Is That You Lord?: Hearing the Voice of the Lord, a Biblical Perspective

by Gary E. Gilley

We live in a world of communication -- telephones, the internet and satellite serve to connect people all over the world. Still, communication is messy business. Poor call quality, dropped lines and misdials are all too common and frustrating ... and that is before we get to try and understand what the other person is really saying. Perhaps this is how we feel about communicating with God. When the Bible was seen as the central means of dialogue it...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0852346522
• ISBN13: 9780852346525
• Release Date: June 2007
• Publisher: Evangelical Press
• Length: 96 Pages
• Weight: 0.36 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.3" x 5.4" x 8.5"

Customer Reviews

Excellent biblically sound book

Trying to figure out what God wants by going within yourself, going by hunches and intuition, or by having others prophesy over you will make you CRAZY. You will never be sure if you are making the right decision. Many people struggle with indecisiveness these days, mainly because we have so many choices, and because it's popular to seek the Lord for everything, what to wear, what to make for dinner, etc. This book will help you to study what God really says in his word about how to hear from him. I rarely give a book five stars, but this book is a winner. It is available from [...] for less money.

Thank God for this book

If you love reading bland books with which almost all Christians agree, then Gary Gilley's "Is That You Lord?" is not for you. Gilley takes our commonly-held beliefs about seeking God's direction--such as those advocated by Henry Blackaby--and subjects them to the biblical test. His controversial conclusions will almost certainly shock you. You might even have hard feelings. But, for sure, Gilley is going to make you rethink some things you've probably just assumed were true and he'll help you to see how they fail to measure up to the Bible's teaching on how God leads his people. For example, Gilley carefully points out that, in Scripture, we have no record of God leading people through feelings or promptings, nor did anyone ever need to learn to "hear the voice of God". Never are we instructed to seek the voice of God. Thankfully, the author doesn't just shatter our beliefs and then drop us in a sea of uncertainty; he replaces bad teaching with good. With no command from the Bible for the Christian to attempt to listen to God's voice, Gilley offers a sure way to proceed with new confidence in making decisions. I personally know people who, in exchanging Blackaby's teaching for the biblical teaching on what it means to be led by God, have experienced new freedom. Thanks to Gilley, more people will have that freedom. He has done a service to the body of Christ by plainly distinguishing what the Bible teaches from what we just thought it taught. "Is That You Lord?" is written at about a 9th-grade level. A few spots might challenge you but most adults will have no trouble understanding it. At just 92 pages, this is a book you could get through in a couple of evenings, but you might not want to. Instead, slow down to digest, interact with, and test the material. -by Shawn Meyer

Thank you, Pastor Gilley

The main thrust of this book can best be summed up by Pastor Gilley himself: "That God is at work behind the scenes, leading and directing our lives, is not the question, in this all conservative Christians agree. The question is whether the Bible teaches that God has specific will(s) for each of us - specific choices he wants us to make on all sorts of things - and whether these will(s) must be discerned through various extra-biblical means. I believe, contrary to the majority of Christians, that the answer to these questions is a clear `no'." (p. 37) As Gilley notes, more and more Christians, regardless of denomination, etc are coming to believe that "the will of God can be ascertained through divinely prompted feelings, hunches, impressions or dreams. If these fail we can turn to fleeces, fastings, flipping coins or opening the Bible randomly and following the first verse that makes sense." (pp. 35-36) Is this how God says we are to discern His will? Are these biblical methods? Gilley does an excellent job in addressing this question, especially in a book of only 92 pages. He begins with a short chapter the early Pietists (Arndt, Spener, Francke, and Zinzendorf), what they believed, and how their teachings paved the way for subjectivity and theological liberalism. Gilley maintains that although their goal was proper exegesis and a higher regard for the Bible, they slowly allowed subjectivity and experience to become more authoritative. The author notes that a recent study shows that "one in three American adults say that God speaks to him directly." Gilley also sites the author Henry Blackaby, a proponent of extra-biblical revelation. Gilley notes that the Bible does not portray people hearing from God inside their heads and then have to go through the discernment of whether or not it was really God or even partially God. When people in the Bible heard from God it was loud, audible and there was no doubt about it. (With the single exception of young Samuel who didn't realize it was the Lord - nevertheless, the priest heard it, so it was not within Samuel's head.) "The evangelistic method of Jesus and the apostles was not to urge people to seek direct experiences with God; instead they went about preaching and teaching the Scriptures."(p. 27) Gilley looks at how the term "the will of God" is used in three distinct ways. 1. The "sovereign will of God in which it is recognized that our Lord is in control of all things in the universe. Ephesians 1:11..." 2. The "revealed will of God which makes known to us how God expects us to live." For example 1 Thess 4:1-4, or His command to love Him and our neighbor. The Bible clearly teaches both of these. It's the third, the "specific or individual" will of God, by which some believe that God has an "ideal, detailed life-plan uniquely designed for each believer," (p.36) that we must discover, that Gilley is most concerned with in this book. Throughout the rest of the book, Gilley put

THE BIBLE IS ENOUGH

Gilley presents a wonderful case against the pietistic Christian mysticism that so characterizes conservative/fundamental evangelicalism. We "lay out the fleece", pray for peace, seek God's direction, look for "open doors", and wrestle over the daily will of God. Yet Gilley points out how this actually diminishes the power and authority of God's revealed and written Word which is sufficient for all of life and godliness. The book is brief and easy to read. As such, he does not spend pages going into deep details, so one must have some prior experience to appreciate this book fully. He presupposes salvation on the part of the reader and at least a cursory knowledge of Christianity, its verbiage, and practices. While he deals devastating blows to the Charismatic/pentecostal view of revelation, his primary purpose is to expose the very same spirit in conservative circles. Read and heed this important book.

The Sufficiency of Scripture

There is a popular teaching these days that instructs people to seek within to hear the 'voice of God', they listen to their feelings, promptings, and hunches to guide them in making life's decisions, and listen to an 'inaudible', 'inner voice', to know the 'Will of God' for their lives. This book will challenge the Christian reader's professed confidence in the Word of God, because once someone has omitted Scripture as the Final Authority, the person has no way left for truly testing or knowing if something is of God or not. This can become a serious situation for a Christian, that very often makes them vulnerable to false teachings, confusion, heartache. When Jesus was tempted by the devil in Matt 4:4, He said; "It is written, 'Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God". In this 4th chapter, 3 times Jesus says "It is written". Scripture is the final authority. Gary Gilley has written an excellent book in a Q & A format that deals with the vital matter of hearing God's voice, godly decision making, callings, and what God's Will is for the Christian, and gives us a sound biblical way of obeying God's Will and practicing biblical guidance in our lives. 2 Timothy 3:16,17 says; "All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work." The Scriptures are sufficient - and are a sure foundation. Recommended reading.