“My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me.” JN 10:26

I week ago I had a conversation with one of the wealthiest men in Asia as we were honored guests at his home for their weekly “family dinner”. Due to several members of his family have become Christians, he wanted to hear my thoughts about hearing the voice of God, of which he was very skeptical. I shared a few good examples from my own life and have been praying for God to water this seed in his heart that he might come to faith. But it also left me questioning; had I done better, would this man have become a Christian that night?

This is such a key part of each one of our stories. One day we could not hear the voice of God; the next day we could. Once we were not one of His sheep; now as His sheep it is normal for us to hear the voice of the Shepherd. If we can convince people that God has spoken to us, they are much more likely to believe God can speak to them as well. There really is a part of every man which yearns to commune with his Creator. You may not have thought of this, but Allah will never “speak to” a Muslim, nor will a Buddhist statue ever talk. Hearing God speak to us is something which sets us apart.

In reality, their skepticism is often justified. Some people who “hear God’s voice” are just plane flaky. Others speak of hearing God as though it is something mystical and otherworldly, something the average person out there either can’t relate to or doesn’t want to be a part of. There are also examples of people who have rashly or arrogantly declared what “God spoke to me” only to have it not happen as they said–or worse yet, have them live in such a way that is completely inconsistent with the message. Or how about two Christians saying God said exactly opposite things! We have a lot of misinformation or bad testimonies to make up for.

Whole books are written on this subject, but I want to stir up a desire in you to hear, and hear well. This is not an “elective” course, neither is it one that we want to get a C, a D, or God forbid an F on, as Christians. When God speaks it is creative, powerful, life-giving, and it brings peace. By God’s word we are directed, and corrected; we are strengthened and made courageous. Sometimes it comes to us with the force of lightning, while at others it’s like a like a gentle nudge.

When my host asked me “how do you know?” I told him that it often comes completely outside of ourselves, not being something that we would have even remotely had in mind, like Jonah being told to go to Ninevah. When God told me to go to Taiwan 26 years ago it was like that, since I had never had this thought, or interest, nor did I know anyone there, nor did it occur to me that there was anything for me to do there. And yet as I went in obedience, all the doors opened up before me as naturally yet supernaturally as could be!

As a young Christian I had suffered a horrible neck injury which meant I was forced to use a traction device morning and night. I had done this faithfully for a year and a half when one day I was removing it from my suitcase when God spoke to me “put it away, you will not be needing this anymore.” I was healed instantly of the affects and symptoms of my injury and never did use the traction device again.

During my reading through John this past week, I realized hearing is an underlying theme throughout. Let me highlight a few phases or aspects of hearing the voice of God that I noticed as I was reading through chapters 14, 15, and 16. You might consider these fave as moving along a gentle to intense, like increasing the volume, progression. Most days all of these are operating in my life:

• REMINDING: God may have spoken a word to me, or I may have heard it being preached, or it popped out to me on the page of the Bible, but in an instant this “voice” is dropped back into our hearts instantaneously and directly, like a reminder.
• GUIDING: The voice of God guides me, through peace, or signposts, or a confirming conversation with someone so that I do not wander aimlessly.
• TEACHING: More personalized and direct than guiding, this teaching brings some instruction with it. It is a very amazing thing for God to teach me something which I could not learn on my own but for which I have a definite or desperate need.
• CONVICTING: This can be an “oh oh”, or even and “oh, no”!. This can come to us gently, but also with a force, like an inner shout to our spirits, creating a pressure from the inner man to rise up for right, or stand up against sin or evil.
• DECLARING: “He will take of what is Mine and declare it to you.” JN 16:14. There is no ambivalence here! Sometimes it is just plane hard NOT to hear the voice of God, for God knows how to make it plane.

Beloved, if you are not hearing Him, today is the day to start turning that around. If you have NEVER heard Him, then frankly you might have to simply kneel and make sure that the issue of your salvation is settled now, once and for all. If you SELDOM hear him, then I hope I have stirred up that desire to hear the Lord’s voice, for desire is no small factor. God rewards the thirsty. Then finally, I want you to do something which seems almost antiquated. Just ask Him to talk to you! In 1 Sam 3 we have the story of how God raised up young Samuel to be a prophet. But first he had to learn to hear the voice of the Lord, which happened after Samuel said this simple prayer: “Speak, for your servant is listening.” (v. 9)

Jesus spoke to His disciples in the clearest of terms: “My sheep hear My voice.” May we hear, and hear well. May His voice remind, guide, teach, and convict us. As we respond to and obey these ways He speaks, expect him to “take of what is His, and declare it to you”. The fact that we can hear God speak is one of the greatest treasures of life, and one of the most amazing and attractive thing about being a Christian. May God help us to quiet the skeptics, and to woo our friends and acquaintances as we tell our story. Think about it, the God who created all things, speaks to people like little old you and me. That’s a story worth telling over and over.