How are we to know the voice of God?  “The Spirit itself testifies with our spirit that we are God's children.” (Romans 8:16)   God created us with a spirit.  The spirit within us and the Spirit of God communicate one with another, letting us know God’s will.  We need to learn how to be sensitive to and recognize God’s voice.  By this Spirit not only can we do the things Jesus has done but we can do even greater things. (John 14:12)     

    How are we to hear the voice of God?  (Luke 8:15)  One of the most profound and powerful ways to hear the voice of God is right from His Word!  If God spoke to us audibly we would not recognize it as being God unless we engrave His written word on our hearts and in our minds.  Reading His word is not good enough we must engrave God’s word upon our hearts then upon the hearts of our children. (Dt. 6:6-9) We must not merely listen to the word--deceiving ourselves, but we must do what it says (James 1:22) allowing it to become a natural and recognizable part of us; thus, giving us the ability to hear God’ voice.

    In Junior high band our teacher taught us to tune instruments with a tuning fork.  A tuning fork is an aluminum instrument with a handle and two square tongs about 3/8 inch square, 5 inches long and 1 inch apart:  a “U” shape with a handle.  We would tap the fork on one hand, hold it to our ear, remember the tone and tune the instrument.  (This is easier said than done)  At the beginning of the year the tuning fork was used quite a bit for tuning, but as the school year progressed and the sound of the fork remained familiar from day to day, our ears would get accustomed to the tone, and we’d need the fork less and less.  The students who were serious about their musical skills caught on very quickly, and retained the tone, the note used to tune instruments.  Even throughout the summer vacation, they practiced, increasing their level of skill.  But those who went to band class to waste time never caught on and received a less than average grade, and certainly could not remember the tone the next school year.  Just as with the tuning fork, we must get in tune with God’s voice.  Knowing it so well that we know what God’s will is even when God is not telling us what to do.
   
    If we are serious about our growth in the Lord we have to learn how to hear and listen to God.  God speaks to all of us continually but we can’t recognize His voice because it’s not familiar to us.  We need to spend quality time with our Father listening not just talking, familiarizing ourselves with His voice and His ways (as with the tuning fork).

    Oddly enough Jenifer and I have been married over 18 years, we love each other and we enjoy being with each other, we spend our days studying, talking, playing, just being with each other, seldom will you find us apart.  Being with each other communicating, watching, and learning from each other we know one another’s way of thinking, our body language, what can set the other one off, what it takes to comfort one another, and on and on.  The key is we would not have the sensitivity we have if we were living separate lives doing our own thing.  We have become so sensitive with each other that one of us will know what the other is going to do or say before they do or say it.   This is how we need to be with God.  We need to be sensitive to God’s ways, get to know His mind, his likes and dislikes, having the ability to make a Godly decision in a nanosecond.  In fact, Paul suggests that we move from our elementary truths into maturity “not laying again the foundation of repentance from acts that lead to death.” (Heb 6:1)  Maturity is continual growth, not being satisfied with complacency and mediocrity.  Learning from our mistakes and failures, retaining what we’ve learned not having to lay the elementary foundation time and time again.
     
    How do we know it is God we are hearing?  “Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.  Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is--His good, pleasing and perfect will.” (Romans 12:2)   By renewing our mind we have to live an active believer’s life--In otherwords, putting to action what we read.   This starts with spending time with God--good quality time.  So much so that we recognize God’s voice over anyone else's.  The world is in a constant cycle of change, but God’s Word remains the same.  Temptation will always be with us, the world changes, the views are different, but it’s still the same worn out temptations  we’ve had among us since the Garden of Eden.  The same temptations in new attractive packages.  In other words, the same poison in a different flavor.   

    When I was a boy my Grandfather (Poppy) raised sheep (as well as  cattle).  The sheep knew the sound of Poppy’s voice very well.  If I were there I would go out with Poppy to feed his sheep, he would walk to the gate of the pasture and give a loud “Soo Cow Soowe Soowe.”  The sheep would come running.  If I would go out and stand in the same place as Poppy, say the same words as Poppy and try to lower my voice to sound like Poppy, the sheep would only raise their heads to see what the annoying noise was, then go back to grazing.

