I want to repeat a little of what I said in episode 0 regarding the process of going from knowledge to wisdom about God. It will help in establishing a foundation for understanding what it means to hear the voice of God.
Wisdom in a general sense is that quality of making sound judgments that, on a personal level, lead to peace, harmony and a better quality of life or outcome. You can gain wisdom by trial and error or you can trust in the wisdom that comes from God’s word, the Bible. Show More
Wisdom from the Bible
The Bible teaches that there is a process of gaining wisdom. The steps to gaining wisdom are most often described in this sequence:
- get knowledge,
- gain understanding,
- obtain wisdom.
Knowledge – The Building Blocks of Wisdom
Knowledge represents a person’s acquired truths or facts about life. This accumulation of knowledge can happen in several ways. Through personal experience, thought or learning from the experiences of others.
The greatest truths that a person can possess with the mind or learn through experience are, of course, truths about God.
True knowledge about God cannot be gained by human reason alone. It is only fully acquired as God shows Himself to a person through His Word, aided by the Holy Spirit.
The Process of Gaining Knowledge
Most of us begin our life in Christ with virtually no knowledge of the Bible. We have no background to build upon, so gaining knowledge requires a great amount of work. This also means that we may have many things to unlearn; wrong understandings, bad habits, worldly mindsets.
Slowly but surely, as we study God’s Word, we accumulate facts and information; the names of the books of the Bible, bible characters, biblical events, and stories. We are collecting the building materialneeded to build a structure that will help us to stand firm in this life.
As born-again believers, we also have the assistance of a great Helper. We have the Holy Spirit dwelling within us, the Holy Spirit reveals the truth about God as we study the Bible. Prior to receiving Christ as our Savior, we read the Bible only with our natural minds. But now we are spiritual, and we have been given the mind of Christ.
The Holy Spirit enlightens our eyes and mind to passages in the Scriptures that are relevant to our situation and circumstances. We begin to see and understand scripture passages that we may not have noticed before. We recognize the life and power that accompanies the Word of God. Our passion for God and His Word begins to burn with greater fervor.
Rhema And Logos
The Bible refers to itself as “The Word”. “Word” in the New Testament is derived from two Greek words, logosand rhema. The word logosmeans “written word”, or an expression of thought. The word rhemameans “spoken word”, or a word uttered in speech or writing. Both terms, rhema, andlogosare used throughout the New Testament. I will have more to say about this in the next episode.
The Bible reveals that its own words are living and able to discern both the thoughts of our mind and the motives of our heart. God is able to speak to us through the Bible, His living Word. God can speak to us about general principles for life. And He can speak to us about personal matters or circumstances. That is the reason why it is so important for us to daily read the written Word for it is the building material for our foundation in Christ.
Understanding – The Mortar of Wisdom
“Understanding” represents the desire to use the knowledge we have of God to know and serve Him.
As we continue to accumulate information (knowledge), we begin to seek connections between the collection of facts, dates, and stories. The Holy Spirit is actively at work illuminating or enlightening our understanding.
As we study and pray, the Holy Spirit begins to teach us the concepts or principles of God’s Word. This helps us to connect our fragments of knowledge together into a cohesive structure. When this begins to occur, the Scriptures will make much more sense to us. We will gain a much fuller understanding of the Truth. This “personal revelation” is what helps the Bible, in all of its parts, to fit together and make spiritual sense.
Wisdom – The Application of Understanding
Wisdom represents more than knowledge and understanding. Wisdom is knowing what pleases God and then doing it.
Many think that just having knowledge and understanding of God are enough. But from God’s point of view, there is a further step to take. And that step is wisdom.
Wisdom is the knowledge and understanding of God being correctly applied, with correct motives, to everyday life.
As I have said it is not enough to simply hear and understand the Word of God. We are called to be do-ersof the Word who are motivated by pure hearts.
Being “do-ers of the Word” many times requires faith and it is this kind of faith that pleases God (Hebrews 11:6). This is what it really means to be led by the Holy Spirit. The Bible provides the knowledge, the Holy Spirit gives us an understanding of the Bible, and again the Holy Spirit leads us to do the Word. Ultimately, we must choose to actually apply and do the Word of God.
All three aspects – knowledge, understanding and wisdom – require effort on our part. But we must also receive the supernatural work of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit illuminates the Scriptures for knowledge, the Holy Spirit gives us personal revelation for understanding, the Holy Spirit leads us to be do-ers the Word, stirring up our faith. It is this faith that will release the full blessings of God upon our lives.
In the last episode, we answered the question, “Does the Bible speak?” The conclusion was that the Bible does speak, but not in ways we might think. The statement that the Bible speaks is a metaphor. It doesn’t actually have an audible voice. however, the Bible is able to produce the same effect as the spoken word, it communicates or conveys information from the Holy Spirit of God.
