Knowing the voice of the Lord starts with a desire in our hearts and a prayer. There are times it seems an impossible thing to hear His voice, and I’m not surprised if some people wonder if He really does speak. Then if He does speak how does one even know He is talking or even saying anything to us, especially we who are all sinners and so unworthy of Him? Who am I that He would even talk to me?
Many of us don’t really know what love is. We grew up in messed up households so when we finally find ourselves wanting to have a loving relationship with God, we respond to His love with suspicion. We think He’s out to get us, or to require something great from us that we cannot possibly give to Him. So we shy away from committing ourselves completely to Him. Yet, we continue to have this hunger in our hearts for a sweet relationship with Him. We have a tug of war in our minds with God and we cannot understand Him at all. But, if we simply drop all our fears and inhibitions before Him and ask Him to show us what love means, then we will end all our frustrations. We need for Him to show us what love means. He knows how too. We need Him to teach us by showing it to us in our lives. This might take years in the making but it will be all worth it. In the meantime, we need to talk to Him and ask Him to give us faith in His love for us, and to give us the ability to hear His voice.
Don’t put yourself down when coming to Him, thinking that you are not deserving of His attention or that He should speak to you at all, or for that matter for anyone of us really. Yes, He is great and awesome. The Bible states that He is so great, it is a humbling of Himself for him to even dwell in the heavens. Meaning, He is so awesome and mighty what is heaven to Him, much less, the earth? This is how King Solomon puts it:
“But will God indeed dwell on the earth? behold, the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain thee; how much less this house that I have builded?” {1 Kings 8:27}
It is not easy to believe that He would speak to us at all. He is so great. Who are we? We are mere humans, simply His creation. But see He does speak. If we are to read the Bible, from Genesis to Revelation we see the Lord speaking all the time.
That’s the thing; we forget so many times, that God is a God of Love too. The Bible tells us that God so loved the world He gave His only begotten Son that whoever believes in Him will not perish but have everlasting life. {John 3:16} That word “so” is another way of saying God is so in love with us that He is willing to die and give His life for us. That means He will not be able to help Himself but speak to us. In truth, it is almost like we have God wrapped around our little fingers – we are that powerful – simply because of His great love for us.
I don’t know how else to put it except to imagine a good father on this earth with his first born little baby in his arms, and that baby somehow finds their father’s finger and squeezes and holds on to it, and before you know it that wonderful father has tears in his eyes. He is so in love with his child and nothing, no amount of rational thinking will ever stop that father from loving that child. It doesn’t matter if he or she does something that will disappoint him later in life, he will continue to love that child no matter what happens.
We often forget that God has made us like Himself. We think we have to make God to be like us – understand us. Yet, the Bible states that we are actually created in His image. We are like Him – who we are in our emotions and in our way of thinking and feeling, He is. We are who we are because God made us so. We try to understand God but all we need to do is look at ourselves. There is a spirit in us that is eternal and can feel pain and sorrow as well as joy and gladness. God feels the same way too. No surprise because that’s where all these emotions came from. When we are happy He knows how to feel happy too. When we are sad He knows how to feel sad too. The way we feel, He feels. Therefore, if we know how to love, He is way more advanced and great in His way of loving because He is the God of Love and all these emotions started out from Him. As a matter of fact, He feels much more than we do. He is far more emotional than we are. Everything that we are emotionally, God is.
So, next time you are doubting if He will ever speak to you, just look at yourself and imagine yourself in love with someone or if you have a child, in love with your child. If you are in-love, then you would want to have a relationship with that person you love. You would want to talk to them and hang out with them. You would want to know their fears and their joys. You would want to share everything that they are. They don’t even have to do anything for you except simply to respond to your love.
So is Christ. All He is asking is for us to respond back to His love.
