Experiencing God: Hearing God speak

 I’ve written a couple of posts on experiencing God (hugs & heat), and I think it’s important to keep uncovering the various (tangible) ways we can experience God.  One of the more recent ways is through prophetic* people in my life. 
 

I’ll start by saying I’m wary of those who tend to try and predict future events.  I knew one guy who studied the “Bible Code” (which he did in English…if you believe in the Bible Code (read messages hidden within the scriptures) I’m pretty sure you should believe they were hidden in the original biblical languages and not some random English translation, but what do I know? I’m just a biblical scholar and a theologian.).  This man would send me letters of his predictions.  I was pregnant with our first child when he told me it would be a boy and we were to name him “John Allen”. Turned out it was a girl and we named her Ruth.  He told me there would be a HUGE earthquake of the coast of California causing a giant tsunami on December 22^nd of that year causing destruction all the way into the Inland Empire and that we needed to have the church fitted with reinforced steal (which needed to be purchased from a very specific company, by the way).  Needless to say, we didn't buy the steal and no such earthquake or subsequent tsunami happened. Which is all to say, if you say you’re a prophet, I take it with a grain of salt.  

However, despite some crazy experiences with people that I do not believe were hearing the Word of God directly, I have known others whose words have been tested and proven in time.  My spiritual mentor has spoken prophetically into my life and my ministry on a couple of occasions and I have a prayer partner who has also been given prophetic words for me.  It doesn’t happen all the time, but every once in awhile, when I ask her to pray for me, she says “Call me” and ends up having a very specific scripture or word that seems to be from God.  

In January of last year I had asked her to pray for me.  I was struggling because we really wanted a second child. It took us a long time to get pregnant again and then we miscarried.  It was heart breaking and we kept praying that we would be able to have another child.  And it seemed like forever, and I wondered if it would ever happen.  I asked my friend to pray for me.  And then she said, “Call me.” And I did.  And then she shared a message, which included that God would answer my prayer as he had answered Hannah’s. I wasn't sure how long it might be before God answered "as he had Hannah" but I was grateful for the hope.  And it turns out, we were pregnant in about a month.  You could call it coincidence, but it was more than that for me.  

Later that year, I again asked for prayer, as I had many times, and this time, she said "Call me." So I did.  Again, she had specific words for me (sort of like when I prepare a sermon and it all just flows, I don't have to think to make it work, it just comes...from God...it's clearly not mine).  She had very specific words for me that addressed my current situation in ways that were uncanny, since I hadn't told her what was going on. I'd only asked her to pray.  Her words have brought me comfort, they have brought me hope, they've given me direction and instruction.  And I am grateful that God gave me someone (actually multiple someones since it's happened with other people, often in the form of "hey, I just had you on my heart today and felt the need to do tell you ________).  

God does speak. God speaks through the scriptures. God speaks through giving us peace, comfort, and hope. And God speaks through other people.  It might be simple. It might be vague or it could be specific.  To be sure, there are "false prophets" and we should be wary about believing everything people say is "from God", but just because there are some folks who are pretty far out doesn't mean there are no modern prophets who genuinely hear from God to offer God's truth into our lives. 

*It is HUGELY important to understand that when I say “prophetic” I’m not talking about fortune tellers, or future predictors.  A prophet (in biblical terms) is a truth teller—they are a messenger from God, sent to tell God’s truth.  If you read the Old Testament prophets, you might be inclined to think they are future-tellers, but really they are more like doctors in that they are diagnosing a condition and explaining likely outcomes.  For instance, if you keep acting unjustly and selfishly, you will end up struggling with famine.  That sounds like future-telling in a way. But it’s also diagnostic…if you keep being selfish and not thinking of others, or the big picture, this way of life is going to land you in a heap of trouble.  Much like if a doctor says “if you keep failing to exercise and eating the way you are, you’re likely to have a heart attack.” The doctor isn’t a fortune teller, she’s a diagnostician…she’s studied likely outcomes of certain behaviors and knows there’s a direct correlation between diet and exercise and heart related issues.  So, when I say “prophet”, what I mean is someone who listens for God’s voice and is offered a message to share.  The legitimacy of said message can be measured by how it holds up against the truth of the scriptures. 

