Do you ever get those thoughts, ideas or little glimpses into the future that let you know something is on the horizon?
John 16:13 says,
“But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come.”
So, if you belong to Him, it is very likely that the Spirit is “telling you what is yet to come” through these little tidbits.
The question is, how do we recognize them and what do we do with them?
Our minds are filled with millions of thoughts daily. For most, a lot of these are driven by fear, doubt and unbelief. Some are driven by our experiences, upbringing or simply the news. Being able to differentiate the voice of God or a prompting from His Spirit through all the noise is a miracle in itself.
The first step in hearing these glimmers and glimpses is to know, there is a God!
I assume you already believe this and understand it since you are visiting this website. The Bible tells us that
“And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.” Hebrews 11:6
This is a statement of fact. If you want to please Him, you must first believe that He is real and then believe that He’s earnestly looking to reward those who seek Him. In other words, He is looking to have a relationship with everyone who would seek after Him and it won’t be one sided. He will reward those who seek after Him. This tells us a lot about His nature and the very basis of our relationship with Him.
The next step we need to build upon is being able to recognize (differentiate) God from all the other chatter.
This happens by knowing His voice. Knowing how He operates. Knowing His word and how it is at work in your life. All of these are vital to knowing Him and being able to identify the difference in a God prompt and any other thought.
Some promptings are not revealed as God until later. But many times, these promptings are very clear and require something from us.
Before we continue, let me make something perfectly clear, if you expect a formula in which God will perform the exact same way then you are probably going to be greatly disappointed. While it is true that God is immutable, He is unchangeable, the same yesterday, today and forever. He operates differently with each of us, He reveals different parts of His nature to us, and He works with each person, culture, and generation according to their understanding.
For example, if you still expect a tent revival to get it, unless he told you to, you may just be using old formulas that no longer have any power. God is the most progressive and up-to-date being in existence while remaining eternally Himself, full of power and glory. Amen!
You must be able to receive a smoke signal, Morse code, a telegraph, a letter, a fax, email, instant message or Instagram from God. So the next two questions are, are you positioned to receive from God? Do you know when you are experiencing a prompt from God?
Is He in the wind, the fire, the earth quake or in the still small voice? (I kings 19:11-12)
Is He in the jawbone of an ass (Judges 15:1), the ax head that floated (II Kings 6:5-7) or in the gourd the sheltered? (Jonah 4:6-9)
Is He making the sun stand still (Joshua 10:13-14), the Red Sea part (Exodus 14:21-22) or the dead man Lazarus live again? (John 11)
You must be able to identify God’s activity in your life. Just because you may not recognize it doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist. God is always at work on our behalf and at the same time trying to reveal Himself to us. One of our favorite scriptures states,
“For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show himself strong in behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward him”. II chronicles 16:9
You can easily see how vital it is to be able to recognize God when he is trying to show himself strong on your behalf. This may be a voice, a word, a dream, a scripture, an opportunity, and closed door or an opened door.
The key is “Do you recognize God when He reaches out to you?”