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HEARING GOD’S VOICE

WRITTEN BY JACO VAN AS

Click here to download this E-Book

Many people ask how they can hear God’s voice, while others say that they have tried everything, but God just doesn’t speak to them. Why do some people hear God’s voice, but many don’t? In this e-book I am going to talk about what it means to hear God’s voice and what we need to do to hear it.

Listening to Radio

I want you to go to your nearest radio and start tuning towards your favourite radio station. If your radio is already tuned into a station, tune away from it for a moment and then either go back or try tuning into a different station that you like. This exercise is very important.

While tuning away from a station or trying to find your favourite one, you will clearly hear the funny noises it makes while searching for the correct frequency. I am talking about the general noise it makes when it’s not correctly tuned into a specific station. Now hearing God’s voice works the same way. If we are not correctly tuned in, we will not be able to hear His voice, but we will hear a lot of noise, the noise of the world. Again, if we are not tuned in correctly, we will not be able to hear God’s voice!

Now once you are tuned into your favourite radio station, the chances are good that you will be listening to your favourite song, or at least one of your favourite songs. Once we find the correct frequency that plays our favourite songs, we quickly find ourselves singing along. When we enjoy a song, it is always so easy to learn the words, isn’t it? It really doesn’t take long before we master the words and sing the song without any trouble.

Why? Well, let’s start at the beginning. First, we need to find the right frequency, the right station. Once we hear a song we like, we listen to it with the purpose to learn the words. If we struggle with the words we would either, ask a friend or we would visit google. The next thing we do is we memorize the words and we usually do this listening to the song over and over, until we have mastered it. This doesn’t normally take long, especially if it is something we really enjoy.

Hearing God’s Voice works the same way. Let’s call it Radio HGV, Radio Hearing God’s Voice. I will now explain this over 4 easy steps.

Step one

First, we need to find the perfect frequency so that we can actually hear something. Now we need to find the right station to listen to. Yes, just like with a real radio, this radio also has various stations and it is very important that we tune into the right one, the one that will be broadcasting the voice of God. You see dear reader, if we are tuned into the wrong station, we can end up listening to the noise of the world and the noise of the world can keep us from hearing the voice of God. The wrong channel can distract us from the things of God and lead us into temptation and sin.

Let me explain. Mr X, my best friend, invited me to a huge party where the alcohol was free, where a lot of girls attended, and drugs were easily available to purchase. I went to this party and it was awesome, well, just incredible. I don’t really remember much though as I was drunk, but I am pretty sure it was awesome. Mr Y also invited me to a church worship service on the same night, which I of cause said no to, since I was joining Mr X’s party.

Ok, so here I had two radio stations I could choose from to tune into. I chose the noise of the world over the voice of God. Because I chose the noise of the world, surely, I cannot expect to hear the voice of God on that station, can I? So, if God wanted to speak to me on Saturday, I missed out on the opportunity because I chose to listen to the noise of the world. Can I then turn around and say that God never speaks to me or that I can never hear His voice? Surely one cannot expect to hear the voice of God if we are keeping ourselves busy with the things of the world.

We are so quick to say yes to a braai, to a party, a gathering with friends and family, but when we are invited to church stuff, to the things of the Lord, we first check if we don’t have other plans before we say yes to the things of the Lord. I know we don’t always do this and not everyone, but surely those that say they never hear the voice of God sometimes do this? Again, we need to be tuned into Radio HGV if we want to hear His voice.

Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. Romans 12:2. 

Flee the evil desires of youth and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace, along with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart. 2 Tim 2:22 

Zech 1:3: Return to me, declares the Lord Almighty, and I will return to you,’ says the Lord Almighty. 

Is 59:1-2: Surely the arm of the Lord is not too short to save, nor his ear too dull to hear. But your iniquities have separated you from your God; your sins have hidden his face from you, so that he will not hear.

Step Two

We need to show a real interest in God, just like we showed an interest in our favorite song. We must REALLY want it! James 4:8 says: Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Jeremiah 29:13 says: You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. You see, we really need to make an effort to seek God, to show and interest, a real interest in Him. We need to make the first step!

Let me ask you these questions:

• How often do you read your Bible?
• For how long do you read your Bible?
• How well do you know the Bible?
• Do you study the Bible?
• How often do you pray?
• How often do you talk to Jesus and for how long?

When I wake up in the morning, the first thing I say is: “Good morning Jesus. How are you today. Thank you, Jesus, that you kept me safe during the night”.  You see I don’t just pray, I talk to Jesus. Jesus is your savior, your King, your healer, your provider, but Jesus is also your friend and what do we do with friends? We talk to them. Have you ever tried talking to Jesus as a friend?

We need to talk to Jesus in bad times, but most importantly we need to talk to Him in good times. How much effort have you put in to get to know Him, learn God’s word and show a real interest in getting to know Him? Let me ask you this – how much do you know about God? Do you know his heart? You see, if we read our Bible like we would read any other book, from front to back, I can promise you that you will know God’s heart. You would know who God really is.

