When the Lord reminded me of how I, as a new Christian, suffered from a lack of knowledge about just how to hear or see God, I felt moved to write this teaching about communicating with the Lord. So, all of the April 2008 blog entries will be exclusively on this very large subject about how exactly we may communicate with the Lord.
Isaiah 1:18 - "Come now (today)...let us reason together." says the Lord...
Back then, I couldn't find any teacher or teachings that explained exactly how we are to converse back and forth with God. In fact, my evangelical mentors did not even believe in such a thing and they would counsel me to just make sure that everything I did was "Scriptural" and I would be in God's will. But it was obvious to me that such a thing was impossible because there are Scriptures for a matter that appear to be contradictory.
This ignorance of theirs and mine resulted in many uncertainties and doubts within my mind for a long, long time about whether or not I was actually perceiving and doing God's will in many of my affairs. I kept fearing that I might be doing wrong in so many things because I couldn't seem to find out from Him just what His will for those things really was. But the good thing about all of these concerns of mine was that they worked to humble me and prodded me to keep digging into His Word in search of my answers.
Deuteronomy 8:3 - ...He humbled me and allowed me to hunger (for knowledge of communicating with Him and learning His ways) and (then, in His time, not mine) He fed me with the hidden manna, (the portions of His Word on this subject) which I did not know nor did (any of) my (spiritual) fathers know,
that He might make me recognize (personally understand) that I do not live by bread alone, but I live by every Word that proceeds out of the mouth of the Lord (found in the Biblical Scriptures and from His Holy Spirit's voice within my own mind). (from the Amplified Bible and personalized by me)
My intense hunger for the answers to my questions about God's true will for me that I could not find, turned out to actually be His will for me at that time! It was a necessary humbling experience for me before He would give me an answer.
Jeremiah 29:13 - When you come looking for me, you'll find me. "Yes, when you get serious about finding me and want it more than anything else, I'll make sure you won't be disappointed.
Now, after whole-heartedly seeking to find out how to communicate with God, He has personally instructed me from His Word and from events within my own life about the many ways in which we can perceive His voice and the conversational movements of His Holy Spirit within our minds. So now, after learning these methods, I have been given tremendous peace of mind about how I'm to determine His will for each of my life affairs.
John 14:27 - Peace I (the living and active Word) leave with you; My peace I (the living and active Word) give to you; not as the world gives do I (the living and active Word) give it to you.
So, do not let your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful.
Hopefully, this Biblical instruction on what I have learned over the years about how to perceive the Lord and His Holy Spirit's various means of communicating with me, will shed some needed light for those of you who are also struggling with this problem. Additionally, the instruction here may be useful for those of you who do communicate with God but are not yet familiar with some of the particular means that He says in His Word that His Holy Spirit will use to communicate with us.
Hopefully, the resultant effect of this instruction will be to build up your own personal faith about how to see and hear God so that you can so do.
Matthew 5:8 - Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God!
It is compiled from much of what God's Word says about the subject of supernaturally communicating with God.
Romans 10:17 - So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the Word....
I now ask the reader to read the article in Wikipedia about Pentecostal and Evangelical Rhema
Romans 15:4 - For whatsoever things were written aforetime, were written (by God thru His inspiration to His prophets) for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the Scriptures, might have hope (in His existence and His plans for us). (my own amplification of this verse)
He has inspired various faithful, holy men of the past to record the Words which He (in Spirit) somehow spoke to them or showed them about Him and His ways in their own life circumstances. Today, these same Words apply by faith to all people who find themselves in similar life circumstances.so that the man of God may be complete and proficient, well fitted and thoroughly equipped for every good work. (the Amplified Bible)
So first and foremost, we need to fully believe that God has actually sent His Word to the prophets for us as a means by which to give us knowledge of Himself and His ways and that all of His revealed Word is true and now resides within the Biblical Scriptures.
John 17:17b - (Jesus said,) "Thy (God's) Word is truth."
Then we can move forward within our minds, from merely perceiving this Word thru our eyes or ears or fingers, into believing what it says and then establishing a firm faith in what it says about Him and His ways for our lives.
Romans 10:17 - So faith (about Him and His ways) comes from hearing, and hearing by the Word....
