Tune In

I co-pastor a church with my husband and a question we hear probably the most often is, "How do you hear God's voice?" I think it is a very common struggle for most Christians at one time or another in their lives. I also think that it is one of the most important and life changing things that we can learn to do-hear God speaking to us.

A few weeks ago I remember God speaking to me very clearly. I was driving into town and had come to a busy highway where I had to turn left and cross two lanes of traffic. I had been sitting there for what seemed like a long time and began to get impatient. Can anyone else relate? Finally, a car that was in the right hand lane gave a turn signal indicating they would turn right where I was waiting to pull out. So, I started to pull out. I got as far as part way in to the right hand lane when I heard God say to me on the inside, "STOP!!" Just then a car speeding by at 65 mph zoomed in front of me in the left hand lane. God could see what I couldn't and preserved my life that day! I am so thankful that I knew what the voice of God sounded like and that I obeyed!

Maybe you won't ever be in a life or death situation where hearing and obeying God's voice will save your life. BUT, what I do know is that we all need to hear from Him. We need to hear from Him about relationships, "Should I marry this person?" Or "God, my children are heading down the wrong path, how do I reach them?" Did you know that God even cares about decisions like what car we purchase? Yes! He absolutely does! God knows everything and He knows if the car you are about to purchase is a good car or a lemon that will drain you of your resources of money and time.

Remember back in the "olden days" before cars had digital tuning for the radio? You had to turn a dial instead in order to be able to listen to your favorite radio station. And as you were tuning and almost to the right frequency, you would begin to hear bits and pieces of what was being said or played. But, if you weren't on the exact spot of that frequency, you had to fine tune your dial in order to pick it up clearly. See, hearing God's voice is the same way. If we aren't hearing Him clearly, or not at all, we need to adjust our receiver, or the dial. He is speaking to us, we just need to tune in!!

It's not hard at all, we just may need to adjust some things in our lives.

John 10:3-5 - "The watchman opens the gate for him, and the sheep listen to his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. 4 When he has brought out all his own, he goes on ahead of them, and his sheep follow him because they know his voice. 5 But they will never follow a stranger; in fact, they will run away from him because they do not recognize a stranger's voice."

You see, it is in those sheep to hear their shepherd's voice. They were created to hear his voice, they don't struggle with hearing it. Jesus calls Himself the Good Shepherd and we are the sheep of His pasture. We should EXPECT to hear His voice if we belong to Him. If we aren't hearing Him then we need to take a look at maybe why we aren't.

First of all, we have to BELONG to Jesus. If our lives aren't fully surrendered to Him, then He isn't our Shepherd and we won't recognize His voice.

Once we belong to Him, one way He speaks to us is through His word, the Bible. Since His word is one way He speaks to us, we need to know what it says! God gives some instruction to Joshua about this, and it would do us well to listen to what God told Joshua.

Joshua 1:8 - "Do not let this Book of the Law depart from your mouth; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful."

The word "meditate" is translated from the Hebrew as "murmur" or "mutter." It literally means to say it with our mouths out loud. There is something about saying it, muttering it, that helps to get it down on the inside of us. Romans 10:8 says, "The word is near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart." It needs to be both places! Psalm 119:11 says that we are to hide God's word in our hearts so that we don't sin against Him. We can only meditate on and hide God's word in our hearts by memorizing His word. I'll be honest, it is work! But I promise you will never regret one moment you spend memorizing His word, hiding it in your heart and muttering it to yourself. It is one of the keys to hearing His voice! Begin by memorizing one scripture and then add others on to that. Pretty soon, you will be quoting the word of God left and right! I like to put up scriptures around the house, on the bathroom mirror, by where I do the dishes or cook in the kitchen. Translated - where we ladies spend the most time ;0) That way I can read the Word and hide it in my heart while doing mindless tasks. Gotta do them anyway, might as well be putting the Word on the inside of us at the same time!

I read about a way to help your children do this as well. As a family, put one scripture up all over the house, maybe on 3x5 cards, wherever you and your kids spend a lot of time. For my family, that would be the bathroom, kitchen, and dining room-where we do our homeschooling. Then once everyone has memorized that one scripture passage, change it out for another one. We are going to begin with scriptures that pertain to areas of our lives that need adjusting and growing in godly character. That is what will bring about true change in our lives.

Then we must obey His word, every time. I don't know about you, but I want all I do to prosper and succeed! Remember Joshua 1:8? In the hard things and in the not so hard things, we must obey, every time. I don't like the obeying part in the hard things, and believe me, He will ask us to obey in the hard things. But when we do, He can truly bless our lives.

The other way that God speaks to us is through the inward witness.

Romans 8:14 - "For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God."

We can be led by God's Spirit! It is awesome to me to think that when I give my life to God, that His Holy Spirit comes to live on the inside of me! The Almighty Creator of the universe makes His home on the inside of us when we are His children! Some people have told me that when they think God might be speaking to them that it just sounds like them, like their own voice. And I would say a resounding, "Yes!!" What happens is that God's Holy Spirit on the inside of us speaks to our spirit, the part of us that lives forever-the person that we really are. So, it will sound like you, because it IS you-your spirit speaking!

Nothing that God ever tells us through the inward witness will ever go against His written word. That is why it is so important to know what His word says. It is so vital to hear God through the inward witness. It is how we receive specific instructions for our lives. When I was seeking the Lord on whom to marry, I couldn't just open up the Bible and expect to see the words, "Kim, marry Tom, this is my will for your life." No! It's not there. But I knew that I knew through the inward witness that God was leading me to marry Tom. And we are getting ready to celebrate 20 years of marriage this March! It has been 20 wonderful years! I am so glad I knew to listen to that inward witness.

We have had people tell us, "I really think that God is telling me to marry this person." Then our first question to them is, "Does he/she love the Lord?" If they say, "Well, no..." Then we have to speak the truth to them in love and tell them that at this point in time, that it is not God's will for them. Why? Because God will never lead us to do something that goes against His written word. He tells us not to be unequally yoked with unbelievers (2 Cor. 6:14). Now, maybe AFTER that person surrenders their life to God and has been following Him consistently for a LONG while, then and only then should they consider marriage with him/her.

As we begin this journey of listening to and hearing God's voice, He will begin to speak to us about little things-the little things in our lives or our families. Most times, that is the place where He will begin to speak to us. It is a safe place. There is not much "risk" to it if we happen to not get it right. The biggest mistake we could make is to never step out and do what He speaks to us. God hasn't given us a spirit of fear, but of power, love and a sound mind. The Holy Spirit will teach us (John 14:26). He will bring us along one step at a time. As we obey the written word of God, in all things, our ability to be led by the Spirit of God through the inward witness becomes sharper and clearer. Get to know His voice by spending time with Him, in prayer, in worship, in the Word. Then as we recognize His voice just like we do the voice of our best friend and we are quick to obey, He will begin to speak to us about weightier things. He may even ask you to speak into the lives of others to be a blessing to them. Will we make mistakes? Yes! And that is okay too. I have made mistakes and I have lived through to tell about them. But, oh the joy of hearing my Lord speak to me; there is nothing else like it! So, be encouraged, tune in, and expect to hear the voice of God speaking to you!