    Poppy had something they needed--food and water.  I had nothing except a selfish desire to ride the sheep and have fun.  I was there simply to use them, Poppy was there to feed them, he had their best interest in mind.  You see the sheep knew Poppy’s voice because he was constantly feeding and caring for them, and I was there once in a while to ride them.  

    The Lord is our Master, He feeds us and cares for us through His word and our time with Him.  Are we letting Him feed us?  How can we expect to hear and understand God’s voice if we do not have the constant hunger and the yearning to know His voice.  Are we being like sheep--only listening to the one that has what we need or are we following after others offering “nothing”?

    The more we listen to God the more we are aware of His voice.  Sheep always ran to Poppy when they heard his voice (their master).   We should also run to God whenever we hear His voice (our master).   How dumb are we compared to sheep? They hear their master’s voice--we don’t.  Then, who is our master?

    Recently I was talking to a woman who’s Dad was a sheep rancher.  She took over the care of the sheep at an early age to relieve her father from two jobs.  What she recognized throughout the years was, the more she (their master) was around the sheep the smarter the sheep became.  Isn’t that true with Christians?  The closer we move to God the more wisdom and knowledge we gain.

    How do we expect to hear God?    
    I Kings 19:9-14   We see Elijah whining and feeling sorry for himself.  God once again had to show his power in the extremes to Elijah.
 
    Elijah heard, felt, and saw the power of God but still did not see God.  Elijah recognized God’s voice.  Elijah knew when to come out, he let the loud things go by and came out with the gentle whisper.  How did Elijah know when to come out?  Earlier, God had shown himself to Elijah as well as the people of Israel in a powerful way (I Kings 18:20-46) how did Elijah know that this time God would not come in a great show of power?  

    God does still show himself in great moves of power but He also comes quietly as He did when he had Elijah come out of the cave.  Many loud and great things will happen in our life but the Lord may not be in them.  We can get to the point where all we do is look for the powerful and big things and we often miss God’s true voice.  That’s exactly what happened to the religious when Jesus came--they expected a “powerful King” and missed the true Messiah.  We have to be able to discern when God is in the powerful acts and when He is not.

    How do we know it is God speaking?     
1)  Fellowship, getting in tuned with His ways.  Quiet Time--we talk with God (note, I said talk with God not to God), listen to him and read the bible 1 Cor. 1:9; Rom 8:26-27; Eph. 6:18; 2 Tim. 3:14-17; 1 Thes. 5:16-18
2) Listen, getting used to the sound of His voice.  Listen to God and spend time with Him.  John 10:27
3) Test the Spirit, not all spirits come from the Father. 1 John 4:1 (How do we do this?  What does it look like?)
4) Interactive, act on the sound of His voice.  Acts 7:31  Why we don’t act--because we’re afraid of rejection, ridicule, pride, selfishness--we’re thinking of our self and not God.
5) Obedient, do when, where, and how God directs. Acts 9:4-8  The Lord’s still moving--let Him do His work.

Acts 9:4-8--Saul was struck on the road of Damascus, Paul knew it was the Lord--he even called him Lord.  But the others with him heard something but seemed not to know who it was.  Paul was also obedient to God and did exactly as God directed him to do.      

Acts 26:14-15--Again Saul now Paul gives his testimony before Agrippa after his arrest.

    How did Saul (Paul) know who it was?  He had been studying the scriptures and his heart desired to be righteous for God, but he had not met Him yet.  When God got Paul’s attention Paul recognized who he had been seeking after.   

John 5:1-15  They (the Jews) have knowledge but not the Spirit.  So they asked him, "Who is this fellow who told you to pick it up and walk?"   The Jewish leaders had knowledge but no relationship.  Just because you know the bible word for word does not mean you “know” Him.  That takes the Spirit and a relationship.

John 5:37 -44 Jesus rebukes the Jews, because of His healing on the Sabbath.  “You diligently study the Scriptures because you think that by them you possess eternal life. These are the Scriptures that testify about me, yet you refuse to come to me to have life. “

John 12:30 God speaks. To some it sounds like thunder, to others it sounds like an angel.  Jesus said, "This voice was for your benefit, not mine.”  Jesus was in tune with God.  He knew His voice--He recognized it without any problem.