After that, from this baseline of Word faith (believing the Biblical record about God and His ways), we can move forward into a deeper faith which believes that today His Holy Spirit will use His Word to actually speak to each of us within our minds about our circumstances.
John 14: 26 - "But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I (the living and active Word) have said to you.
In my own experience I believe that God has so spoken to me thousands of times. I feel that His Holy Spirit has done this by quickening (emphasizing - igniting - bringing to life) within my mind, passages of His many Words of Scripture. Each time He speaks anew to me within my mind, His Holy Spirit reminds me of verses that I've seen or heard before and that He wants me to then realize as being truly pertinent to a particular matter in my life.
Hebrews 4:12 - For the Word that God speaks is alive and full of power [making it active, operative, energizing, and effective (for all time) ]. (the Amplified Bible)
Accurate knowledge of God and the way that He has for each of us regarding each particular circumstance of our lives can only be achieved by listening to the voice of His Holy Spirit as He speaks to tell us the correct applications of the Biblical Scriptures for those circumstances. Deducing correct interpretations of His Word with His Holy Spirit which apply to our circumstances is absolutely necessary if we are to be able to recognize His will for the matter. Bu faith then, this can be a true communication from God placed by His Holy spirit within our minds about the matter.
II Timothy 2:15 - Be diligent to present yourself approved to God (today and later, at the judgment) as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, accurately handling the Word of truth.
But, what about us instead using the many religious traditions that men nearly universally employ in their efforts to commune with God? Why must we use the Scriptures in the Bible to find out about and then communicate with God? Why not just rely upon our church traditions, especially the ceremonial rites and rituals which have been handed down to us over time?
Well, according to Jesus, religious traditions passed down amongst men as a means by which to get close to God and please Him must conform to the Bible.
Mark 7:13 - ... you are nullifying and making void and of no effect [the authority of] the Word of God through your tradition, which you [in turn] hand on...
So Jesus declared that even these, if used, must always be substantiated within the Word of God which is found in the Biblical Scriptures.
Therefore, to formulate doctrines about God we must use our minds (which are able to perceive the Words of God contained in the Biblical Scriptures thru our senses) along with His Spirit to make and then believe in them. Within our minds each of us can subjectively detect those passages that the Holy Spirit brings to our remembrance (or that we first read or hear), as being quickened by God. This belief that God has energized some of His Biblical Words within our minds in order to talk to us, then becomes a means by which God can then talk to us on different issues.
John 16:12a - I (God) have still many more things to say to you... (the Amplified Bible)
Consequently, as we journey thru life, God will give believers occasional revelations of Himself and His ways, just as He did with Jesus original 12 disciples, but not too often so as to not overburden the limits of our human minds.
John 16:12b - ...but you cannot bear them now.
A very important consideration for us to also ponder about the Biblical Scriptures is that they are a collection of inspired books that have been designed by God to sometimes appear hard to understand and in some places, to even appear to be somewhat contradictory.
II Peter 3:15b - 16 - Paul, according to the wisdom given him (by God), wrote to you (and all of us today), as also in all of his letters, speaking in them of...some things (which are) hard to understand...
So it's important to emphasize that we are to work along with God's Holy Spirit's voice within our minds, to develop well thought out, correct interpretations of the Scriptures that are pertinent to each affair of our life.
John16:13 - "But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all of the truth...
Correct interpretations of the Scriptures are necessary in order to get to the truths of God and His ways and to truly hear His Holy Spirit's voice for any particular matter. Then we need to take a firm mental hold (in steady faith) of that interpretation of the Scriptures that we feel He has shown us as being pertinent to that subject in our life.
Romans 14:22 - The faith (from your Spirit led interpretations of God's Word) which you have, have as your own conviction before God.
God tells us in Scripture that this kind of subjective, personal faith by each individual is very pleasing to the Lord.
Hebrews 11:6 - Without faith it is impossible to please God for he (each person) who comes to Him must (personally) believe that...He rewards them who (so) seek Him. (my own personalization of this verse)
The first reward from The Lord for our firm faith is His peace which He plants within us that then serves as evidence to us that we are in His truth, which further reinforces our faith.
