God Is Still Talking (eBook)

INTRODUCTION

God is still talking. Maybe that doesn’t surprise all Christians, or all people for that matter. But for many Christians, that statement can cause much study, discussion, disagreement, and ultimately, confusion. Generally, the question asked is: Does God still speak today? This question arises from some theological conclusion that God has spoken to us in his Word, that the sum and substance of what God wants to say to us has been written. So if one desires to know what God is saying, one must give intense attention to studying and meditating on the Bible.

This book makes the question a statement. God is still talking. The real question is: Are you listening? And the question seriously confronts you as the reader. If you are a Christian, it challenges you as one who has access to Jesus as much as any preacher or any self-proclaimed spokesperson of God. God is talking to you. It is more likely that you are just unaware that he is speaking to you, that he is leading you, that he is teaching you, that he is pointing to spiritual lessons that constantly surround you.

This book seeks to help everyone perk up their ears and to hear God talking. For, after all, the more of us who are listening and who are speaking to one another the things we are hearing, the greater will be our ability to discern what God is saying and doing and directing us to do.

Breakthrough: The Monday Power Word

In recent years, I began e-mailing to my church family, friends, relatives, and acquaintances the Monday Power Word. I heard about this idea some years back, but I don’t know whom to give the credit. I hesitated to engage this discipline for some time. However, something or someone kept this before my mind until I just had to plunge into it.

Ministers have plenty to do, believe it or not. With the necessary work of preparing a well-written sermon every week, weekly Bible studies, prayers for every occasion, funeral message, weddings , and the list goes on, I did not relish the thought of writing anything more. So I began doing it with some fear that I would run out of material and that I would have nothing to say. I think about that now and say to myself, what a stupid thought.

The Monday Power Word is not just a word, but a Monday morning thought. It is intended to give a boost to everyone who needs to get the engine running on Monday mornings. I stay committed to that goal every week (well, okay, it doesn’t always get done). There is pressure to ensure that the word is simple, short, and encouraging.

In the beginning, the Monday Power Word was mostly driven by a single verse of Scripture. Every Monday, the main task involved finding the encouraging Scripture to carry people through the coming week. But along the way I began recognizing that not all of those short e-mails were being driven by Scripture as the starting point. I began noting ideas for future power words. And the source for some of those thoughts became strange for me (birds, waves, garbage dumps).

I still feel pressure writing every Monday morning. But there is an expectation now. Depending on the word for the day, various people take the time to respond and add their appreciation or insight to what was written. That encourages me. And a good number have recommended that these Monday Power Words be put into book form. Wow! I have never really regarded them as carrying that much impact!

But I try to listen, not just to the wonderful people who surround me, but to God. I didn’t get a great sense from him that fifty-two Monday Power Words were really what this was all about. I came to the conclusion that it is really about God, and the fact that he is still talking.

I can’t produce fifty-two Power Words a year that are really excellent (and not all of them are). I would have run out of material a long time ago had I not become aware that God is still talking, all the time and in many ways. When I look back on some of them, I am amazed that any of those thoughts came from me. And when I consider how some of them came to be, I know that God was communicating those thoughts, insights, and ideas.

This book is really about all of us. God hasn’t just chosen to speak to me. I believe that he is always talking to every one of us. Most of us simply are not aware. The Monday Power Word helped me to become aware. I will share throughout this book various Power Words and illustrations of how they came to be. I hope that it will help everyone’s ears listen to what God is saying to all of us throughout the day. For God is still talking!

Some Theological Caution

There are a great many Christians who state something similar to the following: “God spoke to me about …” Many of us get a little uneasy with those statements, especially when some “revelations” seem to run counter to what God has already spoken. Nothing in the introduction or in any part of this book should be misconstrued as giving license or credibility to that communication. This can account for some of the hesitation to accept that God is still talking today.

A Christian who is hearing something directly from God that offers some teaching or direction contrary to the Scripture is being deceived. God does not speak something that contradicts his confirmed and sealed word. He does not give us the license to make some decision that conflicts with his stated will. For example, can we rationalize being defiant to the assignments of our boss? Provided that those tasks do not lead us to sin and to oppose God, we should “serve wholeheartedly, as if you were serving the Lord, not people” (Ephesians 6:7) There is no rationalization for anything less.

I get uncomfortable with Christians who are hearing directly from God but seem to have no understanding or regard for the Scripture. They are living apart from the foundation. Hearing God speak requires a sure foundation that does not change. John warned his readers about following false spirits. He gave this direction as a foundation for determining what is true or false:

As for you, see that what you have heard from the beginning remains in you. If it does, you also will remain in the Son and in the Father. And this is what he promised us—eternal life. I am writing these things to you about those who are trying to lead you astray. As for you, the anointing you received from him remains in you, and you do not need anyone to teach you. But as his anointing teaches you about all things and as that anointing is real, not counterfeit—just as it has taught you, remain in him.

1 John 2:24–27

The Scripture serves as the beginning foundation for hearing God speak. It contains “the faith that the Lord has once for all entrusted to us, his people.” ( Jude 3) All of the ways that God is still talking are subject to his sure word.

On the other side, there are Christians whose relationship to God seems to be more a relationship to Scripture. In our approach to Scripture and to life, we send a message that God spoke in the record of the Bible and that there is nothing more to be said. We wrestle with Scriptures such as “For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God” and “The Spirit testifies with our spirit that we are children of God” (Romans 8:14, 16). How does the Spirit testify with our spirit? How are we led by the Spirit? We struggle to explain that teaching and to display it freely in our lives. We move forward cautiously, wondering if we have God’s guidance in matters not specifically addressed in the Bible.

We must find the balance between what God has spoken and what he is continuing to say, with the Bible in the center of the whole conversation. All Christians need to see the Bible as more dynamic, living, and fresh. Consider what the Scripture teaches about itself.

“For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give an account.

Hebrews 4:12, 13

Alive, active, penetrating, judging—sounds pretty dynamic to me. But there are questions about the word. When we want guidance and help, how do we experience questions alongside these verses require some further discussion in another chapter.

It is important for us to see how the Scripture directed the affairs of the church in the first century. Notice how the early church referred to Scripture in a prayer that asked God for the boldness to speak:

You spoke by the Holy Spirit through the mouth of your servant, our father David: “Why do the nations rage and the people plot in vain? The kings of the earth rise up and the rulers band together against the Lord and against his anointed one.” Acts 4:25

Note all the elements at work here. There is the Holy Spirit speaking through David, who wrote down a communication that was still applicable to the situation facing the new community of Christians in Jerusalem. This account in Scripture provides a great example of how the Word of God remains relevant throughout the ages.

Scripture is always at work in all the ways that God is still talking to us today. People who want to hear clearly from God...