Learning to Listen to God in Prayer
John 10:27-27
Over the past several months the Lord has had me sharing to many of you privately about you needing to spend quiet time with the Lord, just listening.
We Can Hear the Voice of God in Prayer when we pray but also when we spend time listening.
I have learned the difference between the voice of the Lord and the evil one heavily over the last few weeks and he can no longer disguise himself from me as the Lord our God.
AMEN!
He who lives in me, is the Almighty, ever powerful, ever loving, ever caring, never leaving purpose for my life here in His world.
AMEN?
Some of us don’t realize that He can and will help us.
Some of us believe that he seems to help others when we pray but because we forget to ask about ourselves, He does’nt help us.
Wrong!
I’ve been to hell here on earth and geuss what?
I ain’t going back
My past is something I cannot change and I will be obedient to Him.
The spirit of the Lord is upon me and I can’t keep my mouth shut.
John 2:1-5
Say this. " I Believe"
I have had to go through hell and guess what? "I Believe!"
Praise God, I Believe!
Prayer: It is a great privilege and a great responsibility for the people of God. When Israel was going through a tough time in Her history and the people asked Samuel to pray for them, Samuel responded with these words:
"Moreover as for me, God forbid that I should sin against the LORD in ceasing to pray for you: but I will teach you the good and the right way:
Only fear the LORD, and serve him in truth with all your heart; for consider how great things he hath done for you. But if ye shall still do wickedly ye shall be consumed, both ye and your king." (I Samuel 12:23-25)
We tend to think of prayer as a spiritual discipline where we talk to God. But the most important discipline in prayer is learning to hear God talking to you! Let’s learn some important lessons on how to hear God in prayer. How can we get Divine direction for our life & spiritual discernment for making decisions. Samuel knew how to listen in Prayer (I Sam. 8:6-7; 9:15; 16:7-12)
We can hear His voice or listen to ours that may be saying,
I can’t break this habit,
I can’t grow anymore
I don’t feel connected to Him.
if you feel that way, you need to give up the past and you can do that by guess what.
A Quiet time in which you listen to no one but the Lord.
How have I learned, by being alone with Him.
Jesus went to be alone with the Father when He was here with us,
I wonder why?
I.) If we are ever to hear God’s voice in Prayer we must first be convinced that He wants to talk to us.
A.) "Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God" (Rom. 10:17)
"Other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd" (Jn.10:16)
"My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: And I give unto them eternal life" (Jn. 10:27)
B.) Jesus will speak to us through the ministry of the Holy Spirit.
"I have many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now. Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come." John 16:12-14 (also Eph. 2:18; Rom. 8:28)
"But ye have not so learned Christ; If so be that ye have heard him, and have been taught by him, as the truth is in Jesus: that ye put off concerning the former conversation (life style) the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts; & be renewed in the spirit of your mind" (Eph.4:20-22; Isa. 54:13)
"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. But let him ask in faith" (James 1:5-6; Pro. 2:1-2, 10)
So we know God does want to talk to us. He expects us to be listening! When we understand that the most important aspect of prayer is listening it casts a totally new insight on I Thess. 5:17: "Pray without ceasing."
I can say to my God, My Father, my heavenly host here on earth that sent His son for me to make me more with Him.
When we spend time with Him listening, He will fill you with new water.
Don’t feel bad about yourself because you won’t hear Him clearly. You will get bits and pieces.
There’s a song, "Come just as you are. Hear the Spirit call. Come and see, come recieve, Come and live forever."
He’s calling someone here today.
Did you hear me, He’s calling someone right now today
How can we "listen without ceasing?" Praying without ceasing goes hand in hand with meditating on the Word of God day & night (Ps. 1)
Illustration: Car Radio. (I Kings 19:9-13 Elijah, still small voice). A professor at Seminary shared about a time he was driving to a speaking engagement with his wife. There was a storm coming so he needed to listen to the radio to hear the weather report. But he also wanted to talk to his wife. So he turned the radio on low just enough to hear it in the background as he talked to his wife. Then when the key words "weather report" were spoken he knew it was time to stop talking to his wife and turn the radio up so he could hear the weather report clearly. In a similar way we need to make sure we have turned our spiritual radio on every day in prayer. As we start our busy day we are tuned into God with the volume on low so when he needs to get an important message to us we will hear the key words related to our need at the time. Meditating on the Word of God day and night is how we keep the radio on. The Holy Spirit will enable us to hear the word we need to help get us through our day. But when the Spirit speaks we need to be still and listen. And He will give us the wisdom we need when we need it.
This brings us to our next point.
II.) Our hearing must begin by taking to heart one of the most common warnings in Scripture is?
(Eccl. 5:1-2)
A.) "He that hath ears to hear, let him hear" Matt. 10:27; 11:15; 13:9;, 43;
Mk. 4:9, 23-24
1.) The premise: You have ears to hear.
2.) The choice: Will you use those ears to hear the voice (Word) of God? (Amos 8:11-12)
B.) What is the ever-present peril that could prevent us from hearing the
voice of God?
