The Lord our God is unchanging which is one of His attributes. He also had said, "For I am the Lord, I do not change" (Mal.3:6). From the beginning, He used to speak to people who were acceptable to Him and chosen by Him. He spoke to Adam; He spoke to Noah; He spoke to Abraham; He spoke to David; He spoke to John the Baptist; He spoke to the early apostles and He spoke to people of the early church. Isn't the same unchanging Lord who spoke to our forefathers still living? Has He changed His characteristic so as not to speak to us who are living today?

Inspite of having the Holy Scriptures which were the words spoken by the Lord in the early days there are Christians who deny that they were written by holy men of God inspired by the Spirit of God. Such people take that to be a historical account containing moral counsels by some good men. Some other Christians think that it does not matter to them even if they were written by the Spirit of God. Many Christians who believe the Holy Scriptures in full think that everything has already been written and handed down to us in the form of Bible. Therefore they believe that God will not speak to us as He had done earlier. However there is no basis in Scriptures for their belief. Some Christians who claim to be spiritual refuse to believe that God would speak in this manner. I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you and watch over you" (Ps.32:8). "Those who are led by the Spirit of God are the sons of God" (Rom.8:32). "There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus" (Rom.8:1) . "If any one does not have the Spirit of Christ, he doe not belong to Christ" (Rom.8:9). Some persons believe the promise "In the last days (not day), God says, I will pour out My Spirit on all people" and receive the Holy Spirit. But the same person fail to believe the account given in subsequent passages of the Scriptures regarding the experience one receives when he is anointed by the Holy Spirit.

"In the last days (not day), God says, I will pour out My Spirit on all people. (When they are so anointed by the Holy Spirit) Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams" (Act 2:17). If a group of people had truly received the Holy Spirit, there will be prophesies, visions and dreams among them through which God speaks to His people and the Holy Spirit leads in the will of God and foretell you of the things going to happen (John 16:13). As one analyses the Scriptures, to some extent, he might know of the things that are going to happen. But how can you know the things that are going to happen in your own life? How can you know in advance and escape the snare which satan has kept in your way? When Ap.Paul was staying at the house of Philip the evangelist, a prophet named Agabus took Paul's belt, tied his own hands and feet with it and said, 'The Holy Spirit says, In this way the Jews of Jerusalem will bind the owner of this belt and will hand him over to the Gentiles'" (Act 21:8-11). In this manner, the Holy Spirit foretold Paul of the things that are going to happen to him and prepared him for the forthcoming trial. Ap.Paul entreated the believers of his church to have this gift of prophesy (I Cor. 14:1).

When God reveals the future events that are good or bad, it may not be clear (Luke 19:34). When the event occurs, if it is a good incident, it makes us happy and praise God and causes our faith to grow. If it is a bad event, we are consoled and abide in our faith, accepting it as the will of God as its occurrence had been foretold. Let us say that a believer who had applied for a job in several places received two or three appointment orders. He has to choose one of them. By which Scripture can he know the will of God? If he receives human counsel, it will be like Lot who entered Sodom seeing its prosperity. The Holy Spirit will certainly reveal the will of God. See, the apostles were authorized to preach the gospel to all creation. However Paul and his companions were prevented by the Holy Spirit from preaching the word of God in Asia (Act 16:6). If a minister does not have such experience will he not be like the one who had sown in barren land and reaped nothing but the wind! Moreover as they were staying in Troas, Paul had a vision of man of Macedonia standing and begging him, "Come over to Macedonia and help us". Being certain on the basis of the vision that the Lord is calling them to preach the gospel in Macedonia, they at once left for Macedonia and did the will of God (Act.16:8-10). Isn't this the ministry of God? Aren't you the servant of God? When He has told you anything, aren't you supposed to be lying at his doorsteps? Is He responsible if you run away somewhere on your own?

A youth passed by a road which was filled with pits. Distressed at the sight of the road, he went to his house, brought a shovel and with a lot of difficulty managed to fill the pits. Unmindful of the hot sun he labored hard and was proud of his sacrifice. In the evening he went to the local government office and demanded payment for his labor. The government official was annoyed at his act and told him, "You fool, who asked you to do that? We were planning to lay the road. Now we have the additional burden of having to remove all the mud you had put over the pits". There are many persons these days who do ministry like this fool. Without authorized by God, they teach absurd things and cause many to stumble and prevent them from embracing the truth. If God calls someone, He will send him too; He will send him with clear direction as to where he should go and what he should do and how he should do. Jesus Christ is the model who does nothing by Himself except what He sees His Father doing (John 5:19). These signs will accompany those who believe: ...they will place their hands on sick people, and they will get well (Mark 16:17,18). Aren't you a believer? There are so many people in hospitals screaming in pain with various diseases. Why don't you go and make them all well? If you can not do that, does that mean that you are not a believer? It is the Holy Spirit who should do these things and not yourself! He should lead you to pray for the one whom He wills to heal. When He leads so, whoever is the sick person on whom He wants you to lay your hands will certainly be healed.

In Lystra, there was a man lame from birth who was listening to Paul as he spoke. Paul looked at him and saw that he had faith to be healed. How did he see? The Holy Spirit led him so. He called out, 'Stand up on your feet' (Act 14:8-10). If you ask, 'we too have received the Holy Spirit but we don't have this kind of experience', the spirit of deep sleep has come upon you (Is.29:10). You come near God with your mouth and honor Him with your lips but your hearts are far from the Lord. Your hearts are filled with evil, carnal pleasures, covetousness, pride and jealousy. Therefore the Lord can not speak to you (Is.29:13). "Blessed are the pure in heart for they will see God" (Mat. 5:8). Impelled by the spirit of lie, 400 prophets prophesied encouraging Ahab the king to go to war. This was accepted by the evil Ahab but Jehoshaphat the king of Judah who was fearful of the Lord could easily find out that they were all wrong. Therefore he arranged to have the true prophet brought. Thus Micaiah came and spoke by the Spirit of the Lord (I King 22nd Chp.).

In these days too there are numerous false prophets and prophetesses who prophesy through the devil. We can identify them through their works. At the same time, we should understand that the Lord who spoke to Micaiah would speak to pure persons. If a person speaks by the Holy Spirit, he will not speak against the Scriptures. The Lord speaks! Let us grow in Spirit to have this experience. Let us have fellowship with the true church.

"If they do not speak according to this word, they have no light of dawn" (Is.8:20).