Treasures
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Throughout the Bible, we read of how God seeks to communicate with His people and to provide guidance, encouragement, and instruction. God communicates with His children through His written Word in the Bible, which is “alive and active” (Hebrews 4:12). He also speaks directly to the hearts of those who love and seek Him wholeheartedly. “You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart” (Jeremiah 29:13). God continues to speak to His followers today and to impart His message and words of spiritual direction and counsel.
Why would the great God and Creator of the universe want to communicate with us and be a close presence in our lives? God loves us so much that He sent His Son, Jesus, to die for our sins so that we could become His redeemed and beloved children. “To all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God” (John 1:12). “See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!” (1 John 3:1).
When we believe in Jesus and receive Him as our Lord and Savior, our sins are forgiven and we receive God’s gift of eternal life in heaven. From that point onward, our lives begin to change, as we are transformed by His Holy Spirit, who takes up residence in our lives and helps us to grow into mature Christians whose lives glorify God (1 Corinthians 6:19–20). As we study God’s Word, we learn how to live a life that pleases Him and to walk in love and harmony with Him and others. God’s Word in the Bible is a constant source of faith, comfort, encouragement, instruction, wisdom, and strength of spirit.
God is present in the lives of all who sincerely seek Him. He isn’t exclusive. But often when we are at low points in our lives, God can seem distant from us, and we can feel unworthy of His love. Or perhaps we can be tempted to feel that He has forsaken us due to our failures and sins. This is why it is so important that we are grounded in His Word and the promises in the Bible of God’s unconditional love for each of us, manifested by Jesus’ death on the cross for our redemption, and the eternal life in heaven that He purchased for us.
God’s love, power, and faithfulness to each person who loves Him and believes in Jesus are unchanging, regardless of past, present, or future circumstances. Jesus’ love, friendship, and close relationship with His disciples is the same for His followers of today. “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever” (Hebrews 13:8).
God loves His children so much that He not only wants to communicate with us through His written Word, but He takes a loving personal interest in us and wants to be involved in our lives and decisions. He knows that we have questions, concerns, and problems, and He wants to help and guide us as we bring every care and decision to Him. “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will direct your paths” (Proverbs 3:5–6).
He is also present in life’s challenges, and the tragedies and losses, and speaks words of love and encouragement to our hearts. The Apostle Peter wrote, “Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you” (1 Peter 5:7). “God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble” (Psalm 46:1). In some of His final words to His followers, Jesus promised to be with us. “Surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age” (Matthew 28:20).
In His infinite wisdom and boundless love for us as beings created in His image, God seeks to communicate with us and guide us in our lives. He wants to help us to grow into a closer relationship with Him and a greater understanding of His will and ways. Jesus said that “the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you” (John 14:26). His Spirit dwelling in us will guide us into truth and help us to make godly decisions. “When the Spirit of truth has come, He will guide you into all truth” (John 16:13).
God speaks to His people first and foremost through His written Word in the Bible, which teaches us about Him, His moral laws, His will for humankind, His plan for our salvation, and the principles that should guide our lives. As we read the Bible, He may cause a particular passage to stand out to us and show us how it applies to our current situation or how it answers a question we may have. He may not even use words—He may just give us an impression or inner conviction or an intuitive knowledge about a particular situation, what is referred to in the account of God speaking to the prophet Elijah as a “still small voice” or a gentle whisper (1 Kings 19:11–12).
He has also spoken to His followers through vivid dreams or visions, as we read in the books of Daniel and Revelation in the Bible. Christians throughout history have testified of times the Lord gave them a warning in a dream to avoid danger or alerted them to something important.
God also may speak through others—godly counselors who have a gift of wisdom and whose experience we can benefit from. We also learn from the words or writings of gifted teachers, who help us to better understand the Scriptures and apply them to our lives. Teaching is one of the gifts of the Holy Spirit, to be used to help others to grow in their faith and relationship with God, and “to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up” (Ephesians 4:11–12).
Another way that God speaks to His children is through the gift of prophecy, by which God can provide guidance and encouragement. Prophecy is listed as one of the gifts of the Holy Spirit (see Romans 12:6–8), and refers to a “divinely inspired message” received from God. We read in 1 Corinthians 14 that prophecy is a gift that “speaks to people for their upbuilding and encouragement and consolation” (1 Corinthians 14:3–4).
