| GOD SPEAK TO YOU AND ME : |
It
is clear from reading the Bible that God speaks
to His people. He spoke to Adam and Eve in Geneses.
He spoke to Abraham and the other patriarchs.
God spoke to the Judges, Kings, and Prophets.
God was in Jesus Christ speaking to the disciples.
God spoke to the early Church.
God can Speak to you..
The fact that God did speak to people is far
more important than the way He did it. We learn
from numerous Bible examples that when God spoke,
the person knew it was God; and they knew what
God was saying.
Today, God speaks to us by the Holy
Spirit. The Holy Spirit uses 4 main ways to
speak to us.
 The Bible,
Prayer,
Circumstances &
Other Believers
| God's
Speak to you through the bible : |
When the Holy
Spirit reveals a spiritual truth from the
Bible, this is God speaking to you personally.
The sequence is this:
You read the Bible.
The Holy Spirit reveals truth to you.
You adjust your life to this truth.
You obey this truth.
God works in and through you to accomplish
His purpose.
| God's
Speak to you through the prayer : |
When the Holy
Spirit reveals a spiritual truth to you in
prayer, this is God speaking to you personally.
The sequence is this:
God takes the initiative by causing
you to want to pray.
The Holy Spirit reveals to you the will
of God.
In the Spirit, you pray in agreement
with the will of God.
You adjust your life to this.
You look and listen for confirmation
or further direction from the Bible,
circumstances, and from other Christians.
You obey.
God works in and through you to accomplish
His purpose.
You
do not have to enter prayer alone.
Jesus and the Holy Spirit are with
you. The Holy Spirit helps you know
what to pray and how to pray. He guides
your praying according to the will
of God. He already knows what God
wants to do. His job is to guide your
prayers in that direction.
Prayer is taking
our troubles to God - Faith is leaving
them there.
| God's
Speak to you through the circumstances : |
Our
experiences by themselves cannot be our
guide. Every experience must be controlled
and understood by the Scriptures. Seeking
to know God’s will based on your
circumstances alone can be misleading.
This should be your guideline:
Always go back to the Bible to see how
God works. Then you can depend on God
working in a similar way with you. Your
experience is valid only as it is confirmed
in the Scriptures. We should never deny
any experience that a person has, but
we should always interpret it according
to what we understand in the Scriptures.
The Bible is our guide. Whenever you find
yourself in difficult or confusing circumstances,
go to prayer and to the Bible in order
to get God’s perspective. You cannot
know the truth of any circumstance until
you have heard from God.
| God's Speak
to you through the church : |
Suppose
the eye could say to the body, “Let
us walk down these train tracks. The way
is clear. Not a train is in sight.” So the body starts down the
tracks.
Then
the ear says, “I
hear a whistle coming from the other direction.”
The eye argues, “But nothing is on
the track as far as I can see. Let us keep
walking.” The body listens only to
the eye and keeps on walking.
Soon
the ear says, “That
whistle is getting louder and closer!”
Then the feet say: “I feel rumbling
motion of a train coming. We better get
our body off these tracks!” If this
were your body, what would you do? Well,
you would get off the train tracks as soon
as you could.
This
illustrates that God gave our bodies many
different senses and parts. When each part
does its job, the whole body works the way
it should. Because a Church is the body
of Christ, it functions best when all members
are able to share what they sense God wants.
Other Christians can help you know God’s
will. You must interact with them if you
and the body are to function correctly.
God will
speak through other Christians to help you
know what work you are to do for Him. Do
not isolate yourself from them.
The method
however is not the key to knowing God’s
voice. The key is having an intimate love
relationship with God. When you have that,
no matter how God speaks, you will know
you have heard from him. There will be no
doubt in your mind. Jesus compared the relationship
He has with His followers to the relationship
a shepherd has with his sheep. Jesus said:
The sheep hear his voice... The sheep follow
him, for they know his voice. - John 10:2-4.
In just
this same way, when God speaks to you, you
will hear His voice, you will know His voice,
and you will follow Him.
When
God speaks to you, it is for a purpose.
He will be working in you to develop your
character for the assignment He has for
you. Let God take all the time He needs
to prepare you. Do not try to rush God.
God reveals
Himself to increase our faith in Him. This
faith will lead to our taking action. This
is not easy for us to do...in fact; it will
cause a big change in our thinking and behavior.
Many of us want God to speak to us and give
us an assignment. However, we are not interested
in making any major adjustments in our lives.
Biblically, that is impossible. Every time
God spoke to people in the Bible about something
that He wanted to do through them, they
had to adjust their lives to God. Only after
the adjustments were made, did God accomplish
His purposes through them.
| Think
about the changes, the major adjustments,
in your life that the following steps
would cause: |
You will have to believe God is
who He says He is.
You will have to believe God can
do what He says He will do.
You will have to adjust your thinking
and actions in light of this belief.
You will have to trust God to
show Himself to be who He says
He is.
You will have to obey Him.
The
wonderful results of you making
these changes are:
When you obey, God works through
you so you will know that He
is who He says He is.
You will know God through experience.
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