Jesus has not left and left us an incredible Job to do on our own. He does speak, He does lead, He does guide us into His perfect will and work in many ways.
We have access to both His spoken word and His Speaking voice
And like I've been hammering since we started, we have to believe this first.
Today's part of the series is focused on opening up our hearts and minds to know how God speaks to us and Specifically how He speaks to YOU
Also to understand that His speaking is in no way limited
Matthew 17: 1-5 ( The Transfiguration)
In this chapter, we see an amazing story of 3 of the disciples of Christ up on a mountain with Him. He is transfigured before them and they see Him in all of His glory, Moses and Elijah are in this cut too.
What an amazing experience it was for these men.
While they were taking all these in, the cloud of the father's glory begins to overshadow them and the father Himself speaks.
He could have said anything about His glory r Himself as the men present were so much in awe of what they saw and overshadowed by God's Glory.
But what did God say?
" This is my beloved son, with whom I am well-pleased; listen to Him!"
This was God's big statement at such a time.
Listen to Him
It was a charge, a command, a necessity
Now we cannot listen except we hear first.
You can not follow/obey what you did not hear
A lot of us have left this part to ministers alone. We've come to a place of believing it is spiritual leaders and pastors that have this access, that have been given this decree. I mean, God said that to the disciples not the general public
I am strongly convinced that it is still the primary responsibility and need today for all of us in this Christ walk (Ministers and non ministers alike)
A lot of leaders and ministers do so out of their own understanding and their own minds
A lot of us followers of Christ are led by our own desires and self instead of just being our description, Following
This call to Listen is directed at every one of us.
To be led, we must first hear then follow
Four Extremes on Hearing God's voice
1. God wrote a book and lost His voice
A lot of people believe that after the Bible was completed, God stopped speaking to us directly and only speaks through scriptures.
This is not true.
God's speaking is not limited to just the Bible. He speaks through other means (Though every spoken word/means do not go against the written word)
2. Moses' Syndrome
Just like the Isrealites:
"Oh Holy man, go up on the mountain with God and let Him speak to you and tell us what He said"
A lot of us are sitting comfortably here.
We want to be spoonfed
Waiting for someone to always bring what God is saying to us.
This set of people actually do acknowledge that God still speaks, but there is an error, they acknowledge/believe that only certain people have access to hear God speak.
So they wait for the certain/special people to always bring what God is saying to them
3. I want to hear Him but I CAN'T
A whole lot of us are here too.
We know God speaks but we just feel He speaks to others and not us.
We do not blame it on anything. It's just "we can't hear" and this is not a problem.
We've never even thought of it before, if it is something we should look forward to. I mean, we have the Spoken word and it's done so well for us
I'd like to remind us that have ears that hear for a reason. If God can speak then we can hear.
It's really this simple.
If you believe God can speak to your pastor and it is not a lie then God can speak to you too and you CAN hear
4. God speaks to me all the time about everything through His voice ONLY
This is false and extreme
If you've not dramatically heard the voice of God over a situation, this does not mean God is not speaking through other means.
The only way God speaks is not His voice.
He speaks through diverse means. "God did not tell me directly (with His voice) not to do xyz, so I'm going to do xyz"
Is xyz in accordance with scripture?
If no, why are you waiting for Him to speak again over what He has spoken before just so you can believe.
This is an extreme we must also do away with
The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep recognize his voice and come to him. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.
John 10:3 NLT
We've been given assurance that surely He will speak to us who follow Him. He will consistently speak to us actually as there are different turns in this walk where He leads.
This is for us to know, that we can also learn to hear Him and know His voice.
I don't know if anyone has pets here and you had to train the pet from scratch.
You practically have to teach the pet (let's say dog) to know your voice, who to not bite in the house.
Infact, I've seen people introduce their guests to dogs
Like they will take you to where the dog is and be friendly with you then do introduction, just so it recognises you next time you come alone. We all can also learn to know the voice of God and hear Him
After he has gathered his own flock, he walks ahead of them, and they follow him because they know his voice. They won’t follow a stranger; they will run from him because they don’t know his voice.”
John 10:4-5 NLT
Now here is the bad part, for as many of us that do not know the voice of God, it is very possible that we will follow other voices
The Other Voices (Strangers: John 10vs5)
As we walk this Christ walk, we will encounter many other voices. Jesus called these the voice of the stranger.
These voices are bent on leading us astray. These voices could also be from well meaning people who don't know any better, which is why it is important that we hear for ourselves.
The key is to learn to differentiate between His voice and these others (Strangers)
1. The voice of the world
We know that we are children of God and that the world around us is under the control of the evil one.
1 John 5:19 NLT
The first voice we need to learn to deal with is the voice of the world. All over nations of the earth, the spirit of the world has shaped cultures, a whole lot of things we hold dear and valuable.
In all of these cultures and valuables, there are things that of course will not hinder our walk with Christ and us following Him
There are also a whole lot of thing that will stand in His way and oppose as we learn to follow Him
There is a reason Apostle Paul emphasised that we should no longer be conformed to the culture/pattern of the world.
Our culture often shapes our lifestyle and even faith in God.
It plays a huge role.
There are so many things we do and believe in the church that are NOT Christ or kingdom minded.
