A. How do we perceive and communicate with God?
I felt moved to write this teaching about communicating with the Lord when He reminded me of how, as a new Christian I suffered from a lack of knowledge about just how to hear God in order to find His will for my affairs.
Isaiah 1:18 - "Come now (today)...let us reason together." says the Lord...
Back then, I couldn't find any teacher or teachings that explained exactly how we are to reason back and forth with God. This ignorance resulted in many uncertainties and doubts in my mind about whether or not I was actually perceiving and doing God's will in my affairs. I kept fearing that I was doing wrong in so many things, merely because I didn't have the knowledge of how to reason with God so that I could know His will for me.
Deuteronomy 8:3 - ...He humbled me and allowed me to hunger (for knowledge of Him and His ways) and (then, in His time, not mine) He fed me with the hidden manna, (the portions of His Word about this subject) which I did not know nor did (any of) my (spiritual) fathers know,
that He might make me recognize (and personally understand) that I do not live by bread alone, but I live by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of the Lord (which may now be found in the Biblical Scriptures). (from the Amplified Bible and personalized by me)
My hunger for the answers that I could not easily find on how to reason with God was a necessary humbling experience for me. That hunger prodded me to diligently keep on praying for guidance and to continuously search all over the Scriptures to try to find my answers.
Jeremiah 29:13 - When you come looking for me, you'll find me. "Yes, when you get serious about finding me and want it more than anything else, I'll make sure you won't be disappointed.
After whole-heartedly seeking to find out more about God, I believe that He gradually personally instructed me from all over His Word and from events within my own life experiences about many ways in which to perceive His voice and His conversational movements. So, now I have tremendous peace of mind about how to determine whether or not each of my life affairs is occurring solidly within His will.
John 14:27 - Peace I (the living and active Word) leave with you; My peace I (the living and active Word) give to you; not as the world gives do I (the living and active Word) give it to you.
So, do not let your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful.
Hopefully, this Biblical instruction of what I have learned over the years about how to perceive the Lord and His various means of communication, will shed some needed light for those of you who are also struggling with this problem. Additionally, the instruction here may be useful for those of you who are somewhat in touch with God but not yet familiar with some of these particular methods that God says in His Word that He will use to communicate with you.
Hopefully, the resultant effect of this instruction will be to build up your faith about just how to see and hear from God more, so that you can so do.
Matthew 5:8 - Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God!
These teachings are compiled from much of what God's Word says about the subject of supernaturally communicating with God.
Romans 10:17 - So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the Word....
1. Knowledge of God and His Ways
To begin to do that, let's first acknowledge the obvious fundamental fact that God has elected to be imperceptible to all of our outward physical senses. By personal experience we all know that we can't physically see Him, hear Him, taste Him, touch Him or feel Him. Therefore, the only means that is left by which we may perceive and communicate with Him; is to do it somehow directly within our minds.
Romans 1:19 - ...that which is known about God (at any given time in people's lives) is evident within....(people's minds)...for God...(makes)...it evident to them.
And the mind is the place within us where, after perceiving things thru our senses, we do our pondering and believing about them. So the mind is the place that our imperceptible God has ordained that He will carry on His communications with us.
Hebrews 11:6b - ... he who comes to God must (use his mind to ponder the possibility of and then reach the conclusion to) believe that He is (even though He is physically imperceptible to his senses) and that He rewards those who (mentally reach out to) seek Him. (my own amplification of this verse)
Consequently, while God remains physically imperceptible to us, He has elected to provide us with a major, physically perceptible means by which to learn about Him and His ways within our minds. That major means is His written Word which He inspired men of the past (in their believing minds) to transcribe. This Word is found only within the Christian Biblical Scriptures in their various translations
II Timothy 3:16 - All Scripture is inspired by God...
These Scriptural Words about Him and His ways are something that can be physically perceived by our eyes and ears (or our fingers thru braille) and thru these senses, transferred into our minds. He has provided His Word to us by mentally inspiring especially chosen believing men (over the centuries since the creation) to transcribe those Words which He revealed to them. All of His so revealed Word to these men has been accurately recorded by them and reliably passed along from generation to generation thru faithful copyist scribes. Today, these Words are all found in the Biblical Scriptures that are easily available for most of us to read for ourselves or to hear when they are spoken or taught by others.
Romans 15:4 - For whatsoever things were written aforetime, were written (by God thru His inspiration to select holy men) for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the Scriptures, might have hope (in His existence and His plans for us). (my own amplification of this verse)
He has inspired various faithful, holy men of the past to record the Words which He (in Spirit) somehow spoke to them or showed them about Him and His ways for their life circumstances. Today, these same Words (verbatim or in principle), apply by faith to all people who find themselves in similar life circumstances to those described by these men of God.
John 17:17b - Thy (God's) Word is truth.
Once we believe that the Scriptures are totally true, then we can move forward within our minds into establishing a firm mental faith in what it says about Him and His ways for each affair of our life.
Romans 10:17 - So faith (about Him and His ways) comes from hearing, and hearing by the Word....
From this baseline of faith we can move forward into a deeper faith which then believes that He will use His Word to actually speak to each of us within our minds about those affairs.
John 14: 26 - "But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you (we Christians) all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I (the living and active Word) have said to you.
In my own experience I believe that God has so spoken to me many thousands of times. I feel that He has done this by quickening (emphasizing - igniting - bringing to life) within my mind, significant passages from His many Words of Scripture. Each time He so speaks anew to me within my mind, He reminds me of verses that I've seen or heard before and that He wants me to then become very familiar with as being truly pertinent to a particular matter in my life.
Hebrews 4:12 - For the Word that God speaks is alive and full of power [making it active, operative, energizing, and effective (for all time) ]. (the Amplified Bible)
Accurate knowledge of God and the way that He wills for each of us regarding each particular circumstance of our lives can only be achieved by formulating correct interpretations of the Biblical Scriptures for those circumstances. Deduction of a correct interpretation of His Word about a matter, is necessary so that we may be able to recognize a true communication from God placed within our minds about it.
II Timothy 2:15 - Be diligent to present yourself approved to God (today and later, at the judgment) as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, accurately handling the Word of truth.
But, what about Christians instead using the many religious traditions that men nearly universally employ in their efforts to commune with God? Why must we use the Scriptures in the Bible to find out about God's will on a matter and then communicate with God about it? Why not just rely upon our church traditions, especially the ceremonial rites and rituals which have been handed down to our denominations over time?
Well, according to Jesus, religious traditions passed down amongst men as a means by which to get close to God and please Him must conform to the Bible.
Mark 7:13 - ... you are nullifying and making void and of no effect [the authority of] the Word of God through your tradition, which you [in turn] hand on...
Here Jesus declares that even traditions must be substantiated within the Words of God which are found in the Biblical Scriptures.
To sum it all up, we must use our minds (which are able to perceive [thru our senses] the written or spoken Words of God found in the Biblical Scriptures) to formulate Biblical doctrines about God and then to believe in them. Then, within our minds each of us can subjectively detect those passages that the Holy Spirit brings to our remembrance or that we first read or hear, as having been quickened by God. This belief that God will energize some of His Biblical Words within our minds in order to talk to us, then becomes a means which God can use to communicate with us on different issues.
John 16:12a - I (God) have still many more things to say to you... (the Amplified Bible)
Consequently, as we believers journey thru life, God will give us occasional revelations of Himself and His ways, just as He did with Jesus original 12 disciples, but not too much or too often so as to not overburden the limits of our human minds.
John 16:12b - ...but you cannot bear them now.
A very important consideration for us to also ponder about the Biblical Scriptures is that they are a collection of inspired books that have been designed by God to sometimes appear hard to understand and in some places, to even appear to be somewhat contradictory.
II Peter 3:15b - 16 - Paul, according to the wisdom given him (by God), wrote to you (and all of us today), as also in all of his letters, speaking in them of...some things (which are) hard to understand...
So it's important to emphasize that we are to work along with God's Holy Spirit's activity within our minds, to develop well thought out, correct interpretations of the Scriptures that are pertinent to each affair of our life.
John16:13 - "But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all of the truth...
Correct interpretations of the Scriptures are necessary in order to get to the truths of God and His ways and to truly hear His voice for any particular matter. Then we need to take a firm mental hold (in steady faith) of that interpretation of the Scriptures that we feel is pertinent to that subject in our life.
Romans 14:22 - The faith (from your interpretations of God's Word) which you have, have as your own conviction before God.
God tells us in Scripture that this kind of subjective, personal faith by each individual is very pleasing to the Lord.
Hebrews 11:6 - Without faith it is impossible to please God for he (each person) who comes to Him must (personally) believe that...He rewards them who (so) seek Him. (my own personalization of this verse)
The first reward from The Lord for our firm faith on a matter is His peace over it which then serves as evidence to us that we are in His truth for the matter and therefore further reinforces our faith.
Isaiah 26:3 - The steadfast of mind God will keep in perfect peace, because he trusts in God.
One other point to make is that even though we may be eternally saved from God's wrath upon us for our sins thru our faith in the correct interpretation of God's Word about Jesus Christ's work on the cross to provide us with salvation, each of us will still stand before Jesus at the judgment to give an account for all of the rest of our beliefs and consequent actions.
II Corinthians 5:10 - For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive what is due him for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad.
This is the place where God will reward us for practicing those Biblical interpretations that He gave us time and opportunity to work thru with His Holy Spirit to correctly formulate. It is also the place where we will suffer eternal loss for those doctrines that we wouldn't work with Him to correctly formulate and do!
