Freedom Series – The Voice of God

This cannot be emphasized enough, we must learn to hear and obey the voice of God.

Our entire God-journey is about exercising ourselves unto righteousness. Our whole God-journey is about following God closely. The journey is NOT about allowing God into our world but more about us entering into His world.

Paul wrote in I Timothy 4 and in Hebrews 5 about exercising ourselves (self-discipline) spiritually. Exercise to godliness and exercise to discern good and evil. Both of those require action on our part. We can (are able) to exercise (stretch ourselves) to hear the voice of God.

How?

Start by paying attention.

 Read I Kings 19

Then He said, “Go out, and stand on the mountain before the Lord.” And behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind tore into the mountains and broke the rocks in pieces before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind; and after the wind an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake;  and after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire; and after the fire a still small voice. So it was, when Elijah heard it, that he wrapped his face in his mantle and went out and stood in the entrance of the cave. Suddenly a voice came to him, and said, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”

Most of the time, in order to hear from God we must get still and quiet. I know people who are able to read a book in a busy and crowded room. Or listen to music (with lyrics) while doing homework…studies show, that our minds do not transition that or focus well with other stimulus going on. Basically, I doubt you are absorbing much if your Bible study time or prayer time is always with other people. In order to hear God’s voice, other voices need to be still and quiet.

There are ways to tap in and hone in on God’s voice. This is the “exercise part”. It starts with LISTEN! As I write this I hear God’s voice echoing in my mind, “LISTEN, LISTEN, LISTEN.” You have to identify how God speaks to you. There are some great resources out there about hearing from God. One that I recommend is “The Voice of God” by Cindy Jacobs.

Jesus explained in like this in John 10, “ But he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. To him the doorkeeper opens, and the sheep hear his voice; and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.  And when he brings out his own sheep, he goes before them; and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice. Yet they will by no means follow a stranger, but will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers”. Jesus is the shepherd. We are the sheep. When He speaks, we recognize His voice, or we should. This chapter explains the relationship between shepherds and sheep. They only follow their shepherds voice. They will not follow another. If sheep can recognize the voice of their protector; we can too.

How do we recognize the voice of God from all the other voices?

1. God’s voice always aligns with His Word (the Bible). He isn’t going to tell you to sin.

2. God is kind. He isn’t beating us up. His correction is gentle. He doesn’t call us name or berate us.

3. The spirit of what He is saying also align’s with His Word. In other words, His voice has the fruit of the Spirit; love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness, faithfulness and long suffering.

Learning to LISTEN for and to the voice of God does not subtract from or take away from reading and knowing your Bible. Your Bible is the filter that the Word must go through, it’s the checking system; if you hear something that does not line up with the Bible, it’s likely not God. For example, God isn’t going to tell you to be a serial killer or rob people. God isn’t going to lead you to be disrespectful or function out of hate, those are not attributes of God. In fact, God often speaks to us directly through His word. READ your Bible.

Once you have started listening, you also have to take action.

I was recently reading in the book of Acts.

There was a certain man in Caesarea called Cornelius, a centurion of what was called the Italian Regiment,  a devout man and one who feared God with all his household, who gave alms generously to the people, and prayed to God always.  About the ninth hour of the day he saw clearly in a vision an angel of God coming in and saying to him, “Cornelius!” And when he observed him, he was afraid, and said, “What is it, lord?” So he said to him, “Your prayers and your alms have come up for a memorial before God.  Now send men to Joppa, and send for Simon whose surname is Peter.  He is lodging with Simon, a tanner, whose house is by the sea. He^[d] will tell you what you must do.” And when the angel who spoke to him had departed, Cornelius called two of his household servants and a devout soldier from among those who waited on him continually.  So when he had explained all these things to them, he sent them to Joppa. Act 10:1-8

I have spoken out of this text before. It is powerful. This man, who was not Jewish, believed in God. He prayed and he gave (generosity is an attribute of God). He was faithful. All of these, God favors and rewards. This time as I read God showed me something new.

God sent an angel in a vision to speak to Cornelius. The angel delivered a very specific word. Send for a man named Peter (the message was not for him to go himself but to send someone), this is where Peter is…. (again, very specific details). Cornelius shares these specific details with his men and they FOLLOWED DIRECTIONS.

When God gives specifics, the specifics are important.

How many times has God given us a word and we have not done anything with it? We might write it down and then expect everything to work out for us.

But do you want to know, O foolish man, that faith without works is dead? John 2:20

You can be the best listener and nothing will happen. You must couple your listening to your faith and your faith to your doing.

Many years ago I hear a preacher say, “What you do is what you believe and everything else is just religious talk.” If God speaks and you do not follow His direction, you do not believe.

This all circles back to a prayer I pray for my kids and even for myself:

God, Please give us ears to hear you, a mind to understand all that You are saying and heart to obey You. Help us to put action to Your instructions.

When it comes to your freedom journey, you must listen and follow what God is saying. God doesn’t always address the elephant in the room. As we journeyed through freedom, my husband was very angry (mostly with me). I told him (likely repeatedly) that he needed to work on his anger. God addressed the whole issue through a back door….the back door was the root of the anger. What looked like an anger issue to me was a much deeper issue. God deals in roots not fruits. If the fruit is bad, so is the root. God deals in specifics. He addresses specific situations and events from the past. If you feel God leading you to specific events or at times people, be open to it. Allow God to lead your freedom journey.