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-- © GodSpeak International 2002 --
-- Do not republish without written permission from <copyright@godspeak.org> --

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS AND CONTRIBUTING RESOURCES
Author: Teresa Seputis ts@godspeak.net http://www.godspeak.net
Editor: Bob Hawley

LARGE PARTS OF THIS TEACHING SERIES ARE EXTRACTED FROM THE BOOK:
How To Hear The Voice Of God In A Noisy World, by Teresa Seputis ISBN 0-88419-7557,
published by Charisma House Publishers, 1-800-451-4598


Ways God Speaks To Us

Lesson 4
God Speaks Through Object Lessons

By Teresa Seputis

Object lessons are where we see something in the natural and then God shows us how this illustrates a spiritual principle. Jesus used a lot of object lessons when He taught. For instance, He said that faith is like a mustard seed. The tiniest of seeds grows into a huge tree, where the birds of the air can rest in its shade (Mark 4:32). The mustard seed is a truth from everyday life. The corresponding spiritual truth is quickened to us through the Holy Spirit. In this case it was: Even the smallest faith, when exercised, will grow into something spectacular and solid as we see God's faithfulness come through for us. Mark 4:33 goes on to say that "with many similar parables Jesus spoke the word to them, as much as they could understand."

An object lesson is when the Holy Spirit takes something in the natural and then quickens us "to understand." Sometimes these truths are simple and at other times they are profound.

Let me share the very first time God spoke to me this way. I was 17, and a new driver. I had been hungry for God and praying for weeks and weeks that God would let me see Him in His unveiled glory. I could not understand why He would not answer that prayer. Then I was in the car, driving through one of those tricky three-way intersections. It was almost sunset. Suddenly the road curved and I was headed straight into the sun. Glare filled my windshield and I could hardly see where I was going or where the other cars were in relationship to me. As I said, I was a new driver, and this was my first experience at being blinded by glare. I was terrified. I prayed one of those "God, HELP!!!" prayers. Somehow I made it through that intersection without hitting any other cars and the road curved again and then I could see. I was still shaking, as only a new driver can do, from the experience.

Then I realized that if I saw God in His unveiled glory, it would be as blinding to my spiritual path as the setting sun had been to my driving. If He showed me the full extent of His glory, it would blind me just like the glare from the sunlight blinded me a few minutes before when I was driving through that intersection. I might not be able to see where I was going spiritually and I might wander off of His path for me. So it was really a kindness of God that He veiled the full extend of His glory from me until I would be better able to handle it as I grew in Him. The spiritual truth I realized made perfect sense to me because of the experience I'd just had in the natural.

God loves to use object lessons that we can relate to, ones that speak directly to us from our everyday experiences. Ed and I don't have any children, but we have two dogs, Lucky and Salsa. We love these dogs dearly; they are almost like kids to us. So God frequently speaks to me from incidents with the dogs. Let me share one with you.

One day I got out of bed and went downstairs to bring up a load of laundry. When heading back upstairs, I noticed that Lucky, one of my two dogs, had placed himself squarely at the head of the stairs, lying down and looking at me expectantly with those big brown eyes of his as I headed up the stairs toward him. Now anyone who owns and loves dogs knows that look. It means "Pet me! Love me!" Lucky is a big dog (a 110-pound German shepherd) and was pretty effectively blocking my path. I would not be able to get past him without stepping over him. I bent down and gave him a good pet, rubbed his tummy and kissed his forehead. As I did so, I could hear the thump of my other dog's tail wagging. She was still lying on her bed, over to the right on a wide platform at the top of our staircase. I knew she wanted to be petted too. I finished petting Lucky then I went over to pet and love my other dog.

Then the Lord quite unexpectedly spoke to me. "Teresa, why did you pet Lucky before you petted Salsa? Do you love him more than you love her?"

"No, Lord, of course not. I love both of my dogs the same."

"Then why did you pet Lucky first?" He asked.

"Because Lucky had planted himself in my path. Therefore I ran into him first."

"Exactly," the Lord said. "He watched where you had gone and predicted where you would be going and placed himself in your path. Meanwhile Salsa just stayed where she was in her bed. So which one did you give your attention to first? You gave it to the one who planted himself in the middle of your path."

God continued. "It's like that with Me and My children too. I love them all equally, but the ones I will deal with and minister to first are those who watch where I'm going and place themselves in My path. I will meet the ones who just stay where they are, waiting for Me. But first I will meet those who go out of their way to seek me and who put themselves in My path. So Teresa, continue to watch where I am going and continue to plant yourself in the middle of My path, and I will continue to meet you there."

The revelation is not always dramatic, where we hear the Lord's voice speaking distinctly into our thoughts. Sometimes the quickening of the Holy Spirit feels more like we have suddenly realized something. This just happened to me last week when I was speaking at a conference. The worship had just finished, and it was my turn to welcome the people to the meeting. The microphone went dead just as the last song ended. I came up to take the mic and nothing happened. This particular meeting was only about 200 people. So I put the microphone down and began to project my voice. I had to practically shout, but at least everyone could hear me. After a few minutes, someone behind me tapped me on the shoulder and handed me a microphone. Apparently the sound system had been repaired.

I took it and whispered, "Can you hear me?" My voice filled the room and everyone nodded.

The contrast was stark. My gentle whisper rang more clearly through the room when amplified by the sound system than when I had been projecting as much as I could on my own. It was so easy to whisper into the microphone, much easier than when I'd practically been shouting on my own. Yet my simplest effort was so much clearer and more effective when using the sound system. This all hit me in an instant. And then I suddenly realized that it is similar to trying to walk the Christian walk in our own strength. Our best efforts may seem to get by for a season, but it is so much easier and so much more effective to let the Holy Spirit help us, just like the sound system helped me address the people. We need to lean on Him instead of on our own abilities. So I shared how God had "set up this incident" to illustrate how much easier and more powerful it is when we lean on the Holy Spirit instead of on our natural ability. God had used an example from everyday life to communicate a spiritual truth to us.

He loves to do that. He loves to reach into our every day lives and use object lessons from it to show us spiritual truths.


-- © GodSpeak International 2002 --
-- Do not republish without written permission from <copyright@godspeak.org> --

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