How Does God Talk to You?

God’s primary method of communication to His children is through His word, the Bible. Nevertheless, God does speak to us personally. For me God’s voice is not audible, nor does He speak to my heart; God (by means of His Holy Spirit) invades my thoughts, and mostly when I am in prayer or in His Word.

How do I know they’re God-thoughts?

Well for the most part, these thoughts are not something that I would have come up with on my own. My thoughts are typically egocentric, self-serving, and oft-times sinful, while God-thoughts are polar opposites. They are good, perfect, loving, and true.

More importantly, these Divine impressions do not contradict the Word of God, nor do they add or subtract from Scripture.

Thirdly, they must pass the smell test from my brothers and sisters in Christ. If I share a thought (which I often do), the saints will be quick to point out a Biblical error or proffer an appropriate ‘tweak’ so that the message is properly conveyed. If we’re not willing to submit to peer-review, our thoughts may not be of God.

Finally, it has to pass the T.H.I.N.K. test:

T: is it biblically TRUE

H: is it HELPFUL

I: is it INSPIRING

N: is it NECESSARY

K: is it KIND

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Fueling Your Emotion

But as for you, you meant evil against me; but God meant it for good, in order to bring it about as it is this day, to save many people alive. Genesis 50:20

An After Dinner discussion…

These children would be better off if we just let them die and then they would go right to heaven.”

The children being referred to were those who live in extreme poverty around the world. Expounding upon his thought the talker continued, “Same with abortion…aren’t these babies going to Heaven? Why should we interfere with that?”

I listened.

Stunned by the remark my eyes rolled back and closed. Simultaneously my head flopped back into the sofa. Then, in less than a second’s time, anger-provoked adrenalin surged up my spine. My neck stiffened, my eyes opened, and my tongue slipped out to moistening my lips, a signal to my brain that my mouth was clear for takeoff.

The Voice of Reason

Does God talk to you?

He talks to me.

I can’t explain it adequately, but He does. His voice doesn’t seem to be audible, but to say, “God speaks softly to my heart,” isn’t an accurate statement either. All I know is that He does speak and that He spoke to me on this occasion.

What did He tell me?

“Don’t say it.”

It was enough.

I knew what He meant. I didn’t argue with God. I exhaled silently so as not to sigh, I relaxed my neck, and sealed my lips.

Be angry, and do not sin. Ephesians 4:26

It was another reminder for me that emotions are God-given, and when used properly they serve to facilitate interaction with God through His Holy Spirit. In other words, ‘emotion always leads to choice, choice can lead to Jesus, and in Jesus we will have a solution.’ There is an alternative to anger and it is not merely to be un-angry, but to recognize the opportunity it brings to be submissive and obedient to the Holy Spirit.

And Not Only Anger

How many emotions are there?  No one can say with certainty. A short list of emotions just starting with the letter A might include these:

• Able
• Adequate
• Adoration
• Affection
• Aggravation
• Aggressiveness
• Agitation
• Agony
• Alarm
• Alienation
• Amazement
• Amusement
• Anger
• Anguish
• Annoyance
• Anticipation
• Anxiety
• Anxious
• Apathy
• Apprehensive
• Arousal
• Astonishment
• Awe

When we perceive that emotions can be experienced concurrently, we begin to appreciate how the number of emotional combinations is incomprehensible. If you have you ever angrily or anxiously or amusingly anticipated something, you understand this. Well, know also that while our emotions are characteristically unique, they are common in their singular Divine purse: to bring us to Jesus.

And God never demands that we choose Jesus, but rather consistently affirms that He is the wisest choice.

Choices  

No one acts on an emotion until they have chosen to act on it.  Sometimes our reactions are so quick we suppose the action and the emotion are one and the same, but they’re not. Emotions are not actions until they have been fueled. Having said that, some of us do fuel our emotions before we experience them. This of course is foolishness.  It’s like lighting the fuse before you’ve constructed the firecracker.

So, it begs the question, “What are you using to fuel your emotions, or more accurately, ‘Who’ are you using to fuel your emotions?”

God asks us too,

Are you angry? Are you amused? Are you able? Wonderful! Here is the choice that will bring Me honor, glory, and praise.”

