Designed to Hear His Voice!

What do you think is the greatest asset as a child of God?
For me, I am convinced that God has freely given to us, born again believers, an irreplaceable and indispensable asset, the capacity and ability to hear the voice of God.
This is truly His design for His children. 

Jesus was very specific and clear when He told his disciples about the relationship of a shepherd and his sheep.
There is a voice that the sheep knows and listens to and thereafter follow (John 10:27).
Jesus is the Chief Shepherd, our shepherd and we, as His sheep, can and must learn to hear His voice. 

John 10:27 (MSG)

“My sheep recognize my voice. I know them, and they follow me”

We are all designed to have an intimate connected relationship with our Father in Heaven who so deeply wants to commune with humans here on earth.
Prayer is not a one way traffic!
Moreover, God is not just an answering machine.
He wants more than just to answer our prayers.
He wants to share about His plans with and for us, His kingdom purposes, and to pour out His heart.
His burden remains to help us embrace His agenda here on earth.
Prayer is a continual conversation where both God and His children are able to speak and hear each other. 

One of the barriers is simply our attentiveness to His voice and our ability and confidence in recognizing how He speaks and what He says.
All of life’s strategies are in His word and the key is to develop and establish a habitual lifestyle of stepping into His presence to read His word, to speak and to listen to Him in stillness. 

We learn about this in the story of Samuel, as he failed to recognise God’s voice despite God calling out to him on several occasions (1 Sam 3).
He needed the help of Eli, and also to put in some effort to learn how to recognise God’s voice and respond to it in obedience.
Few lessons we can learnt here about hearing God’s voice. 

Firstly, it’s a learning process.
There will be some trial and errors and consequently, some failures.
The point is to keep trying, to respond in faith and obedience each time you hear.
Recognising a person’s voice takes time and familiarity, and eventually, it will become clearer and sharper. 

Secondly, it takes guidance from others, especially godly counsel, who walks alongside us to affirm, assure and encourage.

Lastly, God desires to speak us, and He will keep reaching out to us because that is who He is — God loves us and loves to commune with us.
Therefore, as much as God is patiently awaiting us to learn how to hear His voice, let us be patient in learning how to recognise His voice.

As a parent myself, I fully understand that love is spelled in time.
While God designed us to hear His voice, we must cultivate the desire to hear from God and this is through spending intimate, alone time with Him.
You should grasp what I am hitting at by now, that it is not about our capacity to hear, but our ability to recognize God’s voice.
A sheep recognizes its shepherd’s voice and presence through daily encounters and time spent.
Likewise, it takes time to be familiar and acquainted with the voice of God. 

I remembered once when I shared with my daughters about making time for God in prayer, and in turn, they reminded me of how much they craved for my time with them.
It was a timely, and convicting reminder for myself.
My girls desire me to make more time for them.
That is how children function.
Love is always about time.
Not just quality time but quantity time because it’s in the quantity that quality is usually found.
Isn’t that true?
As parents, making time and giving time to our children is the kingdom love assignment that God has given to us all.
That’s exactly how our relationship with our Heavenly Father is as well. 

God desires us to make time, make room for Him, for communion, for worship, for a willing ear and heart to listen to His agendas.
If we truly love God, we will and must make time to come into His presence, commune with Him, abide and obey Him. 

Let’s be grateful for this valuable asset that God has given to us.
Be encouraged that He desires that His voice be heard by us too.
God wants us to be His voice for our generation and in order to be that voice, we need to know and hear His voice!
Amen?

Prayer and Reflection:

1. What are some of the barriers that is hindering you from hearing God’s voice?
2. How can you make more time and space for yourself to be still in the presence of God to allow God to speak?
3. When was the last time you heard from God?
   Have you been listening attentively?
4. Has the desire to hear God diminished over the years?
   Allow the Holy spirit to check our hearts and pray over this area.