Matthew 14:22-33 When Peter stepped out of the boat to walk on water, He listened to Jesus and responded.  We see when his brain kicked in and he began to think about it--he began to sink.  If Peter had stopped to think before getting out of the boat to walk on water, he would never have gotten out of the boat.  Even though he heard Jesus’ voice and knew what he heard, his mind would have kept him from doing what Jesus said.  We have to be careful not to let our minds work against our faith like this.  You see, for Peter the moment was then, he would have missed it if he had stopped to think about it.  One of two things would have happened:  1) He would have realized it was impossible and talked himself out of doing it. Or 2) The moment was then, in a very short time Jesus would have been in the boat and the opportunity would have passed.

    Well, the world has taught us to “think“ about it.  But with God--He tells us to Trust Him, (that means He (God) has already thought about it for us, we need to act)  If we are able to recognize God’s voice, it will make it easier to trust Him.  But we tend to think--”Well, God gave me a brain, I need to use it.”  This is true, but when it comes to hearing God’s voice and acting on it, we must think with our spirit.  If we have spent the time with God learning to recognize God’s voice we will have done our thinking (used our brain) ahead of time and we would be prepared to respond to God’s voice when He speaks.  

    How many times do we miss what God is wanting to do because we don’t respond instead we stop and “drag our feet” about it?

    If we are real with God, then when God speaks to us we will hear Him as real and know that it is Him that is speaking, just as Peter recognized Jesus and “knew” that it was Him speaking.  It was dark and hard to see, but based on His voice and what He said (and most likely His spirit testifying) Peter knew that it was Jesus--It is no different for us.  We just like to think so.

    Does your spirit agree with what is said?  Does it clash?  Are you immediately convicted about what is said or do you search your mind trying to figure out where and what this is?  Later, do you constantly get bombarded with thoughts about it?  Are you weighed down but never in your heart--always around you?  Does your mind immediately start battling it? (you are fighting God)    Is your mind at peace and your heart at peace but yet something keeps beating you up?  Do you search until you can find truth in what was said?

    When nothing is hidden from God then when He speaks our spirit will testify that it is God and we will not have to search for the truth in what is said.  When we are fighting God, the battle is between God’s Spirit within us and our own spirit.

    We have to be ready in season and out of season. (2 Tim 4:2)  This is easier said than done.  Many times, when God is speaking to us, it is a timely thing.  Are we going to hear what God says?”  Are we going to act on it?  Or are we going to think about it?

    It’s way too easy to ignore the voice of God.  When it comes up deal with it immediately.

    How do we hear his voice?  How are we to know the voice of God?  How do we know it is God we are hearing?         

    A lost Child always knows the sound of a parent and the parent knows the sound of their child because of the close relationship that they have. We are no different with God, our Father.  Is it important enough to hear and know the voice of God?  We should feel shameful for having our selective hearing.  How often do we actually come to Him when He hollers.  We need to get in tune with God’s voice.  Give quality time to God--learn what His voice is.

    We have to be real with God.  God is real and when we talk with Him we need to recognize that He truly is there, listening to us and communicating back to us.  If God is not real to you when you spend time with Him (whether praying, reading His Word, or worshiping) you will not be able to recognize God’s voice.  We get close to God and begin to hear His voice when He is real to us.  If we are not real with God, how do we expect to hear Him?  It is not a game, or a matter of doing “the right things,” He is real--treat Him that way!

    Today we have the Spirit of the Living God within us.  God has a gift for us all.  All we have to do is receive it, use it and enjoy it.
   
    God may speak to us through others, through our spirit., through His Word (Heb 4:12), through an experience, testimony, joy, pain, etc.  We need to to be in tune with God to be able to hear His voice.

 

    Warning:  If we grumble and complain we will harden our hearts making it impossible to hear God’s voice.  We will hear a voice all right, but it won’t be God’s because we will have chosen to tune God out by the hardening of our heart.

Note:  This has been the most attacked study we have ever done.  It was started and completed in 2004.  Through a series of major attacks with the final one taking Gary’s life it has taken this long to get this study to you.  I hope and pray that God will truly Bless you and speak to you through this study.