RECEIVING GUIDANCE FROM GOD
How to hear God’s Voice - Part 4 of 4
Habakkuk 2:1-3
Well good morning. We just read a few verses from the book of Habakkuk. Who was he? When did he live?
Well we do not know a lot about him we know he prophesied about the suffering of Judah, the southern part of Israel, just before his people were invaded by the Babylonians in 605 BC. This was after the nation had experienced national and spiritual reform through Josiah.
Habakkuk describes the nation as one where justice was ignored and wickedness abounded (1:2-4).
Do you feel that justice is ignored and wickedness abounds in this country and area? I know I do.
In that context Habakkuk asks God to speak to you, answering his doubts and giving him spiritual insight.
Like Habakkuk there are literally hundreds of stories of God speaking directly to people.
Have you ever thought ‘I wonder why I don’t hear God speaking like he did in those days.’
Larry Crabb in his book Papa Prayer writes ‘some people view God as an approving but silent grandfather who just winks at you when you do right.
Is that true? What is the problem with hearing from God?
The fact is God does speak to people today. We’ve been looking in this series about How to Hear God’s Voice. Today I want us to look at the topic of How to Receive Guidance from God.
We said that God speaks primarily in four ways: He speaks through the Bible, through the church, through impressions of the Holy Spirit, and through circumstances or pain. I’d like to focus again this morning on the third way -- impressions of the Holy Spirit. It’s a way that has a lot of confusion and misunderstanding with people. How does He do it?
I’m going to give you five ways to tune into God to hear God speak to you when you need guidance. You’re saying, "Lord, should I marry this person?", "Should I change jobs?", "How do I deal with my children in this circumstance?", "Should I make this investment or not?" God wants to deal with you on those issues. But you’ve got to be tuned into Him.
We’re going to look at Habakkuk and the five things he did to tune into God.
I. HOW TO REQUEST GUIDANCE
But first three prerequisites on how to make a request of God. When you need to ask God for advice there are three prerequisites:
1. I must realize that God cares about the details of my life.
Matthew 6:31-32 says "Don’t worry about what you eat or drink or wear. Your heavenly father knows you need these things." Jesus said to seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things will be added unto you as well.
That’s amazing. God is concerned about what you eat and wear. God cares about every detail of your life. God loves you and made you,
We wrongly think I don’t want to bother God." Jesus say’s God the Father is interested because He’s your heavenly Father and He made you. He’s totally interested in caring for you.
2. You need to ask a specific question.
When you’re looking for guidance from God ask a specific question. The more specifically you ask, the more God is able to answer it. Instead of saying, "God, do You want me to say anything to Bill?" say "God, what do You want me to say to Bill...?"
Instead of saying God heal my marriage pray God show me how to respect my husband.
Instead of praying God grow this church pray what’s the next step for Calvary? That is what I did and the Spirit directed me to prayer partners – the Holy Spirit keeps saying increase prayer in this church.
Over twenty times in the New Testament, God says "Ask." He says, "Ask...
Seek... Knock" The Scripture says "If you want to know what God wants you to do ask Him and He’ll gladly tell you." James says you have not because you don’t ask. God wants you to ask for advice. He’s waiting and willing. He wants you to ask for advice about your relationships, about your career, health, finances. He’s eager and wanting to talk to you. So you ask and believe He’s interested in the details.
3. Believe He wants to answer.
James 1:5-6 (Living Bible) "God is always ready to give a bountiful supply of wisdom to all who ask Him. He won’t resent it. But when you ask Him, be sure you really expect Him to tell you."
Circle "expect". God is more willing to talk to you than you are willing to talk to Him.
Remember He tried four times to get Samuel’s attention. When you expect answers to your prayers then you really pray. And when you really pray then you really get answers.
