I want to dedicate this to my good friend Allen (Booker T) who sincerely asked me this question this evening. I believe learning to hear the voice of God is crucial to the Spirit-filled life. God wants to guide you as you acknowledge Him in all your ways. As you begin to recognize the voice of God your intimacy with the Father will grow, and opportunities for effective ministry will grow. You will become so dependent of the Father that you will not be able to move, work, or make a decision without consulting Him first.
I will also say, that it is a process. And I look forward to the day when God speaks to me like He did Moses. "As a man, face to face."
God is alive and He desires to speak to us. We must learn to hear His voice. (My sheep know my voice).
How does God speak to us?
God speaks to us in a variety of ways, I would like to talk about 5 ways the voice of God can speak to us.
I. The voice of God can be INVITATIONAL. I Sam 3:1-10
a. The voice of the Lord came to Samuel unexpectedly.
(In those days the word of the Lord was rare).
b. The voice of the Lord came to Samuel clearly.
It was clear enough to keep making him get up out of bed.
C. The voice of the Lord came to Samuel repeatedly.
The voice of the Lord came to Samuel 4 times before He was ready to receive it.
*application...The Lord calls and invites us into his presence. He does this continually, and gently until we hear and recognize his voice. Samuel heard his voice, but he did not recognize it. The first few encounters with the voice of God can be confusing to us, they were to Samuel. But as these encounters continue, there is no peace until the voice is answered. *Perhaps you hear God calling your name....now that you know that it is him, will you listen like Samuel?
II. Secondly, the voice of God can be CONFRONTATIONAL. Acts 9:1-9 Acts 7:57-60 Stephen’s death
a. Saul was under conviction since Stephen’s death. I believe He kept hearing the voice of God through Stephen "Lord do not charge them with this sin."
b. When Saul encountered the Lord, he fell to the ground under compulsion. The presence of God drove Him to the ground.
c. Saul was consumed with awe and fear. "Astonished and trembling"
*application ...I think a lot of us would rather God deal with us in this manner, but as I thought about this I believe that God saves this type of talk for the hard cases. Often times when man comes into a confrontation with God such as this the person usually comes away blind like Paul, lame like Jacob, silent like Zacharias, and believe it or not there are those that resist the voice of God even after a confrontational encounter such as this. It is scary to think that we could be hardened like Cain, or sonless like Pharaoh, or dead like Lot’s wife all because we did not heed to the voice of the Lord.
III. Thirdly, the voice of God can be UNCONVENTIONAL.
I Kings 19:11-13
By unconventional I mean not normal. Conventional means normal. Examples: conventional warfare, conventional wisdom.
Isaiah: Our ways are not His ways nor our thoughts His thoughts.
I believe the Lord speaks to us in this way for a couple of reasons.
1. It builds our dependence upon Him.
2. Causes us to approach God reverently.
3. It builds our faith to learn to trust Him at different times, different ways.
Elijah thought it would be in the wind. The presence of God was in the wind but not the voice of God.
Elijah thought it would be in the earthquake.
Elijah thought is would be in the fire.
After the fire, a still small voice.
*application ... How many times are we looking to hear from God in some big earth shaking fire falling wind howling experience? His voice follows His presence...listen for it.
TRANSITION: SO FAR WE DISCOVERED THAT THE VOICE OF GOD CAN BE INVITATIONAL, CONFRONTATIONAL, UNCONVENTIONAL NOW...
IV. The voice of God can be INSTRUCTIONAL. ACTS 16:6-10
Be warned! The voice of God can mess up your plans.
A. They were forbidden by the Spirit to preach in a certain place.
B. They tried to go physically and Spirit did not permit them.
C. Finally God spoke to them through a dream.
God messes up even our most well intentioned plans to protect us from making a mistake of a lifetime!
Closed doors,
No peace,
Much resistance are all warning signs God uses to keep us from going our own way. I will say that sometimes resistance is Satanic in nature, but we need to learn to discern the difference.
*application... God protects us from ourselves.
God Provides an answer. (We may not like it)
God always proves Himself faithful and true.
V. Finally, this important..God’s voice is meant to be RELATIONAL.
Jn 8:26-30
We can have intimate real dialogue with the Father.
26-28..we see Jesus dependent upon the voice of the Father.
Vs 28 ..we see Jesus was obedient to the Father. "I do as the Father taught me". " I do what pleases Him"
Vs 29..we see Jesus was intimate with the Father . "He who sent me has not left me alone"
*application... Jesus is our role model. He was in constant fellowship with the Father. When we know the Father well enough we will be better able to Hear his voice and know His will in our lives.
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