I Corinthians 3:15 - For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is [already] laid, which is Jesus Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed One). But if anyone builds upon the Foundation, whether it be with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw,the work of each [one] will become [plainly, openly] known (shown for what it is); for the day [of Christ] will disclose and declare it, because it will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test and critically appraise the character and worth of the work each person has done.
If the work which any person has built on this Foundation [any product of his efforts whatever] survives [this test], he will get his reward. But if any person's work is burned up [under the test], he will suffer the loss [of it all, losing his reward], though he himself will be saved, but only as [one who has passed] through fire. (the Amplified Bible)
This passage says it all regarding how eternally important our efforts should be to work carefully with God's Holy Spirit in personally formulating our own knowledge of Him and His way for each of the affairs of our lives!
By our correctly formulated doctrine for each matter, we can truly hear His voice as He energizes His Words on these matters within our minds.
2. Reaching out by Faith to sense His presence.
Oh, to perceive the presence of God Himself being near us and actually talking to us! Wouldn't that be marvelous! What a wonderful communion that would be! Well, in order for that to occur we need to find a way to somehow get into His presence so that we can see and hear Him.
From my own experience, the emotional sense of being in His presence has rarely been given me. And I have never heard His voice audibly as some Christians tell me that they've heard it. But what has always been given to me and what will always be given to any believer who has the faith for it, is the certainty that when we mentally draw near to God, He will draw near to us, even though we will not in any way sense Him doing it!
James 4:8 - Draw near to God and - HE WILL DRAW NEAR TO YOU!
The Lord promises above to respond to our faithful mental outreach to Him by drawing near to us and this is how we may at any time enter right into His presence! But to do so we must have firm, unswerving faith that this happens, in order for it to actually occur for us. Therefore, even though He doesn't give us any physical sensation or perception of His nearness, if we draw near to Him in firm mental faith, He promises us that he will not fail to draw very near to us and stay with us!
Hebrews 13:5b - ...(God says) I will not in any way fail you nor give you up nor leave you without support. [I will] not, [I will] not, [I will] not in any degree leave you helpless nor forsake you nor let [you] down (relax My hold on you)! [Assuredly not!] (the Amplified Bible)
The question is, is our faith strong and unswerving enough to really believe that? Can we envision that when we draw near to Him within our minds, He will actually be there right near to us? What about in those tough times when we feel utterly forsaken by Him? Will we still believe that when we mentally draw near to Him, that He is instantly within our proximity, even though He maddeningly remains physically and emotionally imperceptible? This is a personal matter for each individual Christian to deal with, but it must be dealt with correctly in order to actually experience the nearness of God.
None of us will ever be able to reliably communicate with God until we firmly but blindly sit, stand and / or walk in the mental faith of trusting that He always draws near to us when we draw near to Him. Then, once we are truly so positioned in our mind, God will be reliable to reward us with the second mentally perceptible communication from Him (after the first perceptible communication from Him of Him energizing of His Word within our minds).
3. The Peace of Christ.
Strong, unswerving mental peace is that second mentally perceptible communication from God. It is a sense that God will instill within our minds about the correct faith positions we have taken in any affair of our lives!
Colossians 3:15 - And let the peace (soul harmony which comes) from Christ rule (act as umpire continually) in your hearts [deciding and settling with finality - All QUESTIONS THAT ARISE IN YOUR MINDS...(Amplified Bible)
Behind the Holy Spirit's ignition of the Word within our minds, peace is the next mentally perceptible means that God uses by which to communicate His true will to us for any particular matter!
When we are able to reach mental peace about a matter, then that peace is our proof, our evidence that He has communicated with us, telling us that we are centered in His grace and His will for that particular matter.
As long as this peace of His is present within our minds over our faith position on any given matter, it decides and settles with finality the fact that we are positioned within His will for that matter at that time! In this manner we can believe that He has truly spoken to us about that matter. But this communication of peace too must be accepted by believing that it has truly come from God and then by also taking a firm mental faith position in that belief!
Isaiah 26:3 - The steadfast of mind God will keep in perfect peace because he trusts in God.
To better grasp this concept of being given peace over a matter, we need to look upon the turmoils of our lives as being similar to the storms surrounding the eye of a hurricane. The small area covered by a hurricane's centrally located but moving eye becomes totally peaceful, while the large area covered by the storms surrounding it, is extremely and violently tumultuous. Ship's captains caught at sea within a hurricane's gales will try to pull away from them, but if they can't, then they will try to navigate into its eye in order to find peaceful respite for awhile from its destructive power.
The same is true for Christians who are attempting to communicate with God. When we seek to find a peaceful mental respite from Him because of a turmoil or an uncertainty within our life, we need to navigate within our minds to discover the correct Biblical faith position that His Spirit is trying to take us to for that problem. This good mental faith position will bring forth an immediate movement of God which will give our minds the peace of Christ about it and which will soothe and calm us.
Then later, whenever we are again rattled by Satan over the matter we need merely recall our Biblically correct faith position for it and Christ's peace will again enter and settle our minds. No matter how events swirl around that particular difficulty in our life, as long as we hold onto that correct faith position on the issue, His peace will descend within our minds to give us respite and calm over it.
John 13:17 - If you know these things, you are blessed if you do them!
But His peace within our minds will not occur if our faith position is wrong for that moment, no matter how strongly we hold it, because God's Holy Spirit will not give us Christ's peace about a falsehood.
So, let's sum up our discussion so far. Even though God is imperceptible to us, we are able to perceive His Scriptural writings in the Bible about Him and His ways thru our eyes and ears (or thru our fingers with braille). Sensory nerves then transfer God's Words into our brains wherein we can ponder them with God's truth inspiring Holy Spirit in order to reach a correct interpretation of them for a particular matter. Next, also within our minds, we can go on to reach a full and firm belief in a particular correct interpretation of the matter's pertinent Scriptures and then we can establish a strong mental faith position in that interpretation. In so doing, Christ rewards us with His peace within our minds about that matter. This peace is a mentally and emotionally perceptible proof to us that the Lord has truly 'spoken' to us about that matter.
Romans 8:6b - to be spiritually minded is life and peace.
Consequently, as we discuss all of the other ways that our invisible God has said in His Word that He has used to communicate with men, peace is the underlying condition that we will always seek to find present in our own minds so as to prove to us that we have truly received a communication from His Holy Spirit and not from some deceptive devil.
For the rest of my teachings on this subject please review April's entries 7 thru 19 on my blog - Annals of an Anonymous Apostle where all of my teachings reside.
B. Communicating with God in prayer & tongues.
1. Prayer
Prayer, both vocally or mentally expressed, is the obvious means that we talk to our invisible God. Prayer is a very huge subject which many gifted Christians have written about in other websites. Much about prayer is beyond the scope that I believe God is giving me to write about in this blog.
So, I believe that the Lord would have me defer to them on this subject by referring the reader to other websites such as allaboutprayer.org, wikipedia-prayer, wikipedia-prayer-in-Christianity, the-God-kind-prayer and spirit-home-intercessory prayer wherein this entire subject is very thoroughly covered. Please take the time to divert to these websites and study them carefully because their good Biblical teachings are fundamental to carrying on good communications whenever you speak to the Lord.
Isaiah 8:20 - To the teaching and to the testimony! If the teachings are not in accord with (God's) Word, it is surely because there is no dawn and no morning in them.
I believe that God would have me to only write teachings and testimonies here in this entry that shed light to my readers about the unique, powerful things that He has done thru my prayers and thru the prayers of those whom I know.
Romans 15 - 19 - For I will not presume to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me... in the power of signs and wonders, in the power of the Spirit...
Hopefully, my testimonies and teachings will create a brand new spiritual morning for those of you who hunger and thirst for miraculous things from God to also occur in your lives.Romans 15:20 - 21 - And thus I aspired to preach (about apostleship today, reliably communicating with God, miracle faith, the correct Biblical church structuring and practices, etc., all of which I have experienced)
so that I would not build on another man's foundation...
There are many other Christians whom I believe that God has employed to give correct teachings on many, many Biblical subjects here on the Internet. So I believe that their writings instead of mine are best perused by my readers to learn about those particular subjects and I will provide links to some of them as I did above.
I believe that God wants me to limit my writing to teachings on those subjects that I have not yet at this time (April 2008), found to have been put forth anywhere else or correctly anywhere else.
So, let me proceed here with my own discussion about prayer by first testifying that I have found that the Lord has answered many of my prayer requests by intuitively popping pertinent verses right into my mind, just as I was petitioning Him! Sometimes He even puts them there before I mentally formulate my prayer.
Psalm 139:4 - Before a word is on my tongue you know it completely, O Lord.
This could be likened to mentally conversing with God since the conversation between us takes place within the thoughts of my mind.
Isaiah 1:18 - "Come now (today), and let us reason together (with our minds)," says the Lord...
It is by faith that a back and forth of reasoning occurs between us. I make mental inquiries of Him and He responds to me or beats me to the punch by placing the remembrance of a verse about my petition, immediately within my mind.
John 14:26b - ...the Holy Spirit...will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance...(the Scriptures)...
When I'm praying while traveling He will sometimes answer an inquiry with a message on a billboard or a truck body or a license plate or by some event that coincidentally happens within my proximity. Here I would route the reader back to April 2008 entry #3 wherein I thoroughly discuss this subject. But again, these kinds of messages must be believed within our minds as having come to us from God.
Proverbs 3:32b - He is intimate with the upright.
I have found that it merely takes a truly humble and repentant heart on my part (as much as I can consciously achieve considering the heart's deceitfulness) to purify me enough before God for Him to begin revealing to me His wonderful answers.
Matthew 5: 8 - Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.
God will give revelations to those who are spiritually clean in their walk before Him.
