Speaking With God's Voice

By Louis A. Miraglia

The world today groans under the weight of many crushing problems, but it's not intellectuals, presidents, or political parties who have the solutions. The rescue agents are born-again believers who fall under the "great commission," and that's you. This command for you to go into the whole world is not given by One who would leave you an orphan. God will equip you, but you must do it His way.

Once you're a believer, God appoints you to two roles immediately: One as the receiver of God's word; one as the deliverer of God's word. Many faithful men and women have little problem understanding the first role. They see themselves as student-learners who must grow in God's word and get enlightenment by the Holy Spirit. Many faithfully fulfill the biblical prerequisites of prayer and preparation, and they become quite good at understanding the scriptures. Over the years, the Holy Spirit guides them into deeper and deeper insights into God's word. It is as they move into the role of deliverer of God's word that they have problems. Many people will "shut" them out; the delivery has failed to adopt a biblically required role change.

To be effective in this new role, God's messengers must "Speak with God's Voice". This means they must speak authoritatively and prophetically. These biblical prerequisites have been very much misunderstood and abandoned, leaving the message from God's word a mere man-made endeavor. God may bless this type of message, but the only way to guarantee God's anointing is to deliver it His way with His voice. This book explains in detail how these scriptural requirements are put into effect. Remember! The power of the Holy Spirit is available to ALL believers, but it is not automatic.

A dear evangelical preacher of more than thirty years, who pastors a church on the New York - Pennsylvania border, read this book and made the following comment:

"I would highly recommend this book as required reading for every minister and ministerial student. It is one of the most practical cries for, and description of, 'anointed preaching' that I have read. For too long the church has tried to dazzle people with new music, new technologies and methods, and missed the high calling of preaching the Word under the power of the Holy Spirit! Thanks, Louie, for your inspiring words!"

• Language: English
• Publisher: Christian Faith Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: Dec 17, 2016
• ISBN: 9781635257625

Book preview

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Speaking With God's Voice

Louis A. Miraglia

ISBN 978-1-63525-761-8 (paperback)

ISBN 978-1-63525-762-5 (digital)

Copyright © 2023 by Louis A. Miraglia

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods without the prior written permission of the publisher. For permission requests, solicit the publisher via the address below.

Christian Faith Publishing

832 Park Avenue

Meadville, PA 16335

www.christianfaithpublishing.com

All Scriptural references are from the New King James Version (NKJV) unless otherwise stated.

Printed in the United States of America

Table of Contents

Dedication and Acknowledgements

Introduction

Endorsements

Prologue

Part One: A Problematic Quandary

Chapter One

Chapter One: The World's Rescue Agents

Chapter Two

Chapter Two: The Importance of the Scriptures

Chapter Three

Chapter Three: Beware of Yourself, a Possible Saboteur

Part Two: The Solution

Chapter Four

Chapter Four: Unction, a Compelling Dynamic and a Gift to His Church

Chapter Five

Chapter Five: Speaking Prophetically, the Quintessential Requirement

Chapter Six

Chapter Six: Speak with Power and Authority

Chapter Seven

Chapter Seven: The Great Awakening and the New Evangelism

Chapter Eight

Chapter Eight: Prayer and Preparation – Biblical Essentials

Chapter Nine

Chapter Nine: Personal Testimony and the New Testament

Part Three: Count the Cost

Chapter Ten

Chapter Ten: A Foreordained Commission with Consequences

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Eleven: A Display of God's Guarantee (A Kind-of Summary)

About the Author

Dedication and Acknowledgements

To Wanda, my wife and the love of my life, for her constant support and encouragement;

to Ann Marie, my daughter, for her help getting this book previewed and published;

to Carolyn, my most gifted sister-in-law, for her mentoring;

to Geniese Brewster for her countless hours typing this book;

to Lorri Compton, extraordinary editor, for her guidance, skill, direction, and patience, without whom I would not perservered;

and especially to Jesus Messiah, my Lord and Savior, for His Words of life, the only solution to the world's problems.

Introduction

Dear follower of the Great Commission:

Iunderstand that those who prepare God's Word for delivery often do so with great anticipation and hope. These well-meaning men and women hear God's call in the Great Commission. They get motivated and prayerfully act on that call. Sadly, all too often, their messages have little or no impact. They are left confused and doubting their calling. Their paramount question is, Why Lord? They want to know what happened. They truthfully studied and diligently prepared their message. In other words, they faithfully did their part, but people who heard the delivered Word seem unmoved. This also puzzled me. I pondered and studied this for years and I am fully convinced that God gave me a clear answer – thus, I wrote this book.

In the last several years, I turned to the study of the best way to deliver God's great, impactful Word. There is little doubt that God Himself prepared me for this study, and convinced me that God's messengers and influencers worldwide would benefit from the findings of this study. For the most part, this is a view from the pew.

