How do I hear the voice of God?
John 10:27
"My sheep hear My voice,
I know them,
and they follow Me
One of my students asked me this week:
"How can I hear the voice of God?"
I remember thinking first, (because thinking first leads to actions next)
I absolutely love that you are asking me something, and that you're talking to me, because you give me opportunities to make God's glory be lifted higher when I get to talk to you about how gloriously awesome and beautiful He is...making my life a living story of glorifying God. It's fun talking about God because the truth is powerful, and power is cool.
Reality matters. Alright moving on.
Secondly, I looked at my mom across the table (that's when I got this text) and told her the question and we both shared a look and she said "that's a hard question." I agreed because what was being asked was basically "how do I know God?" Before I unravel that very strong relationship between knowing God's voice and knowing God, although it may now appear obvious, I want to write about why that question was hard to answer right away.
It's not hard because it's complicated, it's very simple, it's hard because it takes time and we live in a culture that thrives off of instant gratification and quick fixes.
Fast food that you drive thru and proceed to eat in the car rather than at a table because ain't nobody got time to actually sit down and enjoy their food. Or addictions to drugs, sex, gaming, alcohol, food, clothes, attention, shopping, whatever! Anything that you feel you just got to have it now! It's right there! You can have it so culture has conditioned us to think that if it's available you should take it. Fomo.
The bible, Jesus, who is the truth says something different. He says if it's available you should still ask Me. He says if it's something you got to have otherwise you will die then that's called being a "slave" to that idol, being in bondage to anything or anyone other than the one true king is living in lies. Living in a lie is living a lie. It's not truly living. Nothing about a lie is true. It's foggy and convoluted.
So when my student asked me this question it was because they thought they heard God's voice about something and they wanted to be able to verify right then and there that it was, in fact, God's voice they heard. They wanted an answer and they wanted it now. Basically they wanted to the truth about God from me about something He might have said to them. Haha. Do you see where this is going? Clearly, the question they are asking me is not a question I am suited to answer because it has nothing to do with me, That conversation was between that person and God, and so asking me if that was really God is like asking me if I can read God's mind. I can't. I can, however clear out the weeds and get to work on being lead by God to help this person know God, because if you know God, you know His voice. The question was how can I know God? Because if you know God you will know His voice when you hear it. So if you are already asking "how do I hear God?" then it's likely that the answer is to take a step back and answer the question that goes before that one which is how do I know God?
How do you know God?
Is it through other people?
Is it through scripture?
Is it through a conniption experience you had one day?
Is it through a feeling?
Is it that one time or that one thing?
Relying on anything other than a real relationship will not get you into a real relationship with God. Relationships are hard, but as we walk in them with one another on earth we simultaneously strengthen the one we have in heaven. God is #genius.
How do you know God?
What good has ever come from you assuming you knew someone because of something they said or did once or a few times?! Jumping to conclusions based on a single event or even a few events? How do you know you really know someone? If you know their heart, you know them. And the heart is something that cannot be known from a single instance or by your assumption. The heart can only be known by the Spirit of God who searches our hearts.
So it's a hard question to discuss with my student, whom I am growing to love through our conversations, because I know that when I talk to any one of them there are a million different hurdles and filters that are in place to block me from getting to their core, blocking me from knowing the real them. The core of who they are is the real them. But the core of who we are is often hidden behind a lot of stuff.
Filters are not necessarily bad because they can keep the junk out. Hurdles are not bad either because they keep the lazy and careless out. However, because we all have filters and hurdles, some of us use them to serve purposes other than God's purposes and His plan. We use them to serve our plans and purposes, to make us feel safe or make us feel loved. Rather than using them to keep our minds clear of the junk --we might be using them to bring junk in because we are feeding the junk at our core (which is anything or anyone other than God!). The throne of your heart is a seat meant for the King of your heart. You are not the King. You belong to the King, which has all the same benefits you can enjoy as His child, but you are not The King.
So not only do I have to acknowledge that my student has filters and hurdles, but I have to ask the Holy Spirit if their filters and hurdles are the kind that are filtering out junk or the kind that take junk in because their King is not the real King. Only the Spirit knows and if the Spirit dwells in your heart then He can tell you as a reliable source.
Now what I'm about to say might sound tricky, but there's a difference between being tricky to trick you like the devil who wraps up an addiction with a coat of instant pleasure only to suck you into a destructive cycle beneath appearances compared to "tricking" your guard dogs, those junky filters and hurdles in your mind, to get past them and bring down your slave master, the idol controlling your thoughts via these junky filters. Because it's the inner idol that's controlling all the other parts of you, so if the idol is destroyed the whole network goes down. God aims at the real issue, your heart. It is the core of who you are that God is concerned with. That's why the bible constantly reminds us that God sees our hearts, not the outward appearances.
So when I heard the question I was agreeing with my mom that it was difficult because of the time it would take to work past the filters and hurdles.
It would take a lot of time. And time is always difficult to work with because "ain't nobody got time for that."
But God has time, He has eternity in His power, so I give Him my time to remind myself that He has all time in His hands.
So here's what I plan to teach my students this Sunday about hearing God and knowing God.
Let's say one of you received a message from some stranger at your school who came up to you and said "jamie, your youth big sister (because I just refuse to call myself a youth pastor haha), said to tell you that she thinks your worthless and dumb, and she hates you because you never do anything for her." Now, how valid is that message? How would you know if it's from me or not?
That depends on how well you KNOW ME PERSONALLY. Would I say that? How do you know that it's MORE LIKELY that that message was not from me? Only if and because you know me. I don't say things like that in front of you or even around you or behind your back. In fact most of the experiences of me and encounters with me that you've had, I hope have been the opposite of that! (If not, then that's another issue!)
Now let's turn it around. What if some stranger showed up at your school and told you "Jamie told me to tell you that God is for you and that she hopes you're heart is resting in God's love, and she also wanted to encourage you to take some time to breathe and sit in the presence of God sometime today because you can. Oh and she also said that she loves you."
Same level of unfamiliarity with that stranger, same time of day, same method of delivery...but different words. Different message.
How do you know that that second message most likely did come from me? Because that's something I would probably say, from how much you know me and have heard me speak, and have experienced from being around me.
This post is being written for someone who's been wanting to hear from God about something in their lives.
John 10:27
"My sheep hear My voice,
I know them,
and they follow Me."
So in response to my student's question I wrote back a bunch of different ways that hopefully would get past any filters or hurdles in order to infiltrate the idol and bring it down. I have to be as shrewd as a serpent but as gentle as a dove when I am with my students because God gave them into my care. I love the person's heart because it belongs in God's loving hands, therefore I hate the idols that will try and appear as if they are taking control. We are not fighting to keep the devil from snatching souls up, because no one can snatch a soul from God's hands, but we are doing what God leads us to do because He uses our words, hands, feet, actions, attitudes, and abilities for His purposes that always win.
Isaiah 30:21
"And your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, “This is the way, walk in it,” when you turn to the right or when you turn to the left."
God usually speaks for today and not about the whole month or year...but just about today and each minute. You are sent into today for His purposes and those plans never fail.
How do I hear God's voice?
By listening.
The more I know God the more I know His voice, and the voice of a stranger I stop following.
Jmegrey
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