God's voice

I went through something like that in 2000, hurt my back at work and had to have surgery, I was out of work for almost 2 years, ( I hated that hospital bed they brought to my house it was also in the living room ) anyway during that time I was also in Gods word all the time and I also thought I was suppose to be in ministry, In away we all are suppose to, myself I always carry tracts in my pocket, I spent time downtown passing them out and talking to whoever will listen, also work in a homeless ministry in our church, and go door to door. I may not be a preacher but I'm still in ministry, As for as God speaking to you make sure what ever you think He is saying lines up with scripture, If it doesn't its probably not Him speaking.
Find some way to get back in church, good luck and God bless you.

 

Does God still speak to us today? He has revealed to us in His work all we need.
If there is a decision to be made outside of His revealved Word, then it is up to us to make a decision based on wisdom. But there is no wrong answer if it is not sinful.

 

I have always been fascinated and intrigued by the question of how we determine God's will, either corporately or individually.

God has never audibly spoken to me, yet has enabled me to discern his will in more than one way. I know a couple of people who say they heard a voice speaking to them, and I believe them. But I am leery of people who glibly say "God spoke to me--God told me, etc."

An inner desire to go in a particular direction may not always be God's work, but sometimes it is one of the ways He reveals his will....by creating in us a desire to preach, teach, do missions, witness, etc.

In my case, he opened some doors and shut others. When I wanted to go in another direction, he boxed me in and stopped me. And having been obedient to what I believed to be his will, I had a peace about it.

And finally, sometimes we simply can't explain to others how we are confident that God wants us to do something. We just do.

 

I don't believe in an audible voice of God today like in bible times. But I do believe God speaks to us through His Word, which the Holy Spirit often impresses upon us.

 

share your desire to preach (if there is one) with your minister. if he gives you "preaching time" then you will know if God has called you to preach.
in our church we go thru a licentiate period, where someone who has given evidence of a preaching gift is "set at liberty" to preach the gospel.

this is announced to other churches, and other churches then invite the brother so they can witness for themselves if the Lord had indeed granted this brother the gift of preaching and/or teaching.

after a period of time (could be weeks, months, or years) the licentiate is then ordained, at the request of the church, into the ministry, and may or may not be called to pastor.

if this ordained elder then feels that he is called of God to preach the gospel elsewhere then he is to go without hesitation, without deputation, and without reservation, after all his claim is that it is the God of Heaven that has called him to that ministry, then the same God who is able to bring things that are not into things that are, should be able to supply all his needs.

 

Often I have heard if God is calling you to preach, He will also give that message to some of the Elders of the church. Either way, when you hear that low inner voice and it is telling you to do "good", then follow it. If its from God, then that is all the better, if not then you still have done good. In time all things will be revealed to you by the Spirit.

BBob,

 

When I confessed my calling to preach in June of 78, the church said they all knew it, they were just waiting on me to tell it. :thumbs:

 

Php 2:13 for the one bringing forth in you both the desire and the effort — for the sake of his good pleasure — is God.

Perhaps taken out of context?

I don't believe in the inner voice of God. I don't believe a man when he says things like, "God told me...."

God speaks through the preaching of his Word. Not the preaching of man's word. And his thoughts are not our thoughts. Makes it kind of tough to figure out, eh? But that is the point of faith. We believe God's word, though we have not seen.

 

On more than one occasion, I was watching TBN and heard a PC preacher (Positive Confession) stop in the middle of his sermon and say something like the following:

Holid it. (brief pause, listening) Uh huh.............uh huh............right...........got it....thanks, Lord. The Holy Spirit just spoke to me and told me........


That's the kind of claim that I question. It's too glib, and always has something to do with the name-it-and-claim-it theology.

Whoever is speaking to him, I doubt if it's the Holy Spirit.

 

My sister is a hyper-Pentecostal. She told me that one night the "Holy Spirit" woke her up and urged her to pray for her husband (who was working in Saudi Arabia then).
She said she got out of bed, and never in her life had she felt so overcome by the Spirit and she immediately spoke in a "heavenly" tongue and she felt the Spirit enter her body beginning at her feet all the way up to her head and past.
I doused her with cold water with the question:

"why did the 'Holy Spirit' come from below" ?

Didn't speak to me for almost a year.

 

May I ask a question. While I doubt the TV preacher hearing from God in such a glib manner, who is anyone on this board to say that someone cannot or will not hear God speak to him or her audibly? Please back up you claim Biblically. I find no verse that says that God will only speak to His people exclusively through the Bible or preaching. Now I certainly believe that He will not contradict the Bible but no where in the Word does it say that God won't speak to people audibly or in their heart.

 

Sag38:

God gave and gives instructions to His people through the Scriptures, and through those whom He has called into ministry.

Romans 15:4 tells us: For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope.

In both the Old and New Testaments, the established way was to preach the Word from what was written. So you have Old Testament prophets starting their declarations with Thus Saith the Lord, and you have Jesus starting His declaration with It is written.

After the Apostles, God no longer spoke directly to man, for everything He had to say was already written down. In fact, the Apostle Paul exhorted Timothy, his protege, to "study to shew thyself approved, a workman that needed not be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of Truth".
The Bible tells us to "search the Scriptures", not listen to the inner voice of God.

We know by history that after the Apostles,whenever, and wherever, man strays out of the Scriptures and claims direct revelation or audible communications with God, he is prone to go cultic. Such a claim is adding to the Scripture, or the "book", and Revelation has a clear warning against it.

Lastly, it is much safer to rely on what is written, since Scripture is inspired by God Himself, than to believe corrupt man's claim on what He, at this age and time, claims to be a direct revelation from God.

 

No where in the Bible does it say that God no longer speakes directly since the Apostles. If it does then show it in black and white.

Certainly we should always search the scripture first. That's a given. And, we always hold scripture's authority over any other source of supposed revelation. But, to say that no one will hear directly from God, a apart from the written Word appears, in my opinion, to be a stretch. 1Th 5:20-21 "Do not despise prophetic utterances. But examine everything carefully."

 

Romans 8:16 The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God:

HankD​

 

Do you believe the Holy Spirit is God?
Do you believe the Holy Spirit is the birthright of every believer?
Do you believe the Spirit of truth... will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come?

If you answer yes, then you have to believe that God speaks inwardly to every believer.
If you say no, then you do not believe in the truth's of God's Word.

 

Wow, you make a pretty bold claim!
Good thing Peter didn't believe this when he was on the rooftop praying, or Paul when he was praying on board the ship that departed Crete, or as every lost person that has been saved when they experienced what is spoken of in Hebrews 3:7 and 3:15.

 

We all know that if God chose, He could/would speak to us in an "audible" voice and one day He will.

That seems not to be His mode of communication in this age after the completion of the written revelation of His Son, although I personally can't prove that definitively from the Scripture.

He communicates silently through His Spirit to our spirit which more likely than not involves the Scripture.

As a specific mission here on earth, He even reproves (convicts) the World of sin via some means of communication.


HankD