John 12:27"Now my heart is troubled, and what shall I say? ’Father, save me from this hour’? No, it was for this very reason I came to this hour. 28Father, glorify your name!" Then a voice came from heaven, "I have glorified it, and will glorify it again." 29The crowd that was there and heard it said it had thundered; others said an angel had spoken to him. 30Jesus said, "This voice was for your benefit, not mine.
We all have times that we really, really need to hear from God. Usually it is in the time of a great need or great distress that we long to hear His voice. Jesus was in such a time whenever He prayed this prayer and God spoke to Him audibly. God speaks to us through our minds and hearts. God doesn’t often speak to us audibly, but certainly He could if He wanted to.
In our text Jesus says "This voice was for your benefit, not mine." Why did Jesus go out of His way to point out that the voice was not for His benefit? Because He heard God all the time. He was in constant communion with the Father. But the disciples needed to hear it, so they could have faith to believe. Remember, Jesus was about to be rejected by the religious establishment, taunted and humiliated, and executed. So God spoke audibly. God knows when we need a sure word, and works around our lack of maturity in times of great need.
Can you imagine what an impact that audible voice had on those present? Peter had heard that voice before....on the mount of transfiguration. Some 30 yrs later Peter wrote about it...1 PETER 1:16We did not follow cleverly invented stories when we told you about the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. 17For he received honor and glory from God the Father when the voice came to him from the Majestic Glory, saying, "This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased." 18We ourselves heard this voice that came from heaven when we were with him on the sacred mountain. Can you imagine?
Unfortunately, most of us have to depend on "hearing God" in our spirits instead of our ears. So, how exactly do we hear from God? How do we seperate God’s voice from the other voices we have in our heads? And yes, we all hear voices in our heads......and we aren’t crazy!
First, I want to show you what happens when you think you are hearing from God, but you really aren’t! In GENESIS 15 God promised Abraham a son. You know the story. That’s great’ that’s God speaking to him. The problem came when after receiving this promise, Sarah suggested an idea to move ahead in the flesh and "assist" God. The "Ishmael" mistake of Abraham, Sarah, and Hagar is not uncommon. We are often deceived into thinking that God needs our help. What is praiseworthy of Abraham and Sarah is that after this false start, they remembered God’s promise and got back to simple faith and obedience, believing that God would help them... and not vice-versa.
God calls Isaac "Abraham’s only son" in Gen 22. From God’s point of view, "the flesh counts for nothing" God did not remember Abraham’s sin, only his faith, which was credited to him as full righteousness before God. His mistakes were forgotten. Like Abraham, we need to enter into God’s rest, knowing that what God says He will do.
NUMBERS 23:19 God is not a man, that he should lie, nor a son of man, that he should change his mind. Does he speak and then not act? Does he promise and not fulfill?
So why is it that sometimes we "hear from God" and then it doesn’t the way we expected? Did God make a mistake? Did He mis-speak? Maybe He was just wrong about that partiicular thing. No, God is never wrong.....it is because we didn’t discern God’s voice to begin with.
Imagine you are hired to open up an office in Anchorage, Alaska. Your new boss gives you a high-tech looking two-way radio, a policy and procedure manual, and tells you that you will receive instructions once you arrive, and off you go. Upon arrival you hear your boss’s voice over the radio, saying, "I will communicate to you through this radio unit. But take note: our competitors, our enemies, also have access to this channel. They will try to impersonate my voice with false messages to thwart our purposes." "Oh no!" you panic, "Then how will I know if it is you or the enemy giving me instructions?"
Your boss’s voice comes back over the radio: "Three ways. First, considering the situation, check every message supposedly from me against the policy and procedure manual. Since I wrote it, I’m not likely to ask you to violate it, right? Also, if I am not talking, don’t focus in on the noise, pretending that I am. If I am not speaking, let the manual be your guide. Don’t let any impersonating voice mislead you, or your own overactive imagination decieve you"
"Second, since the Manual does not cover every situation, you will have to get to know my voice. I know, this will take time, and so I am not likely to ask you to do anything radical until we both have some low-risk successes under our belts. Remember, I understand the situation perfectly well, so I’ll go slow at first. A time will come when I will be able to tell you to do the wildest things, and you will know it is me. In the short-term, you must be trained through low-risk experience."
"Third, over time, my overall purpose for your work will begin to come into focus. You will begin to see the grand strategy in the policy and procedure manual, and the overall pattern of my true instructions. When this happens, you’ll know instantly if what you hear through your unit is ’of me’, just your imagination, or enemy misinformation. False instructions will begin to appear silly to you then. So take heart, and get to work."
