Job and the Ways to Talk to God

6470 words long.

Published on 2024-04-25

When Job's life collapsed into ruin, he wanted only one thing. He wanted to talk to God.

The life of faith can appear complicated. There are many doctrines and rules to master. However, when calamity strikes, it gets very simple.

Where are you, God?

When people are trying to get a hold of me, they have options:

• cell phone
• house phone
• text message
• MS Teams chat message
• email
• ring the doorbell
• post a letter
• talk straight to my face

God has arranged many means for us to speak to him, and another set for him to speak to us. God has also told us ways that we should NOT use, which we call occult practices. Every Christian should employ all the channels available to them. In a crisis, such habits will come in handy.

When I studied the Book of Job in detail, I made a wonderful discovery. I found almost every permissible means of communicating with God (and vice versa) hidden within its pages. This makes speaking with God to be one of the key themes of the book. The Book of Job is the Bible's 911 call center.

This article will divide the means of communication into three categories:

• Those available to mankind before Jesus was born
• Those available to mankind while Jesus walked on earth
• Those special means given to the church at Pentecost

To those who wrestle with whether God has been fair in his dealings over the centuries, this selection will prove God's love. Most of the means of communication available to Christians today were also available to the people of the ancient world.

This article is not deep. It is an invitation to do the following:

• Employ the "boring", ordinary means of communication that are always open to you
• Pray to God that he might speak to you in special ways
• Trust that in His time, He will make Himself known in marvelous ways of His choosing

There are many other writers who are more skilled at the contemplative life than I. I encourage you to track them down to learn the depths of communion with God that are possible. My humble contribution is my personal experience with interpreting Dreams from God. Other articles on this website will also touch on the benefits I have received from scripture memorization.

As I contemplated beginning this article this evening, I was exhausted from a long day of work, still recovering from a week with a respiratory illness and caring for my wife, who just endured major surgery. I had to drive one daughter home from college, then pick up another daughter from her work to take her to the mall to shop. As we drove into the parking lot, the setting sun pierced the clouds and scattered through a light rain to form a glorious rainbow. When you long to hear from God, He is ever eager to talk.

Ways to Speak with God found in Job

My first list of ways to communicate with God appeared in Job Rises: Thirteen Keys to a Resilient Life. I repeated this list in the chapter "Two Time Paradoxes, Illustrated" in Peace, Like Solomon Never Knew. I scoured Job and thought I found all of them. Oops! I missed one. While getting ready for this article, I found another way in Job, one that Einstein would not approve of! It seems that God does play dice with the universe...

Here is my expanded list. It is not just a list, it is a powerful demonstration of God's love for Job. God can utilize many means to speak to humans. How many did God use to speak to Job?

Almost all of them! That is the magnitude of God's love.

And how many means did Job employ to speak to God? Every one that he knew. That is the magnitude of Job's love for God. In his story, Job:

• observed God’s attributes through Nature (like rainbows!),
• trusted the sayings of Wise elders,
• cast lots (or didn't - this new addition needs explanation!)
• Prayed,
• Fasted,
• offered Sacrifices,
• received warnings from Dreams,
• learned from his Suffering,
• observed a Sabbath,
• listened to the Prophets,
• marveled at God’s Miracles,
• benefited from the intercession of Angels,
• had a Theophany (audible words direct from God),
• prayed that his story be written down.

This last was Job's greatest prayer.

“Oh that my words were written!

Oh that they were inscribed in a book!

Oh that with an iron pen and lead

they were engraved in the rock forever!

For I know that my Redeemer lives,

and at the last he will stand upon the earth.

And after my skin has been thus destroyed,

yet in my flesh I shall see God,

whom I shall see for myself,

and my eyes shall behold, and not another.

My heart faints within me!

- Job 19:23-27

It is believed that Job was the first book of the Bible to be written down. Job's prayer that his story be written down therefore created the Bible! Thanks to him, we have another means to hear from God; we have his written word.

