Introduction
The true test that we belong to God and are sons (children) of God is that we HEAR GOD.
Romans 8:14 tells us that “those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God”. To be led by someone, it means you HEAR when the person speaks that’s why following the person’s leading or instructions aren’t a problem for you. But if you can’t hear the voice of the person leading you, it will be a big problem for you to follow the person’s directions.
People are earnestly awaiting the manifestation of the sons of God (Romans 8:22-23). They are eager to see those who don’t just follow the crowd, do what is popular or sounds rational, but actually follow the leading of God in all things. For these sons of God to come to full manifestation, they must be able to hear the voice of God. May our spiritual ears and eyes be fully open to hear when our Heavenly Father speaks so we can manifest as true sons (and daughters) of the Living God.
GOD WANTS TO SPEAK TO US
You don’t need to be a prophet for God to speak to you; you simply need to be His child. As a father talks to his children, so our Heavenly Father wants to talk to all of His children. In Jeremiah 33:3 God says “Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things (NIV), great and mighty things (NKJV), remarkable secrets (NLT), marvellous and wondrous things that you could never figure out on your own (Message Bible)”. There are so many things about our lives that we can’t figure out on our own, there are so many things we can’t see with our physical eyes which God wants to speak to us about. There are some remarkable secrets of success and the kingdom of God that our Father wants to disclose to us. God wants to sit down with us and discuss great and mighty things He wants to do in us and through us. The only way we can receive all this vital information is if we hear our Heavenly Father when He speaks.
GOD SPEAKS EVERYWHERE AND IN EVERY SITUATION
Repeatedly in scripture we come across phrases like: “The word of the Lord came to me”, “Again the word of the Lord came to me”, and “The Lord said to me”. God spoke to people regularly and in different places and situations. God to spoke to Adam and Eve in a garden (Genesis 2:16, Genesis 3:8-10), God spoke to Moses on a mountain (Exodus 3:1-21), He spoke to Jonah when Jonah was sitting under a tree (Jonah 4:6-10), and He spoke to Paul while Paul was on a road (Acts 9:1-6). This goes to show that for the kind of relationship God wants to have with us; you don’t need to be in a particular place or location before God can speak to you (John 4:20-24). God isn’t complex and complicated. He is very simple to reach and relate with. David communed with God while on his bed (Psalm 63:6). God wants to relate with us in the ordinary and simple things of life. He can have a chat with us while we are in the shower or when we are on the bus. He can engage us in a conversation as we lie on our beds, go jogging, or mop the floor. In the good times and bad times, God wants to tell us certain things. Whether we are on the mountaintop or going through a dry, valley situation, God has a thing or two to tell us.
BEGIN BY ELIMINATING THE DISTRACTIONS AND HINDRANCES
The problem is not with God speaking to us, it is with us hearing God when He speaks. Jesus told an interesting parable in Luke 8:1-14 which sheds more light on why so many of us have problems hearing God when He speaks. In that parable, Jesus was addressing the primary way God speaks to us today which is through His infallible Word. Luke 8:7 says there are some people that when God speaks to them, the voice of God actually gets choked. “Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up with it and choked the plants”. In verse 14, Jesus goes on to explain what chokes, obstructs and drowns the voice of God in these people’s lives. It is worries about today, the next day and the distant future, it is riches; having and making money, it is the pleasures of this world that cover and crowd out all God is telling them. These activities take up the space that should be given to God’s voice. God can be speaking to you but you can’t get what He is saying because your mind is clogged and distracted by so many things you are worried about. God may be speaking to you but the noise of that favourite TV series you can’t do without is preventing you from hearing what He has to say. God can be relaying a very important message to you which you need to urgently act on, but His voice is so faint that you can hardly hear what He is saying because all your attention is on a business contract you are pursuing.
The first step to hearing God is to eliminate all of these distractions.
That’s why we need to pray this prayer:
O Lord, please deliver me from everything that is choking, drowning and obstructing your voice in my life.
This prayer is very important because our level of growth is dependent on how well we hear and receive what God is saying to us. Luke 8:14 tells us that for those God speaks to but His voice ends up being suppressed by worries, riches and pleasures of this world, they DO NOT MATURE. In other words, they don’t grow. To grow spiritually and educationally, for your ministry, marriage, career and business to grow, to move from one level to a higher level, you must hear God when He speaks, receive what He tells you, and run with it; apply it to your life.
In Matthew 13:16, after Jesus had spoken a parable in the hearing of so many people, He gave only His disciples the interpretation of the parable. When He gave them the interpretation, He said to them, “Blessed are your eyes because they see, and your ears because they hear”. Our ears and eyes are blessed because we are privileged to receive secrets about the Kingdom of God, insights and revelations from our Lord which those outside the covenant; those who are not in Christ know nothing about. I declare that in the name of Jesus, our spiritual ears are open. Our spiritual ears are open to hear when God is speaking, our ears understand the message God is transmitting to us. Our spiritual eyes are open in Jesus name to see what God is showing us. With our spiritual eyes, we see visions and revelations of the majesty of God.
