EXPLORE OTHER AVENUE OF HEARING HIM

“In the first year of his reign I Daniel understood by books the number of the years, whereof the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah the prophet, that he would accomplish seventy years in the desolations of Jerusalem.” – Dan. 9:2

It was the mind of God that inhabitants of Jerusalem would go into captivity in Babylon for 70years. “And this whole land shall be a desolation, and an astonishment; and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years.” – Jer. 25:11. It was also the mind of God they should not spend a single extra day once the 70 years are fulfilled. “For thus saith the LORD, That after seventy years be accomplished at Babylon I will visit you, and perform my good word toward you, in causing you to return to this place.” – Jer. 29:10.

The former was a negative prophecy as at the time it was pronounced. Who would ever believe it, that God want His own people in exile, where was His mercy, why so severe a punishment for the children of His friend, Abraham? So many inhabitants never believed it, Jeremiah was alone in His own world of “bad prophecies”, he was severely punished by the authority for spreading what they  called “falsehood” but it did came to pass just as he said . The devil, accuser of God’s people orchestrated situations that eventually led to the carrying away to Babylon.

The second part of the prophesy, a positive reminder of God’s mercies and love was to be fulfilled 70 years later when many of the active actors in the fulfilment of the first part of the original prophesy were either dead or too old to be relevant in national events as the 70 years of desolation and slavery were ending and there were no signs of home going at the horizon.

Nothing good come easy. The bad part of the prophecy, which is the carrying away to Babylon and the destructions of Jerusalem, came to pass without much delay and no need to even pray about it but the good part, which is full restoration of Jerusalem and its inhabitants to their original glories, will have to be activated in prayers and fasting, God has to be reminded of His promises. Aside the fact that the devil didn’t want good for anyone, individuals, or family, which we must resist in prayers, God too will not act until we call him and ask Him to. God will not interfere or gatecrash uninvited in people’s affairs. He knows what we need, yet He asked us to ask – Matt. 7:7

Somebody must stand to produce a cause or reasons why He must intervene. No wonder the Bible says “Produce your cause, saith the LORD; bring forth your strong reasons, saith the King of Jacob” – Isa.  41:21. Good prophecy and good dreams don’t just come to pass, prayers must be prayed, forces of darkness must be chased off and displace of their dominance in Jesus Name and God must be invited to intervene and take preeminence. If Daniel had kept quiet, they would have spent more time than God ordained for them. That was what was missing while they laboured in Egypt, no one stood in the gap, no intercessor, they were supposed to spend 400 years in Egypt – Gen. 15:13 but they were delivered, howbeit, by the mighty hands of God, 30 extra years later when in His mercy God heard the cry of the people – Exo. 12:40-41. This unnecessary elongation of time by another 30 years was what Daniel sought to avoid in Babylon when he stood to bridge the gap between God and the people.

How did He know the mind of God, how did he know the prayers to pray and when to pray them? How did he know the 70 years of desolation has been fulfilled and the wall of Jerusalem must rise again? It was by reading, he read the books of Jeremiah and he understood by the books that the land had served its Sabbath of 70 years as promised and that the period of desolation is over. Books are treasure house of secrets for man and God, it takes reading to find them out.

Whoever cares to know the mind of God, to hear Him speak in the now, whoever want to bridge the gap between his/her family and God in prayers, whoever desire Holy Spirit directed utterance into His will in prayers, one major way to search them out is by reading. Whatever you don’t know, whatever got you confused, the questions you so much desire answers to, all you ever wanted to know and hear from God has been reveal in part or whole to someone somewhere and had been documented. That was what Jeremiah did that helped Daniel – “Then Baruch answered them, He pronounced all these words unto me with his mouth, and I wrote them with ink in the book” – Jer. 36:18.

The position and situation you are right now, someone somewhere went through same thing many years back and his/her experiences, failure and successes has been documented both in the Bible and in contemporary documents waiting for sincere seekers to find them out for personal and family use. “Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come.” – 1Cor. 10:11.

Readers are diggers and those who dig deep and hard enough access secret treasure other people don’t have the patience and endurance to find out. Those who have the secrets of God are readers and readers are leaders. Leaders know what others don’t know because they always dig few steps ahead of others so that in everything they may be enriched by God, in all utterance and in all knowledge – 1Cor. 1:5. Jesus emphatically told those who desire eternal life and those who want to know more of Him, those whose heart cry is that they might Know Him,  he said “Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me.” – John 5:39. If we must hear God speak to us, we must know more about Jesus and we won’t know Him unless we read through the scriptures. No other book explain Jesus better than the Bible. God will say nothing, reveal nothing unless He shows us more of His Son. In Him is hidden the wisdom and treasures of all ages.

Paul the Apostle was a reader, no wonder he did so much, even in a difficult period, he never wanted to be separated from his book. “The cloke that I left at Troas with Carpus, when thou comest, bring with thee, and the books, but especially the parchments” – 2Tim. 4:13. There are things God want to reveal to each and every one of us, there are family secrets He wanted to share, there are eternal truths waiting to be unearthed through the pages of the scriptures but none can be ours until the habit of reading is part of us. It must be a conscious and deliberate decision back up with prayers. “For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope” – Rom. 15:4.

