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Acknowledgements

Contributing Resources: GodSpeak International

Christian International Network of Prophetic Ministries

Contributing Authors: Donna Cox, Gary Cox, Jane Fitz-Gibbon, Sally Miller, Ira Milligan, Chris Poole, Teresa Seputis, David White, Jim Wies
Editor: Al Vesper

Is God still speaking today?

Many of us have preconceived ideas about God. Many Christians believe that God only speaks to us through His Word. Others believe it is totally abnormal to hear God's voice. Still others believe we must be very devout Christians before we can hear from Him. These preconceived notions are simply that -- preconceived notions which do not reflect God's reality.

Our God is a communicating God and He wants to communicate with us. In fact, He specifically created us with ears to hear His voice (Proverbs 20:12).

It should be normal for us to hear His voice on a daily basis. In fact, it is actually abnormal NOT to hear His voice. (Some of us have been living in the abnormal for so long that we don't even realize it's abnormal any more...) It is time to stop and take a "reality check" with what God says about this:

In John 10:27, Jesus says "My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me."

Are you one of Jesus' sheep? (e.g., have you been redeemed by the Lamb and entered into a personal relationship with God through Christ?) You have? Good! Then know from John 10:27 that Jesus expects to speak to you and it is normal for you to hear His voice.

"But", you might ask, "What about being deserving? Is there something we are required to do before we can hear God's voice? Do we have to earn it?"

Scripture indicates clearly that this is NOT the case. God created Adam and Eve and communed daily with them. Then they disobeyed God regarding the forbidden fruit. They entered into sin and therefore became separated from God. Yet, even in this separated state, and through no merit of their own, Adam and Eve heard God's voice:

"And they heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day; and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God amongst the trees of the Garden." (Gen 3:8).

From this, we see that ability to hear from God doesn't depend upon how holy we are -- Adam and Eve were very far from holy at that moment.. they were ashamed and very much aware of their guilt, which is why they choose to hide. God already knew they'd sinned, yet He came to them and spoke to them.. and they heard His voice! They did not "earn" the right to hear God.. God wanted to communicate with them; even after they'd "let Him down."

It is true that the effects of sin (unforgiveness, guilt, bitterness and a hardened heart) can hinder us from listening to God... we might choose to not listen to Him, but He still chooses to speak to us. Our ability to hear God is NOT based on our being righteous, but rather on God loving us and desiring to be heard so badly that He created us with "ears to hear" His voice. Yes, God wants to communicate with us. If we desire to listen to Him, He will speak to us - frequently and in a variety of ways. Just as God desired to dialog with the fallen Adam and Eve (Gen 3:10-13), He desires to dialog with us today.. even at those moments when we feel "far from perfect".

We can better understand this by thinking of God in His role as a loving father. A loving father is one who seeks to establish an intimate, ongoing, personal relationship with His children. He doesn't stop talking to them when they are imperfect. Instead, He reaches out to help them in their time of need, to offer His support. Unfortunately, just like children who think "we know best", we may become insensitive to His voice by refusing to listen. When this happens we are guilty of hindering our own ability to hear God's voice. Nevertheless, God will continue to communicate with us because He loves us and wants us to know Him.

The Bible, both the Old and New Testament, is filled with illustrations of God's desire to speak to us whether we are righteous or unrighteous. Here are a few cases where God spoke to His children or to others about His children: Adam and Eve (Genesis 2:16; 3:8,10,13,17), Cain (Genesis 4:6,7,9-12,15), Enoch (Genesis 5:24), Noah (Genesis 6:13; 7:1; 8:15-17; 9:1, 17), Abraham (Genesis 21:1,4,7; 13:14; 15:1-9, 18; 17:1-3,9,15,18,19 ,22; 18:1,13,17,20 ; 20:3-7; 21:12,13; 22:1, 2, 15-18), Hagar Genesis 16:7-13; 21:17,18), Rebekah (Genesis 25:23), Isaac (Genesis 26:2, 24), Jacob (Genesis 28:13; 31:3,11-13; 35:1,10,11,15 ), Laban (Genesis 31:24,29), Pharaoh (Genesis 41:28), Israel (Genesis 46:2), Joseph (Genesis 37:5), Moses (Exodus 3:14), Joshua (Joshua 5:14,15), Samuel (I Samuel 3:10-14), David (I Samuel 23:2), Solomon (I Kings 3:5), Job (Job 38), Balaam (Numbers 22:12, 35), Elijah (I Kings 19:12,13), Joseph (Matthew 1:20,21), Pilate's wife (Matthew 27:19), Peter (Acts 10:3,13), Paul (Acts 9:3,4; 27:23,24) and John (Revelation 1:10).

