How To Hear From God

God speaks to everyone, every day.

We miss it, because we usually do not expect to hear from him. When we (at least some of us) think of 'God speaking', we expect to see the clouds parting and hear a booming voice from the heavens.

While that may happen, he speaks through billboards, lyrics of a song (not necessarily “Christian”), movies, a thought, a friend, a stranger, a sermon, a book, a scripture, a tweet, a facebook update (that has a scripture, or not), the text on the side of a truck or via several other means through which we will know (but can’t prove) that it was  him.

Whenever I hear, see, feel or read anything that resonates with my heart, I consider that as him speaking to me. But (and this is a BIG but), what he says will align with his nature, that is, love. For instance, “gawd told me to ram a plane into a building”, is insanity. God’s communication will comfort, heal, guide, help and/or bring light to a seemingly bleak situation. Condemnation is not from him.

Religion gives out the impression that hearing from God is only reserved for the spiritual elite. Jesus said, “My sheep hear my voice”. Period. He did not say, “My super-spiritual sheep hear my voice”.

Although mountaintops and prayer closets are nice distraction-free zones, he does not indicate that one has to be holed up in a room to hear from him. In fact, trying hard to hear from him can be even more distracting. He is not afraid to speak amidst the chaos. This is the Creator of the universe that we are talking about and he is not limited on how he chooses to communicate with his children.

Simply start noticing (no need to strain), and pay attention to the heart – you will be surprised how simple this business of "hearing from God" is.

Also, avoid the temptation to over-analyze -- based on the simple premise, that a loving father longs to communicate with his children, much more than they realize.

Osama and Christians

Christ Jesus loved Osama Bin Laden unconditionally and He demonstrated His love by dying for him. Many say that Osama's death was justice in action. Well, from the point of view of the Scripture, (apart from His grace) how are we different from Osama? Sure, we may not have rammed a jet into a building, but unlike we do, the Scripture does not differentiate between big sin and small sin. All of us have sinned and have fallen short of the glory of God. Simply by breaking just one law, we break all of God's laws. In other words, a "small" lie puts us company with Osama. If that's the truth, who's going to throw the first stone at whom? None of us can play the holier-than-thou game. But in Christ Jesus, we are made righteous. It is His grace that makes us righteous; not our good works. That means, the believer's only qualification is His grace. Therefore, we cannot assume a morally superior position over Bin Laden.

That being said, the fact that Jesus loves and died for everyone does not give a person the freedom to go on a murderous rampage for whatever cause. In order to protect the its citizens from such acts, governments have established laws in place. The law of the land does not operate by God's grace; it operates by the law of sowing and reaping. Killing thousands of people gets either a lifetime in jail or death, which is what Osama just reaped. So from the point of view of the lawmakers, justice was served. However, from God's view, the price for Osama's atrocities was paid in full by the precious blood of Jesus Christ on the cross. 

Jesus said, "Love your enemies". And yet, most of us find ourselves either celebrating Osama's death or simply relieved of the fact that he is no longer in the picture. Personally, while I am not rejoicing in his death, I am not saddened by it either. And this attitude exhibited by many offends some Christians. They think we are supposed to drip with love and compassion. While I do not disagree with it at all, the issue is not simplistic as it seems. First of all, it is super easy to talk about love and compassion in a nonchalant tone when none of our loved ones were harmed by Osama's actions. If we take a moment to look at this issue through the eyes of a family member of a 9/11 victim, we would hesitate to wag that religious finger to those who do not conform to what we think is right.

Secondly, being "Christ-like" is not a show that we put on. It is impossible to live the Christian life with one's will power. We cannot, by our own strength, love our enemies. As He is, so are we (in our spirit) in this world. It is our spirits that we are one with Him, it is in our spirits that we are new creations in Christ Jesus. Our souls - which is the mind, will and emotions - unless renewed to the knowledge of who we are in Christ Jesus, thinks and acts like the old self. This is precisely why I am not sad about Osama's death, at the moment. Mind renewal does not happen overnight. But the more I renew my mind and the more I abide in the Vine, more of His abundant life will saturate and flow through me, bearing His fruit of love and compassion. We cannot create the fruit that comes from His very life. Without Him, we can do nothing. What we do without Him is religion; which talks grand on the outside, but empty within. 

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