Hearing God’s Voice

“I’m not certain I can put this into words, but there’s this place deep inside where I know God speaks. I call it my ‘knower,’ and it is there that I have heard the voice of God.[1]Barrier & Goetz

e. I also want you to learn to be discerning when you hear someone say they heard from God

i. Prophetic – will use this as an example but hearing from God is not always about being prophetic.

1. Major life decisions

2. Understanding

3. God is bringing correction, or growing you. Most often God speaks to us when he is trying to shape and mold us.

a. God’s voice will challenge and change us

ii. Discerning teaching

iii. Discerning what God speaks to you

II. How does God speak to us?

a. First and foremost his word, preserved by the Holy Spirit and handed down to us in the Bible

i. Treasure the Bible (don’t cheer for this quote)

1. “It’s difficult to get the same fruit as the early Church when we value a book they didn’t have more than the Holy Spirit they did have. To value the Scriptures above the Holy Spirit is idolatry. It’s not “Father, Son, and Holy Bible.” The Bible reveals God, but is itself not God.”- Bill Johnson

a. Most likely this was a response when they claimed something was of God and someone asked for them show them the verse in the Bible

b. No it is not God but it is God’s word, it does not just reveal God

c. The early Church had the Jewish Scriptures the Tanak – what we call the Old Testament. They even had it written in Greek

i. Septuagint / LXX

ii. Read through the NT and they are constantly quoting from the OT

1. My Bible has these quotes in bold

a. A good reference or Study Bible will tell you where the quote comes from

b. The OT writers often quote other verses in the OT, use same verbiage, metaphors, symbolisms etc.

i. Isaiah 9:2-6

1. Day of Midian – D-day, Pearl Harbor

2. Gideon marched with Torches covered by clay jars, Judges 6 & 7

a. They attacked at night and shattered their jars showing the light

3. Yoke oppression – harkening back to slavery to Egypt and to describe the oppression by the Midinaites

4. Isaiah full of the word, knew well story of Gideon

a. God spoke to Isaiah to prophecy of the coming Messiah

i. He goes back to Exodus, he Goes back to Gideon he then looks forward to Jesus who would deliver us from slavery to sin and shine his light in the darkness of our hearts.

ii. The God worked with what the Prophets and the people already had

1. Read Revelation – You see the same imagery from Exodus, from Daniel and Ezekiel. These images were already familiar to John and to the churches he was writing too.

iii. The written word (or oral) became the starter for prophecy

iv. It was words the hearers were already familiar with

1. You need the Written word to be able to speak and to hear God’s word

c. This is why I harp on constantly filling up on the written Word

i. You are less likely to hear God’s voice dry

1. Even most people come to salvation when they are exposed to the gospel, God’s word

d. Good pastor and teachers. God give us the roles of Pastors and Teachers as gifts of the spirit

i. Our ability to hear from God and our ability is to understand the Bible is not infallible – it is not perfect. As humans we are prone to getting things wrong

1. As I have grown and hopefully matured my doctrinal beliefs are not the same I had a decade ago

2. Other teachers, pastors, good books, study Bibles, commentaries etc. become accountability partners. (my sermon workflow)

III. Position yourself to hear

a. Remove distractions – turn stuff off

b. Learn to enjoy quietness

c. Guard what you allow into your gates – your eyes and ears

d. Journal – write stuff down – If you think God is speaking to you regarding a matter in your life then write it down. Sometimes God’s word has to marinate, it needs to bake a while before it is clear. Understanding might not come in the moment

i. Staff meetings – ideas

ii. Pink baby booties

e. What do you want to hear? Do you really want to hear what God wants to say and not just what you want to hear?

IV. Be discerning

a. Discerning = discovering / knowing is this from God?

b. Pray about it, when you think you have an answer, pray some more

c. We have Elders and a Church Counsel, church staff

d. Sometimes you may need to submit the word to a pastor, or mentor

i. But be careful telling them “I heard from God.” That closes off conversation. You need to consider being open for correction and guidance.

1. 1 Corinthians 14:29-32

e. Can you validate what you are hearing with the word

i. Does it contradict the Bible?

Satan speaks, self speaks, and God speaks—and sometimes I cannot distinguish among the three – Barrier & Goetz

V. Let’s talk prophecy – 1 Corinthians 14:1-5

a. I still believe and have experienced prophetic words, spoken to me and on occasion I have given them.

b. Again we need to move carefully. Again our ability to hear God’s voice is not perfect

i. We too easily and I would even say callously rush to say, “I heard from God.”

1. Shotgun prophecy

ii. It is an awesome thing to think we have been ask to speak on God’s behalf.

c. I want to be careful, I don’t want to create doubt but also don’t always rush to accept what someone says just because they claim to have a word from God

i. This goes the same for those who we sit under their teaching

1. Acts 17:11

d. You feel God has given you a word for someone

i. Am I supposed to share it with them?

1. Janice Kacey and Joseph story

ii. Am I supposed to give it now

1. Side note be careful with word’s for minors – Include the parents

e. Pride and ego – guilty as charged

f. You may have dominate gifts but you may move in and out of different gifts based on what God needs from you at the moment

VI. Don’t make trying to get a word consume you. Don’t chase miracles

a. Gold dust – sorry you are bound by your religion – they eventually left the church

i. Driving an suv is not in the Bible either

VII. Key is obedience

a. Have you acted on what God has spoken to you before?

b. “Hearing Him starts with our commitment to humble obedience. We won’t do it perfectly—we can’t always obey flawlessly—but we must do it purposefully, with ears primed to hear and discern God’s voice. We’re not likely to hear anything from God until we’ve abandoned our tug of war with Him, between our wills and His. We may struggle to detect one syllable of divine dialogue, much less receive any clarity in discerning what He means, until we’ve first opened the floodgates of surrender so He can start piping the volume through. Drawing a clear connection between obedience and hearing God is a critical piece of discerning God’s will and His ways. We’ll quell the resounding voice and conviction of God’s Spirit within us the more we ignore or disregard it. He will not long waste His words on those who aren’t postured to obey. The tender, submissive heart is the one sensitive enough to continually detect God’s leading and to pinpoint the strange, alternative voices of the enemy, fear, and ego that seek to lead us astray.” - Priscilla Shirer

VIII. Hindrances

a. Our flesh, selfish desires, experience, world view and attack of the enemy can hinder our ability to truly know God’s voice

b. Again always keep your pride and ego in check

c. It is hard to hear when we don’t want to hear what God has to say

i. God speaks most often to transform you not just to make you happy

1. Remember his word will change, challenge us. Correct and mold us

IX. As you go

a. As you go God will speak to you. Most often he lead and guide you when you are not even aware

b. As you go in word in prayer

c. As you go in church / community

i. How many times people have spoken to me a word from God in casual conversation

ii. How many times I preach and people excitedly say while you preach I heard God speak to me – had nothing to do what I was preaching on. But God spoke to them what they needed at that time

X. Is Jesus enough?

a. As we go we learn to hear God's word.

b. As you trust he will lead you even when you don't hear

c. Psalm 131

[1]Barrier, R., & Goetz, D. L. (1998). Listening to the voice of God (p. 24). Bethany House.

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