Hearing God's voice, what is involved?

John 10:27

"My sheep hear my voice and I know them and they follow me.”

Hearing God's voice, what is involved?

My sheep. It is God's sheep that hear God's voice. Are we God's sheep? Many would say yes but don't try to hear His voice. It is not just that the sheep of God will hear His voice if they need to. They will also hear His voice when God wants to direct us.

It says that the sheep of God will follow Him. Are we following Jesus? When God moves do we move with Him? He may want to do something and we aren't listening. We need to be listening to hear.

Is there so much noise in our life that when God speaks, we can't hear? I know in my experience there is. I need to get the noise out of my life so that I can hear. What do I mean by noise. It is not just TV, Internet, movies, sports, music that I am talking about.

Our flesh screams loud if it is not under subjection to our spirits. Romans 12:1,2 talk of making our life a life a sacrifice for God instead of living for the lusts the world offers. It is putting aside the lusts of the flesh that will make a major step in being able to hear God.

We listen to what we want to listen to. Change your wants by putting your mind on the things of the Spirit instead of the things of the flesh. Romans 8:5-8.

And God knows us. Our knowing God and His knowing us is important in this hearing business. Hear God and talk to God in prayer. Do we have time for God? Do we have time to read the internet, or watch movies? I would say most do. Then we have time for God.

Earlier in this chapter it says Jesus came that we might have life and have it more abundantly. Life with God is better than life away from God. Serving God is better than serving yourself. We were made to live for God. Freedom comes as we live for what we were made for.

Live for God and you will come to know God better. You will talk with Him and be His friend. In John 14 it talks of the Father and Jesus coming to live with us as we live for God. Then we will commune with Him and He with us and there will be life.

You will hear God then. You will hunger for God and seek for Him by reading His word.

Life Comes From Death

The idea that life comes from death.

Before life there must be death.

Soil is composed of decayed plant material. This material is full of the nutrients plants need for growth.

We are new people in Christ. 2 Cor 5:17  This new life comes after we die to our old life. Christian baptism shows this concept. Baptism represents the burial of the old man and coming up out of the water represents the new man resurrected with power in Christ.

We are not able to serve God effectively if we have one foot in the world and another foot in God's kingdom. We need to make a break from the world and go for God 100%.

Jesus goes so far and says if we are a friend of the world we are hostile towards God. James 4:4; 1 John 2:15

A seed dies before it gives life.
We die before we give life.

Choosing death to our old life gives fertilizer and vitality to our new life. If we hold back from giving up our old life then there is no power in serving God in our new life.

Repentance is turning from the old way of life and deciding to follow Jesus in living a new life in Him.

Let us not shrink back from turning from our sin and living a victorious life. Heb. 10:39

2 Cor 1:9 Death to ourselves gives us the ability to trust God.

The kingdom of God has this idea presented in parables of The Field with a hidden treasure Matt 13:44 and The Pearl of Great Price. Matt. 13:45 We sell all to get these.

A Choice between the World and Jesus

Here are some verses and my thoughts on the world in the Bible.

James 4:4 Friendship with the world = hostility toward God.
We have to make a choice between Jesus and the world. If we die to ourselves and advancement, we are able to serve God. That is good. If we serve God and also advance in this world that is good also. But let us not compromise to advance. Let Jesus be the prize and not a better paying position.

James 1:27 Keep oneself unstained by the world.
To be in the world but not of the world. When I think of being stained I think of compromise.

Ephesians 2:2 Dead in sin according to the course of this world.
According to the prince; power of the air.
Spirit working in the sons of disobedience.

1 John 2:15 Do not love the world or the things in the world.
v 16For all that is the world:
- lust of the flesh
- lust of the eyes
- boastful pride of life.
The things in the world are defined by v16.
Lust of the flesh - what we desire. Food, sex, liqueur and drugs and a good time.
Lust of the eyes. Women, material possessions, greed.
Boastful pride of life. Power, prestige, position.

Romans 12:2 Do not be conformed to this world.
Let Jesus teach us through the Bible for how to live not the dictates of the world.

Matthew 13:22 Worry of the world.
Live for the purpose of Jesus and not to maintain a position in the world.

2 Corinthians 4:4 God of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving.
When we choose the world over Jesus we are siding with Satan. If we love the world and what it has to offer over what Jesus is calling us to do we do not love God. 1 John 2:15

Galatians 6:14 Boast of the cross of Jesus to be crucified to the world.
The cross is rejecting what the world offers.

There is a freedom in serving Jesus and not trying to keep up with the status quo.

Lord Jesus let me keep my eye on you and not turn to the world for my fulfillment.

The Tree Makes the Waters Sweet

Ex 15:25 "Then he cried out to the LORD, and the LORD showed him a tree; and he threw it into the waters, and the waters became sweet There He made for them a statute and regulation, and there He tested them.

I see the tree as a type of the cross of Christ.

The cross is the thing we are to take up daily. It is the dying to ourself and living for the purposes of Jesus.

We are to rejoice always. So the sorrow of taking up the cross is unacceptable. We are to do all things with joy. Joy is the foundation of our actions. Isa 55:12, James 1:2-4, Heb 12:2

If we are trying to do something that we don't have joy for we are getting ahead of the game. For it says in Phil. 4:6,7 that in all things that we are concerned about we are to pray. If we are still concerned we are to continue praying.

This is where a lot of people give up on Christianity. They say it is unreasonable to pray until peace comes. One has to take care of their family and work etc.

But to watch TV and ignore God and continue to worry about problems? What's is going on here? We need to go to God when we have an opportunity to to present our problems to Him.

I would say if we do not pray we don't believe in Jesus. Why do I say that? Jesus has promised to answer our prayers that we ask in His name. So to not take advantage of this benefit is crazy.

Let me put it this way. If God offered to pay us $500 an hour to pray, would we pray? I would suggest that almost all of us would pray an hour and some would pray 2 hours a day. What is more important to us? Is money more important to us then God? Our actions speak louder than our words.

The cross is to be taken up daily.
Luke 9:23 "And He was saying to them all, "If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow Me.""

Following Jesus
Deny yourself
Take up your cross

To follow Jesus is to be a disciple of Jesus. It is to abide with Him. It is to make Jesus our Lord and King. It is to fear Him.

To deny ourselves we live for Jesus and not ourself.

Don't think of missing out on fun. Think of missing out on what God has for you.