In the last Nugget I told you I would come up with a new topic but that you could give me input as to what topic I picked up. I had several people write and ask if I would talk about “Hearing God”. Partly fueled by the little video devotion I did for MCBC and partly fueled from another conversation I had with some people in the context of Deeper Bible 101 Session 5 via Zoom. I have ideas of what topics to handle in these Nuggets from the Word and the LORD Himself drops ideas in my mind, as He did with the topic of Breaking Strongholds. The question I get asked most often (apart from How to find your Life Partner) is How to hear God’s Voice? Followed by a related question – How to know God’s will? I will handle the matter of hearing God’s voice in this Nugget series.
I have had a very full week of Deeper Bible related activities with 17 groups in the current DB class to hold video chats with to close off the Level 101 time and prepare them for moving deeper into DB 201. Not only that but I am still working on many other fronts, not the least of which is trying to make progress on editing the massive amount of Gems and Nuggets and other things that will become available on my new website when it goes live. There is lots of preparation work still needed for that to happen. Arranging comparative tables in a new format, interlinearization of Greek and English segments, colour coding of Gospel harmony passages, hot links for related Gems and much more.
When it is ready to launch then I will need to sync all the Permata Alkitab (Indonesian Gems) material with the English Gems to have both available in two languages. I ran out of time in the end after having the Wycliffe meeting on Thursday and so didn’t get to write a fresh Nugget on Hearing God’s Voice. So I have turned to a viable alternative. In 2014 I wrote a series on Hearing God’s Voice when I was asked similar questions in Jakarta. So I will use this past Nugget to start us off and then see where we go from there. By all means interact with me and send in your questions, reactions and queries which will serve to lay the direction I take.
From the 2014 Series:
Take time to think about the ways God has spoken to you personally over the time you have known Him. Write down the ways He has spoken. Do it now. Come on, you do it. I can see you sitting there waiting for me to do it for you. It goes deeper when you take the time to do it for yourself. How has God spoken to you over the years, months, weeks since you have known Him.? I am sure you will be surprised.
The writer of the book of Hebrews tells us
In past times God spoke many times and in many ways to our ancestors through the prophets. But now He has spoken to us in a Son.
Hebrews 1:1
That is a very deep verse but I am not going to explain it at this time. All I want to emphasize at this point is that God speaks MANY TIMES in MANY WAYS. When someone asks me to explain how to hear the voice of God I will often ask, “Have you sensed God speaking to you before?” Most answer “Yes.”
I then ask, “Have you done what He told you?”
Many say, “No.”
Ah therein lies the problem.
Don’t forget Mary’s advice at the wedding in Cana? Whatever He says to you, do it.
If you are ready to hear God’s voice and know His will then He will make it abundantly clear. It will become inescapable. You will keep getting the same message over and over again in lots of different ways. So what ways have you listed that God has spoken to you? Here are the ways that our cell group in Jakarta came up with when we did this exercise.
- Bible reading,
- Conscience,
- Still small voice,
- Thoughts in the mind,
- Timely comments from other people,
- Verse in the Bible quickened to me,
- Remembering a general principle of God
- Prophetic words from others
- Prophetic words that come from within us
- Dreams
- Visions
- Pictures
- Word of Knowledge
- Songs or lyrics of songs
- An inner sense
- Quiet time
- Sermon
- Daily Reading book
- Journaling
- Word pictures
- A single word that comes to mind over and over
- Circumstances that line up with experience
- Advice/counsel from a friend
- Something from a movie we are watching
- Happenings from life
- Donkeys
- Recurring themes
- An inkling
- Feelings
- Audible voice
- “Teletext” words in our minds-eye
Yes it is true what the writer to the Hebrews wrote: God has spoken in many and diverse ways. We need to have our antennae tuned into Him. For most of us, God’s voice gets lost in the “noise of life”. I believe God speaks to each and every person, not just a select few. The issue is centred on us tuning our “ear” or response to hear Him. Many of us hear God but we doubt that it is Him. “It might be just me.” Practice hones “the art of hearing God”. Also another factor in us which shuts off the flow of God communicating with us is that we avoid hearing more because we didn’t like what He told the first time around. If God really did speak to us and told us something He wanted us to do or knew that we needed to do to find peace but we didn’t want to do it, that may well make us fearful to hear any more.
There is much more to be said on this topic. Back in 2014 in Jakarta I wrote six more Nuggets on this topic. It is convenient for me to use this one today as I haven’t got to writing one for today given my busyness. I got up late this morning (6.30) which is late for me. I have had a friend on my heart who I have just heard has had a stroke and it not doing well. He has been on my mind overnight and then I have had a telephone call from Tania’s sister in New York with something she wanted to talk about. So my window for writing a Nugget has disappeared. Then the idea popped into my mind that I had written a series on this before. I looked them up and lo and behold, today’s Nugget materialized.
What I add in addition to this opening Nugget will be depend on your input. Watch this space.
Praying for you Gary!