God chooses to speak to us sometimes through others, and will use His children to minister....
The following is from, The Beginner's Guide to Hearing God, by Jim W. Goll:
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One of the most common ways the Lord speaks is through the members of the Body of Christ--each and every one. I think God must have a lot of flat-out fun at times as He attempts to speak to us through our spouses, parents, children, neighbors and other odds and ends besides the ones we believe He is supposed to speak through. we accept the fact that our pastor or favorite Bible teacher at church or a conference hears from God. But does God speak through Jerry, Susie, or (fill in the name)? Each of us is so different. He made us that way. The Holy Spirit must find it a bit hard and yet fun and a little crazy sometimes to speak through all these different and unique vessels.
God loves diversity. He created all of life to display His passion for variety and His personal touch. We must be aware of this bent if we are to learn to hear Him through our brothers and our sisters. We each have our own quirks, comfort zones and preferences. Certain teachers talk our lingo. Some people just push all of our buttons the right way. We love to hear God's latest word through these people--and then there are the others. In all our lives there will be the others, the ones who punch our buttons upside-down and ring our doorbells without mercy. Guess what? God Himself just might be at the door, and in our aggravation, we might miss Him.
Paul covers this tendency in 1 Corinthians 12:12-27. The Body of Christ has a diversity of parts, each one important to the whole. And yet the eye chatters to the foot, "Hey, I can't receive from you, you're not a part of my comfort zone." Why? "You're on of those 'renewal people.'" The ear tells the knee, "Your church label has no room for what I've got to offer." The wrist declares to the hand, "Listen, honey, I'm the head of this house. I'm the spiritual leader here. I can move you any way I want. You just sit there and let me do the leading."
We all do it. We set our own strict little boundaries about how and through whom God can speak to us. We make a select list. Then, wham, somebody messes with our list. We don't know what hit us, so we rebuke the devil. Later on, after we've become more humble, we learn it was God. Sometimes I wonder if He actually delights in messing with our lives, doctrines and perimeters. I know He has worked me over a few times.
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The author later used the adage, "God offends the mind to reveal the heart." He was discussing the story of Naaman found in 2 Kings 5:1-27. Here Naaman was a great general in the Syrian Army, yet he had leprosy. His wife and a servant of his, suggested he goes to Israel to the home of the prophet Elisha for healing. He goes, yet Elisha doesn't go out to see him, rather Elisha tells his own servant to deliver a message to Naaman, "Go was in the Jordan River seven times..."
Naaman stormed off upset, but later humbles himself and is healed... Interesting because Naaman was initially upset because he was not greeted by Elisha and was even given a rather plain and basic command from Elisha's servant. He didn't like what he heard, yet it was the Word of God and the answer to manifest the healing he sought.
Cool stuff!
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