Come to God with a specific request and wait expectantly for an answer. In the book of Habakkuk, chapter 1, he asks God six specific questions. He had questions like ‘God how can you permit wickedness to continue?’ Then in chapter 2, he waits and listens to God answer and he writes down what he hears. "I will climb my watchtower and wait to see what the Lord will tell me. The Lord gave me this answer. `Right it down what I reveal to you.’"
Out of this book we see five steps to hearing God’s voice by an impression from the Holy Spirit.
1. Withdraw
2. Wait
3. Watch
4. Write
5. Worship -- which is expressing my love to God?
1. WITHDRAW
The number one priority if were going to hear God speaking to us is we need to withdraw. That means get alone in a quiet place. Habakkuk says, "I will climb my watchtower." For the Hebrews it meant to stand in the watchtower at the gate of the city. The watchman, when trouble was coming by an outside attack, would inform the people inside the city. The watchman was not to be disturbed. He hearing meant the salvation of many lives.
The watchman was to be left alone, remaining alert and quiet.
In today’s world finding a quiet time is difficult at times, especially those of you who are mothers of preschoolers. I recently read this about Susanna Wesley who was the mother of 18 children.
Two of her sons, Charles and John, spiritually shaped England in their day. Charles Wesley wrote several hundred songs and hymns which churches still sing today. John Wesley was the founder of the Methodist denomination. Both men had a profound affect.
With 18 kids, how did Susanna Wesley ever find a quiet place to pray? This was her solution. Every afternoon she would sit in her living room and throw her apron up over her head. The children knew that when mother was in her chair with her apron over her head she was not to be disturbed. Where there’s a will there’s a way!
Find a place where you can be quiet and get alone with God and listen. One of the reasons why we don’t hear God speak is because were surrounded by noise. The radio is always on, the TV is always on, and the Internet is on, the cell phone rings.
Noise surrounds us. So we can’t hear the still small voice of God.
The first step is to withdraw and get off by yourself. Get alone in a quiet place. Luke 5:16 says "Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed." Circle "often".
Jesus had many demands on his time. Yet in spite of that it says He often withdrew. He made it a habit. If the eternal Son of God felt the need to withdraw we should do likewise. We need to get away from the distractions, take the phone off the hook; otherwise you will be called while you’re praying. Get alone, removing every external distraction possible.
If that’s all that was needed for you to hear God it’d be real easy. Just get off by yourself and you’d hear God every time. But AFTER you get in a quiet spot then you need to quiet yourself, your own mind and your own emotions. That leads us to the second step.
2. WAIT
Waiting means to calm our thoughts and emotions, to quiet down. The second thing Habakkuk says is "I will station myself." The Good News says, "I will wait." What does it mean to station yourself? It means don’t move, stay put, don’t run around, be still. When I station myself it means I’m going to sit until I hear.
Habakkuk says, I’m going to station myself so I can hear God. God speaks to the person who takes the time to listen. The one reason why many of us don’t hear God is we’re just too busy.
I looked at my microwave that someone gave me. It has all these pre-programmed buttons. Baked potato, popcorn, meat, presto and it’s done.
"God, I’ve got one minute for you. Go!" Hurry is the death of prayer. If were going to hear God speak, not only do we need to get in a quiet spot but then
we must mentally and emotionally calm ourselves down too.
Let me describe to you the reason why most prayer is unfulfilling. Here’s the typical prayer experience. You’re going to pray today and so get off by yourself. But the moment you set down to pray, your mind starts reminding you of everything you haven’t done yet. My mind is racing. I find it very difficult to focus unless I wait and I calm myself, by choice, mentally and emotionally.
What happen is, you set down and you start thinking of all the unfinished tasks you have, all the responsibilities you’ve got, all the things you’d better not forget. If you’re ever wondering what you have to do today, just set down and start to pray and you’ll think of it all real quick. Because
The devil makes sure all these things crowd into your mind instantly.
