Jesus said, “My sheep hear My voice”. Pretty straightforward. No ambiguity there.
So do you?
I don’t mean on rare occasions. I’m talking about a way of life.
Most Christians don’t.
As a result, they try to make sense or derive meaning from circumstances such as, “I saw a billboard today with a message. Maybe that was God speaking to me.”
Well, that’s certainly possible, but it’s more likely it was the advertiser speaking to you.
You can know His voice for sure however, and I’m going to try to summarize the “how”, in this blog…
First of all, are you one of His sheep? Have you been born again? If so, you are one of His sheep. But yet you say you don’t hear God’s voice. At least not with consistency, as a way of life.
Are you lying when you say you don’t hear God?
Certainly not. Because lying, be definition, is the intent to deceive, and I’m sure that’s not your intent.
So, why the disconnect?
Here’s the answer…
Where does God live?
Jesus said that if anyone loves Him, that person will keep His word and He added, “My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him.”
So, go with me here… Does He live in your arm? your leg? only in your mind? No.
Paul says in Ephesians 3:17, “...that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith;”
So Jesus is always speaking to you in your heart with real words, pictures and impressions. Now catch this… Those words, images, etc., that He releases in your heart are not processed in your mind.
They’re being blocked!
If Jesus is in you, they ARE RECEIVED in your heart and then sent up to your mind, but because your mind is not very renewed, there’s an automatic blocking process that operates in the sub-conscious realm that blocks messages that contradict what it already believes.
One of the strongest beliefs is, “I don’t hear from God.” But that arrogant belief is a lie if you’re born again. Either that or you are saying that Jesus is lying.
You’re not… are you?
So let’s get to the problem…
Paul tells us in Romans 12 to “be transformed by the renewing of your mind”. Well, in any renovation project I’m familiar with, you must first deconstruct (tear out) the rotten construction materials from the past.
These are beliefs in your mind that have accumulated over your lifetime that are faulty. And it is those beliefs that are blocking out the voice of God as it tries to make entrance into your brain.
Another big lie is that God said all you need to hear thousands of years ago, and if you want to know what God said, read the Bible.
As if God is somehow a mute now. Lost for words. Silent.
Of course you should read the Bible, study it and meditate on it. It is His Word. But He didn’t take up residence in you, just to go along for the ride. As Jesus said, the Holy Spirit lives in you to, among other things, “teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you.”
Because of deeply embedded false beliefs, your mind is playing whack a mole with the answers God is sending up to your mind.
The thing about beliefs is that you don’t have to consciously think them for them to have effect. Once they’re embedded, they are there to stay unless you do what Paul said and renovate your mind.
Without that, there’s no transformation, and without transformation, there’s no manifestation.
How do you identify the faulty building materials in your mind?
You marinate your mind in God’s Word and the faulty materials will rise to the surface for removal, much like dross in the refining pot.
That’s when you replace those faulty building materials with the iron girders of God’s Word. You embed them in your mind and ultimately in your heart, through repetition and application.
The new materials act like a conduit or chauffeur to transport the fresh Word of God, the spoken Word of the Holy Spirit up from your heart, free from obstruction, into your mind, where you can process it and translate it into your native language and actionable intelligence.
As more and more of the faulty building materials are replaced with the Truth of God’s Word, His voice becomes more and more discernable, translatable, and actionable to you, and you need never wonder again, what God’s will is in any circumstance.
Believe it or not, I have a ton more to say on this, but hopefully this will give you a cursory overview of one big reason for the apparent disconnect and the solution.
God bless you my friend!
A different take — will require more thought…
Thanks
It is indeed a different take Bill. And for me, made sense. 😊
Thanks for commenting!
Thank you for this word today. I know I truly needed to understand it. I know "Abba" isn't speaking less, I just believe there's so much noise with all the drum beating going on, I have a hard time with discernment sometimes. Your Blogs are always on point.
Hi Cheryl… You are so right… Thee is a lot of drum beating going on. Also, a lot of clanging cymbals. Hence the need to press in to Him and exclude some of the other noise. Thank you so much for commenting!
Awesome! You clarified the points with excellence. Yes, start with making sure I am a sheep. Your precision hearing and obedience are so evident. Thanks for sharing.
Thank you Amy! Appreciate you taking the time to post a comment.
Blessings!
I learned that renewing our mind everyday through the Word of God and yielding to the Holy Spirit is a lifelong commitment as God's child.
Help us Heavenly Father to always have the eyes to see and the ears to hear what the Holy Spirit is saying. In the Lord Jesus Name. Amen.
Thank you for this blog. Highly appreciate it.
Thank you Osher. You are right. It is a continual process. Proud of you for following hard after Him!
Blessings,
…beliefs in your mind that have accumulated over your lifetime that are faulty. And it is those beliefs that are blocking out the voice of God as it tries to make entrance into your brain."