There are many different ways that God speaks to us today. He is constantly communicating with us. He frequently talks to those of His children who don't think they know how to hear His voice. Here are a few ways He does it:

The Bible

The most obvious way, of course, is the Bible. The Bible is the word of God and He speaks to us constantly through it today. The Bible is complete in and of its own self, the Logos or the literal word of God. We accept the Bible as authoritative, and it is the standard by which we are to judge all things. We know that God does not change (Mal 3:6) and that "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever" (Heb 13:8). So we can be assured that God would not say something in the Bible and then change His mind about it. He is not fickle. Thus we can use the Bible as our measuring rod.. any experience, prophecy or "revelation" which contradicts scripture is not of God and is to be rejected.. period.

The Bible teaches us of God's nature and character, and the better we get to know Him and what He is like, the easier it will be for us to hear and recognize His voice as He speaks to us.

The Holy Spirit resides in us and part of His job is to teach us all truth and communicate God's heart to us (John 14:26). A lot of times, especially when we are first learning to hear God's voice, the Holy Spirit will speak to us through scripture. He will quicken a verse of a passage to us. It will seem to jump out at us and come alive and suddenly we understand it in ways that we did not understand it before.

Repetition

The Holy Spirit may communicate something to us through repetition. The best way to explain this is through an example:

One morning you read a verse that grabs your attention and addresses a situation you've been praying about. Then as you drive to work, a song comes on the radio which has phrases from that verse in it. Then near the end of your work day, a friend calls you. During the course of the conversation, your friend brings up that same verse. On your way home from work, your eye catches a billboard with a phrase that reminds you of the verse. You get home to find your spouse's Bible open.. to that same verse! You begin to get the idea that maybe God is trying to tell you something ... and He probably is!

Divine Coincidence

Divine coincidence is another way that God speaks to His children today. Things "just happen" at the right time and we almost "accidentally" fall into God's plan and purposes. An example might be that you begin to think of a friend you haven't seen in 5 years and remember an experience you had together. It seems to jump to the forefront of your mind so strongly that you can't help but say a prayer for the person. Then that evening you bump into them while waiting for your table in the lobby of a crowded restaurant. You start to reminisce together and you mention how you were just thinking of and praying for them earlier today. Your friend is moved by that, and begins to share a recent struggle with you. The next thing you know, you've just explained that God is the answer and they're seriously considering Christ. After all of that, you realize it was not merely a coincidence that you "happened" to think of that person this morning... You recognize God must have had a hand in this.

God will often orchestrate a series of coincidences in our lives to help steer us into the center of His will for us.

Object Lessons

God will sometimes call our attention to something in the natural and use it to give us an understanding of a spiritual truth. For instance, you might be gardening and notice a hedge that runs along the side of your yard. The portion of it that is exposed to direct sunlight is plush and healthy and the portion of it that is always shaded by the side of the house is sparse and does not look so good. You notice that the part exposed to the light is thriving and the part in darkness is not. You are reminded of the fact that Jesus is the light of the world and of John 3:20-12. Suddenly you realize that as you bring areas of your life into His light and invite His presence into them, He gives you His beauty and victory in those areas. But the areas you hold back from Him continue to be areas of defeat. You suddenly realize that the way to get His victory in an area you've bring struggling with is to bring it into His light; to confess the problem to Him and ask Him to help you with it.

This is an example. The principle behind it is that God will sometimes take a common every day thing and use it to reveal a spiritual truth or principle to us.

The above are only a few examples of how God speaks to His children today, even when they don't think they know how to recognize His voice. You can probably think of many other way God "speaks" to us... because He is creative and He desires to communicate with His children. How much more will He communicate with us when we are actively seeking to hear His voice?

