Essay Sample on God's Voice: Sustained Communication with the Divine

Introduction

Throughout my life as a Christian, I have always tried to maintain a sustained communication with God through prayers as well as hearing what God wants to tell me. I believe that God is still speaking to me throughout the day by continually communicating his direction and truth for my life and also by continuously bestowing his mercy upon me. God's voice is ever gentle and silent to get all the attention of the person he is communicating with, and he does not attempt competing with individual's day to day distractions. God does not impose himself on his disciples but instead waits for them to turn to him by setting aside every distraction and been attentive to his voice. As I read Willard's book, I have realized that I must go beyond and not around Bible teachings to discover what God is speaking to me. I have to apply the Bible teachings to my circumstances to recognize God's voice, as discussed below.

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My personal experience with recognizing the voice of God has taught me that the ability to understand God's voice can only come with experience. The disciples must be shown that God is speaking to them and even helped in detecting God's voice to be able to go confidently without any assistance recognize and distinguish God's voice. Assistance from individuals who have a clear understanding of the divine voice can help me learn in my part how to recognize his voice without any difficulty. Willard's book has taught me that God's voice to my life can be totally lost or even distracted by satan. It is, therefore, essential to have qualified help working alongside my readiness and desire to learn in recognizing God's voice to prevent it from becoming just a riddle. This would help avoid the difficulties and confusion that hinder individuals from walking with God, as stated by Micah in chapter 6, verse 8.

Recognizing the voice of God is focused on three references known as the three lights which are consulted to identify what God is saying. According to Willard, the three lights include; the Bible passages, Spirits impressions, and circumstances. If I would like to know what God wants for my life, it is important to look at the direction of these three lights because if they face the same directions, that means that it is the direction that God intends for my life. However, based on Willard's book, people lacking confidence and familiarity with Gods voice may find it difficult to discern these three lights since it may lead to confusion and this can make an individual wrecked and hopeless and especially on the spiritual adventures shoals. Additionally, these lights are very disappointing and dangerous, especially to disciples lacking a deep commitment and experience in Christ's teachings.

I have learned that the major problem with using these three lights is that they are interdependent, and this can make it challenging to understand what one of them is implying without adequately understanding the rest. Moreover, listening to God's voice cannot interfere with my decision-making process since a life lived by recognizing God's voice does not exclude one's judgment. As an individual, I can make clear decisions since I am under the influence of God's voice since I should fully and humbly consider the three lights to enable me to make responsible decisions and judgments. The voice of God is not the three lights; neither is it one of them, nor does it come to an individual out of the blues. As a Christian, I have learned that God's voice enables me to carry out specific and concrete things that can help me in trying to seek God's will. It is essential to reflect on the three lights since they help one exercise proper judgments and when God speaks, disciples recognize his voice because familiarity is a helpful tool in identifying his voice.

Reading Willard's book has helped me understand that there are some factors associated with the voice of God that is responsible for recognizing it. The quality or the weight of the voice of God has a significant impression that makes a Christians consciousness. As a disciple of God, the voice of God impacts my innermost being or soul with a specific calm and steady force, and this drives me towards active compliance or assent. The power of God's voice is usually sensed inwardly, and once an individual experiences it, they cannot be amazed by the Biblical phenomena of spirits and nature which respond to the divine world. My personal experience with recognizing the voice of God as well as Willard's book helps me understand that the unquestionable power and authority used by Jesus as he commanded demons, humans, and nature was a clear manifestation of his familiarity with the quality and weight of Gods voice.

Additionally, the voice of God, which speaks to an individual's soul, has a self-characteristic of the spirit. This spirit is of exalted confidence and peacefulness, sweet goodwill, responsiveness, and joy. I now understand that the calm and sweet spirit of the voice of God carriers over to the individual's lives and especially those that can speak with God's voice. Moreover, the voice of God is also marked by a specific content. According to my understanding, this majorly depends on the information God's voice is trying to rely on me, and for me to qualify as God's voice, my perceptions, thoughts, and any other experiences should conform to the fundamental truths and principles of the scripture. The principles of the scripture are the most essential as compared to the incidentals since they make it very clear that particular things are critical and very absolute without any exception.

Conclusion

God makes himself known to his disciples by speaking through the Holy Spirit to the individual's soul-making their minds, emotions, will, as well as their thoughts. A Christian can be free from the wrong and tormenting thoughts if they willingly feed God's word in their souls as well as apply it in their day to day activities. Such actions help in bringing each individual's thoughts into obeying the teachings of Christ.It is, therefore, necessary for the disciples to ask God for guidance in putting his word into their lives as well as reading it and thinking about it to gain experience in recognizing the voice of God, which helps make proper judgments and decisions.

Bibliography

Willard, D., 2012. Hearing God: Developing a conversational relationship with God. InterVarsity Press.