God wants each one of us to live naturally supernatural lives where we are increasingly in tune with Him and what He is doing and saying in the various areas of life. He wants us to know how to speak for Him in those settings in a way that is naturally supernatural – just like Jesus did.
When it comes to hearing God, to tuning into Him, what do we know about what God is like? He is love, He is Holy, He is God in Trinity, He is Good, He is Just, He is Glorious, He is Gracious, He is Great, He is ‘The Word’ – ‘The Logos’.
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” (John 1:1)
There are a fascinating couple of verses at the start of the book of Hebrews:
“In the past God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son….” (Hebrews 1:1-2)
The literal translation of this would not be “he has spoken to us by his Son” but something more like “he has spoken to us by Son”. It is a bit like saying, French people speak French, Japanese people speak Japanese, Welsh people speak Welsh and God speaks Son. If you want to know the thoughts, reasonings, expressions, intentions – the logos of God – then look, listen and engage with Jesus because He is God clearly communicating with us.
What does God do?
He communicates and He loves to communicate. He speaks in a whole host of ways and what He says is always consistent with who He is. So when He speaks to us we catch a glimpse of what He is like and we will see something of His nature. We will hear His love, goodness, grace, holiness and glory in what He says.
He communicates with us because He wants relationship with us. He wants to invest in that relationship and so He communicates. God is inviting us into a deep and ongoing relationship with Him where we get to know Him more and more. He longs to reveal more and more of who He is and what He is like to us.
This relationship with God is the foundation for ministry. Who God is informs who we are. When we know Him we begin to know ourselves. God wants us to know that we are secure in Him as His children. Covenant is the foundation for Kingdom.
“The point of prayer is not the power that it releases but the Person that it reveals.” (Pete Greig)
What is now true of you?
You are God’s child and you are loved by Him. You are a member of His family and nothing in all of creation can separate you from His love. The Good Shepherd says that you are a member of His flock and:
“My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.” (John 10:27)
When we are secure in our identity in Christ as members of the family of God, knowing that God loves us and that He loves people, then we are best positioned to speak out.
How do we now get to live?
We get to know that we are loved by God and that we have nothing to prove. We get to spend time with God in the secret place and throughout the day and expect Him to speak. We get to learn how to hear and understand what God is saying in community with others. We get to speak what God is saying to others to help them to know God and to grow in Him. We get to encourage, comfort and strengthen others in God’s name. We get to be witnesses. We get to hear God speak words of invitation and challenge to us. We get to tune in and speak out.
We can hear God in a whole host of ways but the primary one is the Bible.
“Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path.” (Psalm 119:105)
Others include the peace of God that acts like an umpire telling us what is in and what is out. God also speaks through visions and dreams – an example of this is found in Acts 16:9-10 when Paul dreams of the ‘man from Macedonia’. God also speaks through nature: “The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they reveal knowledge.” (Psalm 19:1-2). The list could go on and on.
Whatever we believe, God is saying it should be tested. Some questions that we have found useful are:
- Is it in line with the teachings of the Bible?
- Does it fit in with where God is leading us?
- Does it promote love, unity and Christlikeness?
Tuning in and speaking out is best done in community and not in isolation.
Hearing from God is only part of the process – it is good to ask:
- What is God saying to you?
- What are you going to do about it?
What an amazing invitation we have from God: we get to live as naturally supernatural people.