When God speaks, it is never short of miraculous. He’s the God that breaths stars into existence, so think how much more wonderful it must be to hear Him when He strings a whole sentence together?
There is a void in the world as we know it that longs to hear from the supernatural. According to one study, there are approximately 2.3 billion dollars spent on psychics every year. That’s a big sign that there’s something desperate happening under the surface of most hearts.
What does it take to hear from God? Why does He seem so distant? Why can’t we hear Him?? These are questions I hear and ask myself sometimes. The truth of the matter is — He’s always there. It’s me that’s distant. It’s me that has shut his voice OUT.
When was the last time you made hearing God a priority? Do you even know, or have methods? Share in the comments. Do you know most people I talk to say that they don’t know? They wait for His voice to be audible, or for Him to interrupt them in their soliloquy they call “prayer.”
When people have asked me how I know if/when God’s speaking to me, I tell them I usually look for groups of things. Was it in my path more than once? Was it in my reading that day? Did someone else mention it? Was it a persistent thought? God chooses to speak to different people different ways. I know He speaks to me through glimpses in dreams, and through visions. He can choose however He wants to… and however you make yourself available.
Why is it important to hear Him?
Well, why is it important to follow His leading?
A Barna study came out that said that 2.3 billion dollars was spent every year on psychics… people desperate for instruction, and filling of supernatural voids. When I first heard this, my heart ached. I had heard the Lord earlier in the week say that His people need to know how to hear His voice, and I wonder how many of His people have forgotten what His voice sounds like, or have never known it in their lifetime.
You see, many people WAIT for the Lord to interrupt them. They wait for someone else to bring instruction to them. They wait for the preacher to come off the platform, point a finger in their face, and yell, “YOU need to do X, Y, &Z!” But you know, like I do, that that rarely ever happens.
We serve the God of the still small voice – the God that waits in the silence for you to quietly turn to Him and give your full attention. When I was studying out what I felt the Lord had given me this week, I felt this warning rise in my spirit:
There are few that have asked the Master to know His voice. The word says that His sheep KNOW His voice… but they’ve not taken the time to hear Him. They’ve been too distracted to hear His daily call. They’ve been too addicted to the noise. They’ve been drawn down by the chains of entertainment, weariness, and strife to a place of darkness that completely drowns out the sound of His call. Now it’s the voice of strangers that lead them on this path, and the next. It’s the voice of distraction and busyness that they heed. It’s the voice of procrastination. It’s the voice of rebellion. It’s the voice of comfort. It’s the voice of need. We have become so distantly acquainted with the sound of the master that we are not able to rightly divide His voice from others. How do we know the truth? (John 10:27-28)
On the flipside, I believe that there could be an assembly like this, and the warning would be as follows:
You know my voice, and you heard it, but you decided to stand against it.
Maybe it wasn’t in direct opposition, but it’s more in alignment with procrastination and laziness. You know what to do, even, but you haven’t made moves to do it.
Here’s where the Lord took me in Scripture:
Hebrews 3:7-13
So, as the Holy Spirit says:
“Today, if you hear his voice,
8 do not harden your hearts
as you did in the rebellion,
during the time of testing in the wilderness,
9 where your ancestors tested and tried me,
though for forty years they saw what I did.
10 That is why I was angry with that generation;
I said, ‘Their hearts are always going astray,
and they have not known my ways.’
11 So I declared on oath in my anger,
‘They shall never enter my rest.’ ”[b]
12 See to it, brothers and sisters, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. 13 But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called “Today,” so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness.
Many of you are familiar with what this is referencing, but let me give you a summary:
The Children of Israel had been led out of Egypt, and God has been leading them to their place of rest. They have gone AROUND Philistine country (the Lord didn’t want them to faint in the face of war by going straight through it) and they have arrived at a place that provides great location for Moses to send out 12 representatives of the 12 tribes to scout the land.
They travel around 240 miles in the span of 40 days and bring back with them the fruit of the land, and tales of their travels. PRIOR TO THIS, the Lord had ALREADY DECLARED that if they were go forward and occupy, AN ANGEL OF THE LORD would go before them and slay their enemies.
Should be easy, right?
Wrong. I guess they forgot He said that. They forgot just about everything else God did for them, as much as they complained.
When the 12 spies come back, 10 stand in opposition, and 2 stand in favor of going forward. They had seen the Nephilim, or sons of Anak which were giants.
When they have their big assembly in the tent of meeting, the complaining and whining, and fear mongering makes God so angry that He brings Himself into the midst of the people, and begins to curse them, wanting to wipe them out completely.
You see, God had been effectively leading them up to this point as either a cloud by day, or pillar of fire by night.
In this rebellion they went against God. They locked arms and blocked the path of the cloud.
*pause*
That’s what the voice of fear will tell you to do.
The problems are too big! The projects are too hard! The ministry is too time consuming! The move is too ill-timed! The people aren’t nice! The kids aren’t clean!
