Everyone does not see God the same way

Everyone does not see God the same way. This was a hard reality for me that I had to come to grips with years ago. There came a point in my life where the things I believed to be true in the word, were not shared with some friends. For example, some Christians believe in speaking in tongues, others believe that tongues was for the early church. Some Christians believe that we should tithe, others believe Christians should freely give. Some Christians believe that power and authority is in their own voice through speaking authority, others believe that “Speaking those things” is a misentrepratiton of the Word.

For a long time, I allowed my personal spiritual beliefs to divide me from those whom I would call my friends. We had gotten into so many debates about the Word that we stopped talking all together.

What I realized is that everyone does not feel, sence and experience God and His Word in the same way. It’s just like how no two fingerprints are the same… The culmination of all my experiences, the way I grew up, the way my parents raised me, my experiences in church, my intrepretations of the Word, how I have seen God “bring me out”, have all contributed to how I SEE God and His Word. I have experienced the Lord in a way that no one else has. And since no one person has ever shared ALL of my experiences, it’s impossible for them to see God the way I see Him… and vise versa.

So it is with the Word of God. Take for example Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. Each of them had great experiences with Jesus and told of those experiences from different perspectives. Why? Because they all saw Jesus differently. John had a revelation of who Jesus was in God. He starts off his writings with, “In the beginning was the Word and the Word was God and the Worfd was with God.” He talks about how God so loved that word that he gave his only son, etc. Luke found that the birth of Jesus was important and writes on it more than the others. Mark heard something Jesus said that was not written about in Matthew, Luke or John. He writes:

“And these signs will accompany those who believe: In my name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new tongues; 18 they will pick up snakes with their hands; and when they drink deadly poison, it will not hurt them at all; they will place their hands on sick people, and they will get well." – Mark 16:17

Everyone see’s and experiences God differently. Which is why there are so many denominations in the Christian Church. Is that such a bad thing? I don’t think so. I actually think it’s healthy. It teaches us how to find common ground and how to love each other in spite of our different beliefs.

So where can we find common ground? In this… that Christ died for our sins, He now lives in us, and all men can find salvation through Him and Him alone (John 3:16). Our common ground is that Christ is love and our most important work on this earth is to love one another. That’s it. All other things are of less importantance.

The Key to Hearing the Voice of God

I have two children ages four and eight. If I were to blindfold both of them… place them in a crowd of adults where all of the adults began to call their names, my children would almost instantly be able to discern my voice and start walking towards me? Why? Because over the past 4-7 years, every day of their lives is spent listening to my voice. So it is with the Word of God. I have learned that the more I spend time with God, that is, talking to Him and asking questions such as, “well what do you think about…” and “why did you say this…”, the more I develop a personal relationship with Him whereby I can say with confidence that I KNOW Him. Spending QUALITY time in God’s Word allows me to hear His voice in my thoughts. I feel His hand when I make decisions, I discern His spirit convicting me when I do wrong.

It’s not enough to spend a minute here or a minute there in the Word. It’s not enough to read and let the words fall off the page. The purpose for reading the Word is to get to know Jesus. You get to know Him by spending quality time with God in His Word. The more I spend time in the Word, the more I am able to clearly hear and discern the voice of God in my life.

John 10:4 tells us, “...his sheep follow him because they know his voice.”

I’d like to encourage you to spend time daily in the Word of God. It is only then that you will be able to clearly hear the voice of God in your life on a consistent basis.

Here’s a GREAT link I found with four keys to hearing God’s voice. http://www.cwgministries.org/Four-Keys-to-Hearing-Gods-Voice.htm

Why Does Prophecy Always Sound Like King James?

Have you even been in church and heard someone prophecy… and the prophecy sounds like something out of the King James Bible?

“And thus sayeth the Lord, ye though thou shallest be…”

etc etc. Have you ever wondered why prophecy often sounds like King James? This question or course leads to a multiplicity of other questions such as: Is this how the Lord speaks? Does He sound like this in China? Surely churches in China receive prophecy as well… and if they do, is it in English or Chinese? And if it’s in Chinese, does the prophecy sound like King James there also?

After thinking on these things, I realized that the reason why prophecies often sound like King James, is because that is probably the version of the bible that the person giving the prophecy, often reads. Because that person spends time in the (King James version) Bible, that is how they hear and perceive God’s voice. So when God speaks to their spirit, they hear it and disseminate that word based off of how they hear God.

Perfect example… when I normally teach the Word of God, I’m finding more and more that my preaching style is very similar to that of my pastor. That’s because I’ve spent seven years listening to him every Sunday. So it’s only natural that my preaching/teaching style (the way I pronunciate, annunciate and emphasize certain points) is going to be innately similar.

So it is with those who prophecy, and sound like King James. They too have become so accustomed to hearing God’s voice through what they consistently spend time studying, in His Word. Which is why for those who don’t normally read the King James and read some other version of the bible, such as the amplified, or message, a prophecy through them may sound more like that version.

Personally, I read the message, the amplified, New King James and (mostly) the NIV. So when I write, most of my writings sound like NIV.

So what shall we say then? Shall we say that sounding like King James is a bad thing? Surely Not? For I am convinced that God's voice, in any language, in any bible version, is edifying for my spirit.

I’ll take God’s voice in any way I can. Even if it sounds like baby talk!

Happy Birthday Tye!

I miss you man!