Hearing God’s Voice

“In the beginning was the Word…without him nothing was made that has been made.”  (John 1:1-3).

The Word is a person – Jesus Christ.  The Word was in the beginning of everything.  Nothing is made without him.

Some things look as though they are real, but if the Word is not in them, they won’t last.  Christian work can look good for a while, it can have all the right trappings, and it will seem to be successful, but unless the Word is at the foundation, it will collapse.  It is the same with a life.  Someone can look as though they have everything going for them, but if their life is not based on God’s word, it will come crumbling down.  See Jesus' parable in Matthew 7:24-29. 

The word must be heard and put into practice, this is what the Bible calls faith.  It is interesting to note that when the people heard Jesus teaching they were amazed, not just by what he said, but the way he said it; he taught as one who had authority.  They recognised not just the words, but the Word.  He lived what he taught.

How do we hear?

“In the beginning was the Word.”

In your beginning the Word spoke…and you heard.

We are created to hear God’s word.  He spoke and we were knit together in our mother’s womb.  Our flesh and blood responded to His word. (Psalm 139:13).

A newborn baby can recognise the name of Jesus.  When I worked in North Africa I lived for a while with a midwife.  One night I helped her deliver triplets!  One sadly died at birth, the other two brothers were tiny, less than a kilo each.  They would not have survived if we had left them with the mother.  We took them back to the midwife’s house and nursed them and prayed over them.  She noticed the next day, that every time she spoke the name of Jesus over one of the babies they responded by opening their eyes.  At first I thought it was co-incidence, but I had the same experience.  The boys grew and became strong.

“How precious towards me are your thoughts, O God!  How vast is the sum of them!  Were I to count them they would outnumber the grains of sand”  (Psalm 139:17-18).

The Lord thinks about each of us as individuals.  It is impossible to number the thoughts He has over each one of us.  His thoughts are His word, His plan and gentle provision for our destiny.  When we are created we unconsciously respond to His word.  As we grow into the world of unbelief and the sin in our own nature finds outlet, our ability to hear the Word is muffled.

Isaiah 43:1 talks of the Lord creating Jacob, but forming Israel.  Each of us is created by the Word, but not all of us allow ourselves to be formed by the Word.  New Life in Jesus brings that forming.

We have been chosen in Christ before the creation of the world, (Ephesians 1:4).  Before He spoke as recorded in Genesis, and created the world, He had called you by your name, and chosen you to be with Him.

When we are born again we simply discover what He had spoken before creation.

Before that happens we can still hear his voice if we chose to listen, because creation itself speaks of Him (Romans 1:20), but many other voices compete for our attention.  Things and the love of them, people and the love of them, come between us and the voice of God.  However when we start our new life we find that the longing that has always been in the background in our souls is satisfied when we hear the voice of Jesus.

I am saying all this because in a very real sense it is the most “normal” thing in the world to hear the voice of God.  Probably not audibly, but none the less unmistakably.  The environment around us is geared to the senses of the flesh, but we are created spirit, soul and body.  As we start to listen with the ears of our heart we can hear the voice of God.

In the garden Adam and Eve had no difficulty in talking with the Lord.  It was normal, natural.  The reason why goes back to their creation.  When the Lord created the world and all that was in them He simply spoke the word and it was so.  All that is except for man.  For man He spoke the word, but then He did something else, something unique.  He breathed His own breath into man and man became a living soul. (Genesis 2:7).  That act gave man an ability to communicate with the Lord, soul to soul, spirit to spirit, breath to breath.

From the beginning the Lord taught man how to use the Word himself to take the authority He wanted him to have.  He brought the animals to Adam for him to name. Man as God’s image spoke the word of authority and it was so.

Trouble came when man listened to the other voice in the garden, Satan.  The word of God brings life, listening to the word of Satan brought death.

When we are born again our new creation, like Adam and Eve can easily talk with the Lord.  The sin and death in our old nature and in the world try and block this communication.  The biggest weapon that Satan has is UNBELIEF.  He is still using the same old line… “Did God really say..”.  Satan knows that the work of God is to believe. (John 6:29). Faith comes by hearing the word (Romans 10:17), so he will do all he can to try and block Word.

However even after the Fall, Adam and Eve could still hear God. They were uncomfortable in His Presence, they knew their sin and hid, but they could still hear Him. We are created to hear God’s word, and that word is near us, not up in the heaven or in the deep, but in our mouth and in our heart. (Romans 10:6-8).  His breath is in us.  Perhaps one of the most wonderful and hope filled verses when we pray for those yet to be converted is John 5:25;

“I tell you the truth, a time is coming and has now come when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God and those who hear will live”.

It gives us help for our own condition too, even if there is a part of us that is dead; we can still hear the voice of the Son of God and live!

Sometimes we try so hard to hear, that we miss the Lord Himself.  To listen, come back to the ground of the Cross.  Come onto the ground of Redemption.  That is where Jesus won back our ability to hear him without any interference.  The WORD spoken for us on the cross is “I LOVE YOU”.  Every other word that we receive will be built on really knowing that one.  Peter had to hear those words before he could receive his calling.  If you are having difficulty hearing the Lord, meditate on the Cross and on the Resurrection.  Hear Him calling your name.  The Holy Spirit will remind you of all that He has spoken (John 14:26).  Hear Him speak to you from the Cross, hear Him speak to you in the Garden.

The Lord is speaking out His eternal purpose for those who have ears to hear Him.  He told Abraham that he and his offspring would be heirs of the world, (Romans 4:13) and He has not changed His mind.  He is still working towards that purpose by giving life to the dead and calling things that are not as though they were (Romans 4:17).  He asks us to speak with Him, to call things into existence with Him.  Whatever is needed for His purpose to be fulfilled will be created.

Fear can stop us hearing.  The Word has a cost to us.  If we speak it we too find ourselves at Calvary.  Every word from God starts there.  But if we will speak the Word with Him, we will have the joy of creating with Him.  As we continue to speak out His word we grow in authority, and He gives us more responsibility.  This is prayer.  Paul said “I believed, therefore I have spoken”. (2 Corinthians 4:13).

All of us shelter in word that other Christians have received and believed.  The church we go to was created because God gave a word.  The mission we belong to etc.  However to make our contribution we need to be receiving and believing and acting on word that the Lord is giving.  It is the only way growth will happen. 

Jesus showed us the way. He completely submitted Himself to His Father, and listened for His word;

“For I did not speak on my own accord, but the Father who sent me commanded me what to say and how to say it.  I know that his command leads to eternal life.  So whatever I say is just what the Father has told me to say.”  (John 12:49-50).

He set the perfect model, we don’t always get it right, but we can hear the Lord and speak His words after Him.  Those words will always create LIFE.

Assessment

Share with someone the first time you heard the Lord speak to you.  Say how it was that you heard him.

What are the barriers to hearing the Lord on a daily basis?  How can you remove them? Discuss in small groups.