Hearing God, Things that Help

I’m contemplating how this matter of
hearing God works. There are plenty of clues in the Bible. The Bible
is amongst other things a record of people who correctly heard the
Word of the Lord. If God spoke to people by His Spirit, at times
without using the Scriptures, and He is the same today, then He can
still speak to people things not strictly written in the Scriptures.
This is not to say that God would say anything which contradicts His
revealed will in the New Testament, or the revelation of His
character found throughout the whole Bible. But if God is a living,
speaking God, then He can give us extra information that is not
strictly derived from an excellent knowledge of the Scriptures ALONE.
The Scriptures talk about gifts and manifestations of the Holy
Spirit, which are supernatural in nature and we believe still occur
amongst Christians today when the conditions are right and God is
pleased to give them.

I would have to say that meditation on
the words of the Scriptures as well as the study of the Scriptures is
an vital foundation for anyone who seeks nowadays to reliably hear
and know the voice of God. It is all too easy to start imagining that
you know God’s voice when you don’t. The diversity of religious
opinion on the internet is proof enough of that. I know I have been
mistaken about the voice of God in the past, and it could happen
again. It may be that the GENUINE KNOWLEDGE of the Voice of God in
our day is very rare and precious even amongst Christians. Like gold
found in the bed of a river with a prospector’s pan, a lot of
washing, sifting, shaking and weighing of things will be required
before we arrive at the genuine article. Like anything worthwhile in
life, the knowledge of God and His voice normally requires effort to
attain to it, even though there is a sense in which it had to be
given by God first in order for it to be received by us.

God is able to speak when He wishes to.
He has not bound Himself to a set of rules in this respect. But if we
are seeking to hear God’s voice, there are some principles which are
important for us to honor if we want the genuine article.

1. Be Obedient to what you already
   know God wants.

2. Get to know the Character of God
   as revealed in the Bible

3. Seek to please God and others
   before you please yourself

4. Believe that God wants to
   communicate with you

5. Be Baptised in the Holy Spirit,
   and seek the Spirit’s fullness thereafter

6. Praise and Worship God

7. Read the Scriptures regularly

8. Speak the Word of God with your
   mouth

9. Meditate on the Word of God until
   you feel its impact

10. Get to a place of peace and rest

11. Do not act in haste or under
    pressure.

12. Wait for God to speak

13. Meditate on the last things God
    spoke to you until now

I want to think a little about this
last principle. I see that God does not “blurt everything out at
once” in his dealings with us. Rather, He builds everything “line
upon line”. What He said last time was preparation for what He is
saying now. And what He says now is preparation for what He will say
next.

I hope to continue this line of thought
at a later time.