They drifted in from our culture
Do not love this world nor the things it offers you, for when you love the world, you do not have the love of the Father in you. For the world offers only a craving for physical pleasure, a craving for everything we see, and pride in our achievements and possessions. These are not from the Father, but are from this world. And this world is fading away, along with everything that people crave. But anyone who does what pleases God will live forever.
1 John 2:15-17 NLT
The voice of the world is the first thing we should shut out, first thing.
If not we will be doing "Traditional/Cultural Christianity". Which in itself is not Christ like
And so you cancel the word of God in order to hand down your own tradition. And this is only one example among many others.”
Mark 7:13 NLT
Traditions and cultures that we are used to are very dangerous if we do not understand that most of them are of the world. And because we've been brought up with them, we've learnt to listen to this voice, we are used to it. We have to be very intentional with shutting it out.
2. The voice of the Religious Spirit
“Watch out!” Jesus warned them. “Beware of the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees.”
Matthew 16:6 NLT
These ones are very powerful also and dangerous as they tend to masquerade as the voice of God.
They come to seekers of God and infiltrate our ability to hear God and follow Him in a living relationship replacing the life and work of the spirit for outward spiritual activities.
Satan in this place disguises himself as an angel of light. We've explained who the Pharisees are,
Those who focus all of their lives on external religious activities, duties and all but no real life in the spirit with God.
The Sadducees sought God but didn't believe in the supernatural activity of God in our lives. We have to be very careful of these religious spirits. We can't afford to have any of them as their voices stray us.
How do Religious Voices Operate?
* This voice constantly drives us to do more religious works to attain higher spirituality, get closer to God or hear God.
* This voice pushes us to be more interested/focused on outward religious works and duties.
* This voice focuses on us always using our logical mind instead of relating to God in a supernatural way by His spirit
If you hear Let's put God aside first, na dem o.
Put God aside where? 🙄🙄 There is no reason outside of God.
* The religious voice longs to replace the voice of the spirit with our own mental reasoning or outer works. If we find ourselves guilty of any of these, it is one of the reasons why we find it difficult hearing God
3. The Voice of Other people
See, sometimes people will mean well for you and try to advice you and stuff but it will not be according to God's will.
They are not misleading you on purpose. They might even have a relationship with God sef and fellowship often with Him but still give wrong advice.
I learnt one thing from my late spiritual mum that first, I am my own prophet
I'd go to church those days and next thing she's asking me to go to the altar area and pray. Sometimes I will sleep off o, she will ask me what did God say.
In my mind, what did which God say 😂😂😂
Like just talk abeg, stop stressing me
It felt like it was punishment then. Infact, I used that exact word. Mummy gave me punishment, to pray for hours or come to church and pray for days or add fast
Like why not just go straight to the point instead of stressing me ðŸ˜ðŸ˜ðŸ˜
Today, I tell you this is one of my fondest memories of her. I won't forget.
It is one lesson I really needed in this walk.
Those close to me off this group can testify, you cannot come and dump your prayer request on my head o, especially if we are close and I notice it is becoming habit.
I could be the one misleading you tomorrow (God forbid). But it is very important that we all know God for ourselves and stop constantly relying on other people to hear God for us
It is not bad for people to actually bring message from God. I get messages through other people a lot. But we should not rely on others for it.
You have your own hearing ear too
If you see yourself constantly waiting on someone else to speak to you or tell you what God said, there is a problem and you are making it difficult for your own ears to pick anything
4. The voice of our soul
This is the loudest I believe as it forms our core part. So many times I've heard people say, "I'm not so sure it is God speaking or me"
Everything passes through our souls. It is the filter for everything we hear so we must learn to discern what is coming from us and what is from the Lord. We must also learn to filter what we take in as it has a huge influence on what comes out
The spirit lives inside of us already and that is where He speaks to us. But as our spirit man receives the word, it must then be passed through our soul (which consists of our mind, emotions and will).
Our soul is largely influenced by us.
First, what is the origin of all that flows into your soul?
Your emotions, what have they been connecting with the most?
Your mind, what has it been pondering on the most? Note that your mind also takes in all that your body does (Your senses, from your seeing to feeling, to touching etc)
Your will, what are you strong-willed about?
One of major problems I've found in this part when it comes to hearing God is Unhealed hearts/Emotions and Unrenewed minds. If these are present, there is need for a clean filter for the voice to pass through.
This is the answer, here is the solution :
For the word of God is alive and powerful. It is sharper than the sharpest two-edged sword, cutting between soul and spirit, between joint and marrow. It exposes our innermost thoughts and desires.
Hebrews 4:12 NLT
It starts with the word tbh. His word is powerful enough to do the cleansing, it will do the deep work in us. It pierces deep within us and exposes us to the division between the spirit and soul
It makes us aware of what is of the spirit and what comes from our soul.
It lays us bare. It strips us naked
Note that it is not judging or condemning us. As I've been typing, the spirit has also been laying bare certain things from my end too. That is what the word does, it open us up.
This is one step we all can't afford to miss.
If the word does not come in, our minds can't be renewed, we can't be transformed.
We will always be playing a guess game when it comes to hearing God's voice. Maybe it's God, maybe not.
It really doesn't stop at hearing God's voice, we also have to know it.
It is a great key to following Him
My sheep KNOW my voice
I pray that all we've learnt today really helps us in this walk and that we all come to a place of knowing God's voice. Amen
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