Individual Revelations?

Certainly. God gives guidance to His people to make decisions. Furthermore, God “calls” people to certain ministries and sends us to certain people.

On occasion, God sometimes gives very specific information for use in a one-time ministry event. (Sometimes called a “word of knowledge”.)

Yep. That’s what I’m referring to.

On occasion. I’ve had a couple of occasions where I’ve been led to say some very specific things to people I didn’t know or didn’t know very well that made little sense to me. But when I was obedient to that impulse, they knew they were hearing from God because it lined up with things they were praying privately about and had not mentioned to anyone else.

In another way, when preachers preach, often we may make off-the-cuff comments that were not originally part of our sermon preparation that just seemed “right” at the moment. I’ve had a number of people over the years come up after the sermon or bible study and tell me that the Spirit spoke to them specifically in those moments. (I think most people who have preached regularly for any length of time can attest to similar experiences.)

Yes, I’ve heard this point of view many times before. I think it is probably an over-reaction to some Charismatic groups who like to keep each other in bondage by saying “God told me to tell you…” and then proceed to give their opinion about an issue instead of a specific message. I’m always quite reluctant to ever tell someone that “God told me to tell you [something]” but usually recognize when it is actually the Spirit leading me to do it. The best way for me to tell is that I usually don’t understand why the words I am saying are significant to the other person.

BE VERY CAREFUL ABOUT PRACTICING THIS GIFT OF THE SPIRIT. You need to bathe every aspect of it in prayer.

Three other points:

1.) It does not usually happen very often – sometimes a couple of years pass before I sense God’s prompting.
2.) It is not necessarily a sign of spirituality but simply a matter of God uses who is available and a person who is not afraid to make a fool of himself.
3.) God used Balaam’s ass to speak to Balaam, and we shouldn’t consider ourselves any more important when God opens our braying mouths to express a few words.

 

In this area, I would not close the door, just like in dealing with tongues cessation. However, we must keep in mind that the primary way God reveals His will to us is in His Word and by His Providence.

 

Baptist Believer said it well. I just want to add a couple of things from my own perspective.

Absolutely! Whether it be in regard to where to go to college, or what job to pursue, even to where I will go to eat for lunch, God speaks to us! This is a great comfort, knowing that we don't truly have to worry about anything, especially if we are obeying Paul's exhortation to pray continually! And anyone worth their salt will tell us that prayer is mostly listening, not talking. If God isn't telling us stuff, what's the point of praying?

This is a touchy subject. In my opinion, this is a manifestation of the spiritual gift of prophecy. It is tricky, but if you are bathing it in prayer, as BB said, when God tells you something like this, He knows that you have reached the point of maturity where you can distinguis between His words and those of your own mind or Satan.

This is grounded in truth, but errs from it slightly. Probably what these preachers should say is that God no longer gives APOSTOLIC revelations(the authority to dictate scripture, govern the Church universal, etc.), regardless of what our Catholic brethren will tell you. God absolutely gives individual revelations and revelations to another person, etc. You must do as John said and "test the spirits," though. Never is this more evident than--and I know that I'm going to offend SOMEONE here--with modern day "prophets" like Benny Hinn. False prophecies abound from this guy! He's lucky we don't live in OT times, or he would have been stoned about fifty times by now.

Hope that helps some, and please don't hijack the thread with my Benny Hinn statement. Answer Grizz's question. If you have a problem with my statement, start a new thread or PM me.

--Landon

 

How is it that anyone is "called" to preach then? Did you receive guidance from the Holy Spirit, or did you just think it was the right thing to do?

Speaking for myself, I felt an unmistakeable call. I would not be leaving gainful employment here in southern Maryland for "parts unkown" in Missouri if that had not been the case. Yet I still consider myself Baptist. What do you make of that?

 

I never suggested any such thing. If you read the Bible, it also says to check everything AGAINST it. I'm not saying one should go and set himself up as Pope! It's a biblical example that God uses people to speak to other people. Look at, umm... Noah, Moses, Joshua, the judges, David, Ezra, Nehemiah....etc. all the way up to the apostles and those who weren't apostles like Luke, Mark, Jude... shall I go on?

 

Hmmmmmm, maybe we should collect these "revelations" and put them in a book.
Let's call it "The Word of God".

Rob

 

Bad idea. Jesus the Christ is the "Word of God" (John 1). The Bible is the written word of God for Christians through the ages. These revelations are merely God communicating to His people for very specific situations. These revelations do not reveal new doctrine, present a new gospel or alter the mission and work of the New Testament church.

