God promises, “Call unto Me, and I
will answer you, and show you great and mighty things, which you do not know.”1 But
His promise comes with one obvious, unspoken condition: You need to learn to
hear and recognize His answers when He gives them. He can speak to you in
several ways:
1. The written Word
Reading and reflecting on the Bible, God’s
already-recorded Words, is one way that God’s children can hear from Him. The
answers to most of the questions you will have in life have already been
answered there. All you have to do is search them out! (If you are a new Christian or just beginning
to read the Bible, read the four Gospels first, starting with the Gospel of
Saint John.You’ll also find the Word
Basics and Bible Topics books, available from Activated!, to be of great help
in finding out what the Bible has to say on a wide variety of topics.)
You may think, “How could the Bible talk
about the problems I face today? That Book is thousands of years old!” Well, if
you will study God’s Word with an open mind and an attitude of faith, you will
find that it will speak directly to you! There are many
passages in the Bible that contain answers and counsel to problems you may face
today. Though the details of our modern living may not be found in the Bible,
the courage, hope, strength, guidance and truth that we need to overcome each
hurdle in life most certainly are. The Bible tells us that the things written
therein were written for our benefit. “Whatever things were
written before were written for our learning, that we through the patience and
comfort of the Scriptures might have hope.”1
The Bible is an inexhaustible source of
wisdom and knowledge. King David wrote: “I have more understanding than all my
teachers, for Your testimonies are my meditation. I understand more than the
ancients, because I keep Your precepts.”2 The Lord also promises, “I will
instruct you and teach you in the way you should go.”3 If you pray, the
Lord will lead you to the passages that contain His instruction for
you-sometimes instruction you don’t even realize you need.
2. The voice of the Word
As you read the Word and become acquainted
with it, there will be times when you will be thinking or praying about
something, and suddenly you will be reminded of a verse from the Bible that fits
the situation perfectly and provides the insight or answer you need. This is
what is known as the voice of His Word.
Near the end of His ministry on Earth,
Jesus told His disciples that after He was gone, God would send them the Holy
Spirit to teach and guide them.1 If you have been filled with the Holy
Spirit, that promise is for you too. Perhaps He’s already been speaking to you
that way, and you just haven’t realized it. (Everyone who receives Jesus as
their Savior receives a measure of the Holy Spirit, but being filled to
overflowing with the Holy Spirit-what the Bible calls the “baptism” of the Holy
Spirit-is usually a separate experience that happens either simultaneously or
later. If you haven’t been filled with the Holy Spirit, you can be. You do it
the same way you received salvation, by simply praying for it. “If you … know
how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly
Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!”2,3
3. Prophecy and other types of direct
revelation
Most people think of prophecy as the
ability to predict the future, or as some mysterious power that only a few people
down through the ages have possessed. But it’s more than predicting the future, it’s
really not all that mysterious, and it’s available to all Spirit-filled Christians-including you!1 It’s
the ability to receive messages directly from the Lord-spoken through your
own mouth, or recorded by your own hand-and it’s a gift of the Holy Spirit,
which you can specifically pray for.
If you would like the gift of prophecy but
haven’t received it or aren’t sure if you received it, why not stop now and
pray for it? It’s yours for the asking. “Whatever things you ask when you pray,
believe that you receive them, and you will have them.”2
Once you have the gift of prophecy, the
Lord can give you words of love, reassurance, guidance, instruction,
revelation, or whatever else you may need. He will give you tailor-made counsel
and instruction for your personal situation.3
Whether or not you have the gift of
prophecy, the Lord is also able to put thoughts in your mind or give you an
impression that answers a question you may have, or sheds light on a situation
you’re involved in. He can also speak to you through dreams, or give you
visions. These are all forms of direct
revelation.
God can whisper His thoughts to you or
give you impressions at any time, but of course it’s easiest for Him to do so
when you’re reading and reflecting on His Word, or praying. When you get quiet
and put other thoughts and the business of the day out of your mind, when you
focus your thoughts on Jesus, you open a channel to receive His thoughts.
In one passage, the Bible refers to this
as hearing the “still, small voice” of the Lord.1 In another verse the
Lord promises, “Your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, ‘This is the
way, walk in it,’ whenever you turn to the right hand or whenever you turn to
the left.”2
Receiving a message from the Lord doesn’t
need to take a long time. You don’t have to be praying for an hour or two
before He will speak to you. Even if you’re in the middle of a project or
activity, if you stop for a moment and direct your attention heavenward, you
may hear Him whisper to you in your heart or mind.
Visions are pictures, either still or
moving, seen in your mind’s eye while you are awake (usually when your eyes are
shut, but not always). Some people have had visions that seemed so real, so
tangible, that they felt they actually saw them with their natural eyes.
Revelatory dreams from the Lord are
usually vivid, and one awakes from them with a strong sense that the dream was
significant and meaningful, unlike most dreams which seem to be nonsensical or
of little importance. Since the meaning of a dream is often less clear than
messages received from the Lord other ways, it’s best to ask the Lord to
confirm what you believe to be a revelatory dream, perhaps by giving you a prophecy
or a Bible verse.
©
1999, Aurora Production AG, Switzerland.
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