What does God speak about
If you want to hear from God, it’s a good idea to know what sort of things he may talk about.
He speaks about;
- Our future
- Our present
- Our past
- Others’ future
- Others’ present
- Others’ past
- The Church
- Blessing
- Love
- Danger
- Sin
Not an exclusive list by any means, but a reasonable place to start.
When does God speak
1. All the time – general revelation. We tend to be more dismissive of this in terms of importance, and yet the continuing revelation of God’s person and purposes to us is what helps to build maturity in a Christian’s life as we measure our responses to them.
2. When the time is right – specific revelation. It is easy to focus on this to the exclusion of general revelation since it can be more dramatic. It is also the sort of revelation we find hardest to convince ourselves we are hearing and tend to attach more weight. It would normally, though not exclusively, be about time-specific circumstances.
As we grow in maturity, we learn to discern what is God’s general word to us, and what His specific word for a particular moment is. It can make life easier when we think this way.
Three confirmations
1. The Bible – not taken out of context, not pick-a-verse that seems to fit.
2. Our conscience – what we feel is right.
3. Counsel of others – those we normally have fellowship with, not just someone we think may agree with what we want.
Any one of these can be subverted by sin, either our own or someone else’s. By this I mean that a verse can be given as guidance but maybe because someone thinks it appropriate rather than because God has actually asked them to pass it on. Our conscience can be convinced of anything if the need is great enough, and even our dearest friends can get it wrong if they let their concern for our wellbeing get in the way.
However if all three are saying the same thing at the same time about a given circumstance, then it’s reasonable to assume there’s something going on! In real life, we more often get two out of three, which is not bad, as long as the third isn’t saying the opposite!
Getting better at hearing.
1. Don’t assume God can only speak to you in one way. He’s a little more creative than we are, and sometimes we hear something unexpected by hearing in a different way.
2. The first thing we hear is rarely all there is, as we consider it, we will get more. Our first reaction should not be to blurt out what we hear, but instead to ask “Is there any more”.
3. Consider hearing as a normal part of life, not a super-spiritual thing for super-spiritual people.
Learn to rely on God’s ability to speak more than your ability to listen.
We can be hearing from God just by remembering something he has said in the past, it can still be divine revelation even if you’ve heard it before (old orders are good orders).
Practical
How do you think people hear from God?
How do you hear from God?
Why don’t you hear in other ways/at all?
© Paul Wood