All things were created through Him and for Him. And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist. And He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He may have the preeminence. Colossians 1:16b-18

Consider the Colossians passage.

• Does the phrase ‘all things’ include our emotions?
• Does Jesus have preeminence over our emotions?
• Who or what fuels your emotions?
• How’s that working out for you?

~ ~ ~

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God Does Speak!

Blessed is the man Who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, Nor stands in the path of sinners, Nor sits in the seat of the scornful; But his delight is in the law of the Lord, And in His law he meditates day and night. He shall be like a tree Planted by the rivers of water, That brings forth its fruit in its season, Whose leaf also shall not wither; And whatever he does shall prosper. The ungodly are not so, But are like the chaff which the wind drives away. Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, Nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous. For the Lord knows the way of the righteous, But the way of the ungodly shall perish. Psalm 1

I typically do my Bible study in front of the computer. I cut and paste the text (NKJV) I am going to study into a word document, pull up a couple Bible resource sites (usually BlueLetterBible.org and BibleStudyTools.com), log onto my favorite online Bible study (SearchLight with Jon Courson), and then dive right in. With this method I have discovered that I can pause the study at any given point to further investigate or better document what is being shared by the Holy Spirit by way of the teacher. What should take about one hour (if I merely listen to the teaching), more often than not, takes two to three. I take pleasure in taking a key component from the session and sharing it in a blog. That might add another two hours. Needless to say, this is time well spent. Bible study is not something I have to do; it’s something that I get to do. I thoroughly enjoy it because the Lord blesses me in the process.

Today was different. My Bible study lasted about eight minutes.

The sun was shining and I thought it would be nice to just grab my Bible and go sit out on the deck. I soon found that while the rays were glorious, they were too bright to read by. I suppose I could have turned my chair so the light came over my shoulder, but I was way too comfy to do that. So I closed my squints and began to pray, resting the Bible on my warm belly.

I began to prayerfully replay some of the events of the last few days before the Lord. In no less than three conversations I had alienated and/or otherwise annoyed the people I was chatting with, despite the fact I was hyper-vigilant to the doctrine of tolerance; i.e., the right for others to say and/or believe whatever it is they want. And for the most part they tolerated me and my faith in Jesus Christ, but nevertheless, they were either angered or appalled by my Biblical views. God reminded me that I shouldn’t take it personally..

“If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own. Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.” John 15:18-19

That helped.

In one of these discussions I cited that we, as per God’s word, should avoid interacting with nonbelievers as they engage in their sinful activities. That raised the ire of one disputant who quickly turned my words around so as to say I was suggesting sinners should be avoided at all costs. That notion would of course be anti-biblical. The exchange left me exasperated. He ended the dialogue soon after. Was my Biblical interpretation correct or was I just playing the legalist? What happened next was pretty cool.

“Father,” I prayed, “I need a verse that will let me know that I am on the right (or wrong) path.”

God spoke to my heart. “Open your Bible,” He said.

“Father,” I objected, “I was just taught last night that randomly opening our Bibles as a technique to studying the Word is not the best method.”

God continued, “Open it to where the book mark is.”

So I did and a marker fell out in Numbers. “Not that book mark,” He said, “keep going.”

I chuckled to myself, closed and opened the Bible again, and it opened to where a friend’s business card marked the last page of Job. “Oh no,” I thought, “not Job!”

“The other page,” He said.

Oh, Psalm One! Much better! As I began to read I felt a smile come across my sun-taunted face.

Blessed is the man Who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, Nor stands in the path of sinners, Nor sits in the seat of the scornful; But his delight is in the law of the Lord, And in His law he meditates day and night. He shall be like a tree Planted by the rivers of water, That brings forth its fruit in its season, Whose leaf also shall not wither; And whatever he does shall prosper. The ungodly are not so, But are like the chaff which the wind drives away. Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, Nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous. For the Lord knows the way of the righteous, But the way of the ungodly shall perish. Psalm 1

“Thanks Father,” was about all I could say. My Bible study was over.

These ramblings are typically (but not always) a byproduct inspired by God through my personal Bible study at SearchLight with Pastor Jon Courson and with my pastor at my home church, Calvary Chapel Coastlands

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