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Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? (Psalm 139:7, NIV)
As believers, God is with us. It’s not mystical but relational and practical. One of the most important aspects of God walking with us is hearing His voice.
Let’s make a connection between God’s presence and His guidance. Dallas Willard, in his book In Search of Guidance, says . . .
Divine guidance cannot be ours as a reliable and intelligible fact of life except when seen as one aspect of God’s presence with us, of his life in us. Only our communion with God provides the appropriate context of communications between us and him. And within those communications, guidance will be given in a manner suitable to our particular lives and circumstances.
Okay, once we agree that we have God’s presence in our lives and that He wants to talk with us, Dallas adds, “suitable to our particular lives and circumstances.” In other words, God speaks in different ways.
What does God speaking to us look like? In the Bible, we find six ways that God speaks to His children:
- An event plus a voice: Burning bush and Moses
- A supernatural messenger or angel: The “angel of the Lord” appears several times in the Old Testament, and some believe it is Jesus. Also, there are many examples of angels speaking, such as Gabriel telling Mary about the birth of Jesus.
- Dreams and visions: Acts 2 says that in the last days, young men will see visions, and old men will dream dreams. So, please pay attention; we are in the last days.
- An audible voice: Spoken to Saul from a bright light while he was traveling to persecute believers in Damascus
- The human voice: After Peter preached the first sermon in Acts 2, those listening were cut to the heart, and 3000 were baptized.
- The human spirit: As Ephesians 1:17 records, “May God give a spirit of wisdom and revelation.”
A peculiar phenomenon in Scripture, when God speaks, is that those listening don’t recognize the voice at first. They often must be told, “Hey, I’m an angel.” Or, as to Peter in prison, “Uh, Peter, if there is a bright light standing next to you, your chains have fallen off, and I’m shaking you to wake you up, it’s me, your guardian angel, not a dream” (An extreme OGV interpretation of Acts 12:6-11).
The loneliest moments in our lives can be at a time of decision. We realize our next few steps could impact the rest of our lives. During these moments, the Bible clearly teaches that we will receive guidance.
All we need is faith!
If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him. But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind (James 1:5-6, ESV).
Let’s listen closely as God will speak.