God Speaks

July 19, 2018

“God speaks to us through his Word, and we speak to God through prayer.” This dictum was drilled into me from the time I first became a Christian. I never questioned it until early adulthood when I was first exposed to Charismatic/Pentecostal Christianity and the idea that God speaks directly into people’s spirits today. The prophetic gift, dreams and visions are staples in many Christian circles; I can’t claim the former, and visions are not my forte. I have on two occasions however, had dreams in which I knew immediately God was speaking to me. 

I’ve listened enough to people who claim prophetic gifts to know that much of what passes for the prophetic is more closely related to the individual’s desire to feel important, and is so vague that confirmation or debunking is almost impossible. The Biblical standard is clear: 100% accuracy (Deuteronomy 18). If it’s truly a word from the Lord from whom nothing is hidden, accuracy and truth are to be expected.

I’ve also listened to people whose prophetic word hit the bullseye. Sometimes. Therein lies the rub. I wish I could say that God speaks to my heart in times of prayer, but that rarely happens. Occasionally though when I am studying Scripture, things will just seem to click. I may go through days of dry nothingness, when suddenly a passage will all make sense, or I will see connections I hadn’t noticed before. When that happens, I know God is behind it, and has spoken authoritatively through his Word. It is a wonderful thing, a deep and calm excitement that settles in. It happened just yesterday as I was preparing Sunday’s sermon, for which I am thankful tonight.