on hearing from God

I went to Oral Roberts University.  Not something that I brag about.  Oral gave us all a black eye, late in life as he insisted that if he did not raise 6 million dollars, God would call him home.  Even with that, ORU was a great place to go to seminary.  Great professors who saw through some of the shallowness of  hyper-spirituality.

The culture of ORU was fraught with people who were always claiming to have heard from God.  They were always saying, "God told me..."  It did not take me long to get sick of such statements.  I never say "God told me."  I recommend that we all stop saying it.

Really?  God told me?  What if I am wrong?  What if  my selfish nature has snuck into my thoughts?  What if I did hear it from God, but me saying it in that way puts you off?

I do think that God speaks, and we can know that we hear him.  I am simply saying that when we tell others that we have heard from God, we are setting ourselves up for embarrassment, failure, and are very likely to become an annoyance to others.

I prefer to allow you, the hearer to decide if I have heard from God.  You know in your heart if something is good, true and right.  You know, you can sense if my words or someone else's words seem to come from God.  We don't need to advertise it ourselves.

Those who say don't know, those who know, don't have to say.

Don't claim to hear from God.  Hear from God and live accordingly.  Others will see who you are and that is enough.

It's a beautiful day in God's world, be sure to see the good.