CHAPTER 1
CAN WE HEAR GOD’S VOICE TODAY?
I don’t expect that
many will believe this, that which I claim, that of being able to hear Him
speak is true. Who am I to say such a
thing, me, Paul Woodward, hearing from God?
Well, I will leave it there.
Maybe if I share how others, those who have NEVER read the book, the
Bible, have heard from God, revealing proof that we aren’t restricted to a book
to hear from him. Here is just one story
among many that I could share. This
comes from a book written by Mel Tari, an Indonesian, back in late 1965 in the
backward jungles of a small town called Timor, in Indonesia. The name of the book was “Like A Might
Wind.” You be the judge. Read it for yourself. See it for what it implies….God will speak to
ANY ONE and DOES. What Christ
accomplished made this possible. He does
light everyone who comes into the world.
There is no excuse as this story reveals. Don’t let the fact that there have been those
that had such claims and have come up with some of the strangest things…like
the Mormons. “Don’t let the Devils
scarecrow keep you out of God’s corn field.”
Note, the individual
Mel speaks of could not have read the Bible even if he had it. Hearing from God is not restricted to the
ability to read or have a book. What
follows is quoted from that book:
“I would like to share
with you at this point one of the most unusual things that have happen in Indonesia.
In 1963, before the revival, the layman in
the church never preached the gospel.
And the pastors were so busy running the church that we never even
thought of taking this gospel to the pagans.
There was a pagan village called Tubunaus
about three miles from Soe. One day a
pagan priest called Sem Faet, who also had leprosy, was giving a sacrifice to
his “blood god.” Jesus came and revealed
Himself to this pagan priest.
“I am the God you are seeking.” He said.
“This is not the way to worship Me.”
“Lord, who are you and how do you want to
be worshipped” the priest asked.
“I will tell you my name and how to worship
Me later.” Jesus said. “First you must gather all your images and
witchcraft materials and burn them. When
you do this, I will visit you again and tell you all about myself.” Then the Lord disappeared.
The priest told his people that God had
appeared to him and that they were to burn all the idols and witchcraft
materials. Because he was the high
priest, they obeyed him and everything was burned.
The priest then prayed, “God, I have burned
all our gods just like You told me. Now
there is none but You. Please speak to
me again.”
The Lord came to him again and said, “My
Name is Jesus.” Jesus explained to him
the passages of the Bible concerning salvation and the Christian walk. The man also was healed from his sickness.
The priest could not READ OR WRITE, and the
Lord told him to go to Soe. “When you
get there, buy a pencil and pad of paper,” Jesus told him. He obeyed the Lord.
When he returned to the village, God took
his hand and wrote Bible verses in his book.
He did not use normal Timor writing but a type of hieroglyphics. The Lord gave him many stories found
throughout the whole Bible. (In the
book, Mel has a picture of the exact writing).
He could
also read these very clearly.
He at once shared what
God had told him with his people.
Because he was the priest, the people believed him when he told them to
believe Jesus.
Some of the tribe said, “This is just like being
a Christian.”
“Were not Christian,” the priest said, “We
just believe in Jesus and do what God told me.”
The Lord just continued to teach
them. When we went to bring the gospel
to them, we found a wonderful fellowship of Christians walking a holy life with
Christ.
Very powerful true story; yet there is a sad side which came out later
on in a second book by Mel Tari called, “Like a Gentle Breeze.” You see, Mel thought that the American Church
would receive with open arms what God was doing in his country of
Indonesia. He was greatly disappointed
when they rejected it. So, in an effort
to reach the American Church, he tamed down what he had written in “Like a
Mighty Wind” and called his second book “Like a Gentle Breeze.”
You will find that whenever God is doing His work or speaking to those
that will listen to Him, it is always met with disbelief. Now you expect it from the world, but never
from those who claim to know God and believe His word. Rather sad, yes sad indeed. You will of course find on the web all the
attacks he still gets. Everything has
been done to put down this Mighty working of God and find fought with Mel. He is just a man and of course probably has
weaknesses which the enemies of God and His work used to discredit what God did
back then. Thinking to discredit Mel
Tari, they have in turn discredited the work of God. One day they will regret what they have
done.
