By: Tania Harris
It’s the most common question I am asked… how do you know it’s God?
At God Conversations, we teach a threefold process of testing based on the most significant God conversation of the early church and two thousand years of church tradition: Peter’s vision of the unclean food. Peter’s story highlights three questions we can ask of any experience: Would Jesus say this? Is someone else saying this? And are spiritual signs following this? (Read about the three test questions from Peter’s story).
Amanda’s story illustrates beautifully how this works! In her own words:
“God has always been a part of my life, however it was only two years ago that I found a church, started reading the Bible and was baptised. I thought I could hear God talking to me, but being a new Christian, I had doubts whether it was just my thoughts.”
Then I was invited to attend one of the God Conversations workshops that equips people to “recognise and respond to God’s voice”. This was exactly what I needed!
At the time, I wasn’t coping after being terribly betrayed by someone I loved deeply. I’d been crying on and off for six weeks after she had told terrible lies about me. How was I to deal with such a narcissistic person? I was fighting hard not to seek revenge as I wanted to stay true to my Christian self, however I was struggling with thoughts as to how I could even the score.
At the workshop, our first exercise was to close our eyes and ask God, “what are you saying to me?”
The answer came loud and clear; “unconditional love.”
At morning tea, I told my friend about what God had said. She shared with me a proverb in the Bible about “putting coals on another person’s head.” In biblical times, this was a way of making a person ashamed of their hostility by surprising them with kindness. We had also learnt in the workshop that when God speaks to us, it will be true to God’s character in Jesus.
We then broke into groups of three and took turns praying over one another. Tania said that we’ll know it is God when God speaks through someone else.
When it was my turn to be prayed for, one of the women saw a vision of fire over my head. Someone was billowing the flames so that the fire was roaring. As she prayed, a deep sense of healing and love swept over me!
I arrived home with such excitement and couldn’t wait to read again about the proverb of the coals:
If your enemy is hungry, give him food to eat; if he is thirsty, give him water to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head, and the Lord will reward you. (Proverbs 25:21-22)
Now I understood. Later in the Bible, Paul explains the proverb; don’t repay evil for evil but repay evil with good (Romans 1:20-21). I knew what to do – God was calling me to unconditionally love the one who hurt me. I felt a deep sense of peace.
As I continued to love my friend over the past couple of months, she has softened and our relationship is definitely on the mend. I no longer feel she can manipulate and control me. I just love her unconditionally and leave the rest to God.
In Amanda’s story we see the beautiful and profound confirmation of the Holy Spirit, making the message clear. Firstly, yes Jesus would say, “show kindness to the one who hurt you.” Yes, someone else did say, place burning coals on the perpetuator’s head and yes, spiritual signs of love and healing followed the word of the Lord! For those who seek to listen to God and do what God says, God is able to make it clear.
Article supplied with thanks to God Conversations.
About the Author: Tania Harris is a pastor, speaker, author and the founder of God Conversations.
Feature image: Image Sourced from Unsplash