The Holy Spirit communicates in innumerable ways. You may get a mental impression that seems like your imagination. The words of another person in a regular conversation might enter your hearing in a special way. You realize the Lord is using those words to speak to you in answer to a prayer or encouragement or insight for your situation. Sometimes it can be a joyful or cautionary sense in the pit of your stomach. Hearing God's voice can be as unusual as driving down a highway and having the words on a billboard jump out at you. Sometimes God speaks in gentle whispers.
However, the single authoritative, trustworthy way to hear God is through the Bible. Scripture is literally alive. It's the only book in the world that communicates personally with you as you look into it. A verse will light up on the page and apply to your situation. A familiar verse will come to mind as you are considering a decision. It's rare, but possible, for God to speak audibly.
When we were expecting our fourth child and the pregnancy had gone terribly wrong, we heard these words, "You will have a son. Name him Aaron, for I am going to make the rod that is his life bud like Aaron of old." Immediately the story of Aaron's rod in the Bible came to mind. During the next few months we fought for Aaron's life and health because we had the basic promise of Scripture and a living word for our situation directly. When there was no sign of life in the womb, God let us know what He was going to do. And He did it! Aaron is alive, healthy, handsome, and a graduate student who loves God and loves life.
Voice-activated technology is growing rapidly. Primarily for convenience and for matters of security, everything from computers to bank vaults have voice-activated systems that are designed to recognize the particular sounds of those who are approved for access. Think of your heart as your personal safe that opens only to one voice, the voice of the Holy Spirit. He will never harm, disappoint or deceive you. David said, "The Lord is my Shepherd. I shall not want for anything else." God intends to have a special relationship with us. He created the voice to help. Voice is an instrument of the heart. Our mouth is secondary. God hears our heart. When God speaks we hear Him in our hearts. If sound comes to our physical ears, great! But we need not wait for our physical ears to hear in order for us to hear Him when He speaks.
It's Personal
No two voices are exactly alike. Jesus said His sheep recognize Him by His voice. They will not follow a stranger. Your personal security in receiving guidance and counsel lies in hearing, recognizing and following His voice. If you know a person well, the instant you hear their voice you respond. It's different when a stranger speaks. Your personal relationship with the Lord is your best pathway to hearing His voice.
Present in Time
God told Moses, "Tell them I AM has sent you" (see Exodus 3:14). God speaks to us in the now. We must have our spiritual senses developed to recognize whether we are hearing the Lord or a "stranger" speaking to us (see Hebrews 5:14).
Seven Keys
1. Personal relationship with Jesus. There is one Source of the true Light that we must have in our hearts in order to see and so hear God. It is Jesus, the Light of the world. You must be born again by an act of personal faith in the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ in exchange for your life. Now you are ready to hear God's voice and follow Him! He is not timid – He is God almighty! He does not have to shout to get His point across.
2. A humble heart. Humility means to bow. Humility is the doorman for nearly every other blessing God has for us. The humble heart receives grace from God (see James 4:6).
3. Ask! Everyone who asks receives (see Luke 11:9-10).
4. "Listen, listening." God wants us to hear Him because He expects us to follow through. Obedience to His voice brings miracles and blessings in our lives. It brings visitation and enables us to live in permanent revival. "If you diligently heed [listen, listening to] the voice of the Lord your God and do what is right in His sight, give ear to His commandments and keep all His statutes, I will put none of the diseases on you which I have brought on the Egyptians. For I am the Lord who heals you" (Exodus 15:26).
5. Attention. Like a soldier ready to receive command or a servant ready to obey his master, Jesus is sending His word. "My son, give attention to My words; incline your ear to My sayings" (Proverbs 4:20). "Incline your ear and hear the words of the wise, and apply your heart to My knowledge" (Proverbs 22:17). People these days are afraid of silence. We have headphones over our ears while sitting at the computer with the television going in the background, and a cell phone at hand in case somebody calls just so we don't miss anything that could be happening. This is all sensory overload! If you really want to hear God you have to get quiet and listen.
6. Be teachable. Nobody likes a know-it-all. That kind of person keeps everyone else from learning and never learns the important things for himself. Our own preconceptions, prejudices and ideas, even religious dogma, can make us deaf when it comes to hearing God.
7. Relax. "Be still, and know that I am God" (Psalm 46:10). Cease striving. Let go. Trust God. King David, a man with a heart after God, learned to wait quietly for God to speak to him even in times of crisis and stress. "My soul, wait in silence for God only" (Psalm 62:5). With all the breaking news around us every day, with so much information available, with so many voices coming at us from different directions, it's more important than ever that Christians are listening, hearing and following the voice of the Shepherd of the sheep and not a stranger.
Our prayer for you today is that you might know Him and hear His voice more clearly than ever before. Are you listening? Wait for Him with expectation of good and not evil. When He speaks, He will settle your heart in peace. When He leads, it will be to good pasture and fresh-flowing water of His Spirit.
No comments:
Post a Comment