Listening to God

Our God is very present and very real. All throughout the Bible we see how personally and also corporately He speaks to and through His people. If you are among a growing number of Christians who claim He doesn’t speak that way anymore, I challenge you to find the verse that says that. Yes, that’s right. There is none. Whenever I ask someone who believes God no longer speaks or performs miracles as He did in Bible times to show me the verse, they always point me to a certain preacher’s video.

Men and women of God, whom are you following? A man or God? And do you believe God’s Word or a man’s? Every page of the Bible shows us all the many amazing ways He speaks. If you’re not hearing Him, it’s not because He’s not speaking. God is always speaking. It is we who have stopped up our ears. We’re so afraid we’ll hear God wrong that we’ve shut the door on Him, but leave it open to our enemy.

I went on my own journey of not listening. As an emerging teen growing up overseas with missionary parents, I experienced God in quite a life-transforming way one night. But others told me, “God doesn’t speak that way. He only speaks through the Bible.” After hearing the same response from so many missionaries I looked up to, I finally gave in. After all, they should know, right?

So, I shut the door on hearing God.

I wish I’d been wise, like the Bereans in Acts 17:11, and searched the scriptures to see if what those missionaries said was true; but I was young and trusting. For the next couple of decades, I dismissed God’s voice as “That must be me.”

Finally, in my mid-30s, a disease the doctors called “incurable” landed me on my face before the Lord, unable to lift my head, read or do anything but kneel or lie prostrate in a dark room with my forehead to the floor because of excruciating pain if I did anything else.

And He spoke. As if He had been waiting for me to be still, to finally be in a position where I could do nothing else but listen. His voice crashed over my pride like a flood, knocking down barriers with Truth, and leading me to repentance and surrender. I wouldn’t wish that painful, debilitating disease on anyone, but I’m so grateful to God for what He did in me. I will never be the same again. Not only that, but several months later, He miraculously healed me!

“My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me.”

Jesus, John 10:27

Knowing God’s Word and listening to His voice are paramount in walking in intimate relationship with Christ and following where He leads. I don’t always get it right, of course. I often have to ask the Lord to confirm what I feel Him showing me. But at least I’m no longer on my guard against Him. Now, surrender is my theme. And the more strongholds and other barriers I let Him tear down, the easier it is to hear His voice and obey.

The Three-Fold Sieve available at my author website (button below) has helped me tremendously in distinguishing God’s voice from my own, other people’s or the enemy’s:

Lord, open up our ears to hear You. We’ve forgotten to seek You in ALL our ways so You will direct our paths. Proverbs 3:5-6. Instead, like, sheep, we’ve gone our own way. Gentle Shepherd, draw us back. We need You now more than ever. Remind us that only in Your care are we safe from the enemy. Only when You watch over us does the thief steal in vain. Remind us of who we are in You. Teach us to listen to Your voice and follow Your lead. Transform us by Your kindness, until we show the world Who You are by walking so close to You they forget about us and see only You. John 10.

Mikaela Vincent and her husband are missionaries who live by faith, trusting in God to provide for their needs as they pray for and share Christ with the nations. If you would like to help their ministry through a donation, or by shopping at Mikaela’s online bookstore, click the buttons below:

For Delight to Be a Woman of Wonder, Dare to Be a Mighty Warrior, and other Bible studies for all ages with practical steps for listening to God, following His lead and breaking free from strongholds, visit MoreThanAConquerorBooks.com

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