Hearing God
I wrote this in the early hours of the morning on November 16, 2008. I had fallen asleep at 1 a.m. after spending time with God and asking for Him to speak to me. At 5 a.m., I woke up to a dream, where I was explaining about hearing God. That was when I heard Him tell me to write it down. I, at first, said I was too tired…I could sleep a few more hours then do it. I resisted, but He persisted and I gave in and wrote this:
Did you think you were immune to this? This being the still, small voice of God.
You may tell yourself, “I’m not immune to his voice,” but what if you are wrong?
What if, through your daily routine of go, go, go, you forget to tune your ears to God’s channel?
Since the beginning of ministry, the church has lost its connection to God’s channel. Static has made His voice inaudible. The static being so overbearing, that you eventually tune your ears to what you want to hear.
Are you too busy crying out to God that you forget to stop and listen?
“But I cry to you for help, O Lord; in the morning my prayer comes before you. Why, O Lord, do you reject me and hide your face from me?” (Psalm 88:12-13)
How can we hear Him if we are distracted?
John warns the seven churches to hear what the Spirit says. He writes what the Lord tells him, because he has his ears tuned to God’s channel.
He warns the church in Sardis that they are dead. They are warned to repent so that they can walk with God.
“Remember, therefore, what you have received and heard; obey it and repent…” (Revelation 3:3)
When the static makes God’s voice less and less audible, you start trusting in God less and start relying on yourself or even another mere human being more.
When you start to doubt that God is there, you must remember that He says, “‘I know the plans I have for you, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future…for they have not listened to my words, words that I sent to them again and again’…therefore hear the word of the Lord.” (Jeremiah 29:11-19)
We cannot hear Him unless we listen.
One step in hearing God is by reading and studying His Word. You will not hear anything, unless your ears are fully open to hear Him. If you reject hearing God, then you are just reading meaningless words on a page. You have to pray that God will open your ears to hear Him speak to you through His Word.
You have to learn to sacrifice events or time in your life and sit down and read what He has written to you.
The Bible was written to you. God is the author, and you are the reader. It is a tool God uses to train your ear to listen to Him.
Over the past few months, I have learned that even though I am “utterly exhausted”, that gives me no excuse that I cannot give God a few minutes of my time in His Word in the morning and at night. If I think that I am sacrificing a lot, I then remember that Jesus sacrificed a lot more than just a few moments of time. He sacrificed His whole life. He humbled himself and died for us. Now that is a great sacrifice.
Just as Jesus prayed in the garden of Gethsemane, we need to set our priorities and pray to God that He will speak to us and that we will listen.
Jesus saw his disciples sleeping when He had asked them to pray, and He tells Simeon this: “are you asleep? Could you not keep watch for one hour? Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the body is weak”. (Mark 14:37-38)
We have to make ourselves strong so we can hear Him.
Many a time, we want to hear God’s voice instantly instead of waiting patiently. Our impatience causes us to turn to another channel.
Our faith and trust needs to be fully in Him, or we are bound to get lost in the ungodly noise of a different channel.
“But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind.” (James 1:6)
Unless you free yourself of distractions and focus on God, you will not hear Him.
Have you ever sat down and written all the things God has provided for you? Has He not given you a place to live in an area where you can be free to be a Christian, a car that can transport you places where you can learn about Him, godly friends that encourage you to turn to God and be in His Word daily, and a plethora of resources to help you fully grasp His Word? He has given you all the resources. Now, you have to realize this and use them as a tool in hearing Him.
So many Christians today believe that they can hear God through Christian songs, “how to improve one’s self” books, watching evangelists and hearing what others say about God, without actually diving into God’s Word for themselves.
The Bible is your instruction book that guides you in how you are supposed to live. Without hearing God in His Word, how can you know what you are hearing is really of God?
That is why it is important to be in His word.
“Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. Anyone who listens to the words but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it - he will be blessed in what he does.” (James 1:22-25)
How can you hear Him say, “trust me” if you do not know what His Word says? He says He promises that He will never leave or forsake you. (Joshua 1:5, Hebrews 13:5)
Once you start turning your dial to God’s station and listen intently; it will be hard to become immune to His still, small voice. It takes sacrifice in your part.
One less episode on the television, one less click on the computer, one less song on the radio, and one less sentence of gossip can be used in spending time listening.
Listening for God’s voice.
Hearing Him.
