God, is that You?

Discovering that God is always present

THE LIfE, DEATH AND RESURRECTION Of JESUS shows us that God desires a relationship with us. He longs to set us free to live within the ethos of love— to know Him and ourselves as we are; to experience communion with Him and community with each other. He is willing and faithful to do whatever He can so that we can truly live. This includes being active in our lives and guiding us towards light, freedom and love.

While God most certainly longs for deep, abiding relationship with us, it seems that He doesn’t want this relationship to be one-sided. Just as He has chosen each of us, He longs for us to choose Him. Like any relationship, the more we want to spend time and get to know God, the more we will.

The first step in recognizing and being guided by God’s presence is found in our desire. The second step is reaching out and asking God to help us recognize Him.

What comes next? Once we’ve asked God to help us notice Him, how can we know when something we’re experiencing is from God? Sometimes the knowing is obvious, like fireworks going off all around us. Most times, however, God’s movement is subtle and requires discernment.

Discernment Discerning God is an art that takes practice and matures over time. Happily, there are some basic guidelines we can use to help us. Here are a few:

by Kathy Gust

Kathy is a spiritual director and led a workshop on different types of prayer at our 2020 Women’s Conference. You’ll find the video on Baptist Women’s YouTube channel

He is willing and faithful

1. Jesus: Any experience we have of God will fit with the life of Jesus as revealed in the Bible. (Colossians 1:15)

2. Truth: Any message or experience of God will be grounded in truth. Since truth leads to freedom, a good question to ask is: “Does this experience or perceived message of God lead to a greater freedom to love God, myself and others? (John 8:31-32)

3. God’s Character: God is gentle and kind. He is not a forceful or demanding taskmaster. He generally speaks in the language of invitation and leaves it up to us whether or not we’re going to say yes to

Him. Consider the rich young ruler in Mark 10:17-27.

Jesus offered him something to do and left it up to the man whether he was willing to follow or not.

4. Redemption: Even when God convicts us of sin,

He doesn’t shame or condemn us. He is the God of forgiveness, who invites us to repent so we can be free of sin and make choices that lead to life. When we are convicted of sin we can expect to feel things like sorrow or regret or a sense of loss, yet even among these things God is speaking His message of hope and love for us. God will not speak a message that takes away our dignity or value as people even when we’ve done something very wrong . . . with God there is always room for redemption and forgiveness. (1 John 1:19) 5. Fruit: The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control. When we are living lives hearing and noticing God, our inner and outer lives will increasingly reflect this fruit. When this is not the case, we need to prayerfully ask God to help us see where our relationship and discernment of Him is misguided. (Galatians 5:22-23)

6. Community: Talk to a trusted friend, leader or group about your experience of God and what you sense He may be saying to you. Gain the wisdom and perspective of mature believers who know you. This helps your community grow in discernment and faith together and protects you from being led astray by faulty reasoning, convincing lies or your own ego. (John 13:34)

7. Posture of Learning: It’s helpful to hold things loosely. We should expect that we’re not always going to hear God clearly and sometimes what we think is an experience of God will prove not to be.

Like any relationship, the more we spend time with and know God, the easier it becomes to discern His presence, voice and movement in our lives.

If we foster love, kindness and humility in our hearts; if we keep trying and asking God to help us, we will grow in our ability to discern God’s voice and will experience more of the abundant life Jesus offers us. (John 10:10) 

Practice

Think about an experience you’ve had of God that seemed like fireworks going off, where there was no doubt it was God. How does that experience fit within these guidelines? What about an experience where God has been subtle. Could these guidelines help you to discern if it really was God?

Consider asking God to help you notice more of His presence in your life today. If you have an awareness of God’s presence, take a moment to savour the experience. Consider what this experience tells you about God. What does it tell you about yourself? What is your response to these things? Share your response with God.