Many people say that if we read the old testament we learn that God was cruel to man, he was hard on man. No, God was FARE. You see if we take the time to read it, if we take the time to get to know God like we take the time to get to know our friends, then we would understand more about who God is and why He did things the way he did them or still do. If we make an effort to get to know God and move closer to Him, then God will reveal himself to us and we will hear His voice.

Step Three

We need to concentrate when we busy with God’s word and work and we need to learn and really want to learn. With the things of the world we are quick to learn new things and even spent money on it or do research. So how much research have you done on the Bible? How much studying did you do on the Bible? How much did you spent to get more knowledge of the Word of God and God?

Many times, we don’t even have to spend money. By simply going to church or attending free stuff presented by the church, we can learn a lot and in that grow our knowledge. It doesn’t always have to cost money.  We get time to do so many things but when it gets to doing the work of God, then we always busy. We need to make time and we need to make an effort and do more to learn about the word of God. By doing this, by learning more, we move even closer to God and we would be able to hear His voice, here it more often and hear it more clearly.

Step Four

We need to master it, just like that favourite song we memorized. I read through the Bible many times from start to finish and in that I got to memorize the scriptures and the stories. You see when we start to know the words, the stories, then we are mastering the word of God and when we master it then we can hear AND understand the voice of God.

Why not try this out, if you have not done so yet. Start reading the Bible more often, but this time not just reading it, but studying it. Make an effort to get to know a few verses, and no, you don’t always have to remember where exactly it stands in the Bible. Start making an effort to talk to Jesus, not just pray, but talk and do so often during the cause of every day. Doing this will help you master the word of God and through that move closer to Him and as you move closer to Him, you will be able to hear His voice.

In closing

Now that we know how to tune into radio HGV, I want to end with giving a few examples of HOW God speaks to us. So many people ask me this question.

1. The Lord can speak to us directly. Yes, that has happened in the past and yes that still happens. Think about those living in the middle eastern countries. How many Christian lose their lives because of their faith in Jesus. The very same people who kill those Christians are also the people Jesus talk to directly. He did that to Paul as well. Paul was the “ISIS” of those days. Yes, there are so many testimonies of Jesus appearing and talking to many ISIS leaders. Can this happen to you? Of cause it can!

2. In dreams. Oh yes, Jesus speaks to us in dreams. God has been doing this for many years, from the times of the Bible all the way till now and He will continue to do so. He has spoken to me in my dreams. The Bible even says young people will dream visions (Acts 2:17).

3. God has been using angels for so many years, from the beginning of time. Think about Mary when the angel told her she was pregnant with Jesus. Jesus might have used angels in your life and you might not even know, because you were not tuned into the right station. I have experienced angels on more than one occasion where Jesus send them to me to bring me word and news and sometimes I knew right away that it was an angel, but sometimes I only realized it afterwards. It can happen to you as well and it probably already did!

4. Your thoughts. Yes, Jesus can enter your thoughts. Think about those moments a thought popped up into your mind out of know where and when you received it, you immediately felt good about it. When this happens we usually should not think about it for to long, we should just act on it. It is however important to make sure that it is inline with the word of God, as the enemy can also place thoughts in our minds!

5. Signs all around you. How many of us walk in a shopping mall and we see clear signs from God, but choose to ignore them. Think about this. You will know exactly what I am talking about it. Sometimes God wants to point us to a person we need to pray for or just walk to them and speak blessings over their lives. God gives us a lot of signs, but again, if we are not tuned into the right station, we will not hear his voice and we will not see the signs.

6. Your heart/Gut (not your mind). People sometimes ask me how they will know a specific message is from God. Well, if we start thinking about it, satan gets a chance to influence our way of thinking and he can place thoughts into our minds. We should never think about it for to long! Follow your gut! God speaks from the heart my dear friend in Christ, not from the mind. If it feels right, then its from God, if you think to long and you start to doubt, then is NOT from God. Always follow your heart!

7. The biggest one of them all: the BIBLE! You can read Christian based books or magazines, but you cannot replace your Bible or not read your Bible. God speaks to us mostly through His Word. The Bible must always be the most important in your house. In and through His Word, the Bible, He provides, He heals, encourage, teach, leads, helps and He saves.

I end with this: 

Zech 1:3: Return to me, declares the Lord Almighty, and I will return to you,’ says the Lord Almighty.  

Is 59:1-2: Surely the arm of the Lord is not too short to save, nor his ear too dull to hear. But your iniquities have separated you from your God; your sins have hidden his face from you, so that he will not hear.

The Lord always wants us to take the first step. He wants us to first move towards Him, make Him our Savior and worship Him. The closer we move towards Him, the closer He will move towards us. If you have never really worshipped our Lord Jesus Christ, then it is time to really seek Him with all your heart and with all your soul.  If you had a relationship with Him in the past and moved away from Him, then you really know what to do, don’t you? You need to “return” to Him. If you have not accepted Jesus into your life or if you already have but moved away from him, I want to invite you to visit our page “Accept Jesus into your life” at the following link: https://jesustomyrescue.com/accept-jesus/