Communicating With God
(week 32/04)
Olubi Johnson
Job 33:14-17 NKJV: For God may speak in one way, or in another, Yet man does not perceive it. 15 In a dream, in a vision of the night, When deep sleep falls upon men, While slumbering on their beds, 16 Then He opens the ears of men, And seals their instruction. 17 In order to turn man from his deed, And conceal pride from man,
Here, God reveals to us that God tries to communicate with us but many times we do perceive or understand what God is trying to say to us.
This scripture also reveals to us that God communicates to us in more than one way and that pride in our hearts is a great hindrance to our effective communication with God.
Why is effective communication with God so difficult and sometimes complicated?
Communication with God is difficult because:
God is invisible to our natural eyes and his voice is, many times, imperceptible to the natural ear, because God is a spirit and spiritual things are operating at a level of power that is far greater than natural physical things.
John 4:24 KJV: God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.
Hebrews 11:1-3 NKJV: Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. 2 For by it the elders obtained a good testimony. 3 By faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible.
Furthermore, God hides Himself from, by using hidden symbolisms and wisdom in His written Word: the Bible, so that it is only the pure in heart or those with pure motives that ‘see’ or have God revealed to them effectively.
Isaiah 45:15 NKJV: Truly You are God, who hides Yourself, O God of Israel, the Savior!
Proverbs 25:2 NKJV: It is the glory of God to conceal a matter, But the glory of kings is to search out a matter.
1 Corinthians 2:7 NKJV: But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the ages for our glory,
Matthew 5:8 NKJV: Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.
God is the source of all life, wisdom and power therefore our ability to communicate effectively with him is essential for a victorious and fulfilling life style.
In fact, God made us in His image and likeness so that we would give Him pleasure by our fellowship with Him on a level of equality. Such intelligent effective communication is pleasing to God because it is given to Him of our own free will.
We are not robots or machines or mere animals of instinct, rather we are made like God with a free will, a mind and emotions to intelligently communicate and fellowship with Him to bring joy and pleasure to His heart.
Fellowship is the cream of life: take fellowship out of your life and even if you have all other physical and material needs met you will be miserable.
For instance, if everything in a city like London is yours and you have an army of robots that catered for your every physical or material need but you lived there alone without any other human being like you to talk to and fellowship you would be very lonely and unfulfilled.
So it was with God: with a vast universe and an army of angelic robots but He needed man in His image and likeness, with a free will, mind and emotions that He could enjoy fellowship with in this vast universe He had made.
Genesis 1:27 NKJV: So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.
Rev 4:11 KJV: Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created.
It is for the same reason God made woman for man so man would have a physical mate or helper in his image and likeness to fellowship with in the Garden of Eden.
Genesis 2:18 NKJV: And the LORD God said, “It is not good that man should be alone; I will make him a helper comparable to him.”
Ephesians 5:31-32 NKJV: “For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” 32 This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the church.
Just like a man leaves his father and mother to be one with his wife, Christ who was originally only a spiritual person left the Father and the Holy Spirit to take on a physical body to become one spiritually and physically with the Church that we might become partakers of the divine nature, character, wisdom and power which we can now manifest in the physical world to destroy the works of the devil: sin, sickness, poverty, ignorance and the corruption and decay we see in the physical world around us.
1 Corinthians 6:15 NKJV: Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ
1 Corinthians 6:16-17 NKJV: For “the two,” He says, “shall become one flesh.” 17 But he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with Him.
1 Corinthians 6:19-20 NKJV: Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? 20 For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.
Hebrews 2:14-15 NKJV: Inasmuch then as the children have partaken of flesh and blood, He Himself likewise shared in the same, that through death He might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, 15 and release those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.
1 John 3:8 NKJV: For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil.
Romans 8:19 KJV: For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God.
Romans 8:20-21 NIV: For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope 21 that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God. (from The Holy Bible: New International Version. Copyright (c) 1973, 1978, 1984, by International Bible Society)
In our article next week, we will see how to effectively communicate with God.
