communication. Parents read and discuss children’s abilities in communication at various stages of development. Businesses discuss communication in terms of sales and marketing. How much have you thought about how God uniquely communicates with you, other believers, through creation, as well as reaching out to those who are not saved? Have you thought about and worked to hone your communication with your Heavenly Father? 
The following are points to consider to stimulate your thinking regarding God‘s communication with us, as well as to encourage your faith growth. Since we often repeat ourselves in our faith (same songs, read same parts of the Bible), and thereby don’t grow as we could, hopefully these ideas will help us go beyond the routine to stretch us to the extraordinary in our faith life.
Working to Become Mature
We don’t often hear about faith maturity (Ephesians 4:13) in
the church today, but our communication with God is intricately tied to it. You can’t effectively communicate with another unless both are mature. We need to look at how we communicate with God as well as how He communicates with us. Additionally, we need to be aware of Satan’s designs to inhibit, to distort, or make us ignore this communication. Personal History
One way God communicates with us is through our personal history, our life context. Each of us has a unique story, male or female, born into a certain decade, lived in certain places and this shapes how we initially come to communicate with God and those around us. I grew up respecting police officers, and was raised to call them in times of trouble. This leads me to better understand, going to authority and specifically God, in times of distress. Think of what God has given you, and it is easier to give, to love, and communicate with others (II Corinthians 8: 7) as well as with God.
I work with youth from the inner city who have a very different view of police, which is at least distrustful, and frequently antagonistic. It is easy to see this has affected their views of authority (Romans 13:1). Satan wants us to see where authority is perverted or ignored by those in whom it is trusted, and encourages us to say we are our only sure authority in life. The more we rely on self, the less we can trust God, the more we are distrustful, the greater difficulty we will have in being humble in our communication and our relationship with God.
His Provision
Another way God communicates with us is through his provision (Psalm 111:5). Yesterday I got an e-mail in which the last line said, “Hope your day has been everything it was intended to be.” It got me thinking back over the day, seeing where, in times of frustration, God had been there, and God had intended good in those situations. Of course Satan would like to have us stay so busy and distracted we focus on the frustration, not on the provision of the moments in our lives. It is a good exercise to look at each life situation, and see what design God had in allowing it in our lives. As we are open to be used, he will use us.
Listening
God communicates by listening. We often keep noise in our lives,
don’t have quiet in our worship services, infrequently realizing that stillness is a vital part of communication. If you don’t listen to someone, or feel unheard yourself, how personal or even effective is the communication (I Samuel 3:9)? Watch an effective parent. He or she spends a great deal of time listening to the child, and knows exactly how to respond appropriately. The ineffective parent is often the one who simply comes into a situation and tells the child what to do. God wants us to listen, and for us to know he is listening. We even have a two thousand year prayer partner in Jesus who enhances what we say to our Father (see ideas in Romans 8:34). Satan, of course, would like us to not listen, to not be peaceful enough to hear, to compress our prayers to the point that we leave no room for listening to God.
These are just a few snippets of a multitude of ideas about ou
r communication to and from God. May you, this day, be more aware of how you communicate with God in all circumstances (see idea in I John 4:12). And more importantly, be heightened in awareness of how God is speaking with you. I imagine you will see God has been communicating with you a great deal more than you have been realizing. LBOC says: To see what the Christian Music band, Third Day, says about communication with God, check out this link.
When do feel your communication with God is at it’s best?
Other posts you might like:
Judging Someone Else’s Servant
Jake the Encourager
Writer as Creator
Greg has been in ministry work since graduating from Gordon College, a Christian college, in 1978. He is a Christian counselor who primarily works with children and adolescents, but also sometimes long term adults. He has a hunger for prayer, and is dedicated to his family. He currently works two jobs, full time with boys in a group home, Cedar Ridge, and part time in a community counseling office, Christian Counseling Associates.
No comments:
Post a Comment