What does it mean to hear God. Seems like such a simple question. You would imagine that no Christian would object to "hearing," God speak to them. That small still voice, the voice of the shepherd speaking to His sheep, and His sheep recognizing His voice. The Holy Spirit whispering into the hearts of believers. The Holy Spirit leading and guiding and magnifying the Lord Jesus in our hearts.

These simple phrases that I have just used seem to terrify a certain segment of Christianity. If it does not terrify, it brings about jokes and ridicule. Chuck Swindoll, in the Book "The Mystery of God's Will ," makes this joke in reference to a person who had heard from God "Was it a Baritone voice?" If you read the whole chapter you will see that it was dripping with sarcasm. How is it, that this well respected author and teacher and Christian could pour such scorn on the simple act of a brother hearing from God. Now, just to make the point certain, it was not what he heard, it was the fact that he claimed to hear the Lord speak to him. Very sad.

Here is the very essence of hearing God. A man I know of, went into the supermarket to buy his wife a rose. It was his practice to do this every week. He picked the rose that he wanted and made for the checkout lane. As he walked toward the line , the Holy Spirit spoke to him, that small still voice from the Shepherd. "Give the rose to that woman." Immediately the man resisted. "Lord, that makes no sense. What is she think I am hitting on her? What is he thinks I am crazy? What if other hear and think I am a weirdo?"

There was such a resistance in his flesh, yet he knew the voice of the Lord, and he knew he had to be obedient. So, he took a deep breath and walked over to the lady and said to her "The Lord wanted you to have this rose." The woman looked at him for a second, then looked at the rose, and as she reached out to take it, she began to weep. She explained."My husband died several months ago. Every week , for years, he would buy me a rose. This morning I was feeling so lost and forgotton, I cried out to God and asked Him if He had forgotton me, I told Him that I needed to feel loved." The man cried too.

Nothing very complicated about that story, just a very simple, beautiful story of how the Lord cares for His people, how He hears our cries and how He answers them. Sometimes with a rose, sometimes with a whisper into out hearts, sometimes with a word from someone, sometimes from the Scriptures. .......

1 Ki 19:11-12 And, behold, Jehovah passed by, and a great and strong wind tore the mountains, and broke the rocks in pieces before Jehovah. But Jehovah was not in the wind. And after the wind was an earthquake, but Jehovah was not in the earthquake. And after the earthquake was a fire, but Jehovah was not in the fire. And after the fire was a still, small voice.

Joh 10:27 My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me.

I love that example.
God spoke in a way that showed his love to someone.

Today though, many people seem to hear God and it's not about his love.
They usually want to hear it to know the specifics in their lives so that they can have more power and control.
Usually, they would want to know things like "am I going to go into this company? When am I going to meet my bride? Should I go to the university?" and so on.
Much emphasis is put on hearing Gods voice, but that voice is always concentrated on doing something in this world that is specifically connected to your life where you are the Lord.

I'm not good hearing the specifics from Jesus, and I always thought that those that could must love him so much more than me, that they must be so holy; they must have been crucified with Christ..
I now see that this is not so.
In fact, hearing the voice of God has very little to do how close your with God.
Wanting to hear the voice of God can actually make you further away from Him if you haven't bowed down before Him and given him the seat as the "Lord."

I just know that as I throw my life away more, and give everything to Him because of his love, I'll learn to hear his voice more and more.

The Lord speaks in many ways to His people, if they have ears to hear. One day I was feeling very low , much like the example I gave, and I cried out to the Lord(in my heart) seconds later a truck passed by with the bumper sticker saying "Jesus loves you!." Co-incidence? Perhaps. I looked heavenwards and smiled. To me, often times the miraacle is not in the event itself, but it is in the timing

http://scottishwarriors.wordpress.com/2007/12/29/the-miracle-is-in-the-timing/ .........Frank

Yes... God speaks to His people. It's called the [b]Bible[/b].

Krispy

Yes Krispy, and He also speaks into the heart of His people, and it never contradicts the Word. Ours is not a cold theology, its a warm relationship of love and communication. He is the Shephard, and His sheep know His voice, that small still voice............brother Frank

I understand that, but in todays church full of believers who never read their Bibles (much less "study" to show themselves approved) most believers go with their feelings instead of the Word of God. Therefore it needs to be stated very clearly that the Word of God is the [b]main[/b] way that God speaks to His people.

You say that He speaks into the heart, and that is true. You say He never contradicts His Word, and that is true.

But I say the vast majority of Christians don't know His Word, and therefore can't tell if what they hear "in their hearts" contradicts His Word or not.

And the result is the mess we see in the church today, with all of our false teachers, prophets, doctrines... and worst of all... mass apostacy.

The Word first.

Krispy

Well...we finally agree brother :) According to Barna, this is the most Biblically illiterate generation in almost 300 years. There are many "good," "pentecostals,' out there who live and stand upon the Word of God. Good Pentecostals and good Evangelicals should work together for the common vision of reaching the lost for Christ..........brother Frank

Well... since we agree on this, let me again say that God speaks to His people today thru His Word. And until one has learned His Word to the point where they can discern between personaly feelings and His voice... they should rely on the written Word primarily.

Krispy

Hi Krispy...

I would be interested to know what you thought of the example I gave in the original post, the man in the supermarket. Did God speak to his heart? ...........brother Frank

It's not my place to make such judgements.

Krispy