Life In Christ: 8. God speaks to us

In the Old Testament (the old covenant), God spoke to HIS people by HIS prophets.

Today, God speaks directly to each of HIS people by HIS Son, by the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Jesus Christ.

Hebrews 1:1-2 ...God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, Hath in these last days spoken unto us by HIS Son, WHOM HE hath appointed heir of all things, BY WHOM also HE made the worlds;

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I John 2:27 ... But the anointing which ye have received of HIM abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in HIM.

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The Holy Spirit given to each believer to dwell inside the believer, shows us the way of God as we live on this present earth. HE speaks to us usually by putting a "gentle" thought into our minds, showing us the way to go.

Jesus said:

John 14:26 ... But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in MY name, HE shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.

John 16:13 ... Howbeit when HE, the Spirit of truth, is come, HE will guide you into all truth: for HE shall not speak of HIMSELF; but whatsoever HE shall hear, that shall HE speak: and HE will shew you things to come.

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Paul explains:

I Corinthians 2 ...

But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world unto our glory: Which none of the princes of this world knew: for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.

But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love HIM.

But God hath revealed them unto us by HIS Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God. For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God.

Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God.

Which things also we speak, not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual.

But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.

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God speaks to HIS people today by thoughts brought to our mind by the Holy Spirit, by dreams, by words carried by other people, by angels of God who watch over us and speak to us as God wills to show us the way of God and the will of God.

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We have many examples in the NT of God sending a dream to lead HIS people.

Matthew 1:18-25 ... Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise: When as his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Ghost.

Then Joseph her husband, being a just man, and not willing to make her a public example, was minded to put her away privily.

But while he thought on these things, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream, saying,

Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife: for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost. And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name Jesus: for HE shall save HIS people from their sins.

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Matthew 2 ... (concerning the wise men who came to the manger to worship the baby Jesus) ... And being warned of God in a dream that they should not return to Herod, they departed into their own country another way.

And when they were departed, behold, the angel of the Lord appeareth to Joseph in a dream, saying, Arise, and take the young child and his mother, and flee into Egypt, and be thou there until I bring thee word: for Herod will seek the young child to destroy him.

When he arose, he took the young child and his mother by night, and departed into Egypt:

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Matthew 2 ... But when Herod was dead, behold, an angel of the Lord appeareth in a dream to Joseph in Egypt, Saying, Arise, and take the young child and his mother, and go into the land of Israel: for they are dead which sought the young child's life. And he arose, and took the young child and his mother, and came into the land of Israel.

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Matthew 2 ... But when he (Joseph) heard that Archelaus did reign in Judaea in the room of his father Herod, he was afraid to go thither: notwithstanding, being warned of God in a dream, he turned aside into the parts of Galilee:

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Are there any examples in the New Testament of God leading a person by a dream when that person has the Holy Spirit?

Acts 16 ... And they passing by Mysia came down to Troas. And a vision appeared to Paul in the night; There stood a man of Macedonia, and prayed him, saying, Come over into Macedonia, and help us. And after he had seen the vision, immediately we endeavoured to go into Macedonia, assuredly gathering that the Lord had called us for to preach the gospel unto them.

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We establish by the New Testament that God uses dreams to lead us even after we have the Holy Spirit in us.

In 1982, God gave me a dream showing me I would be in great danger of harm if I went out and spoke to the church as I had been doing. (I had been giving judgment messages and some messages were very unpopular.) In the dream where I was warned, I heard:

"Don't go until you see Exodus 15."

Immediately, I canceled all meetings scheduled for the remainder of that year.

A woman heard of what I had done in cancelling meetings and she came to me and said, "Joan you can't do this. You must go out. If you go out and have meetings they will give money. If you don't go out you will lose money."

Without any thought, I replied: "God told me not to go out. So I'm not going."

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For several years, (1985-2002) I took care of my mother, living in the town where my mother lived.

During that time, God gave me a dream showing me I needed to find a way out of my house but I could not go through my cousin's house.