Isaiah 26:3 - The steadfast of mind God will keep in perfect peace, because he trusts in God.
One other point to make here is that even though we may be eternally saved from God's wrath upon us for our sins thru our faith in the correct interpretation of God's Word about Jesus Christ's work on the cross to provide us with salvation, each of us will still stand before Jesus at the judgment to give an account of all of the rest of our beliefs. This is the place where God will reward us for those Biblical interpretations that He gave us time and opportunity to work out with His Holy Spirit's voicings. It is also the place where we will suffer eternal loss for those doctrines that we wouldn't work with Him to correctly formulate!
I Corinthians 3:15 - For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is [already] laid, which is Jesus Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed One). But if anyone builds upon the Foundation, whether it be with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw,the work of each [one] will become [plainly, openly] known (shown for what it is); for the day [of Christ] will disclose and declare it, because it will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test and critically appraise the character and worth of the work each person has done.
Reaching out by faith to sense His presence.
To perceive the presence of God near us, actually talking to us! Wouldn't that be marvelous! What a wonderful communion that would be! Well, for that to occur we need to find a way to somehow get into His presence so that we can see and hear Him.
From my own experience, the emotional sense of truly being in His presence has rarely been granted to me. And I have never heard His voice audibly as some Christians say that they've heard it. But what has always been given to me and what will always be given to any believer who has the faith for it, is the certainty that when we mentally draw near to God, He will spiritually draw near to us even though we may not in any way sense Him doing it!
James 4:8 - Draw near to God and - HE WILL DRAW NEAR TO YOU!
The Lord promises above to respond to our faithful mental outreach to Him by drawing near to us and this is how we may at any time enter right into His presence! But we must have firm, unswerving faith that this will happen, in order for it to actually occur for us. Therefore, even though He doesn't give us any physical sensation or perception of His nearness, if we draw near to Him in firm mental faith, He promises us that he will not fail to draw very near to us and stay with us!
Hebrews 13:5b - ...(God says) I will not in any way fail you nor give you up nor leave you without support. [I will] not, [I will] not, [I will] not in any degree leave you helpless nor forsake you nor let [you] down (relax My hold on you)! [Assuredly not!] (the Amplified Bible)
The question is, is our faith strong and unswerving enough to believe that when we draw near to Him within our minds, He will actually be there near to us, no matter what? What about in those tough times when we feel utterly forsaken by Him? Will we still believe that when we mentally draw near to Him, that He is instantly within our proximity, even though He remains physically imperceptible? This is a personal matter for each individual Christian to deal with, but it must be dealt with correctly in order to be near to God.
None of us will ever be able to reliably communicate with God until we firmly mentally but blindly physically - sit, stand and / or walk, trusting that He always draws near to us whenever we draw near to Him, no matter what! Then, once we are truly so positioned in our mind, He will be reliable to reward us with a second communication from Him (after His Word which He energizes within our minds) which is also mentally perceptible!
That 2nd Communication with Him is the Peace of Christ.
Colossians 3:15 - And let the peace (soul harmony which comes) from Christ rule (act as umpire continually) in your hearts [deciding and settling with finality - All QUESTIONS THAT ARISE IN YOUR MINDS...(Amplified Bible)
Behind the Holy spirit's ignition of the Word within our minds, this is another mentally perceptible means that He uses by which to communicate His true will to us for any particular matter!
When we are able to reach and keep mental peace about a matter, then that ongoing peace is our proof, our evidence that He has personally spoken to us, telling us that we are centered in His grace and will for that particular matter.
As long as this peace of His is present within our minds over our faith position on any given matter, that peace decides and settles with finality the fact that we are positioned within His will for that matter! In this manner we can believe that He has truly spoken to us about any given matter. But this communication of peace too must be accepted by believing that it has truly come from God and then by taking a firm mental faith position in that belief!So again.....
Isaiah 26:3 - The steadfast of mind God will keep in perfect peace because he trusts in God.
To better grasp this concept of being spoken to by God when we find that we have peace over a matter, we need to look upon the turmoils of our lives as being similar to the storms surrounding the eye of a hurricane. The small area covered by a hurricane's centrally located but moving eye becomes totally peaceful, while the much larger area covered by the storms surrounding it, is extremely and violently tumultuous. Ship's captains caught at sea within a hurricane's gales will try to pull away from them, but if they can't, then they will try to navigate into the storm's eye in order to find peaceful respite from its destructive power.
