Surprised by the Voice of God
Jack Deere
A Book Review Presented to Jeremy Walker Instructor in Discipleship (B) Columbia Bible College
By Donovan Neufeldt Nov 17, 2007 Box 623
-2The book, Surprised by the Voice of God , is about the voice of God, and how to hear it. He suggests that this is not as complicated as many of us would think. Jack Deere focuses primarily on developing a personal relationship with God and how ordinary Christians can learn to recognize His voice, be strengthened in their own walk, and also be able to strengthen others in theirs. We are also given vast amounts of facts, testimony, and scripture, to reveal that God does still speak to his people in this day, which is very beneficial to those (such as Jack Deere and I) who used to believe that God speaks today through scripture alone. This paper will summarize some of the key subject matter of this book, address some things that stood out as profound to me, and how this applies to my current journey with God. This book begins with a testimony of the first time Jack Deere heard the voice of God (in this scenario as a word of knowledge, which lead to a powerful deliverance for one of his former seminary students). He then goes on to say how the people of the Bible, especially the New Testament Christians were spoken to regularly though such things as dreams, visions, circumstances, impressions, promptings, scripture, and many other methods as well. This is why Paul gave detailed instructions to the Corinthians concerning the use of prophecy, tongues, words of wisdom, words of knowledge, and discernment of spirits. (1Cor. 12-14). Many of us today act as though the Holy Hol y Spirit is an impersonal force that provides, “vague, ill-defined, ill-defined, general guidance.” (p. 19) Deere points out that we often don’t hear him because we are ignorant of the varied ways in which He speaks, because He often says more than we want to hear, or because it has been drowned out by competing voices (such as our emotions, outside pressures, and/or the voice of the enemy). Jack read and memorize the Bible often, but never expected what he read to be reproduced in his life; he believed they were “Special People living in special times.”(p.21) This, however, is a very unbiblical way of reading the Bible. It is much more biblical to think of Jesus as our supreme example for both life and ministry.
-3I found it very interesting how Deere points out that God’s humility leads Him to come to us in ways that make it easy for us to reject him (Who would have imagined God would enter the world in a feeding trough, amongst the filth of dirty animals and their byproducts?). We are also informed that the humble will be the first to hear the voice of God. Another New Testament pattern observed by this book is that of hearing God in order to serve Him, which is done through the Holy Spirit. We should also recognize that God enjoys speaking in a variety of different ways and expects us to listen to any way in which he chooses to communicate. The more of his ways that we can hear, the more of his ways we will hear. I found it very profound how chapter four points out that divine communication is so excessively present in the book of Acts. Some try to dismiss the testimony of Acts by calling it a transitional book, however, this would refer to a transition backwards to the religion of the Pharisees who preferred the Book over the living, speaking word of God, rather than the transition Jesus predicted (to an age of revelation b y the Holy Spirit who would surprise God’s people by teaching, teachi ng, reminding, testifying and showing… exactly what the Hol y Spirit did in the early church). (p. 61) This biblical example (the Christianity of Acts) should be our goal. This is why Paul said, “Therefore, my brothers, be eager to prophes y, and do not forbid forbid speaking in tongues.” (1 Cor. 14:39) “Acts does represent normal Christianity, anything less is less. Perhaps it only takes faith the size of a mustard seed for God to speak to us as he did to those in Acts. I found chapter five, “Presbyterian Prophets?” to be a very interesting and p owerful account of God speaking prophetically in the time and place where we would least expect it to have occurred….the reformation. One of the Reformers’ (specifically the Calvanists) greatest cries was Sola Scriptura, “the Scriptures alone.” They argued against the Catholics for giving tradition equal authority as Scripture, and persecuted Anabaptists because of their claims to divinely inspired revelations. Because they rejected claims of miracles and prophetic inspiration
-4in both Catholic and Anabaptist tradition, no one would expect any prophets or prophetically gifted people in the Reformed tradition during this period of conflict. This is, however, not the case. In this brief time period, (p. 69-78) George Wishart (c. 1513-1546), an early Scottish reformer and mentor of John Knox, was a powerful evangelist and teacher, and prophet. It was said, “…he was so clearly illumined with the spirit of prophecy, that he n ot only saw things pertaining to himself, but also such things some towns and the whole realm afterward, which he forspake, not in secret, but in the audience of many…” (Knox, 60). John Knox (1514-1572) (1514-1572) was also believed to be a prophet by many of the Scottish people, as he too made many accurate prophecies. John Welsh (c.1570-1622) also showed remarkable prophetic powers, and was referred to by Samuel Rutherford as, “that heavenly prophetical and apostolic man of God.” (Fleming, 424). Robert Bruce (1554-1631) was the leading churchman in Edinburgh and was known for his prophetic ministry and other supernatural experiences as well. Alexander Peden (1626-1686) was also known as Prophet Peden, and was well known for his prophetic gifting and martyrdom. You may want to look further into this as I have not included the frequent recorded instances of prophecy and fulfillment in these people’s lives. Another interesting thing to take notice of is that Reformer Samuel Rutherford had no difficulty believing that revelation continued after the ceasing of the Cannon. Although he was writing against the revelations of the Anabaptists, he had no difficulty accepting revelations of Scottish covenanters and prophecies from other Reformers. He accepted the ones he did because, they were not contradictory to his interpretation of scripture, they came from godly people, the people who had these revelations did not claim equal authority as scripture, and they didn’t require people to obey their prophecies. (p. 85). One thing I found helpful to me was the section of the book that talked about the various ways in which God speaks. I believe it helps us to recognize His voice where we may not have
-5otherwise. The first he mentions is the Bible. Most people today do believe that God speaks today through the Bible, which we often refer to as the word of God. Therefore, this chapter basically affirms the importance, absolute authority, and infallibility of the Bible; although we are also informed that our interpretation may be off from time to time. Another way God speaks to us is through experience. This often includes our common events, trials, things we may see or observe, miracles (also known as signs and wonders). God also speaks through supernatural means, which may not even be seen, or manifested into the natural. This includes the audible voice, which is relatively uncommon today, however, this may be to our benefit, as in most cases, “The clearer the revelation, the harder the task.” (p.131). The internal audible voice is often observed today, and generally reflects the recipient’s own personality personality and language style. This explains the various writing styles in scripture. Angelic messengers also often bring us prophetic words. These visitations are showing up even in secular presses, and are becoming quite frequent in the modern church, most likely due to the renewed interest in the ministry of these angels who function as servants, guardians, spiritual warriors, and messengers. Dreams, visions, and trances, are commonly used by God to speak and minister to us. These were all very normal experiences in the Bible, especially the New Testament (Acts 2:17-18) Often times we receive only a sentence fragment or single word, commonly known as the word of knowledge. God speaks to his people all the time through impressions and promptings. If you’ve ever ever had a spontaneous impression to pray for someone, that is an example of God speaking through impressions. Many Christians have, unfortunately, trained themselves to ignore their impressions, as they associate them with feelings, which many teach as bad and unreliable. The rationalism of western culture is often offended by knowledge that bypasses the mind. Human messengers are used by God on a regular basis for speaking and ministering to us as well.
