Impressions and Hearing God

 Impressions

God can communicate with us in many different ways. As I mentioned in my first blog post, God spoke to me through the newspaper, radio and billboard signs when He was calling me to preach. We must be very cautious to claim instances like these, by themselves, as communication from God. God's primary source to communicate is God's word the bible and any sense of communication we have from Him must be measured against this standard.

"All scripture is given by inspiration of God and profitable for reproof for doctrine and instruction in righteousness. That the man of God may be thoroughly furnished unto all good works" II Tim. 3:16 .

"The word of God is quick and powerful and sharper than any two edged sword piercing to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit and of the joints and marrow and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart." Heb. 4:12

Heaven and earth shall pass away but not His word Matt. 5:18. And Gods word will judge us at the last day John 12:48. Jesus said he came to fulfill the law not abolish it. He is the Living Word. And, He has given us the written word as a tangible objective standard.

Golf is a great social sport that I enjoy. Not only can I enjoy nature in a well manicured setting I get to meet new and sometimes very interesting people. A couple years ago I met one such very interesting man on the golf course. As we trekked around the course the conversation turned to spiritual things. He was a member of a local church that claimed to be having a revival for 20 years with strange physical demonstrations by the congregants. This man claimed to have personally healed over 300 people and the healings were all “confirmed” by physicians. He gave no glory or acknowledgment to Christ. Aside from this rather grandiose statement ,he made another comment that captured my attention. I can't recall precisely what he said but his comment sounded like he received a direct revelation from God. I challenged him and stated that all impressions or inclinations that we think we get from God must be measured against God's word the bible. If it contradicts His word then its not from God. The Bible is our standard and final authority. Without hesitation he responded, “no, I don't believe that”. He actually believed he received direct revelation from God and it did not matter if it contradicted the Bible. This would be new revelation and contradicts the scriptures. Paul said in Galatians 1 that if anyone preach another gospel than what we have preached let him be cursed. He repeats this curse a second time as a stark warning to people like this golfer I met.

Salvation is a revelation from God. In Matthew 16 Jesus asked His disciples, “who do men say that I am?” Some say you are Moses, some say Elijah. Then Jesus looked at Peter and said, “Who do you say that I am.” Peter replied, “You are the Christ the Son of the living God. Jesus responded, flesh and blood has not revealed this to you but my Father in heaven(has revealed it to you)”. This was a direct revelation to Peter that was in complete concord with the scriptures.

The Old Testament was well established by the time of the apostles as “God breathed”. When Paul wrote that all scripture is given by inspiration of God, II Tim 3:16, he was referring to the Old Testament. The apostles preached Jesus from the Old Testament.  There was no New Testament at the time of Paul. The New Testament cannon was complete by the end of the first century. As these letters of the apostles circulated, the church began to realize what they had in those letters. The revealed word of God by the hands of the apostles. This revealed word ceased with John the Revelator. If one is relying solely on their impressions as a revelation from God without using the bible then they make themselves the objective standard thereby they are the final authority and thus they set themselves up as a god. This is the secular humanist spirit of our age.

Contrary to most men, when I purchase something that has 200 hundred different parts and needs to be assembled, I follow the directions provided. If I don't, that book case may turn out looking like a coffee table. So it will be in our personal lives if we follow the logic of this pseudo-gnostic golfer.

Hearing God

Let me share a few practical things about hearing God. Oh, there is nothing new under the sun but some of these ideas may be things you have practiced before and simply faded away. It does not hurt for us to have some reminders now and then.

Prayer is a two way line. One of the main reasons we don't hear God is because we don't take the time to listen. Most Christians, if they pray at all, only have a one direction line that goes to God. It may sound something like this:

Dear God bless mother and father and brother and sister and child and church, fido and fluffy, the pastor and sick Mrs. Johnson. Help me have a good day. Amen. I hope the lameness of this is a bit exaggerated but I'm not so sure. We can have substance to our prayer and learn to be effectual and fervent in prayer.

Psalm 100 tells us to enter His gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; be thankful unto Him and bless His name. Praise and thanksgiving are two different things. Thank God for what He has done and Praise Him for who he IS. When we come to God in prayer we should prepare our hearts with these two principles in mind. Thank Him for a new day to serve Him. Thank Him for His many provisions in your life now and to come. Then praise Him for who He is. Love is not just something God imparts to us it is something that He IS. God does not just impute holiness to us, He IS holy, He IS Justice, He IS mercy, He IS............... This worship time of thanksgiving and praise prepares the heart for prayer. God takes up residence in the praises of His children. Psalm 22 tells us He inhabits the praises of His people. Its in this atmosphere of worship that I approach the throne of heaven in supplication.

I often have my Bible open when I pray. Sometimes I pray the Psalms. Other times I just begin reading scripture and when something strikes me I meditate on that passage and make it my prayer. I ask God to open the deep layers of meaning in the text and apply it to my life. After intercessory prayer I remain in silence with my conscience fixed on God. Any thoughts that pop into my mind immediately go through the filter of Gods word. Keep silent before Him. “The Lord is in His holy temple. Let all the earth keep silent before Him” Habakkuk 2:20. When the mind is quieted then I sit and read His word. It is in this reading that He speaks to me because I have unburdened my heart before Him with all my cares and God speaks to me through His word.

Aside from the Bible there is a wonderful book that can aid in this process. I have used it many times and will use it again. “A Celebration of Praise” by Dick Eastman is a 7 week structured reading where each day has an attribute of God that you focus on in praise. He also explores the character and nature of God that will have you wanting to seek Him more. I highly recommend this book and acquiring the books that he references in his notes section. Its theologically unbiased because he uses authors from various theological persuasions and all are sound.

God Bless You Pilgrim

Be still and know that He is God