All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, – 2 Timothy 3:16

 Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. – James 4:8

 What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? –Romans 8:31

 

His Sheep Hear His Voice

Are you desperate to hear God’s voice, my friend?
Have you been asking for direction?
Does it seem that every time you ask,
All you get is more deflection?
Well, you sure aren’t alone my friend
Among those who yearn to hear from God.
Those who fear it must be personal
That somehow they must be flawed.
Because we hear it in everyone’s testimony
The conversations others have with Him.
Have you wondered what they might know,
A secret prayer or patronym?

Well, let me tell you a secret
That will help you in your quest.
It’s the key you need to hear His voice
With which you’ve been obsessed.
Close your eyes and take a breath,
Relax, engage your expectation.
Clear your mind of everything
Then just sit back quietly and listen.

There is no trick to hear from God
But to know Him intimately.
To know His Word and character
And to seek Him explicitly.
Those who spend time with God,
Those who love and keep His Word,
Those who give Him proper honor
And whose heart and soul He’s captured,
They are His sheep who hear His voice.
It is they who the Spirit lives inside.
For they are the branches of the vine
In which Jesus Christ abides.
©Linda Troxell 08/01/2019

Many Christians get all of their knowledge, all of their understanding and all of their revelations about God from others. They get it from friends, their pastor, a Bible study teacher, or perhaps from television ministries. Maybe they supplement what they are told with reading the Bible, a verse here and a verse there when time permits. And they are content with this.

Certainly, it is a blessing to have generous pastors and teachers available to help us to know God and to understand His Word through the Bible. They are especially invaluable to new Christian who can be intimidated by the sacredness of God’s Word. It is so important that there is someone willing to take them by the hand and walk them through the word of God. – Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness. –James 3:1

As we mature in Christ we need to step out on our own. Rather than depending on others, now we should be seeking our own resources. Resources that help us to develop Bible study skills that speak to our individual needs in building a personal relationship with God.

Of course, given the technology available to us through the internet and apps for our phones, there is no shortage of resources to help us grow in our relationship with God. In fact, the problem may be that there are too many resources available.

The more we learn about God and our faith, the more we realize how much more there is to learn. As helpful as technology can be in finding material, it can also be mind-boggling. When there is so much to choose from that it becomes difficult to make a choice, too many become as limiting as too few.   

I’m sure that all of us have experienced how easily the internet can steal our time. We sit down at our computer to look for just one thing to help us complete a project. And the next time we look up hours have passed and we are no closer to completing our project. We must be aware that the internet can be a black hole for our time.

Still, we want to know everything we can about our faith. And it seems that the more we know about God, the more we want to know.  So, we find a reference that leads to an article which in turn leads to a book. And we want to read it all. Nonetheless, it is important that we are careful not to spend so much time reading about God and His word that we no longer have time to read His actually Word; the Bible.

Much of what we read and learn can be helpful in strengthening our faith. But I caution you to realize that although it might be helpful, none of it is necessary for our relationship with God. There are only two things that are essential to building a relationship with Him, a desire to know Him and a Bible. From there it is all about commitment, discipline, and prayer. All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, – 2 Timothy 3:16

We know that reading God’s Word is foundational for our relationship with Him. Yet it can be difficult to read the Bible when parts of it are so dry it’s hard to stay awake. I know that it’s difficult to be motivated when other parts are so confusing it’s just easier to give up. And it can be so difficult to believe our relationship is intimate when we cannot hear God’s voice.  I have experienced all of those things. So, I understand; and I think God understands as well.

I believe most of us put too much importance on hearing God’s voice. For some reason, we think that it is hearing His voice that makes our relationship with Him intimate and worthwhile. But, in fact, it is just the opposite. It is our intimacy with God that allows us to hear His voice. And it is intimacy as well that helps us to discern His voice from that which is simply noise and chatter.

To hear God’s voice we must first know God intimately. In order to know God intimately, we must know His word intimately. We cannot know His Word intimately if we don’t read it daily. Intimacy does not just happen. There is a process by which it is developed.

Intimacy begins with spending time together. It requires many, many conversations in which we slowly learn more and more about the character and personality of one another. It is during this shared time that trust begins to grow. Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. – James 4:8

Through trust, we begin to feel more comfortable sharing ourselves with the other person. The more comfortable we are with sharing ourselves, the more intimate we feel. Eventually, through this process, we come to know them, and they come to know us, almost as well as we know ourselves.

And so it is with God. If we want intimacy with God, we must build an intimate relationship with Him. We must read His word daily. For it is in His Word that He reveals His character and personality to us. And as we learn about God’s character we begin to trust the promises that He has made to us in His word; we begin to have faith. “So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ. Romans 10:17

Intimacy requires that we spend time with God daily in prayer. Prayer is the conversation in which we begin to share the deepest parts of ourselves with God. It may seem strange that we need to share ourselves with God who is omnipotent and already knows everything about us.  But it is through the act of sharing ourselves that we demonstrate to God and ourselves that we trust Him. Intimacy begins for us in this act of sharing ourselves.

Once we have built an intimate relationship with God, we must humble ourselves by kneeling to Him in prayer and asking Him, daily, for His grace and His guidance. And then we need to be still and listen for His voice. This may be the most difficult part for us, but it is also the most important. We can’t hear God’s voice in the midst of our normal noise and action.

