“Pastor, I asked my Muslim friend if he’s been hearing from God since he began his fast, but I was surprised when he told me that he’s not holy enough to hear God, that only their holy leaders can hear God. Does this apply to Christians too?”
Although I’ve only read bits and pieces from the Quran, but I sincerely doubt that your Muslim friend knows what he’s talking about. Just like many Christians, the average Muslim do not take time to medidate on the written words within the Quran.
For instance, an average Muslim do not even know that the Holy Spirit exists in the Quran. In the section that was allocated to Mary, God was talking to Jesus when He said, “Remember My favour upon you and your mother, how I supported and strenghtened you with the holy spirit…”. Some Muslims argue that the holy spirit in that scripture was referring to angel Gabriel. Unfortunately, only two of the translations acceded to that.
Away from the argument, if they could meditate, then they should have realized that if God could strengthen or support Jesus with the Holy Spirit, then God can as well strengthen any Muslim with the Holy Spirit. Unfortunately again, many of them believe that God does not assist man with spirits, let alone the Holy Spirit. Even if I wanted to agree with that, the word “spirit” was used 21 times in the Quran. Just to further establish their claim, some of them would even tell you that God is not a Spirit, and that He’s in a class of His own; He created both spirit and flesh. They go as far as saying that if the Christian God is a Spirit then it means their own God created our own.
Personally, I like the fact that they try to give God such reverence, but it’s common knowledge that anything that isn’t physical is simply spirit. Spirit is the word used to define anything that has no particular form or cannot be confined to a form.
I strongly believe that every Muslim should take time to study and meditate on the Quran by themselves, instead of dwelling on sermons by their leaders. This is something Christians are gradually getting delivered from. We also used to be in that place where all we know are things our pastors taught us, but we now know better because we’ve taken responsibility to read the Bible by ourselves. We’ve found that many of the things that some preachers taught us had errors in translation, and some of them have acknowledged their wrong and made ammends. I’m not saying we no longer listen to our pastors, but we now verify the things they teach us, unlike before. You can’t claim to be worshipping a God yet the only way to verify the words of that God is through a person. Even Moses had to wish that all Israelites were prophets, because it was too much of a burden for a person to carry the burden of directing the people of God.
Now speaking of hearing from God, holiness has never been the parameter through which God speaks to people. If it was, God wouldn’t have spoken to Adam after his wife disobeyed Him, and He wouldn’t have spoken to Cain after he murdered his brother in cold blood. I’m not sure that there’s a sin that is greater than killing someone, yet Cain could hear God clearly. He even negotiated his punishment with God, and God agreed.
It was the law of Moses that affected our hearing. The law introduced sin, and the consciousness of sin introduced guilt. It’s hard for a man who has a feeling of guilt to hear God. Cain had just killed his brother, yet there was no guilt, so he could hear God. The only reason why Adam hid himself was because he was naked, he could hear and talk to God clearly. This is why terrorists will hear God faster than even a believer, they don’t have guilt. Think about it, Saul heard Jesus speak to him directly, and he replied.
That’s the very consciousness that God wants us to get back to, that’s why Jesus Christ had to die – so that we can become the righteousness of God in Christ.
If God doesn’t speak to a person, then it’s because He doesn’t want to speak to that person, not because that person isn’t holy enough. God chose not to speak to Eli, and it was clear from scriptures. In the case of Abraham, he didn’t hear God for a long time only because he was having family related issues with his nephew Lot. As soon as Lot was seperated from Him, he heard from God. Our state of mind has always been the issue, not our holiness.
Just yesterday, I spoke to someone about hearing from God, how that our holiness has nothing to do with God speaking to us. This morning, he was so excited when God replied to a concern he presented to God. He even said that God further told him not to eat anything today until 6pm. That’s definitely God!
We all need revelation, whether Muslim or Christian, and it can only come via meditation. The challenge may now be if you’re meditating on what is not true. It’s why you mustn’t dwell on what your preachers teach you alone, you must be a student of the written Bible or Quran.
I hope this has brought enlightenment to someone.
Remain ever blessed, in Jesus precious name!
#EmekaAnslem
#writer
#inspiration
#knowledge
#understanding
#wisdom
#revelation
#trending
#IncreaseWithoutEnd