Gina Caswell Kelly
How good are you at listening to God? If you are like most people, you are probably saying, “What?” right now. It is true. For many folks, listening to God or listening for His voice is not something you think about very often, if at all. But the truth is that God wants to talk with you daily. Sometimes it can be just a nudge you feel inside of you. Sometimes it might be something that someone else says that sounds like God in your heart. Less frequently, the voice of God is truly a voice!
The thing about listening for God’s voice is that you have to be spending time with Him so you will recognize His voice in your heart. In the days before we had caller id or cell phones, we would just answer the phone when it rang without any idea who might be on the other end. Hard to imagine, I know! If it was my friend Gale calling me, all she had to do was speak one word and I would know immediately who it was because I had spent enough time with her that I could recognize her voice immediately. When you are in a crowd today, sometimes you hear someone’s voice and you immediately turn because you know to whom that voice belongs. That is the same way it is with listening for God. When you have spent enough time with Him, you know His voice. He says in the Bible, “My sheep hear My voice, and they follow Me.” That is how it is supposed to be.
What else keeps us from hearing the voice of God today? We are often surrounded by other noise. We have to make time for stillness and time to really quiet the world and listen for God’s voice. Another thing is the distractions of technology. We are consumed with our cellphones these days. Checking messages. Checking email. Checking social media. Playing games. These activities keep our minds focused on something other than hearing from God.
We also may be expecting to hear a loud voice from heaven. He still can do that, but more often than not, His voice is, as they say, “that still small voice.” In 1 Kings 9, the story is told of God speaking to Elijah. “The Lord said, “Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the Lord, for the Lord is about to pass by. “Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake.After the earthquake came a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper.When Elijah heard it, he pulled his cloak over his face and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave.” God did not speak in any of the ways Elijah might have expected. His voice was in the quiet stillness. A gentle whisper.
Spend some time intentionally listening for the voice of God this week. Listening to His voice will change your life and will definitely make a difference!