The intimate relationship that we build with God is what will allow us to hear His voice. And because we now know His character and His word intimately, we are able to quickly discern His voice from that of the enemy or our own negative thoughts. Simply by comparing what we hear with what the Bible says is true we will know what is and isn’t God’s voice.  God will never speak in contradiction to His word in the Bible.

We’ve spent a good deal of time discussing if we are able to hear God’s voice, now I think we should discuss how we will hear His voice. God’s voice is very seldom an actual audible voice we hear in the same manner as we hear human voices. It happens, I guess, but I’ve never experienced it and neither, to the best of my knowledge, has anyone I know.

Hearing God’s voice, comes in many ways. Some of them very subtle, others more obvious, some amusing, and others unbelievable. Often, He speaks to us through other people.

Have you ever had an experience in which someone has said just what you needed to hear just when you needed to hear it, whether that was to cheer you up or stop you from doing something you’d regret? That’s God speaking to you through the voice of another person.

Sometimes He speaks to us through good fortune or coincidence.

For example, say you need a certain amount of money for something important, like a medical test. But you’re broke and you just don’t see where you could possibly get the money.  A few days later you get an unexpected check in the mail. Maybe it’s a refund you were unaware of, or a work bonus you didn’t know was coming, but the amount of the check is exactly the amount of money you need. Well, that’s God telling you that you can trust Him.

But the most common way that God speaks to us is through our own thoughts. Like those brilliant ideas that come to us spontaneously just at the right time. That’s God!  Or those persistent thoughts about someone that we cannot get out of our mind. When we finally call them and it turns out they really need us. That’s God!

And I’m sure we’ve all experienced something similar to this. You’re stopped at a traffic light and it turns green. But “something,” tells you not to go. And a split second later a car flies through the intersection. But for that voice, you might have lost your life. That was God speaking to you from your own thoughts to save your life.  –And your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, “This is the way, walk in it,” when you turn to the right or when you turn to the left.-Isaiah 30:21   

However God chooses to speak to us, in most cases, it isn’t so difficult to hear His voice, as it is to believe the voice we hear is His. For some reason, we would rather believe something is our imagination, a coincidence, luck, or even Satan’s voice, anything other than the actual voice of God.

We say we never hear from God, but I think it may be that we have unrealistic ideas of what hearing from God will be. We think that it will be a momentous event, a burning bush, or a deep, James Earl Jones-like voice booming down at us from the clouds. But it’s rarely that dramatic.

I believe that if we make the effort to keep reading the Bible through the dry parts and the confusion if we will spend time with God in prayer, daily, in an effort to build an intimate relationship with Him, and then if we can be still and wait, we will hear His voice.

However, the first step may be to adjust our expectations about what that will look like.  It won’t be a burning bush, a talking donkey or George Burns. Humor aside, when we are serious and we hunger to understand His word, God will give us understanding through the Holy Spirit. For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. Romans 8:14

We must not forget that the Holy Spirit of God lives inside us. The same Spirit we read about in Genesis 1:1 who was brooding over the waters at the creation of the world; the Spirit that, we are told in Luke 1:35 was with Mary at the conception of our Savior.

He is the same Spirit that descended upon Jesus as a dove at His baptism and He is the Spirit that raised Jesus from the grave. This very Spirit lives in us today.  If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you. – Romans 8:11

Jesus told His disciples He would send them an advocate and a helper when He went to the Father. Jesus called this Spirit the Spirit of truth. He sent it to live inside of the apostles as a helper 2,000 years ago. And that Spirit still lives inside of us today as our advocate and helper.

It is by the power of this Spirit we are able to speak to God; by His power, we can hear God’s voice. And when we need Him  He will even intercede in our prayers to God. With Him as our helper, we can walk in the Spirit on the path for which God has anointed us. And it is through the power of the Holy Spirit that we can have a first-person, intimate relationship with God. What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? –Romans 8:31

Let’s Pray

Father, so many of your children are longing, yearning to hear your voice. Please Lord, help them to understand that your voice is all around them. Help them to see that it is in the sound of the nature you created, and it is in the laughter of those they love. Help them, Lord, to hear your voice in music, in singing, and in the sound of children playing. And then Lord, help them to sit quietly and identify your voice whispering in their ear that they are your child in whom you are well pleased.
We pray this in the name of your Son, Jesus Christ, Amen!

 

 

Points for Pondering or Prayer
Or Perhaps
For Putting Pen to Paper

• Do you struggle with hearing God’s voice?    A. If you do, are you expecting it to be a big deal or a momentous occasion?        B. Write a paragraph about how you can lower your expectations as to presentation if not to content.
• If you think you have not ever heard His voice, have you considered that possibly you’ve heard His voice in a more subjective or modest way?  For example, perhaps you’ve heard His voice through someone else’s words or your own thoughts?
• Write a paragraph about your expectations regarding hearing God’s voice.  A. If you believe you have heard His voice write a paragraph describing how it happened.       B. If you believe you have never heard His voice, write a paragraph explaining what you have done to try to hear God’s voice.
• IF you feel you’ve never heard God’s voice, how does that impact your feelings of intimacy with God?
• Do you feel it is possible to be intimate with God without “hearing” His voice?  A. If you do feel you can be intimate without “hearing” His voice, what does it take for you to have an intimate relationship with God?