The ‘language’ that God uses to communicate

God is very particular about the words that He says and takes care to fulfil them. Numbers 11:23 “The Lord said to Moses, ‘Is the Lord’s power limited? Now you shall see whether My word will come true for you or not.’”

He is also very particular about the words that people say, especially those they commit themselves to. “If a man makes a vow to the Lord or takes an oath to bind himself with a binding obligation, he shall not violate his word; he shall do according to all that proceeds out of his mouth.” Numbers 30:2

Jesus in the NT redefines this view with “Again, you have heard that the ancients were told, ‘You shall not make false vows, but shall fulfil your vows to the Lord.’ ‘But I say to you, make no oath at all, either by heaven, for it is the throne of God, or by the earth, for it is the footstool of His feet, or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the Great King. Nor shall you make an oath by you head, for you cannot make one hair white or black. But let your statement be, ‘Yes yes’ or ‘No, no’; anything beyond these is of evil.’” Matthew 5:33-37

God is not particularly wordy, but everything he says is full of meaning. “The words that I speak to you are Spirit and life.” John 6:63 –every part of scripture is full of meaning and contains the life of the Holy Spirit, which if applied can uplift and build up.

The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God stands forever Isaiah 40:8

Just as in medicine where the terminology used is particular to that discipline and often unintelligible to the outsider, so it is with the language of heaven. Jesus spoke to Nicodemus about this.

John 2:11+12 “Truly, truly, I say to you, we speak of what we know and testify of what we have seen, and you do not accept our testimony. If I told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things?”

We must therefore become familiar with the way that God communicates throughout scripture and apply those principles to His communication to us.
We think that God is going to speak to us in the way that we speak. If we are going to listen to hear God the logical thing to use would be our ears. However God’s ways are different to ours.

“‘For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways’ declares the LORD. ‘For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts.’” Isaiah 55:8-9

A watchman outside the Queen's house in the Tower of London

Habakuk 2:1 “I am going to position myself of the rampart before the Lord and will watch to see what the Lord will say within me and what answer I will make.”

When a watchman was stationed on the walls of a city, during the day he was able to use his eyes to spot the enemy. However if the enemy tried to creep up using the cover of darkness to hide at night; especially when it was cloudy with no moon, the most useful sense to use then becomes the ears. The use of the term ‘within’ refers to an internal communication not an external one.
What Habakkuk is trying to say here is that we must at all times be ready to use all of our natural and spiritual senses, even to “watch to see what the Lord will say within me.”
If we become perceptive within to God in His communication we will gain understanding. In the natural we listen to hear, God’s first language however is not English, French, Spanish or Chinese. It is the language of the spirit world. God has the ability to communicate more data in a millisecond than the greatest supercomputer can in a lifetime and he can do it in many ways.
“God is Spirit” John 4:24 and often He communicates in a spiritual way. Many times we do not perceive him because we are trying to receive it in our own human senses using natural ways. God does speak in natural ways, but when he doesn’t we may not recognise it and therefore miss it.

What does the voice of the Lord sound like? According to 1 Samuel 3 it can sound like someone familiar.

“Now the boy Samuel was ministering to the Lord before Eli. And word from the Lord was rare in those days, visions were infrequent.
It happened at that time as Eli was lying down in his place (now his eyesight had begun to grow dim and he could not see well) and the lamp of God had not yet gone out, and Samuel was lying down in the temple of the Lord where the ark of God was, that the Lord called Samuel; and he said, ‘Here I am.’ Then he ran to Eli and said, ‘Here I am, for you called me.’ But he said, ‘I did not call, lie down again.’ So he went and lay down. The Lord called yet again, ‘Samuel!’ So Samuel arose and went to Eli and said, ‘Here I am, for you called me.’ But he answered, ‘I did not call, my son, lie down again.’
Now Samuel did not yet know the Lord, nor had the word of the Lord yet been revealed to him. So the Lord called Samuel again for the third time. And he arose and went to Eli and said, ‘Here I am, for you called me.’ Then Eli discerned that the Lord was calling the boy. And Eli said to Samuel, ‘Go lie down, and it shall be if He calls you, that you shall say, ‘Speak, Lord, for Your servant is listening.’ So Samuel went and lay down in his place. Then the Lord came and stood and called as at other times, ‘Samuel! Samuel!’ and Samuel said, ‘Speak, for Your servant is listening.’” 1 Sam 3:1-14

The Lord then tells Samuel the message “But Samuel was afraid to tell the vision to Eli.” So although it was the voice of the Lord that came initially to Samuel, the message after came in the form of a vision!

 

Next.
1. Introduction.
2. God's nature as creator and communicator.
3. The role of the Bible.
4. Turn aside when you notice something.
5. Be careful what you worship.
6. The Holy Spirit quickens things.
7. Hide and seek using parables.
8. Ask the Holy Spirit.
9. The inner room is where we meet with God.
10. The importance of peace and stillness.
11. Don't hurry God will speak.
12. Waiting and longing takes us higher to a place where God acts.
13. What price do we have to pay?
14. Holding a word for a time and part of the whole picture.
15. How do we know it's from God/Act in faith?
16. Jesus is open to persuasion!
17. The Language God uses to communicate.
18. God communicates through our sensory organs.
19. God communicates primarily to the heart.
20. God offends our mind to change our heart.
21. Listening depends on your heart attitude.
22. Circumcision is the cure to a hard heart!
23. Listen to your heart
24. Eyes.
25. Lift up your eyes.
26. Make sure your vision is clear.
27. Ears/hearing the voice of the Lord.
28. Reach for higher levels.
29. How God communicates - impressions.
30. Seeing with the eyes of your heart.
31. Visions.
32. Open visions.
33. Trances.
34. Signs.
35. Dreams.
36. Conclusion.
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