His Voice

Verse of the day: 1 Samuel 3:10, Now the LORD came and stood and called as at other times, “Samuel! Samuel!” And Samuel answered, “Speak, for Your servant hears.”

I always find it amazing that we can recognize the voice of our loved ones if we hear them call us in a crowd. Without hesitation, we often recognize the sound of our spouse’s, children’s, or close friend’s voice. Can we say the same thing relative to hearing God’s voice? Today, we have many voices that speak to us. The devils love to speak to us in order to distract us and mislead us. Quite often, they use social media, television, and other venues that are often used for evil and deception. I am not saying that everything that is on the internet or television is evil. We can certainly use these venues to listen to Christian programming and the Word of God. However, even in this, we must know how to discern whether we are hearing God’s Word or someone corrupting it. The bottom line is that we, as God’s children MUST learn to hear God’s voice in our everyday lives. John 10:27-28 says, “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. 28 And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand.” Note that the very first requirement in being able to hear and know God’s voice is that we must belong to Him. Jesus said, “My sheep”. In verse 26 of this same chapter Jesus said, “But you do not believe, because you are not of My sheep, as I said to you.” Unless the foundation of our relationship with God is our trust in Christ and calling upon Him for eternal life, we will not know Him or be able to hear and recognize His voice. As born again believers, we can hear and know God’s voice by continually being in His Word and praying. Just like we take the extra time to get to know our best friend, we must purposely spend time with the Lord, in His Word, if we want to grow to know Him intimately. It is in that intimacy that we will learn to hear and recognize His voice. We must be able to recognize the voices of all the wolves in sheep’s clothing that pretend to preach the truth, but corrupt it for their own benefit and gain. This is where listening to preaching and teaching online and on television can either lead us astray or bring us closer to the Lord. Far too many Christian, who are too lazy to spend time in God’s Word, or who prefer to be spoon-fed, are being led astray with all the false prosperity preaching and “name it, claim it” nonsense. I hear a lot of Christians speak of being discouraged because they do not hear from God. They criticize their pastors because they do not sense God’s voice when they preach or teach, but I will say this, if the preacher is preaching God’s Word for what it is, and we do not hear God’s voice, then it is not that God is not speaking. Most of the time it is because we are not listening. We spend far too much time thinking, “If so and so were here, this would be the perfect message for them.” Funny how we can always hear God’s voice talking to someone else, when in reality the message is for us. We often spend a week with little to no study of God’s Word and prayer, but then blame everyone else, including the preacher, when we do not hear God’s voice. 2 Timothy 3:16-17 clearly states, “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, 17 that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.” In other words, God’s Word comes from God Himself. It teaches us God’s truth about who He is and about life. It convicts us, corrects us, and puts us on the right path so that we live in accordance to God’s will and plan for our lives. Have our ears fallen deaf to God’s voice? If so, it is not because God has stopped speaking or moved away from us. It is more likely that we are not listening, because we are not spending enough intimate time with Him in His Word, and it is us who have moved away from Him. If we spend more time with Him, the Holy Spirit will make us sensitive to the small still voice of God that is often drowned out by all the noise and other voices we allow into our lives. Take time every day to shut out the noise and the strange voices and spend some intimate fellowship time with the Lord, in His Word, and in prayer. You will be surprised how quickly you will begin to hear from Him again, and know that it is Him.

Today, God extends an invitation to you to accept His gift of salvation (Rom 6:23). Will you accept it? Anyone who calls on Jesus, by faith, in repentance, confessing your sins, will receive eternal life. Do not put off calling on Him, and receive Him and His gift of salvation today (Rom 10:13).