While the Apostle Paul encouraged the exercising of the gift of prophecy, He also instructed the believers to “weigh what is said” (1 Corinthians 14:29) and to “test everything and hold fast what is good” (1 Thessalonians 5:20–21). The Bible is the standard by which messages received in prophecy are measured. The messages that God gives are scriptural, edifying, instructive, encouraging, and uplifting. They result in the fruits of the Spirit—love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control(Galatians 5:22–23). Even when God corrects us or points out the error of our ways so that we “may share in His holiness,” He gives us hope and makes us feel loved, like a father encouraging his children (Hebrews 12:10–11).
Seeking God’s guidance
When we open our heart to Jesus, we begin a personal and intimate relationship with Him as not only our Savior, but as our friend, teacher, and counselor. Prayer is the means by which we communicate with God. Prayer is not merely a religious ritual, but a living relationship with our heavenly Father, who understands and loves us as no other can. He wants us to bring our every concern to Him in prayer and trust that He will hear and answer according to His perfect will. “The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.” And as we do so, we can experience the promised “peace of God, which transcends all understanding,” that will guard our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus (Philippians 4:5–7).
We can tell God our deepest thoughts, our innermost feelings, and the desires and longings of our hearts. We can bring every weight and burden to Him and commit it to His loving care. The Bible says that when Jesus was on earth, He was tempted in the same way that we are—yet He did not sin, so we can rest assured that He’s heard and seen everything. For “we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses” (Hebrews 4:15). Jesus is our intercessor before God: “He is able to save them to the uttermost that come to God through Him, because He always lives to make intercession for them” (Hebrews 7:25).
The Bible tells us that faith is the confident assurance of things hoped for and the evidence of things that we cannot see right now (Hebrews 11:1). It is believing in God and His power, even though we can’t actually see them. The author of Hebrews goes on to write, “By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible” (Hebrews 11:3). Biblical faith is not just wishful thinking but confidence that what God has promised will come to pass according to His Word. It is not blind trust, but rather the conviction that God, who has revealed Himself to us through His Word and through Jesus, will fulfill His promises to His children.
If your faith feels deficient, take the time to study God’s Word and grow in your understanding of it. The Bible teaches that “faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God” (Romans 10:17). Reading about all the times God has spoken to His children in the past, as well as becoming familiar with His many promises to us in the Bible, will strengthen your faith that God will also communicate with you and lead and guide you in His paths of righteousness (Psalm 23:3).
When you are seeking God’s guidance and are in need of His help, bring everything to Him in prayer. You can start by finding a quiet place and taking a few minutes to talk to the Lord. Tell Him what’s on your heart. Tell Him how much He means to you. Thank Him for His love and for all that He has done in your life. Count your blessings. “Enter His gates with thanksgiving, and His courts with praise! Give thanks to Him; bless His name” (Psalm 100:4).
The Lord wants us to involve Him in every area of our lives, and to seek His will and guidance in the decisions we make. As you get quiet before God and wait on Him in reverence, quietness, humility, and patience, trust that He will guide you and speak to your heart. Sometimes He may communicate with you by bringing to mind a verse, a story, or a passage from the Bible that you have read. Perhaps His Spirit will speak to your heart, giving you the conviction that “this is the way, walk in it” (Isaiah 30:21) as a confirmation of a decision you are facing. You can also ask Him for His wisdom for decision-making, which He has promised to grant us: “If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you” (James 1:5).
The Lord has promised in His Word that if we ask Him in faith, we will receive: “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened” (Matthew 7:7–8). There are times, though, when He answers differently than we expect according to His perfect will and knowledge of our lives and situations, or His timetable is different than ours, so we need to trust in Him even when things turn out differently than we had anticipated.
Jesus once asked the rhetorical question, “Which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone?” He went on to reply that if we as sinful human beings “know how to give good gifts to [our] children, how much more will [our] Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!” (Matthew 7:9–11). We can always trust that our loving Father will work in our lives and answer our prayers in the way He knows will be best.
Published on Anchor January 2026. Read by Reuben Ruchevsky.
