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From an address by Carolyn Howell
Does God still speak today? As God’s children, most of us would agree that He does. Is He, then, speaking to you and me? I believe that He is, but are we hearing Him? In this study, we will learn what it means to truly hear God speak and look at ways that we can prevent the loss of our spiritual hearing.
A. What It Means To Truly Hear God Speak
1. Recognize that communication with God should be two-sided:
a) Definition of communication: The process by which information is exchanged between individuals. That means there is some dialogue going on—some exchanging of information.
When we seek to communicate with the Lord, we need to believe that we are going to hear from Him, because He, too, wants to communicate with us. God is not a silent God. If He were silent, we would not have the Scriptures. One author wrote: “We would have no Scriptures if men of old had not attuned their inner ears to listen to God.” God has been speaking since the beginning and He has not stopped.
Much of the time in our communication with the Lord, we do most of the talking. We go to the Lord anxious to tell Him our needs, our wants and our desires. We forget to ask Him if He has something He wants to say to us. Those of us who are parents do not want our childen to come to us only when they need something. We want them to be interested in us and in what we have to say to them. That is the way God relates to us because we are His children.
b) “Be still and know that I am God” (Psa. 46:10). The Hebrew meaning of “be still” is: cease; be idle, be slack, be slothful. When God says “be still,” He wants us to slow down, to stop what we are doing and be quiet before Him and let Him speak to us. There are things that He wants to share with us and He wants us to listen to what He is saying. We need to obey God’s Word and be still before Him and listen to Him.
We all know people who love to talk a lot, but are not interested in what the other person has to say. They give the impression that what they say is more important than what others have to say. The root of this could be pride and self-centeredness. Often we approach God in the same way; we want to do all the talking. We want Him to sit there and listen to us. When we finish what we want to say, we move to something else. But God wants to talk to us. He wants us to be still and listen to Him. He does not want us to concentrate on ourselves. It is about His will in our lives. It’s not about us; it’s about Him. We need to approach God with this attitude: “God, You are awesome and I want to hear what You have to say.”
If we don’t hear from Him, we do not give up. Delays are not denials.
2. Be familiar with the manner in which God speaks
a) Jn. 10:4 “...And the sheep follow him, for they know his voice.”
The only way we will know His voice is by spending time in His presence. Many times He speaks to us through a small inner voice. We need to be able to recognize when it is God speaking. The only way that will happen is when we spend time with the Lord in worship and prayer. When we worship, we are more sensitive and more attuned to what He has to say to us.
b) Another way God speaks to us is through His written Word. Therefore, we need to set aside time regularly to read and study the Word. Often times as we read, a certain verse will stand out. That is God speaking directly about the thing for which you or I are praying.
c) On occasion, God speaks to us through individuals, generally believers. When that happens we don’t just act on it, we take that word before the Lord for His confirmation.
d) Sometimes God speaks to us through circumstances to get our attention and help us to see what He is trying to do. He doesn’t usually guide us through and open and closed doors, but He will close a door if we are headed in the wrong direction.
e) God also speaks to us through dreams and visions. This is scriptural although probably the least common way in which He speaks. In my 30 years of walking with the Lord, I have had one vision and two dreams, both dreams were God’s warning. If you feel you have had a dream or a vison, let God confirm it to you through His Word.
Let God speak to you in the way that He chooses.
B. Preventing Loss of Spiritual Hearing
1) Approach God’s throne with a pure heart
Psalm 66:18: “If I had cherished sin in my life, the Lord would not have listened.” God won’t hear us and we won’t hear Him when we have sin in our heart and we have not repented. There’s a wall there because sin separates from God. We want the line of communication open. Therefore, we must repent quickly, so as not have unconfessed sin in our lives. We need to make sure that when we approach the throne of God we are doing it with a pure heart.
C. How To Prevent The Loss Of Our Spiritual Hearing
1) Approach The Throne Of God With A Pure Heart. (see above).
2) Key Elements To Hearing
a) Listening
Definition of listening: pay attention in order to hear. (Greek meaning: give audience.)
A person can hear but not listen to what is being said. Jesus said, ³My sheep listen to my voice,² (Jn. 10:27 NIV). We do not automatically hear God¹s voice when we first come to Him. It is something we grow in as we learn His Word and spend time in His presence. We must make hearing His voice a priority. We will not grow in that area in our busyness, even if we are busy serving the Lord. Learning and listening come before serving. What we hear equips and inspires us for service.
Often we want to hear what God has to say when it is convenient for us. If we put communication with God first, everything else will fall into place. As we listen and grow, we are taken to deeper levels of faith.
God loves and cares for each one of us, so He desires to speak to us individually. Remember, what you hear will never contradict the written Word of God.
The scriptural example of hearing but not listening is Adam. In Genesis 2:17, we read of God saying to Adam that he must not eat of the tree of good and evil. Adam heard (because he told Eve), but he did not listen because he and Eve ate of the fruit. His lack of listening affected the whole of mankind. Our refusal to listen and understand when God speaks can affect others around us.
b) Understanding
Jesus talking in Matt. 13:19 said, ³When anyone hears the message about the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart.² When God speaks, He wants us to hear Him with understanding. We are not only to listen, we are to understand what is being said. The Greek meaning of understanding is: to mentally comprehend, to be wise. So we are to have a mental comprehension of what God is saying. If we don¹t understand what God said, we do not retain what we heard. ³...The evil one comes and snatches it away.² To remember what God said, record it in writing. Keep praying until you get understanding.
D: Characteristics Of A Good Hearer
1) Gives God undivided attention
When you go before the Throne, give God your undivided attention. He gives us His undivided attention. He talks to us and listens to us as though we were His only child. Set aside a certain time that you will be totally free from other duties and you are not concerned about the things you have to do. When you give Him full attention, He will speak. There is much to be gained when we sit down and listen, e.g. knowledge, insight into certain situations, guidance and warnings. When we are before Him, God affirms His love for us.
2) Does not waiver or listen to a second word
In the Garden of Eden the Serpent came to Eve and said, ³Did God really say, ŒYou must not eat of the tree?¹ ² The Serpent gave her a second word. Unfortunately, she accepted it. Then he continued, ³You will not surely die,² contradicting God¹s Word. This same tempter is good at making us doubt, but we do not have to receive it. When we know that God has spoken to us about something specific and confirmed it through His Word, we need to stand firm. God speaks truth to us. We must not allow the enemy to steal God¹s truth from us.
3) Allows the Word to take root in his heart.
In the parable of the sower (Matt. 13:20-21), Jesus said that some of the seed fell on rocky places. He compared this type of soil to a heart that receives the Word with joy but has no root, so does not last. We get excited when God speaks to us, but what He has spoken does not take root if our hearts are unprepared or hard, or we aren¹t interested. What God has spoken will then fall on rocky ground. God has a reason and a purpose for speaking to us. We are reponsible before God to make sure our hearts are good soil so the Word will take root.
4) Obeys the Word
We need to act on what God tells us to do‹as He gives us the timing on it. It is extremely important to keep in mind that we act only if what we hear lines up with the written Word.
We are so privileged to be able to go into God¹s presence and hear His voice. Let us commit ourselves to spending time with the Lord on a regular basis and discipline ourselves to hear God¹s voice.
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