Weekly Inspiration - Hearing God's Voice

Hearing God's Voice

By Mackenzie Sterling


As we learned this morning in Judges 6, God clearly and powerfully spoke to Gideon. What God said, WAS! He spoke truth into Gideon's life and He is speaking truth into our lives today.  

If God has ever spoken to you, you know how impactful it is. Whether a Bible verse jumped off the page, He made an impression in your heart during worship, or a Christian friend spoke truth into your life; when God speaks, it's powerful. 

Numerous times in Matthew, Mark and Luke, Jesus says "He who has ears to hear, let him hear." Does that mean that some people hear God while others don't? We know that it's God's will for all of his children to know, hear and follow his voice. However, some people have ears to hear God and some don't. The good news is, you have a choice as to which kind of ears you have! If you haven't ever heard God's voice spoken into your life through the Bible, a friend, an impression on your heart, or any number of other ways... or if you wish you heard God's voice more often, let's journey together and see how we can clear the way for God to speak in our lives. 

What are some roadblocks to hearing God and receiving his Word?  Before you continue reading, write down a couple things that come to mind. Make it personal.  Think about your life and what is keeping you from hearing him daily.  

Distraction / Busyness 
As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord's feet listening to what he said. But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. Luke 10:38-40

It's difficult to make our personal relationship with God a priority in our busy lives. It's easier to schedule Christian activities such as Life Groups, service projects and even Church. However, to be in a personal relationship with God means that you spend time with him one-on-one. Martha was distracted, too distracted to sit at God's feet and listen to Him. The more that we choose to stop our busy lives, ignore the housework, turn off the computer and simply sit with God and his Word and listen to Him, the more he will speak to us. 

Take a moment right now and simply sit with God.  Be still, clear your mind of any distractions, and give him your full attention for a brief moment of silence.  

A hard heart
Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts. Psalm 95:7-8



We don't often use the phrase "hardening your heart". The Bible uses this phrase a lot to symbolize a person who is out of touch with God and unable to hear his voice. This can be due to many things, some of them being: pride, arrogance, not confessing, hiding/running away from God, disobeying His commands and generally putting other things as a priority instead of Him. Another way our hearts get hardened is by not giving God complete access to speak into all areas of our lives. For example, if your heart is closed to (or you are ignoring) His guidance regarding the way you spend your money, then it will be harder to hear His voice speaking to you.  If we close off areas of our life to God, he most likely won't bust down the walls we build up just to speak to us. He will most likely respect the walls we've built, and not speak to us as often as if we had a soft open heart. 
Is there an area of your life that comes to mind when you think of a hardened heart?  Maybe something that has caused you to have a hardened heart?  Take a moment to reflect and write down what you are feeling.

The good news is that God wants to speak to us! He wants us to hear His voice. He wants to break down our walls and come into all areas of our hearts. He wants to fill us with His love so that we're unable to be too busy to listen to Him... so that He is our highest priority. Let's pray for our roadblocks to be removed so we can better hear the voice of our loving, wonderful God. 

Dear God, you are so powerful! The fact that you made each of us and desire to speak to us personally is awe-inspiring. We confess that we don't always put our relationship with you as first priority. Thank you that you are a loving, good God who wants to restore our relationships with you. God, please give us ears to hear you. Silence all of the distractions of this world and focus our hearts on you.  Inspire us to frequently sit at your feet and listen to you. Soften our hearts and remind us to turn every part of our lives over to your hands. May we put nothing above our relationship with you, because you love us more than anything or anyone in the world ever could. Amen.