BENEFITS OF HEARING GOD
HEARING GOD PUTS AN END TO LABOURING IN VAIN, IT LEADS TO A MAJOR BREAKTHROUGH IN YOUR LIFE
In Luke 5:5-6, Peter told Jesus that he had worked hard all night, yet he hadn’t caught anything; he had nothing to show for all his labours. If Jesus didn’t speak to Peter that day, Peter would have gone home with an empty net signifying failure and fruitless efforts. As soon as Jesus gave Peter an instruction which he heard, received and applied, his failure was turned to outstanding success. If Jesus didn’t speak to Peter that day, Peter would have missed a major breakthrough. There was this astonishing number of fish before Peter, but they could have slipped past him but for the instruction Jesus gave him. Peter went home that day with a major unprecedented breakthrough because Jesus spoke, Peter heard, Peter received, Peter applied the word to his life and situation.
Are you like Peter today? Have you been working hard, putting in so much time and energy into your ministry, business, career, your spouse or a particular child, yet you have nothing to show for all your labours and efforts? Have you tried everything you know how to but nothing has come out of it? Are you tired of labouring in vain? YOU NEED TO HEAR GOD’S VOICE OF DIVINE INSTRUCTION. This was what Peter heard that day. He received a divine instruction and there was an amazing turnaround.
Are you in desperate need of a major breakthrough in your spiritual life, ministry, career, business, marriage and family life? You need to hear God’s voice of divine instruction for that specific situation you are in.
Say these prayers:
Father, please speak to me in a language I will understand and let all labours with no results; let all fruitless efforts cease in my life.
Father, please give me a divine instruction that will result in a drastic change in my life, that will result in a major breakthrough in my life.
O Lord as You speak, I receive grace to hear, trust and obey. Let every tree of disobedience and rebellion wither out of my life.
I declare and decree that from today, I shall eat the fruit of my labours and God’s blessing and prosperity shall be upon the works of my hands in Jesus mighty name. AMEN!
HEARING GOD KEEPS YOU STEPS AHEAD OF YOUR ENEMIES
Your enemies can’t triumph over you or have the final say concerning your life and destiny if you are a person that hears God.
In 2 Kings 6:8-10, the King of Aram was at war with Israel. It was the grace of being able to hear God that saved the Israelites from the hands of their enemies. The king of Israel had plans to set up camp at certain locations which unknown to him where places his enemy was lying in wait to overpower him. The King of Israel never set camp where his enemy was because he was fortunate to have someone like Elisha; a man who heard God when He spoke.
Elisha was able to clearly hear GOD’S VOICE OF DIVINE PROTECTION which he communicated to the King of Israel. God spoke a word of protection “Beware of passing that place, because the Arameans are going down there” (2 Kings 6:9). Several times in our lives, God has warned us like he warned the King of Israel, Beware of passing that street, taking that bridge, entering that bus, going on that flight, or entering into that relationship, but His voice was drowned out by the noise of worries of life, riches, pleasures and other distractions?
God’s voice of protection keeps us steps ahead of our enemy; it prevents us from falling into traps that have been prepared for us. God’s voice of protection secures our lives and destines.
Pray this prayer:
Father please let me always hear your voice so my enemies don’t triumph over me.
God’s voice of protection actually comes in two ways. We hear it, our enemies also hear it. For us, what we hear is a voice warning, guiding and directing us away from certain places, people and decisions. But for our enemies, what they hear is a voice that puts them in panic and confusion, a voice that makes them flee from us. When God wants to shield us from enemy invasion and attack, our enemies hear things like a loud thunder (Job 40:9), the noise of a battlefield (Ezekiel 1:24) that can make them melt in fear (Psalm 46:1). They hear the roar of many rushing waters (Ezekiel 43:2) that can sound like flashes of lightning, shake the desert, strip the forest bare (Psalm 29:3-9) and send our enemies into panic and confusion.
In 2 Kings 7:6, the Lord made the Arameans; the enemies of Israel, to hear the sound of chariots and horses and a great army and they ran for their lives. I pray that for all those who are planning evil for you, your spouse, children and other family members, all those that want to ruin your home, business or ministry, they will hear God’s voice of protection and they will run far away from you.
HEARING GOD WILL HELP YOU LIVE A LIFE OF PURPOSE
In Acts 26:14-18, Paul testified about how Jesus spoke to him and revealed to him God’s purpose for his life. In that encounter, where Paul heard the voice of God, God broke down to Paul his purpose for Paul’s life. Paul knew after that encounter:
WHAT God wanted Him to be – to be a servant and witness for Christ.
What God wanted to achieve through his life – to open the eyes of people, turn them from darkness to light, from the power of Satan to God
He knew WHO God was sending to him – to the Gentiles
After Paul heard GOD’S VOICE OF AWARENESS, he had no doubt in his mind about what God’s purpose for His life was. He passionately and wholeheartedly threw himself into this divine purpose. We need to hear God’s voice of awareness to be aware of what God wants to do in and through our lives and to step fully into our divine assignment.
