On Hearing from God

I have heard this statement from a few folks. Point of fact, I have deep concerns regarding people who are called by the Name of Christ who NEVER hear from God.

When I stopped counting I found over 749 times in the Bible where it is said that God, Holy Spirit, or an angel sent by God spoke audibly to a man or woman. Yet at no point in the Word have I found where the practice was ever discontinued. What is required for any statement to be Scriptural? At least two Scriptures taken IN CONTEXT. We step off into dangerous territory when we form doctrine out of our experience or lack of it.

And note that at no time will an angel or anyone purporting to speak as or for God say a word that contradicts Scripture. This is why it is essential that anything heard supernaturally be researched in the Bible to determine whether it truly is of God or a counterfeit from the demonic realm (or something out of your own imagination or a bad pizza).

God does not speak to us by circumstances, as will be verified by at a minimum the Scripture references at the close of this article. If your earthly father or mother sees you walk into the street in front of a bus, they are not speaking to you through your becoming stuff on the pavement. No, THEY spoke to you back at the curb, warning you to look both ways before crossing. You learned something, all right: pay better attention when your parents really ARE talking to you.

We are intelligent beings (despite frequent examples that might lead to a contrary conclusion), given that intelligence by the Creator of everything that is, and who certainly is therefore far more intelligent than any of us. He does not speak to His children by means of grunts or playing Whack-a-Mole with your noggin.

If I fish around for my cell phone between the seats and smack into a semi, that is not God telling me anything. It was my own dummy actions in not focusing on my driving. It also is NOT the perfect will of God for me to become a part of his rear bumper. If I fail to use some sense and ignore warnings, then I fall under His permissive will-- He never forces us to do anything.

The question is not of His speaking to us. Rather it is a matter of our being distracted or simply not listening actively. If you are being led by externals, you are being mis-led. Remember: the devil masquerades as a being of light. He is the god of this world and mimics the Lord in a twisted, perverse way in order to set us off down the slippery slope to destruction.

Natural disasters, despite what the weather prognosticators like to say are NOT "acts of God."

"God said, "Go out and stand in front of the LORD on the mountain." As the LORD was passing by, a fierce wind tore mountains and shattered rocks ahead of the LORD. But the LORD was not in the wind. After the wind came an earthquake. But the LORD wasn't in the earthquake. After the earthquake there was a fire. But the LORD wasn't in the fire. And after the fire there was a quiet, whispering voice. When Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his coat, went out, and stood at the entrance of the cave. Then the voice said to him, "What are you doing here, Elijah?"" ~~ 1 Kings 19:11-13 GW

Additionally, when we are speaking or working against the will of God it is called sin. Sin will serve as a self-erected barrier to our relationship with God. The question becomes: if it seems as though God has become distant from you, guess who moved? It is past time to take our spiritual little finger and through the washing of the Word of God clean out our ears to hear better that still, small voice of love.

Often when we hear the voice of God, He will tell us to do something we never would consider on our own. Why? So that we will not be goofy enough to claim credit for the outcome. He shares the spotlight with no one.

If you are afraid to carry out the action called for, then you are functioning out of fear. Listening to fear and following the leadership of God are incompatible. Fear is a "gift" of the devil. Take the challenge regardless of what you feel inside, and harvest benefits beyond what you could imagine.

Scripture References (including the verses immediately following them): Psalms 23:1; 32:8; John 16:13; 10:1, 14, 16; Acts 8:29; 10:19; 11:12; 13:2; 16:6; 20:22; Romans 8:8; Ephesians 5:17; 1 Timothy 4:1