-6A statement I found to me very profound in this sectio n was, “If we don’t think we need to hear from Him, or if we think our knowledge of the Bible is sufficient, or that our ministry skills will get us through, then we probably will not he ar him speak in these ways.” (p. 151) Deere also tells us that some of in the church never progress spiritually because we lie to ourselves and to each other. We say we have a New Testament church and that we’re New Testament Christians, when neither our church lives, nor our personal lives resemble much of anything in the New N ew Testament. We don’t grow automatically with time, and often repeat the same mistakes over and over. We have not only become content with a Christian experience far below that of the New Testament, we have even developed theologies to justify our inferior experience. Without a realistic New Testament assessment of spiritual experience, we will never progress in the kingdom of God. (p. 160). Also in this regards, Deere mentions, “Those of us who for years have believed that the only way God speaks to us is the Bible, and sermons on the Bible, have the most difficult time learning the languag e of dreams or impressions.” We are also educated with regards to development of these gifts. One of the essentials are being where the language of the Holy Spirit is spoken, in a safe and loving environment where people are free to “try out” their their impressions or visions. Deere said, “Only those who are willing to try and fail will ever become proficient at understanding which impressions come from God and which arise merely merely from their own soul.” (p.170) Many wonder if everyone can prophesy. I believe the answer is yes, everyone will not necessarily be a prophet, but every spirit filled believer has the potential to prophesy. Just as everyone has the potential to evangelize, teach, encourage, etc., everyone also has the potential to prophesy, speak unknown languages, heal the sick, etc. They are all gifts found within the Holy Spirit, which is also in Spirit filled Christians. Deere states, “With the coming of the Spirit, ev ery Christian is to be prophetic.” There will be prophecies, dreams, there is a sense to which every
-7and visions in the church without distinction to gender, age, or economic position. The chapter on prophetic pitfalls was helpful in warning of potential dangers and things we should avoid. These include prophesying out of jealousy and anger, trying to please people, trying to be awesome, rationalizing mistakes, becoming materialistic/ money oriented, making economic predictions, gossip/slander, calling out sins publicly, and trying to control others. Pride is also a huge danger we must be carful to avoid at all costs as it turns away the voice of God and creates a foothold for other voices that may want to mislead us. We should also be available, obedient, and willing willing to do God’s will. A very significant and practical section for me was abou t recognizing God’s voice. We learn there is no easy formula to tell us consistently whether God is speaking to us, or if it’s our own emotions, the enemy, or outside pressure. Some of the following consistent truths, however, can help us with discernment in these areas: God’s voice always agrees with scriptures, God’s voice may contradict friends’ opinions, God’s voice has a consistent character, God’s voice bears good fruit, God’s God’s voice is often different from our voice, and God’s voice is often easy to reject. Another very crucial piece of information we receive is that the Word and the Spirit work together. Many in the church today are content to live with the Word, but only allow for an occasional visit of the Spirit. Others live with the Spirit, but only allow the Word sporadic visits. Much of the church has been raised with only one of these, one group is proud of their education, another group is proud of their freedom, both think they are superior. This is very unhealthy and painful separation, and I believe we must intentionally reconcile these and live in union with both. This is to God’s glory and to our benefit as well. This book has been extremely helpful because it had helped me better understand some of the ways in which God speaks, how to recognize His voice, some things to be carful to avoid, and certain ways to apply what I’ve learned. Deere gives many helpful insights as to the
-8background to such things as prophecy, words of knowledge, words of wisdom, and other ways that God uses to communicate. How does God want to speak to you today?
-9Works Cited
Deere, Jack. Surprised by the Voice of God: how God speaks today through prophecies, dreams, and visions. Grand Rapids, MI: ZondervanPublishingHouse, 1996. John Knox, History of the Reformation, vol. 1, ed. William Croft Dickinson (New York: Philosophical Library, 1950), 60. Fleming, Robert. The Fulfilling of the Scripture (Rotterdam: no pub., 1671; orig. ed. 1669) 424.