Ephesians 3:3 - 5 - by revelation there was made known to me the mystery...of Christ, which in other generations was not made known to the sons of men, as it has now been revealed to His holy apostles and prophets in the Spirit...
This subject will be continued soon...
2. Tongues
Speaking in tongues is a very controversial issue because it is often subjective to each believer. There is an excellent article on the subject in Wikipedia. I personally believe in this gift in all of its Biblically correct manifestations and I practice it, but in a rather unique way.
In my case the the Lord led me to have to "learn" how to speak in tongues! I never had the experience of a tongue of visible fire over my head when I first spoke in an unknown tongue nor did I get a falling down of the Holy Spirit of God upon me in order to receive it.
Instead, one day when I was off-handedly discussing the fact that I did not have this gift with a charismatic brother, he felt led to prophesy to me, "Oh yes you do! Only in your case you will have to receive it by faith. You need to start doing that by just speaking forth some mindless anything, even if it sounds like baby talk because the gift of tongues bypasses the mind! You need to learn that some gifts of the Holy Spirit are often received and then exercised by blind faith! That's how I believe that God is telling me to tell you that you are to move into speaking in tongues."
Hebrews 13:6 - And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him (and His ways, such as speaking in tongues).
So I thought about this for a while and soon began to see the logic to it. It seems that it's when I am alone, by myself, that I'm led by God to move into having faith for things. This has been the case ever since my rebirth in Christ alone in my bed one evening.
So once again, when I was alone, I began to move into this gift by making some childish, one syllable utterances like da-da-goo-la-bo-rah-sta-fa, etc. Well, my mind utterly rebelled against this activity because it was so foolish and utterly mindless to me. Yet I had to admit that I did have peace with it.
I Corinthians 14:14 - For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays, but my mind is unfruitful.
So I prayed to God asking Him to confirm this silly tongue's validity to me. He responded by giving me a desire to, by faith, just keep practicing it mindlessly. So I did. Then, the way in which He confirmed to me that it was truly a gift from Him was to one night send me to a Bible study at a church whose members did not believe in the gift at all!
Well, once I was there, He led the study leader to inquire if any of us felt that we had the gift of tongues! At this question there was a protracted silence amongst the 20 or so people that were there, during which no one answered and during which I kept feeling that I should not avoid this question but speak out and admit my own gift of tongues (of which I was still not totally certain).
I Corinthians 3:18 - Be God's fool—that's the path to true wisdom. (the Message Bible)
So finally, I realized that I would have no peace if I left there without confessing to it so I threw caution to the wind and declared to him that I felt that I had this gift! The leader looked at me thoughtfully for a moment and replied, "You do? Then would you mind speaking in your tongue for us? We'd all like to hear it, wouldn't we?" All of the brothers there voiced their agreement with him and now I was really on the spot!
To my mind, my tongue talking sounded like baby talk, which I didn't mind speaking in private to God and to the walls. But to bring it forth in front of a group of 20 or so intelligent people was a totally different story! What if it really wasn't a true tongue from the Holy Spirit? What if when they heard it, they all discerned that it was just baby talk type gibberish, the way I felt that it might be? Then I'd be considered a complete fool by all of them!
So, there I was, garroted within the hangman's noose of my admission of the gift and the trap door beneath me of actually speaking in it! What if that trap door of speaking in it, when sprung, might show it up as being a phony gift! And even if it really was from God, how could it possibly be proven to be a true gift of the Holy Spirit to this pack of spiritual curiosity seekers? I felt utterly trapped and possibly doomed! So, unable to find any other course open to me, I took the leap of faith, commending my potentially doomed soul to God as I let loose with my infantile tongue chatter!
Well, I only spoke for a few seconds and then I stopped because my courage ran out rather quickly. Then I sat there in emotional agony, awaiting my ignominious end with this group, which was probably about to now come. There was a long, pregnant pause! Then, entirely unexpectedly, the leader announced that he felt that God had given him an interpretation of my tongue! Next, the group shifted their focus to him and asked him to give it. So, he proceeded to speak it forth and it was a totally encouraging blessing from the Lord to everyone who was there.
I Corinthians 14:3 - But one who prophesies (by interpreting a tongue) strengthens others, encourages them, and comforts them.
Hallelujah! This totally unexpected interpretation totally exonerated me! My gift was proven to be true to me and to all of them in a way that I would never in a million years have guessed it would be done!
Isaiah 55:8 - 9 - "For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways," declares the Lord. "For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts."
And, though nerve wracking, it was such a wonderful way in which God confirmed it for me! He proved the validity of both the gift of tongues and the gift of interpretation of tongues to me and to all of this group, all in one fell swoop, by interpreting my tongue thru their study leader!
C. Hearing God in our conscience, intuition & discernment of spirits
1. Intuition
As has already been discussed, we can hear God's voice speaking to us just in the fact that His unwavering peace occupies our minds about any particular faith position. This proves to us that we are standing at that moment on correct Scriptural grounds over a particular matter. Inability to reach peace about a matter can also be discerned as God's voice telling us that our faith stand is not correctly Scripturally grounded.
Isaiah 30:20 - 21 - ...He, your Teacher will no longer hide Himself, but your eyes will behold your Teacher. Your ears will hear a word behind you, "This is the way, walk in it," whenever you turn to the right or to the left.
Whenever we are positioned wrong in any of our faith positions, God can be relied upon to bring a thought or a Scriptural Word intuitively into our minds in order to straighten us out. This is one way that we can see and hear Him!
However, Scriptural intuitions within our minds can also have come forth from Satan in his evil efforts to mislead us. So, in order for any Scriptural intuition to begin to be relied upon as truly coming from God, peace of mind must stay present within the mind of the recipient about it. If peace won't stay, the intuition is automatically suspect no matter what is the verse from the Biblical Scriptures. After all, did not the devil himself try to deceive Jesus using a passage from the Scriptures, as His 40 day fast ended?
Matthew 4:5 - 6 - Then the devil took him to the holy city and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. "If you are the Son of God," he said, "throw yourself down. For it is written: 'He will command his angels concerning you, and they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.' "
And did not Jesus overcome Satan's deceptive use of the Word by invoking another Scripture of higher priority for the situation?
Matthew 4: 7 - Jesus answered him, "It is also written: 'Do not put the Lord your God to the test.'
Therefore, just as Jesus did here, whenever a Scriptural intuition occurs we also need to be sure that it's the highest priority Biblical Scripture for the situation. If we can reach peace that it is, then we can begin to deduce that it might actually be God speaking to us about that situation. But just to be sure, once all of the applicable Scriptures have been prioritized and peace of mind is firmly present, that intuition needs to then be confirmed by some other outside witnesses over which we have no control.
II Corinthians 13:1b - Every matter must be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.
These establishing witnesses which are outside of ourselves, if they are truly from God about a matter will be things like the agreement of an authority or of another Christian or of some event which seems to substantiate it. If the Scriptural intuition within us comes with these kinds of backings it can be considered as being more than likely a Word from the Lord.
But there is always a chance that an intuition is not actually a message from the Lord, so we should always stay humbly open to further guidance from Him. Yes, we should move into a firm faith in this kind of a substantiated Scriptural intuition as being from God. But we should not move into stubborn, unyielding faith in it, just in case it is not really a Word from the Lord.
Consequently, a good confession in this regard might be that we firmly believe that the Scriptural intuition for the situation is actually a Word from God to us but we are open to the possibility of being misguided about it and therefore we are open to being corrected by God in some way about it. But until that happens we will stay firmly within our faith position on the matter.
The Biblical story of Gideon's fleece is a good example of a godly man who strongly believes that he's had a Word from the Lord but when doubt about it creeps into his mind, he seeks for additional witnesses from God as to the validity of the message. He wanted to be as sure as he could be that the message that he had gotten from the angel was actually from God, before he went off to do something that he might regret.
Judges 6:36 - 40 - Gideon said to God, "If you will save Israel by my hand as you have promised - look, I will place a wool fleece on the threshing floor. If there is dew only on the fleece and all the ground is dry, then I will know that you will save Israel by my hand, as you said." And that is what happened. Gideon rose early the next day; he squeezed the fleece and wrung out the dew—a bowlful of water.
Then Gideon said to God, "Do not be angry with me. Let me make just one more request. Allow me one more test with the fleece. This time make the fleece dry and the ground covered with dew." That night God did so. Only the fleece was dry; all the ground was covered with dew.
2. Conscience
If we are open to it, we can clearly hear God's voice within the conscience of our minds. Here we will be given or denied peace from Jesus about anything that we may have rightly or wrongly believed, said or done.
Romans 2:15b - ...their conscience bearing witness and their thoughts alternately accusing or else defending them.
Our conscience is a substantiating witness within us from God which unequivocally speaks of the truth or falseness of any intuitive Scriptural message as actually being from God. It will allow us no peace about a matter in which we wrongly believe or which we wrongly do.
I Samuel 24:5 - ...David's conscience bothered him because he had...(done a wrong thing even though at the time, he thought he was doing the right thing)...
Our conscience starts out speaking loudly from God to us about an error within us about which He wants us to deal. But if its insistent voice is long resisted, eventually it will be silenced. God calls the silencing of the conscience's voice, the act of searing it.
I Timothy 4:1 -2 - The (Holy) Spirit explicitly says...that some will fall away from the faith...seared in their own conscience as with a branding iron.
3. Discernment of Spirit
Additionally, we can hear His voice within our minds when we receive a discernment from God about some good or bad spirit's presence and / or activities.
Ephesions 6:12 - For we are not wrestling with flesh and blood [contending only with physical opponents], but against the despotisms, against the powers, against [the master spirits who are] the world rulers of this present darkness, against the spirit forces of wickedness in the heavenly (supernatural) sphere.