CHAPTER 2
THE IMPLANTED WORD
Why do we need this en-grafted word spoken of my James? (James 1:21)
Read Eccl. 3: 1- 8 and you will
find out. As you read through these
texts ask yourself the question, “When do I plant or pluck up? When do I kill or heal? When do I break down or build up? When do I weep or laugh? When do I mourn or dance? When do I cast away stones or gather stones together? When do I embrace or refrain from
embracing? When do I get, when do I
lose? When do I keep or cast away? When do I rend or sew? When do I keep silent, when do I speak? When do I love, when do I hate? When is it time for war and when is it time
for peace?
Many times we Labor
with many of these questions and gather knowledge to deal with each. Yet we lack wisdom to know “When, where, how,
why.” We can flip a coin and pray for
the best, or we can follow what has been written….”ASK”. (Matt. 7:7-8)
If at first you receive
no answer, than follow this word of wisdom…”Continued uncertainty is reason
to wait.” Link this to Gal. 5:5 “For
we WAIT THROUGH THE SPIRIT for the hope (unseen answer, engrafted word)…the
hope of righteousness by faith” Then
with Expectancy, follow this word of wisdom…”God sways the judgment of the
willing expectant heart; those that expect to be lead, will be lead.”
In light of this, an en-grafted word was once given to me, the word WAIT. I had asked for an answer with a particular
problem and the response I got was wait.
One word! I asked is that
it? The reply was,” no, there is more to
it.”
Now catch this; the
word wait was broken down letter by letter and here was the result:
1. W…Without
2. A….Any
3. I…..Interfering
4. T….Thoughts
I rolled with laughter
when I got this…that is usually my problem with waiting for an engrafted word….”Interfering
thoughts.” I have found that the best
way to beat these interfering thoughts is to do your asking, then go off and do
some distracting work getting you mind off the question, or simply relax as I
am doing right now typing this piece for you all. This piece by the way is an answer to what I
had asked earlier for more on this Hearing from God. Father…this is great, thanks.
CHAPTER 3
Abram’s Righteousness
Note this; it is
hundreds of years after the Biblical Flood.
Humanity is right back into their pagan ways and God is looking for one
individual to communicate to. He finds one, Abram who later becomes known as
Abraham, the father of many nations.
Abram listens to God and is shown what plans God has for his life and
its future out come. Because Abram
listened, hear what is said next, “and God counted this unto him as
righteousness.” Gen. 15:6
In what is called “the
first mentioned principle,” this is the first mentioning of this term,
Righteousness. Usually in it’s first
mentioning a term in scriptures will follow the same in context though out
scriptures. So what do we see in this
first mentioning in the context of this text the term righteousness? There is only one thing and that alone, Abram
asked questions then hears God speak to him and he listens. God responds to him with what action to
start. Gen. 15:9,10,11. Beyond that act and that act only, and notice
that that act to Abram came from God, God does what Abram could not do…Gen.
15:15…God “passes between the pieces.”
(Read Phil. 2:12 in light of this, “for it is God which works in us in
both too will and to do of His good pleasure”)
So, righteousness clearly does not take on what many feel it means, self
“Behavior.” As a matter of fact God
places Abram into a deep sleep and then He, God, does the work. Gen. 15:12.
You can see Paul’s expression demonstrated here…I Tim. 4:8 “bodily
exercise profits little; but godliness (God’s action of passing between the
pieces) is profitable unto all things, having promise of the life that now is,
and of that which is to come.” This can also be linked to what Jesus said in
Matt. 11:29-30. “Take my yoke upon you and learn from me.” The question that should be asked at this
point is, “learn what?” The answer would
be to “listen” to Him as He clearly demonstrated; He, Jesus, listened to the
Father while incarnated in a body in a servant mode. As He listened to the Father’s voice, we now
listen for the Son’s voice, Christ in us.