How do you hear His voice?
What do you do once you hear it??
Remember, our God is not speechless. Matthew 4:4 says:
Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”
Not every word that came. Every word that COMES. He’s still speaking. He’s waiting for you to listen, even now.
The concept of God talking to us can be overwhelming, especially if you’re the one that been waiting for Him to jerk you by the arm and yank you up and send you down the right path. Our minds can’t always wrap around that He has something for us every day. Why would the Bible say that He numbers the hairs on your head if He wasn’t intimately acquainted with who you are? He knows what you need.
See, we serve a boundless God. In that boundlessness we see Him, the creator, being a baker.
What do I mean?
He is the bread of heaven, the word of life, the endless word. He broke his body, and represented it by bread at the Passover, telling us, His children to eat. He showed us that there was bread for us in excessive amounts between the two miracles of breaking the bread – he was always going to be enough.
He makes a fresh loaf for every person, every day in this room, inviting them to come and eat with Him. But, sadly, too many people live that Sam’s shopper lifestyle. Instead of making it to the Master’s table, they are shopping for samples at the supermarket. They’ve pinched this, and pinched that, and have convinced themselves that they’re full when they are spiritually starving. TikTok devotionals won’t save you. Instagram posts won’t fill you up. The 5-minute radio devotionals on the drive home do not replace the secret place. He hands you that loaf and says EAT UNTIL YOU ARE FED. That’s what He wants every day—to fill your belly. Imagine if you will, the Lord sitting at the table He has prepared for you. How many loaves are sitting to the side of it? How many times have you eaten with Him? How many times has he been ready for you, and you’ve skipped that dinner reservation?
I know for me, it’s been too often.
If you’re like me at all, you do not want to grieve the Holy spirit. He’s too precious. There’s no way I would want to intentionally bring hurt to His heart… but I know I do. This is just as much for me right now as I feel it’s for the word for the assembly.
It’s a call to obedience. It’s a call.. to.. obedience. Whatever God has said to you, understand that He EXPECTS it. He says in 1 Samuel 15:22 that Obedience is better than sacrifice.
Obedience is getting out of the way of the spirit and letting Him lead you. No longer ignoring the nudges. How do you walk in the spirit if you don’t know what the spirit sounds and looks like? There are some immature Christians passing as saints
One thing that the word says is that the Lord when He left them in the desert for 40 years, He was in the business of reshaping them. He was going to let them see Him again, and again, and again be their provider, and rid their hearts of the things of this world that held them back. They had no fear of the Lord—they still had hearts entangled with other gods.
When Moses was om the mountain, and Aaron was over the people and they made the golden calf, do you know what Hebrew name they called that calf? Jehovah—the God who exists. They made sacrifices to the “Lord.” They were so entwined in paganism and Egyptian magic and idol worship still, that they thought it was appropriate to create a false god and worship it when the cloud had rested on the mountain for too long.
They kindled the anger of the Lord due to their lack of faith and disobedience. When you hear from God, please, let the fear of Him move you into action. He is the only Wise One, the only Holy One, that has a BASE EXPECTATION OF OBEDIENCE.
God said in number 14 and 15 that he was ridding the people of their rebelliousness. You see in 14 that as soon as Moses intervenes on behalf of the people, calling on the longsuffering God who is patient, He give them another set of instructions which they immediately disobey.
Don’t ignore His leading! If he tells you to sit in silence, sit until he says move. If he tells you to fast, push back the plate. If he tells you to approach that lady at the grocery store, baby you better start walking to her. Do not let your disobedience testify for you on judgement day.
OH, do we need a fresh dose of the fear of the Lord! He is not your coffee date that you chit chat with! I hear too many people calling the Lord their friend, but I don’t think they’ve looked at the criteria of the people in the Bible that the Lord called friend! He is not the friend that passively condones sin!
When you have a true fear of the Lord, you let Him order your steps and you move out of the way, acknowledging that our way is not better. Fearing the Lord is understanding that when He speaks you follow. When He leads you march until He tells you to stop. Quit placing yourself in the wilderness (where He feels far!)
This is a call to tear down every idol and altar of distraction. This is a call to stop worshipping and sacrificing on altars of demonic fear.
People want to hear a fresh word from the Lord, but He is not going to reveal Himself to someone that disrespects Him! He does not hand things to those who do not labor with Him and take His yoke!
Hearing the voice of the Lord and beckoning to His call must come with the expectation of fasting. I had been praying over this message four days when the Lord gave me a dream. He woke me up at about 5:30 in the morning. I asked Him what He wanted to tell me. I saw people of lighthouse, and it was one intense word – fasting. There is a lack of fasting taking place. When I look at the context of where he has taken me in Scripture and how this message has come about- this is what I feel he is saying:
We have been so full of everything except Him that if we were to turn right now to devour the bread that He’s prepared, there’d be no room. There has been no emptying of our hearts and minds. There has been no decluttering of our ears.