Reflect on this list. Some (like prayer and reading the Word) are within your power to pursue, while others (like miracles, angelic visits and theophany) constitute God’s unique response. As Job’s example teaches, one who prizes and employs the first may from time to time be blessed with the second.

A wide ranging discussion of all practical aspects of all these mediums of communication would fill a book, so this article will narrow it down to one consideration: the necessity of confirming all communication by reference to the Word of God. The importance of this was already apparent in Job's day.

Bad dreams. Eliphaz (in Job 4:12-21) employed information from a dream of his to attack Job. If you compare the words from the spectre in the Eliphaz's dream to Christian theology, you can tell that they are the sort of words that would come from an antichrist. In my own experience (as recounted in Dreams), I was tormented by dreams that I thought were from God, but were really from Satan. Only after I submitted the dreams to Scripture by meditating on passages in Psalms and Isaiah that employed the same images as in the dreams, did I find the truth and reject the messages from those dreams, thence receiving peace and release from the nightmares. In the end, the dreams were from God (who permitted them), but the messages were not. The dreams were a test that forced me to change what sources I relied on for ultimate truth. My experience seems to line up with Job's:

When I say, ‘My bed will comfort me,

my couch will ease my complaint,’

then you scare me with dreams

and terrify me with visions,

so that I would choose strangling

and death rather than my bones.

- Job 7:13-15

The terrible urgency of the dreams forced me, like Job, to throw myself upon the mercy of God in urgent prayer. That, not the whisperings of the dreams, communicated the real message.

Nature's God. God only speaks to people through nature if their worldview allows it. To most of my fellow classmates and professors at MIT, nature was saying, "There is no God." Or at least it was saying there is no Christian God. To them, a rainbow is merely the consequence of light refracting through spherical water droplets, with different wavelengths bending their path through different angles, thus forming a prism. To me, it is God's message of patiently giving mankind a second chance, baked into the laws of science. I can only properly interpret the signs and phenomena of nature in light of Scripture. Otherwise the world is entirely stripped of meaning or at best becomes theatre for superstitious omens.

Following my years studying physics and mathematics at MIT I devoted twenty years to the study of origins. I read dozens of books and between 5,000 and 10,000 articles about evolution, creation, the age of the earth, the great flood, ancient history, and related topics. Hardly a week went by during that time when I did not read at least an article or two on the subject. I had to be sure, so I followed down every doubt or question that I had as far as I could.

Why? What difference does it make when and how the earth was created by God? Here is why. Presuppositions drive how we read the Bible, interpret it, and bound our creativity as we try to imagine solutions to the riddles contained within it. In my books you will find a detailed theory of eschatology that attempts to reconcile many mathematical constraints. The constraints are the overlapping prophecies scattered through out the Bible. These prophecies have different start and stop events, divide history into varying numbers of periods, and intersect on key events that bring them into synchronization. If the Biblical chronologies and statements that tie events into those chronologies or help stitch them together cannot be trusted, there is no hope of understanding Bible prophecy. If we have no reliable way of establishing the years of the creation, flood, and Exodus, then we cannot anchor these prophecies in history.

If I was not convinced beyond a reasonable doubt that the Bible is accurate about history, I would not have invested much of the last decade in trying to comprehend that history. Only a strong faith in that accuracy made it possible to plod along, year after year, without seeming to make any headway until finally a dim understanding began to dawn recently. Without the foundation of a YEC view of things, it would be impossible to fix the problems that abound in current theories of eschatology. And without a firm trust in such a Biblical view of history, a believer will reject the truth when it is set before them. The cost of changing their beliefs will be too high. You have to believe that most scientists in the world are deceived about some of the science that they base so much of their worldview upon.

