Season 2, Episode 4
In 1970, when I was 28, God called me to go to Moscow for Him. Those were the days of the USSR – the communist Soviet Union – and Moscow was its capital. For me, that call from God was totally unexpected. Then God told me why He was sending me to Moscow … and ‘unexpected’ gave way to ‘unbelievable’. Yet I obeyed, and that response to God launched me on an adventure of faith unlike anything I had ever before experienced, which changed the direction of my life. Many years later, I wrote about it in a book titled Led Into Love*.
Much as I love sharing that story of my journey to Moscow, the reason I’m referring to it here is because of a question I was asked recently by a young man who had read the book. He prefaced his question by saying that, whenever there is something in his life for which he needs God’s guidance or direction, he first prays about it, then expects God’s response through something he reads in the Bible, or from a sermon in church, or through something that is said to him. Then came his question: “When you talk about God speaking to you, do you hear an audible voice?” “No I don't," I replied, "and I'm not sure I've ever met anybody who actually has. But the one thing I know is that God does speak to me, and I know when He speaks to me. I don't always know that God is going to speak to me, and I don't necessarily know the way in which He will speak. But when God speaks – whether in answer to prayer, or because He wants to get my attention about something – it is so clear that I can truly say, “God said …”.
“My sheep hear my voice,” said Jesus. A scenario that would have been very familiar to His listeners in that setting, where shepherds tended small flocks – keeping them secure in a sheep-pen overnight, then leading them out to pasture each morning. Whenever the shepherd spoke, though his sheep could not understand one word of what He said, they did know who was saying it. At the sound of his voice they felt safe and secure, and wherever he led them they happily followed.
That simple illustration points to the truth that God always speaks to His people in a voice that they can hear, and in a language they can understand.
As with my young questioner, it’s easy to assume when reading or hearing accounts of God speaking to people (especially in the Bible narratives), that they actually heard Him speak in an audible voice. When, as a young Christian, I heard accounts like that or read them in the Bible, I often longed to actually hear God’s voice. Yet I discovered long ago that, while it is up to God to speak to me, it is up to me to listen for His voice.
If you are willing not only to hear but also to obey what God says, you will surely know when He is speaking to you. Even better ... unlike sheep that follow their shepherd merely at the sound of his voice, you will also understand what He is saying!
In the light of that, what would be the point of anyone knowing God, having His life within them and personally experiencing Him, unless they also had that kind of intimate, personal communication with Him?
As a new Christian, I was quickly taught about the need for regular prayer. But it was a rather formal, routine affair, usually called ‘quiet time’ at the start of each day. You would begin by reading the Bible – maybe a chapter from the Old Testament, a Psalm, and then a chapter from the New Testament. After which you would pray your way through a prayer-list of people or situations, diligently 'mentioning each of them in prayer'. Having then fulfilled your responsibility, you could tick that box and get on with the rest of your day. Call that praying if you like – but in reality it was more like an exercise in religiosity than an expression of relationship!
How thankful I am that God did not leave me there but lovingly drew me into a moment-by-moment, day-by-day communication with Him that is as natural as breathing. As it should be for every one of God’s people! He is our God. He is our Life. And if His spirit dwells within you, it is He who will lead you, direct you and give you wisdom in knowing His will and in doing it. We each need the revelation and understanding that come from Him alone … and which He longs to give us.
God is very jealous about His personal relationship with you!
On that night in 1959, when I came to know Jesus, I was changed then and there … and I knew it. Yet I did not know as much as one verse of the Bible with which to explain to anybody what had just taken place. I could tell them what had happened externally – I was at the Crusade meeting, I heard Billy Graham preach, I had an urge to respond to his invitation and I did so – but none of that could explain to me or to anyone else what had actually taken place within me.
I believed in the existence of God from an early age, and as I grew up there were times when I wanted to know more about Him. Such as when I was about 12 or 13 years old and had a religious urge to read the Bible – which I diligently stuck at for a while, but none of it touched me. In fact it was quite unmemorable.
Yet, once I knew Jesus, the same Bible began to light up to me. I immediately knew there was something special about that book, not just because others said so, but because of what I was experiencing in reading it. That’s when I discovered what the Scripture really is – not in theory but in reality. So, it was no surprise when I read these words in the Bible, written by the apostle Paul: “All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness…”.
I believe that statement with all my heart and I am so thankful for it. Nevertheless, I must emphasise that the Scriptures can never be a substitute for God’s Spirit … nor did He ever intend them to be.
The greatest opposition Jesus faced was not from the 'common people' who gathered to hear Him teach and see Him perform miracles. It came from those who, of all people, should have known better: the Scribes & Pharisees – the religious teachers and leaders of God's people. The very ones who were regarded (and who highly regarded themselves) as the keepers of the Scriptures, the guardians of the truth. They knew the Scriptures so well, for they endlessly pored over them, studying them meticulously, and expounding them with authority. They rejected Jesus because He threatened their jealously held position of religious power and prestige.
One day He addressed those men, who constantly hovered around Him ready to pounce on His words and prove Him a charlatan.“You search the scriptures because you think that in them you have life. Yet it is these that testify about me, and you are unwilling to come to me so that you may have life.”
What an accusation! The Law and the Prophets – those very Scriptures provided by God to point His people to Jesus, the Giver of Life – were being used by those ‘men of God’ as a substitute for Him! Worse still, they weaponised the Scriptures to reject and condemn Jesus. Why? Because of the threat He posed to the religious system they had created. A system based on the Scriptures, but not on the truth God had embedded in them … which was there to point them to Jesus.
