Spoken communication was established by God from the beginning…
“The LORD God commanded the man, saying, “From any tree of the garden you may eat freely…” (Gen. 2:16)
The devil spoke to eve and convinced her that she did not understand what God meant when He said don’t eat. Eve first then Adam disobeyed God and the Lord had a long conversation with them about the curses upon them for their disobedience.
God created us with the ability to communicate, to speak and understand one another and God. The communication process went along well until God wanted to speak to His people after He delivered them from Egyptian bondage. When God was spectacularly manifesting Himself, the people were afraid: “Then they said to Moses, “Speak to us yourself and we will listen; but LET NOT GOD SPEAK TO US, or we will die.” (Exo. 20:19)
One of the most important abilities God created in us, the ability to hear Him for specific direction for our lives, was rejected by man. So, God began to speak through His leaders. “Then the anger of the LORD burned against Moses, and He said, “Is there not your brother Aaron the Levite…You are to speak to him and put the words in his mouth; and I, even I, will be with your mouth and his mouth, and I will teach you what you are to do. “Moreover, he shall speak for you to the people; and HE WILL BE AS A MOUTH FOR YOU AND YOU WILL BE AS GOD TO HIM.” (Exo. 4:14-16)
Now we have God speaking to Moses, Moses speaking to Aaron and Aaron speaking to the people.
So, what do we do to restore God’s original plan? Can we restore that plan for our lives? God revealed His plan for us about fasting. He said that when we fast the fast that God has chosen…“Then you will call, and THE LORD WILL ANSWER; You will cry, and He will say, ‘HERE I AM…” (Isa. 58:9)
We see many examples in the scripture where God spoke to David, Samuel, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel and Daniel. Then in the New Testament, one of my favorites was when God spoke to Ananias: “Now there was a disciple at Damascus named Ananias; and the Lord said to him in a vision, “Ananias.” And he said, “Here I am, Lord.” And the Lord said to him, “GET UP AND GO TO THE STREET CALLED STRAIGHT and inquire AT THE HOUSE OF JUDAS for a man from Tarsus named Saul, for he is praying…” (Acts 9:10-11) I often hear nowadays that God speaks to us through His word, I believe that as well but here we see Ananias needed an address and God SPOKE TO HIM and gave him one.
We see this phrase 12 times in the book of Revelation: “He who has an ear, LET HIM HEAR what the Spirit says to the churches…” (Rev. 2:7)
This is one of the abilities the devil has taken from us, “our being able to hear the voice of the Lord.” “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.” (John 10:10)
The devil comes to steal away our belief that we can hear the voice of the Lord. Then he kills our desire that we can actually hear God’s voice, then destroys our ability to have ears to hear the voice of the Lord. Jesus says He came so we have abundant life, a better quality of communication with the giver of life. We must believe that we will take back what that the devil has taken from us and that we will have ears to hear, once again, what our creator and maker is saying to us.
-Bill Stockham