To Hear God’s Voice, Turn Down The World’s Volume!
We live in a world that is filled with noise. There are noises that are designed to sell, plead, seduce, and deceive. In the midst of this cacophony of sound, it is easy to miss the one voice that matters most.
If ever there was a time to develop our sensitivity to hearing that voice, it is now! Because there is much noise, so much that causes confusion, such that our operating by the Word of God and under the direction of the Holy Spirit mean the very difference between failure and success, and life and death.
Elijah had listened to Jezebel’s threats and the voice of his own fear, so he fled to a cave to hide. In the cave he was confronted with the overwhelming noise of wind, an earthquake, and fire (1 Kings 19:11-12). Then the cave grew silent and the voice of the Lord – the only sound that mattered – broke through as «as still small voice».
If we are to hear God speaking to our hearts through His word, we need to pull away from the noise of the crowd. Only when we learn to be quiet can we really understand what it really means to commune with the God who cares for us. When we make an effort to listen to the voice of God, He speaks loud and clear. The loudness is noticed when we turn down the world’s volume!
This is the time we have to grow up as God’s children and develop in the areas that He wants us to develop. Through the mercy of God we have been granted the opportunity to make amend and start all over in a better way whenever we miss the mark. This is to help us avoid so many pitfalls that are there so that God’s blessings will come our way. Because there are many voices ringing out today; the papers, the TV and even the pulpit are filled with varying voices, but the Lord is asking, «Who are they speaking for?»
It’s very common today to hear people talk about what the Lord told them to do or not to do. They attribute so many of their actions to Him, yet they are not speaking as God commanded. The Lord wants you and me to hear, recognize and obey His voice as He speaks to us directly, not through a third party. To hear the voice of God, it is required that you turn down the volume of the world’s voices around you and quietly read your Bible – God’s written word. When you read the Bible, God gives you understanding through His Spirit. Sometimes, He speaks to us verbally, but this does not happen all the time, so that we do not depend on hearing verbally from God all the time and for every matter. When God created you, He gave you a brain and a mind. He wants you to put them to use, and not depend on hearing some kind of verbal direction for every matter of your life.
As Christians, we must develop a lifestyle that gives a surety that the leading we sense, and the voice we hear is God’s, because we can led by our own spirit, ministering spirits, the devil, or our mind could be speaking to us. When the Holy Spirit is speaking or directing, we get a check in our spirit, a kind of prompting that is difficult to put into words. To know God’s voice, one needs to know God first. And that kind of relationship develops over a period of time. To know God is to know how He behaves or acts. So, when you hear a voice directing you to do something, as long as what it says does not contradict or violate any known scriptural law, then you have an option to either follow the voice or not to follow it. God does not contradict Himself!