Fasting is like a spiritual renovation project. It’s obedience to God in physical ways—where He is able to say, “I ripped out jealousy and replaced it with contentment. I took away the stain of addiction, and placed wholeness. I was able to move this pile of trauma here, closer to the trash, and here I’ve started the mural of healing and beauty.” He is a God that wants to deepen our capacity. He wants everyone here to be able to hold His fear, His obedience, His friendship… but we have to be willing to make room.
Is it fasting social events? Is it fasting sports? Is it fasting volunteer opportunities? What is eating at you to the point you can’t turn and eat?
when I read through Isaiah 58, this is what the Lord DESIRES in our fast to give and to take!
6Isn’t this the fast that I have chosen:
to break the chains of wickedness,
to untie the cords of the yoke,
to set the oppressed free
7Isn’t it to share your bread with the hungry,
to bring the poor and homeless into your home,
to clothe the naked when you see him,
and not to turn away
from your own flesh and blood?
8Then your light will break forth like the dawn,
and your healing will come quickly.
Your righteousness will go before you,
and the glory of the LORD will be your rear guard.
9Then you will call, and the LORD will answer;
you will cry out, and He will say, ‘Here I am.’
If you remove the yoke from your midst,
the pointing of the finger and malicious talk,
10and if you give yourself to the hungry
and satisfy the afflicted soul,
then your light will go forth in the darkness,
and your night will be like noonday.
11The LORD will always guide you;
He will satisfy you in a sun-scorched land
and strengthen your frame.
You will be like a well-watered garden,
like a spring whose waters never fail.
12Your people will rebuild the ancient ruins;
you will restore the age-old foundations;
you will be called Repairer of the Breach,
Restorer of the Streets of Dwelling.
13If you turn your foot from breaking the Sabbath,
from doing as you please on My holy day,
if you call the Sabbath a delight,
and the LORD’s holy day honorable,
if you honor it by not going your own way
or seeking your own pleasure or speaking idle words,
14then you will delight yourself in the LORD,
and I will make you ride on the heights of the land
and feed you with the heritage of your father Jacob.”
How do we hear God?
The lord led me though this concept of hearing His voice in obedience. This is part of something I wrote down when I came through the whole vision:
“A few months back I was caught up in a vision (or thought hallway as I like to say) as I was telling my children it was time to go. They needed to be prepared, gather their things, and be ready to walk out the door.
I told them a second time.
The third time, I yelled.
The fourth time, I yelled again to get their attention. They finally jumped into action, putting down their toys, and games… and I felt this intense frustration come over me.
The Lord started this conversation in my heart and mind. The Lord had given me this as an example. “This is My church,” He said. “They’re so distracted, they don’t even know they’re being disobedient. I’ve spoken, but there’s been no one to hear Me.” And in that second, I could see it all—not just the phones and the tablets, but the calendars packed so tightly that people were rushing back and forth without stopping for even a second. The repentance in the cars sounded like, “God I’m so sorry I’ve been so busy lately.” The heads hanging in shame that the devotionals were missed. I felt the word INIQUITY bearing down on me. But I was confused. How could this be compared to iniquity? Surely God understood.
“It’s disobedience.” I felt the words rise in my spirit.
We’ve worked in disobedience. We’ve spent time that wasn’t ours in disobedience. We weren’t doing bad things – but we weren’t spending the time we had where God had ordained it. It’s not delayed obedience. It’s not procrastinated disobedience.
It’s the most dangerous kind.
It’s distracted disobedience.”
I know—You’ve sacrificed. You’ve moved a lot of things around in order to be as busy as you have been… In judges it talks about the sacrifices that God didn’t ordain. There are some things that you think are noble in their sacrificing, but God said that He never asked for them, and takes no pleasure in the.
Obedience is better than sacrifice.
How do I hear GOD?
Friends, this is not anything new to you. Some of you are experts at hearing God, and you follow Him blindly—but for those that are sitting here and asking GOD WHAT DO YOU WANT??
Your obedience to His Word.
Your dedication to spend time ALONE with Him. Not talking at Him. Talking WITH HIM and giving him a chance to respond.
REMOVING DISTRACTIONS, EXCUSES, LIES! You heard Him… go back to that place of promise where he told you to do something and you didn’t do it. Don’t belabor it. Just do it.
According to a second Barna poll on how people thought God spoke to them, these were the answers: (overlapping metrics)
52% my emotions
41% bible
36% signs
34% sermons
31% Miraculous/miracles
18% Books outside the bible
16% His audible voice
Inner peace (this must line up with scripture. Some people are confusing the Prince of peace with the spirit of concession) explain
Inner witness Rom 8:16
How do I hear God?
Ask to know his voice. Sit with Him. Listen. Lots of Pentecostals are so quick to speak in tongues when they’re in His presence—but sometimes you just need to sit and meditate on the Lord. Let him crash in on your mind.
Following the Call 
Leave a comment