When trying to hear God’s voice, communicate with God, etc. – knowing some characteristics of God are very important.
It seems that many times we don’t know exactly what we’re looking for.
I mean if God is everywhere present, all powerful and all seeing, why do we have such a difficult time communicating with him?
Obviously we’re missing something.
Perhaps someone told us about God and so we’re looking for someone or something that fits that description. It may be that we’ve heard about God in church and we’re looking for those characteristics.
Regardless it seems that man’s search for God is endless and God is searched for any and every where.
There are two verses that help me understand what I’m looking for in the search for God.
The first verse comes from the very first chapter of The Bible.
Gen 1:27
So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. (NIV)
This verse lets us know that God is like us. Somehow male and female human beings are made in the image of God.
So we can be fairly certain that God isn’t a golden calf like Aaron made. Nor is God a statue like Nebuchadnezzar made. God isn’t the moon or sun.
The second verse is something Jesus said in John’s gospel.
John 4:24
God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth.” (NIV)
This tells us that God is spirit.
So if God is spirit and we are made in His image then it’s the spirit part of us that is like God.
If you had God pictured as an elderly gentleman with white hair and beard sitting on a great gold throne you might want to rethink that.
What does spirit look like?
Herein is the difficulty in finding and therefore communicating with God.
We’re so accustomed to searching for physical and tangible things we don’t even think about looking for intangible spirit.
We also don’t know what the spirit aspect of ourselves is really like.
How can we know? We spend most of our time involved with the physical body.
So, if we’re looking for spirit, how do we go about it?
It is likely that our physical senses won’t help us in the search. If we can’t see God, touch God, taste God, smell God, hear God with the physical then we need another way to sense His presence.
Using the physical senses will lead us down a lot of trails. The mind offers ideas about how God will show up in tangible ways and off we go seeking here and there.
We love signs of God. The problem is that signs of God are not God.
Chasing after signs of God will provide a lifetime of seeking if we choose it.
But God is a spirit and we’re after the real thing.
Spirit isn’t confined by time and space.
Spirit isn’t defined by physical senses.
This means that spirit can be found anywhere at anytime.
If our spirit is in the image of God who is spirit then we know God with our spirit.
The first step in finding God then is to know our own spirit.
Stilling the mind or intellect can help us sense spirit.
Meditation is a great tool for stilling the mind.
Now the word meditation often conjures up images of a yogi sitting cross-legged on a mat chanting some phrase over and over to some type of eastern music.
For the Christian the word ‘meditate’ often carries some anti-Christian connotations.
This doesn’t need to be the case!
Your praying is meditation.
When you seek alone time with God you are meditating.
Anytime you quiet your mind you are meditating.
Another term for meditation is contemplation
Methods may vary around the world and in different traditions, but it’s really the same thing.
The scripture says: Be still and know that I am God. That’s meditating.
Stillness allows simply being in spirit. Stillness closes the door on physical distractions.
Stillness quiets the intellect. Stillness silences all preconceived notions about God.
I was chatting with a friend recently about some of these ideas. She summed them up nicely when she said “Stop chasing after God – He’s right behind you”!
If you’ve spent a lifetime trying to find God, reach God, communicate with God, hear God’s voice – perhaps it’s time to be still and get to know God.
He’s right behind you – or as scripture teaches – God dwells within you.
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Great article post! I think that we all need to be still sometime. This is where God is at because He won’t dwell where there is bitterness and confusion. We all need to be still and meditate on Him everyday. I need to find more time to set aside for Him just for this purpose.
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