Good and evil spirits are invisible beings who have influence over and impact upon the events of our lives. So, in order to reveal their activities, God's Holy Spirit will gift some Christians with the ability to somehow sense them or even see and / or hear them.
I Corinthians 12:8 -10 - To one is given in and through the [Holy] Spirit...the ability to discern and distinguish between [the utterances of true] spirits [and false ones]...
This gift quite often infuses the discerner with loss of peace whenever evil spirits are revealed to them or when they sense their presence. Discerners will not reach peace within their minds until that spirit or its evil activities are overcome and defeated and / or it is cast out or sent away from them.
Conclusion
So these are 3 ways by which to hear within our minds the Lord's voice as He speaks to us.
1. Intuition
2. Conscience
3. Discernment of spirits
D. God speaks to us in prophecies.
1. Prophets
Matthew 23:34 - ...behold, I am sending you prophets...
Jesus promised that he would send all religious people prophets in order to guide them in the right course with God for their lives. But at the same time He prophesied that many would reject them and their God-sent messages because they wouldn't believe them.
Hebrews 3:19 - So we see that they were not able to enter (into truth) because of (their) unbelief.
So for those who can accept and believe in prophets and prophecies as being viable gifts from God for today, we will here discuss how God speaks to us thru prophecies.
God may elect to speak to any one of His Christians or to groups of them by sending a prophet or an apostle to prophesy His message to them. This is a very important means of personal communication from God which he makes available to all of His people.
I Corinthians 14:22b - ...prophecy is for...those who believe.
Prophecy is so important that Moses desired that all of God's children would be given the gift of becoming a prophet!
Numbers 11:29 - Would that ALL of the LORD'S people were prophets...!
The apostle Paul joined Moses with a similar desire for all Christians to become prophets because he also was shown by God the importance of the bringing forth of inspired messages to help the brethren.
I Corinthians 14:1 -5 - ...desire earnestly (to be given) spiritual gifts, but especially that you may prophesy. For one who prophesies speaks to men for edification and exhortation and consolation (and)...one who prophesies edifies the church.
How I wish that you ALL...would prophesy.
Paul points out how the gift of a prophetic message from God can spiritually improve each Christian who receives and believes it.
I Corinthians 14:6b - what will I profit you unless I speak to you either by way of revelation or of knowledge or of prophecy...?
Paul also points out that prophetic messages are a given as a sign from God to demonstrate that He is personally attentive to each of His Christians.
I Corinthians 14:22b - ...prophecy is for a sign, not to unbelievers but to those who believe.
Paul exhorts Christians everywhere to allow the prophets in the church to bring forth messages for everyone, one at a time in an orderly manner, at any given church meeting.
I Corinthians 14:29 - 31 - Let two or three prophets speak, and let the others pass judgment. For you can all prophesy one by one, so that all may learn and all may be exhorted.
He points out that in a meeting, when the gift of prophecy is allowed to be fully practiced in such an orderly fashion by all those that are present, the effect will be so spiritually powerful that if unbelievers are visiting, they will perceive and believe that God is truly present within that meeting!
I Corinthians 14:24 - But if all prophesy, and an unbeliever or an ungifted man enters, he is convicted by all, he is called into account by all; the secrets of his heart are disclosed; and so he will fall on his face and worship God, declaring that God is certainly among you.
One time a few brothers and I went in my van to the home of a catholic family. After ministering to the wife and her grown kids we said our goodbyes and climbed into the van to leave. Just as we were about to drive off the husband, who had been drinking in the back yard while we were there, staggered outside and called for us to stop, which we did. We slid the side door open for him and he stumbled up into the van with us to talk with us. As he got in, his feet were muddied and he tracked that mud onto the van's floor carpet.
When he noticed it he apologized profusely but we reassured him that it wasn't important and that we'd easily clean it right up at the gas station to which we were going. So he thanked us for coming and talking with his family (they had 3 boys with cases of advancing muscular dystrophy). He said that he admired our faith but that he too believed in Jesus for his salvation but he couldn't be that way himself (he was also known as a womanizer). He was very nice though and he wished us all well on our trip back.
Just then one of the prophetic brothers was moved to say to him, "You have a lot of nightmares don't you?" Startled, he replied, "How did you know about that?" to which the brother answered,"The thought just came into my mind and I felt moved to ask it of you." So we all looked at him with compassion and testified to him that he might want to repent of his sins and begin to seek the Lord in His life.
He was half drunk so he peered a bit dazedly and slowly at each of us before proclaiming, "God is really with all of you guys! That's the only way you'd know about my nightmares. You're probably right, maybe I should start going back to church. This way of life of mine stinks!" Then he thanked each of us for coming and stumbled back out of the van and waved goodbye as we left.
A bit later we were all discussing the subject of whether people in his condition were really saved, especially considering the stereotype of so many catholics carousing around all week and then going to church on Sunday. One of the brother's was thumbing around in his Bible as the discussion ensued when all of a sudden he said, "Hey guys, maybe the Lord is giving us our answer in this verse...
John 13:10 - ...He who has bathed needs only to wash his feet, but is completely clean...
"Maybe God is saying to us here that this fellow's muddy feet were His sign to us to declare that he is a saved man in his heart but he just needs to clean up his walk with the Lord. Maybe the mud on his feet and this verse are our sign from God that even though no drunkard or immoral person can enter the kingdom of heaven, this man just needs to change his attitude and his behavior about these sins and he'll make it. What do you all think?" Well, after further discussion we all ended up agreeing that God had enlightened us to the truth on this subject with his muddy feet and this verse.
The first point to be made about this testimony is that when we all prophesied to him together one of the secrets of his heart was revealed and he did just what I Corinthians 14:24 above said he'd do by declaring that God was certainly among us.
Hebrews 4:12 - the Word of God is living and active...
The second point i'd like to to make about this testimony is that God then sent us a Word of wisdom in a verse from the Scriptures to enlighten all of us about the truth of this man's salvation and that offered all of us hope for our friends and loved ones who we see as being backslidden and astray.
Paul sums up his exhortation on the subject of prophesying by encouraging all Christians to greatly desire that they may become gifted by God with the power to prophesy!
I Corinthians 14:39 - Therefore, my brethren, desire earnestly to prophesy.
Thru prophecy God will give each of His saved people and / or the leaders of His local churches; guidance and direction in regards to their affairs and needs and doctrines.
2. Manifestation Prophecy
I Corinthians 9:1b - ...have I not seen Jesus our Lord?
I had been praying for years for some detailed guidance from God about finding His will in so many issues that were pertinent to my life. Yet I believed that Jesus wouldn't come and visit me to instruct me because His appearance on earth is reserved for His 2nd coming. But, because of the many doctrinal errors that I felt that I was perceiving in every Bible teacher's teachings which I had been encountering, I just wished that somehow He would come and instruct me Himself. I wanted to really know the truth of His Word about the many doctrines around today that seemed to me to contradict it. Well, did He have a surprise for me!
One beautiful spring morning He did an entirely unexpected and totally thrilling thing for me. He led me to drive out to a local park in my van with one of the young sisters in our fellowship to pray for a while. I was in the driver's seat and she was sitting on the couch in the back when we each started to pray silently to the Lord.
All of a sudden I heard her call my name! But her voice was different? It was somehow very commanding! So I opened my eyes and turned to look at her. Well, there she was sitting in the center of the couch and she had an extremely noble quality to her posture! So, unsure of what was happening, I asked her, "Did you call me?" to which she responded, "Jim, I the Lord Jesus Christ who came in the flesh, have called the two of you to come out here this morning so that I could talk with you and answer your questions!"
I John 4:2 - This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God...Instantly I knew that this was not her speaking but that it was the Lord Jesus Christ somehow possessing her and speaking thru her mouth! Her voice was somehow the most regal voice imaginable and her demeanor was utterly majestic.
John 7:46 - ...No man speaks as this man speaks!
This was definitely not her voice or manner! So instantly, tears began flying from my eyes like machine gun bullets! I knew that somehow thru her I was being addressed by the Lord Jesus Christ Himself right there in my van in that park! For Him to converse with me is what I had hoped to happen for so long but it was being done in a fashion of which I had never heard or read anywhere.
So thru my tears I timidly asked, "Is that you Lord?" to which He responded, "Yes it is I. I've been sent here today in response to your many prayers to My Father asking for Me to help you find the truths for which you are longing." Well at this statement I was struck speechless! So, in awe, I just kept looking at Him (in her) but He kept her eyes shut while He patiently sat there, waiting for me to recover from my initial shock over all of this.
It took a while but eventually I stopped crying enough to lamely ask Him where she was? He then explained that He had her spirit in a pleasant place while both she and I were experiencing this gift from God which He called Manifestation Prophecy. He explained that this is a supernatural gift wherein His Holy Spirit possesses a vessel (hers in this case) and uses it to converse in human form with the brethren.
He then said that He came in this manner to me because He knew that I had enough faith to believe that it was Him so doing. He said that when we were done conversing, I was to go back to my brethren in the fellowship and help them to also believe in it. He said that I was to tell them that if they could have the faith for it, He would come thru her again that evening to converse with them also!
Needless to say I was thrilled beyond belief at His appearance but there was of course a tiny doubt within me about the genuineness of such a manifestation. Could she be faking it for some reason or could Satan be possessing her and tricking me? After all, the Scriptures say that the devil can come as an angel of light! So I proceeded to ask Him in her a few questions that I felt that she, in her newly embraced but still uneducated faith, could not possibly know.