Acts 13:36 gives us an interesting testimony about David. In that verse he is described as a man who fulfilled God’s purpose for his life. David had this good testimony because through fellowship, intimacy and regular two way communication with God (Psalm 63:1, Psalm 42:1-2, 1 Samuel 23:1-3, 1 Samuel 23:4-5, 1 Samuel 23: 10-11, 1 Samuel 23: 12-14, 1 Samuel 30:8-9, 2 Samuel 2:1-2, 2 Samuel 5:17-21), David developed an awareness of God’s purpose for his life.
In Psalm 139: 16 he said “All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be”. So David knew what God had written about his life, who God wanted him to be, what God wanted to do through him. This kept David from living a wasted and purposeless life.
Pray along:
Father, please I don’t want to live a wasted and purposeless life, help me to clearly hear your voice of awareness so I can be fully aware of your purpose for my life.
HEARING GOD PUTS DIVINELY INSPIRED WORDS IN YOUR MOUTH
When you pray, you need to hear God’s divinely inspired words so you pray right on target, go to the root of a problem, and speak words that are pleasing and acceptable to God; words that will lead to a divine intervention (Romans 8:26-27). To achieve this, you must receive DIVINE UTTERANCE as you stand or kneel in the place of prayer. Without hearing from God, we can pray amiss; go around in circles over a particular problem, scratch the surface of issues instead of tackling them headlong in the place of prayer.
When you minister to people, whether it’s standing on the pulpit to preach to hundreds of people or offering a word of encouragement on your living room couch to a friend whose marriage is falling apart, or speaking at the bus station to a family member that has been falsely accused of embezzling office funds, you need divinely inspired words. It is only if you are sensitive to the Spirit of God that you can hear the words God is dropping into your spirit to sustain a weary soul (Isaiah 50:4), you can give a timely word; the right word at the right time; the exact thing the person or people need to hear at that particular instance (Proverbs 15:23). Such words are not yours, they are not born out of human wisdom, it is God helping you to speak (Exodus 4:12) and putting in your mouth words aptly spoken which appear like apples of gold in settings of silver (Proverbs 25:11).
When you stand before a panel, go for an interview, or have a product to sell, God can fill you with divinely inspired words. He can fill you with words and wisdom that no adversary, no enemy of your progress and lifting will be able to resist or contradict (Luke 21:15).
When people question you about your faith, oppose God, persecute, ridicule and insult you, if you are a person that frequently communes with God and hears from God, such people will leave you embarrassed just as those who brought a woman caught in adultery to Jesus left him embarrassed when he answered their question that was designed to trap him, incriminate him and bring Him down (John 8:1-11).
Even when your children ask you tough questions about life, the Bible or any situation, you need divinely inspired words. You need to speak as you are carried along by the Holy Spirit and the Holy Spirit gives you divine utterance (2 Peter 1:2) so the answer you give will draw them closer to God not encourage them to sin or lead them down a foolish part (Colossians 3:21).
So hearing from God is not just about having dreams and revelations of God sending you to a missionary field, it is for everyday living, it is for practical Christianity.
This is why we need to pray this prayer:
O Lord, please draw me nearer so I can hear you better and more clearly. Draw me nearer to you O Lord so I don’t utter careless, empty words but speak divinely inspired words.
HEARING GOD EMPOWERS YOU TO PRESS ON AND NOT GIVE UP NOTWITHSTANDING THE RAGING STORM, CHALLENGE OR TRIAL YOU ARE GOING THROUGH
In Acts 27:14-25, Paul with those that were travelling with him where in the centre of a raging storm. They took such a violent battering from the storm that at a point they lost hope. They had given up hope that they would be rescued, they would survive the storm. What helped Paul in the midst of this life threatening storm not to give up, to still have courage and a definite hope that he would live and not die was the fact that he heard GOD’S VOICE OF HOPE, ASSURANCE AND ENCOURAGEMENT.
No matter the raging storm you find yourself in, the water of affliction that wants to drown you, the violent and merciless battering you are taking from a financial, health, marital or spiritual storm, if you can hear God’s voice of hope, assurance and encouragement, you won’t end up as a suicide victim.
It doesn’t matter how long you have prayed and waited for a particular thing, if you can hear God’s voice of hope, assurance and encouragement, giving up on the Christian faith, turning your back on God won’t be an option to consider.
Irrespective of the hopeless situation you find yourself in or how bleak the future looks, if you can hear God’s voice of hope, assurance and encouragement, you will keep looking up with hope not down in defeat.
To start the Christian journey and not abandon it midway, you must continue to hear your Heavenly Father speaking to you, nudging you to keep pressing on, don’t give up, don’t get discouraged, fight the good fight of faith, don’t allow the devil get you down and out of the faith arena for God is with you.
Let’s pray this final prayer:
FATHER, PLEASE LET ME ALWAYS HEAR YOUR VOICE OF HOPE, ASSURANCE AND ENCOURAGEMENT SO I CAN FINISH WELL AND STRONG.
