WE HEAR AND HEED THE VOICE OF THE LORD
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“A Voice came out of the cloud, saying, ‘This is My Son, My Chosen One; listen to Him!'” – Luke 9:35 –
God spoke these words at the Transfiguration of Christ. He proclaimed Jesus to be the Son of God for all the world to hear. This announcement included a key command… we are to listen to Him.
Our Lord speaks to us in so many ways. His voice inspires us deep in our spirits to see life in a new light. We recognize His voice as a spark of revelation… a new thought or idea… a unique perspective on a situation… a different path to follow. His voice may offer us enlightenment, encouragement, guidance, conviction, or even warning.
A key point to remember is that His voice will always line up with Scripture. Never will He go against His Word. The enemy is very sly about putting thoughts in our minds that sound like God. Yet the words of the evil one will not resonate well with our spirits. The Spirit of Christ is our discerner and will make us uncomfortable with any other voice than His.
“Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.” – Matthew 4:4
→ God speaks to our spirits through the beauty of His Creation. We see His omnipotence and are humbled at His majesty. We appreciate the intricacy of all that He has created. We sense His presence and are touched by His peace. He speaks through His magnificence.
→ God speaks to our spirits through our world… people we respect, inspirational songs and books, circumstances and events, open doors of opportunity. We look to the wisdom and discernment of the Holy Spirit to perceive when God is speaking to us.
→ God speaks to our spirits through praise. Praise opens our hearts to the glory of God. As we worship Him, our spirits are awakened. We recognize His sovereignty in the world and in our lives. We yield to His loving presence and His holiness as we sing our praises.
→ God speaks to our spirits through prayer. As we pray, we connect with God in one-on-one communication. It is in this unity of our spirits with His where we hear His voice more clearly. Prayer is so much more than merely presenting our requests to God. He desires to talk with us. In prayer, we quiet our hearts and listen to His wise and loving words given just to us.
“The unfolding of Your words gives light.” – Psalm 119:130
→ God speaks to our spirits through His Word. We listen to Him through the words of the Bible. We “unfold” His Word when we read, study and meditate on Scripture. For the Bible is the light of Christ. He Illuminates Scripture in new ways for us to comprehend.
The Holy Spirit opens our hearts to understand the insights God unveils to us in His Word. He sheds new light on passages… places His revelations in our minds… and gives us wisdom as to how we can follow in the footsteps of Jesus.
“There would be no sense in saying you trusted Jesus if you would not take His advice.” – C.S. Lewis
We may hear from God… yet are we truly listening? Are we allowing His words to speak into our lives and bring about change? Listening to our Lord implies obedience to His voice and submission to His will. The Holy Spirit will unfold God’s Word to us as we heed His words. Only as we learn to accept His words and change our lives accordingly will He continue to open up to us more and more.
The world bombards us daily. When we are wandering from God’s path, we are less likely to recognize His voice above the clamor. We may dismiss His voice, allowing our logic or our feelings to override His words. It is only as we stay close to Him, yielded to Him, that we will recognize when He is speaking to us personally.
Imagine trying to help someone we cared about who never heeded our words? Would we continue to offer words of advice only to have our help ignored? Our Lord desires that we follow His words and yield to His perfect will. We ask Him for His courage and fortitude to obey His voice. Our faith is deepened as we grow to walk in obedience to Him.
“It is to the man who is… obedient to the word of the Master, that the word of the Master unfolds itself.” – George MacDonald
Every day we need to seek some way to draw closer to God. As we listen for His voice, we become more aware of the many ways He speaks to us. We learn to heed His voice and yield to Him. He aligns our thoughts and ways with His. He will unveil Himself and His will to those close to Him. For He rewards the ones who seek Him with all their hearts.
