Have you ever been in a business meeting and looked at the man across the table, wondering, “What is he thinking?” Perhaps you are met with a deadpan expression that gives nothing away. The ability of a leader to “read people”, to discern whether they are being truthful or whether they really know what they are taking about is sometimes called “human intelligence” or “interpersonal intelligence”. One of the key factors in understanding what someone else is thinking is being a good listener—actively hearing and processing what is being said, as well as observing body language, tone and other factors.
What if you could know what God Himself was thinking? What if you were able to discern the very thoughts of God? How would that skill and divine knowledge benefit your life and leadership? Think about how the thoughts of God might change how you live and work on a daily basis as you are directed by an understanding of God’s wishes and goals for you, specifically. Ephesians 2:10 tells us, “For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” What are these “good works” that God has prepared for us? Perhaps we may know them as we grow to understand where we can find the thoughts of God.
You can know and understand the very thoughts of God. How? No, they do not come down as fire from heaven that are written on stone tablets like Moses and the Ten Commandments. Though, those Commandments are among the thoughts of God that we may know and consider. Today in the age of Christ our relationship with God is such that we can know His thoughts more readily. There are three distinct tools available to you as a faith-centered leader to discern “divine intelligence”—the mind of God Himself.
The Word of God. Think of the nature of language—what we say or write. Are they note our thoughts, written out on paper or voiced to another? The Bible is such a book, containing the thoughts of God. Consider that it was transcribed by more than 40 authors over a period of 1,500 years. It contains 63,779 cross-references, making it the most complex book ever written.[1] Moses, who is credited with writing down the first five books of the Bible, could not have known personally the events of Genesis. Yet the accounts of those times is consistent with teaching and events that happened hundreds and even thousands of years later. The instruction of the Bible is deep and rich—one could study it a lifetime and it would still be revealing itself throughout that time.
As you read the Bible and study its history, poetry, letters, prophecy and revelations, you are reading the thoughts of God. The Bible is by its nature an autobiography that God inspired to tell us about Himself. When we read the Bible, we are learning about the nature and ways of God. We learn what He values, what He abhors, the narrative of His creation, and our relationship to Him. 2 Timothy 3:16-17 reminds us, “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.”
The Spirit of God. Christians believe, based on the Scriptures, that God exists as one God but three distinct Persons—God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. We refer to the triune nature of God as the Trinity, thought his word is not mentioned in the Bible. We read much about God the Father in the Bible, and the New Testament contains of course the story of God the Son, Jesus Christ, and His life on earth, crucifixion and resurrection. Of the Holy Spirit we understand less, though we know that the role of the Spirit in our lives as Christ-followers is very important.
The Holy Spirit lives within in the Christian, and helps him to know and understand God more clearly. Jesus told us, “These things I have spoken to you while I am still with you. But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you” (John 14:24-26). We read of the arrival of the Holy Spirit in Acts 2:1-4. The Holy Spirit assists us in becoming more like Jesus in our attitudes, actions and desires. 2 Corinthians 3:17-18 teaches, “Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.”
In the New Testament we read of the Holy Spirit leading Christ-followers. Excellent examples are found in Acts 16, where the Holy Spirit told the Apostle Paul where to go and not to go. The chapter also contains accounts of Paul having visions of where he was to travel and preach. The Spirit also “opened the hearts” of individuals to hear teaching and receive the Gospel. This is further confirmation that we, as Christians, can know certain thoughts of God through His Spirit.
A Conversation with God. Finally, we can converse with God directly through prayer. The Bible contains detailed instruction on prayer, and more than 650 examples of prayer. Jesus Himself conversed with God the Father and Spirit through prayer 25 times in the Gospels. Additionally the Bible records some 450 answers to prayer—from actions God took or did not take, to actual audible replies to prayer. Jesus gave us a model for prayer (Luke 11:1-4), often called the Lord’s Prayer. This prayer, which begins “Our Father…” was a massive theological shift for His disciples. Prayer had always been through rabbis, or prophets. Jesus, in those two words, was teaching us that Christians may converse with God personally and directly, with no intermediary necessary.
Modern theologians have tried to simplify prayer by teaching, “God answers by saying yes, or no, or wait.” There is no Scriptural basis for this, and such teaching goes against the very nature of prayer, which is an intimate communication between God and His children. The purpose of prayer is not an audience with God where a faith-centered leader pulls out his list of needs and hopes to get some of them fulfilled. Prayer is indeed a tool to bring our requests before God. But Jesus’ example in the Lord’s Prayer also shows us that prayer is also an opportunity to adore and praise God, to confess our sins and receive forgiveness, to grow in our relationships with others around us, and to mature spiritually.
A leader serious about prayer will keep a notebook or journal to record what they are praying about and how those needs, situations, opportunities, confession and relationships are changing over time. Only through a thorough and ongoing record of prayer are the nuances of communicating with God revealed. Answers to prayer are often revealed in the Scriptures we are studying. 1 John 5:14-15 tells us we can be confident in our prayers when they are aligned with what we know of God and His will: “And this is the confidence that we have toward Him, that if we ask anything according to His will He hears us. And if we know that He hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of Him.”
What will you do with what you know? In business, a leader with “human intelligence” about what their boss, or peer, or client, is thinking, will use that information to benefit the organization, or even their own position. When you know what someone is thinking, it may reveal their priorities, or decision-making process, or their present or future plans. In the same way, knowing God’s thoughts reveals much about Him to us. We can know what is important to God, what His desires for us are, and what His priorities may be in a specific instance or circumstance. And, as in business, we can choose to use that information to the benefit of God’s Kingdom and will, knowing He always acts for His glory and our eternal benefit.
[1] https://www.chrisharrison.net/index.php/visualizations/BibleViz
Salvation through Christ is a gift of grace. Christ Himself is described as “full of grace” (John 1:14). A common definition of grace as used throughout the Bible is undeserved favor.