KEY AREAS TO DEVELOP IN YOUR LIFE AS A MAN

DEVELOP YOUR ABILITY TO HEAR FROM GOD -PART ONE

In the previous article on 'Key Areas to Develop in our life as a Man', I addressed the need for every man to work on his relationship with God. I spoke on the need to fellowship more deeply and consistently with God as a man. Moving on, there is the need to realize that even in our pursuit of a  consistent relationship with God, we must gradually mature to the point where we can recognize when God is speaking to us and when He is not.
One of the special privileges we enjoy as a people of God is the ability to hear from God. Once you are a child of God then you are able to hear His voice(John 10:37).   As a people of God,  we must accept this and take the necessary steps that will cause this ability to become more sharpened in us . We have a lot to gain if we really take this seriously.
 But before we go on to take a look at how we can develop our ability to hear from God, there are two important points we need not forget while seeking to develop this ability. We will look at the first   today and continue with the second one in the subsequent article.  Here is the first:

There is Diversity  In The Way God Speaks

Job 33:14  says, 'For God speaks in one way, and in two, though man does not perceive it.'
We must know that although the communication of man between man is often limited to verbal forms and signs, God has diverse ways of ministering to His people. God speaks in and through so many ways. Throughout the scriptures are doted instances of God speaking to His people. The following are the ways through which God often speaks to His own:

•        The audible voice experience

With this, the Lord speaks into the ears of a man as a man speaks to another man.  In such instance, the Lord may speak to a man to reveal the unknown to him, to send him, to guide him, to correct him or to even admonish him etc. This experience although rare in the olden times  and limited to a few is now within the reach of every believer. God seeks to interact daily with us as a man with another man. He wants to reveal things to us personally and to give us answers as we wait  upon him and pray. God spoke audibly to people like Paul, Joshua, Abraham, Moses etc and is still speaking to many more today. In  the book of Acts, while the apostles were engaged in prayer and fasting the Lord spoke to them. Here is what happened:
 "While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, 'Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.'  (Acts 13:2)
God spoke here to give them an instruction to separate two particular people for a divine assignment. This attests to how God can speak to us directly on key issues to aid us in decision making.  It really helps when we learn to wait on God, for then we are able to hear God's specific direction for lives .

•    The Inner Witness

The Holy Spirit dwells in every believer. He is there to guide us,  teach us and to unveil mysteries to us. He is the Spirit who testifies within us  of God and the things of God.  He bears witness to the things that are from the Lord and make us know the things that are not.  When God wants to speak to us or to direct us and we are not getting His message well, the Holy Spirit does prompt us. This the Holy Spirit does through many ways. We might hear a voice within or get a strong impression or feeling about something. Also, the Holy Spirit  might bear witness within us that God is the one speaking to us by directing our minds to scriptures which refers to those issues etc and also  He might press the matter within us for awhile or give us a calm assurance within that we are hearing right.  Romans 8:16 speaks about the inner witness of the Spirit:
'The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are God’s children,”
This scriptures makes it plain that there is a communication that goes on between the spirit of a man and the Spirit of God. In this particular case, the verse talks about the fact that a person who is saved knows it because God's Spirit in him says the same thing to him. In the same vein, the Spirit of God does communicate with our spirit  on other matters as well.  We should therefore try to pay attention to the strong promptings we feel within ourselves sometimes and the scriptures that come into our minds as well as the sensations we feel sometimes since it might be God speaking to us.  

•    The Word

2 Timothy 3:16-17  says:
 "All scripture is given by the inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness. So that a man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.'

This verse explains the very  essence of the Word of God. The Bible is the Word of God. It is one of the most easily accessible means we can get to hear God's voice from. It is the one book that can lead us to discover the mysteries of God and a book that makes spiritual matters plain and simple to us.  It contains answers to various life questions. It can also give us direction when we need it. Through the study of the Word of God, we can discover the mind of God on any matter.  And it is one of the most surest and reliable ways  God speaks to us. We can always depend on the Word of God to provide solutions on matters we are in doubt about and on those we are struggling with.

•   Angelic Visitations

God can send an angel to us to speak to us when necessary. Angels are ministering spirits from the Lord that attend to God's will. They serve God both in heaven and on earth. They are assigned to God's children for their service and protection and sometimes are sent to deliver divine messages to men. Some may appear to us physically and others in our dreams and visions. Although angels have heavenly forms they can also appear in bodily form. And that is why scripture advises us not be forgetful to entertain strangers since some have unknowingly entertained angels.(Hebrews 13:2)
There are many instances in the Bible that talks about angelic visitations. We have one in Luke 1 when an angel came to Mary to deliver to her God's message that she would conceive and give birth to the Christ. Zachariah also, a high priest was  visited by an angel before his son John the Baptist was born. 
In the same vein, angels of God can come to us to God's children.

