The Voice Of God

“The voice you believe will determine the future you experience.” – Steven Furtick”  

A few years back, a friend was talking about how much they missed their mother who had died a few years before.  He said that whenever he saw a photo of her or thought about her, he could still hear her voice. He not only could recognize her voice immediately but remembered the phrases she so often repeated. Spending all those years with his mother ensured that he knew her voice, even when he could not see her.

We become very adept at listening for and tuning in voices in our lives. Hopefully, that includes the most important voice in our life, God. There can be times when we are listening to so many voices that we don’t hear the one that really counts. We all want to hear the voice of God; we are created that way. 

But that doesn’t make it easy. We need to work at it. We need to put ourselves in a position to hear God’s voice. Habakkuk 2:1 says, “I will climb up to my watchtower and stand at my guard post. There I will wait to see what the Lord says…” How do we do this? By waking up in the morning with the sole objective of hearing God’s voice. Isaiah 50:4 says, “The Sovereign Lord has given me his words of wisdom, so that I know how to comfort the weary. Morning by morning he wakens me and opens my understanding to his will.” Start your day by deciding not to do anything until you have spent time listening to God.

The goal is to not only listen, but to listen consistently. Notice the words “morning by morning” in Isaiah 50:4. Each morning we should pray, read the Word and expect to hear the voice of God. Consistency is the key to anything in our lives. If you will consistently start your day listening to God, you will begin to recognize when God has something to say to you.  

The voice of God will sound very personal. He knows everything about you. To a German He speaks in German, to a fisherman He relates to him about fish, to a farmer He relates to him about farming, to a computer whiz He relates to him or her about computers. In John 10:27 Jesus said, “My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me.” God’s call to us is personal and He also leads us that way. The goal for 2020 and the next decade is to have a personal relationship with our God where we can clearly hear His voice and have a daily time of fellowship with Him.  

Expect God to speak to you today. You can hear His voice. Make a decision to listen with a heart of expectation.

Discussion Questions:

1. Describe a time when you think you heard God speak to you. What was that like? What impact did it have on you? 
2. What does it mean to “hear” the word of God?
3. What can we do this week to hear God?