No one taught me how to do it. No one taught me that God actually communicated clear direction to his people, or that it was possible to hear and then do exactly what God wanted done.
And yet there were multiple accounts in the Bible of ordinary people not only hearing God, but hearing God clearly! Paul and Barnabas were sent after the Spirit spoke at a prayer meeting (see Acts 13:1-3). 'No name' Elijah was sent to confront a king (see 1 Kings 17:1), hide and be fed by ravens (see 1 Kings 17:2-3) and find provision in a foreign land, because God 'commanded' a widow to feed him (see 1 Kings 17:9). Ordinary Ananias was told to find 'church-wrecker Saul' and pray for him (at risk of his life) at the same time as Saul was told that Ananias would pray for him to receive his sight (see Acts 9:10-19).
Apart from reading the Bible to get general direction, no one told me how to hear the Lord when the direction wasn't clear! Sometimes two good choices required a decision, and I didn't know which was best!
I had to get a job. My town had 22 per cent unemployment and work was scarce. My parents ran a restaurant - but people were cutting out restaurant meals because there was no extra money. So when a man offered me a job driving a delivery van, it made sense to check this out. He gave directions to the factory; I went with a sense of uneasiness.
| ...no one told me how to hear the Lord when the direction wasn't clear |
My mind said, "If you are not working, your job is to find a job." My heart however, wasn't listening to my head - it was getting more unsettled. A lead-like feeling came into my spirit as I parked the car; it grew more disturbed with every step toward the door on the loading dock. I knocked loudly, and no one answered. Sensing relief, I returned to my parent's restaurant.
The factory owner came back and asked why I hadn't gone to the interview. When he heard about the door he laughed and apologized; the office had a vine-covered door tucked away in the back, so I returned to try for the job again.
Once again my spirit became 'heavy', with an increasing sense of trouble inside - yet I could see no reason to turn down honest work. As I walked into the office, the secretary greeted me cheerfully and said, "Oh hello! You must be the man coming for the delivery job. I was told you would be coming. The job is yours; in fact you can start right away. Do you want it?"
Every part of my inside was battling with my mind, screaming not to take the job. Yet the work was needed. The pay was low, but there were no jobs to be had. So I said 'Yes', signed the contract, left the building - and felt like throwing up.
The next morning a call came from a different employer offering a 15 week job at $3.00/hour more than the job I took, but it was too late. What I didn't know was that 15 weeks later, God would send me to seminary; the extra money would be needed to pay for the year. I did go to school, but struggled to pay the bills.
| Usually God doesn't speak in our mother tongue |
The Holy Spirit was attempting to communicate, to 'speak.' Usually God doesn't speak in our mother tongue. Rather God speaks by the presence and the absence of his peace. This is what it means when Paul indicates we should 'let the peace of Christ rule in our hearts.' |
We need to know the Bible's principles. We also need to cultivate 'listening to the peace.' In fact, five tests can help us ensure that 'the will' is clear and that we are listening to and doing what God wants. These classic spiritual disciplines, found in the devotional literature, can be located in a single Pauline text:
Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body; and be thankful. Let the Word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God. Whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God the Father (Colossians 3:15-17 NASB).
The five principles are:
• The Word of God
• The Witness of the Holy Spirit
• The Workers in God?s Kingdom
• The Worship of God
• The Will of the Believer
1) The Word of God.
Colossians indicates that the Word should dwell in us richly. What better way to discover what God wants than to saturate our souls with his specific teaching! If the Word within us is rich, so also will be the guidance that God sends. There are biblical principles that we should know. Read the Gospels until their teaching is second nature. Study the Epistles. Immerse yourself in the prophets. Commit Scriptures to memory. There will be no specific guidance if we are disobeying the general principles of godliness that are ours for the learning. If this step is not taken, then guidance is more difficult. Obey what you know. Then God can give specific steps to take.