Open your Old Testament and read the Psalms – many of them written by David – and see, not just David’s words, but the expressions of his heart. To whom? To God! David had a vibrant, full-hearted relationship with God. In Psalm 27:4 he wrote, “One thing I ask of the Lord, this is what I seek, that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to seek him in his temple.”
The greatest desire of David’s heart was to spend his entire life in God's House – gazing upon His beauty. That was the heart of David the great warrior King of Israel, for whom nothing else compared with the delightful prospect of a lifetime in God’s presence.
So why are such heart-stirring, God-focused scriptures relegated to textbook material? Like a body of knowledge … a basis for man-made religious systems, and not as the God-given Scripture that constantly points us to Him who is the Giver of all Life and the Revealer of all Truth?
Jesus came into this world as God Incarnate – God clothed in human flesh – a true-life expression of the way God also wants to dwell within us. Jesus did not come to compete with those so-called teachers and expounders of the Scriptures, but to be the fulfilment of the very things they claimed to believe.
Those ‘men of God’ looked askance at the disciples of Jesus and referred to them as ‘ignorant and unlearned’. How could any self-respecting religious teacher choose such a rabble to be His followers?
My message to you is this:
Do not settle for a 'second-hand' experience of God.
Do not settle for knowing about God … which, though it may feed your mind and even your emotions, will never feed your heart.
Do not settle for knowledge and information, which appears to offer you the security that can only be yours in a vibrant personal relationship with God.
Above all, do not settle for anything short of a relationship with God, in which He speaks to you and leads you by His Spirit.
Unlike the way He is often presented, God is not ‘the strong silent type’. He loves to speak, and He has much to say! Give Him an open heart … give Him your willingness to hear and to obey … and God will speak to you. The more you do that, the more you will recognize when He speaks and understand what He is saying to you.
But, of course, it doesn’t stop at God speaking to you. Once He has spoken, He eagerly awaits your response, so He can then lead you and be with you in doing His will. And that’s what living by faith is all about! To do anything in faith – to make any faith response to God – always infers that He has said, or revealed, something to you that requires a response from you.
Most Christians are familiar with the definition of faith at the beginning of Hebrews, chapter 11: “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” That’s when God speaks to you and you know in your heart that what He has said is more solid and tangible than the most substantial thing you could ever see or touch. When that’s what you have experienced and you respond to Him in faith, you are able to stake everything on what God has said to you!
I have had many such faith experiences, including the one I’ve mentioned here, where God spoke to me about going to Moscow for Him – a journey that took seven months and consisted of many such faith experiences.
When God lives in you – when you have made Him the Lord of your life, whose voice you long to hear and respond to – He will lead you by His Spirit. The apostle Paul wrote: “…those who are led by the Spirit of God are the sons of God”. His sons are His heirs, and those led by God’s Spirit inherit God’s Kingdom.
In sharp contrast, the things you merely learn about cannot take you anywhere. They just can’t. You will read many wonderful things in the Bible. They will inspire you and teach you a great deal about so much of what matters to God. But the Scripture can only fulfil the purpose for which it was given, which (as Jesus Himself said) is to point us to Him who is the Way, the Truth and theLife.
If you had the opportunity to get to know me personally, and if I told you about a book I’d written, and if I was then trying to share some things with you about myself, and you kept saying, “Please don’t talk and distract me. I want to read about you in this book you’ve written.” I’d say something like: “But I'm here in person! What would you like to hear about me? What would you like to know?”
I love to be known. I love close relationships. We humans, made in God's image, are made for personal relationship. And what is the greatest personal relationship for which we were created ... for which Adam was made … that Jesus lived in constantly? Relationship with God Himself!
Jesus said that everything He did was from His Father, that He only spoke His Father's words and only did His Father's works. And He said to his disciples, “…anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing”. That was because He was going to be with His Father and would send His Spirit upon His followers. That same Spirit would then speak to them, speak through them and lead them.
There is absolutely no substitute for God’s Spirit in you. Nor is there any substitute for the intimate relationship with God for which you were created.
“Without faith, it is impossible to please God…”. Yet you cannot have faith in something you know only with your mind. Mere words on a page, though you believe them to be true, can never be sufficient to evoke a response of faith. On the other hand, when God speaks to your heart – whether through the Scripture, through a preacher or through any other means He chooses – you have something to respond to in faith. That’s the difference between believing a truth and believing God.
What does it say in the Bible about Abraham? “Abraham believed…” It wasn’t what Abraham believed, but who! “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.”
May that also be true of you. Draw near to God. You cannot get too close to Him. Draw ever closer to Him and allow Him to be your God, according to His heart’s desire. Discover the thrill of oneness with Him. Not as some sort of ‘high’ religious experience, but in the beautiful reality of walking with Him day-by-day.
Do you remember when Jesus asked His disciples, “Who do people say that I am?” And they said, “Oh, some people say you're John the Baptist, others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets”. Then Jesus asked, “Who do you say that I am?” At that, Peter exclaimed, "You're the Christ. The Son of the living God!" And Jesus said to him, “You are blessed! Flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in Heaven!” There was Peter, one of the 12 disciples who, like the other disciples, had heard people speculating about who Jesus was and was also trying to figure it out for himself. Yet, at that moment, God revealed something to Peter and he just blurted it out! That meant so much to Jesus. Not because it was news to Him, but because Peter had received a revelation from God.
Never limit what God may say to you, what He might reveal to you, or what He can ask of you. Live close to Him with an open heart – always willing to hear and to obey.
If you maintain such a living relationship with the Living God, He will be free to reveal Himself to you whenever He chooses and in whatever way He chooses.
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* You can read my book Led Into Love online or as a downloadable e-Pub file. It is also available in paperback form free of charge. Please email your request to me via the Contact page on my website or at tony.kostas@ledintolove.com