12
- In every hidden thing you can see His beauty
Search for Him in the stillness of the moment
- Everything that I could learn packed into that ball
So many people marvel at this when true believers share what the Lord speaks to us, but really it shouldn’t surprise them. God did not stop speaking. Did the God that created the heavens and the earth and everything in it, stop performing miracles and speaking to His people? Absolutely not. If there is a problem then, it would be with the one hearing, wouldn’t it?
God speaks in many different ways. The prophet, Elijah had desired to hear from the Lord and told Him that he also wanted to experience His visitation. The Lord granted this and he told him to “stand on the mountain and wait.”
Well, of course, God being God, sent a powerful wind, tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks. But it says, “The Lord was not in the wind.”
Hey, I don’t know about you, but that would be just about enough for me. I might be saying, “you know Lord, I think I’m OK, with our little, whisper chats.”
But, Elijah just stood firm, and after that an earthquake. Then if that was not enough, a fire.
OK, there isn’t a Hollywood production big enough, sorry Mel Gibson, that could compete with that. Where was He?
It says, in I Kings19:12, “after the fire, came a whisper.”
What’s more interesting is what the Lord asked, “what are you doing here Elijah?”
Geesh! The poor prophet, already told the Lord, he was zealous for the Lord and wanted to be in His presence and now he had to have the crap scared out of him and the Lord asks basically, “what are you doing here?”
I think it’s really quite profound. The Lord wants to hear that we desire His presence and will do anything to be in His presence. Yet, if a person is not hearing His voice, what is the reason?
The Lord does not need you to go to church. He does not need your labels and rituals. He wants to hear what Elijah spoke to him and He asked him to reiterate it. “I’m zealous for you, Lord!”
I find it comical when someone claims to be a believer in Christ, yet they don’t have any relationship at all with Him. I think of what it states in James 2:19, “You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that-and shudder.”
So I guess that just qualifies one to be a demon. Hey, the demons are pretty zealous, especially when a true believer comes walking into their presence! All hell breaks loose and they don’t want anything to do with a Christian that knows what power and authority that they carry when they walk into a room. Because if you recall, the Lord stated, “all power and authority that I have, I give to you.” Oh, unless you thought that was just those 12 guys, in which case you haven’t been studying one bit, since there were a lot more disciples than that and lets not forget about Pentecost. Hmmm, challenging some religious code aren’t I???? No, that power didn’t die with those people way back then. Get out of your pews and find out. I dare you.
Now in trying to understand how the Lord speaks to us, we should explore our relationship with our earthly father. You share moments together and have dialogue. You have a desire to hear what your father has to say and if he is gone it is so important to look at his writings to you.
I was just looking at my own father’s notes and letters to me the other day and comparing the similarity of the Bible to this experience.
If God being our own creator, wants to convey a message of love to His own children, don’t you believe that this would be the most important way to build on your relationship, since He authored His own words?If you say that you believe in God to be great enough to have created the universe, then don’t you also believe He could have edited His own unique book for you. Something that is perfect and filled with His love?
He says in His word that “faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God.”(Romans 10″17)
Another way that the Lord speaks to us is through natural circumstances and they are signs of the spiritual. “The natural speaks of things eternal.”
If you have the spiritual eyes to see and the ears to hear, you should be able to discern what the Lord is telling you. Sometimes it is difficult when you’ve become inundated with the world and this is exactly what happened to me. The Lord used some very unique and extraordinary circumstances to speak to me.
He did not reveal this to me until much later, however, as some would say, it was similar to a proverbial “ton of bricks.”
I went to a ball last year for a fund raiser and had hoped that some friends were going to be able to come with me. As I saw that not one of them were coming along, I decided to go anyway. It was the “Discovery Ball.” The name itself should have been a clue, that the Lord was going to show me something, however, I was not walking strong with the Lord. I had been stumbling and stumbling hard. All kinds of darkness around me.
At any rate, I decided to go to this ball and it was to be the beginning of a nightmare unfolding.
A friend of mine let me use her house and she was out of town. I didn’t arrive at this ball until quite late in the evening. As I left, a couple told me that they would be happy to direct me to the ramp, back to my destination.
I started driving and as I was going back, all of a sudden traffic came to a standstill. I had no idea what was going on and all lanes were in complete hold. Everyone started beeping there horns and I was tired. It was about 3:00am.
We sat and sat, and no one seemed to know what was going on. Finally the woman in the car next to me, radioed someone ahead and found out that a truck jackknifed across the freeway and stopped all traffic. I was cold. In a long gown with just a jacket. To add to the whole mess, I thought these people sent me in the wrong direction.
I roll down my window and ask the woman, is this the right way to ‘such and such?” I could almost see her smirk, but she probably knew I would jump through the window, evening gown and all….”No” She says. You have to turn around.
