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Hearing
Brian Mashburn
November 23, 2008
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Hearing God
What would you give to get specific direction...daily... from God?
There are (at least) two issues that every human must deal with if they are to have a chance at getting it. I'll share them in the form of two questions:
First, do you believe that God speaks?
Oh, you might have your own variation on this question. Does God still speak? Does God speak to you? Does God speak beyond what He has already spoken in scripture? But whatever the variation, the only tool that a human being has to get past this question is belief.
You can study scripture and make the case that God still speaks, and He wants to speak, and what's more, He wants to speak to you. You can hear mind-boggling stories from others hearing God and see the "proof" in their legitimately changed lives, and that's helpful, but at the end of the day...if you want to hear God...you will have to open up and believe.
Once you believe that God speaks, the second question is do you know how to hear Him?
Scripture says that God is spirit, and so we must learn to listen to Him in spirit and in truth. And admittedly, that's going to have to be different than how you listen to your spouse, kids, parents, and friends.
Most Christians these days are rookies in this area at best . Question one has hindered us for so long that we haven't spent much time practicing prayer in a way that even allows us to experiment with question two. It is time to change that.
There was a time when walking and talking between God and man was more natural than anything (see Gen 1-2). Then it was attacked, interrupted, and lost (see Gen 3). But Jesus came to seek and save what was lost, restoring the fellowship that has always been intended for us with the Father (see Luke 19:10).
What would you give to get specific direction...daily... from God? So often we complain that we don't "sense" God's presence with us. I wonder how often God doesn't sense our presence with Him. Let's experiment with this and learn to have ears to hear.