Prophetic Significance of The Hunger Games - Part 2
God still speaks today. He speaks in a variety of different ways, using a variety of different means and media. He speaks through believers and non-believers. He speaks often. If we are not hearing God’s voice, the problem is not with Him. The problem is with us.
But that is good news, because if the problem is with us, then there must be something we can do to correct it! There must be something within our control that we can change that will allow us to hear God’s voice!
And that is true.
The way it works is that when God speaks to us, whether it is through Bible passages that we read, or lessons that we hear taught, or videos that we watch, or dreams that we have at night, or any number of natural or supernatural means and media, our response will determine what happens next.
Consequences of How We Listen to God
If we listen attentively, with a sincere intention to understand and to respond in a positive way by obeying the instructions in God’s message, then our lives and our families will be blessed, our efforts will prosper, and we will be able to hear, understand, and respond to God more easily in the future.
However, if on the other hand, we do not pay attention to the messages that God speaks to us; if we do not value what He says to us, and we do not respond in obedience, we will not be able to hear or understand God’s messages as clearly in the future, and we will also begin to lose the ability to respond to God.
Use it or lose it.
This is exactly what Jesus described in Mark 4:23-25 (AMP):
“If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear and heed My words.” Then He said to them, “Pay attention to what you hear. By your own standard of measurement [that is, to the extent that you study spiritual truth and apply godly wisdom] it will be measured to you [and you will be given even greater ability to respond]—and more will be given to you besides. For whoever has [a teachable heart], to him more [understanding] will be given; and whoever does not have [a yearning for truth], even what he has will be taken away from him.”
The Blessings of Responding to God’s Voice
Moses wrote the first five books of the Bible, God’s Word. God spoke to Moses personally out of a burning bush. God gave him detailed guidance on how to free the Hebrews from captivity and how to lead them for 40 years. Moses was given two stone tablets with God’s personally handwritten words. God gave him detailed instructions on how to build the Tabernacle, and extensive laws for the people to live by. Very few people have ever heard God’s voice more clearly, more often, and in greater detail than Moses.
Why? Why was Moses able to hear God’s voice so well?
God Himself gave us the reason for this in Numbers chapter 12. Moses received so many messages, and so much revelation from God because he was faithful to listen and carry out everything that God gave him to do. Moses received the messages from God willingly, and to the best of his ability, he obeyed what he understood to do in those messages.
Then the LORD said, “Listen to my words. Suppose there is a prophet among you. I, the LORD, make myself known to them in visions. I speak to them in dreams. But this is not true of my servant Moses. He is faithful in everything he does in my house. With Moses I speak face to face. I speak with him clearly. I do not speak in riddles. I let him see something of what I look like.”—Numbers 12:6-8 (NIRV)
Do you want to hear God more often and more clearly? Follow Moses’ example. There was nothing special about Moses. He was just an ordinary man who responded fully, in prompt obedience, when God spoke to him.
Start with what you know to do. What do you know that God has said to you personally? Obey that fully, with all your heart. If you have not heard God’s voice personally, start with the Bible. Read it. Obey Jesus’ commands that He spoke to all of us in the books of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. As God sees your obedience to what He has said to you, you will begin to hear His voice more often, more clearly, and in a variety of ways.
When you sense that God may be speaking to you personally, or if you read something in the Bible that has particular significance for you, make note of it. Write it in a notebook; type it out on your computer or your phone. Highlight meaningful verses in your Bible.
When I was just beginning to learn to hear God’s voice, I kept a notebook. In this notebook, I wrote down anything that I felt God was speaking to me. I also wrote down Bible verses that really seemed meaningful to me. After that notebook was filled with words, I started other notebooks until I had a drawer full of notebooks with meaningful Bible verses, prophetic words, descriptions of visions, dreams that I had at night, and anything that I thought God had spoken to me in other ways.
Now, I record those words from God on my phone and on my computer. When I have dreams at night, I have a digital voice recorder by my bed. As soon as I wake up, I record the dreams that I had that night, so that I capture all the details that I can. If I do not record them as soon as I wake up, I tend to forget details from my dreams very quickly. You have probably experienced this, too.
But recording what God speaks to you is just the first step. Take time to meditate on the words that God has spoken to you. Think on them often. Meditating on God’s words will transform your soul (James 1:21).
Then take action on the words that God has spoken to you. It is not enough to hear and receive the words that God speaks to you. You must take action (James 2:17). God didn’t praise Moses because he wrote down God’s words. God praised Moses because he was faithful to obey everything that God spoke to him, to the best of his understanding and ability. Of course, Moses was not perfect. Like all of us, he made mistakes, but his heart’s motivation was to obey God’s words fully and completely.
If you want to hear God’s voice more often and more clearly, ask God for that! If you want the same motivation that Moses had to obey God’s words promptly and completely, ask God for it! Everything good that we have, and everything good that we are, comes from God (James 1:17). If you want more, ask God for it!
“So I say to you, ask and keep on asking, and it will be given to you; seek and keep on seeking, and you will find; knock and keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who keeps on asking [persistently], receives; and he who keeps on seeking [persistently], finds; and to him who keeps on knocking [persistently], the door will be opened.”—Luke 11:9-10 (AMP)
You can be as close to God as Moses was! You can hear God as clearly and as often as Moses did! There is nothing stopping you. It is completely within your control. It is all up to you. As someone has said, “You are as close to God as you want to be.” And as God’s Word tells us, “Draw near to God and He will draw near to you” (James 4:8 NKJV).
However, if on the other hand we choose to resist the message that God speaks to us, “hardening our hearts” to what God is saying to us, then we will not experience the good things that God intended for us to experience. But it doesn’t stop there. If we do not value the words that God speaks to us, and we do not respond to them with obedience, we will actually begin to lose the ability to see and hear God’s messages to us, and we will also begin to lose the ability to respond to Him.
