Does God Really Speak Today?
Written by Matt Tague   
Tuesday, 06 October 2009 13:03
A popular question that people ask is "Does God really speak to humans today?" Two answers emerge from Christians. Yes or no. There are very intelligent people who find themselves disagreeing over this issue. My own answer is an unqualified YES.
by MattTague


A popular question that people ask is "Does God really speak to humans today?" Two answers emerge from Christians. Yes or no. There are very intelligent people who find themselves disagreeing over this issue. My own answer is an unqualified YES.

We can all think of a preacher on TV or a wierdo that we know who claims God is speaking through them when it is obviously not the case. For the sake of the argument among sincere Christians, let's just throw that extreme example out for a moment and deal with the more subtle and delicate question of "Does God really speak to his people today apart from the Bible?"

The group that usually answers no to the question give examples of someone who told others that God spoke to them and they ended up being wrong and it hurt someone. This example is powerful because that is a very tough life experience. It seems to give God a bad reputation when someone does that. But is that any reason to really believe that God never speaks anymore?

Think about this: In the history of the church, God has used two instruments to speak to his people: the Bible and the Holy Spirit. We all know people who don't know how to correctly interpret the Bible, but is that any reason to start believing that God doesn't speak through the Bible? No way. In a similar way, some people don't know how to interpret what the Holy Spirit is doing, but that is no reason to believe that he doesn't speak to us today.

The person of the Holy Spirit and the living Word of the Bible work similarly in our lives as Christians. Neither of them have a 100%, always right interpreter for us to look to in order to solve every moral, ethical or doctrinal question. We can and do disagree about what the Bible says at times. We also can and do disagree about what the Holy Spirit can say to God's people. But the fact that there are abuses of these two instruments does not mean that we should close our ears to them and believe that they don't speak.

A Bible passage to support the speaking role of the Holy Spirit is found in John 14:6. "I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, who will never leave you. He is the Holy Spirit, who leads you into all truth." If God the Holy Spirit really is inside of us after salvation, then he must speak to us. If he speaks to us, then God still speaks to us today. It doesn't make sense that the Holy spirit is our advocate, helper, and comforter but that he never says anything to us. God does speak to us today. Listen to his voice.

About the Author:

Matthew Tague is a pastor in Southern California. He loves helping people learn to read and enjoy the Bible. Find out more by going to his web site.