Developing a heart to hear the voice of the Lord means spending intimate time with God, in His word, in prayer, and in worship.
Man needs to know God. We need Him to help us in our weaknesses. We find protection under His wings. We need Him for strength, provision, and security. We need His love, and we need to know we are loved by Him.
We need His wisdom. In order to receive His direction, we need to know His voice. The more we know His word, which is the Holy Bible, the more we understand God’s character and nature. When we see how He spoke to and through the situations and prophets in the Old Testament, we begin to see the various ways the Lord speaks. He used a burning bush and a donkey. He spoke through the weather and used His angels., and dreams. God is not bound by time, space, animate, or inanimate objects.
When God wants to get His point across, He does.
Psalm 29:3-9 in KJV proclaims,
“The voice of the Lord is upon the waters: the God of glory thundereth: the Lord is upon many waters. The voice of the Lord is powerful; the voice of the Lord is full of majesty. The voice of the Lord breaketh cedars; yea the Lord breaketh the cedars of Lebanon. He maketh them to skip like a calf; Lebanon and Sirion like a young unicorn. The voice of the Lord divideth the flames of fire. The voice of the Lord shaketh the wilderness; the Lord shaketh the wilderness of Kadesh. The voice of the Lord maketh the hinds to calve, and discovereth the forests: and in his temple doth every one speak of his glory.”
In NLT, verse 3 says, “ The voice of the Lord echoes above the sea. The GOD of glory thunders. The Lord thunders over the mighty sea."
His voice declaring over the waters shows His dominion over them. The voice of God is majestic and powerful. When He speaks, nothing can stand against it. With His words, He spoke the whole earth into existence. The voice of the Lord causes breaking, shaking, and making. The whole earth knows His glory and trembles at His power!
During my time in the Word, I read about how the Lord spoke to Elijah, the Tishbite, and prophet.
1 Kings 19:11-12 states,
“And he shall go forth and stand on the mountain before the Lord. And, behold, the Lord passes by, and a great and strong wind rent the mountains, and brake into pieces the rocks before the Lord; but the Lord was not in the wind: and after the wind an earthquake; but the Lord was not in the earthquake: and after the earthquake a fire; but the Lord was not in the fire: an after the fire a still small voice. And it was so, when Elijah heard it, that he wrapped his face in his mantle, and went out and stood in the entering in of the cave. And behold, there came a voice unto him, and said, What doest thou here Elijah?”
I find this passage of scripture so remarkable when understanding and discerning the voice of God., God was not in all the major disruptions going on around Elijah. There was a wind so strong that a mountain had pieces of rock broken off. There was an earthquake, and yet even a fire, but the Lord was not in these things. Elijah had to have intimacy and self-discipline to wait until he knew for sure that the Lord had spoken. Elijah heard the Lord’s still small voice, and that’s when he moved. If he had stepped out sooner, he could have gotten injured by the wind, earthquake, or fire. Elijah came out into the entering of the cave when he heard the Voice. And at His voice, all was calm. With God’s voice, there is no fear, but there is all truth and conviction. From there, Elijah had a conversation with God and could receive instruction.
James 5:17 says,
“Elias (Elijah) was a man subject to like passions as we are…”
In the context of hearing the voice of the Lord, this means that as clearly as God spoke to Elijah and as clearly as Elijah heard and obeyed, we have the same ability to hear and obey GOD because Elijah was also a man who faced the same fears and needs that we do.
Anyone can hear the voice of the Lord. We just have to be in the right posture and position to hear Him. Surely God still speaks because He has work for us to do until the day of Jesus’s return. We are not robots that can be programmed to carry out an order. No, God created us with the divine ability to think, walk, talk, move, etc. for His glory. He wants to use us in our humanity to assist, even live in the supernatural realm. We have to come out of our flesh to operate like this but we do it by His grace and power.
One of the clearest ways God speaks is through His word, and when we speak and pray His word back to Him, we begin to see heaven move on our behalf.
The Bible says in Isaiah 55:11,
“So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing where to I sent it.”
God’s word is His promise. We can be sure He speaks through His word and our prayers are in line when we pray His word.
We can know that a voice is not God or not of God when we compare it to His word. Does the voice carry God’s character or nature according to His word? We know that throughout the Old Testament, God poured out His righteous anger on those who went against His words, but He also extended great mercy to His people. The epitome and fullness of His mercy are wrapped up in a man named Jesus Christ whom GOD sent to the earth to wipe out the curse, become the only forgiveness of sin, and the only Way to everlasting life.
Psalmist's prayer:
"Father GOD, I want to know your voice. Show me how to create time with you every day, so that I don't miss time in your Word, in prayer, and in Your presence. I want to know your voice deeper and greater. I repent for the time I spent on other things when I should have been with you. I love you, Lord. In Jesus' name. Amen."
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