The same is true for Christians who are attempting to communicate with God. When we seek to find a peaceful mental respite from Him from the turmoil of any uncertainty within our life, we need to navigate our minds to discover the correct Biblical faith haven that His Spirit is trying to take us into for that particular problem. This Biblically correct mental faith position will bring forth an immediate movement of God which will give our minds the peace of Christ about it and that will calm us.
Then later, whenever we are stirred by Satan to again mentally reconsider that problem and then we remember our Biblically correct faith position for it, Christ's peace will again enter and settle our minds. No matter how events swirl around that particular difficulty in our life, as long as we hold onto that correct faith position on the issue, His peace will descend within our minds to give us respite and calm.
John 13:17 - If you know these things, you are blessed if you do them!
But His peace within our minds will not occur if our faith position is wrong, no matter how strongly we hold it, because God's Holy Spirit will not give us Christ's peace about that falsehood.
So, let's sum up our discussion so far. Even though God is physically imperceptible to us, we are able to perceive His Scriptural writings in the Bible about Him and His ways thru our eyes and ears (or thru our fingers with braille). Sensory nerves then transfer God's Words through these physically means into our brains wherein we can ponder them with God in order to reach a correct interpretation of them for a particular matter. Then, also within our minds, we can go on to reach a full and firm belief in a particular correct interpretation and establish a strong mental faith position in it. In so doing, Christ rewards us with His peace within our minds about that matter. This peace is a mentally perceptible proof to us that the Lord has truly spoken to us about that matter.
Romans 8:6b - to be spiritually minded is life and peace.
Consequently, as we discuss all of the other ways that our invisible God has said in His Word that He has used to communicate with men, peace is the underlying condition that we will always seek to find present in our own minds to prove to us that we have truly received a communication from His Holy Spirit and not from some deceptive devil.
Thank you.
Please go on to entry #7 for April 2008 to continue with the next segment of this extended teaching about communicating with God.
Deuteronomy 8:3 - ...He humbled me and allowed me to hunger (for knowledge of communicating with Him and learning His ways) and (then, in His time, not mine) He fed me with the hidden manna, (the portions of His Word on this subject) which I did not know nor did (any of) my (spiritual) fathers know,
that He might make me recognize (personally understand) that I do not live by bread alone, but I live by every Word that proceeds out of the mouth of the Lord (found in the Biblical Scriptures and from His Holy Spirit's voice within my own mind). (from the Amplified Bible and personalized by me)
My intense hunger for the answers to my questions about God's true will for me that I could not find, turned out to actually be His will for me at that time! It was a necessary humbling experience for me before He would give me an answer.
Matthew 5:6 - "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.
That hunger was used by the Lord to prod me to diligently and humbly keep on praying to Him for guidance and to continuously search all over the Scriptures to find my answers.
Jeremiah 29:13 - When you come looking for me, you'll find me. "Yes, when you get serious about finding me and want it more than anything else, I'll make sure you won't be disappointed.
Now, after whole-heartedly seeking to find out how to communicate with God, He has personally instructed me from His Word and from events within my own life about the many ways in which we can perceive His voice and the conversational movements of His Holy Spirit within our minds. So now, after learning these methods, I have been given tremendous peace of mind about how I'm to determine His will for each of my life affairs.
John 14:27 - Peace I (the living and active Word) leave with you; My peace I (the living and active Word) give to you; not as the world gives do I (the living and active Word) give it to you.
So, do not let your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful.
Hopefully, this Biblical instruction on what I have learned over the years about how to perceive the Lord and His Holy Spirit's various means of communicating with me, will shed some needed light for those of you who are also struggling with this problem. Additionally, the instruction here may be useful for those of you who do communicate with God but are not yet familiar with some of the particular means that He says in His Word that His Holy Spirit will use to communicate with us.
Hopefully, the resultant effect of this instruction will be to build up your own personal faith about how to see and hear God so that you can so do.
Matthew 5:8 - Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God!