When your mind starts filling with other things you can’t hear God. What do you do? When you start to pray take a pad or your laptop with you. When something comes up when you pray, write it down on your list and it will not be a distraction to you any more. You may end up with 15-20 things but at least you don’t have to worry about forgetting it.
So that is the distraction of too many things to do. Now there is a second distraction from the enemy who does not want you to hear from God and that is negative emotions. The next voice you usually hear is your conscious. Satan loves to play on our conscious. He is the accuser of Christians. We start thinking of all the things that were not doing, that were guilty of, our sins, faults, weaknesses. Satan is screaming, "Guilty!" That doesn’t make prayer any fun!
I don’t know about you but if every time I sit down with a person to talk to them, they start criticizing me, pretty soon I start thinking I don’t like to talk to that person. If every time you sit down to pray all of a sudden you’d just start feeling how bad you are and the things that are wrong in your life, then it’s no wonder you’re not going to want to pray.
That is not the voice of God. That’s the voice of the devil who always put you down. The Bible says that for a believer "There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ." Satan is the accuser. God is a loving Father who wants to talk to you, not sit around and condemn you.
Here is the key. Don’t always focus on your circumstances; rather focus on God’s love. God wants to encourage. He wants to lift you up. He wants to love you.
How do you do that? How do you calm your thoughts and emotions? Let me give you a Biblical technique for tuning into God. This is how King David did.
This is right out of the book of Psalms. David said I do two things mentally and emotionally so I can hear God.
1. Relax your body. Ps. 46:10 "Be still and know that I am God." Circle "be still". The first step in relaxing the mind is to relax your body. The key is to be still and get comfortable. The Bible says David sat before the Lord when he prayed. Get yourself in a comfortable position. Let go of muscle tension. If you don’t feel good physically it affects your emotions and moods. As your body relaxes so does your mind. Just relax your body. Be still, the Bible says. Once I’ve got my body still then...
2. Wait in silence. Ps. 62:5 "For God alone my soul waits in silence." Waiting means it takes time. It’s difficult to calm down if I am in a hurry. Forcing myself to calm down quickly does not work. Trying to force yourself to calm down is about as effective as forcing myself to eat on a full stomach. It doesn’t work. You have to wait until you’re hungry again.
It just takes time! God speaks to people who take the time to listen. If you’re in a hurry, you’re not going to hear God speak. You must withdraw and then you wait in silence, which calms your thoughts and your emotions.
2 Kings 3:15 says that Elijah asked for soft music to be played while he tuned into God to find the answer to a question he had. He said "bring in the harpist" and he had a harpist play while he tuned into God. I’ve found a quick way to calm down is to play praise tapes. I just start listening to it and it shifts my body, my mind, and my emotions into a lower gear so I can learn to hear God. Then I am more sensitive to hearing God speak. Inner calm opens the airwaves to God so I can hear Him.
The goal of prayer is not to make your mind go blank. The goal of prayer is to hear -- tune in -- to the voice of God so you can talk to Him and He can talk to you. Think of it like this. You’re leaning into his voice.
Withdraw and then wait.
3. WATCH
Let God give you a mental picture. The third thing Habakkuk says is "I will look to see what He says to me." Circle "look". He says, I will look at what God says. It seems to me to make more sense to say I will listen to what God says. You listen to what people say, you don’t look at what people say. Why did he say this?
An important key to hearing God is to understand that God’s voice is often visual. God often speaks through a mental picture. There are hundreds of examples of this in scripture where people were praying and God gave them a mental picture or vision. It’s all through scripture. It’s a significant way God contacts people -- through impressions in our mind. He gives you a mental picture or image or vision inside our mind.
When God spoke to Abraham he gave him a visual image. He said look up at the vastness of the stars. You cannot even count them. Your descendants will be numerous like that. Every night when Abraham saw the stars he saw that picture afresh and was reminded of God’s promise.
This is an important way that God speaks to people, by giving them a mental picture. There is a visual element to prayer.