That explains a lot for many of us.
Thanks for this insightful blog
Hi Linda… It does, doesn’t it.
Thank you for taking the time to comment.
Blessings,
Thanks, Michael…………Yes, I need to work on that!
Also, thanks for the invitation to join the Rick Osborn 5 day event, which I attended and on which I made copious notes.
I'm following 2 other mentors at the moment, Emma Stark at Global Prophetic Alliance in Glasgow, and Benji Alexander at Raising Royalty, from NZ, so I didn't sign up for Kingdom 40 though it sounds fantastic.
Blessings,
Morag
Thank you Morag! I understand. Thank you for attending and for commenting on this blog.
I like this message
Thank you Kenneth
Thank you Michael good interpretation.God is so good Michael,I call Him the master communicator.He work through seasons and cycles of His master time.Because time as no hold on Him he created it for us.He know,s how to get through to us through all our stupidness.My decides wife said Greg your not listening to me cause you always want to talk,cause while I’m talking your already planning what your going to say instead of listening to me.So one day I thought wow she’s right,then I thought do I do that to you too God and He said yes,you pray and talk and then you go on your merry way and then don’t wait on me to speak,cause you don’t believe I’ll speak to you.”Selah”
Very good comment Greg. So true of most of us. Things, they are a changin’
Bless you my brother!
I am happy to be on your mailing list. When my stepmother died10 years ago, I was given some of her books. Among them was the small book of scriptures from 1988. I was curious to see what happened to you since that time as I was I impressed with the book and carried it in my purse. Shortly after I did that search for you, you invited me to attend the 5 day face to face with Jesus challenge which was great.
I would love to be able to converse with the Lord. Generally, I hear his voice as thoughts or impressions. One time, he woke me from sleep with an audible voice saying: Now is the time. I am ready for more.
Thank you
ISome reasons why many Christians don’t think they here from God.
Why not ask the Lord to speak to us as his sons
Environment is key, spending more time in the word, praying in the spirit, spend time with those that are where we want to be.
I can tell you this if we ask anything according to his will, he will perform it.
I think that God is speaking, but he is not telling us what we want to here, or we are so caught up with the cares of the world, some of us are too busy that our ears, and eyes cannot understand.
All of us dream, this is one way he speaks to us.
Good day, better yet, God day, dear brother. I could see your lips moving yesterday, but it was Messiah whom I was hearing during your presentation during the 5DF2F challenge. I had stopped hearing Rick on day four already. I thank Messiah for the invite. I thank you for being one of His vessels.
It is sad to have a serious problem and not have the solution. It’s even sadder to have that problem, have the solution and not know it. It is even sadder to have a serious problem, have to solution, but doubt its efficacy. Sadder even to doubt its efficacy and not even give it a shot. I’ll stop there…
A problem so much bigger than us requires a so much bigger solution. Since He’s bigger than us, we can’t have Him, He has to have us. An ant may have its elephant, but it’s the elephant who has the ant. A loving relationship is not necessarily a relationship of equals. We were recreated, even recreated. He never was or will be.
Yes, the disconnect is a big problem. I have come across people who in their youth were shepherds in North Africa. In a gathering of shepherds, sheep will only respond to the voice of their shepherd. You offer a plausible explanation for the disconnect. Is it the only possible explanation? Hear is not a proper translation of “shema.” I’ll stop there…
In Messiah’s first coming He saw that Jews had bought into a lot of fake news about the Old Testament. Grace is not lawlessness. In His second coming, I’m afraid He will find that the Church has bought into a lot of fake news about both the Old and New Testaments. Ecclesiastes 1:9.
Thank God He is true to His promises and promised that there would be a remnant. He has people in place He has and is preparing for such a time as this. He’s coming back. I already know where He’s gonna be for the next 40 or so weeks. I’ll stop here.
Hi Louis… So glad you could catch the 5DFTF challenge and that you could through my own stammering lips, you found a way to hear the Messiah. That is the goal. Thanks for sharing. I’ll see you on the 40 week tour. Blessings!
Hi Michael, such a great support. Funnily enough I thought that I couldn’t get things from head to heart. But perhaps it works conversely because whereas the Lord speaks to our spirit/heart when we try to learn something it goes from the mind to heart or should do. My biggest problem is that I have a mind/body disconnection , mostly because of inadequate coping strategies I taught myself pre-verbally. The doctors are at a loss to help, But the Lord understands everything and he understands me perfectly. So looking forward to this year, and then the rest of my life. FREEDOM AT LAST.
Hi Margaret… I agree. I always thought of it as being hard to get from head to heart, but I do believe it is equally the converse. You were a delight to see on the 5 day challenge with Rick Osborne. Bless you Maragaret!