Since the beginning of this year, I’ve posted two articles on how God’s communication with humanity is conveyed in the Scriptures (You can read the posts here and here).
What I’ve been exploring in these articles is the “manner” of transmission—not the “content” itself. It seems that many believers are rightly concerned with what God is saying, but few consider how that interchange actually transpires.
In the following article, I’d like to continue this fascinating conversation about the Lord’s pattern of conveyance. I’m convinced that everyone needs to understand how God discloses truth. Sometimes people miss what He’s saying because they don’t recognize what’s transpiring in and around them.
God undoubtedly speaks through sound, dreams and pictures. Yet, He also provides valuable guidance through the realm of touch. Unusual tactile dimensions and bodily impressions can disclose unrealized realities. If one is truly open, then physical sensation can become a pathway of spiritual insight.
Despite the objections of Western rationalism, the stirrings of the Holy Spirit can influence the physical realms of men. Job references this inexplicable reality; disclosing the following:
“Now a word was brought to me secretly, and my ear received a whisper of it. Amid disquieting thoughts from night visions, when deep sleep falls on mortals, terror and trembling came to me, which made all my bones shake. A breath of wind was passing before my face, and the hair on my body was standing up. It stood still, but I could not recognize its appearance” (Job 4:12-16a).
Within this elusive encounter, hair raised and nerves stood on end. The bones even quaked. There was a penetrating awareness and fierce reaction to all that was transpiring. A simple touch from God can truly reorder everything.
Elsewhere it’s revealed that Isaiah was commissioned and received divine revelation, as an angel branded his lips with a live burning coal.
“Then one of the seraphim flew to me with a live coal which he had taken with the tongs from off the altar in his hand. And he laid it on my mouth, and said, ‘This has touched your lips, and your iniquity is taken away, and your sin purged.’ Also I heard the voice of the Lord saying, ‘Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?’ Then I said, ‘Here am I. Send me'” (Is. 6:6-8).
In other portions of the Old Testament, we discover that Jeremiah and Daniel were installed in similar ways (Jer. 1:9, Dan. 10:16). As heaven literally touched them on the mouth, these humble servants became cleansed and positioned for mission.
Later, in the pages of the New Testament, the viability of physical touch is often on display through the laying on of hands and other bodily expressions (Matt. 8:3, Matt. 8:15, Matt. 9:29, Mark 16:18b, Luke 4:40, Luke 13:13, Acts 28:8).
One of the more notable occurrences was when a woman who had been hemorrhaging with blood for 12 years touched Jesus. Scripture declares, “At once, Jesus knew within Himself that power had gone out of Him. He turned around in the crowd and said, ‘Who touched My garments?'” (Mark 5:30). It was through the agency of touch that the burdens of this desperate woman became known.
Many in the West look down on the awkwardness and imprecision of our bodies. Because we don’t adequately comprehend the doctrine of creation, the significance of human embodiment is often missed. Underlying gnostic tendencies persuade us to question the legitimacy of divine activity in “flesh and blood.”
Desiring to emphasize distinctions between the “natural” and “spiritual,” one man took Galatians 5:17 completely off the rails. He boldly asserted, “The Spirit is in direct conflict with the flesh. God has absolutely nothing to do with the human body.” Rather than reflecting Scripture, his thinking mirrored the dualistic assumptions of Greek philosophy.
What’s being asserted here is probably in contention with your worldview, but that doesn’t change its truth. Kingdom realities can be sparked through physical agencies. Touch can be a way that God’s intentions are appropriated here on Earth. Many are discovering that activity in the body can be a “trigger” for something more.
Although it isn’t your native “tongue,” you simply cannot ignore the reality of “body language.” Paul boldly affirms, “I urge you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies as a living sacrifice” (Rom. 12:1). This goes without saying, but a body truly submitted, is a body available for all that the Lord desires.
Are you open to God speaking through the physical, or are you going to keep trying to have an out-of-body experience?
J.D. King is the director of the World Revival Network and associate pastor at World Revival Church.
Janet Perez Eckles 
Shawn Akers 
Abby Trivett 