After reflecting on this a few moments, you hear your boss’s voice again on the radio unit. "Take all of the money from petty cash and give it the next person that walks in, no questions asked." Hmmm... You look in the policy and procedure manual, and this is specifically forbidden. Besides, you know your boss wouldn’t tell you to do something that risky right off. And also there was an certain "twang" to the voice, an appeal to something different within you, and a plan that was not in the long-term interests of the company. So, even though you are on a hostile channel, you are beginning to have hope that you can indeed do this job.
Outside of miraculous visitations and audible voices, our general problem is one of hearing God’s "still small voice". What would the Spirit have us do next? This leadership comes through "promptings" to our hearts or minds, which are generally low-risk until we mature. God tells us to call someone late at night; to give someone the money in our pocket; to offer to pray with someone about something very specific that we couldn’t have known. Often, we’ll go wrong, but if we humbly reflect on our errors we can gain confidence for future promptings.
Prov 14:15 A simple man believes anything, but a prudent man gives thought to his steps.
The Devil WILL try to talk to you......but beyond demonic promptings, our routine problem is the flesh. We want to look spiritual, we covet something, we want to defend ourselves. These often get blamed on God, and acted upon. These seemingly silly errors can lead to as much spiritual mayhem and abuse as Charles Manson’s delusions did physically. By the way, he was hearing voices too!
We must learn to walk a straight line before attempting to tightrope across Niagara Falls. If we have learned to discern God’s voice in small things by acting on God’s low-risk promptings and finding them validated with fruit that lasts, then God may prompt us to "tell that person I am going to heal them". At this point of maturity, those practiced at knowing God’s voice need not pretend or merely hope. They can speak with authority, conviction, and results.
They need not be double-minded or resort to psychological gymnastics. They can pray in real faith James 5:13Is any one of you in trouble? He should pray. Is anyone happy? Let him sing songs of praise. 14Is any one of you sick? He should call the elders of the church to pray over him and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord. 15And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise him up. If he has sinned, he will be forgiven. 16Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.
For "faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God" (Rom. 10:17). We can know that God hears our prayers and speaks to them if they are offered in righteousness. Are you living a righteous life? Do you consider yourself righteous? If not, then how can you hear from God?
Often we ask God to speak to us, only to hear back, "if you are so interested in what I think, then why didn’t you do the last thing I told you?" Obedience is the response that keeps the dialog going. If we refuse to do what God tells us in the little things, we risk deafening our spiritual ear. If we refuse to do what God speaks in the big things, we risk his active rebuke.
Imagine your own son coming to you in great earnestness and saying, "Father, please speak to me. What would you have me do?" You respond, "I would like you to clean your room." Thrilled at the sound of your voice, the child goes off elated, but does not clean the room. Later, he approaches again, "Father, please disclose your will to your humble child." You tell him again, "Go clean your room." Pleased, he withdraws himself again, but does not do what you asked. Yet again, your son comes to you, "Oh great father, I long to do your bidding! Grant me the favor of your wisdom and direction." What would you do at this point? Perhaps a stare would suffice... What does God do when we play this game with Him?
1 SAM 15:22 says "Does the LORD delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the voice of the LORD ? To obey is better than sacrifice and to heed is better than the fat of rams.
JAMES 1:22Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.
God seeks obedience and if you continually fail to do what He says.......in His Word or in your mind....then how can we expect Him to keep telling us things that we ignore? So we see that we cannot even possible consider that God is speaking to us if we are in dis-obedience or not living in His righteousness. I just showed you by His Word.....and that’s God speaking to you!
ISAIAH 30:20 Although the Lord gives you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, your teachers will be hidden no more; with your own eyes you will see them. 21 Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, "This is the way; walk in it." One more thing...
Always be sure that it’s God’s voice you are following......not that of man. JOHN 10:1"I tell you the truth, the man who does not enter the sheep pen by the gate, but climbs in by some other way, is a thief and a robber. 2The man who enters by the gate is the shepherd of his sheep. 3The watchman opens the gate for him, and the sheep listen to his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. 4When he has brought out all his own, he goes on ahead of them, and his sheep follow him because they know his voice. Be sure you know God’s voice. There are a lot of false teachers out there. The Bible speaks about them in the last days, especially.
2 TIM 4:1In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead, and in view of his appearing and his kingdom, I give you this charge: 2Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction. 3For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. 4They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths. 5But you, keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, discharge all the duties of your ministry.
