The Scriptures are the voice of God. So, if you want to hear God speak, read it. If you want to hear God speak audibly, read it out loud (Jim Osman, p. 270). Hebrews 4:12 tells us that the word of God is living, active, and sharper than any two-edged sword. Osman explained, “When God…
Another complaint is that when we believe that God speaks only through the word, we put restrictions on God by putting Him in a box of our own making. However, our stated views do not advocate God’s inability to do anything He desires. We are only stating that when God has revealed his will and…
The most difficult hurdle to overcome in accepting the model of making decisions based on the written revelation of moral and wise principles is that it leaves God out of the process. This can’t be further from the truth. First, God has given a perfect living Word that is able to make us complete, thoroughly…
We have already pointed out that the biblical examples never point to anyone waiting to hear to make decisions. There is no example of inner feelings, voices, signs, promptings, peace, or confirmation before making decisions. Individuals made decisions without much delay. As long as they acted in harmony with the revealed will of God and…
Any decision that we need to make is not a bad decision or against God’s will as long as we follow those revealed moral and wise principles found in His Word. When we’have made the decision, and the first sign of trouble, we may begin to question whether we have made the right choice. But,…
Let’s examine this model by applying two biggest decisions we can make in life. In this way, we can illustrate the way we make decisions, today. The first decision we make where God has given us some principles to guide us is in whom we marry. We will start by illustrating the use of God’s…
The Bible speaks of God’s will in the sense of His sovereign plan and control of world events. Such would include his plan of redemption and all that is connected to it. These are unchangeable purposes. Except for a few examples of revelation, God has not chosen to reveal all of His sovereign will (probably…
It appears very clear that even among saints of the first century and apostles who were commissioned to preach the gospel, supernatural guidance was not the normal activity of the day. Instead, there were supernatural occurrences that were directly tied to the spread of the gospel by those chosen for the spiritual growth of the…
The reason for this survey of divine guidance in Acts is to find similarities between the biblical accounts or examples of God’s guidance in the first century and the claims of God’s guidance, today. Just for the record, the fact that something is not mentioned doesn’t mean that it didn’t exist. It’s not provable, however. …
There are examples of miracles in Luke’s gospel and the book of Acts, but relatively few examples of God providing special directives to His people. In the next few weeks, we will explore these instances in the sequence Luke gives them. Jim Osman’s book, God doesn’t whisper, offers fourteen examples that we will explore. He…