HEARING GOD

            Ever wondered if God speaks at all? Like, is God just in heaven, enjoying with the angels worshipping Him; such that He is so far away for Him to hear you or even speak to you? Does God care enough to have time to listen to all you have to say? My dear you have to understand that the reason you can speak is because God speaks, and you can only listen because God listens; after all, you are made in God’s image. God does love talking and speaking (i.e. communicating) with us – men. So how does God speak and how can we ensure we hear Him speak.

            You see previously, God has spoken with the audible voice. Check out the Israelites, they heard God speak audibly from Mount Sinai. Ask Abraham, Moses, Elijah, Isaiah and the other Prophets, they did hear God’s voice. Friends consider this: ‘does God have a preferred way of speaking?’ Remember the discourse between Jesus and the woman at the well in Samaria, Jesus said God does not enjoy being worshipped in physical temples; so our Father does have a preference. One thing that links all the ways God spoke to man after the fall of Adam is this: they heard God from outside. The voice of God had to be audible to them because though they related with God, God was still external to them. God’s presence lived in buildings, arcs and stones in that period. So something physical needed to be involved for them to hear God.

            Jesus enlightens us on how to hear Dad very clearly. Three times in the ministry of Jesus, we see written that God spoke audibly. At His baptism, God’s audible voice came to John the Baptist: (John1:32-33; Matt.3:17; Note: John and Matthew’s Gospel explain and make us understand the accounts of Jesus’ baptism in Mark & Luke. The person that saw the spirit descending on Jesus was not the crowd gathered around but John). It follows then that the voice spoken was not to Jesus, but to John who needed to see and hear to believe in his heart and afterwards proclaim: John1:36. Again at the transfiguration, the voice of God came physically to Peter, James and John, not to Jesus, nor the prophet and the law-giver who were with Him. Finally when Jesus prayed in John 12:28-30, the audible voice from God, came not for Jesus but for the people who were gathered around. So, how did Jesus hear God during His prayer? We know Jesus heard God when He prayed; in fact Jesus was always in prayer and always hearing God. John 12:49 confirms that every word Jesus said was gotten in the place of communion with our Father! Again when Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead, He didn’t start praying, rather he continued in prayer; to understand see John 11:41b. Jesus had already conversed with God within Himself before He spoke those words and God had also responded; hence He said thanks to God for all the men around to hear (vs.42).

            So again, how did Jesus hear God? Jesus answers first by telling the woman at the well in Samaria: ‘God is a Spirit, and He prefers to be worshipped in spirit’. That is the place of communion – hearing and speaking – with God that God prefers most. Know this, that man is a spirit, and has a soul (the mind for thinking & emotional components for expression) and man lives in the body. So the real you is the spirit; you don’t have a spirit, my dear friend, you are a spirit. Hence God said, let us make man in our image; and God is a? ……. So the utmost place of God communing with His sons is within. The best way to hear God is to hear God speak to the spirit that you are; to use ehm ehm ‘unspiritual English’: it is to hear God speak to your spirit. This is the core of the sheep hearing and knowing the voice of the shepherd (John 10:27&4b). How do I know this is the most excellent way of God speaking to us now? Well, Romans 8:16 clarifies that the place where we receive the witness and confirmation that we are actually God’s sons is in our spirits, not in our minds or bodies; the mind and body takes time to catch onto this knowledge. Again, Philip’s experience with the Ethiopian man, the spirit spoke to Philip to minister to the man (Acts 8:29). How did God speak? By the spirit of course and therefore, how do you think that Philip heard? Through his …….. Also, Peter heard God speak via the agency of his spirit communing with God’s spirit (Acts 10:19). So dear friends you want to hear God’s voice frequently? Don’t just yearn to hear a physical audible voice with your ears, rather allow yourself to be trained to recognise when God talks to your spirit, for there ain’t anything physical about this. This is why Peter said faith is involved when we have not seen Jesus yet we believe in Him (1Peter 1:8); same way faith is involved when you have not seen God and you hear him speak to you in the spirit. After all, speaking with God and hearing God speak – prayer, is part of the components of worship; & God is to be worshipped in spirit and in truth.

            Joel speaks of the ways God speaks to us today (Joel2:28). God still speaks today in dreams and visions. So my dear, understand that God does speak in diverse ways, but when it comes to the place of 1 Thess. 5:17 where you are to pray as a believer without any interruption, and the place of Luke18:1 where you are to pray always, without stopping then you’ve gotta hear God as frequently as Jesus did as illustrated in john 12:49 (NIV). So God does speak, He is speaking and he will keep on speaking, you simply have to be aware that your spirit can actually hear God and already does hear God. When you become aware of this, your mind will start to get the words of God that your spirit hears. Dear friends, this is but a minute tip of the iceberg in the teaching of hearing God speak, so after reading this if you do have questions or objections, please feel free to bring it up.