1.) The condition of our heart! (Matt. 13:14-17)
Jesus warns us to "Take heed what ye hear." (Mk. 4:24-25). The condition of the heart & character influences what we hear (Mk. 4:20-25). Good ears are useless if you have a bad heart. If you are not willing to do God’s will you will not hear God’s voice clearly or correctly (John 7:17)
In the passage in John 12:28-29 the voice of God fell on every ear that was gathered in the Temple. For some it was nothing more than thunder (Jn. 12:29). For others it was the voice of an angel (12:29). But for the Son it was the clear voice of His Father! What do you hear when God speaks? It is as much a revelation of the condition of your heart as of your hearing.
Did you ever wake up in the late evening or early morning and you just felt something and you just did not know what it was and you did everything you could to go back to sleep.
He was talking to you.
He is talking to someone here today.
He has created a good work in you and is able to complete it.
I have gone through alot in my life but over the last twelve weeks I have learned greatly that I am going to let Him complete it.
There are some thing sthat you have been doing that are preventing you from allowing the Lord to complete a new work in you.
When Solomon prayed, he prayed this way.
"Give thy servant an understanding heart to judge thy people, that I may discern between good and bad: for who is able to judge this thy so great a people?" (I Kings 3:9). In the Hebrew Solomon literally prayed, "give they servant a hearing heart." He was praying that he would always be able to hear the voice of the LORD!
C.) There is a very practical way to "condition" your heart to hear the "Word of the LORD"
When God was looking for a leader for His people He required "a man after mine own heart, which shall fulfill all my will" (Acts 13:22; I Sam. 13:14; Why? - Amos 3:3). "Man looketh on the outward appearance, but the LORD looketh on the heart" (I Sam. 16:7).
As God was searching the hearts of all Israel what did He find in the heart of David that distinguished him from everyone else? Read Ps. 119:11. (Compare Prov. 4:20-22; 22:17-19)
Go to Him and expect something for your life!
Praise Him!
Enjoy the word that you read, hear, and see from Him. These are His gifts to you
a.) We must "receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save your souls" James1:21)
b.) Then our life will produce Divine fruit Mk. 4:20)(Isa55:8-12)
The Pharisees could not hear God’s voice because they did not "have God’s Word abiding in them" (John 5:38). Though they had undoubtedly memorized much scripture they had never engrafted it into their life. Do you know God’s Word well enough that you can distinguish between God’s voice and Satan’s deception? (Heb. 5:11-14). Your response to what you hear is the response of what you have made of your character and heart.
III.) Understand the relationship between your Heart, the Bible, and Hearing God’s Voice and your life will be completely transformed. (I Thess. 2:13)
A.) We can take some simple practical steps to become more sensitive to hearing the Voice of God.
God said to Ezekiel: "Son of man, all my words that I shall speak unto thee receive in thine heart, and hear with thine ears" (Ezek. 3:10)
"Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord" (Col. 3:16) (Acts 20:32)
"If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you" (John 15:7). (Why? - I John 5:14-15)
2.) The Word in your heart gives you more spirit & life because they are spirit and life (John 6:63)
3.) The Word in your heart will light a fire of enthusiasm & conviction (Jer 20:9; 23:29;
Lk 24:32)
B.) Because of the direct relationship between the Word of God and hearing the Voice of God so of us here should start praying with our bible in front of us, to be fed after prayer should pray with bible right with us.
First let God speak to you from His word; then pray in response to what the Holy Spirit impresses on your heart.
Illustration: Learn to mark your Bible "FM if." This stands for "For Me if..." Because every promise in the bible has a condition. Once we meet the condition we can have an unshakable faith that the promise will be ours in God’s perfect timing.
C.) Because of the relationship between the condition of our heart and our ability to hear the voice of God we must avail ourselves of the cleansing power of the Word and the Blood every time we pray.
Some of us need to get rid of the past and move forward.
Do you hear me?
No matter how bad you feel about yourself, Our Lord God sees you as a diamond in the rough about to be refined. The song I sang last week, most of you did not see how it touched me while I sang it.
The words to that song have been ministering to me for many years from the time I first heard it. For those of you who were not here, it is a song that Clay Crosse sang back in the early nineties that said, "The Blood that Jesus shed for me, way back on Calvary. Oh the Blodd that gives me strength from day to day. It will never lose it’s power."
When I shared it publically, I was very nervous because of how God has used it to minister me.
But like you, I can overcome all things in Christ who strengthens me
Amen.
If you take that step forward and listen to Him instead of having just asking to have prayer reqeusts answered you will be blessed.
However when you do step forward And Listen to Him YOU WILL BE BLESSED!!!!
You may have been to HELL BUT YOU AIN"T GOING BACK IF YOU LET HIM
AMEN! AMEN!
LET HIM!
Do you Hear Me?
Let Him speak to You
"In a great house there are not only vessels of gold and of silver, but also of wood and of earth; and some to honor, and some to dishonor.
If a man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honor, sanctified, and meet for the master’s use, and prepared unto every good work." (2 Timothy 2:20-21)
If our human soul is given to us for the purpose of receiving messages from an intelligent Creator, a whole new realm of life opens up to us. Just like dirt on the lens of a telescope can keep you from gazing into the heavens; just like dirt inside a radio can ruin your reception; so unconfessed sin can block your spiritual vision and hearing. Ultimately what messages I receive from my Creator will determine what will eventually happen to me.
When I listen and go with His will all things are Possible!
Stand Up Where You are right now and thank the Lord for all He has and will do for you right Now!
AMEN!!!