God speak through books, His voices and thoughts and inspirations in the hearts of men and women spanning several ages have been documented in millions of volumes and more are still being written. Documented inspirations from Him are always in conformity with the scriptures. The Bible is the finality of God’s mind to man through Christ Jesus. Those who despise reading may have as well despise hearing God speak. The sealed secrets of God – Dan. 12:4 has been unsealed – Rev. 22:10 and His thoughts and mind are abundantly made manifest for those who seek true knowledge in Jesus Christ. The Bible is God treasure house, the more of it you know, the more of God you know, the deeper you dig, the clearer His voice will be to you and the better and richer your life.

None of us can be sensitive to the move of God, until the spirit within is enriched and permeated with the Word of God. The Word of God is the template for knowing and recognizing the voice of God. It is in the Word and through the Word we build relationships with the Spirit of God, and without a robust relationship with Him, we cannot know or recognize His voice even if He speaks. Relationship wrapped in intimacy is the reason our children knew our voices and responded accordingly when we call them even when there are no physical contact. A marriage run and sustained in the revelations and wisdom enshrined in the Word can never be submerged or subdue by the devil. Jesus cannot be in a boat, and the boat bow to the pressure of the troubling sea.

God also speak by signs, inscriptions, dreams and visions, situations and circumstances that followed some well ordained pattern over a certain period of time without human interference and influence. These must and are always in conformity to His Word and are easily noticed when one’s spirit is sensitive to God through meditation and studying His Word. This is certainly most important particularly in relations to dreams. Many destinies, homes and families has been attacked and some never recovered just because of wrong interpretations and priorities given to some hell orchestrated dreams. Never run into conclusions on dreams, let the Holy Spirit through Bible be your ultimate Guide. When in doubt please seek for counselling and correct interpretation of your dreams before taking actions.

Rebekah noticed the unusual struggle between her unborn babies and she took it as a sign that God was speaking. She prayed and got the answer she was looking for. When you noticed an event or set of events are happening on a regular or closely knitted pattern, it might be God speaking to you as a person or as a family. The earlier you turn to look, ask questions and get answers the better. Moses saw the bush burning in an unusual pattern and in an unusual place, and probably in an unusual time or season of the year, he stopped and asked question, why was the bush burning with fire and the bush was not consumed – Exo. 3:3 and without fail, he got the answer that unlock the door to divine plan and purpose for him. Yes,  not all signs are from God, just as not all dreams are from God and certainly not all “voices” are from God as well,  your closeness to the Bible and the much of it in you, will serve as a necessary ingredient to know and discern between good and evil. The clearer you are able to discern God voice through the pages of the scriptures, the better your ability to discern and make correct use of your spiritual senses – Heb. 5:14.

Reading should not be limited to the pages of the Bible. There are many Christian and none Christian literatures out there that are good for edification and learning. Christians are readers. If you get tired of reading easily, if reading make no much sense and did not appeal to you, your possibility of growing into Christian maturity will be hampered and delay. It takes maturity to know the will and the mind of the Master and do them. “For every one that useth milk is unskilful in the word of righteousness: for he is a babe. But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.” – Heb. 5:13-14.

It is time to start growing. You cannot be an effective Christian parent with a close Bible. It’s spiritually wrong for spiritual babies to raise other babies. If as physical adults we are spiritual babes, how are we to train and raise our children in spiritual matters? It’s time to start growing up, so as to be the Christian parents we are called to be in all spiritual sincerity. There is only one path to spiritual maturity. It’s by reading and studying the Word, praying and fellowship. “As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby:” – 1Pet. 2:2.

For them under the old covenant, the Book (scriptures) was a sealed Book. “But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end: many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased” – Dan. 12:4. But for us unto whom the ends of the world have come, it’s an open Book whose seal has been removed by the Son of God, Jesus Christ. “And he saith unto me, Seal not the sayings of the prophecy of this book: for the time is at hand” – Rev. 22:10. If you ask Him, He will reveal His will and speak to you as you read through the scripture line by line and page by page. Pick any book of the Bible and begin to read, you will be surprise how much is hidden in each verse that you read. 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.” – 1Cor. 2:9-10.

Can you see that? “God has revealed them (His secrets) unto us by His Spirit”. How did He do that? He revealed them through the pages of the Scriptures. Oh will I understand everything as I read, No. You will understand some, some you won’t until later time. There is a blessing for reading, even when you don’t understand everything at the time of reading, just as there are blessings for hearing and keeping what’s written in the Book. “Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein: for the time is at hand” – Rev. 1:3.

To hear God speak, we must know and rehearse His Words over and over again to ourselves in humility and simple obedience to His will. “This book…shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success” – Joshua 1:8. If you pay attention, you will find His will and hear His voice through the pages of the Holy Scriptures – Like 24:45.

May God open your understanding that you might understand the scriptures in Jesus Name. Amen!

Prayer Point: Lord, help my heart and my soul to pant after Your Word just as the hart pant after the water brooks in Jesus Name – Psa.  42:1.

God bless you and keep hearts in His love in Jesus Name. Amen

Olumofin Kehinde Benjamin writes for Praying Parents Prayer Group Christian Ministry (3pG).