“I Feel God in This Chili’s!”

4938

Written by:

Why Hearing God's Voice Shouldn't Be A Foreign Concept.

I love the NBC show, The Office! So many laughs, so many awkward Michael Scott moments and so many one-liners! One of my favorite Office moments comes from Pam Beesley. At the company award ceremony hosted at Chili's, Pam wins the “whitest sneakers award”. Upon receiving the award, Pam, who is slightly inebriated at the time, gives thanks to God for her award and then utters “I feel God in this Chili’s”.

god

...which prompts this classic Jim look:home-img

 I totally understand why Jim gave Pam that look, but that look stuck with me. Why? Well, many Christians give the “Jim" look when they hear a fellow believer say that they’ve heard from God, especially if that person isn’t in vocational ministry. I understand a non-believer doubting that God speaks to people, but why would a Christian have a hard time believing that? Jesus made it clear: If you are one of His followers, you can hear His voice. 

In 1 Samuel 3, Eli wasn’t shocked that young Samuel was hearing God’s voice. Eli recognized that God was speaking to Samuel, which eludes that Eli had a history of hearing God’s voice. When ministering at churches, I'll occasionally ask: "How many of you have ever heard God speak to you?" Most of the time, less than a third in attendance will raise their hands. This is a travesty! To me, hearing the voice of God is one of the most important things in life! One word from God can dramatically change the course of your life FOREVER! (Ask Moses, Gideon, Peter, Paul, & many others!) I believe Christians that haven’t heard God speak are like Samuel….they probably don’t know that God speaks today nor do they know that God wants to speak to them! I want to lay a Biblical foundation that’ll show you that:

God speaks today, He's qualified & enabled you to hear His voice, and He WANTS to speak to YOU.

 

A) God speaks today.

Note the grammatical tense of my statement. It is not written in past tense. He has spoken and He is still speaking today! 

Matthew 4:4 (NASB): But He answered and said, “It is written, ‘MAN SHALL NOT LIVE ON BREAD ALONE, BUT ON EVERY WORD THAT PROCEEDS OUT OF THE MOUTH OF GOD.’”

The Greek word used for “proceeds” is written in future tense. God has created us to live on the words that He is speaking! He doesn’t want you to live solely on what He’s said before (although that is important), He also wants you to live on what He is saying right now.

 

B) He's qualified & enabled you to hear His voice.

John 10:27 (NASB) - “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me.” 

Note the following:

  • - Jesus didn’t utter these words as a suggestion.
  • - Jesus didn't utter these words as a promise that we ought to claim.

Also, note that the verse didn’t say:

  • - The sheep in ministry hear my voice.
  • - The sheep that went to Bible school/seminary hear my voice.
  • - The sheep that glow in the dark when they pray hear my voice. 
  • - The special 1% of sheep hear my voice.

We act like Jesus made these special qualifications to hear His voice, but the Bible doesn’t teach that! We tend to disqualify ourselves or others, but Jesus didn’t! He made it a matter of fact: If you are His follower/sheep, you can hear His voice! Your spirit has been made alive through His Spirit! 

home-imgGod is speaking loud and clear! He wants you to hear Him! (Pixabay: Ryan McGuire)

 

C) He WANTS to speak to YOU!

Why? Relationships are built on communication! God is a living, relational being that longs to have a relationship with you! He wants to guide your steps (Psalm 37:23), lead you in life (Proverbs 3:5-6) & live in everyday communion with you! Everyday communion looks similar to what Adam had with God in the garden, but better….

Prayer, one of our primary connects to God, was not designed to be a monologue or rant of our wish list/needs, it is designed to be a dialogue between you and God! Check out Moses in Exodus 33:11 (NLT) - "….the Lord would speak to Moses face to face, as one speaks to a friend."

“Well bro, that’s Moses! He’s like in the Bible Hall of Fame!"

OK, I'll momentarily bite on that argument. Let’s see what Paul writes to the “average church goer” in Colossae:

Colossians 1:9 (AMP) - “….we have not stopped praying for you, asking [specifically] that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom [with insight into His purposes], and in understanding [of spiritual things].” 

Paul prayed for the church to know God’s will for their lives because he knew that God desired to speak to them! 

 

These are just three Biblical points to show you that it is for EVERY born-again believer in Jesus to hear His voice. I’ll write the “how” to hear God’s voice in future posts, but I hope this sheds some light on this issue! I want to hear your take: What stops or hinders you from hearing God's voice? Leave your thoughts in the comments below and let's continue this conversation!

Side note: I recently started doing "30 days of consecutive Facebook Live" in which I share thoughts the Lord is putting in my heart on Facebook Live. You can watch replays and the future live videos on my Facebook Page.

Last modified: December 26, 2017

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.