Peter Lord has learned to keep his spiritual ears open to God.
The results are sometimes amazing.
Lord, author of Hearing God, says he has never heard God speak to him audibly.
But he does tell people regularly that "God spoke to me" through "the concrete impressions in my heart and mind".
"I know God was communicating to me because the words I heard came to pass and the outcomes bore fruit that glorified him."
Here's an example: Lord was pastor of Park Avenue Baptist church in Titusville, Florida when he received a strong impression in early December that God wanted him to construct a building where people could pray.
But there was a major catch: God was saying to him that "as proof that this is my idea and not yours, I will send someone to the church who will give five hundred dollars toward the building". The Lord added that this would happen before Christmas, just three weeks away.
Lord recorded this impression but did not tell anyone about it because he feared some well-meaning person would feel he should give the money to make this come true.
Two weeks went by and nothing happened. Lord began to doubt what he had heard.
On December 20, he prayed: "Lord, are you sure you didn't mean by New Year's Day?"
On December 24, a married couple from another city pulled into the church parking lot. They asked the church secretary if they could see him.
"Pastor, you don't know us, but when we were praying, God spoke to us," they told him. "We don't really understand why we needed to drive here to give this to you, but we're just being obedient."
They handed him a cheque for $500. And they later contributed an even larger amount.
The prayer chapel was built and has been used for many years for prayer intercession.
This should not be a surprise to believers. There are a number of stories in the Book of Acts where God speaks to people through visions and other means. Often this led to major breakthroughs for Christ in the ancient world.
In Acts 10, we read about Cornelius, a Roman centurion, who is told by an angel in a vision to get the apostle Peter to come to him from another city.
While his servants are on the way, God urges a reluctant Peter in a vision to eat what the apostle considered unclean and impure from Jewish standpoint. Puzzling over this, he is interrupted by the arrival of Cornelius' servants.
When he complies to their request and Cornelius becomes a believer, Peter realizes that the good news of Jesus Christ is for non-Jews as well as Jews. That was a major turning point in the spread of Christianity.
Lord calls on us to pay attention to the emotions, desires, and impressions that come to us which lead us to honour God. If they are what God wants of us as believers, we can be confident God is speaking to us.
This is impetus to keep our ears open.
The results are sometimes amazing.
Lord, author of Hearing God, says he has never heard God speak to him audibly.
But he does tell people regularly that "God spoke to me" through "the concrete impressions in my heart and mind".
"I know God was communicating to me because the words I heard came to pass and the outcomes bore fruit that glorified him."
Here's an example: Lord was pastor of Park Avenue Baptist church in Titusville, Florida when he received a strong impression in early December that God wanted him to construct a building where people could pray.
But there was a major catch: God was saying to him that "as proof that this is my idea and not yours, I will send someone to the church who will give five hundred dollars toward the building". The Lord added that this would happen before Christmas, just three weeks away.
Lord recorded this impression but did not tell anyone about it because he feared some well-meaning person would feel he should give the money to make this come true.
Two weeks went by and nothing happened. Lord began to doubt what he had heard.
On December 20, he prayed: "Lord, are you sure you didn't mean by New Year's Day?"
On December 24, a married couple from another city pulled into the church parking lot. They asked the church secretary if they could see him.
"Pastor, you don't know us, but when we were praying, God spoke to us," they told him. "We don't really understand why we needed to drive here to give this to you, but we're just being obedient."
They handed him a cheque for $500. And they later contributed an even larger amount.
The prayer chapel was built and has been used for many years for prayer intercession.
This should not be a surprise to believers. There are a number of stories in the Book of Acts where God speaks to people through visions and other means. Often this led to major breakthroughs for Christ in the ancient world.
In Acts 10, we read about Cornelius, a Roman centurion, who is told by an angel in a vision to get the apostle Peter to come to him from another city.
While his servants are on the way, God urges a reluctant Peter in a vision to eat what the apostle considered unclean and impure from Jewish standpoint. Puzzling over this, he is interrupted by the arrival of Cornelius' servants.
When he complies to their request and Cornelius becomes a believer, Peter realizes that the good news of Jesus Christ is for non-Jews as well as Jews. That was a major turning point in the spread of Christianity.
Lord calls on us to pay attention to the emotions, desires, and impressions that come to us which lead us to honour God. If they are what God wants of us as believers, we can be confident God is speaking to us.
This is impetus to keep our ears open.
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