Hearing God’s Voice, Part 7
We have been discussing how to hear God’s voice and in the study we made some key points that can really help us hear God more easily, and know how to react when we’re not sure we are hearing Him at all. To summarize what we’ve discussed so far:
- God’s voice is familiar,
- God’s voice carries authority,
- God wants to talk to us,
- When we seek Him, He directs us even if we don’t hear Him,
- Hearing God is easier when our lifestyle focuses on Him,
- We must compare what we hear to what’s in the Bible,
- We must pray about what we hear.
To wrap up the series on hearing God’s voice, I want to look at one final element which is illustrated in a passage from Proverbs.
Surely you need guidance to wage war,
and victory is won through many advisers.Proverbs 24:6 (NIV)
Strategic planning is the key to warfare;
to win, you need a lot of good counsel.Proverbs 24:6 (MSG)
So don’t go to war without wise guidance;
victory depends on having many advisers.Proverbs 24:6 (NLT)
Sometimes hearing God for various things in our lives is difficult because the Bible doesn’t give a specific direction about everything and our emotions can interfere with our ability to separate God’s voice from our own. Some questions—who to marry? What house to buy? What school to go to?—simply cannot be answered by randomly opening a page in the Bible (for the most part).
The passage in Proverbs 6:24 communicates an interesting message. All three translations say the same thing in their own unique way; that is, we should solicit the advice of other Christians we know and trust when making key choices in our lives.
Blessed is the one
who does not walk in step with the wicked
or stand in the way that sinners take
or sit in the company of mockers,Psalm 1:1 (NIV)
After we’ve sought God, read the Bible and prayed, getting feedback from others can help confirm what we’ve heard or provide us with different perspectives that we had not yet considered.