Listen Up!! God still speaks! And wants to be our friend!

Listen Up!! God still speaks! And wants to be our friend!
Have you ever met a father who was no longer speaking to his son? Perhaps they were close while the son was growing up, but they had an argument, words were said, and they haven't spoken since. Maybe you know a woman who doesn't get along with her sister. Conversations between them are few and strained. Perhaps there is a couple in your social circle who, although they are married and still live together, don't communicate and don't enjoy each other's company.

Those individuals have a relationship, and they even have the legal documents - a birth certificate or a marriage license - to prove it. But do they have fellowship with each other? How can a relation-ship be significant if there isn't at least a sense of camaraderie or intimacy between the parties?

As Christians we have a relationship with God. He is our Father and we are his children. But just because we have a relationship doesn't mean that we necessarily have the kind of fellowship God planned for us.
The Importance of Fellowship
When we read the writings of some of the great Christian leaders from a hundred years ago or earlier, we see that there was a strong emphasis on two-way fellowship between the Lord and his people. They wrote about not just spending time praising and thanking God, or even petitioning him, but also about spending time just waiting in his presence and listening for his voice. Fellowship with God is more than just attending church on Sunday; it is about spending time alone with God.
We have no better model for this than Jesus, who "But Jesus often withdrew to the wilderness for prayer." (Luke 5:16). Although the Son of God, Jesus found it necessary to spend time alone with God in prayer, to discern what God wanted him to do. How else would he know how long to stay in Capernaum or Jerusalem unless he heard it from God? Jesus certainly did not talk and petition God during all those hours he was away by himself. Instead, he listened to his Father for guid¬ance and for the very subject matter of his teaching: "…. my words are not my own. What I am telling you is from the Father who sent me." (John 14:24).
It was while communing with the Father that Jesus was directed to pick twelve men to be his followers. "Afterward Jesus went up on a mountain and called out the ones he wanted to go with him. And they came to him. Then he appointed twelve of them and called them his apostles. They were to accompany him, and he would send them out to preach…." (Mark 3:13 - 15). It's interesting to note the first reason Mark gives for appointing the Twelve. “They were to accompany him” Some translations say “so they could be with him.” When Jesus called someone, fellowship came before ministry.
Unlike the apostles, however, we can't hang out with Jesus on the mountainside or get together to go fishing. For us, that fellowship can only happen through the person of the Holy Spirit.
In Ephesians, Paul says that through Jesus, "….all of us can come to the Father through the same Holy Spirit…." (Eph. 2:18). In other words, because of Jesus' sacrifice on the cross, we now have the Spirit who brings us into God's presence. The active work of the Holy Spirit makes fellowship with God a real and rich experience that that gives us strength in this world..

Our worst days in life don’t happen because we lose our relation¬ship with God, but because we have no time for fellowship - fellowship through the Word, fellowship in prayer, in waiting on God, in talk¬ing to God, in listening to God. When we run around so much, we're weakened; we have less faith, we have less grace, and we have more stress. There is something about being with Jesus, being in God's presence that helps us have more peace and joy.

When we spend time with God, we should want to do more than just present a list of requests - we need to listen for his voice. Some¬one once said, "What's more important? Us telling God our requests, that he already knows before we tell him, or us listening for his voice, to hear what is on his heart?"

Some people don't believe we can still hear God's voice. "He has already said what he is going to say in the Bible." They would argue that hearing from God is religious fanaticism or a form of scary emotionalism. But the history of the Christian church totally negates that belief. How else would people like a former pastor at CHBC - who, while spending time with the Lord, felt God put a call on his heart to pack up his family and go to an area close to Russia? In fact, how would any missionary who has ever done some¬thing great for God have known to do it unless God had first com¬municated it to them? There is no verse in the Bible that says, "Go to Bangladesh!"

Although we all know that the Bible is complete and God does not speak to replace doctrine or communicate on the same level of Scripture, he does still speak. He might offer vital words of warning or convicting messages that have personal application. Sometimes it is a word of guidance - a direction we should move in. That kind of direction is heard only by a listening ear and a hearing heart.