•    Dreams and Visions

Another area to look at is dreams and visions. Dreams are the images, emotions and sensations that come to us while we are asleep in the night. God at times chooses to reveal things to us when we are asleep where there is nothing to distract us.
Job33: 14-17 says:

'For God speaks time and again, but a person may not notice it. In a dream, a vision in the night, when deep sleep falls on people as they slumber on their beds, He uncovers their ears at that time and terrifies them with warnings, in order to turn a person from his actions and suppress his pride.'

God through dreams reveal spiritual realities to us and also instructs men on what to do while they are asleep. God sometimes even reveal what is to come to us  through dreams. It is important that we do not play with our dreams, especially when we pray before sleeping. Joseph was a man God used to communicate with through dreams. Jesus as a child was saved by a dream God sent to Joseph his father (Matthew 2:13)while Herod was on the lookout to kill Him. And there are other dreams too Joseph had from God.  Recently, I read a story on how God communicated with someone through a dream to give her direction to pursue His will in her struggle over which career to pursue.  She wanted to be a nurse but was also gifted in choreography. She did not know which one to choose. So she followed the nursing till two clear dreams from the Lord led her to make the right choice. She left the nursing and pursued her dancing career . She has a ministry called the King's dancers where she performs with others she has trained to impact people with the gospel. I think this is very wonderful.
Visions are like dreams.  The difference is that with visions we are awake when they occur. Visions are what we  see when our eyes are spiritually opened.  We are very much conscious of our surroundings when they occur unlike dreams where the real world become lost to us. Once we have a vision, others might be with us yet will not see or experience what we are experiencing.  We can also experience many types of visions. And that is why we need not limit visions to pictures and images that appear before us. Visions can come to us in diverse forms. There might be a manifestation of things out of us. Other times we might just be experiencing these things mentally. There are visions we can communicate with and those we just witness without becoming directly involved. Some visions are plain while others need to be interpreted to decode the message.
In a vision in Acts 9, the Lord spoke to Ananias the disciple concerning Saul whom He had made blind so he could go and minister to him. Cornelius also in Acts 10 was given a vision by God in which he was instructed to send for Peter. It was through this vision that he and his household got saved.

•         Trances

A trance is another way by which God communicates. A trance occurs when a person is taken out of himself and begins to have supernatural experiences and revelations. It is as if the spirit of the person leaves the body and he is translated to another place. It is often in a trance when people experience being transported to heaven and other places in the realm of the spirit. A person in a trance is more conscious of the spiritual than the physical world.
Peter describes a trance he had in Acts 11:5-10 thus:

' I was in the city of Joppa praying: and in a trance I saw a vision, A certain vessel descend, as it had been a great sheet, let down from heaven by four corners; and it came even to me: Upon the which when I had fastened mine eyes, I considered, and saw four-footed beasts of the earth, and wild beasts, and creeping things, and fowls of the air. And I heard a voice saying unto me, Arise, Peter; slay and eat. But I said, Not so, Lord: for nothing common or unclean hath at any time entered into my mouth. But the voice answered me again from heaven, What God hath cleansed, that call not thou common. And this was done three times: and all were drawn up again into heaven.'

Through this experience Peter changed his attitude towards the Gentiles in the preaching of the gospel. He learnt that God was no respecter of persons and was open to reaching out to all.
Also Paul talks about his trance experience in Acts 22:17-18, 21:

"When I returned to Jerusalem and was praying at the temple, I fell into a trance and saw the Lord speaking. 'Quick!' he said to me. 'Leave Jerusalem immediately, because they will not accept your testimony about me.' ... Then the Lord said to me, 'Go; I will send you far away to the Gentiles.' "

Certainly God does have interesting ways of communicating.

•     His Ministers

Another way God interacts with His people is through His ministers. God has many people He has called to do His work. These people also have dedicated themselves to His service Him. When these people  avail themselves unto God well they become a channel through whom God speaks to us. Though a lot of us are conversant with prophets, they are not the only ones who carry the message of God to us. An evangelist, a pastor, a teacher or any person in any other office can communicate the mind of God to us through their own office once they make time to wait upon the Lord before venturing to minister to God's people. That is why we need to pay attention to our ministers on the pulpit, the teachings and other ministrations including drama and songs that go on in the house of God because they form apart of how God speaks to us.
So long as such ministers are truly called by God and are serving God in their calling God can use them to speak to us. John 3:34 says:

' For he whom God hath sent speaks the words of God: for God gives not the Spirit by measure unto him.'
We should therefore not take the ministrations by God's servant lightly since God speaks through them to us when they avail themselves unto Him. That is, even when their message does not begin  with a 'Thus saith the Lord'.

To round it all up, I must say that God in His sovereignty can speak to us through any of these means and even more. As we mature in Him, we will even discover that God does speak even to us through nature, events and everyday situations.  We just have to develop a listening ear and a receptive spirit so we can always hear from Him. Shalom!

© Frances A. Hagan 2013