Listen to God ...

Wednesday, Jan 23, 2019. How can you know about God? How can you listen to him? Is it possible at all? Many people today think you cannot know much about God. And many think that you cannot listen to God. And indeed: how can you listen? Is God talking to you? How could he be talking?

The idea of many people today is that there is no God, and all people who believe are following some strange old myths or ideas which help them to cope with the problems of life. There are many others, though, who have learned about God when they grew up. What you have learned depends on where you have grown up. Of course, there are many religions today and people get to know some ideas from their social environment, from schools (public or for example Koranic schools). Let us look at some possible answers from different sources …

How God talks …

The Koran claims to be the word of God. The same is true about the bible. It also claims to be the word of God. So both books claim to be God speaking. If you want an answer from either Christianity or from Islam, you will hear: read the book!

Indeed, you can find out a lot, reading these books. As a Christian, I have read both of them, the Koran and the Bible. For me, the situation is quite clear: I am convinced that the bible is God speaking. To come to your own conclusion, you need to look at the books, and then judge yourself. How is God? Can this be God talking? Read and then come to faith in Jesus! (The easiest is to start reading the gospels.)

Let us look into the last book of the bible, the Revelation of John. It is written here:

8 “To the angel of the church in Smyrna write: These are the words of him who is the First and the Last, who died and came to life again. 9 I know your afflictions and your poverty—yet you are rich! I know about the slander of those who say they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan. 10 Do not be afraid of what you are about to suffer. I tell you, the devil will put some of you in prison to test you, and you will suffer persecution for ten days. Be faithful, even to the point of death, and I will give you life as your victor’s crown. 11 Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches. The one who is victorious will not be hurt at all by the second death. (Rev 2, 8ff)

The Spirit helps and talks …

The bible teaches that the holy spirit is alife. The spirit of God is there, in the middle of the world. Indeed, you need the help of the spirit, to understand the bible. You need to open your heart and your mind to God. You need to accept the spirit of God into your life, to be able to understand more of it. It is even said that the spirit of Jesus draws you to the bible. It draws you to him.

According to the bible God has been talking ever since. He talked to many people, and he is talking in particular in and through the bible. It has been written by many different people. Some of these were prophets, and God talked to them directly, as here in the book written by John, the evangelist. This continues, since God is the living God, and the holy spirit is doing his work in this world.

When we want to hear God and his opinion on our life, we need to come to him, ask him to talk, search him in the bible and further texts and speaches and films of Christians. The most pure source will be the bible! It is a continuing miracle, how much it speaks day by day, with all its stories, its history, its songs, its gospels, its letters and discussions and teaching. Ask God to give you ears, and he will! (Roland Potthast) ... further texts