Jeremiah 29:11 - “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”

How can we hear from God?  How can we know his will?  In the Bible, God gives many general guidelines about how to please him (faith, righteousness, sanctification), and how we displease him (selfishness, sin, lies, etc.).  These are general revelations, applicable to everyone. 

The Bible also teaches us that God wants to speak to us in specific situations, in the individual instances we face day to day.  The Scriptures present different ways that God speaks to us individually: through dreams, prophetic revelations, visions, signs, and through the priestly practice of “inquiring of God.”  (See Judges 18:5, Judges 20:18-27; 1 Samuel 14:36; 1 Samuel 22:15; 1 Chronicles 13:3, 1 Chronicles 14:10-14; 1 Chronicles 21:30; Ezra 7:13-17; Isaiah 8:19-20).  Those who neglected this latter means of learning God’s will often came under the Lord’s discipline (see Josh. 9:14; 1 Chronicles 10:14; Jeremiah 10:21).

For the sake of discussion, we could even say that these means of divine communication fall into two general categories – spiritual gifts and inquiring of the Lord.  All through the Bible, God speaks to His faithful servants through these ways.  These two categories of God’s communication are not independent of each other, though.  Instead, they always worked together perfectly.  Today in the church age, it is the same.

God speaks to us today when we ask him to give us a sign through his Word.  He also speaks through the spiritual gifts.  These two means of hearing from God can work together.  We test the spiritual gifts by asking God to speak through a verse to confirm if the dream, vision, or revelation comes from him.  At the same time, when we are facing a decision, confirmed spiritual gifts or revelations take precedence over any answer we may receive through a single verse from the Bible.  When God takes the initiative to speak to us through a spiritual gift, it transcends the main limitation on consulting the Word- namely, the fact that we frame the question that we submit to the Lord based on our own human understanding and experience.  The spiritual gifts allow God to break through our limited experience, especially at times when we might be asking the wrong question in consulting the Word.  

CONFIRMED GIFTS – If the Lord takes the initiative to speak through a gift, and it the verses confirm it, then we should not attempt to override the revelation by asking God for a verse again.  Suppose, for example, that the pastor wanted to do an evangelistic crusade the following month, and the Lord revealed in a dream to a deacon that this was not God’s will, and would produce no good fruit.  The pastor, in his disappointment, must not ask God for a verse regarding permission to go ahead with the crusade despite the revelation.  He may receive a positive verse, but the answer was not from the Holy Spirit in this case.  Rather he has rejected God’s revelation and is inviting some other spirit to speak to him, to tell him what he wants to hear.

Similarly, suppose a church member is considering changing jobs (for what appears to be a viable, legitimate employment opportunity).  If the Lord warns him through a dream, vision, or revelation not to take that job, he must not ask God for a verse from the Word about whether he can go ahead and take it despite the revelation.  God will not speak through the Word to us about a matter if we have already rejected his revelation about it.  The revelation may not be what we want to hear, but the Lord warns us about potential problems because he loves us.

Yet we can ask God to speak through the Word for remaining details left unanswered by a gift.  For example, we may need ask God to speak through the Word about the correct timing or manner to carry out the Lord’s instruction.  The Lord may reveal that the message in a service should be about Jesus multiplying the loaves and fish.  Each of the four Gospels recounts one or two such miracles, so the pastor may consult the Lord about which of these texts to use in the message (each of the passages includes some details the others omit).  The Lord may tell a sister through a dream that she should enroll in a certain course of study, like nursing, but she may have to consult the Word about whether to enroll immediately or wait until the following school year, when she might have more funds saved for tuition.  The Lord will speak through his Word so that we can know exactly how to do his will.  Revelation is for those who want to obey.