Hearing Pastor Prince’s sermon every Sunday, I marveled every time when Pastor shared how God would talk to him. I wished very much to have such conversations with God on a regular basis. I asked God. I asked my Care Group leader. I asked people that I knew how they conversed with God. Not that God has not spoken to me before. It was like a short message of assurance.
Before going for my MRI scan, He said “Do not fear, I am with you”. While worrying over my daughter’s upcoming Primary School Leaving Exam, He said “Do not worry”. However, I would love to continue a long conversation where He would answer me in a continuous flow of conversation. I asked God to show me. There began a desire to go to Hillsong Conference in June 2015. And this year, Hillsong’s theme was about hearing God speaks. I surrendered myself again to Him during the conference and God did speak a lot to me.
While in the conference, one of the Pastors mentioned that he was impacted by Bill Hybels' book on 'The Power of a Whisper' which I managed to borrow from the library recently. The author's whole life has been full of God’s whispers and this impacted on his personality, ministry, his parenting and I believe in all aspects of his life. He shared many examples in each chapter for each subject matter. Here’s what I have learnt from the book and from the conference.
God is a communicator. He is a God of words. God is a transformational God. He transforms us inside out. To be in this position, we have to open our heart and surrender ourselves to Him. After which, we are to ask him. We have to increase our awareness and attentiveness to any small way He might want to communicate with us. When He prompts us to do something, listen carefully and do it.
God’s whisper may be in the form of assurance, admonition or action. I have received His whisper of assurance most of the time in my short walk with Him. There was once a whisper of admonition where I prayed there would be no summon notice issued for my car while I ran some errands quickly. However when I got back to the car, there was that little summon notice snugly tug under the wiper. I started to grumble to God. And the Holy Spirit impressed upon me Matthew 22 in the bible where Jesus said “Render therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar…” Oops, I was admonished gently by God.
When receiving prompting from God, we might wonder if it is from Him. Here are some filters that the author shared. Does it align with what I know the character of God revealed in the bible? God is love. He is our Abba Father. Is it scriptural? The scripture is full of examples of how Jesus would have behaved in any situation. Is it wise? Read the book of Proverbs and hear what wisdom has to say. Is it in tune with our own character? If is something totally different from our character, there will be affirmation in other ways. Last but not least, what do the people you most trust think about it? Proverbs 11:14 says that 'Where there is no counsel, the people fall; But in the multitude of counselors, there is safety.'
From his experience, the author also shared that our spiritual growth will plateau at certain stage. When that happens, it is time to immense ourselves in God’s word until you are saturated with it. He could spend many months in the same chapter. He would read one verse at least once each day and journal his observations and thoughts. The next day he would go through the next verse and 'pray back' various truths to God. On some days he would read the whole chapter. On other days he was able to recite from memory how much of the chapter he read. If he does not understand the concept, he will google and spend some time reviewing other people ideas. It is a process of saturation and reflection of God’s words.
What if you do not hear from God when it is a dry season? In his book, Bill suggested that we could ask God to improve our hearing, reduce the noise of our life and again immerse ourselves in his Words. The Holy Spirit will remind us of scriptures we already know. We will hear whispers that reinforce biblical truths. We have to be willing to spend time with our Lord reading His words for He communicates to us via his Word.
When we are saturated with His Word and if we are caught off guard by life’s circumstances, His wisdom is whispered through His Words that dwell within us. When we go through the valley of darkness, God’s Word will see us through. God is always near us because He promises that He will never forsake us. Romans 8:28 says that 'We know in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose.'
As the author also pointed out, Jesus also has his favourite places alone with his Father to pray. He would usually withdraw from crowds to devote time with God to pray. God tends to speak to people who want to hear from Him. I think this is obvious even with our conversation with people. We would usually talk to people who want to hear from us.
As we walk with the Lord, I have learnt this: We have to be still – that is a quiet time with Him whether in the morning or night or during the day. Put away the noise of our life. Worship or speak in tongues and talk to Him. We have to pray to God. As Pastor Prince shared in one of his sermons, we cannot just assume that God knows. Even though God knows what we are going to say before we say it, He still longs for us to speak to Him. He longs to communicate with us and fellowship with us. Prayer is a relationship with God. It is a lifelong and eternal relationship.
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