Flip to the Spiritual H.G.T.V. Channel and Hear God’s True Voice

 

In a daily devotional by Carter Conlon entitled GOD HAS NOT WRITTEN YOU OFF, the author writes:

“Remember, Christians do make mistakes. One such mistake is substituting human reasoning for divine counsel. When you and I pray, ideas will come into our hearts. However, we must remember that they are not always from God even though we are praying.”

My Buddy-in-Christ, Dave S used this teaching to challenge my personal conviction that God speaks to us when we pray. Knowing Dave S like I do, He was having a little fun, poking at me and saying, “What do you have to say about that, Tucker? You can’t trust what comes into your head! After all, Conlon is Senior Pastor of Times Square Church in NYC! Who are you?”

My initial response is, “Yeah, but he’s Canadian! Who trusts Canadians, Eh?”

My next response to Dave S is targeted to totally deflate him – “I completely agree!”

When Conlon says that while we pray ideas come into our “hearts” (I understand what he is saying but I choose to identify it as our “minds”) they may not always be from God. I’d say, from my experience, that more often what comes into my mind/heart is likely not from God. Even while I’m praying. What swirls in my mind is more likely what’s next on my schedule for the day, or feelings about current issues in my life, or what’s next on my prayer list, or what I’m going to have for breakfast, or a host of personal desires, hopes and plans that continue to pop into my head.

If we are looking for God to respond to our questions, concerns or wishes why should we trust that what we hear isn’t being polluted by our own desires?

Can we push aside our own desires, interests and imaginations to actually hear God speak the truth?

I don’t believe Conlon is saying that we can’t ever trust what comes into our minds is from God even while praying. If he is then I don’t agree. For myself, what I have come to understand is that there is a lot to overcome in order to hear God’s voice.

On the popular HGTV Channel there are a myriad of shows all about home reclamation, renovation and restoration. We enjoy watching how in 45 minutes’ time living spaces are completely transformed. It looks so easy. The truth is that it isn’t really that easy. As a part of connecting with God in true relationship for Him to do the reclamation, renovation and restoration work in our lives we need to hear His voice. But, it’s not that easy. Building a healthy relationship of any kind is not easy.

I don’t doubt there are some Christ-Followers who are uniquely skilled or adept or maybe even ‘gifted’ at hearing God’s voice. It comes almost ‘naturally’ to them. But, for most of us spiritual poor schleps, hearing God’s voice is ‘unnatural.’ It actually requires intentionally exercising things like desire, discipline, belief, humility and faith. If all those things sound like work – it is. it’s real exercise.

Growing as a Disciple of Christ requires exercise. As for hearing God’s voice, it only ceases to be work when you’re actually realizing you are hearing God’s voice – engaging with the living God!

For those who truly want to hear God’s voice you will likely have to exercise:

1. Desire to engage God more deeply
2. Dedicating time to quiet the world around you
3. Belief that God is big enough and real enough to be able to speak to you
4. Cleansing ourselves of sin and the selfish desires of our heart and
5. Faith that it is God, in fact, who is speaking while testing it with scripture

But wait. Still, how do we know it is God’s voice? Is it a certain sound or timber or accent? No, it’s simply thoughts that come into my mind forming into images and words. Rarely, have I heard an audible voice.

If you want to make sure what you are hearing is God’s voice the best test of all is to compare what you hear to God’s written word (The Bible) and most importantly compare it to the Character of Christ as detailed in the Bible. There are a number of key verses to rely upon but here are 2 I consider most foundational:

1. 1 Corinthians 14:3 – “But he who prophesies (to declare a thing known by divine revelation) speaks edification and exhortation and comfort to men.” Under the New Covenant, God’s voice is about building us up, encouraging us to move out and assuring us that He is with us. (Anything that sounds like condemnation and judgement is not from God)
2. Galatians 5:22-23 – “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.” God cannot fail to live up to the standard He sets for us.

If what someone hears does not line up with both of those scriptures then best to throw it out.

Can we ever absolutely KNOW that what comes into our mind is from God?

After we have put ourselves in a quiet place, acknowledged our own desires and feelings, cleared away the obstacle of admitted sin and received His forgiveness, resolved to only hear what God has to say, trusting that what you are going to hear is from God & tested by scripture, and then finally, by faith, accept what you are hearing is actually God speaking – can we then Know with certainty what we are hearing is from God?

By its very definition, that last part of exorcising faith means that we don’t “Know” with absolute certainty that it is God’s words we are hearing. God requires that we act on faith. Hebrews 11:6 says, “But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.”

Can we ever KNOW? Of course. We know when, in faith, we act on what God has spoken and it bears out to be Good, Righteous and True. Furthermore, in my humble opinion, the more you exercise this communication activity, the more you grow in your ability to hear God more clearly and more often. As with most exercise, things that were difficult become less “work”.

What if we fail to hear God correctly?

Oh no! I listened and humbly shared with someone else what I believed I heard from God. But, I got it wrong!!! How terrible? Let me just crawl up into the fetal position and suck my thumb!

