How to Hear God’s Voice

·        Do you think it’s easy to hear God’s voice or does a person have to put some effort into hearing what God is speaking?·        In the last lesson we learned that God hears us and even speaks to us; this lesson will go over some helps and hindrances to hearing God’s voice in your own life.·        We will begin with Psalm 24, which talks about the type of person that is able to come before God to stand in His presence. To hear God, we must be in His presence, and only those who are holy are able to stand in it. 

Psalm 24:3-7Who may ascend the hill of the Lord?Who may stand in his holy place?He who has clean hands and a pure heart,who does not lift up his soul to an idol or swear by what is false.He will receive blessing from the Lord and vindication from God his Savior.Such is the generation of those who seek him, who seek your face, O God of Jacob. 

·        This Psalm indicates that not everyone will be able to stand in the presence of God, but only those who are pure and cleansed of their sins, which means those who know Jesus. Those who worship some other entity or stake their life on any other belief will not be able to stand in His presence.·        But the idea that we can meet with God is not just for some distant future after we die, but it is for right now, too. We can come before God in His holy place, the place of His presence, any time we choose. We can speak to God and He will speak back to us.·        While God wants to speak to us and have us hear what He is saying, there are some things we can do or not do to help us hear Him more clearly.

DEVOTED OR DISTRACTED? 

Be Still

“Be still, and know that I am God.” Psalm 46:10

 ·        What does it mean to “be still” before God? Does it mean to just stop moving, or is there some deeper stillness implied?·        When we quiet our minds and bodies by removing all distractions that draw us away from Jesus, this is being still. It means we rest in God and stop working so hard to do everything all on our own; we stop and focus on Jesus and know that He is God and has everything under control.·        When we are still in His presence, it is easier to hear Him speak to us than if we are constantly on the go and not listening for His voice. 

Be Wholehearted

“You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.” Jeremiah 29:13

This is one of my favorite text becasue I came to faith when this was preached. 

 ·        Do you think God is pleased with half-hearted attempts at prayer or worship? When we read our Bibles or pray or attend church but let our thoughts drift elsewhere, do you think God says, “Well, at least he showed up. That’s good enough for Me?”·        Instead, God searches our hearts, knows our meditations and motivations, and sees every thought, attitude, and desire. He wants followers who have abandoned everything for Him, who are completely devoted to Him above all else. Lukewarm Christianity does not cut it with God, He is seeking to reveal Himself to wholehearted worshippers who seek Him with everything they’ve got. 

Be Close

“I will bring him near and he will come close to me, for who is he who will devote himself to be close to me?” Jeremiah 30:21

 ·        God wants to speak to us, but we must draw near to Him. We must allow Him to draw us into His presence so that we might encounter Him in a real way. But He requires our hearts to be devoted to Him; He is seeking those who set their hearts on being close to God to wait on Him and hear what He is saying.·        Though God is the One who pulls us into a closer walk with Him, we must respond by setting our hearts to know Him and listen to His voice. 

Don’t be Fake

“With their mouths they express devotion, but their hearts are greedy for unjust gain.” Ezekiel 33:21

 ·        God is not pleased with those who have an outward appearance of religiosity and piety, but whose hearts are far from God.·        We cannot please God and draw nearer to Him by just mouthing prayers, singing worship songs, attending religious services, or praising His name in words, but these things must bubble up from a heart fully and sincerely devoted to seeking Him and doing His will.·        If we really want to hear God and know Him, we must surrender all of our desires for selfish gain and seek to know and follow His ways. Our hearts must be submitted to Him. 

Don’t be Deceived

But I am afraid that just as Eve was deceived by the serpent’s cunning, your minds may be led astray from your sincere and pure devotion to Christ. 2 Corinthians 11:3

 ·        There are many things in this world competing for our attention, but we must give Jesus first place in everything and reject anything that draws us away from Him.·        If we are not focused on Jesus, then we can be easily deceived into believing that many things are from God when they really are not.·        For this reason, we must renew our minds daily by reading the word and praying in truth and understanding for more knowledge of God and His ways.

·        We must use discernment when we listen for God, so that we can distinguish His voice from all the other voices in the world.

Listen for His voice today and have a great day.

John

This entry was posted on 09/09/2009 at 03:55 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response or trackback from your own site.