Hearing God’s Voice and Becoming His Friend - Part 6
It is God’s Will to Speak to You!
Settle it in your mind that it is God’s will to speak to you. It *is *God’s will for you to hear His voice. Reject any thoughts that contradict this.
We are told in Acts 22:14 that, ”The God of our fathers has chosen you that you should know His will, and see the Just One, and hear the voice of His mouth” (NKJV).
If you are a true disciple of Christ, you have the ability to hear the voice of the Good Shepherd.
Jesus said, “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me” (John 10:27 KJV).
“Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice.”—John 18:37 (NKJV)
If your ability to hear God’s voice seems to be a bit dull right now due to lack of use, you can remedy that over time. Ask God to speak to you, and commit to pursuing a deeper, closer relationship with your Heavenly King.
Remember that Hebrews 11:6 tells us that anyone who comes to God must believe that He exists, and that He rewards those who earnestly and diligently seek Him.
Your Personalized Communication with God
Your relationship with God is personal, and it is unique. It is not the same as anyone else’s relationship with God. Your relationship with your Lord is one-of-a-kind.
Your communication with God is also unique. He has never shared exactly the same messages with anyone else; and He has never communicated in exactly the same way with anyone else as He does with you. His communication with you is just as personal as your relationship with Him.
Learn how God communicates with you. Over time, you may notice that a very personal vocabulary develops in your communications with God.
For example, I often use idioms in my normal conversations, especially when I’m trying to make a point. One of the idioms that I use is “Let me put a bug in your ear.” I say that when I want someone to think about something that I am about to tell them.
Twice, I have had significant dreams which ended with a bug flying into my ear. It felt so real that I was awakened both times when this happened. Both of these dreams also carried important messages for me that I could not afford to miss. In these dreams, God was using my own familiar idiom to say, “Let me put a bug in your ear” so that I would not miss the important messages of these dreams.
You may also notice that significant people, pets, places, and objects that have personal meaning to you will sometimes appear as symbols in your dreams. This is another way that God speaks to you using a very personal vocabulary that is unique to your relationship with Him. No one else shares this same personal vocabulary with the Lord.
Notice how God speaks to you most of the time. You may notice that God will usually speak to you in ways that are most memorable to you and match your particular learning style.
For example, if you learn and remember best by hearing something, then God may speak to you more often through sounds and voices. On the other hand, if you learn and remember best by seeing something, then God may speak to you more often through dreams, visions, and imagery.
God speaks in the way that delivers His message best, and God will personalize His communication to be perfect for you.
**Notice *****When ***God Speaks to You
You may pray and wait on the Lord for answers, but don’t be discouraged if He doesn’t answer immediately. Be persistent, just like the widow in the parable of the unjust judge in Luke chapter 18.
God never intended for prayer to be a one-way conversation. He will speak to you as you persistently seek Him with the expectation of hearing His voice.
God *may *speak to you while you are praying to Him, or He may speak to you at other times during your days and nights.
God may speak to you at times that feel inconvenient to you. He may do this to test you. How much do you really value the voice of God? Will you respond to Him when it is not convenient for you? This is the test that the Shulamite maiden faced in Song of Solomon chapter 5:
“I sleep, but my heart is awake; ** It is the voice of my beloved!** He knocks, saying, ‘Open for me, my sister, my love, My dove, my perfect one; For my head is covered with dew, My locks with the drops of the night.’
(Then she answers)
“I have taken off my robe; How can I put it on again? I have washed my feet; How can I defile them?
“My beloved put his hand By the latch of the door, And my heart yearned for him.
“I arose to open for my beloved, And my hands dripped with myrrh, My fingers with liquid myrrh, On the handles of the lock.” —Song of Solomon 5:2-5 (NKJV)
In those moments, God may come to speak to you with a heavy anointing of the Holy Spirit as we see in this experience when the King says, “my head is covered with dew, My locks with the drops of the night.” That is symbolic of the anointing of the Holy Spirit.