I am praying that you all will be able to spend time in God’s Word. It is a blessing to hear Him. It is something that helps us fully depend on God. You have to make it vital in your life, so that your every thought, word, and action is dependent on God.
Did you think you were immune to this? This being the still, small voice of God.
You may tell yourself, “I’m not immune to his voice,” but what if you are wrong?
What if, through your daily routine of go, go, go, you forget to tune your ears to God’s channel?
Since the beginning of ministry, the church has lost its connection to God’s channel. Static has made His voice inaudible. The static being so overbearing, that you eventually tune your ears to what you want to hear.
Are you too busy crying out to God that you forget to stop and listen?
“But I cry to you for help, O Lord; in the morning my prayer comes before you. Why, O Lord, do you reject me and hide your face from me?” (Psalm 88:12-13)
How can we hear Him if we are distracted?
John warns the seven churches to hear what the Spirit says. He writes what the Lord tells him, because he has his ears tuned to God’s channel.
He warns the church in Sardis that they are dead. They are warned to repent so that they can walk with God.
“Remember, therefore, what you have received and heard; obey it and repent…” (Revelation 3:3)
When the static makes God’s voice less and less audible, you start trusting in God less and start relying on yourself or even another mere human being more.
When you start to doubt that God is there, you must remember that He says, “‘I know the plans I have for you, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future…for they have not listened to my words, words that I sent to them again and again’…therefore hear the word of the Lord.” (Jeremiah 29:11-19)
We cannot hear Him unless we listen.
One step in hearing God is by reading and studying His Word. You will not hear anything, unless your ears are fully open to hear Him. If you reject hearing God, then you are just reading meaningless words on a page. You have to pray that God will open your ears to hear Him speak to you through His Word.
You have to learn to sacrifice events or time in your life and sit down and read what He has written to you.
The Bible was written to you. God is the author, and you are the reader. It is a tool God uses to train your ear to listen to Him.
Over the past few months, I have learned that even though I am “utterly exhausted”, that gives me no excuse that I cannot give God a few minutes of my time in His Word in the morning and at night. If I think that I am sacrificing a lot, I then remember that Jesus sacrificed a lot more than just a few moments of time. He sacrificed His whole life. He humbled himself and died for us. Now that is a great sacrifice.
Just as Jesus prayed in the garden of Gethsemane, we need to set our priorities and pray to God that He will speak to us and that we will listen.
Jesus saw his disciples sleeping when He had asked them to pray, and He tells Simeon this: “are you asleep? Could you not keep watch for one hour? Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the body is weak”. (Mark 14:37-38)
We have to make ourselves strong so we can hear Him.
Many a time, we want to hear God’s voice instantly instead of waiting patiently. Our impatience causes us to turn to another channel.
Our faith and trust needs to be fully in Him, or we are bound to get lost in the ungodly noise of a different channel.
“But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind.” (James 1:6)
Unless you free yourself of distractions and focus on God, you will not hear Him.
Have you ever sat down and written all the things God has provided for you? Has He not given you a place to live in an area where you can be free to be a Christian, a car that can transport you places where you can learn about Him, godly friends that encourage you to turn to God and be in His Word daily, and a plethora of resources to help you fully grasp His Word? He has given you all the resources. Now, you have to realize this and use them as a tool in hearing Him.
So many Christians today believe that they can hear God through Christian songs, “how to improve one’s self” books, watching evangelists and hearing what others say about God, without actually diving into God’s Word for themselves.
The Bible is your instruction book that guides you in how you are supposed to live. Without hearing God in His Word, how can you know what you are hearing is really of God?
That is why it is important to be in His word.
“Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. Anyone who listens to the words but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it - he will be blessed in what he does.” (James 1:22-25)
How can you hear Him say, “trust me” if you do not know what His Word says? He says He promises that He will never leave or forsake you. (Joshua 1:5, Hebrews 13:5)
Once you start turning your dial to God’s station and listen intently; it will be hard to become immune to His still, small voice. It takes sacrifice in your part.
One less episode on the television, one less click on the computer, one less song on the radio, and one less sentence of gossip can be used in spending time listening.
Listening for God’s voice.
Hearing Him.
I am praying that you all will be able to spend time in God’s Word. It is a blessing to hear Him. It is something that helps us fully depend on God. You have to make it vital in your life, so that your every thought, word, and action is dependent on God.