Listening to God

Sept. 2001

By Dr. Mary Craig

Have you ever wanted to sit at Jesus’ feet, up there in heaven, at the throne of God’s glory? Have you also been frustrated in your attempts to hear God, wondering what His will for you might be? How are you at sorting out God’s voice from all those other voices?

In this age, this "new age," when some would encourage folks to talk to angels, I would exhort you to go to something and someone superior. You need to know that because God has spoken to us in His Son, Jesus Christ, you can rise up to the Throne of Glory and Grace. Jesus now sits at the right hand of the Father. He is the Priest-King, the Son of God, the Creator, superior to angels. The message of Hebrews proclaims the excellencies of the New Covenant, that better covenant mediated by Jesus Christ. Yes, Christ is God. As the God-Man, Christ has effected for all who trust in Him a complete salvation. Don’t settle for less. Don’t neglect this "so great salvation."

True, sin separates you from the Source, but the Blood of Jesus looses you from sin that you might be holy unto the Lord. Sin corrupts the soul. The soul that sins will surely die, for the wages of sin is death. Disobedience is sin leading to death. Satan blocks the ear with confusion, static in the airwaves, to effect corruption in the communication process, distortion in the interpretation. Hearing wrongly, you might disobey. Even those desirous of hearing and obeying God’s words find their attempts frustrated at times by corruption in the communication process. Apply the Blood of Jesus. Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God.

It is through Jesus that we have access into the holy of holies. It’s a new and living way, a better covenant. The Blood cleanses our conscience from dead works to serve the living God. (Hebrews 9.14) You can rise up, far above all principalities and powers, and look into the Father’s face. Give Him your full face, your complete attention. Look at Him as He speaks, and you shall hear Him. Isn’t it the same when a parent speaks to a child? The child who attends to the words, the instructions of the parent, hears accurately and so can obey what is heard. And the parent who gives full attention to the child, getting down to his/her level and speaking in a way that the child can understand, is blessed with that child’s obedience. It takes concentration, alertness, focus, undivided attention.

What God gives is to be followed, carried out. Consider God’s servants, the prophets. First they learned to hear God correctly, without corruption in the communication. Then they reflected, considering what they received. They took the instruction, the words, and set themselves to the task of doing what they had heard. They understood that in the performance of God’s words they were not alone, for they were serving God. He was with them, helping, guiding, overseeing the work that it should be done as He had commanded.

Jesus knew. God spoke to us in His Son. Jesus learned obedience. One Man, one Voice, the Voice of His Father, and Jesus Christ spoke words, words that had the power to change people, to transform them. Jesus’ words had the power to heal, power to alter societies and cultures, power to redirect the course of history, power to cause civilizations to topple, power to defeat Satan. Andrew Murray has said that the words of God are creative deeds; they give what they speak.

Jesus Christ spoke words, words which He received from His Father, words that cleanse, make clean, words that bring forgiveness of sin, freedom from bondage, healing, hope, joy, peace, and every blessing from the Voice of the One who gave them through words, even His Father’s Voice. Jesus knew how to listen to the Voice of the Almighty, His Father, while on earth.

Every believer can draw personal reasons from Proverbs chapter 4 to motivate listening to God by studying the following revelations found there:

HEAR correction.
HEAR to receive and retain the words of wisdom.
GIVE attention to know wisdom because good doctrine is being given to you.
KEEP the commands and love wisdom.
KEEP wisdom and wisdom will keep you.
KEEP these words of wisdom before your eyes, in your heart.
KEEP your heart with all diligence for your words spring from within your heart.
LOOK to wisdom and her words.
LOOK straight ahead, right before you.
LIFT wisdom up, and wisdom will promote you and lift you up.

Therefore, COME, CONSIDER, CARRY OUT God’s commands. Let God’s commitment and promises provide personal reasons to motivate you. As you do, God will do.

