God isn’t dead! He’s alive and well, and still ready, willing and able to speak to His children-and He wants to speak to you.
“How can that be?” you may ask. In order to comprehend the answer to that-how the great God and Creator of the universe could communicate directly with you, or why He would even want to-you must first understand how much God loves you. He loves you so much that He sent His Son, Jesus, to die for your sins so that you could be forgiven and receive God’s gift of eternal life in Heaven, simply by believing in Jesus and receiving Him as your Savior. Jesus died for the sins of the whole world, but He would have died for you alone. He and His Father love you that much.
In His love, God also gave you the Bible, through which He tells you how to live in love and harmony with Him and others. God’s Words in the Bible are an inexhaustible source of faith, comfort, encouragement, instruction, wisdom and strength of spirit.
But God didn’t stop there. He loves you so much that He not only wants to communicate with you through His written Word, but directly. He takes a loving personal interest in you, and wants to be involved in your life. He knows that you have questions and problems, and He wants to give you the answers and solutions. He also wants to speak personal words of love and encouragement to you, to boost your faith and reassure you during those rough times. Most of all, He wants you to know how much He loves you personally. So He created a means of two-way communication, a channel between Him and you, so that you can talk to Him in prayer and in reply hear words He gives specially for you.
But what if you don’t consider yourself very “spiritual” or close to God? Well, you’ll be happy to know that God will speak to anyone who has a little childlike faith-and He wants to speak to you, to give you a chance to experience His infinite wisdom and boundless love. He wants to lead you step by step into a closer relationship with Him and a greater understanding of His will and ways.
God may speak to you in a number of ways: As you read the Bible, He may cause a particular passage to stand out to you and show you how it applies to your situation or how it answers a question you may have. He may not even use words-He may just give you an impression or inner conviction, a sort of intuitive knowledge about a particular situation. He may speak to you through vivid dreams or visions. He may speak through others-godly counselors, whose wisdom and experience you can benefit from. But of all the ways God is able to speak to you, perhaps none is more wonderful or of greater practical value than the gift of prophecy.
Did you know that the principle dictionary definition of the word “prophecy” is not “a prediction,” but rather “a divinely inspired utterance”? In other words, prophecy is receiving a message directly from God. Whenever you hear words in your mind that you believe are from God and you say them or write them down, you are prophesying.
You can hear from Heaven. Put God to the test. See if He will not open to you the windows of Heaven and pour out such blessings on you-the treasures of His Words for you personally-that you will not be able to contain them all.
How prophecy works
Once you’re open to the idea that God can speak to you, what next? Here are the basic ground rules:
1. Have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.
If you’ve received Jesus as your Savior, you’ve already met the first and most important requirement. When you opened your heart to Jesus, you began an intimate relationship with Him not only as your Savior, but also as your friend, teacher and counselor.
2. Be filled with the Holy Spirit.
Jesus told His disciples shortly before He was crucified that after He was gone, He would send the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Truth, to teach them all things and guide them into all truth (John 16:7,13-14). He has promised to give the Holy Spirit to you too, if you ask for it (Luke 11:9-13).
3. Pray for the gift.
The ability to receive messages directly from God-commonly referred to as the gift of prophecy-is one of the gifts of the Holy Spirit that are explained in 1 Corinthians chapter 12. God is more than willing to give you this or whatever other gifts of the Spirit you ask for (Matthew 7:7-8).
4. Talk to Jesus.
Prayer is not meant to be a religious ritual, but a living relationship. Jesus wants to speak to you as openly and freely as your best friend or spouse would, but it’s a two-way street. It may be awkward at first if you aren’t used to speaking to Him personally, but it gets easier once you begin to do it regularly. He understands and loves you as no other can. He wants you to tell Him your deepest thoughts, your innermost feelings, your secret dreams and longings.
5. Read God’s Word.
. Knowing the Word also helps you to have faith that the message you are hearing is from the Lord. The Bible is your foundation. Read it, study it, memorize it; let it become a part of you.
6. Have faith.
The Bible tells us that having faith is being certain that what we hope for is waiting for us, even though we cannot see it right now. How do you get faith? Simple! Faith comes from reading the Word of God (Romans 10:17).
7. Ask!
This may seem pretty obvious, but in order to receive something in prophecy, you first have to ask the Lord to speak to you. “Call on Me, and I will show you great and mighty things which you do not know” (Jeremiah 33:3). Place your telephone call, and get His reply!
