As incredulous as it might seem, God does talk to people who have His spirit inside of them. Those that portray God as being too busy with large, important affairs to speak to individuals must not have read their Bibles. God as a loving heavenly Father does directly communicate with His people at times. However, sometimes we may have some confusion regarding whether or not that thought we just had actually came from Him. Often I hear people report that God told them this and God told them that, which may invariably be true. After all, who am I to decide whom God talks to and to whom He doesn’t speak? Revelation is always His privilege and His decision. Yet, there must be a way to determine what comes from God and what comes from other sources or even our own minds. So we need to be able to answer the question, indeed, is that you God?
One of the best ways to determine if God just told you something is by asking the question, what is the profit in what I think I just heard? If God tells someone something there will always be some type of profit in it. If someone says God told them the airplane was going to crash, what is the profit in knowing that unless they could in some way be helped or help others by knowing that. All of these false prophets that predict future doom and destruction never seem to do anything to prevent these terrible things from happening. How many end of the world predictors have come and gone, yet the world remains? Remember Y2K? I too foolishly stocked up on water bottles only to find out nothing happened (smile). God doesn’t waste people’s time or tell them things to tickle their fancies. If God is telling you something there must be a profit to you or other people involved or else He wouldn’t have told you. Similarly, God typically does not tell you things you could already know by your five senses like which toothpaste to buy or what to have for dinner. Again what would be the point? Neither does He tell you things about other people’s lives unless you are in a position to help them or in some cases to warn you for your own preservation and safety. There has to be some profit in knowing. Have you heard people tell you that God told them to tell you to do something involving someone else? To this I would answer, if He told you then maybe you should do it! You see, people come up with all sorts of things that God reportedly told them, but there would have to be some profit in it.
Another way to determine if the revelation you received was actually revelation from God is to compare it with the revelation in His Word. How many cult leaders seduce their followers by claiming to tell them things God reportedly told them? Some claim to be the second coming of Jesus Christ, yet that so-called revelation is in contradiction with God’s Word. Jesus Christ isn’t coming back until after the believers have been gathered together first. (Y2K anyone?) Some leaders claim to be God Himself then tell their followers to do all sorts of things that aren’t supported biblically, such as leave their spouses and have sex with them instead. One cult leader from Korea explained that it was okay for all of the women to have sex with Him because they were having sex with God Himself. Seems like you wouldn’t need your Bible to know that wasn’t true, but there you go. Revelation you receive from God must not be at cross purposes with His Word. How many ‘sickos’ kill people because “God” told them to do it? God does not tell you to hate people because His very nature is love. God does not tell you to do anything that is not in harmony with His Word. Revelation cannot contradict God’s Word but may augment it or include details you may not have known by your five senses mind. Revelation can be as simple as “you dropped your keys” or anything that will help you in some capacity. God typically does not tell you things that are already in His Word but He can and will bring His Word to your mind.
Another important category of learning concerning revelation from God involves the types of things that God will tell you. God does not convict you of your sins, as some commonly preach, because Jesus Christ already paid the price for all of your sins. When God sees you He does not see sin or all of your weaknesses and human frailty, nor does He feel the need to point it out to you. He loves you unconditionally. If He needs you to learn something that will help you, He will do it in a way that is kind, loving and helpful to you. I remember praying once on my porch and while I was praying I got the thought, “you are going to die very soon.” Now let me ask you a question. What would be the profit in knowing that unless God had some solution to accompany that information? God is not in the business of scaring the bejesus out of you! Well, I didn’t die, but I learned a valuable lesson. Just because you have a certain thought while you are talking to God doesn’t mean it was something He told you. Weird thoughts come and go, but the acid test will always be what was the profit in knowing that? God is not mean and harsh with you. He will not call you an idiot or seek to point out your flaws. Neither will He keep reminding you of your past sins to make you do better or continue to feel bad. There is someone else that has that job and he ain’t the true God! God will not and does not use fear to get you to do something. God’s message is always fear not and as such He will not tell you things that would frighten you. The Bible says, “But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be intreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy.” Read that again! God is a gentle Father and He knows you better than you know you. His appeal is always via His love and goodness; His grace and mercy. It is the goodness of God that leads you to a change of mind, not any anger or wrath. Similarly, God does not engender negative scenarios to make you learn a lesson. He doesn’t make you sick, cause accidents, make your business fail or do any negative things to get you to listen to Him. His mercy endures forever. But, He will and does work in negative scenarios to rescue you or to help you to learn why these negative events keep happening to you. But, He is never behind them no matter what the preacher said! God does not need evil to help Him do His job.
Learning to walk with God and hear His “still small” voice takes time to master and even then we all still miss it at times. It seems when we do miss it, God is always right there to gently point out that He told us already. Hearing from God directly is always a blessing to our lives. He withholds no good thing from us. He doesn’t hide things from us nor make things complicated for us. He wants to talk with us and He wants us to learn. We never need to have any fear about something God might tell us nor worry that He would point out our flaws and failings. That’s not His style. He loves us into loving ourselves. He is perfect in every way and has no darkness in Him at all. Learning to recognize how God works in us is one of the greatest joys of life. Imagine, God Almighty the Creator of the heavens and the earth talks to little old you and me. That’s love and that is our heavenly Father. Is that you God?
Just some good thoughts…