How Do I Hear God?

I want to try something today: “Marco”

That old game: Marco Polo is a great game about listening. In it, the person who it “it” has their eyes shut and shouts out Marco and everyone has to respond with Polo and the player has to then find them and tag them. When you play that game and you are “it” you are straining your ears and listening far more carefully than you do in regular life.

We are teaching a series called Great Questions and today’s question for us to consider is “How do I hear God?”

Why this question matters

God’s not done with you yet. The salvation that he offers to each of us isn’t the end of a spiritual journey, it’s the beginning. And the journey he has us on is full of victories and struggles / joy and pain / peace and conflict and it has an end goal - Christ-likeness. In order to help you get there, God speaks to you and he offers to you one of two things: --either an encouragement or an exhortation.

Encouragement - to give you strength and bolster you in your faith and life - Terry Sr. this week for me

Exhortation - to challenge you to become more like Jesus in the way to relate to God (growing in holiness and intimacy) and in how you relate to others (love, joy, peace, patience) - Just this week I was reading...

2 Samuel 15:25–26 NIV

Then the king said to Zadok, “Take the ark of God back into the city. If I find favor in the Lord’s eyes, he will bring me back and let me see it and his dwelling place again. But if he says, ‘I am not pleased with you,’ then I am ready; let him do to me whatever seems good to him.”

This verse just reminded me to be a person of deep faith that trusts God, whether things are going well or not. I was exhorted through this passage this week.

That’s why this question matters. It is only through hearing from God that we grow in our faith and in our intimacy with Jesus.

How can we tell if it’s God speaking and not a reaction to overeating on Taco Tuesdays?

John 10:27 NIV

My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me.

If what you think God is saying sounds like something Jesus would say, it’s probably God. So, for example, you are feeling this sense that, even though you are married, you should go for a drink with that person from work who keeps giving you “the eye.” Maybe stop and think about whether this is something Jesus would tell you to do. Because, doesn’t Jesus say that your happiness is more important than other people’s feelings? Doesn’t he say that should “do you?” NO HE DOES NOT. He tells us to die to ourselves. He affirms that adultery is sin. So those thoughts are not from Jesus. But maybe you see someone is down, they are hurting. And you get a sense that maybe you should go over and talk to them and maybe even pray for them? Is that something Jesus said or did? YES.

Jesus is God so when you want to know if what you are hearing from God is actually from God, use the Jesus test and ask if this lines up with what Jesus said and did.

What does God use to speak to us?

How God speaks in the Bible:

To Adam and Eve through Theophany

To Moses through the Burning Bush

To Balaam through his donkey

To Israel through the Prophets

To Abraham, Jacob, Mary and Zechariah through angels

To Abimelek, Solomon, Joseph, and the apostle John through visions

To David in a thundering noise

To Elijah in a still, small, voice

Romans 1:20 says that God speaks to us in nature - showing his creativity and his grandness - Mexico Beach

God uses a variety of things to get our attention and speak to us and this morning, I want to share with you four ways that I think God wants to speak to you, even today.

1. Through Difficulties

Psalm 119:67–68 NIV

Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now I obey your word. You are good, and what you do is good; teach me your decrees.

Some lessons can only be truly understood through experience. Moving here struggles.

Jonah and the Fish - he learned about how God loves the unworthy and offers salvation to them (the Ninevites were unworthy and so was Jonah).

2. Through the Holy Spirit

John 14:26 NIV

But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.

The Holy Spirit is truly amazing. He teaches us about God as we go through life, he illuminates the Bible for us, helping us to hear what God says in it and he leads us in our decision making. Through the Spirit, you might get an impression that you are supposed to do this or that.

It’s mysterious and sometimes hard to discern, but you just know it.

Called to pray over people - youth, camp, etc.

3. Through God’s people

2 Peter 1:21 NIV

For prophecy never had its origin in the human will, but prophets, though human, spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.

David, Bathsheba and Nathan

People God might speak through:

Friends

Mentors

Counsellors

Pastors / Preachers

Romans 10:14 NIV

How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them?

I mentioned it earlier about my conversation with a spiritual father of mine, Terry. God spoke to me through that man this week. It gave me an encouragement and he gave me grace for myself and I am so grateful. God speaks to us through people.

4. Through God’s Word

2 Timothy 3:16–17 NIV

All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.

There was a time in the Old Testament when the people of God, the Israelites had forsaken the Lord and were following other Gods in Israel. In that time, Josiah became king at 8 years old. When he was 18, the Book of the Law was found after having been misplaced and set aside for years. As soon he heard it, KIng Josiah tore his robes because he knew that this was God’s word and he began to enforce a series of reforms, ending the evil practices that Israel was doing. He heard the word, and it changed him.

I happen to think that the Bible is God’s number one way to talk to his people. In order that there would be less ambiguity about what God desires for us and how he wants us to live, he wrote it down for us. And we are a blessed generation that gets to enjoy this privilege.

When we read the Bible, we might be tempted to think that God is always talking to people. Every few pages, God has something to say. But we fail to take into account both time and circumstance. God often only spoke to one person, who then conveyed to everyone else. 99.9% of people in ancient Israel would never hear from God, only the select prophet. And no one had their own copy of the Bible to read at home when they wanted for most of human history. Later, coming out of the dark ages, no one knew how to read so they just accepted the Priests word for it, whatever they said. It’s only in our relatively near history that everyone has access to the Bible for themselves and can hear what God wants to say whenever they want to.

And what’s sad, is that many of us don’t. We don’t hear from God because we don’t get into our Bibles.

What keeps us from hearing from God more often?

Distraction

Fear (of God changing us)

Apathy

Conclusion

So how do we hear God? We hear God through our difficulties, through the Holy Spirit, through people and through the Word of God. But in order for us to hear, we actually have to listen. “Marco!!” “Polo!!” When we play Marco Polo we move towards sound and we strain ourselves to hear signs of where people are. Maybe today is the day that you will listen for God and move towards the sound of his voice. I sometimes wonder if all we need to hear God better is simply to listen a little more carefully.

Pray.