How, you may ask? By simply talking to Him and believing in His love for you. Simply talk to Him and have a relationship with Him. That’s it. Be honest with Him as you talk to Him and leave everything for Him to take care of. Don’t worry about trying to please Him and trying to be holy and upright and all that stressful stuff. He will take care of that for you as you talk to Him. He has done everything after all: created this beautiful world we live in, given us our breath and provided for the things we eat and drink, died for our sins, and overcame the principalities of this world. There is nothing really we need to do for our part but simply take the time to talk to Him. The faith you have in His love for you will draw Him to you, and will bring Him to give you that wonderful relationship that you are longing for with Him.
The Lord knows how to let us know He is speaking to us. After many years of talking to the Lord I have come to know His voice. It’s not very much different from us. He doesn’t speak with an audible voice all the time, though He can and He has in time past spoken to me audibly. But for most of the time He speaks back to me in my mind. It’s almost as if I have another mind. He knows our hearts, our thoughts, and everything in this life, remember? So He knows exactly how to respond to my thoughts. He is a Spirit. He understands me. King David said it this way, “Thou knowest my downsitting and mine uprising, thou understandest my thought afar off.” {Psalm 139:2}
The Lord said through Prophet Jeremiah that if we seek Him with all of our hearts we will find Him. {Jeremiah 29:13} That’s all I do. I just tune into Him in my heart, and because He has given me His Holy Spirit I can know His thoughts back as well. I can tune into Him and see His Spirit in me and know in my spirit what He is saying back to me.
Knowing the voice of the Lord takes practice though. It takes quiet moments of being alone with yourself and tuning out the world and hearing Him in your spirit. Be talking to Him in your heart and in your mind, and ask Him to speak to you and know His voice. The more you do this, the more you will know His voice. Remember to always come with your heart and keep yourself from doubting and analyzing and questioning yourself of your validity to Him. He loves you already! Stop second-guessing His love for you. If you have something in your past or even current history that’s keeping you from completely being open to His love for you, just come out and say it to Him. Just confess it to Him, ask for His grace and forgiveness, and move on. If you’re having a hard time moving on, ask Him to help you. Ask Him to help you on what to think and what to feel. And remember; stop trying to figure Him out in your mind. You must come with your heart to find Him. Just open that heart out and shoo all your doubts and fears away of being worthy of His love for you. Whatever thoughts that demean you and make you feel like you are not worthy of God’s love is all Satan’s work. Remember the good dad who loves his child so much she has him wrapped around her little finger. That’s you. That’s me.
God loves us so much He laid down His kingly robe in heaven, came down through the form of a woman we call the Virgin Mary, and became a living soul, a human being, for our sake. He wanted so much to be with us and belong to us, to be loved by us, and to overcome the darkness of the wickedness of this world that’s plaguing us. Satan knows that the minute we truly believe in His great love for us, he is done for. He cannot compete with God anymore. It’s by his constant nagging at us and tormenting us with self-doubts and insecurities he can win against God. His attacks on us are really directed toward God. The more he can make us unhappy, the more he can hurt God. But please, don’t let him. Stop those doubts from plaguing you and open your heart wide to God’s great love for you. That opening of your heart wide to His great love for you, and that hour of communion with Him and talking to Him will be the game changer for you. It will catapult you to receive Him and know Him. It will usher in all of those wonderful possibilities of who God is in your life. It will cause you to know who He is and when He is speaking to you. You will come to know His voice. Just believe and talk to Him.
“And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart.” {Jeremiah 29:13}
“Therefore my people shall know my name: therefore they shall know in that day that I am he that doth speak: behold, it is I.” {Isaiah 52:6}
“Can any hide himself in secret places that I shall not see him? saith the LORD. Do not I fill heaven and earth? saith the LORD.” {Jeremiah 23:24}
“Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight; everything is uncovered and exposed before the eyes of Him to whom we must give account.” {Hebrews 4:13}
“The LORD is near to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.” {Psalm 34:18}
“Take words with you and return to the LORD. Say to Him, “Take away all iniquity and receive us graciously, That we may present the fruit of our lips.”” {Hosea 14:2}
“And rend your heart and not your garments. Now return to the LORD your God, for He is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger, abounding in loving-kindness and relenting of evil.” {Joel 2:13}