It comes down to a simple result from my analysis of prophecy. If there are regular prophetic structures in which the prophet recalls events from past history (sometimes going back to the creation) and predicts events in the future, we are left with one conclusion. A prophet who can accurately predict the future, a difficult thing which can only happen if they heard this from God, can also accurately report on the past. If the same regular, linear timescale is used to incorporate both the past and future events, then if the future events happened on schedule in the era when they were predicted, then so did the past events. In my analysis, this establishes a date for the Creation of approximately 4020 BC, with an error of less than fifty years in either direction. This rules out all modern theories of our origins. Again, a prophet who can predict the future can also recall the past. God would never build an accurate model of the future upon a mythic past and fabricated chronologies with endless gaps. The ability of the church to benefit from an accurate prophetic picture of the future depends upon us being able to trust that the Bible kept an accurate record of the past. The day will come when those who reject the Bible's prophetic message will suffer needlessly, unprepared for the trials to come as the day of the Lord approaches.

To sum up, I submitted my ideas about science to the teaching of the Bible, which has enabled me to progress where others have stumbled.

Casting lots. This is the form of communication that I missed in my earlier writings. When you are stumped on a major decision, you basically throw dice or use a magic 8-ball. In the book of Jonah, a storm hit and terrified the sailors. They assumed God was angry at someone on board, so they cast lots to figure out whom to throw overboard and so appease God. The lot fell to Jonah. On this occasion, the pagan sailors got it right, and Jonah got a first class ticket inside a big fish.

The Jewish priests were given rules for using Urim and Thummim (literally "lights" and "truth"), which were mounted on the High Priest's breastplate. They were employed to decide innocence or guilt, when evidence from an investigation could not determine the truth. This reeks to us of superstition, but we do the same thing today, tossing coins at sports events, issuing hot tickets to Taylor Swift concerts and using lotteries to issue green cards to immigrants.

The lot is cast into the lap,

but its every decision is from the Lord.

- Proverbs 16:33

The lot puts an end to quarrels

and decides between powerful contenders.

- Proverbs 18:18

I have never heard a sermon about how Christians may wisely use Monte Carlo processes to manage their lives. I would call this a feeble way to discern God's will, but there is surely a place for it. In the book of Job, however, Job attacks his friends, claiming that they would use the lot not to further justice, but to persecute the innocent:

Do you think that you can reprove words,

when the speech of a despairing man is wind?

You would even cast lots over the fatherless,

and bargain over your friend.

- Job 6:26-27

And don't forget the soldiers who threw lots so they could scavenge the garments from our crucified Lord. Not a practice I hope to emulate in my life.

Praying. I once debated a friend over whether prayer or Bible reading was more important. We were both foolish. How often is a one-sided conversation with God helpful?

Even prayer has its limits.

Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do,

that the Father may be glorified in the Son.

If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it.

- John 14:13-14

We need to learn what it means to ask in Jesus' name. It is clearly not a carte blanche. To know how to pray in a manner consistent with God's will requires patience and submission. Even Jesus, in the Garden of Gethsemane, ended his prayer with, “Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done.” (Luke 22:42) Only a careful meditation on Scripture can bring our will and the Lord's into closer harmony, so that we may know what to pray. The Lord has answered many of my prayers, some substantial. I have been healed of deafness and a knee injury, delivered from nightmares, received a job interview in a bad recession, was granted a place on a mission team a half hour after being turned down, given advice on how to spend a sum of money, and many more things. Some answers came the same day, some years later.

Difficult questions about how to interpret baffling Bible passages God answered by leading me through months or years of studies into topics I never would have thought were related the issue at hand. Which is more satisfying, to be given an answer in an instant, or to embark on a mysterious journey that ultimately leads to that answer? God not only makes the receiving of the blessing wonderful, he makes that receipt into an occasion for adding meaning to your life.

Fasting. I once fasted rarely, when I needed something. Now it is a regular part of my life. The pivotal event was when I realized about a dozen years ago that I did not understand or prize the Glory of God the way Moses or C.S. Lewis did. I had just searched for twenty years for a list of the heavenly treasures that Jesus was talking about in his Sermon on the Mount. When I identified the Glory of God as the most important, I made seeing that glory the top priority in my life. Every Monday for the next three years I fasted and prayed with the same simple prayer, "Lord, show me your glory." During those three years I received no special answers to prayer, had no dreams or visions, and experienced no miracles. I did not feel any closer to God. Then I stopped the fast. Was I giving up? No, I just knew in my heart that God had heard my prayer. A few months later I lost my job. Days after that my mother died. Later that summer my father almost died. Because I was unemployed, I was able to stay in the hospital with him. My presence to comfort him and monitor his care and my wife's suggestion that the doctor test for a tick-borne illness (Anaplasmosis) saved his life. All through the months of my mother's funeral preparations, care for my dad and hunt for a new job I was at peace. After that I was drawn to study Job and God at last showed me his glory.

