Kingdom Leadership

As long as there have been people living on Earth, God has been speaking to them. God has always expressed a desire to communicate what He is doing and what He is going to do. In fact, in the book of Amos, God tells us through his prophet that:

"The Lord and King never does anything without telling his servants the prophets about it."—Amos 3:7(NIRV)

If that is true, then it is important for us not only to listen to what God speaks to us personally, but also to discern who those people are that God is speaking important messages to, and to listen intently to what God may be saying through them. Just as He used many people throughout history to write His words that became the Bible, He also uses many people today to speak different parts of His messages to us. No one person has God's complete message. Jesus has many "sheep." He speaks to all of His sheep, and as He told us:

"My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me."—John 10:27(NKJV)

In the past, God delivered messages to His people that He intended to be included in the Bible and carry the weight of Scripture as His own inerrant Word on which we could wholly lean and by which we could guide our lives. That is not the case any longer. Although God still speaks very powerfully, the words that He speaks to us now are never intended to carry the weight of Scripture, and certainly never to be honored above the written words of God contained in the Bible.

There is no doubt that God still speaks today. He speaks powerfully, and He speaks often. Just as we must learn to recognize God speaking to us personally, we must also recognize that there are some important messages that God will speak to others. These messages do not carry the weight of Scripture, so they may not be perfect. They may even contain mistakes, because they are communicated through imperfect people, but if we are alert to discern and to hear these messages, many of them can provide some valuable insight for us.

"Whoever has ears, let them hear."—Matthew 13:9 (NIV)

With blessings,

Alan Drake