It is compiled from much of what God's Word says about the subject of supernaturally communicating with God.
Romans 10:17 - So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the Word....
I now ask the reader to read the article in Wikipedia about Pentecostal and Evangelical Rhema
(this is the Greek word for utterance). This article very nicely expresses the difference between these 2 differing approaches to communicating with the Lord. My teaching here (though not Pentecostal) is about what that particular article refers to as the Pentecostal Rhema voice of God.
Before I go on, please be sure that God gives you peace of mind over what I have just taught you and over each segment of this teaching. If He doesn't, that's a sign to you to stop to ponder the teaching further until you can reach peace over it or until you can find a flaw in it. If you do find that there is a flaw in it, please be sure to comment on that flaw here so that I can improve the teaching.
Knowledge of God and His ways
In order to enjoy reliable back and forth communication with God, it stands to reason that we must first gain some knowledge of Him and the ways in which He says He will hear us and speak to us.
To begin to do that, let's first acknowledge the obvious fundamental fact that God has elected to be imperceptible to all of our outward physical senses. We can't physically see Him, hear Him, taste Him, touch Him or feel Him. Therefore it stands to reason that the only means that is left to us by which we may perceive and communicate with Him is for it to happen within our minds.
Romans 1:19 - ...that which is known about God (at any given time) is evident within....(individual people's minds)...for God...(makes)...it evident to them.
And the mind is also the place within us where, after perceiving something thru our senses, we do our pondering and believing. So this is one the place that our imperceptible God has ordained that He will communicate with us. It is in effect the Holy of Holies of our body, which is our personal temple.
Hebrews 11:6b - ... he who comes to God must (use his mind to ponder the possibility of and then reach the conclusion to) believe that He is (even though He is physically imperceptible to our senses) and that He rewards those who (mentally reach out to) seek Him. (my own amplification of this verse)
Consequently, while God remains physically imperceptible to us, He has elected to provide us with the means of learning about Him and His ways within our minds thru His written Word which is found only in the Biblical Scriptures and which we can see or hear or if blind, feel by braille.
II Timothy 3:16 - All Scripture is inspired by God...
This Word about Him and His ways is something from Him that can be physically perceived by our senses and then transfered into our minds where we can think about it. He has provided His Word to us by mentally inspiring believing men over the centuries to transcribe for us what He revealed to them about Him and His ways.
Knowledge of God and His ways
In order to enjoy reliable back and forth communication with God, it stands to reason that we must first gain some knowledge of Him and the ways in which He says He will hear us and speak to us.
To begin to do that, let's first acknowledge the obvious fundamental fact that God has elected to be imperceptible to all of our outward physical senses. We can't physically see Him, hear Him, taste Him, touch Him or feel Him. Therefore it stands to reason that the only means that is left to us by which we may perceive and communicate with Him is for it to happen within our minds.
Romans 1:19 - ...that which is known about God (at any given time) is evident within....(individual people's minds)...for God...(makes)...it evident to them.
And the mind is also the place within us where, after perceiving something thru our senses, we do our pondering and believing. So this is one the place that our imperceptible God has ordained that He will communicate with us. It is in effect the Holy of Holies of our body, which is our personal temple.
Hebrews 11:6b - ... he who comes to God must (use his mind to ponder the possibility of and then reach the conclusion to) believe that He is (even though He is physically imperceptible to our senses) and that He rewards those who (mentally reach out to) seek Him. (my own amplification of this verse)
Consequently, while God remains physically imperceptible to us, He has elected to provide us with the means of learning about Him and His ways within our minds thru His written Word which is found only in the Biblical Scriptures and which we can see or hear or if blind, feel by braille.
II Timothy 3:16 - All Scripture is inspired by God...
This Word about Him and His ways is something from Him that can be physically perceived by our senses and then transfered into our minds where we can think about it. He has provided His Word to us by mentally inspiring believing men over the centuries to transcribe for us what He revealed to them about Him and His ways.
Romans 15:4 - For whatsoever things were written aforetime, were written (by God thru His inspiration to His prophets) for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the Scriptures, might have hope (in His existence and His plans for us). (my own amplification of this verse)
He has inspired various faithful, holy men of the past to record the Words which He (in Spirit) somehow spoke to them or showed them about Him and His ways in their own life circumstances. Today, these same Words apply by faith to all people who find themselves in similar life circumstances.
