A Quiet God?

Does God still speak to us today? Does the Lord send impressions, dreams, etc. to His people in our times? Or do we have a quiet God?

Most of my Christian life I have struggled with this, wanting to know if God does still speak today and how I can know when it is Him speaking and not me, or the burrito I ate, or the devil. There are times when I sense that I should act in some way or go in some direction. Sometimes I do and the outcome is a huge blessing, I am almost 100% sure it was an impression from the Lord. It is not always a pretty situation when I do.

Once I felt a strong urge to turn away from my original destination and go instead to visit a friend I had not seen in years. I was very puzzled, but I drove to his office. When I arrived at his office his wife was in tears and the whole place had a black cloud hanging over it. As I went back to speak with my friend he unveiled a sad story that his business would close on that very day. I was shocked. I had heard nothing of this at all and had no idea. As he shared more details of the way it had shut down I was even more shocked. After some time I asked if I could pray for him and it was very emotional. After that day I vowed to God that I would pray for my friend and his family.

This whole scene was setup simply by an impression in my spirit that I should turn right down a road going to my friend's office and visit him. I believe it was of God, because my friend needed someone to be a friend, love him, and pray for him that day, and to follow up on him as well.

This is one simple story of mine. I could share quite a few more. Sometimes they are not so dramatic, some are even more powerful. You may think this above story was not such a big deal, however, if you had been there in the office that day and seen the tears in his wife's eyes and heard the pain in his voice my guess is you would think this story is a big deal. It's a deal of God placing me in a place with a friend in need.

I know sometimes Christians get some very strange or weird impressions, dreams and even visions. Some of them perhaps are from God, some maybe from their own minds and spirits and some could possibly be from the devil. I have had a few of those too. I have had a few very bizarre dreams when I knew it was not of God, but a satanic attack. I have had a few that I have thought were of God, but later realized maybe it was of my own will because I was so fixated on something or some pursuit and my vivid imagination pulled it out.

Just because some Christians tell of very bizarre impressions and dreams we should not dismiss all of them. The Bible has something to say about all this, good research yet to be done on this and a lot of digging has been done by a few writers.

A friend and fellow missionary has written some things on discerning how to listen to God. His name is Seth Barnes and he is the director of a mission organization called Adventures in Missions or AIM. There website is www.adventures.org. You should check some of his writings out if you are interested in this subject.

Listening to God should be something Christians make every effort to do daily. It should not be some pursuit we only leave to the holy ones or monks or some other Christians. I honestly believe God wants to speak to us and walk with us in every day life. The question is, 'Are we listening?'