While pregnant with my son Chase almost every night James would sit next to me and read a children’s book out loud. The hope was this time spent would train Chase to recognize the voice of his father so when he was born he would remember hearing James in the womb.
When Chase was placed on my chest in the hospital I couldn’t get over how this tiny little boy was the one I had prayed over and dreamt about for so long. James was standing to my left and he bent over and started talking to Chase for the first time. As soon as his voice left his lips, 1 minute old Chase whipped his head back to see who that voice was coming from. A nurse commented that she’s never seen a newborn know and recognize the voice of their father like that.
The entire time at the hospital- anytime James wasn’t holding Chase but was talking, Chase would turn his head in that direction and just stare at him. It was such a sweet moment that I will never forget.
Just like Chase, we too must train our ears to hear the voice of our Father.
John 10 shares a beautiful story of how sheep recognize the voice of their shepherd and run from the voice of a stranger. While Jesus was sharing this story He explained how He is the Shepherd and we are the sheep.
John 10 largely focuses on salvation through Him, however, there is a message of recognizing the voice of your heavenly Father and following Him as He saves you, leads you, and protects you.
It’s a common struggle to know if you’re hearing the voice of God versus your own voice or the influences of others. Many wonder if God even speaks to them and if so, how on earth can they hear it. And if they think they’re hearing it, how do they know it’s really God and not themselves.
Friend, I want you to know that God does speak to His children and all you need to do is train your ears to hear the voice of your Shepherd over the chaos of the world. To know when Christ is speaking to you and when to run from the voices of strangers.
The first two years of this blog I spent hundreds of hours doing research, taking writing courses, attending webinars, networking, subscribing to blogs within my niche, learning from others, publishing a devotional, all while trying to follow a vision God has placed in my heart.
I’ve estimated that between writing for my site, my devotional, and for other sites/bloggers- I’ve written over 200,000 words in a 120 week(ish) period of time.
Around the two year mark, my mind started to go into information overload.
I would sit at the computer and have so many thoughts and nothing at the same time. I would pray and seek Christ thinking that it’s normal to be in a writing fog.
Anytime an idea came to my heart to write on I would remember that it’s because I read it or heard it from someone else in the industry and that it wasn’t God leading me to write on the same subject.
My mind felt like I was standing in the middle of time square with all the lights, fog, people, and noises surrounding me so loudly that I couldn’t hear my own thoughts.
I took a step back and unsubscribed from almost every blog, paused my writing course, stopped signing up for webinars, and only stayed connected with the women I’ve built close friendships throughout this blogging journey.
I needed to clear my mind and heart from all the noise around me so that I can train myself once again to hear God’s voice louder than everyone else’s.
Can you relate?
Do you have so much on your plate you’re constantly trying to balance it all and the chaos of that speaks louder than the voice of your Father?
When the noise around you gets louder then the voice of God you
Or even worse, you won’t be able to differentiate the voice of the stranger who is set to harm you versus the one who protects you.
I had to make the decision to take all the noise out of my life that wasn’t feeding my spirit, spend more time praying and worshiping God, and incorporated listening/watching more sermons for the pure intent of my personal walk with Christ.
Romans 10:17 says, “So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.”
If you want to hear the voice of God in your life or are struggling to recognize it, there is one main thing you need to do and that is read His Word. Spend time studying scripture and aligning your heart with God’s.
2 Timothy 3:16-17 says, “All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right. God uses it to prepare and equip his people to do every good work.”
I remember being a young adult and talking with a mentor about a major decision I had coming up and not being sure which road to take.
I was overwhelmed with
First, this mentor encouraged me with where I was at in the process, but then she asked me a question I’ve never forgotten.
She said, “When was the last time you opened your Bible and studied His word?”
I naively asked how reading scripture would make this decision for me since the answer isn’t written in scripture.
She guided me back to The Word and told me how the more I filled my spirit and mind with The Word of God the easier it will be for me to be lead by the Holy Spirit in my daily life versus trying to figure it out on my own.
To some, this may seem like such a simple concept and an obvious one at that, but sadly, many don’t spend time in The Word consistently.
Throughout the life of Jesus, we see Him withdrawing Himself from the crowds and going to a secluded place to pray to His Father. When He would reemerge back into the crowds He would perform some kind of miracle or make a large decision.
Scripture tells us that Jesus frequently did this practice. It was a habit in His life to break away from all the noise around Him for the purpose of spending time with God, and then come out knowing God’s will for His life.
Luke 5:16 says, “Yet He frequently withdrew to the wilderness to pray.”
Like Jesus, you need to break away from the chaos around you and talk to your Heavenly Father and read His word. You will hear Him speak to your spirit and you will walk in confidence that could only be found through Him when dealing with the busyness of life.
While I fully believe, through examples in scripture, you can hear Christ speak to you through people, His creation (Romans 1:19-20), circumstances, and prayer- all of what you “hear” needs to align with scripture and the only way you can test it is by knowing the Word yourself.
Friend, be encouraged today knowing you have access to your Savior, you can hear His voice while you face anything life throws at you. And that is simply through Jesus and His Word.
Psalm 119:105 says, “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.”
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