II Timothy 3:16 - 17 - Every Scripture is God-breathed (given by His inspiration to holy, believing men in the past) and profitable for instruction, for reproof and for conviction of sin, for correction of error and for discipline in obedience, [and] for training in righteousness (in holy living, in conformity to God's will in thought, purpose, and action),
so that the man of God may be complete and proficient, well fitted and thoroughly equipped for every good work. (the Amplified Bible)
So first and foremost, we need to fully believe that God has actually sent His Word to the prophets for us as a means by which to give us knowledge of Himself and His ways and that all of His revealed Word is true and now resides within the Biblical Scriptures.John 17:17b - (Jesus said,) "Thy (God's) Word is truth."
Then we can move forward within our minds, from merely perceiving this Word thru our eyes or ears or fingers, into believing what it says and then establishing a firm faith in what it says about Him and His ways for our lives.
Romans 10:17 - So faith (about Him and His ways) comes from hearing, and hearing by the Word....
After that, from this baseline of Word faith (believing the Biblical record about God and His ways), we can move forward into a deeper faith which believes that today His Holy Spirit will use His Word to actually speak to each of us within our minds about our circumstances.
John 14: 26 - "But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I (the living and active Word) have said to you.
In my own experience I believe that God has so spoken to me thousands of times. I feel that His Holy Spirit has done this by quickening (emphasizing - igniting - bringing to life) within my mind, passages of His many Words of Scripture. Each time He speaks anew to me within my mind, His Holy Spirit reminds me of verses that I've seen or heard before and that He wants me to then realize as being truly pertinent to a particular matter in my life.
Hebrews 4:12 - For the Word that God speaks is alive and full of power [making it active, operative, energizing, and effective (for all time) ]. (the Amplified Bible)
Accurate knowledge of God and the way that He has for each of us regarding each particular circumstance of our lives can only be achieved by listening to the voice of His Holy Spirit as He speaks to tell us the correct applications of the Biblical Scriptures for those circumstances. Deducing correct interpretations of His Word with His Holy Spirit which apply to our circumstances is absolutely necessary if we are to be able to recognize His will for the matter. Bu faith then, this can be a true communication from God placed by His Holy spirit within our minds about the matter.
II Timothy 2:15 - Be diligent to present yourself approved to God (today and later, at the judgment) as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, accurately handling the Word of truth.
But, what about us instead using the many religious traditions that men nearly universally employ in their efforts to commune with God? Why must we use the Scriptures in the Bible to find out about and then communicate with God? Why not just rely upon our church traditions, especially the ceremonial rites and rituals which have been handed down to us over time?
Well, according to Jesus, religious traditions passed down amongst men as a means by which to get close to God and please Him must conform to the Bible.
Mark 7:13 - ... you are nullifying and making void and of no effect [the authority of] the Word of God through your tradition, which you [in turn] hand on...
So Jesus declared that even these, if used, must always be substantiated within the Word of God which is found in the Biblical Scriptures.
Therefore, to formulate doctrines about God we must use our minds (which are able to perceive the Words of God contained in the Biblical Scriptures thru our senses) along with His Spirit to make and then believe in them. Within our minds each of us can subjectively detect those passages that the Holy Spirit brings to our remembrance (or that we first read or hear), as being quickened by God. This belief that God has energized some of His Biblical Words within our minds in order to talk to us, then becomes a means by which God can then talk to us on different issues.
John 16:12a - I (God) have still many more things to say to you... (the Amplified Bible)
Consequently, as we journey thru life, God will give believers occasional revelations of Himself and His ways, just as He did with Jesus original 12 disciples, but not too often so as to not overburden the limits of our human minds.
John 16:12b - ...but you cannot bear them now.
A very important consideration for us to also ponder about the Biblical Scriptures is that they are a collection of inspired books that have been designed by God to sometimes appear hard to understand and in some places, to even appear to be somewhat contradictory.
II Peter 3:15b - 16 - Paul, according to the wisdom given him (by God), wrote to you (and all of us today), as also in all of his letters, speaking in them of...some things (which are) hard to understand...
