A friend asked me, “Why doesn’t Jesus talk to us today?”
I responded with a question of my own, “What makes you think He doesn’t?”
A long conversation followed. I appreciated his honesty and uncertainty. We discussed various ways—some healthy and some unhealthy—people assume they’ve “heard from God.” We focused on the importance of Scripture, of honest conversations with true friends, of counseling and mentoring, of discernment, of the Holy Spirit, of various methods of listening through prayer.
After the dialogue, I decided to stay at one place as my own method of listening to God. I visited a biblical text I’ve known most of my life. I read it again, slowly. And again, slowly. I imagined the scene, thinking about Jesus voicing statements to that audience and about Jesus saying them to me as He looked directly to my face.
Listen with me to these ancient words needed today.
Now when Jesus saw the crowds, he went up on a mountainside and sat down. His disciples came to him, and he began to teach them.
He said: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God. Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.” (Matthew 5:1-12, NIV)
I think many people feel like the man Pastor Chris dialoged with. It is a common thing to think that God has stopped speaking to us. What the truth is, though, is God has not changed at all, we have filled our lives with so many other voices that there is no space for God’s voice to dwell. We all, mostly myself, need to be more intentional with carving out time to allow God to speak to us like he wants to!
I hear God speak more clearly to me personally when I go to the monastery on retreat. It’s a monastery of silence, which is conducive to allowing us to hear the voice of God. He speaks but we don’t often enough listen.
The biggest take away I got from this post was the quoting of the Beautitudes. It talks about how whenever a person has a pure heart then they see God. I think we need to long for a pure heart because when we have it then we will
Be able to see the Lord clearly.
I believe this is a perspective of two that I have seen. Saying that God doesn’t speak to ‘me’ is one while the other is that God only speaks to ‘me’. The question is: how do we show the truth to both of these sides while making sense and in love?
I personally connect with the topic pastor Chris and his friend talked about, sometimes it feels like God doesnt talk to us or make himself as apparent to us, but looking at the scripture he stated it all makes sense. No mater what we may be going through or experiencing, it doesnt mater because the fact we know God and are headed for the kingdom of heaven it will all be taken care of.
This blog really stood out to me because this is something that I’ve always had problems with. It has been very hard for me to tell what are my own thoughts are what is God. I know that God always hears from us but why does it take so long for him to answer those prayers or even give us a clue on how we should act.
This blog hits deep. God communicates with us differently and it is always so special when I recognize it. Recently I’ve been listening to God and feeling him more when I just sit in my car and dwell on all he had done for em. This blog makes me think about my own life and where am I and how’s God and I relationship going. This scripture is by far very powerful and needs to be placed to God people everyday.
I have had many conversations with people on hearing from God, and there are usually different answers. I believe the Holy Spirit is very personal with how He communicates with each of us; however, there is no doubt that He communicates through Scripture. Although Jesus spoke those words to an audience in the 1st century, He still speaks them to you and me.
This blog post is very relevant and relatable. I feel many including my self struggle with this concept . In the past god spoke so clearly to others and guided them however as time has changed it has been more difficult to hear what god says . This could be due to the lack of focus we give god or just the fact we’re not listening hard enough . Now rather than just waiting we must rely on faith
I feel like we all go through seasons where we feel like God does not speak to us or listen to us, and that is hard to hear his voice sometimes, I believe this is only because others things are going on in our mind, in our world, and it is mostly things that would not truly matter if we were focused enough in finding him because he speaks but we are focus on things we shouldn’t and that’s exactly why we miss it, when we truly seek him and we are intentional about it, he speaks clearly to us everywhere at any time. We must be truly ready and willing to hear what he has to tell us.
I have felt this many times in my life, although it may feel like he isn’t talking to you, we must sit back and realize he is like you said. Although it’s easy to assume he’s not, we have to look for it in the little ways he is doing it such as placing people in your life, removing negative people and giving you smal blessings.