Picturing Theology, Revised Edition

194 | Picturing Theology, Revised Edition

(d) Hearing the voice of God is not a private function. It takes place in community. We hear the voice of God best when we listen along with others. (e) Our pastors and spiritual leaders have a unique role to play in this process. (f) Hebrews 13:17 (ESV) – Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls, as those who will have to give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with groaning, for that would be of no advantage to you. (g) Consulting our pastoral leadership for their insights and counsel is a natural starting point for decisions where God’s will is not clear. (h) Our brothers and sisters in Christ are also a rich resource for speaking the mind of Christ to us. (i) 1 Corinthians 12:7 (ESV) – To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. (j) 1 Corinthians 14:26 (ESV) – What then, brothers? When you come together, each one has a hymn, a lesson, a revelation, a tongue, or an interpretation. Let all things be done for building up. (k) Proverbs 27:17 (ESV) – Iron sharpens iron, and one man sharpens another. (l) Proverbs 11:14 (ESV) – Where there is no guidance, a people falls, but in an abundance of counselors there is safety. (m) Listening to the voice of the Spirit necessarily means that we must listen to the counsel of the church community and its leaders. (2) The role of attention I make it my business to persevere in his Holy presence, wherein I keep myself by a simple attention and a general fond regard to God, which I may call an ACTUAL PRESENCE of God; or, to speak better, an habitual, silent, and secret conversation of the soul with God, which often causes me joys and raptures inwardly, and sometimes