In Exodus, God showed Moses his glory and Moses wrote down what he could in the words left to us. For me, it was the reverse. When I prayed to see God's glory, it was not a bright light or a thunderstorm that I was shown, it was the Words of Scripture opened up to me like never before. An unseen light enabled me to find resilience in Job, peace in Ecclesiastes during two years of COVID and a marvelous sense of God's favor shining upon my life. I got the best job in my life, designed and completed a software project that saved my employer a billion dollars off their liabilities, and had questions that have burned in my heart for thirty years answered, one by one.

I fasted from food, but I fed upon the Word. That is what fasting can do. That is how I came to understand Job:

I have not departed from the commandment of his lips;

I have treasured the words of his mouth

more than my portion of food.

- Job 23:12

Sacrifice. Job is introduced as a man who offered regular sacrifices for the benefit of his children. Not until I studied Job did I realize how vital sacrifice is in the Christian life. I never considered that it is a form of communication. By offering God a sacrifice, you are telling Him that He is important. The money matters nothing to him. It is our hearts that he wants.

For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

- Matthew 6:21

By giving our treasure to God, our heart is joined to His. He gives us something in return, but it is not always obvious what, and His gift may wait a long time before arriving. Recently, I was amazed at the things God was revealing to me about His plans across the centuries to liberate women from oppression. Marvelous ideas, but I did not deserve to be the one to learn these things. It ought to be someone who has toiled for years with a burning passion to see justice done for women. That person is not me. Other concerns have occupied my heart.

Then it finally clicked. About thirty years ago, I received some money. Knowing I was a fool with money, I asked God in prayer what I should do with the money: save, spend, invest, or donate? I named the exact amount. Days later I went to a prayer meeting. A friend at that meeting said that a ministry that they volunteered for needed a sum of money. Their need matched the amount of my prayer to the exact dollar. I went to my pastor and asked him to pray if that was the Lord's will. Then I made an anonymous donation, because Jesus said that if you give openly, the praise of other people is your reward. It was hard to make that donation. It was more than half of all that I owned in the world. The reluctance in my heart revealed to me that I was not as generous a person as I thought. In the Bible, many people who made a sacrifice to God also made a petition. My petition was, "Lord, grant me a generous heart." I did not ask for money, and over the next few decades would twice come to the brink of filing for bankruptcy, only to get help from family, friends or the church at the last minute. But the Lord has taught me to be generous, even when I have little. And then His generosity expanded to explaining the depth of his love for women. Why?

Because my donation thirty years ago was to a crisis pregnancy center. That was where I put my treasure, and the Lord responded in kind, sharing with me His treasure: wisdom.

Looking back, I can see other times when I made sacrifices, most not involving money. After each one, I grew as a person, grew closer to God, and received an unexpected benefit. The key is to make sure that the sacrifice is acceptable to God. Abel's was. Cain's was not. I have tried to learn from the Bible what is an acceptable sacrifice. I know that I do not always get it right. God is merciful and Jesus teaches us how by example.

Years ago someone told me the the secret to a good sacrifice. Jesus said, "I desire mercy, not sacrifice." What does that mean? It is about the attitude, not the action. The sacrifice-minded person thinks about what they are giving up; they count the cost. The mercy-minded person thinks of who they are giving to. They rejoice over the pain they are able to relieve or the joy they are able to share, not the cost to themselves. I started out life as a sacrifice-minded person. Every year, I get a little closer to mercy.

Suffering. The most shocking thing I learned from Job is that suffering is a channel of communication between God and man. By his death on the cross, Jesus communicated the depth of his love. There was no other way; the Gethsemane prayer proves that.