One question I asked was about the greatness of His original disciples / apostles compared to other Christians. He surprised me by telling me how those men saw Him and walked with Him and experienced all that He had to say and all of His miracles for years and they still had trouble really believing in Him. Yet thereafter, all Christians have just read a book of words or heard preaching and testimonies of Him and thru that alone they were able to firmly believe in Him. So why would God consider the original apostles any greater than those who never saw Him and yet still believed?
J0hn 20:29 - ... Jesus told him, "Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed."
This answer and this verse has been food for thought for me ever since it was given to me, especially because I believe that I also am now one of those He refers to as having seen Him. But technically, the truth is that I didn't really see Him at all. My encounter with Him manifesting in her is still a matter of my own personal faith that it was truly from God.
Hebrews 11:6 - Without faith it is impossible to please God for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him!
That is the brilliance of God in rewarding me with this Manifestation Prophecy gift because it is an encounter with God that must still be accepted by faith, even after testing it (but not God) with pointed questions (which I made of the Spirit within the person)!Another question that I asked of Him manifesting in her was where the original autographs of the Scriptures are now? She could not have possibly known the answer to this question since she probably never even heard of the term Biblical autographs. So I felt that it was a good test of the validity of the Manifestation. He in her blew me away and proved that she was not the one giving me the answer by saying very matter of factly, "In Heaven."
Well, of course they're in heaven! But when I asked that question I never even considered that fact because my evil heart was masking my true intentions that even I was not aware of. I was only conscious of the fact that this question was merely a test of the girl and of the Manifestation. That's why I was referring to the original earthly parchments.
I felt that I was merely testing the Manifestation Spirit, but not the Lord Himself and He knew it.
I John 4:1 - ...do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.
However, in giving me this answer, He revealed to me the evil motive stuck deep in my deceitful heart for asking this question. That motive was that I would have become exceedingly proud had He answered me with an earthly place in which to find them! After all, would not finding the original autographs of the Scriptures be the greatest discovery ever for mankind! And where would little old phony me have been when I in turn exposed the secret earthly location of these original autographs? Wicked me would have been right in the center of that discovery, grabbing for glory while feigning humility!
Jeremiah 17:10 - I the Lord search the heart, I try the reins, even to give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings.
Luke 24:32a (the brethren) said to one another, "Were not our hearts burning within us while He (Jesus) was speaking...?"
Knowing the pain of this conviction of my deceitful heart's deep seated proud motive, He then encouraged me to be at peace. He repeatedly exhorted me to peace during His manifestation because every question I posed to Him would bring an answer that I did not expect and that would force me to face my own deceitful heart's reasons for asking it! So pretty soon, in reverent fear, I ran out of questions to ask Him.
Ecclesiastes 5:2 - Do not be hasty in word or impulsive in thought to bring up a matter in the presence of God...therefore let your words be few!
But I was so thrilled and excited at this wonderful, supernatural gift of His actually appearing to me to converse with me, that I didn't absorb all of the really deep stuff that was occurring at the time. Most of it came to me much later. That morning I was just out of my mind with joy at this amazing gift from God of the Lord's appearance! I was more excited than I've ever been before in my life!
Yet after a little less than an hour, the Lord in her suggested that we stop and He would leave her, but only until that evening when He promised to manifest back within her, if the brethren wanted Him to so appear to them. He also suggested that we write out our questions so that when He appeared, we wouldn't be nervous and forget them.
He then instructed me that the girl would need to be told all that had happened thru her because she was not aware of it. So I thanked Him profusely for visiting me, we said our goodbyes and He left her. Immediately, she blinked her eyes a couple of times and asked me what had happened. So I told her everything about the Lord's use of her to speak with me and she rejoiced exceedingly along with me about His visitation. Even though she was not there for it, she was greatly thankful that He chose her as His vessel thru whom to appear.
Then we drove back to the fellowship house and burst in excitedly to share our testimony of this wondrous event with all of the brethren. Of course they were skeptical at first, but so were Jesus original disciples when Mary Magdalene announced that Jesus had risen and conversed with her. After we all calmed down and could more quietly discuss the event, they all came around and agreed that they too wanted to talk directly with Jesus in this manner, just as I had.
So we all gathered together that evening and when we prayed for Him to come, He reappeared within her and we all were given answers to our many questions by Him for the next couple of hours. Then, when He left, we dissected everything that was discussed and came to the conclusion that this Manifestation was truly the Lord Jesus Christ! So many times thereafter we prayed for Him to come again and He always did.
According to the Lord (speaking thru this girl), the Manifestation Prophecy gift was given to us only after we had done all that we could do in all of our own Bible studies to find the correct answers to our questions. After many times getting such manifestation appearances from Him, we have not asked for Him to come back in that manner any more because thru them He eventually resolved all of our questions.
He gave most of His answers to our questions by first starting with a question of His own, "What does your faith tell you?" We'd then respond by telling Him where our thinking on that particular issue was and then He would discuss our position with us. But He never redirected us thru the Manifestation to some new position. He'd only encourage us to go on in our present faith and Bible studies while watching and waiting for God to send us new teachings or events or other prophecies by which to redirect us.
Romans 14:22 - The faith which you have (currently), have as your own conviction before God.Well, after a while we all began to understand that we should just sit, stand and walk in our current faith positions, whatever they were. As long as those positions were the best we could come up with, whether they were right or wrong, God would be pleased with us. Then, if they were right, God would be faithful to strengthen us in that particular faith position or if they were wrong, He would somehow correct us into a new, better understanding and wisdom for them.
Also, He would also always manifest in her with the greeting , "Peace be with you. Yes, Jesus Christ has come in the flesh." and He would always depart with similar words.
Collosians 3:15 - And let the peace (soul harmony which comes) from Christ rule (act as umpire continually) in your hearts [deciding and settling with finality all questions that arise in your minds, in that peaceful state] - The Amplified BibleBut when He led one of us to find this version of Col 3:15, we knew that we no longer needed for Him to manifest Himself in this manner amongst us anymore to answer our questions, because His peace in us is what proves to us that we already have the answer to that question that God wants us to have faith for at that time.
Matthew 5:8 - Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.
The gift of manifestation prophecy was given to us initially to answer our questions because God had no earthly teacher with pure enough doctrines within range of us to take us further along in our faith. But now that we knew how to interpret God's peace within us as being the umpire and the final decider of all of our doctrinal issues, this gift is only an occasionally manifested, just for those times when we feel the need to rest and comfort ourselves in His sweet, loving presence
E. God speaks to all of us in tongues (unknown languages) with interpretations.
God may elect to speak to Christians thru a prophet or an apostle in a prophecy brought forth as an interpretation of an unknown tongue .
God's Holy Spirit gives the tongue to one of the brethren and its interpretation to another, either or both of which may be an apostle or a prophet or any one of the brethren that is present.
I Corinthians 1:2 -4 - For one who speaks in a tongue does not speak to men but to God, for no one understands; but in his spirit he speaks mysteries.
But one who prophesies speaks to men for edification and exhortation and consolation.
One who speaks in a tongue edifies himself; but one who prophesies edifies the whole church.
F. God speaks to us in dreams and visions
Sometimes God elects to speak to us in our dreams even though (and probably because) most of us think pretty lightly of them. God can use them as a means to give us directions for all kinds of tasks. The best example of this is when He spoke repeatedly as an angel in his dreams, to Jesus' stepfather Joseph, giving him understanding and directing his actions regarding his very unique stepson and the child's mother!
Matthew 1:18 - 25 - Now the birth of Jesus Christ was as follows: when His mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child by the Holy Spirit. And Joseph her husband, being a righteous man and not wanting to disgrace her, planned to send her away secretly.
But when he had considered this, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, "Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife; for the Child who has been conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. She will bear a Son; and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins."
Now all this took place to fulfill what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet: "BEHOLD, THE VIRGIN SHALL BE WITH CHILD AND SHALL BEAR A SON, AND THEY SHALL CALL HIS NAME IMMANUEL," which translated means, "GOD WITH US."
And Joseph awoke from his sleep and did as the angel of the Lord commanded him, and took Mary as his wife, but kept her a virgin until she gave birth to a Son; and he called His name Jesus.
Can we imagine the immense responsibility that was placed upon Joseph by God to respond correctly to mere dreams? Had he not done so he would not have taken Mary to be under his custody and protection as his wife until and after Christ's birth. And what would have happened had he not done as he was directed in another mere dream to take the baby Jesus to Egypt for safety from Herod's jealous wrath?
Matthew 2:13b - 15 - ...behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, "Get up! Take the Child and His mother and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you; for Herod is going to search for the Child to destroy Him."
So Joseph got up and took the Child and His mother while it was still night, and left for Egypt. He remained there until the death of Herod. This was to fulfill what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet: "OUT OF EGYPT I CALLED MY SON."
Later, when Herod was no longer a danger to Jesus, Joseph again had to respond to a series of dreams directing him as to where he was to move to raise the Lord.
Matthew 2:19 - 23 - But when Herod died, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt, and said, "Get up, take the Child and His mother, and go into the land of Israel; for those who sought the Child's life are dead."
So Joseph got up, took the Child and His mother, and came into the land of Israel. But when he heard that Archelaus was reigning over Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there. Then after being warned by God in a dream, he left for the regions of Galilee, and came and lived in a city called Nazareth This was to fulfill what was spoken through the prophets: "He shall be called a Nazarene."
Truly, Joseph was dreamer of the first magnitude and that seems to be a major reason that God entrusted him to do this all important work!
God also spoke to Pharaoh, Nebuchadnezzar and Daniel in many important dreams as written about in the Old Testament.
