Day 9: Listening to God’s Voice in Your Life

Day 9: Listening to God’s Voice in Your Life

In today’s fast paced world, there are a myriad of voices that compete for our attention. There is the voice of celebrities, athletes, advertisers, companies, manufacturers, and entertainers that like a thorn in your flesh, won’t just go away. They want you to buy their product, music, movies, etc. In fact, the main reason ofr the invention of Television according to one of the pioneers of television production is to get you to buy stuff. Wow! This insider says that entertainment, as good and as safe as it may be at times, is actually not the goal of TV programs and producers. The goal is to plug in commercials that will get you dissatisfied with your current life and want you to buy more and new stuff to give you temporal happiness and joy. I wonder why I grow dissatisfied with my perfectly good television set in favor of a flat screen television? Why do I want a new car when my used car is perfectly good and gets the job done? Why do I want an ipad or a tablet if I am perfectly fine the with what I have? You see, it’s easy to grow dissatisfied with “stuff” and think that obtaining new “stuff” will make us happy and give us joy.

What True Life Consists Of

What is the source of true joy and happiness? In John 10:10, Jesus says, “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.”  The life Jesus has for us is the true source of Joy and happiness. There is no question that Jesus Christ wants you to live a satisfactory life based not on your attainments but on His Atonement. His death provides the ultimate joy and peace that each of us longs for. The only thing that can give you true joy and happiness is not the things you possess, but your faith and relationship with God. God wants you to have a faith and relationship with Him that will carry you through any experience in life: A faith that will give you comfort if you lose a loved one to a premature death; a faith that will give you peace even though you are not where you wish you were today; a faith that will give you confidence in knowing that even though your parents don’t understand you at times and distrust your plans and intentions, God is still working to fulfill his perfect plan for your life.

Listening to Gods Voice is part of God’s Abundant Life for You

The life that Jesus has promised you, an abundant life, is a life of complete faith and trust in God. It is a life that includes the ability to listen to God and to hear His Voice for yourself. It’s nice to hear what God is saying to you through your favorite devotional writer, your church pastor, or even a trusted Christian friend, but what about hearing God’s voice for yourself? Does God want to communicate with you today? Does he want you to be able to discern and to listen to His Voice personally? Does God still speak to His People Today? The answer may surprise you. Let’s read on!

God’s voice in the past today

In the Bible, there are two types of people who heard the voice of God. We call them prophets. First, there are those who regularly heard the voice of God because they were “professional prophets”, i.e., they were called by God to the office of Prophet. There are the nabi in Hebrew. In the Bible, we find that Elijah, Abraham, Elisha, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, were these types of prophets. That was their job and their vocation. They were prophets of God twenty-four hours a day. However, there is a second type of prophet who also heard the voice of God. These are men like Samuel, Daniel, the Apostle Paul. These are individuals who heard the voice of God, just like the nabi or professional prophets, but were not professional prophets in that they served in different capacities. Samuel was a judge, Daniel a statesman, and Paul a tentmaker. Nevertheless, they heard the voice of God regularly like the nabi. How is that? Could it be that God also communicates with his people regularly? Does God wan to communicate with you today too?

God’s voice today

In God’s Word, God is always asking us to call upon Him in prayer so that He can speak to us personally and individually. Jeremiah 33:3 says, “Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know.” Could it be that God wants to speak to you today, just like he did with Samuel and Daniel, who were not professional prophets, but just ordinary men of God? I believe that God still speaks today, and that He wants to speak to you personally and directly. He wants to speak to you when you are faced with a decision about whom you should date or marry. God wants to speak to you about what career or job you should have. God wants to speak to you about what school or college you should go to. If God wants to speak to us today, how can we hear His Voice for ourselves? How can we really be sure it is God? What biblical guidelines are there to listening God’s Voice?

Biblical Principles and Guidelines to Help you Understand God’s voice

I hope that by now, you have come to believe and accept that God desires to speak to His people today, just like in the Old and New Testament. God wants to speak to you personally and directly during this 30-day spiritual journey. I am praying that God will give you a clear message and Word from Him that will help you in your life. What are biblical principles to hearing and understanding God’s Voice.

