God desperately wants to awaken His church to hear His voice.
We do not want to be like the Israelites who desired God’s law, but not a relationship with Him!
Hearing God’s voice is less about doing and more about being.
It’s not as much about doing what He wants us to do, but more about being with Him.
In His presence, we know the heart behind His commands, the spirit of the law and not just the letter of the law and the do’s and dont’s.
We become very quick to disobey when we only know what to do and how to do it, but not why we do it and who it is that commands us when it comes to God’s commands!
When we know more fully who God is and why He desires certain things in our lives and certain things to have not part of our lives, we can more easily obey and be blessed!
Exodus 19:3-8
3 Then Moses went up to God, and the Lord called to him from the mountain and said, “This is what you are to say to the descendants of Jacob and what you are to tell the people of Israel: 4 ‘You yourselves have seen what I did to Egypt, and how I carried you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself. 5 Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession. Although the whole earth is mine, 6 you will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words you are to speak to the Israelites.”
7 So Moses went back and summoned the elders of the people and set before them all the words the Lord had commanded him to speak. 8 The people all responded together, “We will do everything the Lord has said.” So Moses brought their answer back to the Lord.
* Giving of the ten commandments *
Exodus 20:18-21
18 When the people saw the thunder and lightning and heard the trumpet and saw the mountain in smoke, they trembled with fear. They stayed at a distance 19 and said to Moses, “Speak to us yourself and we will listen. But do not have God speak to us or we will die.”
20 Moses said to the people, “Do not be afraid. God has come to test you, so that the fear of God will be with you to keep you from sinning.”
21 The people remained at a distance, while Moses approached the thick darkness where God was.
God’s desire was that the entire nation of Israel would be priests and to be holy. They were all consecrated and prepared to enter God’s presence. However, when the rubber met the road and they were in a position to become priests, they distanced themselves and refused to enter into God’s presence. They wanted to know what to do and how to do it, but not why and who. They desired God’s law over a relationship with Him.
Jesus came to give us this opportunity once again.
1 Peter 2:4-5;9-10
4 As you come to him, the living Stone—rejected by humans but chosen by God and precious to him— 5 you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
9 But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. 10 Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.
God desires to speak to us to reveal not only what His commands are and how to live them out, but why He has given the commands and who He truly His. Jesus said:
John 15:15
I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you.
Servants simply know what to do and are told how to do it. Friends get to see the big picture and understand why they are doing what they are asked to do. Friends get to serve and work with great joy because of their relationship with the master and their better understanding of what they are laboring for.
Jesus loves to share the secrets and the mysteries of the Kingdom of God with us. We are His friends, a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation. Jesus told us that He didn’t speak in parables to make things easy to understand. He spoke in parables so that only those who eagerly desired the secrets of the Kingdom of Heaven would see them and hear them.
Matthew 13:10-17
10 The disciples came to him and asked, “Why do you speak to the people in parables?”
11 He replied, “Because the knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of heaven has been given to you, but not to them. 12 Whoever has will be given more, and they will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them. 13 This is why I speak to them in parables:
“Though seeing, they do not see;
though hearing, they do not hear or understand.
14 In them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah:
“‘You will be ever hearing but never understanding;
you will be ever seeing but never perceiving.
15 For this people’s heart has become calloused;
they hardly hear with their ears,
and they have closed their eyes.
Otherwise they might see with their eyes,
hear with their ears,
understand with their hearts
and turn, and I would heal them.’
16 But blessed are your eyes because they see, and your ears because they hear. 17 For truly I tell you, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see but did not see it, and to hear what you hear but did not hear it.
Tonight, Jesus is sharing with us these secrets. He desires us to see and hear from Him and He is speaking to us tonight. Will we choose to allow the Lord to give us a heart of flesh so that we can see and hear them? Will we eagerly desire to see and hear with the prophets and righteous people longed for, but never received? Even as God has revealed to us, He purposefully did not reveal these things to them so that we would become a critical part of Biblical history!
Hebrews 11:39-40
39 These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised, 40 since God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect.
Tonight, God may speak to you via:
1. His written word
2. His spoken word
3. Impressions
4. Visions or Dreams
5. Natural revelation
6. Circumstances
7. However else He desires – He’s the creator and very creative!
Remember who you are and whose you are – you do hear His voice!
John 10:27
My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me