How Is Your Spiritual Hearing?

Recently my hearing aid mysteriously disappeared. I had very little hearing for a day. This brought to mind the topic of this article. In John 10:27, Jesus says, “My sheep hear my voice.” The question is, how well do we as Christians really hear and listen to God’s voice?

For those of us who have accepted Jesus as our Savior, God can “speak” to us in a variety of ways. One way is by having the peace that passes all human understanding in times of anxiety, troubling circumstances, or in a difficult decision that needs to be made, as expressed in Philippians 4:7. “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God, and the peace which surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”

Another way the Holy Spirit speaks to us is through giving a sense of urgency to do something. One example is what my dad experienced years ago. He went down the same street to his office every day. One time he told my mom that he had a strong impression that he needed to leave right now. As soon as he arrived at his office, he heard a loud explosion. A commercial jet and a private plane just had a mid-air collision, and the wreckage had fallen on that same street. If my dad had not listened to the Holy Spirit’s voice that morning he probably would have perished.

From my writing years comes another account of God giving strong impressions of urgency. I had a strong impression to compose and post an article on  FaithWriters on a particular subject. The impression was that I needed to get this done in the next couple of days. I did so. I got an email from a reader in Switzerland telling me that my article was just the thing she needed in making an important decision.

The Holy Spirit also speaks through other people to give confirmation for a particular calling in life, especially when it concerns some type of ministry. I recently had a conversation with the new, young pastor at my church. He related to me how more than one person had said to him that he should become a pastor.

There might be other ways unique to your life situations where God has spoken to you. I encourage you to share them in the comment section below. It would be an encouragement to other readers.

The big question is how receptive are we to God’s voice? How well can we hear it? In our culture of noise and activity, unless we make a time of silence and stillness, the voice of God may not be heard at all. How much of our environment at home is conducive to hearing his voice? It is easy for the troubles of life, activity, noise like the TV on loud all day, and other distractions, to drown out the voice of the Holy Spirit.

It is imperative that time is set aside one or more times each day, even if only for 5-10 minutes, to allow God to speak to us. During this time of stillness and quiet, one can read an inspiring book, listen to Christian worship music, or watch an inspirational show on TV. However, the most important way is to spend consistent and regular time reading the Bible. Holy scripture, I believe, is the primary way God speaks to his sheep, and when he does, “we must pay close attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away” (Hebrews 2:1).

God’s voice will be heard if one is making it a priority to listen to it. It is powerful! Hebrews 4:12 says, “The word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.”

If you are one of God’s sheep to what extent are you hearing and listening to God’s voice?