The 3 Ways God Speaks to Us
Do you love Jesus? If you do John 14:21 says “He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him.” If you love Jesus you can expect to hear from Him but does He speak to us all the same? Yes. He uses the same method of speaking to me as He will use with you, He just talks about different things. I was amazed one time when a famous Christian teacher was giving a conference, which I attended in Mississauga, Ontario, and God was talking to her about the exact same thing He was talking to me about. I used to be jealous about those things because I wanted to be special. Well guess what, I am special, because He is telling me the same thing He is telling someone else, who is much more popular than me. How amazing is that? This was a revelation for me. I want you to know that Jesus speaks to everyone who loves Him. He doesn’t have favourites. He spoke to Beth the same thing He was speaking to me about. He not only speaks to the people He loves His timing is also impeccable. He manifests Himself at the perfect time to show us the perfect path for us to travel on.
I want to give you a picture of what following God’s path is like so can visualize what you are doing when you follow Jesus. Picture a road with white solid lines on both sides. Look into the horizon and see trees, millions of trees. Your path disappears but you can see something in the distance that looks like the foundation of a building. It is huge but there is no floor, walls or roof. Your first question will be, “How do I get to that place?” The answer, “Follow Jesus.” Your second question, “How can I get the actual building above the foundation?” The answer, “Listen to Jesus.” Your path is of Jesus, for Jesus and with Jesus. When you are walking on gravel, not knowing your direction, look to Jesus because He has already paved a path for you to travel. It is all about listening and following but if you lose sight of Him there are three ways to get sight of Him again, His Words, nature and humans.
Way One: Words
We know that Jesus speaks because we have evidence of that in the Bible. He spoke the Heavens into being, this world into being and He spoke us into being. He may have been speaking a different language than us, but He was used Words that can be translated into our language. He doesn’t just use His own voice but He used breath. He breathes out what He wants us to know. All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work (2 Timothy 3:16-17). He speaks so you will be equipped to do His work. His purpose for speaking is you. His purpose for speaking is them. His purpose for speaking is Jesus. The plan of the Father is forefront in His mind when He speaks. He never says anything the Father hasn’t told Him to say (John 12:49). He leads us into the plan the Father has for us and for Him. He manifests Himself in the Word of God (Holy Bible), so when He manifests Himself through nature, we know it is Him.
Way Two: Nature
From the Word of God we know the Father manifested Himself as clouds, fire, wind, rain, storms, and many more. When Paul tells us, in Romans 1:20, Jesus reveals Himself through nature giving us no excuse for not knowing Him we too must look for Him in nature. My description of following Jesus is following Him through nature. It is the best way to describe the things of God. Even Jesus used nature to describe who the Father was. Natural disasters come to speak to us. If you are unclear about how the Father uses nature you need to read the Bible more often because He uses natural things to speak almost as much as He used words. His words move mountains. His words flooded the earth.
I live in an area that feels all the seasons. It is winter right now and we have 14 inches or 35.5 cm of snow on the ground. It is cold outside so when spring comes I appreciate it more than if it was warm all winter. I live in the most Southern part of Canada. My back deck is my favourite place to be because it is like being in the forest. I love to see the creatures God created coming through my yard. We have no domestic creatures to allow God’s wild creatures to roam free unhindered. If I sit still enough a squirrel will get within inches of me before it sees me and scampers away. When you know Jesus you know His nature speaks to us. The beauty of it speaks to us. The stillness of it speaks to us. The volatility of it speaks to us. Nature speaks to us of the power of the Father. He uses that same power in people.
Way Three: Humans
It is the job of every person on this earth to do the will of the Father including Jesus. Jesus, who is God Himself, said, “I can of Myself do nothing. As I hear, I judge; and My judgment is righteous, because I do not seek My own will but the will of the Father who sent Me.” (John 5:30) If Jesus can do nothing of Himself then we can do nothing of ourselves. It is our job to follow Jesus who tells us what the will of the Father is but He is not just leading us He is leading every believer on this earth into the will of the Father. The Father will use both believers and non-believers to get us into His path. He uses believers to sharpen our character and non-believers to show us the world to drive us back to His character. The Father send Jesus to us and unbelievers so we stay on task. It is our character that drives us to the work of the Lord. It is that work and the character behind it that draws people to Jesus.
The building that goes on the foundation are people. The Father will send people to you to sharpen you and for you to serve. We erect the wall of our ministry with the people we serve. Every time we serve someone in the capacity we are assigned they are changed. That change establishes us as a servant in that ministry. The foundation begins to be enclosed by our works. He is sending us to help people speak His word, teach His word, and act out His word as an example to others. We do not have Jesus walking around as our example but we do have humans who are capable of having the character of Jesus on this earth. Many have done it and so will I.
The only way we can follow Jesus is through His manifestations. If we cannot see or hear him, we will get lost. We can only see and hear Him when we love Him because that is the only way He will manifest Himself to us. We see him more from love to love. One day you will discover your love for Him has grown beyond what you could ever imagine you could love. You cry at the hearing of His name. You smile at the sight of Him in nature. You want to serve His people out of love for Him. You love because you know what Jesus is doing in other people’s lives. He is manifesting Himself to them in the same way He manifested Himself to you. He is breathing His life into them with His words. He is showing them the beauty of the nature of things. He is sending people to them to serve and be served. His plan for us is remarkable and irresistible. Once you start seeing Jesus every day you will start going through withdrawals when you don’t and need to get Him back in your sight again. He has this effect on everyone who loves Him.
Recently I heard a song I want you to hear too. It is called So Will I by Hillsong United. This song speaks of God’s manifestations to us. He is the One who never leaves the one behind so if you have not seen His manifestations and you love Him, don’t worry He will not leave you behind. Your path is already paved. Your foundation is already there. The people you will serve are there waiting for you. What He speaks never comes back void (Isaiah 55:11).
For a complete teaching on this topic combine this Revealed in Me Blog post with Episode 5 of Pursuing Biblical Direction on WE Podcast.