The first principle to help is hear, understand, and follow God’s voice is to remember that as we follow God more, He unfolds more of His will and plan for our life. Proverbs 4:18 says, “The path of the righteous is like the morning sun, shining ever brighter till the full light of day.” God never gives us the whole enchilada right away. He always unfolds His truth and His Will little by little. That’s good to remember when you are giving a Bible Study! Give people just a little at a time, and one topic at a time. Don’t overwhelm them! Likewise, if we expect to hear God’s Voice, we must ask ourselves in our present life, “Is there area or any thing that God has asked me to do, which I have not done or am not doing? You see, if God has asked us to do something in an area of our life, and we are being disobedient and not doing it, then don’t expect God to speak to you about something else. Follow God’s present voice in your life, and He will reveal more of His will for your life.

The second principle is to remember that in the Bible, hearing God’s voice in an audible and personal manner, is NOT the REGULAR AND COMMON PRACTICE in the New Testament. While we find that Jesus and the Holy Spirit spoke to Paul on His missionary Journeys, WE DO NOT FIND JESUS SPEAKING IN A PERSONAL and PRIVATE manner to all of his disciples all of the time. In fact, it seems to happen only occasionally. So does this mean that God does not speak to us regularly? How then can we discern God’s voice in our life?

Our study today suggests that God still speaks to His People today. How does He do it? Is it through private messages that are personal and audible? Are there other ways?

I have no doubt about whether God can speak to someone personally and privately, and sometimes audibly. However, I am suggesting to you that God wants to speak to you personally and that he can use any means to convey that message if you are in tune to His Voice.

The third Biblical principle I want to share with you to help you hear and understand God’s Voice is found in Psalm 119:105: “Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path.” Hear we find that the sweet psalmist David shares with us an important Biblical Principle for hearing and understanding God’s Voice: Knowing the Bible personally. You can’t discern God’s Voice in the myriad of voices that compete for your attention today, unless you have learned to hear and discern God’s Voice in your life. The Bible is the primary way that God communicates with you today. That is why it is so important for you to read and familiarize yourself with it and its Author every day. So read it today, tomorrow, and every day of your life!

While God speaks to us primarily through His Word, the Bible, God also uses the following means:

Providence = signs that point the way that we should walk in or the direction we should go.

The Holy Spirit = When we pray, and ask for guidance, the Holy Spirit will influence and give us an impression as to which way to go, but always in conformity with the Bible and God’s revealed written Word. The Holy Spirit will never tell you, “It’s Ok, to divorce and leave your wife and small children and go and marry a younger wife, who is in the church and is very spiritual and a Christian.” That is not the voice of the Holy Spirit, but the Voice od the Devil! Beware!

Trusted Christian Friends = These are mature Christians, people who know the Lord personally and have walked with God every day of their life, for a very long time. Go to them and get their spiritual advice. The bible says, “In the multitude of Counselors, there is wisdom”.

Private, personal, or audible voice = While this is not the common or regular way that God communicates with people today, God can at times use a private, personal, and audible Voice to give us a message from Him. Just recognize that this is not God’s regular way of speaking to people today. The Bible is God’s normal way of speaking to us today, but if God does speak to you privately, personally, and audibly, thank Him for that, and check to make sure that it is in fact God’s voice and not the pizza you at last night!

The fourth and final Biblical principle to help us hear and understand God’s voice is to remember to that God’s Voice in our life is meant to help us prepare for eternity. In John 17, the true Lord’s Prayer, Jesus says He wants ever person to be in Heaven one day soon. He prays for the disciples, and He even prays for you and me. Amazing! To know that Jesus took time to pray for us! Thank God that He did! This final principle is so important because the goal of hearing God’s Voice is to help you prepare yourself for Heaven and for Jesus Second Coming. The goal or object of listening to God’s Voice is not to make you proud or conceited or to tell others what God is telling them. Have you ever met anyone like that before? They will say, “Pastor, God told me to tell you that …”. My questions is, “Hey, if I am in contact and communication with God each day in prayer, Bible study, and sharing my testimony with others, can’t God speak to me personally just  as He spoke to you?” If God has something to tell me (I say this humbly or course), they I want Him to tell me whatever it is. Why use a third party? So stay humble, obedient, and if you constantly follow and obey God’s Voice in your life, one day you will find yourself on the Sea of Glass with a Multitude singing the Song of Moses and of the Lamb! You will see the Face of God one day soon, if you learn to discern, hear, and obey His Voice today! His Grace is Enough! Be blessed!

~ Pastor Salvador Garcia