Listen to God
Scripture Reading - Proverbs 5:7 The Amplified Bible
Now therefore, my sons, listen to me, and depart not from the words of my mouth.
As we continue on our “Listening” series we desire in this lesson to speak on "Listening to God". We are sure many people reading this article have at least once or twice in their walk with God questioned whether or not they are hearing from God. Certainly you can never correctly “listen to God” unless you first know you are hearing from God. You would be surprised to think of a young child or a teenager who doesn’t know the voice of his father and/or her mother when the parents of the child have lived with them all of their life. Contrary to that if the child never talked with his father and/or her mother we would expect that they might not know their voice. This is sad to say, but true none-the-less, many we (ihlcc) say multitudes of God’s children (Christians) don’t know how to “listen to God”. Perhaps we consider ourselves blessed and fortunate to be able to hear from God and that is why we will share some good solid fundamental principles to “hear from God” so that you can “listen” to His Voice and deepen your fellowship with the Lord Jesus Christ and your Heavenly Father. We know from John 14:23 that Jesus told His disciples that both the Heavenly Father and the Lord Jesus Himself would come unto His children to live in them. This living inside of His Beloved Children includes talking with them and “listening to (or hearing)” their prayers, basic conversations and all manner of interests, concerns and questions. In the context of the verse we just mentioned Jesus said, “If a man love me, he will keep my words:” This is a very good place to start teaching on how to “listen” to God because first you must love God and your love for God can be directly measured by how much time you spend in God’s Word the Precious Holy Bible. Oh yes, we know many people who boast that they love God with all of their heart which we reply, “Ok”. However, God knows those who love Him by specifically looking at how much time you are spending with Him in the context of reading, studying, pondering and doing His Word. Yes, we also know many a sincere saint that proclaims I spend hours upon hours worshipping God which we reply, “Ok”. Now that is all good and we should worship God for who He Is and we should also continuously thank Him for all He has done for us. Remember, Jesus even told Martha in Luke 10:42 that spending time in God’s Word with Jesus is more important than even serving God. The chief principle we are trying to bring out is Loving God first is a requirement to hear from God. Why, simply because those who love Him have a heart for God which basically means they want to be around Him to learn of Him for a better (clearer) understanding of God. This hungry heart that seeks God does continuously purpose to not only please God but they want to be close to God and obey His commandments. Yes, these individuals have a good and honest heart that brings forth fruit to God with patience as described in Luke 8:15. They are like King David because they seek the Lord as a deer pants after the water brooks, so pants their soul after God.-Refer to Psalm 42:1 Just as the brook of water is essential to the life of the deer, likewise the believer should thirst for God’s Word. Moreover, like the water in the brook is always fresh and flowing so is spending time in God’s Word. Yes, various scriptures we (ihlcc) have read dozens of times still speak to our heart and certain times we study these same scriptures we learn something new (fresh). Yes, coming to God out of a heart of love is first, then you must come to the right place which is the fresh flow brook because there is an endless supply of living water. This water represents the fresh (alive, energized, ever living) and free flowing (quicken, dynamic, on the move) Word of God. Satan has caused much confession by having people study all sorts of books for increased knowledge instead of spending time with God. Unfortunately many people have heard certain ministers that teach godly the principles of God’s Word to place their learning of God in the minsters hands but this is not the same thing as spending your personal time with God only. We (ihlcc) know this to be true because if ever we stop spending time with God on a regular basis we too would have trouble “listening” for God’s Voice or “hearing” Him speak to our heart. God’s Voice is nothing more than hearing the written Word of God speak to you personally. If you know God’s Word and esteem His Holy Word as your bread of life you will hear the voice of Lord echoing those specific words back unto you in your time of need. We hear the Word God found in the Holy Bible first to become acquainted with God then God will speak to you usually the same way for things not explicitly covered in the Holy Bible. Yes, even if God doesn’t speak to you in the King James Voice He will speak His Will to you in a language you understand and you can take whatever He said and line it up with the Holy Bible to measure it as truth. Yes, when it is God we must remember that He (The Lord) is always looking for an opportunity to teach us more about Himself so expect God to reveal Himself unto you when you seek His Face. Yes, many people try to make hearing from God over complicated but we (ihlcc) are purposely stating it is not very hard or confusing. Just remember as you measure out your commitment to God He also measure that same diligence back to you. As a man thinks in his heart so is he according to Proverbs 23:7a. This means the more you show your love for God by spend more time in His Word and taking good notes because you already know He is going to speak to you or reveal something to you, you will “hear from God” just “listen”. If you continue on this same path of consistent fellowship with God over the years you will better understand exactly how God operates in your life (how He speaks to you) and upon more maturity you will see how he operates in the lives of others (how He speaks to them also) because God’s Word is consistent for all mankind. So be encouraged dear saint of God just start this day and every day with time spent in God’s Word because you love Him and thus you seek Him above all others. If your schedule doesn’t permit you to start the day in God’s Word just pick some portion of your day to study God’s Word to learn of Him and while you are learning about our Great and Awesome God you for sure will hear from Him making it easy to “listen to Him” for the rest of your life. Certainly the same God that spoke to your heart to be saved is the same God that will speak to your heart on a continuous basis to work out your salvation while you live on this earth. Jesus came to restore our relationship to God and enhance our fellowship with God so take advantage of the great work Jesus did for you and all Christians by “listening to God” through hearing His Holy Word (in the Holy Bible) because you know God’s Voice, the written word of God spoken from God’s Heart to yours in Jesus Name. Amen!