HEARING GOD’SVOICE

By Irene McGough

Disciples of Jesus Ministryhttp://www.discipleofjesussite.com

Joh 10:27My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me.

Rev 2:7

"He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him whoovercomes I will give to eat from the tree of life, which is in the midst of the Paradise of God."'Jesus cries out seven times in Revelation to all the seven churches

, “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.”

The Holy Spirit speaks to God’s people. Soclearly we see from this that we as believers should hear clearly what the Spirit is saying tous. The verse in John 10:27 tells me that the secret of hearing clearly God’s voice is listeningand obediently following the voice of the Lord. The trouble is we don’t always stop to listento the Spirit. Discerning the voice of the Holy Spirit is something we need to learn to do.Jer 7:23But this is what I commanded them, saying, "Obey My voice, and I will be your God, and you shall be My people. And walk in all the ways that I have commanded you,that it may be well with you.'When we hear and obey the voice of God we are ready to gather in the harvest and expandthe kingdom of God. All believers have been called by God to walk in our God ordaineddestiny. The day you were saved it was the voice of the Holy Spirit speaking to you that youheard for God was drawing you unto Himself.So how do we hear God’s voice? An initial response to the call of salvation does not cut it.We have to come to really know the Lord who has saved us by His grace.

We can recognizeGod’s voice when we get to know Him, the better we get to know God the more clearly wewill recognize His voice. It is the Holy Spirit who speaks to us, by the Spirit we aretransformed and renewed into the mind of Christ – a mind of love, compassion, grace andmercy, and from that place we flee from sin and seek to be holy as He is holy. The Holy Spiritwill always lead us in the direction of love, He will help us to forgive even those who havedeeply hurt us.

Joh 10:14I am the good shepherd; and I know My sheep, and am known by My own.

Jesus wants us to know Him, really know Him for He knows us as His own. I think it isamazing how He knows the number of hairs on our heads and indeed He intercedes for uswith our Heavenly Father. My husband would not be at all happy if I totally ignored him for days on end, or allotted five minutes to him once a day, yet we the bride of Christ can beguilty of that very thing. I have been there myself so I am judging nobody, but how can we possibly get to really know Jesus if we treat him with such disdain, yet our Lord went all theway to the cross that we might come into a relationship with Him and God the Father, that wemight walk in close fellowship with Him and become like Him.

1Jn 1:5This is the message which we have heard from Him and declare to you, that God islight and in Him is no darkness at all.

1Jn 1:6If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do notpractice the truth.1Jn 1:7But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another,and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.1Jn 1:8If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.1Jn 1:9If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse usfrom all unrighteousness.1Jn 1:10If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us.

God wants us to walk close to Him and have fellowship with Him and to fellowship with oneanother. We are to be like beacons of light shining in a world of darkness.

Mat 5:14"You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden.

To be in a position to hear God’s voice clearly we must be humble. Jesus humbled Himself.We can learn so much from Him. He made Himself of no reputation, yet here we are the people of God often looking for men’s approval. I am talking about myself here and themistakes I have made. Jesus humbled Himself and was obedient even unto the point of death.For us to truly humble ourselves as Jesus did we must be prepared to humble ourselves evento the point of death, dying to ourselves completely, total submission. Like Paul we should beable to say “I

have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives inme; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved meand gave Himself for me.” (Gal. 2:20)Php 2:5Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus,Php 2:6who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God,

Php 2:7

but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and comingin the likeness of men.Php 2:8And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and becameobedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross.Php 2:9Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is aboveevery name,

In my pursuit of wanting to hear from the Lord more clearly surely my desire should be todraw close to Him, really close to Him, to seek Him with my whole heart.

Psa 14:2The LORD looks down from heaven upon the children of men,To see if there are any who understand, who seek God.

God desires for us to seek after Him. David was called a man after God’s heart, He thirstedafter God. He was desperate for the presence of God, for the knowledge of God.

Psa 42:1

As the deer pants for the water brooks,So pants my soul for You, O God.Psa 42:2My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.

Are you thirsty for God, am I thirsty for God. really thirsty so that our hearts are crying outfor more of Him? Do we want to allow the Holy Spirit full access to every part of us?

Exo 33:11So the LORD spoke to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend. And he would return to the camp, but his servant Joshua the son of Nun, a young man, did notdepart from the tabernacle.