Some of us hear His call early in life and ignore it because we are having fun. I heard His call on my heart and my life as early as 12 years old and I thought I answered it at a crusade in Jackson, MS. But, it didn’t stick. I know now that I wasn’t sincere in my answer to the touch of the Holy Spirit in my heart. I felt it but I didn’t take it seriously. I tried to read the Bible and listened as well as I could in church but found it boring.
I didn’t really have a “come to Me” moment until my son was born. Then, one night at work I was reading the Psalms and I heard a small voice in my mind saying “You are to be his example”. That is a scary thought. I am supposed to be my son’s example of how to live? I knew I couldn’t do that without Jesus in my heart and by truly following Him for the rest of my life, so I asked Him to be my Savior at that moment.
From that point on I’ve had trouble being a follower of Him but I began learning more about being a Christian and it has made a lot of difference in my life. That was twenty years ago and I’m still learning about Him and what it means to be His. Reading the Bible isn’t enough. Praying helps but that’s not enough either. When you do both of them together, the Holy Spirit can show you things while reading that might not have been so clear before.
God loves you and He sent Jesus to take the punishment for our sins. All that you have to do is believe in Jesus and His sacrifice for you, repent of your sinful ways and you will be saved.
Pottery with cracks in it leaks. We are referred to as “clay in the Potter’s hands” by God. So…if you are a Christian and you have been blessed by God with a talent or ability, then leak your grace and His mercy out into the world so others can see the evidence of it. Don’t keep it hidden by not telling what He has done for you. Tell others about His blessings and His mercy toward all of us because the end of the church age is coming soon. It may be another five years or even another decade before it ends but it will end. I don’t know the day nor the hour but the world will know when it happens.
Jesus gave His disciples a command to “go into all of the world and preach the gospel”. That is what we are supposed to be doing with the grace that God has given each of us. We are required to give away that which we couldn’t pay for and to tell others about salvation that can’t be taken away.
“My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.” John 10:27
What does it take to hear the voice of God? First, you have to acknowledge that there is a God and that He exists. Then you have to realize that He communicates with mankind.
How does God communicate and sound when He speaks to me? The only way to know this is to read God’s Word and learn what His voice sounds like and what He says to us in it. It is a difficult concept that we can recognize His voice when He speaks but with study, it can be done. The fact that the Bible exists proves that God has something to say because He has been speaking through the prophets and His disciples for many hundreds of years.
The “Old Testament” is full of God’s Words spoken by inspiration or directly to those He spoke to in the past. God is still speaking to us today but there is so much noise in the world that it has become difficult for us to hear Him clearly. In the world outside the church, many people don’t seem to care what God says or even believe that He exists in the first place. The problem with this kind of thinking is the time that we are living in. For most people who have never been to church or who just didn’t pay attention when they did, the Bible is a book written by old men long ago with tired history in it and rules that we don’t want to live by anymore.
Did the Israelites listen to God when they were in the wilderness after He freed them from bondage in Egypt? For most of the forty years that they spent in the wilderness all that they did was grumble and complain about their living conditions, the food, the water, etc. God even led them to their Promised Land but when they saw that it was occupied by “giants”, they refused to go in as He told them to do. It was this refusal that caused them to be in the wilderness for forty years.
The voice of God is not terrible nor is it scolding or wrathful, it is loving and caring, like a parent with their child. But when the punishment comes, as it usually does, people want to fuss and complain.
God hears your prayers and in some instances, He answers them. But, He answers them in His time and in a way that is consistent with His will for your life, not because you want a certain thing right now. Sometimes His answer is consistent with what you seek, if your heart belongs to Jesus and you’ve grown in your faith enough that your wants align with God’s, but your answer may not come today or tomorrow.
Sometimes, we would rather listen to “wise counsel” from a friend but if it goes against what God’s Word says it should be discarded. Satan can sound “wise” from time to time because he is a created being and can speak God’s Word as smoothly as anyone but also twist it so that it doesn’t mean what it should. Even your own voice can speak so convincingly that you can talk yourself into things that you shouldn’t, just as Jonah did when he didn’t want to warn Nineveh about God’s judgment.
Studying the Bible from cover to cover is the best way of learning how God speaks and what He desires from us. Why should we study His Word to learn about Him? Because it is the best way to learn about God and His ways. Each time you read His Word, you will glean a new insight into His ways and what He wants for your life. God’s Word is the “living Word” and the Holy Spirit gives each of us wisdom that is meant for us. What I get from it may not be the same thing you get but the Spirit gives us according to our ability and maturity to know Him.
The Living Message of Christ 