Hearing from God

Over the past few months I have had to exercise discernment a great deal as the enemy has assaulted my mind. I have been bombarded with words such as "you are hopeless", "you are a failure", "you cant do anything right" and so on. Just like a wolf hunting a flock of sheep, he will wait till they are at their vulnerable time before attacking...this is the same as the devil. He will wait till we are at our low points and then unleash on us. Its in these moments we need to stand tall and not listen to the verbal bombardment, but rather focus on hearing from God. But how do we know that we are hearing from God? How do we know His voice when it comes to us?

A quick question for those who know me and have been reading my blog for a period of time...if someone else was to suddenly start posting on my blog without mentioning they fact it was a different person....would you know that it wasn't me writing the blog anymore? I think most people would agree that they would know that the writer was no longer me as they will no my style, my tone, my approach to topics, my value and most of all where my heart is.

This is exactly the same position we need to be in with God. We need to be able to distinguish which is God's voice. In today's society we are bombarded with so many messages as we go about our lives, how do we know which is the voice of God. Sometimes God tries to call us but we are too busy or distracted to answer...we ignore the call with the mindset that we will deal with it later.

I really like the story in 1 Samuel 3 where it speaks of when the Lord calls Samuel. We read that the Lord is calling Samuel, but he continues to think that it is in fact Eli calling him. It isnt till Eli explains to him that it is actually the Lord calling him that he responds to God and allows Him to explain what He has in store for Samuel.

We must realise that through the Holy Spirit we can hear the word of God speaking to us today! Even right now! For we are not just believers but we are followers of Jesus and to be a follower you must actually know the voice of who it is you are following! John 10:27 in the Amplified bible states the following:

The sheep that are My own hear and are listening to My voice; and I know them, and they follow Me.

This is what Jesus is saying, He is telling us that His people know his voice, He knows who they are and they will follow Him! We are distinguished by knowing His voice and in order to know His voice we must hear it regularly.

So how do hear from God? How do we know His voice?

Position yourself to receive
We need to put ourselves in a position to receive from God. This is not an occasional thing, something we do when its convenient or we have a problem. We need to constantly be in his presence and in a position where we can hear His voice clearest. This means forgoing certain things of this world, prioritizing and spending more time in prayer and reading your Bible.

Practice helps
Like all things in life, practice helps. We don't get where we want to get to if we don't put in the effort. This means praying daily, reading the Bible daily...and doing this continually. It is through these things, that we are practicing hearing His voice. This will mean we are able to hear His voice more clearly and this will allow us to react more quickly when we are called to do something for God.

We need to hit the "Pause" button sometimes
God is usually heard in the still small voice. If our lives are full of distractions and constantly packed with activities, how are we going to hear the voice of God speaking to us? This is why its so important to pause and listen for God's voice. In 1 Kings 19:11-12 we read about where the Lord appears before Elijah. The following is written:

The LORD said, “Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the LORD, for the LORD is about to pass by.”

   Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the LORD, but the LORD was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake came a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper. 

The Lord wasn't part of the big loud elements. Rather He was simply the gentle whisper. God doesn't always want to speak to us in the huge things. Although when we can hear Him in the simple things, it makes it easier to hear Him in the bigger things.

I believe that we make ourselves so busy in this life, we are always trying to do more and more. But it is in all this that we are taking away our attention on God and ultimately not hearing what He has to say to us. God calls us more than we probably realise, so we need look at what are the distractions in our life that preventing you from hearing God's voice? We need to tune into His voice again!

Be still, and know that I am God!
      I will be honored by every nation.
      I will be honored throughout the world.

(Psalm 46:10)