The God Who Speaks is a monthly newsletter written by Brad Jersak. In it, Brad suggests questions and hints relating to conversation with God, as well as some of the lessons God is teaching him along the way. To inquire about resources or seminars on Listening Prayer, contact us through www.bradjersak.com.

11.01.2006

The God Who Speaks - Nov. 2006


Dear friends,

I was directed to Jeremiah 7 today. What a shocker! And again, it is an urgent call to listen.

When praying with individuals who need to hear God’s voice, God consistently comes with comfort, gentleness, and encouragement. He is extremely careful not to crush us or treat us harshly (cf. Isaiah 42).

However, when He sent prophets like Jeremiah to the nations, God’s tone is often a lot tougher. He addresses our corporate inattention with dire urgency because He recognizes the destruction that ignoring His voice has wrought in our churches and nations. This havoc and chaos we create through our rebellion is often called “wrath” or even “God’s wrath.” If we were to get technical, we could say “the wrath we create by ignoring God’s voice.”

Let’s watch this and listen for the Word to us today.

Jeremiah 7 (NASB)

21 Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, "Add your burnt offerings to your sacrifices and eat flesh.

22 "For I did not speak to your fathers, or command them in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, concerning burnt offerings and sacrifices.

[Jeremiah is actually questioning whether God told them to offer sacrifices?! The NIV tries to “fix” this by saying “I did not JUST give them commands about burnt offerings…” We ought, rather, let the text as it stands disturb us and challenge us].

23 "But this is what I commanded them, saying, 'Obey My voice, and I will be your God, and you will be My people; and you will walk in all the way which I command you, that it may be well with you.'

[This is in line with the classic prophetic charges: 'To obey is better than to sacrifice' and 'I desire mercy, not sacrifice.']

24"Yet they did not obey or incline their ear, but walked in their own counsels and in the stubbornness of their evil heart, and went backward and not forward.

[Hmmm. It may be that listening prayer is important after all].

25 "Since the day that your fathers came out of the land of Egypt until this day, I have sent you all My servants the prophets, daily rising early and sending them.

[Who is rising early and daily? The prophets or God? Looks like God. He is up early every day preparing a prophet to speak to us... or preparing us to be that prophet to others!]

26 "Yet they did not listen to Me or incline their ear, but stiffened their neck; they did more evil than their fathers.

27 "You shall speak all these words to them, but they will not listen to you; and you shall call to them, but they will not answer you.

[In contrast to God in 33:3 - when we call to him, he WILL answer. He’s the most responsive Person in the universe!].

28 "You shall say to them, 'This is the nation that did not obey the voice of the LORD their God or accept correction; truth has perished and has been cut off from their mouth.

[What corrections has our nation ignored? What truths have perished and no longer fill our mouths? We ought to ask God. Warning: Don’t just default to condemning the old obvious sins. Is there also some “good news” that no longer fills our mouths?]

29 'Cut off your hair and cast it away, And take up a lamentation on the bare heights; For the LORD has rejected and forsaken the generation of His wrath.'

30"For the sons of Judah have done that which is evil in My sight," declares the LORD, "they have set their detestable things in the house which is called by My name, to defile it.

31"They have built the high places of Topheth, which is in the valley of the son of Hinnom, to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire, which I did not command, and it did not come into My mind.

[My friend, Bob Ekblad, would have us ask the Lord, "What are the high places that we've built in our nation? Are we called to take over the high places? Or take them down?

In what fires have we sacrificed our sons and daughters? Did God command this? Did it come to his mind? How does He feel about that? How shall we respond? Is there some good news if we obey?"]

I’ll leave it at that for today… a choppy bit of writing with no special bow to tie it up with. But the real value will come as we listen carefully ... let's remember to listening and allow for the Spirit to open this Word to us.

I'll just leave you with an announcement (below).

blessings,

Brad Jersak

Now available! Our latest book, entitled Shades: Nuancing Listening Prayer, is now available at www.bradjersak.com. Here’s a brief description:

"God told me"

Why do claims that God speaks today meet with such cynicism when even Jesus Christ taught his disciples to expect it? The track record of hucksters and crusaders who have besmirched God's voice leaves us wondering if there is an authentic revelation.

Where shall we stand?

In July and August, 2006, nine members of Agora, a newsgroup and think-tank based in Canada, engaged in a discussion with Brad Jersak around the topic of hearing God’s voice. The focus turned quickly to a rigorous testing of “Listening Prayer” as described in Brad’s first book, Can You Hear Me?

As we dialogued, the simultaneous resisting and affirming became very productive. The effect of bringing together our various “lenses” was reminiscent of 3D glasses in which the combination of different shades and points of view revealed a depth of vision not possible to any one person.

This book draws out biblical and theological foundations and implications of Listening Prayer while modelling the eager examination and open-hearted scrutiny that the Bereans used with the Apostle Paul (Acts 17:11). It will be of help to both the promoters and critics of Jersak’s teaching.

posted by Brad Jersak at 7:53 PM