Hear, Part 2

See previous post, Hear, Part 1, for first half of article.

Ask to Hear

God doesn’t force His will onto anyone. If our desire is legit, we will act on that desire and ask Him for His wisdom. When He sees our pure heart desiring to know His thoughts, He will gladly speak, and we will easily hear.

If any of you is deficient in wisdom, let him ask of the giving God [Who gives] to everyone liberally and ungrudgingly, without reproaching or faultfinding, and it will be given him. Only it must be in faith that he asks with no wavering (no hesitating, no doubting). For the one who wavers (hesitates, doubts) is like the billowing surge out at sea that is blown hither and thither and tossed by the wind. For truly, let not such a person imagine that he will receive anything [he asks for] from the Lord, [For being as he is] a man of two minds (hesitating, dubious, irresolute), [he is] unstable and unreliable and uncertain about everything [he thinks, feels, decides] (James 1:5-8, AMPC).

The key is to ask with an attitude of faith with no doubt involved. At times it may seem like God didn’t hear our request, or that we will never hear the answer. When this happens, we need to remind ourselves of God’s promise and expect the answer—no matter how long it may take to get it. Anything else is unbelief—waffling between trust and doubt. We will never receive the wisdom we need with this instability.

 

Take Time to Hear

Even with faith and desire, we can miss God’s direction. Why? Because we aren’t taking the time to listen to God’s voice. We may not take the time for more than one reason, but one of the greatest things that cause us not to hear God’s voice is the distraction of busyness. We get so caught up in our daily do’s that we don’t take the time to listen to the One who’s always speaking, like Martha in the Bible (Luke 10:38-42).

Another reason we may not take the time to listen is because of outside influences and their distracting opinions. This can come in the form of TV and media influences, and friends and family opinions. We’re so busy listening to other voices that God can’t be heard above it all.

The truth is, if we have time to talk to God, we should make time to listen to Him. We love to come before God to ask for things, and to get answers to our prayers. But if we’re not willing to give Him our time to receive His direction, we are short-changing ourselves. Giving God no time always results in getting no answer.

We prove we value God’s Word when we take the time to listen for it. When God sees how much we value it, it inspires Him to pour out His wisdom abundantly. He loves to share the treasure of His Word!

 

Exercise Patience to Hear

Sometimes it may take time to hear from God—to hear the wisdom we asked for. Even if we don’t hear the wisdom we desire right away, we need to have faith that the wisdom is on its way when we ask Him.

And we are confident that he hears us whenever we ask for anything that pleases him. And since we know he hears us when we make our requests, we also know that he will give us what we ask for (1 John 5:14, 15, NLT).

Sometimes it takes time for our hearts to get focused enough to hear the wisdom we need. Other times God has a specific timing for communicating it with us, so we won’t act too soon on the information. He may also need to coordinate with other people and situations before He can share it. Regardless of the reason, we can be confident that the answer is ours. Patience should follow our prayer, knowing God cares more about our situation than we do. Rushing ahead in fear will only lead to getting out of God’s will and God’s best. God promised to guide our steps (Proverbs 3:5-6), but if we turn the steps into leaps of impatience, we will never succeed.

If it seems to take time to get our answer, we need to simply thank God that He heard us, and rejoice that the answer is on its way! These are acts of faith that keep impatience at bay.

 

Identify What You Hear

Like it or not, the devil will do his best to distract us from hearing God’s voice. He doesn’t want us to receive God’s wisdom and succeed at what we do. He’ll send strategic distractions meant to hinder us from hearing God’s voice. He may even lie to us by telling us God’s promise isn’t true, or deceive us into believing that his word is God’s voice.

As he did with Adam and Eve, the devil may try to distract us with what seem to be better options. While we’re praying, he may throw many other thoughts our way—fear, doubt, frustration, and reminders of past failures. The telephone may ring, and a to-do list may suddenly seem more important. They are all strategies meant to keep us from hearing the wisdom of God.

Without fail, distractions sent from the devil will always violate a word from God. It will break the principles of the Bible, or it will contradict something that God told us earlier. He may even send what seems to be a golden opportunity that looks like a sign from heaven. Negative thoughts or carnal temptations may seem like obvious distractions. But an innocent to-do list or basic life demands may not be as obvious. That’s why it’s so important to get to know the voice of God—written and vocal—distinctly so we can know the difference.

 

Act on What You Hear

The moment we receive an instruction from God, we need to act on it!

But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves (James 1:22, NKJV).

This will shut down the devil’s chance of persuading us from doing something else. And it will keep the door open to receiving further instruction from God. If we are faithful to obey the first instruction, God can entrust us with the next one (Luke 16:10)!

When our daughter Amaris was still in my tummy, God spoke to me and said there was a Samuel in my womb. In other words, Amaris has a prophetic calling of hearing and speaking God’s Word like the biblical prophet Samuel. But even if our parents didn’t hear from God concerning our calling, we can still hear God’s voice and respond to what He says. Being led by God’s voice is the lifelong calling for every believer. And it’s as simple as saying, “Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening.”