How do I have an intentional life of hearing from God?

Listening to God is costly, but it is certainly cheaper than ignoring Him and going it alone.

I believe the primary purpose of a pastor is to help their sheep hear their God speak to them too.

Do you remember the first time God ever spoke to you?

I do.

But do you remember the first time you decided to intentionally listen for God?

I do, thanks to my childhood pastor, my dad.

The first time God speaks it is startling, confusing, and can be gravely misinterpreted. To me, this is the main reason why God gave us teachers and pastors.

I will be the first to admit, it is not normal to hear God speak to us, and it is even more unnatural for us to develop a process by which we intentionally listen for His voice.

Winston Churchill often said during his illustrious political career, “It takes courage to speak and then it takes more courage to sit down and listen.”

When I listen for God, my imagination is ignited by the unlimited possibilities of the One who is speaking. But when I stop listening, or for some reason can’t hear Him, I am left to figure it out through my own limited self on how to deal with all the problems of my life and those I pastor. Most of the time, in these moments, I conclude, it’s not possible. Or, if it is, it’s probably not worth it. My fear, anxiety, and selfishness often get the best of me.

This is why listening to God is so vital to being able to go the distance in the pastorate and the longer you wait to develop this discipline the more difficult it becomes.

I remember the first time God ever spoke to me. I wasn’t trying to listen, He just spoke. I didn’t initially know who it was, but I will certainly never forget it. I was 8 years old.

Do you expect God to speak to you?

It’s not arrogant, it’s simply the evidence that you are Jesus’s sheep, his child.

Jesus said it best in John 10:27 “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.”

Expect God to speak to you.

I know, but what if He doesn’t? One of my heroes of the faith is Oswald Chambers. He lived 1874-1917. He was a Brit. He is most known for the devotional book “My Utmost For His Highest.” His wife published it after his death. Early on in Oswald’s life, he thought he would be an artist, a painter. However, God got a hold of his heart, and he felt the tug toward pastoral ministry. He anguished deeply over this and at one point had only heard the Lord speak personally to him three times in a four-year period.

Oswald expected God to speak. You should expect God to speak to you.

But what if He doesn’t? That is not your part to play in the equation. It’s God’s.

The discipline of listening to God requires you to actively expect God to speak to you.

Time set aside to engage this discipline demonstrates your love and affection for God’s words and presence to you. Sometimes the experiences are good and sometimes, well, I can’t tell any difference.

One time a pastor was getting ready to retire after 40 years of preaching and teaching. One of his congregants came up to him and said, “Pastor, I have listened to you for forty years. I have heard almost every one of your sermons and with the exception of a few, I can’t remember any of them. How does that make you feel?”

The Pastor smiled back at the congregant and said, “Do you remember everything you ate in the last 40 years?” The congregant said back to him, “Very little.” The pastor said, “Do you think you would still be alive today if you hadn’t eaten?” The congregant smiled. He got it.

You and I don’t have to remember everything God says to us nor does the experience need to be all that amazing. But in the end, without it, our souls die.

Jesus told us in John 10 that we hear his voice, and we follow him.

Your ability to hear and respond to God is not based on your accuracy, but your willingness to listen, and God’s faithfulness to speak.

Charles Stanley says it well, “Yieldedness is vital in listening to what He has to say.”

Are you willing? Are you sincerely trying to do what you think God said to you?

The Bible says in Hebrews 11:6b “…He (God) rewards those who diligently seek Him.”

We must put ourselves in a consistent and intentional position to hear from God, but once we have, it is God’s job to speak and our job to respond.

Don’t get hung up on what He said, how He said it, or how you can know for sure He said it. At least for now, just assume you will know and simply say to Him, “When you speak, I will listen, and I will obey regardless.”

Listening to the voice of God is an art that is perfected over time through trial and error. I have had 45 years of experience now and I have experienced a variety of things with my Lord.  I am good Bapti-costal. I wrote a book called “The Mystery of 23: God Speaks.” It outlines some of the trial-and-error issues that we face with hearing from God and how you can be assured you have heard Him speak. If you would like to dig deeper into the finer nuances of fleeces, prophetic words, comparing Scriptures to what God has spoken to you and so forth and so on, I would encourage you to check it out. But whatever you do, keep listening for the voice of God, it is the gamechanger!

Blessings,
Pastor Kelly