There is no other way for God to communicate certain truths to us than by suffering, whether Christ's or ours. What did Job learn? Job learned what he needed. He needed physical healing. He needed relationships mended. He needed someone to raise him from the dead. Job made up a list of everything that a savior would have to do to restore him. then God told him that he was right. God affirmed his "job description for a savior". I found nine qualifications for a savior in Job's prayers and pleas. These qualifications match nine events in the life and ministry of Jesus Christ IN CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER!!! At a time when Job was saying that he could not hear from God, could not see God, could not feel His presence, God was pouring knowledge into him that nobody else in all of history before him had been told.

In 2003, the Lord revealed to me in a dream that my family and I would suffer greatly for a long, unspecified amount of time. I only trusted that dream because days later it was confirmed by a visiting preacher in a sermon about Jesus calming the storm. Thus by dream, prophet, and the Word of God, I knew that the suffering when it arrived was from God and that I needed to trust Him to preserve me through it. Because I was promised that my family and I would endure, I had faith and the patience to not give up when I lost the next ten or more jobs, endured health and financial crises and trials of many kinds. I was not promised mere endurance, I was promised that the Lord would teach me through my sufferings. He kept his word. My faith has grown. My knowledge of the Word has grown. My life was miraculously spared. My sense of leading a life of meaning and purpose has blossomed. I have been able to offer advice and comfort to others in my church. I have been more than fairly compensated for all that I have endured.

Sabbath keeping. I would not have seen evidence of sabbath observance in Job had I not come across a sermon by Charles Spurgeon about Job 37. God sends storms into our life that force us to suspend our work. This is an involuntary sabbath. The wise take this opportunity to reflect on God. The rest grumble at the cave entrance and wait for the sun to come out so they can get back to work.

For to the snow he says, ‘Fall on the earth,’

likewise to the downpour, his mighty downpour.

He seals up the hand of every man,

that all men whom he made may know it.

Then the beasts go into their lairs,

and remain in their dens.

- Job 37:6-8

During the first two years of COVID-19, many people were in perplexity. Young people couldn't meet each other and go on dates. Marriages were postponed. Vacations were canceled. Children fell behind in school. Everyone was losing ground. My wife, however, enjoyed spending more time with her daughters. I was working from home, which saved me twelve hours a week of commute time. I sank that time into researching and writing Peace, like Solomon Never Knew. I spent two years meditating every day on what the Bible said about the path to peace - and I was at peace. That whole time was like an extended sabbath rest.

When such times come to you, the choice is yours. You can rest in God, or bristle at the confinement. The difference for me was that I dove into the Word. In God's word, there is no restriction:

He is wooing you from the jaws of distress

to a spacious place free from restriction,

to the comfort of your table laden with choice food.

- Job 36:16, NIV

Prophets. Job relied upon the prophets before him and then had the benefit of Elihu, when he spoke. A prophetess told me that I would soon meet a woman - I met my future wife weeks later. A visiting preacher's words confirmed my dream about coming suffering. Others have spoken prophetically into my life from time to time. The key is to test what they say against the Word. Jesus said that in this world we will have troubles, but he has overcome the world. I have had the troubles; I have also learned to overcome.

One woman with a deliverance ministry visited our church for a season and offered me counsel about a spiritual problem I was suffering. I quizzed her on her doctrinal beliefs. They were not orthodox, so I rejected her teaching. The church elders also refused to endorse her ministry and she left. No good came from following her advice. I was wise to test it against the Word, and you should do so, too, when such people come to you.

Miracles. Miracles alone are wonderful, but God in his wisdom often packages them in a special way. It is the packaging that gives the miracle meaning and draws you closer to God. It is like getting a present with a thoughtful card and a long, hand-written note from a dear friend - the day after you saw the gift item at the store and wished you had enough money to buy it but told nobody but God in prayer.

