"Therefore Eli said to Samuel, "Go, lie down, and if he calls you, you shall say, 'SPEAK, LORD, for your servant HEARS."
God's first characteristic revealed to men was the power of his word. He is a God that speaks.
Genesis 1:3 "And God SAID: let there be light."
Genesis 1:6 "And God SAID: let there be an expanse in the midst of the waters."
Genesis 1:9 And God SAID: let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place."
One of the first senses that a child develops even before being born is hearing. The child begins to learn the sound of his mother and father's voice.
1. Our Heavenly Father
God is our Heavenly Father, and He speaks to his children.
As children of God, we are also developing and don't instantaneously develop perfect hearing upon becoming followers of God. Instead, learning to hear God's voice is part of the growth process. It's through trial and error that we learn to discern His direction. We calibrate our receiver by learning what His voice is and what His voice isn't.
2. Don't be Afraid of Missing God's Voice
We can't fear failure. Many people are so afraid to miss God's voice that they end up prolonging the learning process. We learn by getting it right and sometimes by getting it wrong.
Remember Thomas Edison's famous story about learning to make the light bulb. The thousand failed experiments led him to the one that worked.
There may be times you feel the Lord is speaking to you about something, and you are correct. There may be other times that you miss his calling, but don't let that discourage you. Allow the trial and error moments to teach you when He is truly speaking to you.
3. Learning to hear God's voice is a process.
Just as a child has to go through the complex process of discerning voices, we must also embrace the journey of knowing our father's voice.
I am still learning to hear God's voice, and I have been working on it for over forty years! Sometimes I get it right, sometimes I get it wrong, but I am alright with that because I know it helps me learn.
I can't allow the enemy to beat me down when I miss it. I have to keep moving forward with the understanding that I am a work in progress.
Conclusion:
I encourage you to keep a journal of what you feel God speaks to you and see what happens afterward. You can then look back and identify the times when you were tuned in and possibly see times when you may have missed His voice. Either way, you will be better off as a result of stepping out and trying. You'll learn to calibrate your receiver to His voice over time.
Have a Blessed Week,
Pastor (Rev. Elias Limones)
Comments