This may be new to you but when you grasp this it will open up a whole new area of your life in relationship to Christ.
Often God is at work all around us but we miss His voice and what He wants to do. Perhaps you have heard of the American shoe salesman who went to Africa. He sent a note back to the manufacturer. Get me out of here. Nobody wears shoes here. After he got home the company sent a replacement salesman to Africa. He sent back order after order. He wrote back home and said everybody here needs a pair of shoes.
Some of you are saying, "I thought visualizing was New Age." The counterfeit type is. Satan has never had an original thought in his life. He can’t create because he’s not the creator. Only God is the creator. Satan can only copy, pervert and counterfeit what God already does. So whatever
God does, Satan tries to counterfeit it. For instance, God gives gifted, godly teachers and preachers so Satan comes up with false teachers and preachers. God creates authentic miracles. Satan comes along and he does phony miracles. The Bible says just because you see a miracle doesn’t mean it’s from God. There are counterfeit miracles. God creates genuine fellowship. That’s what he made the church for so that there is support, love and people helping each other, genuine koinina, genuine fellowship. Satan comes along and tries to create false fellowship such as beer commercials -- "It doesn’t get any better than this!" If you think it doesn’t get any better than that you’ve got a lot to learn. That’s false fellowship. Beer commercials don’t sell bear, they sell fellowship. They show people having a good time. People think if they drink that then they’ll have a good time! Everything that God does, Satan tries to counterfeit.
God, in the book of Psalms, teaches us how to tune into Him through Biblical meditation and Biblical visualizing. What does Satan do? He comes along and creates counterfeits of it.
A counterfeit of anything is simply proof that the real exists. Have you ever seen a counterfeit three dollar bill? No, nobody’s dumb enough to counterfeit margarine tub? No, because they have no value.
Counterfeit is proof that something exists and that it has value. Satan deceives Christians. He deceives them into thinking that meditation cannot possibly be from God. That’s just not true! God thought it up first. Anything that God creates is perverted and misused. Sex is a good example. God meant sex to be a wonderful expression within the bounds of a committed marriage. Satan comes along and perverts it, misuses it, counterfeits it. But that doesn’t mean that the real thing doesn’t exist, it does.
I’m simply saying this: God gave you the ability to imagine. Don’t let the devil take it away from you.
You withdraw, and then you wait, and then you watch. And you watch for the real thing. What does that mean?
Ephesians 1:18 "I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened so that you may know the hope to which He has called you." He says, "I pray that the eyes of your heart will be opened". He’s not talking about physical eyes. He’s talking about spiritual eyes. When you were born physically you got a set of physical senses.
Hear, taste, touch, smell, and feel. When you were born spiritually you got reborn and got a set of spiritual senses: spiritual eyes, spiritual ears. Have you ever been reading the Bible... you’ve read a verse a dozen times but all of a sudden it pops out at you? God just opened your spiritual eyes.
The Scripture says in John 3 "Except a man be born again he cannot see the kingdom of heaven."
There is an unseen part of reality that we don’t see that you can only see with your spiritual eyes.
But it’s just as real. None of you see God here but He’s more real than this building which you do see. This building is decaying along with all your stuff. All your stuff will end up at the Red Lake dump. God is saying, I want you to learn to see from My perspective, from My eternal viewpoint.
Many of you are naturally visual thinkers. There are two kinds of thinkers: visual thinkers and digital thinkers. I don’t happen to be a great visual thinker; I’m a digital thinker. I don’t easily think in bright beautiful pictures. A lot of you do, though. And that’s very normal. God made you that way.
Studies have shown that up to 75% of the population see in pictures. Those of you who do know what I’m talking about. When you read the Bible you don’t just read the story, you see the story in your mind. You can see it happening. You think it that way. That means it’s going to be easier for you to let God give you a picture than it is for the rest of us.