My mother died. My cousin wanted me to move to the city where she lived with her husband and where her two adult aged sons lived nearby. She said to me, "The boys (and husband) will be such a help to you."

But God had warned me in that dream not to try to go through my cousin's house.

I ended up going 350 miles in another direction.

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During that time, God gave me a dream showing me that I was building a house.

After my mother died, I did have a house built in Lubbock, Texas. The sale of the previous property in Clovis, NM (USA), was used to pay for the new construction. But contractor fired his bookkeeper and the cost of the house ran more than expected. I told contractor just to put house up for sale, that I couldn't pay the extra money.

God brought the following scripture to my mind:

Isaiah 65:21-23 ... And they shall build houses, and inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, and eat the fruit of them. They shall not build, and another inhabit; they shall not plant, and another eat: for as the days of a tree are the days of my people, and mine elect shall long enjoy the work of their hands.

They shall not labour in vain, nor bring forth for trouble; for they are the seed of the blessed of the Lord, and their offspring with them.

Then God gave me the following dream: A meteor was outside my kitchen window, just hovering there. It lifted and went over the top of my house. I expected it to explode and destroy the house and me but nothing happened.

I did not ask anyone for money but one of our church members knew what was happening and she called me and wanted to loan me the money to pay for the extra construction cost. I accepted. Within 6 months I was able to repay her.

At the time I'm writing this I'm still living in this house. It is 14-years-old now.

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March 27, 2012, God gave me this dream ... A woman was singing. I said, "It's a little voice but it is a nice little voice." Then people began talking as the church. I realized I was being shown a blog.

Immediately I called Pam Padgett who worked as a computer programmer at Fed Ex, and I asked Pam if she could set up a blog for us. She said she didn't know anything about blogs but she probably could do it. Within 3 days we began publishing exhortations for the church on a blog: Jesus Ministries Exhortations

It is indeed "a little voice", but it is certainly "a nice little voice", going all over the world daily, costing us nothing to publish exhortations instantly.

The first day we published on the blog, we had 2 page views from Germany.

We were so excited. It never occurred to us before then that these exhortations were going to go all over the world on internet. WWW ... World Wide Web

We have published exhortations for the church daily since that time in late March, 2012.

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God speaks to us through angels.

Acts 5 ...Then the high priest rose up, and all they that were with him, (which is the sect of the Sadducees,) and were filled with indignation, And laid their hands on the apostles, and put them in the common prison. But the angel of the Lord by night opened the prison doors, and brought them forth, and said, Go, stand and speak in the temple to the people all the words of this life.

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Acts 27 ... And when neither sun nor stars in many days appeared, and no small tempest lay on us, all hope that we should be saved was then taken away. But after long abstinence Paul stood forth in the midst of them, and said, Sirs, ye should have hearkened unto me, and not have loosed from Crete, and to have gained this harm and loss.

And now I exhort you to be of good cheer: for there shall be no loss of any man's life among you, but of the ship.

For there stood by me this night the angel of God, whose I am, and whom I serve, Saying, Fear not, Paul; thou must be brought before Caesar: and, lo, God hath given thee all them that sail with thee.

Wherefore, sirs, be of good cheer: for I believe God, that it shall be even as it was told me.

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January 10, 1980 ... I was asleep in the night when a trumpet-like voice blew 3 words into my ear:

"Hartford ... Seattle ... KWJS"

I jumped out of bed and wrote "KWJS" on a notepad.

The next morning, I found KWJS to be a radio station.

I said to God, "Are YOU telling me to go on radio? I wouldn't know how to do that."

A gentle voice, in the form of a thought, said: "Call the radio station manager."

I called the station as soon as I thought business hours were starting. I asked to speak to the station manager. He came on the phone immediately. I said to him, "God might be showing me to go on radio. How would I do that?"

He replied: "Make an audition tape 29 1/2 minutes long and send it to us and if you fit our programming, we will offer you a contract."