What’s in it for you? Well, according to Proverbs 4, you can enjoy the following benefits by listening to God:

• God provides you with good doctrine and teaching.
• You will find life in the commands.
• You will be kept and preserved.
• God will promote you, bringing you honor.
• God will adorn your head with an ornament of grace. A crown of glory will be delivered to you.
• You will really live and be blessed with long life.
• Your steps will not be hindered.
• When you run, you will not stumble.
• You will find life and health.
• You will establish your way, for the way of wisdom is the way of the just. Your destiny will shine with every-rising promise.

To listen to God, you must first know that He loves you. He communicates to you a great message in His Son, Jesus. It is the message of salvation. Sin corrupts you and requires correction. God is of purer eyes than to look upon iniquity. He has no regard for iniquity. Love is harmless. Love does no harm. Love protects, promotes, preserves. Love is an outgrowth of wisdom. It is wise to love.

God desires to communicate with you. He spoke through men and through angels. Jesus Christ is the final word. It is God’s grace to take those desiring truth and wisdom and to move upon them in such a way as to correct them, to chasten, to purify, to separate them from evil and sin. The Blood of Jesus sanctifies. It is God’s mercy that you and I are not consumed.

It is important to realize that God, the Creator, wants to dialogue with you. Jesus Christ is the One who mediates the way, access to God. You can come to Him. He will show you the glories of heaven, the glories of His grace, the tenderness of His love. The Holy Spirit governed every thought, every word, every prompting of the heart of Jesus. His was the anointing without measure, the fullness of God. No, you cannot become God, but you can allow yourself and seek to be fully governed by God.

Here’s my suggestion. Be very still, for the Bible says, "Be still and know that I am God." Relax in silence. Stay alert. Actively seek God. Never allow yourself to fall into some passive state of consciousness. Listen as if straining to hear. Breathe. Ask God to communicate to you. Test the spirits, letting the spirit world know that you desire only the One, True and Living God, the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, and none other, no counterfeit, no anti-Christ spirit.

Remember, God’s first line of communication is the Bible, His revelation of Himself to humanity. He speaks through His Word. Praise Him for His willingness to speak, to reveal Himself not only through natural revelation, but also through special revelation. Be open to His teaching and leading. Have your Bible, a pen, and paper ready to write down what you believe you are receiving from the Lord. (That way you can check everything out later against the written Word, for the Holy Spirit will never contradict the written revelation already given. Be a good Berean!) Thank God for His grace, for His Son, for the Holy Spirit, for the Blood which gives you access into the Holy of Holies.

Welcome the Holy Spirit. Tell Satan, "You are bound. I renounce you and all your works of darkness. I want nothing to do with you. Your words are null and void, without influence and effect past, present, and future in my life. Clear these airwaves of distortion, of all and every communication blocks, of corruption. I am coming through to the Throne of Grace and Glory, far above all principalities and powers. I have access through the Blood of Jesus Christ. That Blood pleads for me and witnesses against you."

Ask God to overrule in order that you might hear and heed Him and Him only. You might command: "Every voice NOT the Holy Spirit of the One, True and Living God, go from me now. I hear the Voice of the Good Shepherd, and the voice of a stranger I do not follow. I bind, restrain, ban, and break the power and communication of all voices NOT the Holy Spirit, e.g., voices of demons and devils and their doctrines, evil and demonic spirits and spirit guides, voices of self and of the flesh, voices of the world, voices of corruption, perversion, hypocrisy, whoredoms and error, lying and seducing spirits, all spirits of disobedience, rebellion, and antichrist spirits."

You might pray: "Holy Father, may You come as the Spirit of Truth as promised in Your Word. Speak for Your servant listens. Speak plainly that I may understand. Open the eyes of my heart to receive and the eyes of my understanding to perceive. Illumine and reveal to me what You have written in Your Word. Speak Your heart to me today. Grant me grace, manna, wisdom, life, and the revelation knowledge of Jesus Christ. I come to You in Jesus’ Name, Amen."

Have faith in God, in the Blood of Jesus, and in the working power of God. He will direct you in and through His Word. The eye of faith sees with the mind of Christ. With the mind of Christ you will understand the will of the Father and grow to bear the heart of the Holy Spirit. It happens…one day at a time.