In May of 2023 I began a devotional series with a book written by Mark and Patti Virkler. The book is called: 4 Keys To Hearing God’s Voice.

In the book Virkler notes, “hearing God’s voice is as simple as quieting yourself down, fixing your eyes on Jesus, tuning to spontaneity, and writing.” Virkler notes that this is a process. It is a process that helps to reduce and replace rationalism in our attempts to pursue intimacy with God. Because of our intimacy with things of this world we have learned to rationalize why things happen the way they do. We even rationalize a lot of what God has done in our lives. We see the bad things that happen in life, and we rationalize that they are due to bad actors or bad behavior on the part of others. We do not consider that God himself has a purpose in allowing these bad occurrences. In the same manner when we see or hear of good, we attribute it to the good living of someone or even our own good living. But there is more that we are often missing when our focus is on ourselves or our surroundings.

Being more aware that God is intimately, and wants to be more, involved in our lives will also help us to be in a position to grow in our own intimacy with him.

In my early walk with the Lord, I would often become dissatisfied and frustrated with the mundane nature of my walk with God. I had envisioned being some great evangelist. Taking the gospel to the lost. But that was not happening. I envisioned being in the pulpit as a guest speaker sharing the Word of God with his congregations. That was not transpiring nowhere near as often as I had anticipated. Then one night in an evening service while my wife and I were visiting the church of some close friends, something life changing happened. The worship service was beautiful. We could feel the presence of the Lord in the sanctuary. The songs of praise and worship brought us into an environment that seemed to be filled with the presence of the Lord. At one point while I was sitting quietly next to my wife someone (whom I did not Know) came up behind me and laid his hands on my shoulders and I heard him say, “son” …. “Your time is not yet”. That was a turning point for me. Rather than being filled with anxiousness over what was not happening in my life I focused more on what was. I attempted to serve the Lord with all of my heart wherever I was. Rather than being discouraged by the lack of opportunities, I rejoice each time that I have an opportunity to be used by God in big or small ways. 

The more intimate we become with the God of the universe the broader our understanding of his heart for fallen mankind. We then become willing to follow him whole-heartedly not half-heartedly.

Virkler has a chapter in his book on Spiritual Intimacy. In this chapter introduces the idea of knowing God. Having an intimate knowledge of him that is deeper than a head knowledge or acquaintance. He presents the Greek term ginosko and the Hebrew term yada to refer to a deep intimacy of lovers (not a sensual knowledge). Ginosko implies that knowledge is gained through experience, rather than just reading about something. Similarly, the Hebrew word yada means "to know" in a deep, intimate, and compassionate way. This is the intimacy that God had with Adam. God desires that same connection with us that he had with Adam and Eve before their fall from grace. If you are familiar with the hymn I Come To The Garden Alone, this is the same intimacy that God desires to have with us. In the hymn the writer proclaims with great feeling, “And He walks with me, and He talks with me,
and He tells me I am His own, and the joy we share as we tarry there,
none other has ever known.”

Consider, beloved, the God of the universe, creator of all things and judge of all men wants to walk with us through our day. He wants to let us know that we are his. God wants us to ginosko him, to yada him, not just having an acquaintance or a head knowledge. But an intimate awareness and love relationship. In Ephesians 1:17 Paul lets the church know that he is praying for them and part of his prayer is, “that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him”.

Spirit-led Reasoning, Rhema, Biblical Meditation

Rhema: “The Greek word rhḗma simply means "any spoken word."

In the New Testament, there are two different Greek words used to identify words from God: lógos and rhḗma.

Logos is used in John 1:1 (NKJV). "In the beginning was the [logos] Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God" (John 1:1 NKJV).

Rhema is a spoken word. "And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the [spoken] word of God" (Eph. 6:17 NKJV).” (Kenneth Hagin Ministries)

Spirit-led reasoning-rather than being wholly focused on reasoning with our minds, Virkler suggests that we should intentionally focus on hearing the word of God with our heart. Reasoning with our heart, tuning into what God is saying with our hearts rather than our minds. There is a spiritual dimension to our abilities to hear and see with our heart. It is not emotionalism it is inward spiritual introspection. Our spirit taking in what God is saying. We can allow the Holy Spirit to speak to our spirit to inform us rather than running it through our ‘onboard computer’ (our mind).

We invite the Spirit of God to reveal to us (our spirit) the Rhema of God, as we meditate on the logos of God. We are not trying to understand it with our minds but rather we are trying to perceive the deeper message that will transform how we think and act. This is the work of the Holy Spirit that Paul talks about when he writes to the Christians in the book of Romans. He writes, “and be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.”

Consider, how often you have read a particular passage of the bible, and it vaguely made sense. But whether God sends someone to help you to understand it (as in Philip and Eunuch from Ethiopia) or the Spirit of God reveals to you the deeper meaning of the passage, all of a sudden it makes sense and you can act on it with greater assurance because you understand better. It is no longer a head knowledge it is a heart changing intimate awareness that only God through his Spirit reveals to us.   

Have you ever heard a testimony in which a strong believer confesses that he or she had been in the church most of their lives and never really heard the message of the gospel. How is that possible?

It is possible because except the Spirit of God illumines our heart and our mind we cannot understand the message of salvation. Consider the Pharisees and Sadducees of Jesus’ day. They had read, studied, meditated on, taught and even attempted to follow the Word of God. But they continually fell short because that intimate relationship with the God of creation did not exist. They were so deaf and blind to the spiritual message of God. They were following the teachings but not being transformed by the Spirit of the Word of God. So, When Jesus, the fulfillment of all prophetic scriptures arrived they did not accept him. They rejected him because he simply did not fit their expectations of the Messiah.  

But for me there was always this great fear of what was ahead. What kind of life would I have? Is success and happiness in my future? I recall in 1963 when President Kennedy was assassinated, I was struck so profoundly by his death. If they could kill the president, what kind of chance do I have? I was only eleven years old at that time. We had a next-door neighbor who was killed in his home by a relative. The reality of how death could come from any source was extremely shocking to me. At the time that our neighbor was killed my dad helped to subdue the man who killed our neighbor. The man threatened to return and kill each one of the people who had been involved in his apprehension. I was a pre-teen at that time. For a very long time that memory stayed fresh in my mind.

Don’t get me wrong. I was not totally obsessed with death but whenever I contemplated my future it was never with an assurance of what it would be. 

I think it was this uncertainty that drew me to the gospel message. I knew people in the church who spoke of eternity with such assurance and joy that I wanted to have the same assurance.

I attempted to be involved in “Christian activities” to achieve the same joy and peace and assurance that these believers were displaying.

I was especially involved in Sunday school both as a student and as a teacher. I read the bible voraciously. I could talk about its contents. I knew so many of the stories, but they were not producing the assurance and peace of mind that I craved.

I believe it was 1968 when something remarkable happened. We got a new pastor, Reverend Frederick Hobbes. This man preached and talked about Jesus as though he knew him personally. He was a dynamic speaker who made the scriptures that I had been reading come alive.

Then three believers moved into our community from California. AL and Carolyn Ford and Ted Clay had such a profound impact upon me.

Each of these people had a walk of faith that I wanted to experience. I purposely spent time with them to know what they knew, to experience God the way they did.

There is so much uncertainty in this life we live and yet because of our constant God we can have the assurance and peace that only comes from knowing him.