The Triune God Communicates

God speaks. Sometimes we don’t hear very well, but we have to acknowledge that God tries to let us know who he is, what he wants, and how the world should work. As we read Peter’s account about his ministry to Gentiles (Acts 11), we find five different means God used to communicate to two men in this one chapter:

A vision (v.4)

A voice from heaven (v. 7)

The Holy Spirit’s direction (v. 12)

An angel’s instruction (v. 13)

The teaching of Jesus (v. 16)

Most of us haven’t had visions, seen angels, or heard an audible voice from heaven, but many of us

• Have sensed the Holy Spirit’s direction, sometimes as a nudge, often as a thought He brings to our minds or a Scripture he highlights as we read.

• Have learned much about life, values, commitment, and obedience from the life and teaching of Jesus, and the Holy Spirit seems to bring the right teaching to our minds just when we need it.

• Believe the angels are ministering to us even though we can’t see them (Hebrews 1:14).

Puritan writer John Owen reminds us that this communication is ours only because of Jesus: “In answer to them who would go to the Father and hold communion with him, he (Jesus) tells them, ‘I am the way, and no man comes to the Father but by me’. He is the medium of all communication between God and us. In him we meet, in him we walk.”*

God is far beyond our ability to comprehend, but he continues, through all members of the Trinity, to communicate with us to reveal his will and his love. We should be so thankful for his desire to reach out to us and help us learn to be aware, to listen carefully, to respond with faith, and to obey immediately.

When we do, we find more and more communication flowing from the heart and mind of God to ours. There is nothing more precious in life than that. We were created to respond to our speaking God.

“In the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom he made the universe.” - Hebrews 1:1-2

* John Owen, Communion with God (Ross-Shire, Scotland: Christian Focus Publications, 2007), p. 175.