Can you hear Him?

We are going to be talking about hearing from God for the next few weeks. Last series when I said, “If He said it, He will do it”, I couldn’t help but think that there could be someone who is asking, “How do you hear from God?” Simple but very important question. We can talk to God but how do we hear from God? I will say this, everyone hears from God differently. I hear from God differently at different times too depending on the situation. Sometimes it’s in dreams or visions, sometimes it’s a conversation in my spirit, sometimes its through my pastors, friends, Bible, songs, rainbows, clouds or the anything God chooses to use on that day.

In the Old Testament, God used to speak to people through prophets. Since Pentecost, the role of the prophetic voice is now a little different. God still uses prophetic people to speak to us but if you have been baptized in the Holy Spirit, you have the Holy Spirit living in you. So, when a word is spoken, a word that is for you, His Spirit bears witness with your spirit that that word is for you. You may like the word or you may not like it but you will know that the word being spoken is for you.

God speaks in many forms, in dreams and visions, through the Bible, through preaching, through godly people in conversation, using nature and He even spoke through a donkey once. So, He can speak through anything, anywhere. It is up to us however, to be receptive to Him when He speaks.

One day, Jesus was having a conversation with some Jewish leaders in the temple and what He said is recorded in John 10:27-28 which says, “My own sheep will hear my voice and I know each one, and they will follow me.  I give to them the gift of eternal life and they will never be lost and no one has the power to snatch them out of my hands.” So, from that verse it appears that we have two things to do and that’s to hear and follow Him. It’s one thing to hear the voice of God and its another to follow. Hearing from God is not for our entertainment. God wants to give us direction.

Like sheep sometimes we wonder off, figuratively, and we need to hear the voice of Jesus so we can follow Him and find our way back. For example, sometimes my thoughts go crazy, the enemy starts speaking such negative things in my head that I need the voice of God to cut through that noise and remind me that I am a daring, bold, courageous, victorious daughter of the King. Hearing from God is for our benefit. It is so we know where to go. It lets us know where Jesus is so we can follow.

God may speak in many different ways, but He will never speak against what is in the Bible. The Bible is the litmus paper through which we must test every word we think we are hearing from God. In John 1 we are told that the Word became flesh. Jesus is the word and He does not contradict Himself. He doesn’t say one thing in the Bible and say another thing to you. The Bible applies to everyone, there are no exceptions.

So, we need to be open to hear from God, but we must also know what His word says so we can recognise when He is speaking and when the enemy is speaking. Jesus had a moment with Peter where in one moment He told Peter that what Peter had just said showed that he was receiving revelation from heaven (Matthew 16:17) and in the next He said the famous words “Get behind me Satan” to Peter (Matthew 16:23). Yes, He spoke those words to Peter.

That is discernment and it comes from the Holy Spirit. One moment Peter was hearing from Heaven and the next he was hearing from the devil. It is so important to be baptised in the Holy Spirit as a believer so He can help us discern between the voice of God and that of the enemy. Both are speaking to us, question is, who are we going to follow?

I’m reminded of the words of a famous song, “I have decided to follow Jesus, no turning back.” Following Jesus is decision which is followed by an action.

Love and blessings,

Melissa Tsingano