Oh great, I’m wondering how long this is going to take. Well, I tried to get comfortable and sleep and so did everyone else. I tried to muster up the spiritual crumbs I had for my Lord and ask, “what is all this about?” I still couldn’t hear anything. I’m thinking, I have a nice house to stay at, and I’m sleeping in a car. I’m going the wrong direction, because a truck jackknifed on the road. Plus, I had a really sucky time at that ball! I was having a blown up temper tantrum!
Then I told my friend about it and she said, she never heard of anything like that and she’s lived there all her life. “Oh, well that makes me feel a whole lot better, I said!” lol
Shortly after that I had to take a leave from my job because of serious personal reasons. This is when the Lord started to speak to me. He started to remind me of this incident. That He allowed this and it was a visual picture for me. Because we are humans that need visual pictures. When I was stronger spiritually, He said, “now you can see that you were headed the wrong direction. I will take drastic measures to turn my loved ones around. Even when you are out of work, you are being protected and I have removed you for your own good and I will strengthen you.
The Lord’s voice could be heard by me once again, because it was in the midst of my own pain and suffering that I drew close to Him. This is when He showed me what my purpose was once again. Because His “gifts and callings are irrevocable,” I had lost my way, and He had to use some painful processes to bring me back. “Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me.” The shepherd is always prodding the sheep to keep them on course. They are not smart animals and prone to injury if the shepherd does not protect them.
Now there is another way that He speaks to us and that is through other believers. I have been meeting with friends and I have had the benefit of prayer to help me through my times of trial.
God speaks in dreams. I have had the most profound dreams in my life and I often call them my “God dreams.” I journal them and usually I know right away what the interpretation is.
One I actually had quite a few years ago, and He spoke a word in Hebrew to me. I had to check in my Concordance when I awoke, just to see if it actually had meaning and was most amazed that indeed, the word was ‘aras’ and it means to be engaged, espoused to, or betrothed. In the dream he had taken my hand and told me, “come, we must prepare for “aras.”
How awesome is that?
I had one dream about my brother that was so incredible, that he told me if I had any more, not to tell him again! Every bit of that dream came true in due time.
Now, I had a dream, neatly tucked into my Bible, and it was from 2001. But this dream was given to me by a very dear friend of mine. She is what is known as an ‘intercessor.’ A very powerful woman of prayer. Praying on behalf of the needs of others.
I knew that this dream meant something very deep, however, was never quite sure what, and when it would come to pass. That is, until now. In the last few months the Lord opened up it’s meaning to me and I was most amazed as I called my friend and told her. “I know what your dream means. Every detail!”
As we met together, I shared with her. I told her that the Lord revealed it’s meaning and she was fascinated. She remembered when she had given it to me and couldn’t believe herself that it had such significance.
The people involved do not yet even know what the Lord has in store for them. But some powerful people are in the battle for their very souls. And this is how God works. Calling in His army to battle for people that do not even understand they are in a battle, when their spiritual lives are at stake. Spiritual warriors. Often we are perceived as their enemies. Or more often, we are just crazy. But crazy or not, we pray and pray hard, that the enemy of these people’s souls do not stand a chance against the spiritual army of the Lord, “and the gates of hell shall not prevail against us.”
The ones that they enlist for support are sometimes the ones they need to fear. Remember, we do not war against flesh and blood.
Ephesians 6 makes this very clear. We are not just a physical body and every human being should realize that the flesh is a small part of who we really are. Feed the part of you that will continue on into eternity. When you do this you will hear the voice of God.
Now the Lord says, “my sheep know me. They hear my voice and they follow me. (John 10:27)
So, that being said, we are in a very real battle. As i sat with a dear friend just the other day, sharing about my trials, she wondered at how I could endure such pain yet have such strength. I told her if it weren’t for the Lord, I couldn’t.
At this, she stated that many times she had wanted to go to church with a friend that had invited her but didn’t feel she was ready. “Why not?” I asked. “Because, I don’t think I’m good enough yet.”
At this I laughed and told her that none of us is good enough and that’s like someone trying to save enough money to have a baby! lol
It’s never gonna happen. We’re all fallen beings and Christ came to redeem us.
“Look, you are afraid, because you know He can change your life. And this is what you want so why are you waiting?”
We sat right there and prayed and after that moment she looked at me with tears in her eyes and said, “I can’t believe it! When I saw your name on my caller ID, I knew it was something!”
“That’s because I’m the vessel and now God is speaking through me”
I told her, “the Lord doesn’t pound down the door of your heart. He must be invited.”
And like Elijah, He wants to meet us right where we’re at, all the Lord wants to know is that we really want to meet with Him.