God may also decide to speak in visions, during which the recipient may be asleep or awake. He spoke to Paul in an awake vision that no one else near him could fully perceive.
Acts 9:3b - 7 - ...suddenly a light from heaven flashed around Paul; and he fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, "Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?" And he said, "Who are You, Lord?" And He said, "I am Jesus whom you are persecuting,but get up and enter the city, and it will be told you what you must do."
The men who traveled with him stood speechless, hearing the voice but seeing no one.
So, as seen in these Scriptures, dreams and visions are 2 means that God may use to direct His Christians in their activities for him. Sometimes the Lord will combine them as when Peter was freed from Herod's imprisonment.
Acts 12:6b -11 - ...Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains, and guards in front of the door were watching over the prison. And behold, an angel of the Lord suddenly appeared and a light shone in the cell; and he struck Peter's side and woke him up, saying, "Get up quickly " And his chains fell off his hands.
And the angel said to him, "Gird yourself and put on your sandals." And he did so. And he said to him, "Wrap your cloak around you and follow me."
And he went out and continued to follow, and he did not know that what was being done by the angel was real, but he thought he was seeing a vision (in his sleep). When they had passed the first and second guard, they came to the iron gate that leads into the city, which opened for them by itself; and they went out and went along one street, and immediately the angel departed from him.
When Peter came to himself (out of his sleep walk) , he said, "Now I know for sure that the Lord has sent forth His angel and rescued me..."
Visions and dreams are mental perceptions from God that, just as any other spiritual gift, must be accepted totally by faith because...
Hebrews 11:1 -2 - ...faith is the assurance of things hoped for...
G. God speaks to us thru signs and wonders
God may elect at any time to speak to His believers thru signs and wonders that He will create by which for them to believe more strongly in Him. Signs and wonders are only for believers and they accompany the correct preaching and teaching of God's Word.
Mark 16:20b - ..the Lord worked with them and confirmed his word by the signs that accompanied it.
Like sign posts on a road they can become remembrance points in our lives to remind us of His directions to us for some of our affairs. The following testimonies about signs and wonders from God are in that vein.
1. Marriage within God's will.
This is a story about a prophetic sign God that gave to one of the brethren in our home fellowship when he was struggling over marrying within God's will.
One evening a few of the brethren and I were driving on a toll road just outside of Chicago coming back from a fruitful ministry in southern Wisconsin. One of the brothers was contemplating marriage to a girl who did not believe in Jesus as her personal Savior. So he asked us whether he should marry her unsaved and then work on her salvation or whether he should wait until she was saved before he married her.
We discussed the pros and the cons of unequal yoking for a while then we all prayed together for guidance. Just as we opened our eyes, we found ourselves driving up to a huge roadside commercial billboard that was emblazoned with lights that announced in the darkness -
ZENITH - THE QUALITY GOES IN BEFORE THE NAME GOES ON!
Immediately it entered my mind and I told him that I felt that this billboard was a sign from God to him.
Habakkuk 2:2 - "Write my answer on a billboard, large and clear, so that anyone can read it at a glance...(the Living Bible)
I felt that we had been guided by God to see this message as applying to his situation, just after we prayed about the matter.
Hebrews 4:12 - for the word of God is living and active...
I felt that God was speaking a word right to him thru the billboard, telling him that in order for him to have a zenith marriage, a really top quality marriage, he should first make sure that the girl was saved before he married her, whereby she would assume his name!
Habakkuk 2:2 - Write it out in big block letters so that it can be read on the run.
This vision-message is a witness - pointing to what's coming... (the Message Bible).
I also told him that I felt that the billboard's bright lights were a sign that when he did this, he'd have a wonderful marriage in the darkness of so many bad marriages occurring in our times.
He looked with huge eyes at that sign and he heard my interpretation of it and he knew in his heart that this was a prophetic word to him from God and that my interpretation of it was right. But he still struggled because he wanted to get married to her as soon as possible in order to vent his incessant passions.
Habakkuk 2:3 - It aches for the coming—it can hardly wait! And it doesn't lie.
If it seems slow in coming, just wait. It's on its way. It will come right on time (the Message Bible).
He knew in his heart and was convicted that he was being called by God to wait for Him to do His saving work with her, even though it might be a painful, long wait for him. Finally, he quit struggling against the message and agreed that he would wait for her salvation to happen first, before proposing marriage to her.
As he confessed this, I felt moved to expound to him that sometimes Jesus, as the master fisherman, uses an attractive man or woman as bait to allure a potential mate into their salvation. He uses that unsaved person's unfulfilled desires which are pressing upon them (just as they are upon the saved person), to cause him or her to really listen to the gospel message coming forth from that strongly desired but resistant, potential Christian mate.
God then led me to go on and mention to him that on the other hand, He may want to use some other minister to do the job of leading that unbeliever to Christ, while the saved potential mate stonewalls and suffers and waits, because any suffering on the part of one of the Father's dear children moves strongly upon Him to deliver that child from it.
2. Forgiveness
Here's another example of a wonderful message from God given in a sign that could be read on the run...
One day I was very upset with myself because I had accidentally betrayed a confidence with my uncontrolled mouth. Ever since I was a young person I had always talked too much and over the years as a Christian I felt that I had been getting this problem under control. But this night, as I drove along, I was under great conviction about this still recurring flaw and I was bawling like a baby before the Lord about it and its consequences. Suddenly a car pulled right in front of me and my tear filled eyes fell upon its license plate which said -
IEXCUSU
At the sight of those words and the realization that they were a sign to me, sent from God; a prophetic word by which He was reassuring me and comforting me, all of my tears of repentance turned into tears of joy.
Then I began praising God for this wonderful message of forgiveness to me in my heartfelt distress. I also began pondering and then marveling at all that He had to do in order to to put that particular car with that particular license plate right in front of me at that particular moment! Truly this sign on the run was a wonder for me to behold!
3. Deliverance and Freedom
This is a major testimony of a convergence of many signs and wonders that were in the spirit of Moses in Egypt sent to announce the deliverance of an entire fellowship from personal and financial bondage!
A new apostle of whom I know was married to a woman who went to church and to Bible studies with him for a year or so. But after she confessed to him that she felt the call from God to tithe, she then resisted that call, hardened her heart and abandoned all of their Bible studies together and her church attendance.
She claimed to be a Christian herself just as he was, but insisted that she wanted to just stay a normal Catholic (which she claimed was a nationality, not just a religion). She wanted to be able to smoke and drink and have good times with her friends and keep all of their money for her own purposes.
I Timothy 6:10 - for the love of money is a root of all sorts of evil and some by longing for it have wandered away from the faith...
So it wasn't long before the devil had her mocking and ridiculing him about his continued growing faith in the Word of God. She said that she felt that he was going way off the deep end with his Biblical religion. She said this because, he had confided to her about his apostolic calling and how he was experiencing many of the supernatural gifts of the Holy Spirit and a whole variety of signs and wonders. The devil now firmly ensconced within her snidely asked him which apostle he felt that he was; Peter, Paul, James or John?
This couple had been struggling financially for a long time and they were just beginning to prosper in their business. So she did not want to give away any of their new-found prosperity into tithing. Therefore, in order to continue to justify herself and fight off God's call to her, she would constantly negate any and all of her husband's testimonies of God's workings in his life by attributing them to pure coincidence or to his imagination or to chance.
When someone she knew very well had a doctor certified healing from cancer right after that person had prayed for a healing with her husband, she said to him that he just got lucky?!? So her hardened heart just kept getting harder and harder towards him and towards God.
One day she encountered a Catholic priest who, upon hearing her complaint about him, told her that he had ministered for years in a religious psychiatric institution and that he had seen much of this kind of apostle-delusion and that it was invariably incurable. He informed her that, from what she was telling him, he felt that her husband was probably going into this same kind of delusional psychosis.So she latched onto that opinion to further justify herself against him and then she secretly began divorce proceedings.
In the meantime, his life with her just got more and more difficult and bitter, which led him to pray long and hard for God to improve their situation and show him how best to deal with her until things did get better.
Ecclesiastes 7:26a - ...more bitter than death is the woman whose heart is snares and nets, whose hands are chains.
One day a freak hailstorm hit their neighborhood and big hailstones shattered all of the front windows in their house. She told him that she was at home alone when it happened and the shattering windows frightened her so badly that she hid behind the sofa in terror until the storm passed!
Next, a small plague of fruit flies which she could not eradicate infested their kitchen for a while. After that he came upon about 20 or so small dead frog carcasses on the floor in his daughter's bedroom! When he showed them to his wife and asked her where these could have come from she told him that unbeknownst to him their daughter had bought some tadpoles. She said that the child probably forgot about them and they must have grown big enough to jump out of their bowl and die from starvation right there on the bedroom floor.
Then God gave him a revelation that these unique events were signs to him telling him that his wife had entered into the pharaoh spirit of hardheartedness and stubbornness. He also felt God telling him to not entertain any bitterness towards her over her resistance to Him but that humility was the way for him to deal with her pharaoh spirit, just as Moses had humility towards the Egyptian Pharaoh and it led to Israel's deliverance.
Numbers 12:3 - Now the man Moses was very humble, more than any man on the face of the earth.
One evening shortly thereafter, a windy autumn rain storm hit the area. This apostle was fellowshipping in an old, drafty house with his small and impoverished church group. They were engaging in a prayer session seeking financial help from God to pay the electric bill so that the house's electricity could be turned back on (after being shut off all summer for lack of funds). The gas bill had been paid and gas was available on their stove but the city inspectors said that it was against the law to heat a house from the stoves burners. So, after a few warnings, they said they'd be back to condemn the house the very next day, if its forced air heater's electric fan was not working, so that the heater could function to warm the house instead of the stove.
