:1-10, God had to confuse the language of men because of this same principle that nothing shall be restrained from them whic they have imagined to do. Note that vision is the same as imagination.
3. Spontaneity: When the Holy Spirit communicates with your spirit, you become aware of this through a spontaneous flow of thoughts that come into your mind beyond your control. Remember the bible makes us understand that thoughts are not original with us. You take thoughts. Jesus said in Matt.6:25 & 31 that thoughts are taken. This is why mind renewal is very important. When you renew your mind by replacing your carnal thinking with Godly thinking through the word of God, then you can easily tell when a thought from the Spirit of God is flowing into your mind. Note that these thoughts will never contradict the principles of scriptures.
4. Journaling: As you receive this flow from the Spirit of God, take a pen and paper and just write what you receive. This is the means by which David wrote many of the Psalms that we still enjoy till today. In fact, he gave some very powerful word of wisdom about the Messiah which came to pass hundreds of years later. See 1Chron.28:19 where David said that the plan for the Temple of God was delivered to him by writing by the hand of God that was upon him. Also, the prophet Jerimiah had to also employ journaling to compile the word of the Lord for others to be able to read. See Jer.36:1-32. In Hab.2:2 we are told to write the vision and make it plain on tables that he may run that reads it. So it is important that we write what God tells us especially when it has to do with the future because it will surely come to pass.
BELOW IS A WORD OF PROPHECY THAT CAME IN THE COURSE OF THIS TEACHING:
"A new day has dawned for you because you have obeyed me in spite of all odds I will cause my voice to be heard in all the nations of the world through what we have done here tonight. Remember that through the voice of the Lord shall the Assyrian be beaten down who smote with a rod. I am your God and there is no one who put their confidence in me who shall be disappointed. I do not relate by the ways of men for my ways are higher and my thoughts are higher. I will be exalted in the earth I will be exalted among the heathen because of the trumpet I shall sound by you in a short while. This is my mind for all my own."
No comments:
Post a Comment