Trusting God to Speak...and Lead

I was visiting a man in the hospital along with a group of friends.

One was a young lady who sang well and played guitar. She was talented and spiritually gifted as well...

As we were praying for the man, I got a verse in my mind. At the same instant, she began playing the intro to a song. The song was based on the verse. I read it and we sang. Then we prayed for the man and all of us felt the presence of God and the emotion of the moment.

Afterwards, I asked my musician friend about her choice and she said she just “felt led” to it. Both of us were led to the same theme at the same time—one in scripture, the other in song. It deeply touched the man and the rest of us too…God was clearly leading us in that moment.

God Still Speaks

A well-known, liberal Christian denomination recently ran a campaign entitled, "God's Still Speaking." Sadly, what they meant in this effort was to suggest that what God said about marriage in Genesis 2, Matthew 19, the book of Romans, etc., is now obsolete. In their view, God is still speaking to change His definition or broaden it to fit our current cultural worldview.

This is not true.

Still, God IS still speaking. Hebrews 13:8 tells us that Jesus is the same--He hasn't changed. Thus, He still speaks and His sheep still know His voice (John 10:4, etc.).

But how? How does He speak? More importantly, how do we listen?

Obviously, God's Word, the Bible is His default communication device. Still, Jesus also made it clear that the Holy Spirit would speak, counsel, and comfort His people (See John 14-16). So learning to listen for those "nudges" in the spirit is vital. He will always prompt in a way that agrees with the Bible and will often confirm it through other people, circumstances, or as in the case above--via a verse and/or song.

The most challenging aspect to all of this is drowning-out the world

and the noise around us. More often, it's the noise IN OUR HEADS that is the loudest. To clear the air and make ourselves more receptive to the Spirit's promptings, I recommend Neil Anderson's "Steps to Freedom in Christ." In preparation, I recommend reading "Victory Over Darkness" and "The Bondage Breaker," both books also by Dr. Anderson.

Once you've read these books, feel free to contact CT Community Freedom Ministry for more help. You can reach us via our website, www.ctcfministry.org or, you can call us at 860-680-7567.