Hardwired to Hear God’s Voice ~ Part 1

Hardwired to Hear God’s Voice ~ Part 1

By Pastor Gary Wayne

Text: John 10:1-5, 27

Shepherding in Jesus’ day was much different than in our American culture. The shepherd basically lived with the sheep, to the place he knew them on sight, individually. Me – one sheep looks just like another.
The sheep were so familiar with the shepherd, that two or three different herds could come together in a pasture, and when it was time to go, the shepherd would call to his sheep, and they would separate and follow him.

God wants to have that kind of relationship with us.
He wants open and intimate communication. And the foundation for any good relationship is two-way communication, not just one way.

Often I find we frequently dismiss the voice of God because we think we are “making this up,” or we are unaware of the many ways God uses to speak to us.
Sometimes people wrongly believe that hearing God speak to them is a unique gift for a select few.
But I believe every person has been hardwired can hear God speak, but Christians, have the Holy Spirit living inside us. We have Him speak to our spirit, soul and body, to regularly and consistently connect with God.

To me this phrase hardwired means that this is built with you when we were created by God, it was not an afterthought, or added later, after you became a Christian. Becomeing a Christian awakens this within us.

Seldom does God use an audible voice to talk to us.
What are some of the ways you know God uses to speak to us?
The Bible, Thoughts, Impressions, Dreams, Sermons, Circumstances, Another person (your spouse), ….

Ro 8:16 “The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God,…” He communicates Spirit with spirit.

Ver.27 Jesus said His sheep DO hear His voice.
So we can hear, but I think the #1 problem is we discount the voice, because of lack of experience, or I don’t recognize what or how we are hearing as being the voice of God.
The mistake we usually make is thinking His voice is just my own thoughts.

Heb 5:14 “… those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.” Listening to God requires practice.
Just like learning a new skill, it takes time to get better at hearing and recognizing His voice.

I believe we need to “EXERCISE” listening.
And the more I exercise and practice, I develop my sensitivity to distinguish His voice from other voices.

What other voices are there? There are four options.
God’s voice, my voice, other people’s voice, and the enemy’s voice.

How do you know the difference?
I don’t always know, so here are a couple rules to test the message.

God will NEVER speak something different than His word – the Bible.
So when I have an impression, thought, or word from somewhere:
I test it against Scripture. Does this align to the Bible?
I ask God to confirm this some way.
I ask a trusted Christian friend or spiritual leader.

What does God’s voice inside me sound like?
Close your eyes, and not using your outside voice, inside your mind, recite your phone number.
That is usually how He sounds.

Can a person make a mistake and get it wrong? Absolutely!
Know this, God doesn’t get frustrated when I “try” to exercise faith and end up missing it. THAT’S NORMAL!
I think it’s the person who doesn’t try from fear of making mistakes that shuts His voice down the most.

I want to challenge us, in spending time loving Jeus, simply ask: “God I want to become more sensitive to hearing Your voice. Help me know how to “exercise” my senses to discern Your voice.”

God’s Phone # Jer 33:3 “Call to Me, and I will answer you, and show you great and mighty things, which you do not know.”