When you pray for a blessing and it comes to you unexpectedly, you know it is from God. You know he is real, he heard you and he cares for you. Sometimes the only gift you need is a phone call when you are sad. One afternoon after returning from Christmas caroling with friends, I was cold and tired. Despite that, before I lay down, I prayed, "I'm tired God, but if there is anything you would like me to do, just let me know." I lay down and took a nap. Twenty minutes later, I awoke, refreshed. I heard a voice in my head. "Help!" I said, "Help? Who needs help?" I heard the name, "Mimi!" I called up my friend from church who was named Mimi. She wasn't at home, so I left a message saying I was concerned about her and hoped everything was alright. A couple days later she called me and asked how I knew. I told her I knew nothing. Her name just popped into my head and I called to see if she was okay. Then she told me at the very moment that I called, she was at a friend's house, bawling her eyes out to God, wondering if he could hear her and cared about her. My phone call was proof to her that God heard her prayer. Her phone call to me was proof to me that God trusted me to help a person in need. That day we both received a miracle.

Elsewhere I relate my story of going deaf in my left ear in January 2005, then God miraculously healing it a month later. If it was just him healing my ear, that would be wonderful, but he wrapped the miracle in a Bible verse. The Bible verse magnified the miracle by giving it meaning and also by supplying my life with direction. Two days before the healing, while at the doctor's office, He led me to read these words from Exodus, where Moses is speaking to God in the story of the burning bush. After Moses complains that he is not qualified to go to Pharaoh, God spoke:

Then the Lord said to him,

“Who has made man's mouth?

Who makes him mute, or deaf, or seeing, or blind?

Is it not I, the Lord?

Now therefore go, and I will be with your mouth

and teach you what you shall speak.”

- Exodus 4:11-12

By this passage, God was telling me that not only did he heal my deafness, he caused it in the first place. The Lord was telling me that I was spiritually deaf, but that He would heal me of that, too. Then once I could hear Him clearly, He would teach me things which I could then speak to other people. That process of healing my spiritual deafness took years, required me enduring much suffering, and was successful. You see, that miracle was not for me; it was for me and all the people whom I can only help if I take my medicine. Once again, the miracle, like all other communications from God, is best understood in the light of God's Word.

Angels. The word angel has several meanings. One is messenger. Any messenger sent by God is an angel. They do not need to be a heavenly being. The second meaning is a supernatural being (with or without wings). Job was visited by Elihu, who served as a mediator between Job and God and helped him along the healing process. Elihu was a normal person type of angel.

I have never met anybody who has seen a holy angel, but I believe in them. The Bible cautions us not to obsess over them:

Let no one disqualify you, insisting on asceticism

and worship of angels, going on in detail about visions,

puffed up without reason by his sensuous mind

- Colossians 2:18

Because of that, I have not devoted much thought to angels over the years. That is why it is surprising that late in the summer of 2022, I uttered a prayer wholly uncharacteristic of my typical supplications. I prayed, "Lord, if I am ever in a situation where the only way to save me is to send an angel, please send an angel." I don't ever remember praying for God to send an angel. I am glad I did. When I fell through the ice on December 26 that year while skating on Winter Pond in Winchester, I got my angel. Her name is Erica Poitras, the member of the fire department rescue team that came out to me by sledge and pulled me from the freezing water. She is the messenger whom God sent to save my life in answer to an eerily prescient prayer. Twenty-five minutes in the frozen water brought me the closest to death I have ever been. The fall broke my arm and required a plate and seven screws to repair. Without expert help, I would have died.

The rescue alone I might have chalked up to the normal professionalism of the Winchester Fire Department. However, because I prayed that prayer just a few months before, I know that God foresaw my folly, caused me to pray, and then answered my prayer. I know my rescue was a miracle and that God sent the angel of his own choosing. (A week later, he sent a different angel on a different mission, but that is another story.)

Theophany or Christophany. Job saw a theophany when God appeared to him in a whirlwind. I have never seen God manifest himself like that. I have also never seen the risen Christ, but I know someone who has.