Listen to these words from the great prophet, Isaiah. “The Sovereign LORD has given me his words of wisdom, so that I know how to comfort the weary. Morning by morning he wakens me and opens my understanding to his will. (Isaiah 50:4)

Isaiah was saying that it was the Lord who taught him what to say, especially words that would sustain the weary. But that only hap¬pened because in the morning his spiritual ears were awakened to listen. Although Isaiah describes his own experience, history has proven that housewives, school teachers, office works, anyone who belongs to the Lord, can enjoy the blessing of this kind of fellowship by simply having a listening ear.

The Old Testament is filled with people that “heard” from the Lord. Samuel, David, Solomon ---- to name just a few.

In the New Testament era a simple Believer named Ananias ¬received Christ's instructions to the recently converted Saul of Tarsus (Paul) and minister to him. He wasn’t a prophet, but he heard from God a message not of new “doctrine” but one of personal direction. So why wouldn't the Holy Spirit still want to guide a Believer today?

God speaks to those who listen.
As we spend time listening to God, we can be taught to say and be given words for a day. Sometimes we’re given a general feeling or section of Scripture that prepares out heart for the things that will soon confront us. At other times, God might give us a specific verse, a nugget of wisdom, or a word of encouragement that we can pass on to someone we meet during the day. But only comes from a right fellowship with the Lord. It comes while we are listening, not when we are talking.

We can come into His presence because God loves us and wants to spend time with his children.
In Romans 8, Paul says: “So you have not received a spirit that makes you fearful slaves. Instead, you received God’s Spirit when he adopted you as his own children. Now we call him, “Abba, Father.” For his Spirit joins with our spirit to affirm that we are God’s children. And since we are his children, we are his heirs. In fact, together with Christ we are heirs of God’s glory.” (Romans 8:15 -17) What an important passage that is! Paul tells us that we are God's children and he is our Father and we are His heirs with Christ. How cool is this? Through the work of the Holy Spirit, we can absolutely know that God loves us. We don't have to be afraid. He is not merely the omnipotent creator and ruler of the universe. He is also Abba, Father, a tender and most loving Dad that anyone could have as a parent
The Spirit assures us that God is our loving Father. He feels no anger toward us though we have sinned and failed him so many times. Our well-deserved punishment was completely borne by Jesus on the cross. There is not one blot of transgression against us in his sight. As a loving Father, he will discipline his children, but not in a judging way. When He works to get us on the right track, it is done in love for our good that we may become like Christ in every area of our lives.

During quiet times of fellowship, the Holy Spirit makes God's love real, not just in our heads, but also in our hearts. When God's Spirit is moving, we have rest and peace. We know we don't have to strive for a personal righteousness of our own to gain acceptance before God. We are secure in what Jesus Christ did for us on the cross, and we can approach God boldly.
There are times, though, when we get out of sync with God - when we don't have the kind of fellowship that he longs for and we need. During those moments, remember the church in Laodicea. Jesus told them, "Look! I stand at the door and knock. If you hear my voice and open the door, I will come in, and we will share a meal together as friends." (Rev. 3:20). When Jesus requested to share a meal with them, he was speaking of his desire for fellowship, with the Laodicean church, but for some reason he was found standing outside the door seeking entrance. Imagine the tragedy of Christ locked out and separate from the believers for whom he died on the cross. What was the remedy for them and for us? Christ directed them to repent of everything that raised a wall between them and him. That would enable them to freely hearts to enjoy great fellowship with their Savior.
That's what God's heart wants for all of us today to “share a meal together as friends”. WOW! This is real fellowship. Imagine sitting down to dinner with our Lord - what an inti¬mate and glorious evening that would be! I highly recommend reading the book “Dinner With a Perfect Stranger”. It is a fictional account of a person having dinner with Jesus. A minister once said, ''A calm hour with God is worth a whole lifetime with man." We don't have to imagine what that meal might be like. That kind of fellowship is available to us at any moment of any day through the Spirit. We only need to ask. And then listen.


Lesson from book “Spirit Rising” by Jim Cymbala