How Does God Communicate with Us Today?

Before the Christian had God's Word in the form of the Bible, God used a variety of methods to communicate with Bible believers. For example, a burning bush and a talking donkey. God doesn't communicate with the Christian in any of these manners today. Today, God first uses his written Word to communicate with the Christian; and then a variety of other abstract methods are also used. But what makes abstract so hard is there is only a 50/50 chance you are right about what you think God is telling you. This is why it is important to know today's methods of how God communicates with the Christian so that we can stop and analyze what He is trying to tell us. Let's examine further.

God sometimes will communicate to the Christian with an open door. But be careful here because sometimes Satan presents open doors too. How do you know the difference? One way to prevent walking into the wrong open doors is to obey God's Word and stay in His will. In the Bible, Revelation 3:7-8 (NIV) tells how God had sent a message to the Church at Philadelphia that He had placed an open door for them that no one can shut. And the reason He had opened the door? It was because they had kept His word. The point is that if you are living in un-confessed sin, there is a chance that open doors placed in front of you are from Satan and not God. Psalm 37:23 (NIV) states clearly that the Lord firmly places the steps for someone whose ways please Him.

Closed doors are a simpler way that God can communicate with the Christian. These are doors that are clearly closed, and not doors that are open but meeting resistance. We find a good example of a door clearly closed in the Bible passage found in Acts 16:6-10 (NIV). The Apostle Paul felt like he and his companions should go preach in Asia, but he said that the Spirit of Jesus “would not allow them to.” It was God's will for him to go to Macedonia instead. The door to Asia was closed at that time.

God oftentimes will communicate to the Christian through circumstances. Circumstances, and especially negative ones, are frequently very effective in getting our attention. In Haggai 1:1-11 (NIV), we are shown how God wanted the people to rebuild His temple, yet they were concerned with their own houses first. The passage describes how the people worked but never enjoyed the fruits of their labor because they missed the blessing from God while they were out of his will. Verse 6 describes the people as earning wages only to put them in a “purse with holes.”

People need to examine themselves to determine why something is happening to them. This is also the time for a Christian to examine themselves to see what God is trying to communicate to him or her. Maybe there is some sin in your life that you refuse to give up and God is trying to communicate this to you. Negative circumstances do not always mean you are doing something wrong. Read the Book of Job (NIV) in the Bible and you'll see how Job went through the most negative of circumstances, yet it was not because he was disobedient to God. But it is obvious that Job spent much time in prayer and self-examination to make sure that he was in God's will.