Experiencing God: A Hug

Last week, God sent me an angel. Not one with wings, but one in flesh and blood.  I’ve been praying a lot lately for God’s guidance for this time in my life and where it is that God wants me to go and what I am to do in the next chapter of my ministry.  I keep pleading for God’s assurance and God’s direction. 

On Wednesday, I went to the monthly pastor’s prayer meeting. We gather for an hour each month, hosted by different churches, just to pray.  It’s not political. There’s no “agenda”. Our purpose is to praise God (we begin with worship) and to pray—for each other, for our ministries, for our valley, and for whatever else God places on our hearts.  

This month, we gathered at The Sanctuary. And when I walked in there were 4 new people, primarily Spanish speaking.  Normally, I don’t go around greeting folks, I just sort of keep to myself, but I thought, being Spanish speakers (in a largely English speaking group) and being new, I should greet them and introduce myself.  So I did. I met two women first, and shook their hands, then a man, then another woman, who hugged me as she said hello.  I took a step back from the third woman and the first gave me a side hug and then embraced me further.  She just kept holding me.  I’m naturally a physically affectionate person, so it didn’t seem odd to me.  Even as she continued to hold me, I was nonplussed.  It was a God thing.  She embraced me, rubbed my back and whispered assurances into my ear.  I focused on being present in the moment and receiving whatever it was that God wanted for me.  I could feel something inside sort of break loose and break open.  It wasn’t painful, but it was real.  I don’t know what broke…I hoped it was pain or unforgiveness.  And this woman kept on holding me.  She said “Dios te ama mucho.” (God loves you very much).

She pulled away slightly and reiterated that God loves me very much. She said that the hug wasn’t from her, but from God.  God wanted me to know how much God loves me.  And she embraced me again. She continued to hold me gently and reiterated God’s love, again. She said “God has great plans for you, and for your family.” 

It was such a gift—both the hug and the affirmations, but also her faithfulness and willingness to heed God’s guiding.  She could have just given me a quick embrace, or ignored that nudge entirely, but instead, she listened to what God was instructing her to do…not for her benefit, but for mine—a complete stranger.  And God gave me just what I needed…a hug full of affirmation and love for who I am and what God is doing in my life. 

Experiencing God: Feel the Heat

I’ve been thinking a lot about the different ways I experience God, and I thought it would be good to write about it…to share the ways God can (and is) tangible to us.  I will preface by saying, I was raised in the church, a traditional United MethodistChurch, which is to say, we didn’t really talk about how we might “feel” God.  We believe God is real. We believe in the traditional doctrines (you can get a sense of those from the Apostle’sCreed).  We believe Christians are to live their faith and to become more like Christ as they do that.  And, in practice, we were “reverent” (read: quiet, well-mannered, didn’t clap in worship, didn’t speak out of turn, etc).  And in that tradition, my faith grew. I learned the stories of the Bible. I learned to care for others (even if I didn’t like them). I learned generosity. I learned selflessness.  I learned to pray.  And I learned to have a “thinking faith” where it was ok to ask questions, to have doubts, and to explore the historicity of the Bible and how that converges with faith.  

But what I didn’t really learn is how you “feel” God.  I think the closest tangible expression of God that I might have asserted is feeling peace in difficult circumstances.  But as I grew and developed in life and in faith, I started to learn that there were other ways, tangible ways, we could experience God.  God wasn’t just in our head or our hearts, but God is also around us in the form of the Holy Spirit and can be felt. 

The first time I remember experiencing this was at Santa Paula UMC.  It was a bilingual congregation and my brother (a UM pastor) had been asked to preach.  He had some Spanish, but not really enough to do a full sermon. So, he asked me to do the translation since I had just finished a full year of study abroad and came back bilingual.  Before the service, our mom came and talked with us and offered to pray for us.  She put a hand on each of us and began to pray…and her hands were hot on our backs/shoulders.  She wasn’t feverish, and to touch her hands in general, she wasn’t hot, but as she prayed, heat transferred to us. And I understood that heat to be the presence of the Holy Spirit. God could be felt…tangibly, physically. 

It was a small thing, heat during a prayer, but it became a big deal…an entry point for the other ways God would become manifest in me and in others confirming the power and presence of the Living God.