Silas
Beloved of All
Your longing to hear the Holy Spirit and to stay close to Christ is good and right, and your desire to abide in Him and have His words abide in you is exactly where hearing begins. When you remain in His love and let His Word dwell richly in you, He gives wisdom and understanding and opens the mind to grasp what Scripture says.
The Lord has always spoken most clearly and most safely through His written Word. It is the lamp to our feet and light to our path, and the measure by which every other impression must be tested. Whatever comes through a sermon, through godly counsel, through circumstances that seem like divine appointments, or through an inner sense of leading, must agree with the law and the testimony. If it does not speak according to that Word, there is no light in it. Praying for the Spirit of wisdom and revelation and for the Spirit of counsel and understanding is biblical, and the answer to that prayer will always draw you deeper into Scripture rather than away from it.
At the same time Scripture shows that God has at times spoken through dreams and visions. He warned Abimelech in a dream to protect Sarah, He warned Laban not to harm Jacob, He gave dreams to the servants of Pharaoh and then to Pharaoh himself, and He gave understanding to Joseph to say plainly that interpretation does not belong to man but to God. He gave to Nebuchadnezzar dreams of the future and gave to Daniel the interpretation. In the New Testament He warned Joseph in a dream to protect the child Jesus and warned the wise men in a dream not to return to Herod. With Moses He spoke directly, face to face, while with prophets He often spoke through dreams and visions that then needed interpretation. The book of Job describes how God may speak in a dream or a vision of the night to warn a person, to turn them from wrongdoing and keep them from pride, and to preserve their life from the pit.
The prophet Joel foretold that in the last days God would pour out His Spirit and sons and daughters would prophesy and young men would see visions and old men would dream dreams. That promise reminds us that God is still free to use extraordinary means if He chooses, and He is the same yesterday, today and forever, and His arm is not too short to save. Yet even then, dreams and visions in Scripture never replaced the Word, and they were always subject to God for their meaning. A dream without God given understanding is only a dream.
For your own situation, your prayer for your wife, your children, your family and those who minister alongside you is heard. Marriage as God designed it is a lifelong covenant of one man and one woman, where husband and wife belong to each other and are called to show kindness and faithfulness to one another and to not withhold themselves from each other except by mutual consent for a time. When one spouse believes and the other does not yet believe, the believing spouse brings a holy influence into the home that covers the children and offers a testimony that God can use. Scripture encourages the one who is bound in marriage not to seek to be loosed, but to remain faithful, trusting that the Lord may use a life that reflects Christ to draw the other to Himself. That is not always easy, especially when a spouse has turned aside, but God is able to warn, to convict, and to turn a heart from wrongdoing, just as Job describes, and He is able to keep each of you from temptation, deception and the work of the evil one.
So continue to pray as you are, as a child trusting a Father, with love from a pure heart and a sincere faith and a clear conscience. Bring your requests with thanksgiving and look for His peace that passes understanding to guard your hearts. Remember that Jesus lives to intercede for those who come to God through Him, that He is able to save completely, that nothing is impossible with God, and that light is stronger than darkness. He has promised to give you everything you need for life and godliness, and He is fully able to do what He has promised.
Ask the Lord to keep speaking to you through His Word first, then through faithful preaching, through wise and godly counsel, through the quiet leading of the Spirit and the voice of the Shepherd that His sheep learn to recognize, and through any other way He chooses, including dreams that warn and redirect if that is His will. Test all things by Scripture, hold fast to what is good, and keep praying that your wife and each member of your household and all who serve with you will hear Him clearly, turn from any wrong path, and walk in His way.
Father, in the name of Jesus, open eyes to understand the Scriptures, give ears to hear the Shepherd's voice, and grant to this husband, his wife, their children and their whole family a willingness to be led by Your Spirit. Guard them from lies, fear, pride and the schemes of the enemy. Where there has been turning aside, bring warning and mercy that leads to repentance. Restore what has been broken in this marriage according to Your will, sanctify this home, and let Your Word be the final authority for every decision. We trust You to do what only You can do, and we thank You in advance for Your faithfulness. Amen.
