Hearing the Voice of God
by Dr. John Tetsola
This is the greatest time in the history of the Church for the Body of Christ to develop the ability to hear what the Spirit of the Lord is saying. Dullness of hearing has become one of our greatest problems, both individually and collectively. Most people erroneously think God is not speaking because they are unable to discern His Voice. Yet there remains a hunger within the hearts of many in the Body of Christ who yearn to know how to hear the Voice of God.The development of our spirit man is very essential to our ability to understand God's guidance system. Our spirit can be educated and improved, just as our minds can be educated and improved. Man's spirit can be trained and built up just as the body can be built up.
But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they
are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.
I Corinthians 2:14Spiritual things cannot be understood with our natural mind. The mind must be changed. It must be renewed by God's power and Word in order for us to clearly understand and know when God speaks or is leading us in a certain direction. Man is a spirit. He has a soul and he lives in a body.
God is a Spirit: and they that worship Him must worship him in spirit and in truth.
John 4:24Jesus told the Samaritan woman, "God is a Spirit, and they that worship Him must worship Him in Spirit and in Truth." We cannot know God or touch Him physically. God is not a man. God is a Spirit. We cannot communicate with God and hear from God through our mental faculties. But we can touch Him with our spirit. It is through our spirit that we can come to know God.
God wants His people to be complete and mature in every area so that they will be able to discern, discover, and recognize His presence. God wants His people to know, understand, and be able to comprehend when He is leading. This is why we don't need to be relaxed and become complacent in the good and acceptable will of God. We must desire to come to that point in our Christian experience where we hear and speak to God without any hindrances. The Church must come to the place of accuracy and spiritual sharpness concerning the things of God.
One way we get to the place of accuracy and sharpness concerning the things of God is by meditating on the Word. When believers today hear the word "meditation", they frequently associate it with a time consuming task, but what they actually fail to realize is that meditation adds a refreshing quality to the study of the Word. Meditation in the Word of God is one of the greatest keys to obtaining understanding through hearing the Voice of God. It is not surprising that the devil continually tries to destroy the message of meditation on God's Word.
Meditation means "to walk and talk and to memorize." It means to visualize and personalize the Word of God. It means to fill your thoughts with the thoughts of God and become consumed with the thoughts of God and the things which God has said. When this is done, it becomes very easy for a believer to understand and hear when God is speaking.
This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success.
Joshua 1:8This is a very powerful scripture. God is saying, "If you will meditate on My Word day and night, and speak that Word and obey it, everything in your life will be prosperous and successful." One purpose of meditation is to position the believer in the place of doing God's Word. Another purpose of meditation is to position the believer in the right place where he or she can be able to know when God is speaking. Meditation in God's Word will also help the believer to clearly understand the leading of the Lord.
Meditation will cause you to respond to God's Word with action. The results of meditating on the Word of God are tremendous!
Notice that the Scripture says, "Thou shalt make thy way prosperous." That means you!! You are responsible for your own prosperity!! It is determined by the extent and degree of your commitment towards meditating on God's Word. Remember, it is God's Word and not what the world says. It is only in the King James Version that the word "success" is written and recorded. When we begin to give ourselves completely to meditating on God's Word, God will then become the guarantee of our success and profit.
There are three biblical ways of meditation. They are as follows:
Learning to speak the Word aloud so that your ears can hear what you are saying. The Hebrew word for "speak" is the same as "to meditate." When you begin to tell believers and unbelievers about the great God we serve, about His power and His strength, we are actually meditating. Learn to talk about what God is doing. Whatever is in your heart will come out of your mouth in abundance. Do you know that anxiety and worrying is a form of meditation? The problem is that this is a wrong kind of meditation. When you begin to ponder and think and speak aloud about that negative situation in your life, what you are simply doing is meditating on the devil's junk!
The next way of meditating is by musing on God's Word. The word "muse" means to "ponder, think, consider and to carefully study a thing." This is common among most believers. This has to do with an individual taking a thought or a promise of God's Word and keeping it under their continual consideration. This has to do with memorization. Many believers get uptight as soon as the word "memorization" is mentioned. Some believers will say, "Listen, I am too old for that memorization stuff." They actually believe that memorization is meant for the younger Christian. This is why most ministers and believers are unable to quote a Scripture by heart. They cannot even tell you where the Scripture is found. This is very embarrassing and humiliating. The Church needs to meditate on the Word so much that the Word becomes a part of them.
Finally, I will consider the muttering of the soundness of God's Word. This involves speaking the word of God out of your mouth. The only difference here is that the words are spoken quietly, as if one is speaking under his or her breath. Muttering of the Word helps a lot. You can use it while in the laundry room. During your study of the Word, it is advisable to take two or three promises of God in His Word and begin to mutter them to yourself. It is very enriching and will thoroughly bless you.
We need meditation. We need to spend more time with God and meditate upon His Word. It will bring a great development to the spirit man and when this is accomplished, our minds will learn to be quiet long enough so that we can hear, understand, and interpret the Voice and leading of God.
By Dr. John A. Tetsola