It was promised that this would occur via the comforter, the Holy
Spirit, who would not speak of Himself but would lead us to Christ in us, who
would lead us to the Father, clearly demonstrating a perfect Unity in Diversity
(something I am developing in a later book)
We all know the many
texts that revealed Jesus saying “the words I speak are not my own, I see and
hear the Father;” John 14:10 and others.
Understand, He came into our mode of being thus was subservient, by
choice, as we are to be, to the God the Father.
He asked those of His day… “Show me where I have sinned”…sin implying in
context, “show me where I have acted independent from listening to the Father’s
voice.” John 8:46, 47, 48. In a servant
mode, He set aside any independent use of any attribute He possessed before
coming in a body. Thus He never sinned,
or acted independent from hearing the Father’s will concerning His actions and
direction of life. He walked constantly
in the Spirit and did not give what He called the Flesh, world opinion, ideas,
views and perspectives place. He, though
out His life up to even the Garden scene, called the flesh “weak” yet the
Spirit strong. We, being born through
the weakness of Adam’s flesh, views, perspective etc., find ourselves in a
reverse situation where the flesh is strong and the Spirit weak. We find ourselves in a constant wrestling
match with this flesh wrestling against the Spirit. Our carnal fleshly thoughts and opinions
conflict with what we not only read in scriptures, but in maturity learn to
“HEAR” from Christ in us, two voices engrossed in battle, something I have
addressed later in this book. The key,
as I have expressed, is first learning of this “self” thought and its patterns;
while doing so we learn to see the difference and can learn to hear those
things God so desires to speak to us one on One.
We are commanded to not
be conformed to this world but to be transformed, metamorphosed, by the
renewing of our mind. (Rom. 12:2) It is only after a degree of renewal that we
begin to walk in the spirit and not the flesh; from one degree of glory to another
degree, from faith (hearing God speak to us) to faith. It is the “written” word of God that has
shown to us, as a light that shines in this dark place, that we can once again
through what Christ had accomplished come boldly to the throne of grace, sitting
on our Father’s knee crying Abba (daddy) and have Him respond to us. Truly He is there and He is not silent.
In the closing of
chapter one I will say as I always say, “TEST” this to see if it be true. It could just be Paul Woodward’s
opinion. Test any other thought added
beyond this; then Ask God for His Spirit’s word on it all.
One more thing, I had
chosen years ago a verse of scripture that has always kept me and lead me to
the only leader and guide, the Holy Spirit; here is that text in Prov. 30:8-9 “Remove far from me vanity and lies; give me
neither poverty nor riches; feed me with food convenient for me; Lest I be
full, and deny you and say, “Who is the Lord?”, or lest I be poor, and steal,
and take the Name of my God in vain.”
Good wisdom to follow.
CHAPTER 4
THE MAP
I have kept notes of
various chats in chat rooms on the web over the years. I no longer go to these chat rooms for the
reason I found….they do not want to hear anything new, just established
theology and doctrine. If it doesn't fit
their knot hole it is rejected or ignored.
Yet still I gained what now I will share with you who welcome fresh
words and new perspectives. I will take
off on short quotes given to me on a Variety of subject matter.
It was Peter who said,
“We have a more sure word of prophecy,
which we should pay attention to, as a light that shines in a dark place,
UNTIL, the day dawns and the DAY STAR arises in our hearts.” II Peter 1:19 Many
in these chat rooms felt threaten if you dared to announce that what you were
giving, via you typed or spoken word, was from the Lord at that moment and not
your words. So, I learned not to say or
type that. Was it? Yes. I
have come to know my “self” well enough over the year to know the
difference. You can see the reasoning
behind getting to know yourself as many advocate. The reasoning being, if you ever were to hear
from the Lord you would know the difference thought patterns.
Well, enough with these
thoughts which I have addressed in the previous chapters. Let me begin with the first entry: “Question….Do you still use a map to go to a
place you have been to over and over again?
