He Speaks!
I remember the first time I heard His voice. It wasn’t with my ears. It was in my spirit, clear as day and not a doubt in my mind who was speaking. It’s strange really. I’d grown up believing that God doesn’t speak to people anymore, yet I knew it was Him when I heard it. Stranger still is the fact that even after that event, I stuck with the God-doesn’t-speak-to-us mindset for another 10 years. I didn’t know then that my belief system would have been classified within cessationist theology, but I lived in the limitations of it just the same. Believing He speaks to us and learning to listen has expanded my understanding of the Kingdom of God and moved me from religious duty to a freedom of relationship and living that exceeds explanation, the boundaries of which are surely beyond what I’ll be able to explore in a human lifetime. Out of this is born my desire to convince you of one thing; He speaks, and you can hear Him.
It shouldn’t shock us. Read from Genesis to Revelation and you will see over and over again that the God of the Universe speaks intimately and individually to people. You’ll also notice that He speaks in a myriad of ways. If you are unfamiliar with the Bible, whet your appetite for His heart to speak to his people with these scriptures.
“My Sheep hear my voice, I know them and they follow me.” John 10:27
“I will instruct you and show you the way to go; with my eye on you, I will give counsel.” Psalm 32:8
“Your eyes will see your teacher and wherever you turn to the right or to the left your ears will hear this command behind you, this is the way, walk in it.” Isaiah 30:20b-21
So, if He desires to speak to us, and we are able to hear, why don’t many of us take advantage of the privilege? I think most of us fall into one of two camps: those that don’t believe He speaks, and those that don’t know how to hear Him.
To those that don’t believe He speaks to us anymore the way He did to those in the Bible, you likely have some good reasons rooted in your knowledge of the scriptures. I’m not going to pull together scriptures that refute cessationsim. Instead, I’d ask you to read the story in John 9 where Jesus healed the man born blind and ask yourself this question. What did the Pharisees miss out on because they held more tightly to Sabbath theology than the miracle-worker before them who trampled the boundaries of their “knowledge” of God’s methods? Follow it up with this question. What am I missing out on because of my theology?
To the rest of us, do what it takes to cultivate a listening ear. Don’t let fear hold you back from experiencing the most intimate and beautiful relationship you have access to. We can’t live in the fullness of everything He made us for unless we listen and hear. It feels complicated, probably because it’s not generally a face-to-face encounter like we are accustomed to with people. There’s uncertainty in it, because there are many voices, and we can get it wrong. It can be tempting to rely on the written word of God and shut out every other way that He speaks. But this is resorting to religious control, having the logical yet misguided goal of keeping everyone within “safe” boundaries. This will lead to a different kind of death, where faith becomes a scholastic exercise of mental assent rather than a real activity that leads us to fulfill the very purposes and plans He created us for. The reality is that we won’t get the understanding of the written word right apart from His guidance (John 16:12-14). We must learn to listen.
How? Read the word for yourself. Notice the heart of God for people, the way He has talked to people in the past, and the way He says He will communicate with them in the future. Read some books on the subject (I’ll throw some titles onto my Resources Page). Get to know some folks who believe He speaks and have spent time practicing listening to Him. Discover their experiences. Understand what’s possible, but don’t compare and limit God to one way of communicating with you. He’s a big God, with lots of creativity. Ask God for Faith to believe that He might have something specific to say to you. Dare to dream about what kind of encouraging things and exciting adventures He might want to discuss with you. Press In. If you persevere in it, you will not be disappointed.
It’s helpful to remember that Prayer is a two-way conversation. I usually pray with a pen in my hand. I write down what I hear from Him and then I ask questions if it doesn’t make sense to me. Memorize scriptures like James 1:5 “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you.” Feed your faith, by soaking up His promises. Rely on Him to answer you and give you the wisdom you seek. Believing He wants to speak to you is half the battle. I’ll share with you the first time I heard Him speak. May it encourage you that He can penetrate the hearing of a girl who didn’t even believe He speaks. Imagine what you might hear if you were listening.
My First Experience with His Voice
It was half-way through my Senior Year of Highschool. The entire student body and teachers were in the gymnasium listening to a guest speaker talk about the dangers of sex, drugs and alcohol. Just 6 months earlier I had been sitting by the campfire at summer camp, consumed in my head with the fact that there’s an after-life and that I had a treasure of understanding that I’d failed to share with even my closest friends for fear of their rejection. I promised God that night that if He’d give me an opportunity to share the good news of Jesus with my friends, I’d do it.
Campfires and promises long forgotten, the guest speaker abruptly interrupted himself with a message from another world. He informed the crowd that there was someone in the audience who had something important to share with them and that He was going to sit down and invite them to take the mic. It was at that moment that the Lord returned my thoughts to the summer campfire. I don’t recall the exact word He spoke; I just remember knowing that this was the opportunity I’d asked for albeit on a much grander scale than I had imagined. I wish I could say that I was mature enough to jump up with glad obedience, but this didn’t feel like what I’d signed up for, so with a trembling spirit I argued my case. I had envisioned a one-on-one discussion with a girlfriend or two, not a gymnasium of hundreds. I argued thoroughly I guess, because the guest speaker repeated the exercise 3 times before I slowly rose to my feet and descended the bleachers down to the mic.
As I recall the event, I’m grateful on a number of fronts. I’m grateful that He penetrated my unbelief with the wonder of His voice, grateful that He gave me words to speak when I had nothing prepared, and grateful that He patiently pursued the transformation of my wrong understanding of His desire to speak even after I failed to see it. But beyond myself and the hearing of His voice, I’m grateful that He so deeply loves those that are within my sphere of influence that He would patiently do what it took to shape me to carry His voice. There’s No one like Him, no sweeter voice. Do what it takes to Hear.
