Day 16 – God Speaks Through Impressions
As you begin to spend time with God, settle yourself somewhere quiet and comfortable. Take a few deep breaths. Spend a few moments gathering your thoughts, becoming aware of God’s presence with you and in you.
Journal for 5 minutes on yesterday’s reflection and practice. What did you think about and learn? What challenged you? Did God say anything to you throughout the day?
Then, begin today’s devotional.
Read: Acts 14:9
He listened as Paul spoke. After looking directly at him and seeing that he had faith to be healed
Acts 27:10
and told them, “Men, I can see that this voyage is headed toward disaster and heavy loss, not only of the cargo and the ship but also of our lives.”
Acts 27:22-25
Now I urge you to take courage, because there will be no loss of any of your lives, but only of the ship. For last night an angel of the God I belong to and serve stood by me and said, ‘Don’t be afraid, Paul. It is necessary for you to appear before Caesar. And indeed, God has graciously given you all those who are sailing with you.’ So take courage, men, because I believe God that it will be just the way it was told to me.
God is creative in His very nature. Consider the diversity of the natural world alone. All fruit could taste like bananas, but it doesn’t. God designed an amazing variety of tastes – oranges, lemons, pineapples, mangoes, apples, and tomatoes, to name a few. God’s creativity isn’t just expressed in the natural world. It is also displayed in the spiritual world, including all the creative ways He speaks to us. He could only use an audible voice, or the Bible, or prophets. But instead of just one method, He uses all of those ways and more.
One way God speaks is through impressions. The definition of an impression is, “an idea, feeling, or opinion about something or someone, especially one formed without conscious thought”. Think about when you have a “first impression” of someone you meet. It’s often based on a small amount of interaction and experience with that person; it’s your most immediate, intuitive, subconscious examinations of who that person is in your first moments of knowing them.
Not all of our first impressions are correct from our limited human perspective, but almost every Christian is hearing God speak to them through Spirit-given impressions. Many of us don’t recognize these impressions as coming from God, dismissing them as stray thoughts or coincidences. In fact, the apostle Paul received and acted upon Spirit-given impressions throughout his whole ministry, as seen in Acts.
Why does God speak to us through impressions? At first, it sounds like a very vague and subjective way for Him to communicate. We can better understand if we keep in mind our missional purpose as Christ-followers in the world. Our life in Christ is not meant to be a selfish or powerless life; it is meant to be a life of generous love and Spirit-given power to bring the kingdom of God to the world. Like Jesus, “the Spirit of the Lord God is on [us], because the Lord has anointed [us] to bring good news to the poor. He has sent [us] to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and freedom to the prisoners” (Isaiah 61:1). The Holy Spirit speaks to us directly through things like impressions in order to show us how we can bring hope and healing to those we interact with. Rather than being vague, impressions are actually efficient – like being able to communicate across a room with someone you know well without saying a word. Impressions are for a missional purpose, not a personal purpose. They’re not about being in God’s “inner circle”, but about being able to directly apply God’s love to the circumstances of others.
An example might help here. Last year, my husband Michael and I were heading home from a hike, and we were ravenous. At the same time, we were feeling particularly indecisive about where to satisfy our hunger. Suddenly, the idea of Buffalo Wild Wings popped into my head. Now, we have been there before, but I didn’t particularly want to go back. It was also miles away from where we were, and there were plenty of other options more readily available. But I felt sure we had to go there, so we did.
When we pulled into the parking lot, I spontaneously had the thought that I wanted to sit at a high top table. In general, I always ask for a booth, but that day, I asked the waitress to seat us at a high top. We got settled, and tired and hungry as I was from our hike, I wasn’t paying much attention to the rest of the restaurant. Suddenly, I felt like I had to look at the table behind me. There was a girl sitting with her back to me, and I had an immediate impression of deep sadness. I couldn’t see her face or see what she was doing, but I had a strong sense that I should talk to her. Awkward! I almost ignored that feeling and didn’t do anything about it. But at the last second, right before we left, I decided to just act and see if God wanted to do something through me. I went up to the girl’s table and said, “Hi, my name is Megan. I just wanted to ask if you are doing okay?” She burst into tears. She shared that she was having an incredibly difficult time with some relationships in her life, and she was struggling with rock-bottom self-esteem. My husband and I talked with her about how God sees her and loves her, and asked her if we could pray for her. Before we left, she gave us both big hugs. I will probably never see this girl again, but I believe the Lord guided me to her that day using impressions.
There are several ways that God speaks to us through impressions:
God speaks through impressions in our thoughts. Have you ever thought about someone you haven’t seen or heard from in years, then “by chance” encountered them later that day or week, or seen something about them on social media? Or maybe you’ve had “stray thoughts” about something a friend or acquaintance needs to do. These impressions often show us how/when to pray for or encourage others.
God speaks through impressions in our bodies. Sometimes we get a feeling in our body when we are interacting with/praying for someone (Luke 8), and it might correlate with something going on in their body. In these cases, we can simply ask to find out if we are right, and let it go if we are not.
God speaks through impressions in our emotions. This can either look like feeling in our own soul what someone else is experiencing, or feeling what the Lord feels for someone to whom we are ministering. Keep in mind that the thoughts God has towards people are always thoughts of love, grace, protection, joy, conviction (not condemnation or shame), forgiveness, mercy, comfort, etc.
Accurately discerning God’s voice through impressions takes discipline and wisdom but really just comes by trying and trusting. To the degree that we are self-centered or wounded, our feelings will be dangerously inaccurate. To guard against this, we must hide God’s Word in our hearts and filter our impressions through it. Yet hearing God through impressions is one way to enjoy and participate in the intimacy, maturity, and missional-living we are called to in Christ.
Prayer:
God, thank you for all the creative ways you made this world and communicate with us. I ask today that you would help me to tune into how you are speaking to me through impressions, and grant me discernment as I act upon them faith.
Journal:
Take a few moments to journal through the following question(s).
What comes to mind when you think about God speaking to you through impressions?
In what ways do you get other impressions? Do they tend to be thoughts, emotions, or sensations in your body?
Think of a time when God made you aware of something in your thoughts, your body, or your emotions that was meant to help you encourage and minister to someone else.
Today’s Practice:
Ask God to speak to you through impressions. Slow down and pay attention to the little impressions or gut feelings that you may get. If you sense any specific thought, emotion, or physical sensation for someone or something today, act on it.
By Megan Netherton, Campus Ministries Assistant