Still More on Listening

      Yes, I am sensing that I need to write still more on hearing God's voice. I think last week's article is argument enough for why I wish to keep writing about this even though many, many books have been written: we cannot be transformed nor can we participate in the transformation of our culture through the Good News of the Kingdom of God apart from the intimacy with God that hearing His voice facilitates. So today I want to talk about the place of Scripture in hearing God's voice, plus a few other thoughts on discerning Papa's voice.
     People often ask me, "What does God's voice sound like?" Hmmm, God sounds like…well, He sounds like God! So one of the best ways to discern His voice is to get to know Him via His written word. If you will memorize and meditate passages that describe His character and purposes, and if you will get to know God as revealed in Jesus by reading the Gospels over and over, you will immensely improve your ability to recognize His voice. Take 1 Corinthians 13, Galatians 5:22-23, for example. These passages supply us some wonderful filters for determining whether what we are hearing is really God. If Paul says, for example, that "love is patient, love is kind, etc." and God is love as we are told in 1 John 4:16, then don't you suppose God's words to you will be characterized by patience, kindness, etc.? You get the picture, I think, yet many believers somehow believe that God's voice is always confrontational, rather harsh, etc. What's wrong with this picture!? Galatians tells us that the fruit of God (His Spirit) is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. That tells us that God's voice will be loving, joyful, patient, kind, good, faithful, gentle and not filled with rage or anything out of control. 
     Also, passages like 1 Corinthians 14:3 (prophecy, God's voice given through His people builds up, comforts and encourages!) and Ephesians 4:29 (which tells us how we are to speak to one another and hence how God will speak to us), help to open your ears to hearing God's voice as one of encouragement and expressions of love for you. This in turn will help you begin to hear Him for just the sake of relationship, not just direction and guidance. 
     And speaking of "guidance," we must be careful not to think of it as merely coming to God for something to do for Him. That smacks more of a slave mentality than of a son or daughter in conversation with their Father about life and life choices. Some of the teaching about guidance that I have heard or read sounds more like hearing God is more about "checking in with the boss" then going out to do what he said in a basically independent manner. It seems to me rather that guidance is what will flow out of a continuing conversation with God as we walk with Him throughout our day. As we converse with Him, we discuss our life’s direction in the light of His heart and purposes and the best way unfolds before us. This to me is what Jesus was describing in John 5:17-19. Yes, there is submission to God’s purposes, but it’s the submission of a deeply loved and therefore loving son or daughter, not the servile, self-interested submission of a slave! And yes, living as a slave reeks of profound self-interest because a slave obeys in order to preserve or gain something for him/herself rather than other-oriented love and a desire to serve the interests of the loving Father. Think about it and you will discern that what I write here is true.
     I close with a few quotes from Smith Wigglesworth that I have given in an earlier blog--just good reminders on what God sounds like (from Smith Wigglesworth Speaks to Students).
     “The difference is joy, gladness, expression; instead of sadness, sorrow and depression. You are always right to test the spirits to see whether they are of God. If you do not, then you will be sure to be caught napping.” (p. 128)
     “If ever you know anything about God, it will be peace.... God showed me a long time ago... that if I was disturbed in my spirit and was at unrest I had missed the plan.” (p. 129).
     “So these voices, if they have taken you out of peace, you will know it is not the will of God. But If the Spirit speaks, he will bring harmony and joy, because the Spirit always brings three things: comfort, consolation, and edification and will make you sing songs in the night..”.. “If you go breathlessly to the Bible, looking for confirmation of the voice, that is the devil.” (p. 31).
     On my next post I will continue to write about hearing God's voice. We will look at how surrender and stillness aid us in hearing Him.

Listening for Papa's kind voice,

Tom, Abba's Little Boy