How to (grow to) hear God’s voice

If you want to hear God’s voice and have Him guide you in your life, this is how to do it. It’s what Jesus taught. It works for me. It will work for you.

Let’s reflect on what Jesus said to the young ruler…

you know the commandments: ‘You must not commit adultery. You must not murder. You must not steal. You must not testify falsely. Honor your father and mother.’”

The man replied, “I’ve obeyed all these commandments since I was young.”

When Jesus heard his answer, he said, “There is still one thing you haven’t done.

1. Sell all your possessions and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven.
2. Then come, follow me.”

- Luke 18:18-23

The man said he had obeyed the 10 commandments. Then Jesus referred to Lev 19:18 when He said those two things:

1. love the poor and
2. follow me – be obedient to Him, live selflessly as he did

You also have the same challenge! To be obedient to Christ by loving the people around you.

Where did Jesus say all of this?

In John 14 and 15 Jesus said

• My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you.
• This is my command: Love each other.

And if you do this – obey His command to love – then the following things will happen to you:

• I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever the Spirit of truth
• will be loved by My Father
• I too will love him and show myself to him
• My Father will love him
• we will come to him and make our home with him
• you will remain in my love
• You are my friends if

Of course these things all happen gradually. Over time. But in essence, as you obey His command, you will…

• grow up from being a lamb into being a sheep,
• you will become a disciple,
• you will be given greater faith,
• be given more talents to use,
• be given everything you need,
• you will receive whatever you ask for.

But there is a condition. Be obedient to His command.

The bottom line

As we use our current talents, He will give you more. We are not asked to use talents we don’t have, or extend ourselves into things we aren’t good at. Just use what we already are good at. Then we will be given more.

So if you want to hear God’s voice as He speaks to you and gives you instructions, just start with the instruction He has already given to you. As you use that, He will give you more and different.

So how does it work?

I’ll break it down into steps:

1. Initially we obey His initial and overriding command to love one another.
2. As we use our talents to love one another, as we give up our lives for one another, He will give us an increase rhema for our lives. Perhaps someone will give us words, or perhaps we will hear in part from Him.
3. As we continue to use our talents and give up our lives, He will give us the ability to hear His voice so we can be obedient to Him directly and go on to greater things.

It’s the same command from the beginning

We do not have all things at the point of salvation, but we can have all things, if we are willing to listen to what Christ taught in His parables, change our lives and obey His command. It’s the same command as has always been given.

Dear friends, I am not writing a new commandment for you; rather it is an old one you have had from the very beginning. This old commandment—to love one another—is the same message you heard before. – 1Jn 2:7

I am writing to remind you, dear friends, that we should love one another. This is not a new commandment, but one we have had from the beginning. Love means doing what God has commanded us, and he has commanded us to love one another, just as you heard from the beginning. – 2Jn 1:5-6

Every revolution contains a million small actions

I admire Nelson Mandela (Nelson Mandela talks about making poverty history) and other big thinkers like Rick Warren (Rick Warren’s PEACE Plan).

Are these plans achievable? Or are they too big to ever be completed? If feels daunting and overwhelming when I read the stats about how many AIDS orphans there are in the world. It’s just too big for me to do anything about right? There’s nothing I can do. It’s just too big. I’m just one person. Right?

Wrong.

I haven’t read this book… but the name on the cover captures my approach to Christianity: just walk across the room.

A big move of God is made up of millions of tiny prayers, millions of small conversations, millions of changes in attitude. And history shows that a revival ends when those millions of things (prayer, talking, changing) stop happening.

It’s that simple.

Evangelism happens when you choose to walk across the room. Pastoral care happens when you invite someone to coffee and you listen to their story. Leadership happens when you get an idea from God and implement it. Ministry of helps happens when you greet someone at church that you haven’t greeted before or hand out pamphlets. Intercession happens when we pray.

If we all just did and kept on doing our bit – as Jesus described in the parable of the talents (use the talent you have) – then we’d have a deep and wide change in society!

Every journey begins with a single step. If the journey is emotional healing or to restoring your marriage – every long journey is just a series of small steps. You take a step. Someone else takes a step. Another few people take a step – pretty soon we’ve helped a million children out of poverty!

The trick is to not focus on the big picture, but to focus on your talents, what do you have to share with the people around you? Do what you can do, not what you can’t. Just do what you can today.

I admire the big thinkers with big plans, but I admire even more the people who actually walk across the room.