"Hearing God" Chap. 11

Chapter 11

"Knowing God's Voice By The Results It Produces"

I. God's Voice Will Bring Us Encouragement.

A. He encourages us in every way He can.

B. Discouragement never comes from Him.

C. Ways God may encourage us

1. Through a Scripture recalled from our memory bank

2. Through a Scripture interpretation for a present circumstance

3. Through a "new" Scripture we had never noticed before

4. Through reminders of His promises to us

5. Through a word for the moment

6. Through a look from His point of view

D. Tactics of the enemy

1. Satan attacks us with discouragement, which is one of his main weapons.

2. By discouraging us, he seeks to make us impotent.

a. To stop what we are doing

b. To do things in a halfhearted way

3. He will point to and distort present appearances and past experiences.

4. He will remind us of the time that has lapsed since we last received a word from the Lord.

5. He will punctuate his attack with a full-color show of our past failures.

II. God's Voice Will Bring Us Peace.

A. What God says will never cause us to worry or fret.

B. A sure sign that we have heard from Him is the peace we feel even in the midst of the storm.

C. Philippians 4:6-7

"6 Be anxious' for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. 7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, shall guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus."

1. This peace is an inner tranquility in a situation clamoring for attention.

2. It is a light in the impenetrable darkness.

3. It is a calm assurance in impossible circumstances.

4. It is an unexplainable rest in the midst of chaos.

D. We can have peace because of:

1. The Lord's Presence

2. The Lord's promises

3. The Lord's power.

E. Hebrews 13:5-6

"5 Let your character be free from the love of money, being content with what you have; for He Himself has said, 'I WILL NEVER DESERT YOU, NOR WILL I EVER FORSAKE YOU: 6 so that we confidently say, 'THE LORD IS MY HELPER, I WILL NOT BE AFRAID. WHAT SHALL MAN DO TO ME?'"

III. God's Voice Will Bring Us Sympathetic Understanding

A. We will know God is speaking to us about others because of our new attitude of understanding toward them and the actions we want to take.

1. We will begin to want to love them.

2. We will feel compassion for other people.

3. We will want to be with them.

4. We will want to extend mercy to them.

5. We will want to forgive them.

6. We will want to be a blessing to them.

7. We will find ourselves interceding for them.

8. We will be expressing love to them through words of encouragement and helping actions.

9. God will cause us to see them as He sees them and to love them as He loves them.

B. Tactics of the enemy

1. The enemy puts thoughts in our mind that cause us to judge someone.

2. The enemy puts thoughts in our mind that cause us to despise someone.

3. The enemy puts thoughts in our mind that cause us to reject someone.

4. The enemy puts thoughts in our mind that cause us to speak evil of someone.

5. The enemy puts thought in our mind that cause us to carry a grudge against someone.

C. God will never tell us things about other people for the sake of judgment—it will be so that we can intercede in their behalf and reach out to help them.

IV. God's Voice Will Bring Us Hope.

A. Definition

1. Unger Bible Dictionary: "the expectation of good"

2. Vines Expository Dictionary of the Bible: "It is a favorable and sure expectation. It has to do with the unseen of the future. The happy anticipation of good."

B. Characteristic signs from God to direct us

1. Joy and peace accompany hope from God.

2. When hope is from God, there is rejoicing.

3. Hope brings boldness of speech.

4. Steadfastness is also a part of this hope.

5. There is no disappointment in this hope from God.

C. Tactics of the enemy

1. He puts thoughts in our mind that cause us to feel hopeless and discouraged.

2. Hopelessness manifests itself with such thoughts as:

a. "It will never work out."

b. "Nothing good is ever going to happen."

c. "It's no use."

d. ''I'll never change."

e. "It won't do any good"

f. "Nothing will make a difference"

D. Hope coming from the Father is the assurance that what we are trusting Him for—on the basis of His character and word—will come to pass.

V. God's Voice Will Create and Sustain Our Faith.

A. The Scriptures picture faith as all-important to our God and Lord:

1. He is the God Who demands faith: "The righteous man shall live by faith." (Romans 1: 17).

2. He is the God Who desires faith: "Where is your faith?" (Luke 8:25).

3. He is the God Who delights in faith: "Without faith it is impossible to please Him" (Hebrews 11:6).

4. He is also the God Who defines (gives the basis and reason for faith) when He speaks with us: "So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the Word of Christ." (Romans 10:17).

B. Faith is both created by the Lord's word to us and sustained by that word—He initiates our faith and is also the Completer, the Finisher of our faith—

“Jesus, the Author and Finisher of our faith . . .” (Hebrews 12:2).

[God’s Word both CREATES and SUSTAINS faith. God’s Word both INITIATES and COMPLETES faith.

C. Tactics of the enemy

1. Thoughts

a. Of doubt

b. Of unbelief

c. Of suspicion

d. Of anxiety

e. Of skepticism

2. These distortions--if allowed to prevail—will lead to disobedience;

a. The disobedience of inactivity caused by doubt

b. The disobedience of wrong activity

c. The disobedience of complacency

D. When we listen and accept what the Father speaks to us, we will find faith rising up in our heart and have these assurances.

1. Hopeful assurance that what is now invisible will become visible when God is ready to show it to us

2. Joyful assurance that makes us sing at midnight

3. Obedient assurance that causes us to cooperate in whatever way He asks

E. One of the sure results of hearing God is faith.

1. Resting faith

2. Steadfast faith

3. Rejoicing faith

VI. God's Voice Will Produce Gratitude In Our Heart.

A. Thanksgiving and praise flow from grateful hearts--a grateful heart cannot help overflowing with thanks and offering praise.

B. Old Testament Praise

1. Deuteronomy 10:14, 17,21 "14 Behold, to the LORD your God belong heaven and the highest heavens, the earth and all that is in it. . . .17 For the LORD your God is the God of gods and the Lord of lords, the great, the mighty, and the awesome God Who does not show partiality, nor take a bribe. . . . 21 He is your praise and He is your God, Who has done these great and awesome things for you which your eyes have seen."

2. 1 Chronicles 29: 10-13 "10 So David blessed the LORD in the sight of all the assembly; and David said, 'Blessed art Thou, O LORD God of Israel our father, forever and ever. 11 Thine, O LORD, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the victory and the majesty, indeed

everything that is in the heavens and the earth; Thine is the dominion, O LORD, and Thou dost exalt Thyself as head over all.

12 Both riches and honor come from Thee, and Thou dost rule over all, and in Thy hand is power and might; and it lies in Thy hand to make great, and to strengthen everyone. 13Now therefore, our God, we thank Thee, and praise Thy glorious name.'"

3. Psalms 138:1-2 "(A Psalm of David.) 1 I will give Thee thanks with all my heart; I will sing praises to Thee before the gods. 2 I will bow down toward Thy holy temple, And give thanks to Thy name for Thy lovingkindness and Thy truth; For Thou hast magnified Thy word according to all Thy Name"

C. New Testament Praise

1. 1 Thessalonians 5:17-18 "17 Pray without ceasing; 18 in everything give thanks; for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus."

2. Philippians 4:6 "Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God."

D. Tactics of the enemy

1. Thoughts of ingratitude

2. Thoughts of envy

3. Thoughts of jealousy

4. Thoughts of covetousness

E. Hebrews 13:15 "Through Him then, let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that give thanks to His Name."