But if you do not respond in these inconvenient times, or do not respond quickly enough, God may withdraw from you for a time, and it may seem very difficult for you to hear His voice until you pass this test of responding to Him when it is not convenient for you.
As the Shulamite maiden says,
“I opened for my beloved, But my beloved had turned away and was gone. My heart leaped up when he spoke. I sought him, but I could not find him; I called him, but he gave me no answer.” —Song of Solomon 5:6 (NKJV)
God often speaks to people just as they are waking up.
I don’t use an alarm to wake up, but I can’t even tell you how many times I have been awakened early in the morning by the sound of an alarm even though I didn’t have an alarm set, or by the sound of a knock on a wooden door (even though the door to my home is made of metal), or by a voice calling my name, or even by an invisible hand on my shoulder.
It is so important that we respond in those moments to the voice of our King when He is calling to us.
Twice, I have awakened with pictures of charts that were very helpful to me. These charts explained principles that I needed to communicate to people. One of these charts was very helpful to explain in a practical way a principle of responsibility to an employee that I had to meet with for an employee review. And it came to me in a moment, just as I was waking up.
The other chart illustrated the three stages of maturity in the Christian life. I have since published that chart in a book, and it came to me in an instant as I was waking up.
Lately, as I was preparing to record a video series, I was feeling very frustrated with my basic script. I practiced with it, but it just wasn’t coming together, and I was feeling more and more frustrated; feeling like I can’t do this!
Then as I was waking up one morning, a strategy just came to me that seemed to clear up all of my anxiety. It was as if the Lord was saying, “You’ve got this! Simplify it to just the main headings first, then drop in your bullet points, and fill in the rest with descriptions to explain your points.” God gave me very practical help in that moment as I was waking up. It may sound like common sense advice, but the difference is that with God’s voice came the power and ability to perform it, and a relief from all of the anxiety that I was feeling. That is the power of a message from the mouth of God!
When these kinds of things happen to you, don’t dismiss them thinking that it is just your imagination. God will reward you if you will respond to His subtle promptings.
Even if you think it is your imagination, who gave you your imagination? If God gave you your imagination, don’t you think that He could sometimes use your imagination to speak to you? Of course He can!
Is it God’s Voice or My Own Thoughts?
God may often speak to you in your thoughts. That can be confusing because God’s voice can sound like your own thoughts. So, how can you tell the difference between God’s voice and your own thoughts?
I learned some valuable insights about this from Neville Johnson. Neville had an understanding of the deeper things of God that was beyond the wisdom of most Christian teachers that I’ve heard.
Neville pointed out that God’s voice is spontaneous. This is often how you can distinguish God’s voice from your own thoughts. His voice comes to you suddenly, out of the blue. When He speaks in your thoughts, His voice is not following your current train of thought. His voice is imposed on your thinking suddenly in a moment. You may wonder, “Where did that thought come from?”
As you learn to recognize this, you will be able to hear God more clearly as He speaks to you, even in your thoughts.
Value What God Says to You
It is important to capture what He says to you as quickly as possible. I can’t emphasize this enough. Remember that the manna that was not gathered quickly by the Israelites melted away and was lost. We see that in Exodus 16:21. Whenever God’s messages to us are not valued, they tend to quickly disappear like vapor. Value what God gives you so that you will not lose it! Write it down, record it, or draw it out in a sketch. Do whatever you need to do so that you get everything you can from what God says to you.
As you respond in obedience, God will reward you and give you more!
Remember the words of Jesus in Matthew 25:28-29, “For to everyone who has [and values his blessings and gifts from God, and has used them wisely], more will be given, and [he will be richly supplied so that] he will have an abundance; but from the one who does not have [because he has ignored or disregarded his blessings and gifts from God], even what he does have will be taken away.” (AMP)
May God bless you as you learn to hear God’s voice more clearly!