A few decades ago, I attended Bible study for several years with a dentist, Dr. Ross Geldart. He was a sober, hard working man and a sincere Christian not given to telling tall tales. He shared how he once injured his eye. He was in the hospital, blind in one eye from the injury. The doctors said he might go blind in the other eye, too, because of the risk of infection. One night he was lying in his hospital bed. Out of his good eye he saw someone standing at the end of his bed. It was Jesus! The Lord didn't say a word. Then he was gone and my friend had his sight back. The rest of his life, he made good use of those eyes. He visited prisoners, distributed Bibles as a Gideon. led Bible studies, cared for his disabled son, and pursued numerous other charitable activities.

I have shared these stories so that you may know that the ways that God communicated in the times of Job, thousands of years ago, are not so different from the ways he still speaks to people today. God is real and accessible. He longs for us to speak to him and he is eager to talk back. Despite the impression that my stories may leave, most of my Christian life consists in praying, reading the Bible, listening to sermons and Christian music, and serving others through my church. It is not flashy or mystical. At odd intervals God intervenes in special ways. Those memories carry me through months and years of hardship and confusion, secure in the knowledge that in unseen ways, the Lord is walking with me, guiding and guarding my steps.

Ways to Speak with God available to the Disciples

This section is very short. Jesus walked with his disciples and talked to them face to face. He put his hands on them to heal. He gave them power to cast out demons and heal.

We do not experience Jesus in the flesh as the disciples did. However, we have the most important of his words recorded for us to review whenever we want. We have his promise that he will be with us always, even until the end of the age. By faith, we know he is walking by our side, guiding us. By faith, we can do greater things.

O, how many times I have read the Bible and felt so close to one of the characters that I felt the Lord was there speaking to me! I can be thankful for the work that the apostles did, but I do not need to walk with Jesus in the flesh to be close to him, because I know that one day I will and that is a glorious hope.

Ways to Speak to God since Pentecost

Finally, if there is anything new in the communication department, it began at Pentecost. Paul called this the Mystery of God: Christ in us, the hope of glory. This is why we can live fulfilling lives without seeing Jesus in the flesh. The Holy Spirit dwells inside us! This does not so much open new lines of communication, it mostly deepens the ones we already have. The veil is torn from our eyes and we can understand the Bible in ways that the Old Testament saints could not. Miracles are still miracles, but now some people receive the gift of healing. Wisdom is still wisdom, but now some receive words of wisdom. Prayer is still prayer, but some pray in tongues. Everything is enriched and expanded. Even the sabbath is now the Lord's day. We share holy communion and there is a power in that.

Talk to God. Do not be envious of the experiences of others, because God has his own way to talk to you. And despite all that I said, I have learned more from prayer than dreams, more from suffering than miracles, more from sacrifice than spiritual gifts, and more from the Bible than from angels, but I treasure it all.

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Links to the other articles in this section:

Spiritual Growth Introduction to the articles about spiritual growth.

What are Life's Twelve Most Important Questions? If you can answer these questions, you know the way better than the Mandelorian.

What are the Heavenly Treasures? It is one thing to list these treasures, quite another to acquire them!

The Harvest Pattern of Jesus A tactical pattern for overcoming an individual obstacle and reaping a single spiritual harvest.

The Growth Pattern of Solomon Overview of a strategic pattern to help you plan your whole life.

• There is a Season The chapter from Peace, like Solomon Never Knew where I first introduced the Growth Pattern.

• The Apostle Paul's Discipleship Program Shows how the first seven letters of Paul to the churches are arranged according to the Growth Pattern.

• Seven Facets of Spirit-led Discipleship The Sermon on the Mount conforms to the Growth Pattern.

The Motherhood Pattern A strategic pattern for women.

The Law Pattern of Moses The law does more than restrict; it also guides.

The Journey Pattern It is a long journey back to Eden.

Emotional Prophecies of the Psalms

Job and the Ways to Talk to God

Job Description for a Savior Job knew what he needed in a savior. Do you?

Dreams Dreams can guide you, paralyze you, or lead you astray. In my case, it was all three.

Spiritual Warfare Somebody IS out to get you.