The Word of God (1)

Does God Speak Today?

One of the most fundamentally important issues of the day is highlighted by the question “does God speak today?”  We’re not talking about whether or not the bible is the word of God or whether or not prophets are for today.  I have no doubt there are prophets today, but that is a different question from the one I have just posed.

Does God speak today?  The question immediately demands some explanation.  What do you mean?  Do you mean “what is my theology on the subject?”  Do you mean “have I experienced God speaking to me?”  Just what do you mean by the question?  Wherever we may stand in terms of our Christian affiliations, it is a very important subject - especially for these times. 

It seems to me that, whether we like it or not - whether we admit it or not - we have to say yes. 

If God doesn’t speak, He is dead. 

We may be listening for something quite different from the “sounds” He makes; we may be tuned to a different “frequency”; but if God is who and what He has chosen to reveal to us through creation and through scripture, He is not silent - not ever.

There may be times for some when all the screaming in the world will bounce off what someone once called a “brass heaven”.  Does that mean God is silent?  No.  At the same moment, somewhere in the world, someone else is listening to God and revealing in the wonder of His revelation.  In this situation, God is “silent” only in the sense that, for whatever reason, we do not have the ears to hear what He is in fact saying.

God had it written for us many times over in scripture that it is he who has “ears to hear” who will hear what He speaks.  Further it is very often recorded that it is the Spirit who speaks.   Hence: “let him who has ears to hear, hear what the Spirit says to the churches.”

I believe that we can neither prove nor disprove that God speaks.  In fact, I am convinced God doesn’t want us to waste precious time trying to do either.  God is not some theory which only matters if it can be either proved or disproved.  We’re talking relationship here, not science.  Do my daughters have to prove that I speak before I matter?  The truth is, I mattered long before they understood even the words I was speaking, let alone the theory of listening and speaking.  I mattered because I am their father.

You matter because God is your father, not because you can prove that He speaks.  But does He speak?  Of course!  How do I know?  He is my Father!  He speaks because He is God.  I know He speaks because I am connected relationally to Him like my daughters are to me.

There are times when I choose not to speak to my children.  Usually it is because I have already told them what they need to hear.  I am “silent” not because I don’t speak - that’s impossible, I am their father.  I am “silent” because I want them to remember what I have already said and respond to that.  Perhaps the most important question we need to ask in these days is: “Do I remember what God last said and have I obeyed?”

 It seems to me that “having ears to hear” is really a matter of preparedness to obey.  Does God know that when He says something, you will do it?  Can He trust you enough to give you something as precious as His revelation, in full confidence that you will carry it through?  Has God called and gifted you (perhaps even from birth) to be a bearer of His revelation - regardless of whether it is perceived by us to be “good news” or “bad news”?   Have you (or I) learned the lesson of silence in His presence?  Is His agenda the one we work to in His affairs?  Yes answers to these questions give us an idea of what it means to have ears to hear.

I recall Francis Schaeffer’s works: one he titled “The God who is There”.  Another he called “He is there and He is Not Silent.”  Amen! 

The issue is not whether God speaks today.  He spoke in the past and He is the same yesterday, today and forever.  He does not change like the shadow of a sun-dial.  The issue is whether we have ears to hear?  Are we true “sons” of our Father?  (Refer Hebrews 12:5-11)  Can we be trusted?  Are we ready to put our flesh and blood (and perhaps our “reputation”) into His revelation?  Has God called and gifted you to bear His revelation - regardless of the cost?  Have we learned to be silent long enough to hear Him?  (Remember, He is not impulsive, precocious or impatient.)  Do we approach Him with our hands deliberately emptied of our lists and agendas and ready to be filled with Himself?

This issue is not one of God’s speaking but of our listening.  Even today, there are prophets and prophetic ministry.  Even today, the Spirit is saying things to the churches.  It is sheer pertinence to debate a theology of whether or not God speaks today and how He does it.  Ours is to shut our mouths and listen until He opens our mouths.  Then when He opens them, they will be like the door opened to the church of brotherly-love (Revelation 3) - ONLY HE CAN SHUT THEM!  Hallelujah!

 Let him who has ears to hear, hear what the Spirit says to the churches.

Have you ever been in the situation where you have discovered that God has said the same things to someone else, often a long distance away, as He has said to you?  The first few times I experienced that, I referred to it as “amazing” or “incredible” or something like that.

As God has continued to speak, I’ve had to put my hand over my mouth to silence my loose tongue.  It’s not amazing; it’s not incredible; it’s normal - for God.  From the perspective of eternity - or heaven, if you prefer - what’s a little bit of geography?  What’s a few thousand kilometres? 

It takes a bit of getting used to, but the simple fact of the matter is, it is not second-hand, borrowed from another country.  Neither is it borrowed from another age or epoch of history.  It is God giving expression to His passionate love-affair with Australians.

The ministry of the prophet and other types of prophetic ministry are emerging on Australian soil, springing up from Australian souls.  Some of this ministry is very personal.  By that, I mean that God is ministering to persons for their own personal spiritual growth.  Personal prophetic words are being given and received with rapidly increasing regularity and accuracy.

Some of the ministry, however, is not personal in that it is intended for “churches” - actually ecclesias - (as in “...what the Spirit says to the ecclesias”).  Frequently now, God is entrusting His revelation for ecclesias to trustworthy souls whom He has prepared and called and now gifted and sent to go and reveal what He has given.

One of the incidents I referred to before happened to me some time ago when I discovered that God was using the same scripture passage to call and commission certain saints into service of a type not often seen in the past 50 years.  The scripture: “...Write down the revelation and make it plain on tablets so that a herald may run with it.”  (Hab 2:2)

God has seen fit to speak today using this verse to call both writers and heralds to step into the full and real expression of their commission.  Note that He is not calling them into service, since they’ve been “in service” for a long time.  They’ve been, like prophets of old, hiding away in the caves for fear of their lives.  This single Old Testament verse has become a clarion call of God and those to whom He has given the ears have heard it and are eagerly and slowly, timidly and excitedly stepping forward into their vocation - to write down the revelation and make it plain and, in the case of some, to run with it.

A simple clarion call from heaven is causing the earth to rattle and the ecclesia of God to awake from slumber and sleep.

But consider for a moment what usually happens.  Look back at the history of Israel recorded in the Old Testament.  There are around 20 'prophets of the Lord' of note in the Old Testament.  Some don't have whole books that bear their names - like Nathan and Micaiah for example.  Yet if you read the history of just one King of Israel, Ahab, he had 200 'prophets' he would call on to advise him.  They were by far the majority and they were usually wrong.

But think about this: the 200 were in circulation in Israel and regularly seen and heard in the court of the king.  The one 'prophet of the Lord' whom the 'prophets' hated but who had the genuine word of God (Micaiah) was not so lucky.  In obscurity and unwelcome in the congregations of Israel, he stayed in tune and in touch with Eternity and was in the right place at the right time when the need arose.  Pretty much the same today: many church 'advisors' in circulation and seen and heard in the congregations, while ecclesia's genuine prophets languish in obscurity, unwelcome in the congregations of the church.

I think the far more pertinent question is: does God ever get tired of speaking to us when we silence his prophets and ignore what He is saying because we don't like the message?  Reminiscent of old covenant Israel, and Ahab - and Micaiah!

Cheers,
Kevin.