Does God really speak to us?

Art forgery has taken place for centuries and is BIG business.  And as the quality of these forgeries increase, so has the demand for qualified professionals who can authenticate true works of Master Artist from clever forgeries by deceptive con men looking to make a quick buck.  A professional Authenticator uses many tools to bring forgeries to light, but by far the most effective is identifying the brushstrokes of a particular Artist.

An artist brush strokes are as definitive as an individual finger print and can’t be completely duplicated.  While Forgers can come close, there are always subtle differences that the trained eye will catch.  Professional Art Historians can only achieve this level of expertise by spending years studying every detail of a particular Artist and a broad spectrum of their work.  Only by spending hours and even years analyzing the true works of an Artist can forgeries be seen for what they are, fakes.

As Christians today we have an enormous tool that wasn’t available to the early church in the finished work of the Bible.  God has spoken to His people plainly, definitively and completely.  Without the finished work of the Bible, God’s people were given the Old Testament Prophets and Christ and the Disciples in the New Testament to reveal God’s plan to His people.  Along with the treasure of God’s Word we also have the gift of the Holy Spirit to guide us to the truth that God will reveal to us individually.  And like an authenticator of fine art studies the work of a Master Artist, we must study Gods Word everyday so we too can identify His brushstrokes and character when we ask Him to speak to us.  The Apostle Paul tells us:

Be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, accurately handling the word of truth.

2 Timothy 2:15 NASB

As Christians God has promise to speak to us, if we knock He will answer.  But a diligent study of the Word of God is needed to accurately hear the truth God would reveal to us.  We must have and intimate familiarity of the Word of God to hear His voice over those that will also attempt to answer when we enter into prayer. 

What?  Someone other than God will speak to us and attempt to answer our prayer? Without question the answer is yes.  But let me explain before you get a rope to hang me.

In John 8:44 Christ tells us that “Satan is the father of all lies”.  And according to the Apostle Paul we are in a very real war with very real demonic forces.

For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.

Ephesians 6:12

Spiritual warfare is a reality that every believer is going to be effected by.  If you’ve given your life to Christ you cannot sit on the side line as you are an active participant, like it or not.  If you choose not to accept the reality of spiritual warfare you open yourself up for attack and make yourself easy prey for the enemy.  While someone that chooses to not acknowledge spiritual warfare in their life can be saved and can have Heaven as an eternal destination, you can sure have your time in this world thrown into turmoil. 

Once your eternal destination is sealed in Christ, all the dark forces can do is attempt to make you ineffective for the kingdom of God.  Christ told us we will have trouble in this life and I believe as Christians the forces of Satan steer most of the difficulties we face.  The dark forces we encounter will attempt to confuse us and make us worry, even question Gods provision and sovereignty. And while Satan and his forces are not omniscient and able to hear the prayers of our heart, they are deceptive enough and understand the difficulties we are facing and try and confuse our attempt to seek Gods help in prayer.

The Bible is full of examples of godly men on godly quest being challenged by Satan and his forces.  Good men encounter a path that on the surface appears to be right but upon further examination are just distortions of the truth.  And we must prepare ourselves to know the difference.  We must make the study of scripture a top priority in our lives.  We must spend hours and even years looking at the brushstrokes of God’s Word so when we are presented with a forgery from our enemy, we will know the difference.  God’s truth is waiting to be revealed to us all:

And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled only to those who are perishing.

2 Corinthians 4:3

As born again Christians we are not perishing and God has lifted the veil of His desires for our lives.  It’s our duty and responsibility to become experts in the Word of God to successfully navigate the world we presently reside in.  To become intimate in God’s Word and to become an expert at identifying His voice over the voice of the other forces that will attempt to confuse us requires a commitment of time from us and we must find a daily time to spend in the written Word of God to do this.  There is no other way to do this, there are no short cuts.

Are you having trouble discerning the voice of God over other voices that may be speaking?  The voice that God will speak to us in will never challenge the Word as written in the Bible.  If it’s from God it will be complementary to His Word. If it contradicts the teaching in the Bible, chances are it’s the wrong voice to listen to.

I personally feel that God has spoken to me in a clear and distinct voice on very few occasions.  But when He has, there was no question the voice was in line with written Word of God.  But there have been many times in my life where I did hear a voice, a voice that gave me some very good direction, on the surface at least.  But once I tested the direction given against the Word in the Bible I found a simple distortion of the truth, a fake. 

God’s Word is always the safest way to hear Him speak.  There is no substitute for the written Word of God in finding direction in our lives and there is no doubt we should all be ready to receive the Word of God should He choose to speak to us.  But if we are going to listen for God’s audible voice, we need to be confident it’s the real thing.

Start today, make getting into the Bible a daily event and let God reveal Himself to you in an intimate way.  I promise you won’t be disappointed!

 Peace,

Jeff