Successful Listening

In our continued study of the word listening, Let’s look more carefully at how God speaks to us. The next few posts will be addressing this issue.

1. God speaks through His Word – the Bible. 2 Timothy 3:16-17: All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right. 17 God uses it to prepare and equip his people to do every good work. Nothing more needs to be said! The purpose of listening to God through the Bible is an invaluable adventure.

Hebrews 4:12 For the word of God is alive and powerful. It is sharper than the sharpest two-edged sword, cutting between soul and spirit, between joint and marrow. It exposes our innermost thoughts and desires. If you're reading the Word, be ready to be exposed! Like surgery, the Bible is used by the Holy Spirit to show us "inner cancer" that must be excised. Then, comes healing! Praise the Lord.

Psalm 119:105 Your word is a lamp to guide my feetand a light for my path.

God speaks most clearly through His Word. Whenever we think God is speaking to us, it must be sifted through the sieve of Scripture. If it conflicts with what the Bible says, the message is not from the Lord.

I think back to the years I spent in private practice counseling. Any success I had as a counselor came through that question I’d ask, “What does God say about this particular problem?” Having memorized several books of the Bible and maintaining a consistent time with the Word gave me the edge in counseling. The Word is our guide to successful living and successful dying. (And the Holy Spirit does the empowering to accomplish what is impossible in ourselves.)

Our major challenge in listening? Fine tuning our ear to hear what God has to say to us through the Scriptures. Tomorrow we’ll look at a donkey in this listening process.