instruction from God

Fresh Manna
by Pastor Tim Burt

Christians have been given a glorious benefit from God. That benefit is hearing and discerning God’s voice and receiving instruction, direction, guidance, encouragement, comfort, and peace from Him.

To learn to hear God’s voice, you must grow in discerning His voice from your and Satan’s voices. They all sound alike because they come from within you! But they don’t sound anything alike in what they say! You know your self-talk. You live with it every day. Satan is a liar and only works to discourage you, beat you up in judgment, and make you feel hopeless. That is what His voice sounds like. To understand God’s voice, you must understand who God is to us!

When you genuinely press in to know God and prayerfully study His Word (meaning you sincerely ask God to reveal Himself and what His Word means), you will discover that God is Almighty God, Heavenly Father, and friend. There is a balance that is important to our relationship with God as we learn of and hold onto these three truths.

Almighty God is our God.

If you could imagine a personal meeting with the President of the United States in his Oval Office, you might imagine the protocol, formality, and honor of such an event. You’d only walk in and say, Hey Prez, how’s it going? if you were clueless about respect for authority and irreverent toward it. If you did appropriately understand, you would probably dress your best, prepare your greeting, and try with honor and respect to make the most of your limited time. With God, our reverence and respect for Him should be magnified far above any human respect toward man. Psalm 113:4-5 (NLT) says, “For the Lord is high above the nations; His glory is far greater than the heavens. Who can be compared with the Lord our God, who is enthroned on high?”

Almighty God is our Heavenly Father.

Jesus reveals that God is our Heavenly Father. Matthew 6:31-33 (NLT) says, “So don’t worry about having enough food or drink or clothing. Why be like the pagans who are so deeply concerned about these things? Your heavenly Father already knows all your needs, and He will give you all you need from day to day if you live for Him and make the Kingdom of God your primary concern.”

If you’ve ever been a good father, then you know the depth of love you have for your child or children. You desire to love them, take care of them, and bless them! Jesus said, “If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!” Matthew 7:11 (NKJV)

As we discover and come to know God as our Heavenly Father—the perfect father that none of us ever had, we can experience greater intimacy between us and Him. It doesn’t mean we should become less reverent toward Him. It means that we see His majesty and reverence Him but also realize that the most powerful being in the universe—perfect and Holy in nature, has a deep, sincere, fatherly love toward us. How awesome is that, and how much more would it elevate our faith and trust in Him to watch over us?

Almighty God is our friend.

Some people would be overwhelmed by having a close, intimate relationship with a prominent figure or celebrity. If Billy Graham called me and said, Tim, can you and I have lunch and catch up? and he spoke those words as a dear friend; well, it would be extraordinary to have such a friendship. How much more mind-boggling to have an intimate relationship with the God of the universe? Moses did. In Exodus 33:11 (NIV), we read, “The Lord would speak to Moses face to face, as a man speaks with his friend.’’

He called those who would become Jesus’ disciples His friends; John 15:15-16 (NIV) says, “I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit–fruit that will last. Then the Father will give you whatever you ask in my name.”

In true intimate friendship, friends know each other. Friends share the deep things of the heart. They don’t hide things from each other. That is how God wants it between Him and us! God reveals Himself, His ways, His love for us, and His plan to save and help us through Jesus and His Word. He declares friendship! Amazing!

When we understand God in all three of these revelations and reverence and honor Him with the respect due to Him as God, we’ve prepared our hearts to speak to and hear back from God—our Almighty Father who loves us as a child and friend. When you have this heart and read His Word, asking God to speak to you and lead you through it, I promise He will. It’s the primary way He chooses to speak to us—as God, as a perfect Father, and as a friend. And so, we must give His Word first place in our lives. As we just read, Jesus declared, “I no longer call you servants because a master doesn’t confide in his servants. Now you are my friends…”

This is what the voice of God sounds like: Almighty, Father, and friend! He brings acceptance, love, instruction, guidance, help, comfort, and peace! And He is never too busy—not ever—to speak with you. But as much as possible, be prayerful and reverent, and have His Word available to speak to you!

Jeremiah 31:3 (NIV) “The LORD appeared to us in the past, saying: I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with loving-kindness.”

In His love,
Pastor Tim Burt

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