8. Be humble.
Your mindset, your attitude of heart, your motives-all this helps determine how clearly you will be able to hear from Heaven. You need to realize that you are weak in yourself, that you don’t have the answers and therefore need God’s answers. “We have this treasure in earthen vessels”-lowly clay pots-“that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us” (2 Corinthians 4:7).
9. Ask God to override your own thoughts while hearing from Him, and to help you submit your will to His.
To receive God’s messages, you need to have an open mind and heart. You need to be ready to accept whatever He gives, even if it’s not what you were expecting, not completely to your liking, or you don’t understand it fully. Your own ideas and desires may be good, but His will prove better.
10. Now you’re ready to begin.
Start by finding a quiet place and taking a few minutes to talk to the Lord. Tell Him what’s on your heart. Thank Him for His blessings in your life.
If you have a specific question you’d like to ask Jesus, go ahead. Then be still and focus your mind on the Lord. Closing your eyes will help you shut out distractions around you.
Do your best to concentrate and patiently listen with your spirit. Then take in whatever comes to your heart, mind, ears, or eyes, and accept that as the Lord’s message for you. As you speak or write down the first bit you get, the Lord will give you more! When you’ve sincerely asked the Lord to speak & your heart & mind.. are open to Him, He will!
Why is it when we talk to God we are said to be praying, and when God talks to us we’re said to be schizophrenic?
–Actress Lily Tomlin
Turn on, tune in
God is like a broadcasting station, broadcasting all the time. Just like the radio waves that are unseen in the air all around you this very minute, God’s Spirit is ever present, waiting for you to make contact. And much the same as a simple little transistor radio, you have been designed by your Creator to receive those signals. God’s power is always on. The message is always there. But in order to receive it, you must turn on and tune in to His frequency.
Compared to the tremendous power and complex operations of the broadcasting station, you, the operator of the receiver, need not have much power and only the simplest of skills. Prayer is the hand of faith that flips the switch and turns on what little power you have. And then the hand of hope tunes with expectancy, feeling for the frequency upon which God is broadcasting, and suddenly His great broadcasting station booms in with tremendous positive volume and power, and the messages come through loud and clear.
If you concentrate and wait with faith and patience, without distraction, you’ll receive some of the most powerful, thrilling and amazing messages that will stir you to action. The messages you receive from Him minister faith, joy, hope, love and praise. The vibes you get from the Lord are all good things. They just totally renew you and give you new vision, fresh inspiration, new strength, rest and peace and joy. You’ll dance to His tunes; you’ll move according to His signals, His directions; and you’ll know you’re fulfilling His will, the purpose for which you were created.
Heaven’s hotline
Charles Spurgeon, the famous evangelist, and George Mueller, the thief-turned-Christian who founded and directed five orphanages, both lived in 19th-century England. Once Spurgeon worked hard to collect 300 pounds in donations-a lot of money in those days-that was urgently needed by the orphanage he supported. When he had gotten the last of the money, he went to bed that night a contented man.
But before he could go to sleep, the Lord said to him, “Give those 300 pounds to George Mueller, for his orphanages in Bristol.”
“But Lord,” Spurgeon protested, “I need that money for my dear orphans in London.”
Again he heard, “Give those 300 pounds to George Mueller!”
Spurgeon finally agreed, and went to sleep.
The next morning he made his way to George Mueller’s home, and found him praying. “George, God told me to give you these 300 pounds,” he said.
“I have just been asking the Lord for that exact amount!” Mueller exclaimed.
When Spurgeon returned to London, he found a letter on his desk. It contained 300 guineas (each worth one pound and one shilling). “The Lord has returned my 300 pounds,” he shouted out for joy, “and with 300 shillings interest!”
Pastor Virginia once told how the Lord used the verse Psalm 46:10-“Be still and know that I am God”-to save the day and demonstrate His ability to give her specific, immediate guidance as she listened to Him in prayer. There was an emergency, and she needed to find someone who had recently moved, whose new address she didn’t have.
“Every part of my being seemed to throb with anxiety because that person had to be reached, and reached at once!” she later recalled. “Suddenly a paraphrase of Scripture came to me. ‘Just be still, get quiet, and know that I am God.’ So I sat down and quietly asked the Lord to do something to avert disaster, and the Lord spoke to my heart. ‘Just write a note and take it to the apartment where they lived before. Maybe they will have some reason to go back there.’