During the events leading up to this potentially disastrous day a prophet in the group had been given the verse...
Romans 8:1 - There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
The whole fellowship had confirmed this verse's quickening within each of them as applying to the forthcoming day's home condemnation. So prayers of belief and faith in that verse's validity for their situation ensued.
Suddenly someone noticed that 2 of the wallpapered walls in the main room were almost entirely glossing over with roof leak water from the rainstorm. As one of their prophets saw it, he exclaimed, "Walls of water! I believe that God is using these wet walls to signal us that tomorrow we'll all be delivered from our problems, just as Israel was!"
Well, the next morning the renter of the house was unexpectedly handed a few hundred dollars! It came as a loan from a person who had refused to lend any money to him before, but who that morning had a change of heart and brought the loan to him. It was more than enough cash to pay the electric bill, which he immediately did!
He came back home with the paid receipt just as the city inspectors arrived. So he showed them this document which said the electric would be turned on that day (which it was). This receipt stopped the inspector's condemnation so just as the word of knowledge said - there was no condemnation for those who were in Christ Jesus!
What money was left also tided him over until the court settlement check that he was expecting any day, came in (and from which the loan was easily and quickly repaid).
That same morning, this apostle's fully backslidden (at best) wife drove over to further disrespect him and after she left, her car's brakes failed and totally immobilized her car, leaving her stranded on the highway. He found out about it later that day and this was interpreted as a sign from the Lord telling him that just as God knocked off the wheels of the Egyptian Pharaoh's army chariots when they went between the walls of water, He had similarly done that to her car's wheels for coming by the holy place where He had formed the wallpapered walls of water.
Ecclesiastes 7:26b, (a) - One who is pleasing to the Lord will be freed from (the woman whose heart is snares and nets, whose hands are chains)
Right after that, the divorce proceedings from her (which that apostle knew nothing about) came up for trial. When he got over his surprise and initial hurt as he was notified of the proceedings, he felt moved by God to not attend them nor contest the divorce in any way. So during the court proceedings, he was freed by the judge from his marriage to his now demonic wife but without their home or their business which were both in her name alone and all of which she had requested in the divorce suit.
Because he did not attend she won the divorce and both of these properties by default. He had put both of them exclusively into her name because he loved her and if he died, he wanted her to have both of them without having to go thru state probate. So, even though she was killing him out of her life with this divorce and he was hurt terribly by it, he still loved her greatly and he still wanted her to be happy and to have the house and the business in spite of everything. Therefore, in his heart he approved of all of his loss that God permitted to occur.
John 15:13 - Greater love has no man than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.
But to her chagrin, on one item the judge did rule unexpectedly in his favor. That was to give him all of his IRA retirement money which they had been saving and which, in her now ravenous, devilish greed, she was trying to keep for herself!
With those unanticipated and greatly appreciated funds combined with the other brother's anticipated settlement funds (which he soon received), this small fellowship pulled entirely out of all of their financial distress. Between both of these monetary miracles they had enough money to buy a full ensemble of musical instruments and recording equipment for their music ministry for which they had been praying. They also had enough left over for a six month deposit on a new, modern, well heated, rental townhouse big enough for the apostle and the hosting family to live in!
4. Opening the Bible to the page
Many Christians have testified to opening to the exact page in the Bible which contained a verse or a passage that directly spoke to them on a matter in their life. The most famous of these that I know of is the testimony of the World War I American hero, Sergeant York. He had His Bible open when he was praying and the wind blew its pages until it stopped on a page with a verse that answered his question to God about whether or not he should go to war.
So here is my testimony about just such an event...
One evening, just after I had just finished reading the whole Bible for the first time, I got into a conversation about it with a Catholic relative of mine. In the course of our conversation I mentioned to her how surprised I was to read that God had moved 2 of His prophets walk around naked, as a testimony against Israel and Judah. To this she responded, "I read my Bible all of the time and I've never read anything like that in there. You must be nuts!"
Well, I just happened to have a brand new copy of the Good News Bible with me, so I pulled it out and told her I'd try to find the verse. Of course, she smugly stated that I'd never find it because it wasn't there!
So I pulled off its cellophane wrapping and flipped it open towards the middle where the prophetic books are located.
Then I looked at the page that I happened to open to and in shock I exclaimed, "Look, it's right here on this page (Isaiah 20:1)! I opened right to the page! Can you believe that! 1200+ pages in this brand spanking new Bible and I just happened to open it right to the exact page! This is a miracle! God opened it to this page for me because I didn't really know where to find it. So, now do you believe it's in your Bible?"
She was embarrassed in front of the whole family, but she stubbornly stuck to her guns by trying to close the subject with, "I know that that verse is not in my Catholic Bible!" So I let her off the hook by responding, "When you go home, look up Isaiah chapter 20, verse 1, in your Catholic Bible and see if it's not there!" Of course, she's never told me whether she did this or not and I've never asked.
Proverbs 9:8 - So don't waste your time on a scoffer; all you'll get for your pains is abuse.
5. The outcome of a Christian's Dissipations
This is a testimony of how living and active even a very small, obscure passage in the Word of God can really be!
There was an occasion where some of the brothers in the fellowship and I were visiting my relative at a drug abuse program and ministering the gospel to all of those whom we met there. As we hopped into my van to leave, an old man came up to us and asked us for a ride to a suburb over 50 miles away. He said that he had no money and that he had no way to get home.
Well, I had a full tank of gas and we all had the rest of the afternoon free so we talked it over amongst ourselves and agreed to take him there. During the ride we preached to him about salvation and he assured us that he had already received the Lord Jesus Christ as his Savior many, many years ago. Then he told us that he was in reduced circumstances and he could only get short-lasting part time jobs or occasional odd jobs. He said that he went to church regularly but he was always broke so he had to live with one of his relatives to whom we were taking him. We then asked him why he thought that God was not letting him prosper?
Sheepishly, he responded that he'd probably never get ahead because he was a habitual frequenter of prostitutes. We asked him how he could do that as a Christian and why he didn't stop it and just look for a wife of his own? He then confessed that he probably would never do that because no matter how many times he repented of it, there was just something about the working girls that got to him on and every time he had any money at all, he was compelled to run right over to one and give it to her for her services.
Of course we then counseled him to seek addiction help from a church counselor or his minister.
As we finished this discussion we arrived at the place to which he was going. So we let him out and told him that we'd be praying for him. He thanked us for that and then asked if we had any food in the van because he was hungry and he didn't think there was any food where he was going.
Well, we were all broke but I had purchased a loaf of bread earlier for my house with my last couple of dollars and that's all that we had with us. So I offered it to him and he took it gratefully and left.
The next day I happened to read the following verse...Proverbs 6:26 - For on account of a harlot one is reduced to a loaf of bread!
Truly, even this small passage in the word of God was living and active in this case, wasn't it?
Here's another testimony that is similar in nature...
Again, some of the brethren and I were driving in my van. This time we had a new convert on board whom we were carrying to one of our meetings. As we came to a stop sign there was a very pretty girl standing on the corner. This new convert was sitting in the front passenger seat so he noticed her first as we pulled up to the corner and he said, "Hey, look at that cutie!" Then, as we stopped at the crossing, she saw him and she smiled and called to him and beckoned him alluringly by posing and crooking her finger, signaling him to get out of the van and join her.
At that he exclaimed, "Do you see that! She wants me! That pretty thing wants me!" to which I felt led to respond, "But so does God! The question now is which one do you want, He who created that cutie or her, one of his creations?" So he looked at her and then he looked at me and then he looked at her again, to which she then made an exaggerated kiss gesture at him and mouthed, "Come here!" while still wiggling her finger.
"God Almighty she's a doll and she wants me!" he blurted out struggling with the temptation. I felt led to go on, "Then maybe I should just drop you off here so she can have you. But if I do, just remember this, that very God Almighty that you just mentioned in your excitement only reaches out so much to each person and if you leave now you may never be given another chance from Him to come back to Him! That girl could actually be Satan standing right there, using her beauty to lure you right now into eternal damnation!"
He struggled for a moment longer and then finally decided to stick with us and said,"Ah, let's just go!" As we drove off, in my rear view mirror I could see the devil making sure that she showed that she was not too pleased by disgustedly waving him off. But thank God that this young man made the right choice!
Proverbs 9:13 - 18 - A prostitute is loud and brash...she stands at the street corners of the city, whispering to men going by..."Come home with me," she urges simpletons, "Stolen melons are the sweetest; stolen apples taste best!"
But they don't realize that her former guests are now citizens of hell!(the Living Bible)
Again, here in this event, the Word of God was living and active.
6. Giving the Lord His due
One day one of my younger relatives mentioned to me how he had just purchased a speed boat and how he was going to spend his summer weekends on it. Suspecting that he was backslidden, I then asked him when he was going to go to be able to go church if all of his weekends were so occupied? He replied that he didn't feel that he needed to go to church.
So I then pointed out to him that it seemed to me that in the Bible the Lord asks His true believers to give Him at least a seventh of their time and a tenth of their money. He responded that he didn't think that my beliefs applied to him. So I let the conversation end on that note.
That weekend he got into a boating accident and his new boat was completely ruined! Some drunk in a bigger boat rammed his boat in a spot that made it irreparable. When he told me about it I suggested that maybe he was mistaken about churching and tithing and perhaps the Lord was using this loss to get him to reconsider his beliefs. He responded smugly that he hadn't lost anything because his boat insurance was going to totally replace it, so he didn't see this event as any reason to reconsider his beliefs.
