You-nique

Finger prints, snow flakes, facial structure, irises, voice print, writing style, and DNA all have something in common—not one is exactly like any other of its kind.

Our God has no beginning and no end. He is eternal and infinite. Sometimes we forget those characteristics and we limit Him and His working in and through us. When we are mindful of His greatness, we are more accepting of the things that He allows us to see and hear.

Psalm 19:1 tells us that the heavens declare the glory of God. In other words, the heavens number or count the honor, riches, splendor, abundance, and wealth of our God. Numbers point to the glory of God.

We can fully understand numbers that are less than 100, and sometimes numbers in the thousands. But, let’s try to grasp the number one billion. If you were given 1 billion dollars under the condition that you spend all of it in 20 years, you would have to spend an average of $136,986 each day for those two decades. After a couple years of spending, most of us would definitely get a more clear understanding of the figure one billion.

But one billion would not begin to illustrate the glory of our God. Let’s take a trip to outer space.

Consider these facts about our galaxy (the Milky Way) and the entire universe. First, our galaxy has a diameter so large that it would take 100,000 years of traveling at the speed of light to go from one end to the opposite end. Second, our galaxy contains roughly one trillion (one billion billion) solar masses. Third, to travel to our nearest neighboring galaxy, the Andromeda Galaxy, would require traveling at the speed of light for 2–3 million years. Fourth, the Hubble telescope has observed 3,000 specific galaxies! Using a super-computer simulation though, the estimated minimum number of galaxies is placed at 500 billion! So, the heavens that declare God’s glory contain at least 500 billion galaxies—each containing billions of stars—that are millions of light-years apart.

When we consider the heavens, its wonders, its expanse, its numbers, we can get an idea of the glory and magnificence of our God.

How does this apply to hearing God’s voice?

There are many, many ways that we hear from God and we need to realize that He speaks to us individually in ways differently than others in our social circle. We need to recognize the most usual and frequent method that He uses to speak to us individually.

God might speak to you primarily through your dreams. (There are many Christians who can never remember any of their dreams.) Your dreams might be very clear and easy to understand. Others might have dreams that are usually very symbolic and require interpretation. Your dreams might often refer to the past whereas others might usually dream of future events. Still others might dream frequently of current situations. You might often dream of your family and circle of friends, whereas someone else might often dream about things that are on a national or global level.

When God speaks to you, you might hear words (such as, “Go to the store and tell the woman in the red coat that I love her.”) Someone else might get mostly impressions, a feeling, an inner “knowing” of what God is communicating. Someone else might primarily receive pictures/images. For example, while talking with a person who is unable to walk, the Christian might see in her spirit a large snake wrapped around the person’s legs.

You might experience many visions (whereas other Christians never have visions). You might see your visions most of the time in your spirit. Others might frequently experience open visions (visions while their eyes are open and the physical world is superseded by the vision). You might hear sounds or voices with your visions, whereas others see only the images. Your visions may deal primary with global movements of God, whereas others have visions pertaining mostly to people in their local church. You might frequently see still images, others might often see moving images (like a movie).

Recognizing the most frequent method that God speaks to you personally can help you “tune in” and watch for His voice in the future.

Additionally, it’s helpful to identify the strongest and most effective weapon against our uniqueness in hearing from God—the religious spirit.

The religious spirit can easily be recognized by its standard of rules, regulations, and peer-pressure. The standards of the religious spirit can be different from church to church, but the purpose is the same—to control and inhibit individuals from developing their unique expressions of God.

The religious spirit warmly welcomes new attendees and members to the church but expects them to conform to their unwritten rules of conforming to their own terminology (“Christianese”), dress code, and behavioral standards. Otherwise, the visitors are not genuinely accepted.

For example, speaking with some friends, a pastor’s wife made derogatory comments about a married couple at their church that dress differently, act differently, and are covered with tattoos. Not only was this comment from a religious spirit, but this same church leadership is praying for a revival in their town. The same religious spirit that criticizes Christians that are “different” is the same spirit that hinders revival and the individual ways of hearing God’s voice.

The religious spirit has successfully planted many lies in many Christians regarding hearing God’s voice. One lie is that God doesn’t talk to His children. Another lie is that God speaks to His children only through the church leadership. Another lie is that God will speak to you only about witnessing to others—He won’t talk to you about where to find your lost car keys, for example. And yet another lie is that things like dreams, visions, and God’s audible voice are not for today because those methods passed away when the last of the twelve Apostles died.

You are unique. God created you to walk a unique walk with Him. He speaks to you in ways that are unique to most of those that you know. Become more aware of the method that He most frequently speaks to you and watch for His voice there.

It is my prayer for you that Father will continue to help you to hear His voice, and more and more frequently.

With God’s grace and in His peace,

Gary

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Gary (gary@ears-2-hear.com), Author, Web Designer, www.ears-2-hear.com.

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Scripture taken from the Holy Bible, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®.Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 International Bible Society. All rights reserved throughout the world. Used by permission of International Bible Society.

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