In my life they have involved things like:

"[Woman's name] needs to talk to you. She is suicidal. You will find her at [specific place]. Hurry!"

and

"Get in your truck and go where I direct you. When I lead you to the teenagers, tell them that I have sent you to speak to them."

(I got in my truck and felt a strong impulse to go a certain direction down Main Street in Brady, Texas - it was about midnight and the streets were deserted. Near the edge of town I felt a strong impulse to pull into a drive-in store - three teenaged boys were sitting at a table in the food area. I went in, bought a soft drink and got back in my truck and drove away because I thought I may have been imagining God dealing with me. I was immediately convicted of disobedience, so I turned around and drove back. The teens were sitting outside on the curb. I walked up to them and introduced myself. Then I said, "This may sound crazy to you, but I believe God has sent me here to talk to you." Immediately they started crying. I asked what was wrong and one of them sputtered that they had been praying to God that if He was real, that He would send someone to talk to them about Him. I proceeded to speak to them about the gospel, the cost of discipleship and the need to join a local church if they commit themselves to Christ. All three of them gave their lives to Christ that night in that parking lot. )

 

Perhaps there is a difference between the prompting of the Spirit and special revelation?

Have your impulses ever been wrong?

 

I have not drawn that distinction in this discussion. Our difference may simply be a matter of terminology.

Not that I know of. When these incidents happen, the Spirit is very insistent with me because my tendency about these matters tends to be extremely conservative. In most cases, I usually don't follow the first prompting and then immediately face enormous conviction and change my mind and obey. I often have quite an argument with God about it before I finally give in.

Usually very good things happen when I obey these promptings -- people are delighted and over whelmed with a sense that God is concerned about them. I've also had some who have had a look of horror come over their face when I have managed to locate them when they were away from home involved in things they shouldn't have been involved with (like a fellow pastor's daughter who was spending the night with her boyfriend at a local motel. They were smoking a joint when I went to their motel room and knocked on the door. That was one of the most difficult things I had to do because I didn't know who I was going to see, but the message I had for her was to "Go home because you are about to ruin your life." She was nearly beside herself with anger, shock, and confusion -- but she immediately left and ended up breaking up with the boyfriend a few days later. I found out through her boyfriend's brother - who worked in the same office with my wife - that he was dating the girl because he wanted to "try out a virgin" who was a "preacher's daughter". He was only wanted to use her for a cheap thrill. Apparently her parents had been praying for her while they were out of town and asked God to keep anything from happening to her. It was very unpleasant for me, the girl thought I must have been following her around, but couldn't figure out how. )

 

Me, Too! Brother Bob!

Brother David

 

Amen!!!!

 

I agree, too!

Diane

 

I realize that sounds great, and I've said it myself a lot in the past, but I've been thinking quite a bit about that lately. Here's the hurdle that trips me up: the Bible itself does not say it is the "sole" authority, thus for someone to say it is the "sole" authority means that person uses their *own* authority to make the claim (since the Bible doesn't make it). In other words, you need a second authority to exist to make a claim that there's only one authority, which is self-defeating logic.

Put a different way: if someone tells me the Bible is the "sole" authority, by what "authority" should I believe them?

Just a musing I've been turning over in my mind the last few months.

 

God is spirit..his words are spirit. he speaks to our spirit.

God is alive and speaks to all believers who can, and desire to hear him.

unfortunately our carnal brain wants to re-interpret whats being communicated.

so now we can interpret what Gods revelation to our spirits are by using his written words collected in a book. (66 of em)
and thus to make his spiritual teachings mean what we want them to through our mental interpretations.
wether those teachings are received in truth or in error.

Me2

 

Many years ago as a newborn teen Christian I agonized over this aspect of God speaking directly to me. I remember one instance where I presumed that my inner promptings were God speaking. As I rode my bike home I traveled back and forth over various roads, backtracking and going forward, backtracking and going forward, eventually I made it home.
Obeying inner promptings can be like that; we travel over roads that have been traveled before. God’s Word should provide us with all the guidance we need. “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths” (Prov. 3:5–6)

Rob

 

I believe that as Christians, God speaks to us. Otherwise, prayer is a one way conversation. Saying that our only spiritual support and revelation is the Bible essentially says that God is no longer relevent in our lives or that He has chosen to withdraw Himself from modern day Christians. I also believe that miracles have occured since biblical times and continue to occur today. Where in the Bible does it say that God would no longer interact with anyone born after biblical times?

A statement that all of our knowledge comes from the Bible is tantamount to worshipping the Bible rather than the risen Christ.