A couple of weeks later he received his new boat and went off again on Friday for another of his boating weekends. A few hours later he came back thoroughly disgruntled. When he encountered me he bitterly snarled, "The Lord got His tithe!" and he stormed away from me.
It seems that as he was driving to the river with his boat cover wadded up inside his boat, a passing smart aleck motorist must have flipped a lit cigarette into it and that set it afire! When he noticed the smoke in his rear-view mirror he pulled right over, just happening to stop right in front of a church. So he ran to the church door for help but the old maintenance man there said that he could not help him.
My relative saw a fire extinguisher hanging there on a wall of the church but the maintenance guy would not let him use it. He would only let him use the phone to call the fire department which he did but by the time they arrived, the boat was utterly destroyed.
So when he told me the whole story later I mentioned to him that when we are not doing that which we know that we should be doing with God, we can lose some of our protection from evil and this can result in these kinds of bad things occurring.
7. Demonic Truck Driver
One of the men in the first church that I attended upon my conversion to Christ told me this story of his conversion.
Late one night after he'd been on a drunken binge for over a week, he was driving his tractor trailer on an interstate in a very remote area in one of the northwest states. As he proceeded in this dark, barren area he approached another tractor trailer. So he went to pass it and as he did so he looked over to wave to its driver.
To his utter horror there was a huge, terribly ugly frog driving that truck and leering at him!
In shock he finished passing it, trembling uncontrollably yet not really believing what he'd just seen. Then it sped up and began to pass him. He looked over again at the driver and sure enough, there was that horrible, ugly, evil frog leering at him. So he slowed down to let it go by but it slowed down right with him, scaring him immeasurably.
For quite a few miles he could not shake it. It just stayed right even with him no matter how he drove with its demon driver learing evilly at him. Now he was in abject terror. He began to feel like maybe he had died and gone to hell! So he began to think of his dissipated life and how it had led to this terrifying experience.
After about a half an hour, which felt like a lifetime to him, he saw a motel sign off of the road to the right so he exited right to it. Fortunately, the other truck was in the left lane so it just kept on going. When he parked, he grabbed his gun from the truck just in case it came after him and he took a room there.
When he entered the room, there was a Gideon Bible sitting out on the dresser. Well, he said that he grabbed it and began reading it and praying and repenting like crazy and begging God to save him! He said that he never wanted to see that horrible frog ever again and he knew right then and there that he needed Jesus Christ in his life from then on in order to forever avoid it.
If you think about the timing and manifestation of all of these signs and wonders for a while, you will begin to realize and then believe that these things could not be just coincidental!
H. God speaks to us thru the casting of lots.
Proverbs 16:33 - The lot is cast into the lap, but the decision is wholly of the Lord [even the events that seem accidental are really ordered by Him].
Is the flipping of coins a viable way to hear from God today? David used something similar (the Urim and the Thumim) to repeatedly inquire of God as to when or how to do battle.
The priests would use this device to determine the guilt or innocence of parties to crimes unseen by humans.
The first apostles resorted to the lot to inquire of God as to which of the accompanying disciples was to replace Judas and become known as one of the twelve apostles.
Acts 1:26 - And they drew lots [between the two], and the lot fell on Matthias
In my own life I feel that I have been moved by the Lord to utilize the casting of lots to help me to find God's will for many, many different events. I have cast lots hundreds of times over the past 25 years of ministry using the yes or no answer symbolized by a coin flip of heads or tails.
However, in order to be sure that God truly wanted to so speak to me whenever I felt moved to cast a lot on an issue, the first coin flip was to ask Him if He did want to so speak to me (heads = yes, tails = no). Whenever I received a tails = no answer to that first coin flip I would then proceed the hard way to act in that event about which I was inquiring. I took that path in order to be sure that I was not self gratifying in my actions.
If I was given the heads = yes answer to go ahead cast another lot on the issue and then I received a tails = no answer, I did the same thing. If I received a heads = yes answer to my query, I would proceed down that path and if it was the easier path I would proceed without fear of self gratification. Either way, in following this procedure, I always reached peace about the matter of which I was inquiring and I always ended up blessed in my subsequent actions.
I do not recommend this method of seeking God's will to anyone who is not absolutely wholehearted to do His will. Remember that after Saul ceased to be sold out to God, he could no longer find the Lord's will thru his use of the Urim and the Thummim!
I Samuel 28:4 - 6 - So the Philistines gathered together and came and camped in Shunem; and Saul gathered all Israel together and they camped in Gilboa.
When Saul saw the camp of the Philistines, he was afraid and his heart trembled greatly.
When Saul inquired of the LORD, the LORD did not answer him, either by dreams or by Urim or by prophets.
Also remember that we are not fighting enemies of flesh and blood but we are standing against evil enemies of the spirit world who wish to misdirect us in all of our affairs. So, tools like this one and others like dreams and visions appear like foolishness to the worldly wise who have fallen into their mind trap. But they are actually brilliantly designed faith weapons from God which in certain circumstances are the only means that God will use to show us to not fall for their misdirections!I. God speaks to us in healings.
I Corinthians 4: 20 - For the kingdom of God does not consist in words but in power.
God is actually speaking to us in power, not in words, whenever He brings about a miraculous healing. By giving us a powerful healing He is telling us that He exists and He is helping us. In the book of Acts a number of miraculous healings and even some resurrections from the dead are described. In every case, the observers of the miraculous event confessed that they saw God's working in it. So, can it not be said that God spoke to them in power in these events?
One time I was visiting my mother and she mentioned to me about how she had lost most of her pep recently and she was becoming very distraught about it. So I responded that I would pray for her to get it back but in the meantime, perhaps she should go to a doctor for a checkup.
A couple of days later I was visiting her again and she exclaimed to me how the next morning after I told her that I would pray for her, all of her old pep came back! We both saw this as a miracle from God and rejoiced together in it. To me this was a wonderful, welcome message from God, saying to her that...
Hebrews 11:6b - ...He exists and that He rewards those who seek Him.
Another time a woman who worked with me told me that her mother-in-law was seriously ill and riddled with cancer and that she was about to be operated upon the next day. She then told me how much she valued and appreciated her mother-in-law and could not imagine life without her and she was terrified that she would die soon. She told me that the whole family revolved around her wonderful goodness and that her loss would be a disaster for all of them. So I asked her if she could believe that God would heal her?
She responded that she believed that of course God could do it but she did not have any faith that He would do it. So I asked her if she could just have faith that He might heal her. "Yes" she said, she could believe that He might heal her but not that He would for sure heal her. So we prayed together in agreement on that, humbly asking God if He might heal her.
James 4:6b - God...gives grace to the humble.
The day after the operation she came to work rejoicing. She said that when the surgeon opened her mother-in-law up there was not one trace of any cancer being present. He even asked the hospital personnel if they had the right woman on his operating table!
Deuteronomy 32:39b - ...I wound, and I heal...
We both saw this as an event in which God spoke to us in power.
Here is another example of the Lord speaking to us in the power of a miraculous healing.
A lady that I know of had very sore knees. She thought that it was arthritis but I sensed that perhaps a demon was in them. So boldly I commanded the demon to come out of her knees in the name of Jesus and instantly the pain left them. Then I encouraged her to get up and walk around. She did so, no longer hindered.
Again, God spoke to us in the miraculous removal of her pain and discomfort. The Lord speaks to us in every healing (or any other miracle for that matter) but in power, not in words because the kingdom of God consists in power. We just need to learn to hear Him in His manifested power.
J. God speaks to us thru all of our authorities.
So, learn to hear God speaking to you in the words and actions of any of your authorities including all civil authorities and...
parents
older relatives
older siblings
your boss(es) at work
any organizational administrator(s) over you
your church officers
etc.
In fact, Jesus admonished us to go so far as to consider ourselves to be servants of all if we wish to be great in God's sight!
K. God speaks to us thru many counselors
Wise counselors are men and women who are given special insights by God to be good advisers on certain issues. These people are made available by God to those making decisions in life so that they may choose wise and prudent courses of action for their affairs which will better them and as many of those involved with them as possible.
Proverbs 15:22 - Without consultation, plans are frustrated, but with many counselors they succeed.
Wise people will seek out, carefully listen to and then seriously consider the advice of all of those that they can find who might be knowledgeable of their circumstances and needs.
Proverbs 11: 14 -Without good direction, people lose their way; the more wise counsel you follow, the better your chances.
They will realize that God Himself could be using the mouths of any of these advisers to enlighten them about and to wisely guide them thru their affairs of life. So, in this manner God can speak to the wise.
L. God speaks to us thru 2 or more witnesses.
God has elected to occasionally speak to us thru the agreeing testimony of more than one witness.
Ecclesiastes 4:9 - 12 -Two are better than one because they have a good return for their labor.For if either of them falls, the one will lift up his companion. But woe to the one who falls when there is not another to lift him up.
Furthermore, if two lie down together they keep warm, but how can one be warm alone? And if one can overpower him who is alone, two can resist him. A cord of three strands is not quickly torn apart.
When Jesus was being tried by the Sanhedrin, no two agreeing witnesses could be found because the devil and his forces are so divisive that they cannot agree on anything, even something as important to him as prosecuting Jesus Christ.
Some stood up and began to give false testimony against Him, saying, "We heard Him say, 'I will destroy this temple made with hands, and in three days I will build another made without hands.'"
Not even in this respect was their testimony consistent.
So, God can elect speak to us thru the consistent testimony of two or more witnesses to give us the truth on some matters.Unfortunately, this teaching exceeds the length limit allowed on a knol. So, in order to finish the remaining 2 subjects, the reader will have to go to archive entries 18 and 19 of April 2008 on my blog - Annals of an Anonymous Apostle. They are described and linked below...
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