Hearing the Lord

If you haven't heard the voice of God, it's O.K., that dimension of fellowship is available to you, too. The trick is, God won't reveal much if you don't ask Him or if you're not listening.

If you want to know what God wants you to do ask Him, and He will gladly tell you, for He is always ready to give a bountiful supply of wisdom to all who ask Him; He will not resent it.
--James 1:5.

In the past, I went about my life assuming that if God wanted to speak to me, I would hear a voice from heaven and feel like I had been hit by a thunder bolt.

You are in error because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God.
--Matthew 22:29 NIV.

Therefore I will reveal my name to my people and they shall know the power in that name. Then at last they will recognize that it is I, yes, I, who speaks to them.
—Isaiah 52:6.

The still small voice thing was a mystery to me.

God said to Elijah: "Go out , and stand on the mountain before the Lord." And behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind tore into the mountains and broke the rocks in pieces before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind; and after the wind an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake; and after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire; and after the fire a still small voice.
--1 Kings 19:11-12.

God has deliberately chosen to use ideas the world considers foolish and of little worth in order to shame those people considered by the world as wise and great.

He has chosen a plan despised by the world, counted as nothing at all, and used it to bring down to nothing those the world considers great, so that no one anywhere can ever brag in the presence of God.
--1 Corinthians 1:27-28.

I could write a whole book on listening to the voice of God and at least half of it would be about my failures to obey because I wasn't sure it was Him.

My sheep recognize my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.
--John 10:27.

For me, recognizing His voice definitely took practice. It will come through prayer. In a desperate search for a deeper relationship with the Lord, I read many biographies of the great men of God, to see what they had that I didn't. The connective tread from Andrew Murray, George Mueller, Billy Graham to Benny Hinn and more, was prayer. All of the giants of our faith depended on prayer to nourish their faith, and realized that prayer and relationship are like manna, they have to be fresh each day to be effective.

TRUST

When the Holy Spirit, who is truth, comes, He shall guide you into all truth, for He will not be presenting His own ideas, but will be passing on to you what He has heard.

He will tell you about the future.
--John 16:13.

The key is to ask Him, then trust Him.

...And the reason you don't have what you want is that you don't ask God for it. And when you do ask you don't get it because your whole aim is wrong--you want only what will give you pleasure.
--James 4:2-3.

That is hard because trust, even in God, is developed, it is not automatic. You can never please God without faith, without depending on Him.

Anyone who wants to come to God must believe that there is a God and that he rewards those who sincerely look for Him.
--Hebrews 11:6.

"See, I am sending Christ to be the carefully chosen, precious Cornerstone of my church and I will never disappoint those who trust in Him."
--I Peter 2:6.

I totally love the following verse because it encouraged me and taught me that one grows in faith. We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials for we know that they are good for us--- they help us learn to be patient.

And patience develops strength of character in us and helps us trust God more each time we use it until finally our hope and faith are strong and steady.
--Romans 5:3-4.

He does not fear bad news, not live in dread of what may happen. For he is settled in his mind that Jehovah will take care of him. Those who trust in the Lord are steady as Mount Zion, unmoved by any circumstance.
--Psalm 112:7 & Psalm 125:1.

Next, keep praying and keep asking because receiving is not instantaneous. Some of my simplest prayers like: "Please give me joy," have had to be prayed continually for nine months or more.

THANKFULNESS

We learn to be thankful. Even the small things are worth thanking God for. I thank him for my bathtub and the water in it. As the water rushes from my spout, I am aware that it fell from the sky in little individual droplets. Hot water, a warm soft bed, and air-conditioning. I've always admired the Victorian era, but am grateful that I didn't live in it because they didn't have washing machines or air-conditioning. Thankfulness is something we do because of what God does for us. The Bible gives us a clue to deeper relationship with the Lord in this verse, Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, And into His courts with praise.

Be thankful to Him, and bless His name.
--Psalm 100:4.

Thanksgiving is a key to the contentment that Paul teaches about in the New Testament.

PRAISE

Praise is something we do because of who He is. As we become more in awe of how awesome He is, the praise will come more easily. It will flow from your spirit if you ask Him to teach you to be thankful and praise Him. He will also teach us to worship if we seek it. Most of the song services that we hold in church aren’t really conducive to an individual in their own heart worshipping the Almighty God. The singing is either too fast or too slow, or our mind wanders and we become distracted. I'm not trying to be critical of the services, but when we are trying to keep up with what others are singing from a hymnal or overhead, it's hard for the worship to come from your spirit. So take time to worship the Father in private, so that it can become a very precious time between you and God that you will both treasure.

FORGIVE

Forgive anyone and everyone who ever hurt you. Especially if they don't deserve it. Bitterness and unforgiveness will hurt you, it will keep you in bondage and away from God. Yes, you'll still be saved, but you won't know him the way he longs to share himself with you. For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.

But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.
--Matthew 6:14-15.

Take a moment right now and see if there is anything that you need to give to the Lord. Therefore if you bring your gift to the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar, and go your way.

First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift.
--Matthew 5:23-24.

My brother and I went through many sufferings together as children. Two divorces, beatings, imprisonment in a locked bedroom, molestation, the death of our mother. He is eighteen months younger than I, and although we shared the same traumas, they have effected us in profoundly different ways.

...For He is using your sufferings to make you ready for His kingdom while at the same time, He is preparing judgment for those who are hurting you.
--II Thessalonians 2:5.

As a baby Christian, he is still very much wounded by his childhood. I, on the other hand, having embraced the Lord at a much younger age, see those experiences as strengths.

What a wonderful God we have--He is the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the source of every mercy, and the one who so wonderfully comforts and strengthens us in our hardships and trials.
--II Corinthians 1:3-4.

Through the key of forgiveness, God has built me up and repaired the brokeness.

Oh death, where then your victory? Where then your sting? For sin--the sting that causes death--will all be gone.
--I Corinthians 15:55.

As we forgive, the pain is removed, more accurately, Satan's tool of bitterness is removed. I can talk about my past without re-experiencing the horror of the pain.

So if the Son sets you free, you will indeed be free.
--John 8:36.

I know that it is especially hard to forgive the ones who are in our lives and continue to wound us regularly. Keep forgiving that person, hard as it may be.

...Then Peter came to Him and said "Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? Up to seven times? " Jesus said to him, "I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven."
--Matthew 18:22.

"Listen, all of you. Love your enemies. Do good to those who hate you. Pray for the happiness of those who curse you; implore God's blessings on those who hurt you."
--Luke 6:27.