If I’m being honest there are times when I wish God would just shoot me a text and let me know my next steps.
He certainly can. If we read scripture, we can see that God spoke in an audible voice to some, to a dream in others, handwriting on the wall for another, so come on God, I know it’s not too hard for you.
And while it’s possible for God, it may not be the best for us as believers.
The good news is that God wants to speak to you. He longs for a relationship with you.
So let’s talk today about the 4 steps that I use daily to hear clearly from God.
Step 1. Get to know HIM.
Jesus said in 1 John 10:27, “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.”
I could spot my husband’s voice from across a crowded room in a split second. How? Because I trained myself to recognize his voice? No. Because I know HIM.
I could describe to you what my husband’s voice sounds like. It’s a rather deep, evenly toned….
You can now know when he’s speaking right? Not even close. That description did nothing for you. Because if you don’t know HIM, you won’t recognize his voice no matter how hard you try.
The same is true for God. Yes, there are times, when God will speak clearly and even audibly to those who don’t know him, but if you want to hear from just as you would anyone else you’re in a relationship with, His desire is for you to know HIM.
And if you are constantly relying on the lazy way…we’ll call it what it is – lazy Christianity.
God, just speak to me,
God just tell me
God, why won’t you send me a sign?
You will miss his precious voice speaking to you through whatever means HE deems necessary.
Here’s the great part….the same place where you get to know God is the same place you can clearly hear from Him and that’s in his Word.
Be a diligent student of the word – your spiritual ears will become more attuned to his voice.
It’s a lot like when you are dating a new person, you read every text, you read and reread every love letter- you want to learn ALL about them.
Step 2. Clear the clutter.
At any given time there are several voices vying for your attention. The voice of God. The voice of the enemy and the voice of your past. The pressures of today and expectations of tomorrow.
If I’m being honest, in most cases of people that I’ve counseled, the problem wasn’t that God wasn’t speaking, it was that his voice was crowded out by other voices.
Other people’s opinions, past preferences, unrealistic expectations, worries, doubts, fears, goals, busyness….all these can cloud the voice of God.
If you’re still listening to old messages about who you are instead of believing God’s truth, you will have a very difficult time hearing from God. Because technically you are hearing from God…..you’re just not believing.
If you’re still believing the lies your mother told you over what God says about you, you are being held back by an unrenewed mind.
If you are still thinking the same way you thought before coming to Christ, you’re choosing to follow old toxic thought patterns = it’s not that God isn’t speaking, it’s that he’s not screaming over everything else.
He wants YOU to yield to him and listen.
Have you ever had a conversation with someone that was distracted and kept talking over you?
You could be one of those people that anxiously fight to defend yourself and jockey for position, but God isn’t. He’ll wait for you to shut up and listen.
Romans 12:2 says, “Do not conform to the pattern of this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.”
You are better able to hear the voice of God when you are fully surrendered to the will of God.
Step 3. Train your brain.
Did you know that you have control over what you think about? It’s true. You’re not a victim of your thoughts or feelings. In fact, it’s your job to control your own mind.
2 Timothy 1:7 reminds us, “For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.”
A sound mind is one that thinks clearly and is able to choose what one wants to think.
So what am I supposed to think about?
Phil 4:8 gives us a good starting point. It says, “Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.”
That means that anything that falls outside of these either has to be dealt with or dismissed.
It’s that simple.
Not easy, but simple.
And if you will begin to train your brain to “think on these things”, you will be less likely to be distracted by voices that don’t belong to God.
Don’t take the lazy/ignorant approach and dismiss things that need to be dealt with.
Step 4. Respond.
It amazes me the number of people that ignore God when speaks and then get upset when he’s not speaking. Don’t do with what you have, no more will be given, and even what you have will be taken away and that includes instruction.
Many, many….many years ago, I was in the fitness industry and I would help people to reach their health and fitness goals by providing detailed diet plans for them to follow.
It made it easy for someone to figure out what to eat when to eat and how much to eat.
But I frequently had people who didn’t follow the plan (as you can imagine).
One day, a young lady came into my office for her weekly appointment. I asked her how her food plan was going….
It didn’t work. She said.
What didn’t work? I asked (ready to make the necessary adjustments).
It just didn’t work. She replied with annoyance.
When probed further, she shared that she hadn’t followed it at all that week, in fact, she hadn’t even looked at it.
She laughed and said, ok, just write me a new one and I promise I’ll follow it this week.
I said I will be more than happy to create a new one if a new one is necessary.
So why don’t we follow the old one and find out (In hindsight, I prob should have just printed out the old one and pretended it was new since she hadn’t looked at the old one and likely wouldn’t look at the new one. )
There was nothing wrong with the old diet. It was exactly what she needed.
She just wanted something new to motivate her (which, I knew it wouldn’t anyway).
It was ok that I did all the work and then blamed me for why nothing was changing. (Took no action) but wanted more instruction.
Sound a bit like how we deal with God.
God, I need this…
God gives it, you do nothing with it
And we go back to God and ask for more but then hear crickets…
We’re called to do what we can with what we’ve got. Not to be confused with the popular but not biblical saying “God helps those who help themselves.”
Hopefully, your desire to hear God’s voice is to do God’s will. The good news is that to do that you don’t need to “hear from God”.
You need to grow in godly wisdom, you need to step out in what he’s already called you to do and you need to renew your mind to his truth.
And all of that can be accomplished through his Word. I pray you will dive in and ask the Holy Spirit to give you a passion for his Word.
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