Perhaps those who sit under the preaching and teaching of God's Word are best able to make commentary on a person's delivery. They often vote with their feet and many are biblically-savvy individuals who understand the process of delivering sound messages.

Today's world groans under the weight of many crushing problems, but solutions are not delivered by presidents or politicians. You are the rescue agents who fall under the Great Commission. You can effectively lay out God's solutions if you follow the strategy found in the Scriptures and you can do this with powerful influence that can change the world.

The power of the Holy Spirit (unction) is available to you and to every born-again believer, but it is not automatic. The command for you to go and preach the Lord's Word is presented in all four Gospels and many of the Epistles. God will equip you!

However, there are roles and prerequisites to meet in order to deliver God's message God's way. This book explains these requirements that will apply God's anointing to your message.

May God bless you richly as you read, discover, and practice His effective guidelines as you impact the world with His words of life. God guarantees it. Read on.

In His hands,

Louie

Endorsements

"I would highly recommend this book as required reading for every minister and ministerial student. It is one of the most practical descriptions of and cries for ‘anointed preaching' that I have read. For too long, the church has tried to dazzle people with new music, new technologies, and methods, and missed the high calling of preaching the Word under the power of the Holy Spirit!

Thank you, Louie, for your inspiring words."

Pastor Daniel Pickering, senior pastor, Buena Vista Wesleyan Church



The great W. A. Criswell said, Exposition of the Holy Scripture is the very soul and life of the greatest preaching. What Louis Miraglia has written is a How to Guide of building the fire of expositional preaching. This book is practical, educational, and, at times, very convicting.

All pastors are to Preach the Word! Be ready in season and out of season… (2 Timothy 4:2a). This book helps us with the Be ready" part of that verse, which is so crucial.

Louis has merged Hermeneutics and Homiletics into a precise package that is readable, understandable, and very applicable. I would highly recommend this book, especially for pastors and teachers.

R. Jon King, pastor, Adamsville Baptist Church



I just finished reading Speak with God's Voice. I recommend that every pastor read this book. The major reason is to know that in every church there are lay people who have a true Kingdom mindset. Face it, pastors, we think we are alone as we stand in the pulpit or chair a local meeting, but Louie Miraglia gives hope to every pastor. He is one who gets it. Mr. Miraglia understands that there is a divine calling on local church pastors to proclaim the life-giving Word. He also understands that standing beside his pastor as an Aaron or Hur is a gift that can be given to a man or woman who rightly divides the Word and then proclaims and lives that truth.

May this unity within the Body assist Christ in building His church.

Rev. Dr. David F. Smith, Dean and Professor of New Testament and Christian Ministry, Indiana Wesleyan University Seminary

Prologue

Philip said to Him, Lord, show us the Father and it is sufficient for us.

Jesus said to him, Have I been with you so long, and yet you have not known Me, Philip. He who has seen Me has seen the Father… (John 14:8-9)

Scripture has clearly stated that God speaks and has spoken to His people. God, who at various times and in various ways, spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by His son… (Hebrews 1:1-2, NKJV) The last days are from the first Pentecost to the second return of Jesus. No doubt, God's son still speaks! God wants you to attain the knowledge of the mystery of God, both of the Father and of Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. (Colossians 2:2-3) That God speaks to you and that you understand means that a supernatural exchange is happening. As a finite being, your understanding needs to be in harmony with what the infinite God, in three persons, is speaking.

There can be no doubt that man has a spiritual component to his nature. The deepness of man's spiritual -side goes right to his creation, to the essence of his being.

Then God said, ‘Let us make man in our image, according to our likeness… So God created man in His own image; in the image of God, He created him; male and female He created them. (Genesis 1:26-27)

You need to think about what it means to be created in the image of God. To grasp this significance, you need to understand some essentials about God.

First, God is unfathomable. No human mind can wrap himself around the definition nor the awesome nature of Him. To fully understand God, you would have to be God Himself. He is unsearchable and beyond comparison. No superlative could adequately describe His character. To know that He made this galaxy with all its billions of planets and stars and that He made billions of other galaxies is well beyond human comprehension. Who could draw a circle around such an almighty creator? It is IMPOSSIBLE! Yet, you are made in His image.

Second, God existed before time and space. He had to in order to create them. Remember that God has also set eternity within (your) heart. (Ecclesiastes 2:11) God exists outside of past, present, or future continuance of space–time chronology, e.g., infinity. You do not, yet you are made in His image. How can this be?

Third, investigate the Trinity – three persons in one God. This idea confuses many monotheists, especially Jews and Muslims. This needs to be dealt with.

You must diligently investigate the similitude you have with God's image. Start by examining the relationships you have biologically with your own nuclear family. You have only three biological ties to your nuclear family – parent, child, and sibling. Except in the case of adoption, there are no other possible biological connections. Male relationships are father, son, or brother. A male may bring a bride into the family, but she is not a biological relative. To make a connection to God's image, you must examine, at least in part, the nature of God. Someone with whom it is impossible to encompass. God