God Speaks Today

For God speaketh once, yea twice, yet man perceiveth it not. In a dream, in a vision of the night, when deep sleep falleth upon men, in slumberings upon the bed; (Job 33: 14, 15)

That God speaks is not in question.

That He still speaks is controversial. Some think He stopped speaking after the Bible was completed while others like me insist that He still speaks.

The question following my confession that God speaks today is always, how does He speak?

That is probably the question I have been asked most frequently over the years as a teacher of God’s word.

I do not know whether you have realised as you study the Bible that there are very few instances where the method God used to speak to His people is stated.

Apart from Moses who spoke with God face to face and young Samuel who heard God’s voice audibly, most of the other incidences are subject to conjecture. They could be argued or explained away as the musings of a fertile mind.

Allow me to ask a simple question.

Do you think Joseph had other dreams prior to the one he had instructing him to take Mary as wife?

How can you explain an angel, a being that can pass through closed doors, especially the fact that you are the only one who sees him?

How do you explain a vision? What is the difference between one and a daydream?

You see, God speaking to us can be very subjective.

But even worse, a wrong interpretation of the source has the capacity of misleading whole communities.

Researchers say that we dream several times in one sleep cycle. And it this is because our brains do not completely sleep when we do. Allow me to give us another verse.

For a dream cometh through the multitude of business; (Ecclesiastes 5:3a)

How do you differentiate between this type of dream and the one coming from God?

Now a thing was secretly brought to me, and mine ear received a little thereof. In thoughts from the visions of the night, when deep sleep falleth on men, Fear came upon me, and trembling, which made all my bones to shake. Then a spirit passed before my face; the hair of my flesh stood up: It stood still, but I could not discern the form thereof: an image was before mine eyes, there was silence, and I heard a voice, saying, (Job 4: 12 – 16)

How valid was that spiritual experience? Wasn’t it as real as any other?

But was it from God as Eliphas claimed?

I doubt so. Because a spiritual experience cannot be used to rebuke God’s choice and (even to God) innocent servant.

Allow me to put in another verse as well.

But Zedekiah the son of Chenaanah went near, and smote Micaiah on the cheek, and said, Which way went the Spirit of the LORD from me to speak unto thee? (1Kings 22:24)

How does one distinguish from which spirit a voice comes?

This is a simple yet very complicated topic to handle.

It is complicated when we get into the nitty gritty of the hows. It is easy when we get into the why and to whom God speaks.

What kind of person does God speak to?

That is the first question we need to tackle.

We need to distance ourselves from the notion that God is like a broadcaster who will speak universally for any person with the right ‘decoder’ to intercept.

That is why Joseph’s brothers were furious with his dreams; not because of them, but of their inferences. His dreams could have been innocent, even laughable had he not occupied the special position with their father. They thought that Joseph was using (probably creating) the dreams to curry even more favor with Israel.

Though we can say that God speaks universally, only persons who are attuned to His ‘frequency’ can be able to access that voice.

That is the context of ‘whoever’ or similar words we see in the Bible.

Who does God speak to? That is our question.

… but to this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at my word. (Isaiah 66:2 b)

Trembling is not speaking just about fear. It is speaking about reverence. It is speaking about anticipation.

Ever seen a relay race? Have you ever looked at the person waiting to receive that baton?

That in my understanding is what this word is implying. It is the person who is rearing to go once he receives the word.

And the LORD answered me, and said, Write the vision, and make it plain upon tables, that he may run that readeth it. (Habakuk 2:2)

God does not release His word for information. He releases it for action. Here you see the word run and not walk or muse for the same reason.

It thus means that He releases that word to the person who is ready to run with it and not the one who simply has ears to hear it.

What then do I teach when I am invited to teach people the dynamics of hearing God?

I teach raw obedience. I teach radical obedience. I teach lordship, the Lordship of Christ.

How God speaks is as diverse as the people He speaks to.

I have said elsewhere that I have never seen God repeating Himself in the miracles He performs, whether in the Bible or my personal experience.

He is always doing a new thing. And as the creator of everything He is not at a loss for new things to do or new ways of doing them.

But who God is; His attributes, His nature, never changes.

It is therefore more important knowing Him than knowing His methods because they are new every single moment. They are always as fresh as the morning dew and will vanish as fast.

Many people get misled because they constrain God speaking or doing to the tried and tested methods. This is because those methods expire immediately they are used, that is if they are from God.

We recycle revivals because we have no capacity for God’s move in our comfortable conventions. We recycle and copy worship because we are scared of God crashing through our carefully structured systems.

In short, we want to continue being in charge, which is the opposite of how a worshipper should behave in God’s presence.

We even invite God into our ‘worship’ instead of pleading to be allowed into His.

And we still expect God to step into our experiences. We still expect God to speak to us under those conditions.

The truth of the matter is that whatever voice you hear and whatever experience you have do not come from God.

God calls all the shots. He is the Lord of lords and King of kings and so is not subject to anything or anybody. He does things as He wills.

That aspect of surrender is the prerequisite to being able to hear from God.

It is IMPOSSIBLE to hear from God on your terms.

I tackled that when I wrote about rebellion.

It is absolute surrender to His Lordship that gives us access to fellowship with Him. It is the thing that enables us to hear from Him. It is the magic key to His storehouse of wisdom and guidance.

God will always speak if we are ready to move IMMEDIATELY we hear His voice and not before. He will speak once our hearts are set to do exactly what He wants us to do.

Our willingness may seem noble to us. We might even pride ourselves at the state of our hearts.

But unless we can go beyond just willing to rearing to go it becomes a no show to God.

Why am I saying that willing is not enough?

Excuses will always come. Actual obstacles will also come in greater frequency and fervor.

The willingness can easily be doused by a million reasons, even genuine ones.

And he said unto another, Follow me. But he said, Lord, suffer me first to go and bury my father. Jesus said unto him, Let the dead bury their dead: but go thou and preach the kingdom of God. And another also said, Lord, I will follow thee; but let me first go bid them farewell, which are at home at my house. And Jesus said unto him, No man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God. (Luke 9: 59 - 62)

That trembling at God’s word must guide our obedience since willingness enough can accomplish very little. In fact, it could be equated with hypocrisy, if not rebellion.

Being willing is therefore not the way to be accessible to God’s voice. It is the complete surrender of self to the Lordship of Christ that can open that portal, if I may call it that.

Once I am settled that I will do everything He orders me, He then can release His voice for me to hear.

It is instructive for me to say this.

God will never let such a person hear wrong since that will then be His fault.

A sold-out heart will always clearly hear God’s voice.

That is why a terrorist going to bomb ‘infidels’ gets in contact with the resurrected Christ. That is why a Hindu with no contact with the Bible can connect to the saving power of the Gospel. That is why a seeking atheist can see the follies inherent with their arguments and come to Christ.

God created everything and everybody and can see the innermost parts of each heart He created.

He therefore can know the heart that is trembling at His word and will speak to him in a way customised to the way He created him.

Establishing in your heart that you will obey God whatever it takes is the surest way to hear His voice.

Because He is actually seeking such people to glorify Himself with them

For the eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to shew himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward him. (2 Chronicles 16:9a)

I pray you understand what I am saying.