In John 10:1-6 Jesus makes the statement that “my sheep know my voice…”. The born-again Believers throughout the world have the spiritual ability to hear His voice because we are His sheep. As believers, we just need to know what to look or listen for in His voice, for in most cases it is not an audible voice. I need to be careful here, the Holy Spirit can speak in an audible voice. The Holy Spirit is God and can do anything He wants, but it is not the most common experience that individuals have. While an audible voice may not be the most common way that God “speaks”, He is able to produce the same effect through His Word, the Bible!
In the previous episode, I mentioned how illumination of the Bible works as we are reading the Bible. Bible scholars use the term “illumination of the scriptures”to mean that as we read the Bible certain verses or phrases come “alive” or seem to “jump off the page” and are relevant to what we are going through in life or our growth in maturity as a Christian.
While you are reading it’s as if you can identify with the person, place or situation in the Bible and it “seems” to be “speaking” to you. It is a sudden flash insight into understanding. A verse you may have read before that didn’t make sense or didn’t seem particularly significant all of a sudden “comes alive” with meaning. That is an example of the “illumination” of the Holy Spirit of His Word. It is as if the Holy Spirit were saying, this is important for you! Remember it is the Holy Spirit of God who inspired the words of the Bible in the first place and He can best bring insight for you. After all, He knows best what you need.
In the last episode I also mentioned my personal experience with my anger issues and how reading the verse in James 1:19 “So then, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger; for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God”. The instant I read it the Bible seemed to say to me, “you have an anger issue- deal with it because I am not pleased with it”. Now someone else could read that same verse and agree with it, but in my case, it was like facing a crossroad in my life and I had to decide which way I was going to go.
Relying on Spiritual voices without the Bible
Before I go any further, I want to address an issue I have heard some people say and it is this. “I am a Christian and I can hear from God, so I don’t need the Bible”! Since we are talking about spiritual communication that statement is true, but there is a catch. Which spirit are you listening to? God is not the only spirit who can influence or “speak” to you.
- There is our own spirit and it often encourages you to do what you wanted to do in the first place. It will often place the issue on someone else. A spouse, friend, coworker or neighbor. Your spirit never sees the problem as residing in you. Obviously, if it were God’s spirit His focus would be on you, to transform you into the likeness of Jesus Christ.
- Then there is the issue of Satan or the Devil who is a spiritual entity and therefore can communicate with the spirit of human beings. If you have a picture of some ugly demonic being with horns and a tail, you would be wrong. The devil is slick and cunning. The Bible teaches that the devil is an incredible liar… John 8:44. By that I mean he is most convincing; deception is his game and he knows how to appeal to weaknesses of human beings. Another important consideration is that the Devil can come disguised as an angel of light… 2 Cor 11:14. This means that he can appear as innocent, caring and looking out for your interest and well-being. Throughout the ages, he has deceived multitudes.
This is where the Bible is so critical. Through it, we learn the character and nature of God. In essence, the Bible is our “compass” in determining if what we are “hearing” is of God, self or the Devil.
Here are a couple of principles that the Bible teaches that are good to use as a measure of the kind of spirit that is trying to influence you.
- God is omnipotent- this means that God is all powerful and nothing is more powerful than Him. This also means that nothing is impossible with Him. So, any “voice” that speaks to your situation as impossible to resolve by God, is a LIE!
- God is omniscient- this means that God knows everything that can be known. This also means that nothing is hidden from Him. There is no secret that God does not know. He knows your inner thoughts and motives. You can’t outwit him or outplay Him because He can see right through you.
- God is omnipresent- this means that He is everywhere at once. So, you can’t hide from Him. As a Believer His Holy Spirit is with you and in you, no matter where you go- He is there.
- God cannot lie- this means that since every word in the Bible is from Him, we should look at the Bible as a book of promises. If God said it “He will perform it” or it will come to pass. God will never violate His own word. This brings an interesting thought to mind. Over the last two thousand years, there have been many predicting the return of Jesus Christ, or the Second Coming. Even Jesus’ disciples asked this question in Matthew 24:3 “Now as He sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to Him privately, saying, “Tell us, when will these things be? And what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?” Yet Jesus clearly states in Matthew 24:36 “But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, but My Father only”. In other words, the Bible shows that no one can know or figure out when He will return and yet many have publicly given the time and date for His return only to be disappointed and humiliated. I am sure they read that scripture. But instead believed that they had a revelation from God. Remember Satan comes disguised as an “Angel of Light” in an attempt to deceive the Believers. God does not lie- if He said it, it will be.
- God is good- this means that He is always good. I know in this world there is much that is tragic and even evil. It would be easy to believe that God is responsible for at least in part for all that, but He is not! God is not good and then sometimes bad. He is pure light and goodness. We do live in a “fallen world” which means that the evil in the world is the consequence of people over the ages following their own heart and disobeying God. God gave us a free-will to choose good or evil, throughout the ages, many have chosen evil and all the consequences that come with disbelieving and disobeying God are present in the world today.
Closing
Another way in which the Bible or Word of God can speak in situations that require a decision, direction or encouragement, is through
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