There are times where God will speak directly to us and then confirm it through others, such as through our friends. There are also times that He will speak to us through prophets or through personal prophecy.

God spoke through Prophets in the Old Testament and He is still speaking through His prophets today. They are part of the team God sovereignly set into place for the equipping of the body. Today there are individuals who God has appointed to the "the office of prophet", who work side by side with apostles, evangelists, teachers and pastors (Eph. 4:11-12). True prophets will never seek to add nor subtract from the Bible, but instead will bring forth clarification and illumination of what has already been written.

Prophecy is yet another way God speaks to us today. Paul said we should all covet to prophesy when he was writing to the church in Corinth (I Cor. 14:39). The definition of covet is to want zealously something another person has. As Christians, we are to desire zealously to prophesy. In other words, God will give us prophetic words of encouragement for our brothers and sisters even if we aren't called to the office of the prophet. All believers may prophesy, even though not all believers have the gift of prophecy... just as all believers are expected to witness (share their faith) even though not all believers have the gift of evangelism.

So far we have learned that we are specifically created to hear God's voice. We have also explored the ways God speaks to us. Now lets investigate God's purpose for speaking today.

Again we can return to the illustration about the loving father, to bring forth understanding. Why would a loving father desire to speak to his children? A loving father longs for an intimate relationship with his children. In order to build this relationship, he places a high priority on mutual communication and spending time with each other.

Just like our example of the loving father, God longs for an intimate relationship with us. He is interested in everything we do and sincerely wants to interact with us on a regular, daily basis. God is not, nor has He ever been, an absentee father. He will always be available for us.

God wants us to understand why we were created. His plan for creating mankind was never to create and abandon. He is a loving father, one who desires to share His plans and purposes. He wants to share them with us, so we will be fully prepared, fully equipped, to fulfill our destiny. He never created us to wander around aimlessly though life. This is one of the reasons why we are specifically and lovingly created with ears to hear. God did this for our benefit.

And speaking of benefits, hearing God's voice brings divine protection.

"He shall call upon me, and I will answer him: I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him, and honour him." Psalm 91:15 (KJV)

Provision can be added as a benefit, as well. When we listen for God's voice, and obey His leading, we can expect to receive His blessings (Jos. 1:7,8).

What else can we expect to gain from God's desire to speak to us today? We can expect to gain something the world cannot buy. Those of us who reach out to him in the midst of our trials and tribulations can expect God to bring forth His peace (Psalm 23). Hearing God's voice will bring forth both comfort and encouragement.

Transformation is another reason God desires to speak to us today. As we choose to spend time with God and develop a two-way relationship with Him, we get to know Him intimately. The more we know Him, the more we will long to be in His presence. The more we are in His presence, the more like Him we become. We will be in the process of transformation. We will be in the process of being changed and conformed into the image of His son, Jesus Christ (Rom. 8:29).

We have learned there are wonderful benefits to hearing God speak today. However we should examine our part, and what we may be doing to hinder our ability to hear God's voice.

In our hectic, hustle bustle lives, we may be neglecting to spend time with Him. God offers us a choice: He will not make us turn off the television, or the computer, or whatever it is we are finding so interesting, and spend time with Him. However, He is there waiting for us, longing to talk with us. It is actually up to us. Will we make the decision to be in a place where we can clearly listen to God's voice, or will we become more insensitive to hearing Him? How many of us schedule time for God everyday, instead of just trying to "squeeze Him in?"

If we don't spend time with God how will we know Him? How can we be intimate with someone we don't know? The sad truth is, we can't!

Perhaps we are hindering our ability to hear from God because we find ourselves in the position of "not wanting to hear" from God because we don't think we will like what he has to say. This is a common position many Christians find themselves in. We must remember, it is always better to hear God's voice. Why? Because He loves us and wants what is best for us.

A final caution. We must never use personal prophecy as a substitute for hearing God speak to us as individuals. It is impossible to build a personal relationship with God based on what others prophesy. Instead, it is our responsibility and privilege to develop a personal relationship with Him by continuing to fast, pray, and seek God on our own behalf.

Originally visited 073098 - revisited 091903

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