I have to tell myself to, Get over it! Making mistakes is part of any growth cycle.

Even when we practice the process I outlined above, can we still get it wrong? Absolutely! If we are honest about all this then we have to humbly acknowledge that we are flawed human beings with poor spiritual communication skills. Even when we are totally sincere we can get it wrong. But, getting it wrong or failing while acting with the heart of Christ still demonstrates to God and ourselves that we are willing to step out in faith. God will reward us even when we get it wrong. When we press on through our failures, God uses our failures to grow us even stronger in Him.

Hebrews 11:6 does not say that God is a rewarder of those who get it perfectly right all the time. It says, “that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.”

I know that there are many Christian leaders who are fearful about the idea of whole congregations of people running around claiming that they hear God’s voice resulting in all kinds of craziness.

Ultimately, we don’t trust people, we trust God. But, we can also trust that God speaks to those people who have proven to be trustworthy in exorcising genuine desire, discipline, belief, humility and faith when seeking to hear God’s voice.

Back to the words of Carter Conlon, “When you and I pray, ideas will come into our hearts. However, we must remember that they are not always from God even though we are praying.” We should not trust that everything that comes into our minds even while praying is from God. We trust God but should have very little trust in ourselves. It should always be tested.

However, if we choose to believe that God never really speaks to us for fear of getting it wrong – that we can’t trust God is speaking, then we risk being in a relationship with God that will never be as vibrant as God intended for it to be. Imagine the kind of relationship where one person never speaks and/or the other person never listens.

Jesus repeatedly cried out, “Those who have ears to hear, let them hear!” Give it a try. Tune in to the spiritual H.G.T.V. channel – God’s Reclamation, Renovation and Restoration Channel and Hear God’s True Voice.

“And when He had called His twelve disciples to Him, He gave them power over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal all kinds of sickness and all kinds of disease. . . And as you go, preach, saying, ‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand.’ Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out demons. Freely you have received, freely give.” Matthew 10:1,7-8

Recently our Pastor Steve preached an awesome sermon on Matthew 10:6-8 involving Jesus sending his disciples out and challenging them to freely give what they had received to those they minister to. The question is, What was it they were being freely given that they could then freely give?

Jesus had just led the disciples through a number of powerful healing experiences where He had exercised power to heal and restore. He then goes on to instruct the disciples to go out and freely give what they have been freely given.The premise was/is that there is a direct correlation between what Jesus had freely given to the Disciples that would then be freely given from them to those whom they minister to. That would be a pretty safe assumption to make when interpreting/deciphering these scriptures.

So, if you are looking for a one to one correlation, what was the “it” that was received to then be given?

Pastor noted that even as Jesus healed and restored, the disciples were not the recipients of that healing so that was not what they received to then be given. He taught that it was likely what Jesus healed the Disciples of, that they would in turn freely heal others from. For instance, Peter had anger issues, Jesus could freely forgive and heal Peter and Peter could then turn around and freely forgive/ heal others of their anger issues.

This is an awesome teaching point for Christ-Followers. What God has healed us of is likely the most powerful thing we could then reach out with understanding and compassion to heal others. This is a tremendous example of God’s ability to take that which was intended for evil to use for His good.

He Gave Them Power

Without taking ANYTHING away from the truth in that message, I would only include my belief that there is another possible direct correlation that could be made between what Jesus had freely given to the Disciples to be freely given to those whom they ministered.

When Jesus speaks of “Freely you have received” what might He be referring to? Looking back a few verses to Matthew 10:1 it says that Jesus gathered his disciples together and “He gave them power”. The Greek word here for gave is Didomi and it is the same word used when Jesus then tells his disciples to “freely give.”

So, what is it Jesus freely gave in order that his disciples could freely give to others? I would make the case that it could be “Power”. But, the word Jesus used here is not the power we most often think of in the Greek – Dunamis representing God’s enormous strength and awesome ability.

The word Jesus uses here is Exousia which more closely translates to Authority. Jesus was extending his “authority” as the Son of God to His disciples so that they would be empowered to preach and to heal.

Some of you who have been following my blog might say, “Wait a minute, Dave! In the past, you stated your opinion that while on Earth, Jesus had emptied himself of His Godly powers (Omnipotence, Omniscience, and Omnipresence) and only was empowered by the Holy Spirit and led by the Father?”

That is truly what I believe.  But, my “opinion” is that even while emptying himself of his Godly powers, Jesus never gave up his authority.

Edward VIII became king of the England following the death of his father, George V, but ruled for less than a year. He abdicated the throne in order to marry the American divorcee, Wallis Simpson. By abdicating, Edward gave up all the power of the throne as well as his authority as King.

Jesus, came down to become a man, emptied himself of his Godly powers (Philippians 2:7) but did not abdicate his authority. Jesus was, is and will always be the Son of God and has always maintained his authority even while a man walking the earth.

