The Call - Hearing God's Voice

 
“While walking by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon (who is called Peter) and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen. 19 And he said to them, ‘Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.’ 20 Immediately they left their nets and followed him.”  Matthew 4:18-20 ESV


They heard the call and responded.  The question is do we hear God’s voice?  Oswald Chambers writes:

Because I have listened definitely to one thing from God, it does not follow that I will listen to everything He says. …If I love my friend, I intuitively detect what he wants, and Jesus says, “Ye are My friends.” Have I disobeyed some command of my Lord’s this week? If I had realized that it was a command of Jesus, I would not consciously have disobeyed it; but most of us show such disrespect to God that we do not even hear what He says, He might never have spoken.

The destiny of my spiritual life is such identification with Jesus Christ that I always hear God, and I know that God always hears me (John 11:41). If I am united with Jesus Christ, I hear God by the devotion of hearing all the time. A lily, or a tree, or a servant of God, may convey God’s message to me. What hinders me from hearing is that I am taken up with other things. It is not that I will not hear God, but that I am not devoted in the right place. I am devoted to things, to service, to convictions, and God may say what He likes but I do not hear Him. The child attitude is always “Speak, Lord, for Thy servant heareth.” If I have not cultivated this devotion of hearing, I can only hear God’s voice at certain times; at other times I am taken up with things—things which I say I must do, and I become deaf to Him, I am not living the life of a child. Have I heard God’s voice to-day?  (Chambers, 1986)

Do we allow ourselves to be so busy doing good things that we do not take the time or concentration to hear what God is saying to us?  We all have so many demands in life.  They can become a distraction that fills our minds as well as our time.  We need to be intentional about hearing God.

How do we hear God’s voice? We hear through His Spirit which indwells us as believers.

1 Corinthians 2:10-12 says, “these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God.  For who knows a person's thoughts except the spirit of that person, which is in him? So also no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God.  Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God.” (ESV)


This can happen in different ways.  It may be God speaking to us as we read His Word, and it pierces our heart.  He may give us a picture, word, or dream.  He may speak to us through a sermon, worship music, creation, or something He reveals to another Christian for us.  It may be a conviction He places on our heart or peace or lack of peace in a decision we make.  He gives us burdens to pray for others.



John 16:13-14 promises, “When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. 14 He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you.”  God wants to communicate with us.  It may be in a different way from what we were expecting.  Check out this video clip Ryan Denlinger allowed me to tape for an example of how God spoke in an unexpected way- 

We need to be able to recognize His voice.  This gets better with practice.  He will never tell us to do something contrary to what He has revealed in His Word.   We need to respond to what He is teaching us and where He is correcting us so we will be able to hear Him better.

John 14:26 explains, “But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.”

If we are not reading God’s Word, we are missing an essential piece.  The Bible is His letter to us, and we find He illuminates the passages in new ways each time we read it, speaking what we personally need to hear.  We need to open our minds and hearts to listen when we read.  Reading the Bible is not an obligation, but an opportunity for fellowship.

1 John 2:27 says, “But the anointing that you received from him abides in you, and you have no need that anyone should teach you. But as his anointing teaches you about everything, and is true, and is no lie—just as it has taught you, abide in him.”  Let your devotional time be a two-way conversation.  Learn to be silent before God and allow Him a chance to speak.



Works Cited

Chambers, O. (1986). My Utmost for His Highest: Selections for the Year. Grand Rapids, MI: Oswald Chambers Publications; Marshall Pickering.