Angus's Personal Site: Hearing from God

- Hearing from God -
A Housegroup Bible Study prepared and led by Angus Cook for use on 18/09/2002.
Partly based on ideas from a "Listening to God Who Speaks" conference by Rev. Steve Witt and Rev. Jeff Snyder held in Leamington Spa on Saturday 6th June 2002.
With contributions from other members of the group as the study was led.

Purpose of Study
To determine whether we can hear from God, and if so, to start hearing from Him by means of a practical exercise.

Introduction
As Christians, we believe that God speaks to us today. This is not something that died out with the original apostles, or at some defined moment in Church history - we believe in a God who is active and who speaks to His people to this very day.

Back at the start of the Hebrew Scriptures, in Numbers 11:29, we read that Moses welcomed the thought of other people prophesying when he says, "Oh, that all the Lord's people were prophets and that the Lord would put His Spirit upon them!" To get a fuller picture here, read Numbers 11:24 to 11:30. This is also a demonstration of Moses' humility, but here we are more concerned that he is longing for everyone who has a relationship with the Lord to be able to hear from Him and communicate His word. This is certainly what the Lord wants, as we are about to see in this study.

What is a prophet, and what is a prophecy?
Before we go any further, we need to define or describe what is meant by the term "prophet".
Brainstorm: What is a prophet, and what is a prophecy?
A prophet is one who communicates God's Word to both other believers and the world. This word may come in many different forms, some of which can seem quite mundane and others of which can be somewhat more provocative.

Some prophecies are predictive in nature: they foretell the future. The Hebrew Scriptures contain many predictive prophecies concerning the coming of Jesus, or Y'shua as the Jews would have called him. There are still unfulfilled prophecies concerning the end times in both the Hebrew Scriptures and the New Testament.
Other prophecies are directive in nature: they give instructions and the consequences of both following and not following those instructions. The word from God to Jonah was a directive prophecy: this unwilling prophet had the task of delivering a message to the city of Nineveh telling its inhabitants to repent or be destroyed. The people repented and as a result God did not bring the calamities on them that He had predicted.
Still others are encouraging in nature. These are little words from God designed to encourage and bless His people. They may be for an individual, a small group of people, or a crowd. Jesus encouraged his disciples all the time: for example in Matthew 16:13-20, Jesus encouraged Simon following the confession of faith he had just expressed.
It is also my belief that prophecies can be powerful in nature. If God speaks a word then it will happen. Examples of this are when Jesus calmed the storm, healed people, and drove demons out. He gave this same authority to believers when He issued the Great Commission (see Matthew 28:16-20). Note the encouragement in the last verse: "And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age".
An archaic use of the word "prophecy" is to "forth-tell" the word of God. This includes teaching, rebuking, correcting, training in righteousness ... hang on, I think we know that one! Isn't it 2 Timothy 2:13 ... "that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work." Note that end result ... if a "word from God" tears down or destroys, then it is NOT a word from God!!

Can we hear from God today?
We certainly can! We have already seen this in Moses's exclamation in Numbers 11:29, and in the New Testament we have passages such as 1 Corinthians 14:3-5. Verse 3 says, "But he who prophesies speaks edification and exhortation and comfort to men" (mankind, not just male persons). This comes in the context where Paul is comparing and contrasting the use of prophecies and tongues, and comes just after Chapter 13 which is Paul's great discourse on the power of love. We must not lose focus here - prophecies must always come out of a spirit of love.

1 Corinthians 2:9-10 says, "But it is written, 'Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, Nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him.' But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God."

We are temples of the Living God, the Holy Spirit. It is He who empowers us to speak out the words of God, however they come and whatever form they may take.
Brainstorm: Any other Scriptures people can think of that emphasise this belief?

OK, great theory. But how do we do it? In practice?
God speaks in many different ways, and in different ways to different people. Jesus often spoke in parables ... pithy little stories designed to communicate a spiritual truth through the use of everyday examples. Sometimes He speaks to us through another person. But how does that other person hear from God originally?

Intimacy and knowing God's character are very important here. The more we know Him, the better we'll be able to hear Him and receive from Him. This is true of any relationship - the better we know the other person the more likely we'll be able to understand what they are saying.

It is possible to go into a long discussion at this point describing all the "hows" but look at it this way: If I want to know something from a friend, what do I do? I talk to him and ask him a question! I want to suggest that this is the primary way we can hear from God - ask Him to speak to us! He's probably more willing to speak to us than we can imagine. At the end of the study is a practical exercise designed to show you how willing God is to speak to us.

What do you do with a word from God?
When you receive a word from the Lord, there are a few things you must ask yourself concerning that word. This is not a definitive list, but rather a few pointers that will hopefully send you in the right direction.

Weigh it up. Is it consistent with Scripture, and thus the nature of God? If not, reject it.
Who is it for? Is it for me, a specific person, a certain group of people, or a whole church?
Take appropriate action. This may mean appropriating the word into your own life, sharing it with the relevant person or persons, or praying over it. If it's for a housegroup or the church, share it with the right leaders at an appropriate time so they can also weigh it up - you are subject to your leaders!

Practical Exercise
We are going to ask the Lord to speak to us through the use of pictures. When starting out, it can be helpful to use "visual aids" although it is important to realise that God is not restricted to such devices and may well choose not to use them in this exercise! But He is good, and will take us from where we are at and progress us from there in the art of hearing from Him.

Get into groups of three. Look at the pictures. Spend a few minutes together asking God to speak to you for the other 2 people in your group. Pray with your ears open to God, and with your eyes on the pictures. Ask God, "Which of these pictures (if any) might you want to use to communicate a word to the other 2 people in my group? What is that word? How do I share it?"

Remember that the words you give are to be primarily encouraging. If the Lord lays it on your heart to issue something directive or predictive, submit it humbly as a suggestion, and allow for the possibility that you may be wrong. The person to whom you give the picture and explanation will know whether this is a word from God or not.

Ask the person for feedback. Once you have given the words out spend a little time praying for each other, praying those words in. If none of them seemed appropriate, just spend time sharing and praying with one another.

Here are some the pictures I used for this ... click on any of them for a bigger version and copyright information.

Note: There is nothing special about any of these pictures. They are merely pictures I have on my system, or that have been sent to me by e-mail, or what I have found on the Internet. Some of the pictures are deliberately humourous, partly because it was fun to make the exercise light-hearted (although not frivolous), but also because God can speak through anything - indeed I know He used one of the funny pictures to speak to someone about something quite important.
It is also necessary though to realise that such an exercise does not work for everybody, and there were some people in the group who did not relate to it at all, yet still heard clearly from the Lord. That's also perfectly acceptable.
Many of these pictures are believed to be in the public domain, and where I am aware that this is not the case I have indicated so with the enlarged version of the pictures in question.

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