Somethings Wrong?
How is it that an individual can read, and study the Bible and not hear God speak? How is it that they can know about God but not recognize the various ways He communicates personally? Why do millions of church attenders rarely, if ever, compare and contrast their life to the lives of Biblical characters who heard from God – on a regular basis? Why hasn’t the connection been made that somethings missing in their walk with God?
Within Evangelical Christianity there’s a contradiction between doctrine and practice. We are taught that we have a personal relationship with God. We are taught that prayer should be made for direction regarding major decisions. Yet the question is, “How do you know God is speaking? How do you distinguish between your own thoughts, the devil and the Spirit of God in you? What prevents us from hearing God? Is there a connection between the Word of God and Hearing God speak? What is it – other than knowing how He has spoken in the past?
In John 15:3 Jesus states:You are cleansed and pruned already, because of the word which I have given you [the teachings I have discussed with you].
The Amplified Translations choice of words, “cleansed” and “pruned” come pretty close to the original meaning. The Greek word,“ka-tha-ros,” means to be: “purged, cleared away, purified; pruned and cut back from worldly idolatry, adulteration, and admixture; cleansed from dirt.” If the word sounds familiar it’s because it is. Our English word “cauterize” is derived from it. It’s defined as “to sear; burn away; deaden; render insensible” The Hebraic understanding of cleansing conveys a similar idea. Holiness, sanctification and burning were words chosen to describe the process Christ spoke of. At the “burning”…. bush, God told Moses to remove his sandals because he was standing on holy ground. Hebrews 12:29 states: “our God is a consuming fire.” Pentecost describes tongues of fire that came and rested upon the people’s “minds” as they were baptized in the Holy Spirit and with…Fire.
So is there a connection between being cleansed, pruned, “burned” or sanctified by the Word that enables us to hear and recognize the ways that He speaks? In other words, will how you relate to the Word insure your ability to remain in a relationship, communing, or conversing with Jesus? When you allow the Word to “burn” your life, thinking, actions, and intentions to the ground does that bring greater clarity?
What’s puzzling to me is that our generation has greater access to the Words of God yet seem much duller in hearing and recognizing the ways that He speaks. How did New Testament believers have a greater relationship with God while not possessing a written copy of the Bible? Even more puzzling is the fact that even though the Word has the power to connect it’s readers and listeners with the Voice of God there are so many who read, and even teach it, yet don’t hear God. How is it that you can read, study, and even memorize it and not have an intimate relationship with God? How is it that when we reached the conclusion we needed to embrace Jesus as our Savior and Lord that we heard His Still, Small Voice? Even though we were anything but holy, and our minds were elsewhere – we still recognized our need for Him. Was that a sovereign act of grace?
Church attenders for centuries have been distancing themselves from making connections between their lives and the Words of God. But what’s startling is that less and less people are reading it presently. In a comprehensive fashion our generation seems to be sealing their fates to ever knowing God. Romans 1 speaks of the Last Days in which the people do not think God worth the knowing. Can there be any doubt that we are living in the Last Days? I believe that cultural ways of believing and thinking are trusted more than God’s Word leaving church attenders unable to recognize how far they have fallen from God. Our spiritual senses simply grow duller and duller. May we all have an awakening, calling for a new reformation, leading to the transformation of the Body of Christ. Jesus is coming back for a Bride that is equally yoked to Him. Why would we ever entertain the idea that He wants a Bride that doesn’t know Him, or long to know Him?