“So I wrote the note and went over to the apartment to deliver it. Just as I arrived, note in hand, up drove the very person I had wanted to reach but couldn’t!”
Olga Kristensen spent forty years in Asia as a Gospel preacher. One night toward the end of her stay, she and her co-workers received news that a gang of bandits was heading toward their Gospel center, burning, killing and pillaging. Before long, they heard shots being fired at the end of their street. Ms. Kristensen later recounted that night:
“I went into my room and asked God for a word to calm me and the others, and a passage I had often read before came to me: ‘When you lie down, you will not be afraid; yes, you will lie down and your sleep will be sweet. Do not be afraid of sudden terror, nor of trouble from the wicked when it comes; for the Lord will be your confidence, and will keep your foot from being caught’ (Proverbs 3:24-26).
“I shared that message with the others there and told them to go get some rest. Then I went off to bed myself and slept soundly.
“The next morning, bodies lay in the street outside our premises. There had been fighting and murder, but no one had so much as knocked on our door.”
Thoughts
It’s easy to get messages from the Lord: You just have to have faith. When you ask the Lord to speak, expect Him to answer and take the first thing that comes. If you really believe and ask the Lord, and you want to hear or see, you won’t be disappointed. That thing you see or hear with the eyes or ears of your spirit, that’s the Lord. Just open up your heart and let the sunshine in!
Most Christians don’t pray Samuel’s prayer, “Speak, Lord, for Your servant hears” (1 Samuel 3:2-10). Most of them pray, “Hear, Lord, for Your servant speaks!” They expect the Lord to hear them, but they don’t really expect to hear anything from Him. Isn’t that sad? A large part of prayer time is meant to be spent listening.
The Lord wants to be your personal Shepherd (Psalm 23). When you feel alone, when you need a shoulder to cry on, someone to understand, a word of sympathy and encouragement, He is always available!
Prayer for the Day
Dear Jesus,
Thank You for Your gift of hearing directly from You. It is like a special, magical door into the realm of endless possibilities, beautiful and fitting word pictures, words of love from You to me. Passing through this door brings discoveries of every kind: from the joys of Heaven to the depths of Your comfort; from a touch of Your love to explanations of the mysteries of life; from encouragement after disappointments to clear, sure-fire guidance when I don’t know what to do.
From Jesus–with Love!
In the Secret Chambers
In the quiet chambers, as you take time with Me, I will speak to you. At first it won’t even be in words. I’ll just give you the peace that you need.
But as you take this time with Me more and more faithfully-always coming in faith, believing that I’m there, waiting for you, that I enter with you into the secret, quiet chambers of your heart-as you do this more and more, you will begin to hear Me more clearly. It’s something that you need to make a habit of, something that you have to practice. You have to attune your spiritual ears so that you can hear My voice. It’s just like learning anything new. At first you have to concentrate, really make an effort.
It’s like someone learning to tune a guitar. At first it’s very difficult. Musicians have to really concentrate to be able to tell which notes are off key, which strings need to be tightened and which need to be loosened. But after a while, it becomes second nature to them, and they can do it almost without thinking.
So it is with learning to listen to Me and hear from Me. Come regularly, step into the quiet chambers of your heart and tune in to hear My voice. Little by little you will begin to hear Me clearer and clearer, until pretty soon it won’t be such a big effort. You’ll be able to hear Me loud and clear. You won’t even wonder if it’s Me. You won’t even have to strain to hear it, but My still, small voice will just be there, clearly instructing you in your heart.
Feeding reading – Hearing from God
The Holy Spirit connection
Mark 13:11
John 16:7,13-14
1 Corinthians 2:9-10,14
The Lord will guide and instruct
Psalm 25:8-9,12
Psalm 32:8
Jeremiah 33:3
Isaiah 30:21
Isaiah 42:16
Daniel 2:20,22
Get quiet and take time to listen
Psalm 4:4
Psalm 143:8,10
Biblical examples
Numbers 9:8
1 Samuel 3:9-10
1 Kings 19:11-12
Jeremiah 1:9
Ezekiel 3:27
Luke 2:26
Acts 10:19-20
Acts 13:13
God still speaks
Malachi 3:6
Amos 3:7
Acts 2:17
Hebrews 13:8
Read: 1John 4-5
Memorize: Jeremiah 33:3