Ken Turner shares his story

Ken Turner

When a conversation turns to the phenomenon of hearing God, there seem to be a number of responses that are commonly expressed. Some would say they find it very difficult; others state that it is impossible and they have never heard anything from God; still others share hesitantly of how God has spoken to them. Then as the conversation warms up, people, prompted by the stories of others hearing GOD, start to realise that they too have had similar experiences of hearing God, but didn't realise what was happening. I never cease to be amazed at the endless ways that God arrests the attention of people in order to speak into their lives and circumstances.

These accounts are evidence of how seriously God takes this communication and how actively He participates in it. Jesus, while on earth, quoted an Old Testament passage to underline the importance of this communication:

'Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.'

The Gospels record accounts of times when Jesus heard from God and other occasions when He heard nothing, so He remained inactive because He had not yet heard a word of direction from the Father. When alerted by His mother that the wine had run out at a wedding, He did nothing, stating, 'My time has not yet come' (i.e. I have not yet heard anything from the Father on the matter.) On another occasion when He heard that His friend Lazarus was very ill, He delayed going to see him because He realised that there was a higher purpose at work because His Father had spoken saying, 'This sickness will not end in death. No, it is for God's glory so that God's Son may be glorified through it'.

At the beginning of 2010, my wife and I were praying about three significant areas of our life and ministry together. We sensed that some big changes lay ahead but wanted to hear from God before acting; but no answer came. This persisted for two months. I then spoke out a somewhat desperate prayer, "God are you still there? Is there something wrong? Please speak to us!"

The next few days were interesting. My wife had unsuccessfully spent the better part of the morning looking for an attachment for her sowing machine in order to complete a garment she was sowing. That afternoon while sitting at my desk, a clear thought formed in my mind, 'Look in the very top drawer of the sowing machine cabinet!' I went and looked and there tucked away in the drawer, which was higher than my rather short wife, was the attachment.

The next day my wife and I were in the car. She was fiddling with a ring on her finger, taking it off then putting it back on. There was a clunk as the ring dropped from her finger and landed on the floor between the seats. Later searches revealed nothing. The ring was nowhere to be found. Our car is one built with a double floor pan, so the possibility was that the ring had gone through a bolthole in the upper floor pan into the gap underneath. The ring had belonged to her mother so had great sentimental value. She was even prepared to take the car to the panel beaters to be cut in half to find the ring.

Into this situation, I again had a well formed thought come to mind, 'Take the car out into the sunlight and sit in the back seat.' I duly followed the prompting. As I sat in the back seat another fully formed thought came to mind, 'Remove the plastic trim on the floor at the end of the seat slide.' Again I did as prompted. Nothing was immediately visible, but by feeling with my little finger behind the seat slide I found the ring.

That afternoon my son in law came to help me because my internet connection was no longer functioning. Previous attempts at following telephone instructions from him had failed. (This is not surprising as I am very challenged when it comes to anything IT and my son in law is an absolute star.) He worked on my computer for 30 minutes at such speed I couldn't follow a thing, but nothing worked and he was baffled. It was at that moment I had another clear thought, 'The fault is with the radio receiver on the roof'. Feeling very intimidated, I proffered the advice. I was then given a dozen reasons why this could not be. Another 30 minutes of frantic working on the problem achieved nothing but frustration. In desperation he then phoned the service provider and asked about the possibility of the receiver on our roof being faulty. Five minutes later, a return call from the service provider revealed that the problem had indeed been with the radio receiver and that the problem had been rectified.

We had been praying about three significant areas of our lives. Then in answer to a cry to God, "are you still there, is something wrong", we received three proofs of His presence with us in the form of three answers to three ordinary everyday situations.

We continued praying about the big things with renewed faith and patience because God had shown us that He had heard us by speaking to us.

These events were followed by a year long journey and much water had flowed under the bridge. While the process still continues, we have received specific answers to our prayers. God has spoken to us and the results have been challenging to say the least; very difficult at times, but also very rewarding. Put that all together and it represents one of the most significant times in our walk with the Lord.

We have had wrong attitudes changed and new ones formed, we have seen circumstances changed in ways we could never have imagined, our dependence on God has deepened in a way that could never have happened during times of smooth sailing. God has been progressively 'panel beating' us into the shape necessary for what He wants us to be and do. All the while this process has been going on He has never stopped speaking to us in many different ways. He did this because He loves us enough to speak to us and His grace allowed us to hear.

We trust this account encourages you and leaves you more determined to hear what the Lord is saying to you in your situation. He is speaking and He wants you to hear!