• Matthew 7:29 – For he taught them as one having authority (exousia), and not as the scribes.
• John 17:2 – “For you granted him authority (exousia) over all people that he might give eternal life to all those you have given him.
• Matthew 28:18 – Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority (exousia) in heaven and on earth has been given to me.”

So, the stream of thought in Matthew 10 could be interpreted to be this:

1. Jesus gave authority to save and to heal to the disciples
2. The disciples freely received the authority to save and to heal.
3. The disciples were now empowered to make disciples and to freely give the authority to save and to heal.

Jesus freely gave – the disciples freely received – The disciples freely gave

Just this past Sunday, Pastor Dan highlighted an example of the Disciples turning around to freely give what they have received. It’s found in Acts 3:6 – Then Peter said, “Silver and gold I do not have, but what I do have (possess) I give (Didomi) you: In the name (power) of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk.”

I’m confident that Jesus freely gives. But, the question that comes to my mind is, Am I freely receiving so that I can freely give?

There are a host of scriptures that identify the authority we have in Christ. Authority to do amazing things that we could never have the right or the power to do in our own strength. Even to bring healing for that which we have been healed of.

Honestly, I’m quite certain I don’t come near to realizing the full authority we have in Christ over the things of this world – authority over sickness, evil and death – the things that are intended to rob, kill and destroy people. Those things that stand in the way of the saving work of Jesus Christ to enjoy a relationship with God and the abundant life He spoke of.

Ultimately, the power/authority is not the focus of Jesus’ purpose. Those are the means to an end that people would be restored to an intimate/eternal relationship with the living God.

Jesus said this in Luke 10:19-20 — “Behold, I give you the authority to trample on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you. Nevertheless, do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rather rejoice because your names are written in heaven.”

Today let’s pray and ponder about the power/authority Jesus wants to give us. Whatever that is, let’s receive it and . . .

“Freely you have received, freely give.” Matthew 10:8b

“Why withdrawest thou thy hand, even thy right hand? pluck your hand (fist) out of thy bosom.” Psalm 74:11

Guest Blog Post by my Friend and Brother-in-Christ, Gary Corde

On April 2nd, 2019 I was taken to the ER with symptoms of a stroke. The thought of a stroke had always terrified me. I lost my mother to a massive stroke when I was only 17, leaving me traumatized with deep and lasting wounds. Now, laying on a stretcher in the ER, all I could think of was dying or at best being left paralyzed.

After all the testing the doctors reported that there was no evidence of a stroke, no clots, and no blockages. Whew! What a relief to me, my wife Janet, and my family. However, our relief was short-lived with the doctor’s utterance of that dreaded three-letter word, “But”.

The doctor somberly acknowledged that they had found “a large mass” the size of a fist in my left lung. Ugh!

I didn’t go home that night as they continued to run more tests to confirm what the mass was. Further testing revealed what appeared to be a hole in my heart. The bad news was piling up.

And it didn’t get better. At the conclusion of their testing the pulmonary doctors surmised that the mass was most likely cancer, and probably advanced. In order to confirm the diagnosis, they had to get tissue samples and it was decided that they would perform a bronchoscopy the following week.

The thought of the bronchoscopy test is not very pleasant. It involves sending a device down my throat, down the windpipe and into my lung. It allowed them to take tissue samples from that area, and even the lymph node tissue. However, it was not able to access the entire area, as some of the mass was on the other side of my aorta.

After the procedure, it took over an agonizing week to get the results. Finally, my primary care physician called to tell me that the samples were, “negative.” Thank you, Jesus! This sounded like great news!

Here’s that dreaded word again. “But,” the following day when we saw the pulmonary doctors, we were told that the samples they had taken were not taken from where they needed to get them. The bottom line was that they were still pretty certain it was cancer – an advanced stage. The next step was a needle biopsy. The biopsy procedure was scheduled for the next week.

Janet and I have been Christ-Followers for many years. The roller-coaster ride we were on was taking its toll. We got married later on in life and have often talked about how long God will give us in this life together. Now, we were faced with the very real possibility that I would not be around much longer. Would I even choose to undergo treatment as the treatment is often worse than the disease?

I’m a big believer in the power of prayer, regularly attending and sometimes leading our Church’s Wednesday night prayer meetings. My Sunday school class and the entire church, for that matter, were praying for me. The Sunday before Easter I went into the Prayer Room at church to have the Elders and the Prayer Team pray over me. It just so happened that Elder Jim had been moved to bring a small bottle of oil into the Prayer Room that particular morning. In adherence to James 5:14, they anointed me with oil and prayed. It was a great time of prayer but I honestly didn’t feel any different when I left – no lightning bolts.

The next week was an emotional one. Janet and I struggled to avoid discussing the future. We tried to adhere to Jesus’ instructions to his disciples: “Don’t worry about tomorrow, for today has enough worries of its own.” It really was the only way we could keep our sanity.

One of my favorite memory verses is Hebrews 12: 1-3, “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders, and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.”

I realized how important it is for me to fix my eyes on Jesus, and not to lose heart. So, on to the needle biopsy!

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