THE BIBLE IS GOD’S WRITTEN VOICE
Sakkie Parsons
Translated from Afrikaans: “Die Bybel is God se Stem op papier”
Translator: Robin Barker
In brief, someone wrote to me and asked the following question:
“How is it that some people can hear God, but not others?”
I want to begin by saying something about God’s audible voice:
Approximately 43 years ago I began my ministry for our Lord and personally I have never heard our Lord’s audible voice speaking to me.
I am now of course not saying that it does not happen, there are many testimonies in the Word, that shows that it does happen but I personally doubt if it happens so frequently as what some people pretend today.
Remember, that although we hear of this many times in the Old Testament that God spoke to people in an audible voice, because the Bible was written over hundreds of years, it might not have occurred quite as often as it looks.
I test everything that people say to me, which they have heard through an audible voice from our Lord, against that which I find within the Word/Bible and most of the times my experience thereof, I can say that possibly they did hear a voice but it was definitely not our Lord’s voice.
I mention this again because it is important and that you will remember that when it comes to the audible voice of our Lord:
Remember when you read in the Word, that our Lord spoke to people in an audible voice, although it might look to you that it happened frequently, you must keep in mind, that those occurrences happened over time, which could have stretched over many centuries and which has been brought together in the Bible for our convenience.
Now, what is the most common way through which our Lord communicates with us?
Well, I can only share with you my own experience thereof within my own life and when you read this you will just see why very few people have heard our Lord’s audible voice.
Firstly, prayers – as in make time and talk to our Lord. So I am not talking about a short prayer once or twice a day.
My meaning is, pray throughout the day.
Speak truthfully and sincerely to our Lord, give Him the opportunity to communicate with your inner being through the Holy Spirit.
Secondly, through studying His Word and making sure you have a good knowledge thereof.
In His Word you will find all the answers for how He wants you to sincerely worship Him in Spirit and in truthfulness along your journey through this world, and as a result develop a wonderful relationship, as a child has with his/her Father.
2 TIM3:16 All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness,
2 TIM 3:17 so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.
Amongst many reasons, I think one reason for God speaking with an audible voice to the people in the Old Testament, is that they did not have His full Word, because unlike you and I, they did not have it for their life’s journey, and also that they did not have His Holy Spirit living within them like you and I have today.
In this life I find this to be an incomprehensible phenomenon – People eagerly want our Lord to speak to with them but then people seldom approach Him through prayer and almost never read the Bible – His Word – and His Word is precisely that; It is our Lord’s Words which we receive when we read His Word. You can say the Bible is God’s Voice (Words) in writing/on paper.
I am of the opinion, that all the people who call themselves Christian, for example, if they spent half the time that they are on their cell phones/mobiles, in reading and studying the Word, this world would be a different and much better place.
Also, make sure that your intimate circle of friends consists of Spirit filled children of our Lord.
As an example, which has happened to me, that I had to deliver a message and have still not known what message from the Lord to deliver, but then after I have spoken to one of my Christian friends or I read or listen to one of our Lord’s true children, then I gloriously receive, through them, the message our Lord wants me to deliver.
Lastly, but definitely not the least:
Work constantly so that you will bear the fruits of the Holy Spirit.
What are these fruits, or for that matter, what do these fruits of the Holy Spirit consist of?
GAL 5:22-23 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.
Therefore –
If we wonder why we do not hear our Lord’s voice, one must maybe look at:
• Our prayer life.
• As well as how often we read and study the Bible.
• As well as looking at the fruit of the Spirit I carry.
• Also at my circle of friends.
If your life consists of these 4 partitions, to put it that way, if you prioritize your work – the cracks just disappear like the setting of the sun and you will have a wonderful loving relationship with your Father and you will hear His voice in your inner most being.
Then you will understand what Peter writes but you shall truly and gloriously experience it within your life:
2 PETER 1:3-9
Confirming One’s Calling and Election
3 His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of Him who called us by his own glory and goodness.
4 Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.
5 For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge;
6 and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness;
7 and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love.
8 For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
9 But whoever does not have them is near-sighted and blind, forgetting that they have been cleansed from their past sins.
1 PETER 1:6-9
6 In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials.
Trials show our faithfulness of our belief
7 These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory and honour when Jesus Christ is revealed.
8 Though you have not seen him, you love Him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in Him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy,
9 for you are receiving the end result of your faith, the salvation of your souls.
How do we hear our Lord’s voice?
By giving our lives to Jesus Christ and accepting our Lord as our Redeemer and then having an intermit relationship with our Lord. A Child knows his Father’s voice:
JOHN 10:27 My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me.
JOHN 10:28 I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand.
Greetings,
Sakkie