So it's important to emphasize that we are to work along with God's Holy Spirit's voice within our minds, to develop well thought out, correct interpretations of the Scriptures that are pertinent to each affair of our life.
John16:13 - "But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all of the truth...
Correct interpretations of the Scriptures are necessary in order to get to the truths of God and His ways and to truly hear His Holy Spirit's voice for any particular matter. Then we need to take a firm mental hold (in steady faith) of that interpretation of the Scriptures that we feel He has shown us as being pertinent to that subject in our life.
Romans 14:22 - The faith (from your Spirit led interpretations of God's Word) which you have, have as your own conviction before God.
God tells us in Scripture that this kind of subjective, personal faith by each individual is very pleasing to the Lord.
Hebrews 11:6 - Without faith it is impossible to please God for he (each person) who comes to Him must (personally) believe that...He rewards them who (so) seek Him. (my own personalization of this verse)
The first reward from The Lord for our firm faith is His peace which He plants within us that then serves as evidence to us that we are in His truth, which further reinforces our faith.
Isaiah 26:3 - The steadfast of mind God will keep in perfect peace, because he trusts in God.
One other point to make here is that even though we may be eternally saved from God's wrath upon us for our sins thru our faith in the correct interpretation of God's Word about Jesus Christ's work on the cross to provide us with salvation, each of us will still stand before Jesus at the judgment to give an account of all of the rest of our beliefs. This is the place where God will reward us for those Biblical interpretations that He gave us time and opportunity to work out with His Holy Spirit's voicings. It is also the place where we will suffer eternal loss for those doctrines that we wouldn't work with Him to correctly formulate!
I Corinthians 3:15 - For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is [already] laid, which is Jesus Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed One). But if anyone builds upon the Foundation, whether it be with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw,the work of each [one] will become [plainly, openly] known (shown for what it is); for the day [of Christ] will disclose and declare it, because it will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test and critically appraise the character and worth of the work each person has done.
If the work which any person has built on this Foundation [any product of his efforts whatever] survives [this test], he will get his reward. But if any person's work is burned up [under the test], he will suffer the loss [of it all, losing his reward], though he himself will be saved, but only as [one who has passed] through fire. (the Amplified Bible)
This passage says it all regarding how eternally important our efforts should be to us to work carefully with God's Holy Spirit to personally formulate our own knowledge of Him and His ways for each affair of our lives!
By our correctly formulated doctrine for each matter, we can truly hear His voice when His Holy Spirit energizes His Word within our minds about it.
Reaching out by faith to sense His presence.
To perceive the presence of God near us, actually talking to us! Wouldn't that be marvelous! What a wonderful communion that would be! Well, for that to occur we need to find a way to somehow get into His presence so that we can see and hear Him.
From my own experience, the emotional sense of truly being in His presence has rarely been granted to me. And I have never heard His voice audibly as some Christians say that they've heard it. But what has always been given to me and what will always be given to any believer who has the faith for it, is the certainty that when we mentally draw near to God, He will spiritually draw near to us even though we may not in any way sense Him doing it!
James 4:8 - Draw near to God and - HE WILL DRAW NEAR TO YOU!
The Lord promises above to respond to our faithful mental outreach to Him by drawing near to us and this is how we may at any time enter right into His presence! But we must have firm, unswerving faith that this will happen, in order for it to actually occur for us. Therefore, even though He doesn't give us any physical sensation or perception of His nearness, if we draw near to Him in firm mental faith, He promises us that he will not fail to draw very near to us and stay with us!
Hebrews 13:5b - ...(God says) I will not in any way fail you nor give you up nor leave you without support. [I will] not, [I will] not, [I will] not in any degree leave you helpless nor forsake you nor let [you] down (relax My hold on you)! [Assuredly not!] (the Amplified Bible)
The question is, is our faith strong and unswerving enough to believe that when we draw near to Him within our minds, He will actually be there near to us, no matter what? What about in those tough times when we feel utterly forsaken by Him? Will we still believe that when we mentally draw near to Him, that He is instantly within our proximity, even though He remains physically imperceptible? This is a personal matter for each individual Christian to deal with, but it must be dealt with correctly in order to be near to God.
