Jamin Bradley

Following God is a slow and steady work, for he is a person with a will who offers his words, signs, and impressions as he sees fit. As we get used to the way he sounds, we build habits and traditions in an attempt to keep hearing him. Abraham, for example, was used to encountering God by trees, so trees became important to him. After faithfully leaving his country to follow God, he arrived at a terebinth (a sacred tree in the ancient world) known as the Oak of Moreh. There God met and spoke with him. Abraham would later move to the Oaks of Mamre, where God would eventually appear to him again. After moving again, he planted a tamarisk tree and called out to God. Slowly, but surely, God would continue to speak to Abraham in various ways—each sign further validating what had already been said.

What are your habits and traditions for hearing God? For example, I, too, like to find a place in nature to be still and listen. It’s there that I often engage in the Christian practice of imaginative prayer.

What are the signs, nudges, and words God has given you that have slowly pointed somewhere over time? For example, about ten years ago, a college student told me they had a vision of me in a bakery—a sign of fruitful ministry. A few months later, a different student told me they felt God had given them a word about me being in a bakery. Some ten years later, the day before we launched a new church model to recover from the pandemic, someone told me I smelled specifically like a bakery (which I absolutely did not). Do I feel that word has come to pass? Not yet. But I follow the signs and look to be faithful.