Are you seeking to hear God’s voice through the study of His Word? Are you hearing the voice of God more than you are hearing the voice of the unbelieving world? Hearing God’s voice requires being intentional about consuming the truth of God’s Word more than the lies of the world around us.
“You want to hear God speak? Read the Bible out loud,” is a famous quote that according to Google is ascribed to two different pastors, so I’ll just leave out who said it. It’s true though. We take for granted how truly blessed we are to have all of God’s Word so easily available to us. We have access to different translations, study Bibles, commentaries, and other resources. Yet we often complain that God’s Word is hard to understand or that we just aren’t readers.
When we are faced with a difficult decision we claim to have no idea what God wants us to do. We pretend that God isn’t clear when we rely heavily on devotionals or open our Bibles only once a month. My response to these comments is always, how often are you hearing God’s voice? If you want to hear God’s voice in your life, you have to read His Word.
My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. John 10:27
The World’s Voice
We don’t have to seek to hear the world’s voice because it’s all around us. It’s in the books we read, the movies and tv shows we watch, and the music and podcasts we listen to. You want to hear from the world, simply watch a ten second ad on Youtube. Much of the world’s voice is lies that reject God’s truth.
We know that we are from God, and the whole world lies in the power of the evil one. And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know him who is true; and we are in him who is true, in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life. 1 John 5:19-20
Because of this, it is really important to take inventory of our lives and what we are listening to. How much of the world’s voice are you hearing and how much of God’s voice are you hearing each day? When you start to consider that, you are more likely to turn off the true crime podcast (I love a good mystery) and pick up your Bible.
Many parents learn this the hard way, myself included, when we send our children to public school and a secular college, and they are exposed to the world’s voice the majority of the day. We falsely believe that one hour of church on Sunday will make up for the lies they are being told the other 167 hours of the week. Then our children come home one day and say, “I don’t want to attend church anymore. I don’t believe in the same god you do.” Or they claim to believe in God, but choose to follow the ways of the world.
God’s Voice
Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. Romans 12:2
As followers of Christ, we have to seek to make God’s voice the most prominent voice in our lives. For thirty years, the world’s voice was all that I heard. There were a couple of seeds planted along the way, but my life was changed when a woman shared the voice of God with me. She told me that the Bible was the Word of God and that I could know Him through it.
I see so many women struggling with life because they don’t seek the voice of God in their lives. They fall victim to the lies of a world that professes to know God, but they deny him by their works (Titus 1:16). It’s so important that we hear God’s voice so that we can discern truth from lies because there are so many lies all around us. A favorite pastime of mine is to compare the headlines for different news stories among different news outlets. You quickly realize that we are being lied to. But how do you know who is lying? You have to study God’s Word.
God’s Word
It is popular among some Christians to talk about God speaking to them through dreams. I know women who have shared these types of revelations with me. I am very cautious about these types of stories because I’ve seen my own dreams. They are very odd, and I’m not sure what that says about me. But when a woman says to me, I want to share with you what I heard from God’s Word, I perk up because I know she is going to share something valuable with me.
I’ve often said that I started this blog because I feel like I always have something I want to write about. It’s not because I’m great and full of great ideas. When I study God’s Word I want to respond. In my busy weeks when I’m neglecting God’s Word, I struggle to complete an article. During the weeks when I can’t put God’s Word down, I’m able to write two or three articles.
I know that apart from the Holy Spirit and the Word of God I have absolutely nothing of value to share with you. I could tell you about my day to day life, and you might learn something that you could apply to your life. However, I know that real life change comes from applying Scripture to our daily lives and allowing God’s Word to speak into every part of our lives.
The Church
A news article came out a couple of weeks ago about a local pastor who had plagiarized sermons from other pastors, some with permission. He was also accused of lying about personal experiences. The worst part of this story was seeing pastors in my community come to his defense and claim that they also use other pastors’ sermons as their own. All I could think was, I’m so glad I don’t go to any of your churches. I would be shocked if one of my pastors made such a comment.
I’m thankful to be part of a church that not only preaches the Biblical truth of God’s Word, but has pastors on staff that read and study Scripture more than I do. They have faithfully accepted the task of shepherding me and the other members of our church, and they know that it requires them hearing God’s voice more than they hear the world’s voice. A pastor that can not write his own sermons is not spending enough time in God’s Word.
More and more these days we are seeing the world’s voice present in the church. It is important that we sit under pastors who value God’s voice over the world. We should not desire to come to church and hear the same message we hear from the world, and yet many do. This is all the more reason why it is important that you be in God’s Word so that you can discern whether your pastor is sharing God’s voice or the world’s voice.
And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, Ephesians 4:11-12
Seek God’s Voice
This week I encourage you to take inventory of whose voice is prominent in your life. Are there issues that you are passionate about that do not line up with Scripture? Are you putting away falsehoods for truth (Ephesians 4:25)? There is only one way to answer these questions and that’s to be in God’s Word so that you can recognize God’s voice.
Be sure to check out my Resource Page for resources to help you seek God’s voice in your life. I would love to hear from you. Send me an email through my Contact Page.