Day 367: Knowing The Voice Of God

Those who truly know God have learned how to recognize his voice. I believe that three things are required of those who would hear God’s voice:

1. Unshakable confidence that God is wanting to speak to you. You have to be fully persuaded and convinced of this. Indeed, he wants you to know his voice so you can do his will. What God tells you will never go beyond the boundaries of scripture.

2. Quality time and quietness. You need to be willing to shut yourself in with God and let all other voices fall away. True, God speaks to us all day long, but whenever he has wanted to build something into my life, his voice has come only after I had shut out every other voice but his.

3. Asking in faith. We do not obtain anything from God, including hearing his voice, unless we truly believe that he is able to convey his mind to us and enable us to understand his perfect will. We also must believe that the Spirit intercedes for us when we don’t know how to pray for ourselves or a certain situation (see Romans 8:26-27).

God is not a tease. He wants you to be convinced that he desires to talk to you and tell you things you’ve never heard before. He will not allow the enemy to deceive you. “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” (John 10:2-5, NKJV). When God speaks, peace follows, and Satan cannot counterfeit that peace!

God saw what your hurts and needs would be. He knew ahead of time what you would need to solve all your problems. He did not wrap up and hide away his answers.

I don't like that he called them "requirements". Good ideas, helpful. But I don't think Moses expected the burning bush. I don't think Mary expected Gabriel. Or Saul expected Jesus on the Damascas Road.

5 If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him. 6 But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed. 7 For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord. 8 A double minded man is unstable in all his ways.

My advice, just ask. Have enough faith to ask and believe in the goodness of God. Don't worry too much about whether your faith is strong enough. If you think your faith is weak, then ask God to help you with that.

Other helpful things to do include getting someone to pray with you. "Where two or more of you are gathered in my name, there I will be with you." It was important enough that Jesus mentioned it.

Also, "2You crave what you do not have; you kill and covet, but are unable to obtain it. You quarrel and fight. You do not have, because you do not ask. 3And when you do ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may squander it on your pleasures."

T.W. Hunt once said that he observed about a 4 to 1 ratio of miracles and answered prayers when he was praying for others than for himself. Answered prayers and miracles were a lot more likely to occur when he was praying for other people, than for himself.

When you're praying for others, you're more likely to be aligned with God's will than you are when you are praying for yourself.

Hebrews 4:16 Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.

There’s a big problem in the church these days with people deciding when and how God should be acting in another person’s life.

I have had to deal with this with an ongoing rather serious health issue I have been afflicted with. Lots of opinions on how God should work and what I should expect from Him. It leads to a lot of disappointment until you come to the point of just dismissing their opinion and waiting for God to move when and how HE will.

Jesus told us that all we need is faith the size of a mustard seed. It’s not the size of our faith that makes the difference, but the size of the God we have faith in.

Unless they are expressly stated in Scripture as requirements, I agree with you.

And there are a lot of people who take 1 Corinthians 10:13 out of context and quote as "God will not give you more than you can bear" and then apply it to everything including illness.

1 Cor 10:13 There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.

The context is temptation. When it comes to physical ailments, we all eventually succumb to something our bodies cannot bear. And few or none of us knows the time of our death. I saw few because of that guy that was promised he would see the Messiah before his death.

God has the power to heal anything, even bring decomposed bodies back from the dead. Last I checked He was sovereign not me. I don't get to tell him what to do. I do get to ask. Am even encouraged to boldly ask. But it's up to Him. He has His reasons, and ways and His Timing.

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