None of us will ever be able to reliably communicate with God until we firmly mentally but blindly physically - sit, stand and / or walk, trusting that He always draws near to us whenever we draw near to Him, no matter what! Then, once we are truly so positioned in our mind, He will be reliable to reward us with a second communication from Him (after His Word which He energizes within our minds) which is also mentally perceptible!
Isaiah 26:3 - The steadfast of mind God will keep in PERFECT PEACE because he trusts in God.
That 2nd Communication with Him is the Peace of Christ.
Strong, unswerving mental peace is the second mentally perceptible communication from God which His Holy spirit will put into our minds, once we take up a firm mental faith in any truth that He gives us. It is a mental sense that God will instill within us about our correct faith positions on the various affairs of our lives!
Colossians 3:15 - And let the peace (soul harmony which comes) from Christ rule (act as umpire continually) in your hearts [deciding and settling with finality - All QUESTIONS THAT ARISE IN YOUR MINDS...(Amplified Bible)
Behind the Holy spirit's ignition of the Word within our minds, this is another mentally perceptible means that He uses by which to communicate His true will to us for any particular matter!
When we are able to reach and keep mental peace about a matter, then that ongoing peace is our proof, our evidence that He has personally spoken to us, telling us that we are centered in His grace and will for that particular matter.
As long as this peace of His is present within our minds over our faith position on any given matter, that peace decides and settles with finality the fact that we are positioned within His will for that matter! In this manner we can believe that He has truly spoken to us about any given matter. But this communication of peace too must be accepted by believing that it has truly come from God and then by taking a firm mental faith position in that belief!So again.....
Isaiah 26:3 - The steadfast of mind God will keep in perfect peace because he trusts in God.
To better grasp this concept of being spoken to by God when we find that we have peace over a matter, we need to look upon the turmoils of our lives as being similar to the storms surrounding the eye of a hurricane. The small area covered by a hurricane's centrally located but moving eye becomes totally peaceful, while the much larger area covered by the storms surrounding it, is extremely and violently tumultuous. Ship's captains caught at sea within a hurricane's gales will try to pull away from them, but if they can't, then they will try to navigate into the storm's eye in order to find peaceful respite from its destructive power.
The same is true for Christians who are attempting to communicate with God. When we seek to find a peaceful mental respite from Him from the turmoil of any uncertainty within our life, we need to navigate our minds to discover the correct Biblical faith haven that His Spirit is trying to take us into for that particular problem. This Biblically correct mental faith position will bring forth an immediate movement of God which will give our minds the peace of Christ about it and that will calm us.
Then later, whenever we are stirred by Satan to again mentally reconsider that problem and then we remember our Biblically correct faith position for it, Christ's peace will again enter and settle our minds. No matter how events swirl around that particular difficulty in our life, as long as we hold onto that correct faith position on the issue, His peace will descend within our minds to give us respite and calm.
John 13:17 - If you know these things, you are blessed if you do them!
But His peace within our minds will not occur if our faith position is wrong, no matter how strongly we hold it, because God's Holy Spirit will not give us Christ's peace about that falsehood.
So, let's sum up our discussion so far. Even though God is physically imperceptible to us, we are able to perceive His Scriptural writings in the Bible about Him and His ways thru our eyes and ears (or thru our fingers with braille). Sensory nerves then transfer God's Words through these physically means into our brains wherein we can ponder them with God in order to reach a correct interpretation of them for a particular matter. Then, also within our minds, we can go on to reach a full and firm belief in a particular correct interpretation and establish a strong mental faith position in it. In so doing, Christ rewards us with His peace within our minds about that matter. This peace is a mentally perceptible proof to us that the Lord has truly spoken to us about that matter.
Romans 8:6b - to be spiritually minded is life and peace.
Consequently, as we discuss all of the other ways that our invisible God has said in His Word that He has used to communicate with men, peace is the underlying condition that we will always seek to find present in our own minds to prove to us that we have truly received a communication from His Holy Spirit and not from some deceptive devil.
Thank you.
Please go on to entry #7 for April 2008 to continue with the next segment of this extended teaching about communicating with God.
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