At least once in their life, every Christian should have to explain to a child how to “hear” God speak. You’re not going to easily fool a child, so in order to answer with any degree of credibility, you must have actually heard Him yourself. I remember finding myself being cross-examined about this subject by a young girl, who, along with her family, had been my house guests for several days. In a passing conversation with her parents, she heard me say how God had “spoken to my heart.”
She immediately replied that she wanted to hear God, too!
What an opportunity! I wanted her to know that God is real and that He would be her best friend. The answer was in explaining my own experience of drawing close to God and maintaining an unobstructed line of communication.
My personal experience with God made it much less intimidating because it is easy to share what you regularly experience!
But, before I opened my mouth, I began to pray in my heart for the answer: “God, how do I explain to this precious child how I hear the voice of Your Spirit move my heart?”
God showed me that the answer was found in what I was doing at that very minute!
You see, after we are born again, the Holy Spirit resides within us and we have an unbreakable familial bond. We are given a marvelous gift: A passionate desire to know God. That desire causes us to discipline ourselves to ELIMINATE the actions in our life that violate His Word because we don’t want ANYTHING to come between us and Him to thwart the lines of communication. We also desire to ADD the things to our life that reflect obedience—church commitment, daily quiet time, Bible study, consistent prayer life, living out the Great Commission, etc.
The more we draw close to God through obedience, the more we HEAR Him.
My friend, 95% of God’s plan for our life is contained in His Word. If we’re not reading it and trying to follow it—we’re missing 95% of what He has to say. It’s doubtful that we’re going to be getting some extra-biblical revelation if we’re not even doing the things He has already said! I mean, we only share our secrets with those closest to us, right? Thus, when we live in obedience to God’s Word, we begin to hear even the faintest whisper of His Spirit. God is not limited in how He speaks. He does it through His Word, Creation, and even through other people. He gives us thoughts about what to do and say and the wisdom about how to do it. The more I experience His presence, the more I want it and—the more I hear Him guide me.
This coincides with our human experience!
When we really know someone—for example, our father—we can often “hear” him “speak” to us without him saying a word—right? We know him well, so we know how he thinks and what he expects. My friend, the first step to knowing God is to become His child through accepting His gift of salvation. God already knows us—even better than we know ourselves. But our knowledge of God is directly dependent upon the degree to which we listen, study, and obey. This builds intimacy which intensifies our awareness of His presence and enables us to hear His voice more clearly. Through His Word, God has given us a vast education of Himself so that we may learn who He is. In Creation, He has given us the visual of His majesty, genius, and love. Jesus said:
“…whoever HEARS these sayings of Mine, and DOES them, I will liken him to a WISE man…”
Matthew 7:24
God’s wisdom is ONLY from God. If we live in obedience, He promises:
“Call to Me, and I will answer you, and show you great and mighty things, which you do not know.”
Jeremiah 33:3
So, in closing—how do we hear God’s voice?
- We must be born again and thus, have the ability and the desire to communicate with Him because our soul and spirit has been made ALIVE in Christ.
- We must live in obedience to His Word—eliminating the habits that separate us from Him and adding the behaviors that draw us closer to Him. With these two steps we are hearing 95% of what God has to say to every human!
- The more we live in obedience to His Word, the more we become aware of His Spirit guiding us on the unwritten path. We know things that can only be known by His Spirit. We are led to do things by faith that comes from a history of obedience and trust.
My friend, God is always speaking—to hear Him—we simply need to live in obedience of His Word and learn to listen.
We would love to hear your thoughts about this devotional. Did God speak to you or challenge your daily walk with him? Or is there a topic that you would like Kimberly to cover or expound on? Please share with us in the comments below.
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