HOW TO HEAR GOD`S VOICE: THREE KEYS
Feb
17
Written by:
2/17/2011 12:00 AM
HOW TO HEAR GOD`S VOICE:
THREE KEYS
Feb. 13, 2011
(1 Sam 3:1 NIV) The boy Samuel ministered before the LORD under Eli. In those days the word of the LORD was rare; there were not many visions. (1 Sam 3:2 NIV) One night Eli, whose eyes were becoming so weak that he could barely see, was lying down in his usual place. (1 Sam 3:3 NIV) The lamp of God had not yet gone out, and Samuel was lying down in the temple of the LORD, where the ark of God was. (1 Sam 3:4 NIV) Then the LORD called Samuel. Samuel answered, "Here I am." (1 Sam 3:5 NIV) And he ran to Eli and said, "Here I am; you called me." But Eli said, "I did not call; go back and lie down." So he went and lay down. (1 Sam 3:6 NIV) Again the LORD called, "Samuel!" And Samuel got up and went to Eli and said, "Here I am; you called me." "My son," Eli said, "I did not call; go back and lie down." (1 Sam 3:7 NIV) Now Samuel did not yet know the LORD: The word of the LORD had not yet been revealed to him. (1 Sam 3:8 NIV) The LORD called Samuel a third time, and Samuel got up and went to Eli and said, "Here I am; you called me." Then Eli realized that the LORD was calling the boy. (1 Sam 3:9 NIV) So Eli told Samuel, "Go and lie down, and if he calls you, say, 'Speak, LORD, for your servant is listening.'" So Samuel went and lay down in his place. (1 Sam 3:10 NIV) The LORD came and stood there, calling as at the other times, "Samuel! Samuel!" Then Samuel said, "Speak, for your servant is listening."
The book of Samuel takes place during the time of the Judges. During that time for about 300 years the word of the Lord was rare. However, God spoke to Samuel in an audible voice. There are many places in the Old and New Testaments that tell us about God speaking to people. What about today? Is the word of the Lord rare? No! The word of the Lord is not rare. God speaks to us today. Yes, the creator of the heavens and the earth speaks to people today. All Christians should hear the voice of God. (John 10:27 NIV) My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. That was true when Jesus spoke the words almost two thousand years ago and it is still true today. I believe all Christians want to hear the word of the Lord. In this life we have to make many decisions. It is very important that we hear from God when we make a decision. Our life may depend upon it. I believe God is speaking to us much more than we realize, but we do not recognize the voice of God. In this message I will give three keys to hearing God`s voice.
The first key is the bible. We should know the bible very well. In Japan we have easy access to bibles. They can even be ordered easily through the Internet. The Gideons have distributed thousands and thousands of New Testaments in Japan for free. Christians as well as many non-Christians have bibles in their homes. However, unless we take the time to read the bible and mediate on God`s word we will not know the bible well. The messages we give on Sunday are based on the bible, but they are not a substitute for personal bible study. God spoke to people in the bible in many ways such as through angels, dreams, visions, storms, insects, prophets, plagues, fish, a donkey, a whale and even with an audible voice. Today God also speaks to us through the bible.
We know God sent his son Jesus into the world to speak directly to us. Many of the words of Jesus are recorded in the New Testament. In fact, the gospels in the New Testament contain the last will and testament of Jesus Christ. It came into effect when Jesus died on the cross. All Christians are beneficiaries of the will. Eternal life is the most important benefit. However, we need to read the New Testament to learn how to receive other benefits Jesus has left for us. After both my parents had died my younger sister and I went to meet a lawyer that had my parents will. The lawyer explained that reading the will was like a treasure hunt. She explained to us what we would receive as beneficiaries of my parents will. However, effort was required on our part or we would not receive anything! If we do not read the bible we will not receive all that Jesus has left for us.
When we read the bible we read the word of God. (2 Tim 3:16 NIV) All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, (2 Tim 3:17 NIV) so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work. In fact, Jesus was the living word! (John 1:1 NIV) In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. (John 1:14 NIV) The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. God still speaks to us today through the bible.
A second key to hearing God`s voice concerns our thoughts. Every day we have many thoughts. Some of the thoughts are from our own imagination, some are from God and some are from the Satin. How do we discern which thoughts are from God? The following five points will help us to discern if our thoughts are from God.
(1.) Every thought from God must line up with the word of God. God will never contradict what is written in the bible. That is another reason it is very important we know the bible.
(2) Is there any confirmation for the thought you are receiving? My wife believed God was speaking to her about God starting a school. She asked me what I thought and I told her I had been thinking about starting a school also. We both had confirmation the thoughts we had were from God. As you know the school has been started and has eight children in it.
(3.) We must have a witness to the thought in our spirit. This is something that is difficult to explain, but comes from experience. If we don`t sense a peace about the thought it may not be from God. My wife and I made a very important decision when we were selling our farm. We did not have peace about the decision, but made it as we did not think we had any other options. The decision turned out to be a wrong decision and very costly.
(4.) Often the thoughts we have that are from God are different from our thoughts. Last spring when I was driving back to the church the thought occurred to me that if I took the longer way back to the church via the prefectural road I would see the new sign for our church. However, another thought came to me that there would be no sign there yet as I was told it would not be put up for about two more weeks. I listened to the second thought and returned to the church the shortest way. When I returned to the church I was asked by a church member if I had seen the new sign for our church on the prefecture road!
(5.) God can speak to us about important things or things that do not seem very important. When I was a new Christian I read testimonies of how God spoke to people and I wanted God to speak to me. Soon after God confirmed what I had thought about was from God.
A third key to hearing God`s voice concerns our prayer life. The lives we live are very busy. However, it is very important that we take time to pray. Five or ten minutes of prayer in a day is much better than no prayer. Prayer is a chance for us to talk to God. God wants to hear from us and he wants to speak to us. It is often during prayer time that God speaks to us. God knows when we get up in the morning, what we do during the day and when we go to bed. He even knows all our thoughts. However, he still wants to hear from us and to speak to us!
In this life we have many people that we have personal relationships with. We speak to them and they speak to us. God also wants to have a personal relationship with every believer. He wants us to speak to him and he wants to speak to us!