Once you have learned via the use of a map, somewhere in time you will
not need the map because it is now in your memory. You have what they call an inward
guidance. Now you can use the map to aid
the first timer….UNTIL, the Living Guide works for them.”
Interesting thing this
matter of seeing the Bible as a Map; I have traveled so many times to Florida
that now I need no map to get there. I
remember the first time I attempted to travel from Southern New Jersey down Rt.
95, I got to Baltimore, Maryland and made a wrong turn ending up going West on
the Baltimore Beltway. Well I corrected
this only to end up later missing another turn which put me in Downtown
Washington. Needless to say I learned
from this experience.
Well, a few years later
I told another trip to Florida. By then
I had forgotten the way, yet remembered two mistakes I would not do again. So, I used the map when I approached these
two errors in the past. Again, years
later, I told a third trip to Florida. I
told along the map but this time found I didn't need it.
I said all this to get
to a point. In the early stages of our
spiritual grown, to use the Bible as a guide was correct; as Peter states, “it’s
a light in a dark place,” (or unknown territory). But somewhere the UNTIL must come and the
dawning of the Day Star should arise in our hearts.
GPS SYSTEM
Today more and more
vehicles are coming equipped with GPS guidance systems built in the car. You don’t need to try and unfold and re-fold
those old paper maps….remember? It again
is only there should you ever need it.
But once you get a sense of direction it seems like just another
expensive piece of equipment added to an already expensive car.
Well, thinking in a
carnal sense of this, the GPS system is new to us, something that wasn’t there
in the past. Kind of a mystery thing
only thought of in Science-fiction movies.
Yet here we are seeing and experiencing what once was science-fiction,
the mystery now being revealed in our experience of the GPS system.
Well, now to the
spiritual side of this. You can see
where I am going with this correct? Question?
How do you know this? Maybe there
is another reader of this chapter of my book who doesn’t know where I am going
with this? Why do you know, and he or
she doesn’t?
I know of people who
have a GPS system in their car and never used it. They go on trips and still use a paper
map. Why? They, for one, are computer illiterate. Anything that smacks with computer graphic
etc. scares them from using it. You might think, “Boy that’s stupid.. What a waste of money.”
Well that’s kind of
correct. But understand this, they might
say, “THE CAR CAME WITH THE GPS SYSTEM. We didn’t ask for it. It just came with it. We would have paid for it whether we wanted
to used it or not. We choose not to use
it. It’s too complicated.”
Christ accomplished
something whether you know it or not.
It’s in all of us, for it claims that he has lit everyone who has come
into the world. (John 1:9) Also it
states that eternity has been placed in everyone and if you don’t know this,
you won’t be able to figure out the beginning from the end. (Eccl. 3:11) We have in us all a guidance
system that lights the way and points the direction. It came with the body. In our case, someone else has paid the price
to assure that you were given this inward system. As a matter of fact it has always been
there. Kind of like a MYSTERY. Something there yet not revealed UNTIL
now. It was placed in you FROM THE
FOUNDATION OF THE WORLD. The SEAL of
approval, and the written guarantee that it would work, if you would use it,
was placed on it at the factory. Seal with the blood of the ONE who put it
there.
Now you can ignore it
and not use it. You can “wing” it and
use you carnal sense of direction or figure it out the hard way. It’s not as complicated as you think. Just two bottoms to initiate it.
A & Z. The “A” button is your Acknowledging what
has been placed in you. The “Z” button
sets the Zone, direction that you need.
There is only one direction to go.
So that’s a no brainer. Once you
have done this, you initiate just one more button…the “ASK” button. This you can push any time and for any reason
while heading in the one direction you have already initiated. Have a nice trip!! (For those who might be asking, “Where are we
going?” The only real place; one Jesus
said He had prepared for us, John 14:2.)
(TO CONTINUED - LOOK FOR UPDATED CHAPTERS IN "BLOG ARCHIVES")
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