But what about the rest of us who don’t think that way? The Bible says in Hebrews 5:14 "Our spiritual senses must be exercised". You can develop the ability to see with your spiritual eyes if you’ll practice and let God work on it in your life. You can train yourself. When you quiet yourself down and get calm simply say, "Jesus, is there anything You want to show me? Do You want to give me an idea, an impression?"
4. WRITE
Record the ideas that you receive. Notice what Habakkuk did. "The Lord gave me this answer, `Write down clearly what I reveal to you.’" Get the progression: chapter 1, Habakkuk gives six questions to God. Chapter 2, he waits, he quiets himself, and he watches and the Lord says, "Here’s what I want you to do, write down clearly what I reveal to you." In Chapter one he writes down his prayer to God, what his questions are to God. In Chapter two, he writes down God’s answers back to him.
What does that have to do with me? Many of you, your prayer life has got in a rut -- it’s boring.
You don’t like to pray because you end up saying the same thing over and over. You’re stuck in a rut and a routine.
Solution to break out of the rut: Write out your prayers as you think them. Get a pad and write down you’re prayers. This is called the spiritual habit of journaling. Almost every great Christian in history has journalized.
George Mueller a man who started orphanages with no money did this. He wrote “I seek to get my heart free from distractions. I get an impression. But I seek the will of God through or in connection with the word of God. Mueller said ‘thus through prayer to God, the study of the Bible, and reflection I come to a decision. If my mind is at peace I proceed. In important and trivial matters I find this method effective.
When King David wrote the Psalms he started with a question. God, how come my enemies are prospering when I’m trying to live for You, and I’m not making it?
And then he waits and watches and he writes down God’s answer. We call those the Psalms.
The benefit of journalizing is it keeps me focused. It gives your body something to do while you’re praying. It keeps you focused. Your mind won’t wander when you’re writing down what you’re trying to think about.
That is why I give you outlines so your minds do not wander.
Writing allows you to remember what you’ve said to God and what God has said back to you.
Thirdly you can review the impression and ask does this line up with scripture? Do other Christians confirm it? It allows you to test the impression. The Bible says real clearly that not very idea you get is from God. Some of them are from the devil, some of them are from God, and some of them are self inspired. Just pray and receive what God wants to say to you, you write it down, and later you can go back and test it and look at it.
5. WORSHIP
You thank God for speaking to you. Habakkuk 3:2 "Oh, Lord, now I’ve heard your report and I worship you in awe." He says, now that You’ve spoken to me, I love You and I want to express my love to You. When you have received God’s loving response, you will love the Lord more and be drawn closer to Him. This turns prayer from a monologue into a dialogue, a conversation.
Earlier in life I never expected to hear from God. It was just me talking. But once I realized that God does want to have a conversation with me – that changed everything.
If you do all the talking, you don’t have a relationship. But you’ve got to take these steps and make time.
Sometimes I’ve asked God a question and sensed God seemed silent. He is not necessarily telling me no, He just wants me to wait upon Him.
But I’ll say this: If you’ll practice these and begin to develop them in your life, more times than not, God will talk to you. Because He’s interested in your life. This is the difference in knowing about God and knowing God.
There are really three kinds of relationships you can have. You can believe in God. That’s the lowest form of relationship. Or you can be acquainted with God. That’s a little bit deeper relationship. Or you can be the friend of God. Jesus wants that kind of relationship to you. He says, I want to call you My friends, where we commune and discuss and dialogue and converse and know each other. God wants you to be His friend.
If you will begin to practice these Biblical steps it will open up a whole new dimension of your Christian life. It will become a great adventure to you. A great joy. I say that from personal experience.
This is not the only way God talks to you, obviously. But this is a key way that God can get your attention and you can hear Him talk to you.
Conclusion
What is it in your life that your proceeding with without guidance from God? Without seeking God in prayer? Without waiting until God has spoken to you? It is never too late to get on the right track. It is never too late to seek and ask God to speak into your life.
