"...the sheep hear his voice; and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out." (John
10:3 NKJ)
One question I hear a lot is, "How do I know if it is God talking to me or not?" When you
answered the telephone and your boyfriend or girlfriend was on the other end of the line, how
did you know it was their voice? You had spent time with them. You knew it was their voice
from a simple, "Hi, it's me."
It is the same with God. The more time you spend with Him, IN HIS WORD AND PRAYER, the
more clearly you will hear His voice and know it is Him. When you first begin, you don't have
promises that we can know His voice then we can! Approach your prayer and Bible study time
EXPECTING to hear God's direction. When you do that, He will begin to give it to you.
I remember the time Leland and I asked God to help us to hear His voice more clearly. I like
Leland's story best, so I'll tell it here.
We were in the middle of remodeling our home and he was putting in the duct work for a heat
pump. It was a tight squeeze under the house and he was on a final section. All he had to do
was fit the two pieces then screw them together. As he was scooting along, he had the
thought, "Bring the bowl of screws with you." It came to him a couple of times, but he blew it off
thinking, "I can reach them."
After the two pieces fit smoothly together, he reached back for the bowl of screws and there
they were, just out of the reach of his fingers. No matter what, he could not reach that bowl of
screws without letting go of the two pieces he'd put together. He let go for an instant, reached
the bowl, and the two pieces came apart. It took over an hour for him to get them fitted back
together. Even more frustrating was to realize that it had been God's voice he was hearing
and he'd blown Him off because he did not realize God was trying to tell him something.
He could have saved a lot of energy, effort, time, and frustration had he obeyed that simple
prompting he'd received. That is God's voice - it is like a thought inside that we didn't have
ourself. It can be as simple as, "Don't set your cell phone down there, you'll forget it" to "Slow
your car's speed down." Why? Because when you top the hill, there will be a herd of deer
right in the middle of the road (that last is what happened to me and boy am I glad I obeyed
that prompting even tho I was going under the speed limit at the time and it didn't make sense
to slow down more). It is truly a "practice makes perfect" thing but you will hear better and
more clearly the more time you spend reading the Bible and in prayer. Truthfully, you can't
really know His voice without spending time with Him - you will always doubt it is Him. In the
time we are living in, you can't afford to do that. You need to KNOW His voice so He can warn
you, protect you, and lead you in the way you should go! Spend time with God - your life
depends on it!!
Musing Copyright © 2009 Nan C Loyd
All rights reserved. Used by permission.
10:3 NKJ)
One question I hear a lot is, "How do I know if it is God talking to me or not?" When you
answered the telephone and your boyfriend or girlfriend was on the other end of the line, how
did you know it was their voice? You had spent time with them. You knew it was their voice
from a simple, "Hi, it's me."
It is the same with God. The more time you spend with Him, IN HIS WORD AND PRAYER, the
more clearly you will hear His voice and know it is Him. When you first begin, you don't have
promises that we can know His voice then we can! Approach your prayer and Bible study time
EXPECTING to hear God's direction. When you do that, He will begin to give it to you.
I remember the time Leland and I asked God to help us to hear His voice more clearly. I like
Leland's story best, so I'll tell it here.
We were in the middle of remodeling our home and he was putting in the duct work for a heat
pump. It was a tight squeeze under the house and he was on a final section. All he had to do
was fit the two pieces then screw them together. As he was scooting along, he had the
thought, "Bring the bowl of screws with you." It came to him a couple of times, but he blew it off
thinking, "I can reach them."
After the two pieces fit smoothly together, he reached back for the bowl of screws and there
they were, just out of the reach of his fingers. No matter what, he could not reach that bowl of
screws without letting go of the two pieces he'd put together. He let go for an instant, reached
the bowl, and the two pieces came apart. It took over an hour for him to get them fitted back
together. Even more frustrating was to realize that it had been God's voice he was hearing
and he'd blown Him off because he did not realize God was trying to tell him something.
He could have saved a lot of energy, effort, time, and frustration had he obeyed that simple
prompting he'd received. That is God's voice - it is like a thought inside that we didn't have
ourself. It can be as simple as, "Don't set your cell phone down there, you'll forget it" to "Slow
your car's speed down." Why? Because when you top the hill, there will be a herd of deer
right in the middle of the road (that last is what happened to me and boy am I glad I obeyed
that prompting even tho I was going under the speed limit at the time and it didn't make sense
to slow down more). It is truly a "practice makes perfect" thing but you will hear better and
more clearly the more time you spend reading the Bible and in prayer. Truthfully, you can't
really know His voice without spending time with Him - you will always doubt it is Him. In the
time we are living in, you can't afford to do that. You need to KNOW His voice so He can warn
you, protect you, and lead you in the way you should go! Spend time with God - your life
depends on it!!
Musing Copyright © 2009 Nan C Loyd
All rights reserved. Used by permission.
| HEARING GOD'S VOICE |
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