Does God Speak Today?

God first of all speaks through his word as recorded in the Bible. God speaks through what he has already revealed in the Old and New Testament. God helps you by the Holy Spirit to understand the word of God and apply the truth revealed in his word to your life and in your relationship to God and others. Of course we must apply sound reasonable principles of interpretation

A good practise that I have used in the past is scripture verse memory. When you memorize a verse in the Bible, I found that you will meditate on the verse and God will show you through the day the meaning and apply it to your life through the Holy Spirit, as you ask him to. I used to review a lot of verses each day and add one per week and remove one.

Understanding spiritual truth is foreign to us so it takes some time to understand the Bible, but what you don’t understand, you sort of speak, put on the shelf and as you learn more these open up to your understanding.

How else does God speak today? Does he speak in dialogue or is it just a one-way conversation? God still speaks today, but only those who are discerning and open to him and will hear him. Listen how f God speaks to Elijah in the Old Testament: “And he said, “Go out and stand on the mount before the Lord.” And behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind tore the mountains and broke in pieces the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. And after the wind an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. And after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire the sound of a low whisper” (1 Kings 19:11-12). The New King James Version says in a “still small voice.” God speaks to those wanting to hear and he speaks gently. He does, by his choice, not overwhelm us. He speaks to those who will hear. He is drawing you now, are you tuning your ears to hear him? Seek the Lord and he will find you.

God is likely seeking to direct you now, but you must distinguish his voice. The non-Christian may be squelching his voice or restricting it to a large extent. (1 Corinthians 2:14) Hopefully they have not gotten to the place of hardening their heart. Many people as they get older are so used to not listening to God that their hearts become hardened. Jesus said, “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me” (John 10:27). We must direct our minds and hearts to God to hear his voice as he speaks to our mind and guides our thoughts as we dialogue and engage with him.

God does not usually speak to us in what seems as an audible voice, but it not beyond the possibility, even now. It is also possible for God to speak in visions and dreams and he does at his discretion and in relation to his glory which also involves our development in Christlikeness. Some times he speaks especially to non-Christians by dreams or visions, however as Tertullian states, 98 % of our dreams are just about the issues of life and matters of the heart or our fears etc. He guides our thoughts and or puts burdens on our heart and gives impressions by the Holy Spirit. We must discern what thoughts are just our own, which are the devils and what are God’s.

God reveals his will to us. “His will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” God also leads us by a Biblical saturated mind in truth and with his principles as revealed in his word so that we have the mind of Christ. (1 Corinthians 2:16) What our mind is directed to will direct our life. We may miss hearing the guidance of God, if we are unwilling to follow his lead. If we are saying no to God’s direction and refusing to do his will, we can harden our heart and God may wait for us to come to our senses. We may mistake God’s guidance from just our own flesh as well. This calls for wise and biblical discernment.

Some prosperity gospel preacher once said on TV that God told him that every TV listener was to contribute 200.00 dollars to his ministry and if they did, they would be greatly financially blessed. Biblically this is not true application and interpretation of God’s word. There is a glimmer of truth in it, but not the whole truth. Did God really tell him this or is he deceived and only manipulating God and people to reach his objective. Some things to consider is what kind of person is this? Does he have God’s kingdom in mind or his? Is he preaching the gospel or just giving people what they want to hear and preaching a distortion of God’s word? Is God confirming this in your mind and heart? Is what the person saying Biblical? The closer something comes to the truth the harder it is to discern. If your heart is in tune with God, and your mind saturated with Theological understanding, you will be discerning.

God sometimes allows us to make a discretionary choice about certain matters. For instance, what truck we will buy. Where we will live? Who we will marry. He can also a times guide us very specifically. This is all part of your spiritual development and growth. When there is no direction from God, he may be giving you discretion in some matters that are in accord with God’s word. In all of this he wants you to follow the Biblical way of wisdom. In Dallas Willard’s book, Hearing God, he states the classical ways of discerning God’s leading and voice. These are called the three lights and he mentions them on page 170. They are circumstances, impression of the Spirit and passages from the Bible. I myself would list the impressions of the Holy Spirit as first in the order. Circumstances can be unreliable although at times they are also affirming of God’s direction. For instance, God’s people didn’t listen to Jeremiah and eventually through him down a pit and they sent him into exile while he faithfully preached the word of God. If Jermiah looked to circumstance and his idea was that he was to be successful at leading the people to God than he might have quit. Better to be faithful than to be successful in your own eyes rather than God’s. Don’t put too much stock in circumstances. As Dallas Willard states, “For one does not know merely by looking at these doors who is opening or closing them—God, Satan or another human being.” (p. 170)

People sometimes make up things and say it is God’s will when it is coming only from their own distortions and ego or wrongly understanding of God’s leading and its application. When God guides you, it is important to also follow his timing and his application. It is a very bad practice to say God is leading in a certain way, if it comes from our own flesh. It is better to say that I sense God saying this rather than God told me. However, the more we respond to God’s leading and do what he says the more our ears are turned to his voice and leading. God is not going to wear out your ears.

Discernment is not an easy road and calls for great discernment and it is refined by practice. (Philippians 1:9) Again, as Dallas Willard states in his book mentioned. “The great cause of confusion is that people make infallibility a condition of hearing God.” (p. 196) This is a big issue. We will make mistakes at time, but we can learn from them.

If we do not believe that God speaks today and we have not practiced quality prayer to hear God’s voice than it is only a one-way conversation, rather than a dialogue and we have little direction and communion with God. However, this does not have to be the case. However, if we say that God only leads by the Bible and not the Holy Spirits, as William Law said in his classic book, A Serious Call to a Devout and Holy life: “No can we possibly escape their same errors; for in denying the present inspiration of the Holy Spirit, we have made the Scripture the province of the letter-learned scribe.”

It is difficult to go into all the factors on this issue. I would highly recommend the book, Hearing God, by Dallas Willard. This is the best book I have read and the most balanced that I have read. Willard also recommends the books, Does God Speak Today, by David Pythes and Fredrick B. Meyer, The Secret of Guidance and E. Stanley Jones, The Way, and Conversion.

Knowing and doing God’s will is very important for all people. God says in his word, “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me” (Revelation 3:20). One day every one will hear his voice and only those in Christ will rise with Christ to heaven, the others will spend eternity separate from all that is good in hell. Jesus said, “Truly, truly, I say to you, an hour is coming, and is now here, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live” (John 5:25). As the scriptures again say, “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts” (Hebrews 4:7) God is speaking. Listen up. God loves you! God’s voice is the voice of divine love in Jesus Christ and in and by the Holy Spirit. Only in God is found happiness and fulness. As Jesus said, “Seek first the Kingdom of God and all these things will be added to you” (Matthew 6:33). He is not saying that you will get what necessarily want but what you need and the blessings are primarily in Jesus Christ which brings the fulness of life here and in the life to come.

Take time, quality time, to listen and communion with the living God who loves you more than you can comprehend. When you become a Christian, you yield to a much higher authority than yourself, sin and Satan. He will gently guide you if you are ready, thou at times he will also correct you for your own good. God is speaking today, but you must tune your mind and heart to hear him and to walk in his fulness.