Since I had a tape recorder at my apartment, I made a tape immediately and mailed it that same day.

Within 5 days, I was broadcasting weekdays on KJWS.

In looking back, I have felt that trumpet-like voice was an angel of God delivering instruction.

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God speaks to us in form of thoughts brought to our mind by the Holy Spirit. It can be instructions or could be scripture showing us what to do.

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A man in our little church group, was considering building a second storage building to hold his "stuff". As he thought about this, the following thought came into his mind. (Wisdom from God by the Spirit of God)

"Why don't you just get rid of the stuff?"

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When I was taking care of my mother, we would go daily to bring home food. It always cost the same amount: $5.30

I would take the money out of my purse, a $5 bill and a quarter and a nickel, and leave my purse in car with my mother and go in and get our take-out food.

One day, I didn't have a quarter & a nickel.

As I dug through my coin purse looking intently at the loose change, I had the following come into my mind:

"Three dimes will work."

That's right ... it will!

(Holy Spirit, the helper, helping.)

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The week of my birthday, a woman who was a high school classmate, sent me birthday card and a note. In her note, she told me of her many activities. Her grandson got married the previous month. Her daughter and several others were coming to have Thanksgiving dinner with her and her husband.

Immediately the following came into my mind.

"You are dead and your life is hid with Christ!"

That's right ... I shouted!

I believe this was God comforting me by the Holy Spirit, The Comforter. For I had no one to have dinner with on Thanksgiving. I had no son, no daughter, no grandchild, no husband and if I had not heard this from Holy Spirit I believe I would have been a pulled down a little by the note in the birthday card.

Colossians 3 ... If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. When Christ, WHO is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with HIM in glory.

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I was in my car, stopped at a red light.

A pickup truck pulling a flat bed trailer pulled along side of me. Stacked on that trailer was a load of firewood.

As I looked at the firewood, I was thinking how much I would enjoy having a wood burning fireplace. (I had gas logs in my fireplace.)

Into my mind came the following:

"You can have a wood fireplace."

This is the first time I had ever considered such a thing. (I believe this was God speaking to me through HIS Spirit, the Holy Spirit.)

The next day, I called the fireplace store and arranged to have the gas logs removed and wood racks and a gas log lighter installed.

I've had wood burning fireplace for several years now and love it.

Psalm 84:11 ... For the Lord God is a sun and shield: the Lord will give grace and glory: no good thing will HE withhold from them that walk uprightly.

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My life is filled with examples of God speaking to me through thoughts delivered by HIS Spirit, the Holy Spirit.

This is not unusual at all. I find it happens to believers all the time. And shouldn't this be expected since the apostle Paul told us the following...

Romans 8:14 ... For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.

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Sometimes God, by HIS Spirit (the Holy Spirit), will show us things to come by a dream or even by impressions put into our heart.

In 1982, I was given the following dream:

I was in a tall, glass building. Something began to happen outside. It was like the building was being bombed. The building began shaking and it felt like it might fall in on us.

In the dream, I heard the following: This is not the first bombing but the second.

I knew it would change everything and that life would never be the same again.

I thought this pertained to the banking industry since the tall, glass building looked like many of those buildings banks erect for themselves.

In 2001, I saw the dream appear on TV.

It was the destruction of the World Trade Center towers!

Before this happened in 2001, God gave me two more dreams which turned out to be the same event though I didn't see this until it appeared on TV news.

In one dream, my mother and I were in NYC. Something happened. We were then in NJ and I looked back at Manhattan island and saw the large billows of smoke and dust in the air at the tip of NYC. You couldn't see much except the smoke and dust clouds but the landmarks were gone, no longer there.

Many times since then, when they re-show the 9/11 event, I see my exact dream when they show the smoke and dust looking back on Manhattan from New Jersey.

In the third dream of this 9/11 destruction, I was in a café and one firetruck and police car after another went racing past with their sirens on full voice.

Again, when I have see replays of 9/11, I have heard this happening and I always shudder.

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