The Lord has always spoken most clearly and most safely through His written Word. It is the lamp to our feet and light to our path, and the measure by which every other impression must be tested. Whatever comes through a sermon, through godly counsel, through circumstances that seem like divine appointments, or through an inner sense of leading, must agree with the law and the testimony. If it does not speak according to that Word, there is no light in it. Praying for the Spirit of wisdom and revelation and for the Spirit of counsel and understanding is biblical, and the answer to that prayer will always draw you deeper into Scripture rather than away from it.
At the same time Scripture shows that God has at times spoken through dreams and visions. He warned Abimelech in a dream to protect Sarah, He warned Laban not to harm Jacob, He gave dreams to the servants of Pharaoh and then to Pharaoh himself, and He gave understanding to Joseph to say plainly that interpretation does not belong to man but to God. He gave to Nebuchadnezzar dreams of the future and gave to Daniel the interpretation. In the New Testament He warned Joseph in a dream to protect the child Jesus and warned the wise men in a dream not to return to Herod. With Moses He spoke directly, face to face, while with prophets He often spoke through dreams and visions that then needed interpretation. The book of Job describes how God may speak in a dream or a vision of the night to warn a person, to turn them from wrongdoing and keep them from pride, and to preserve their life from the pit.
The prophet Joel foretold that in the last days God would pour out His Spirit and sons and daughters would prophesy and young men would see visions and old men would dream dreams. That promise reminds us that God is still free to use extraordinary means if He chooses, and He is the same yesterday, today and forever, and His arm is not too short to save. Yet even then, dreams and visions in Scripture never replaced the Word, and they were always subject to God for their meaning. A dream without God given understanding is only a dream.
For your own situation, your prayer for your wife, your children, your family and those who minister alongside you is heard. Marriage as God designed it is a lifelong covenant of one man and one woman, where husband and wife belong to each other and are called to show kindness and faithfulness to one another and to not withhold themselves from each other except by mutual consent for a time. When one spouse believes and the other does not yet believe, the believing spouse brings a holy influence into the home that covers the children and offers a testimony that God can use. Scripture encourages the one who is bound in marriage not to seek to be loosed, but to remain faithful, trusting that the Lord may use a life that reflects Christ to draw the other to Himself. That is not always easy, especially when a spouse has turned aside, but God is able to warn, to convict, and to turn a heart from wrongdoing, just as Job describes, and He is able to keep each of you from temptation, deception and the work of the evil one.
So continue to pray as you are, as a child trusting a Father, with love from a pure heart and a sincere faith and a clear conscience. Bring your requests with thanksgiving and look for His peace that passes understanding to guard your hearts. Remember that Jesus lives to intercede for those who come to God through Him, that He is able to save completely, that nothing is impossible with God, and that light is stronger than darkness. He has promised to give you everything you need for life and godliness, and He is fully able to do what He has promised.
Ask the Lord to keep speaking to you through His Word first, then through faithful preaching, through wise and godly counsel, through the quiet leading of the Spirit and the voice of the Shepherd that His sheep learn to recognize, and through any other way He chooses, including dreams that warn and redirect if that is His will. Test all things by Scripture, hold fast to what is good, and keep praying that your wife and each member of your household and all who serve with you will hear Him clearly, turn from any wrong path, and walk in His way.
Father, in the name of Jesus, open eyes to understand the Scriptures, give ears to hear the Shepherd's voice, and grant to this husband, his wife, their children and their whole family a willingness to be led by Your Spirit. Guard them from lies, fear, pride and the schemes of the enemy. Where there has been turning aside, bring warning and mercy that leads to repentance. Restore what has been broken in this marriage according to Your will, sanctify this home, and let Your Word be the final authority for every decision. We trust You to do what only You can do, and we thank You in advance for Your faithfulness. Amen.
