Chapter 4: His Sheep Hear His Voice 22

Though many in the Body of Christ have embraced the principle of hearing God’s voice, there are still many who struggle to trust it in a practical sense—trusting it enough to lead their lives or even their ministries. Yet the Scripture says:

Romans 8:14

For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.

And again,

John 10:27

My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: These verses emphasize that those who are truly sons of God are led by the Spirit. The Holy Spirit not only leads and guides His children with a Word to their hearts or a vision, but He also causes them to know His will. For those fully submitted to Him, He even influences and controls their actions according to His purpose.

For instance, there was a time when I felt God prompting me to pray for someone, but I was overcome with doubt. I questioned whether it was truly His voice. Before long, the Holy Spirit rebuked me for my hesitation. He instructed me to focus on the soul He was leading me to and to have compassion for her. As soon as I shifted my heart to obey and felt His compassion flood me, I found myself walking over to the individual. It was as if the compassion itself caused me to submit entirely to the Holy Spirit. What followed felt beyond my own strength or will—I was led directly to her and prayed for her as He intended, and He did a miraculous work.

This sort of leading is possible, because, if you have the Holy Spirit, you are literally a son of God. Your body is His temple, designed for His use (1 Corinthians 6:19-20, Romans 12:1), and your soul has been joined in oneness with the Lord (1 Corinthians 6:17). So, where does this apprehension come from? Why do we struggle to trust when God speaks to us?

1 John 1:5-6

5 This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.

6 If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth.

The first reason we struggle to trust God is holiness. Without holiness, there can be no true fellowship with God. Holiness goes beyond the “do’s and don’ts” of Christianity—it extends to every aspect of our daily lives. Do we allow the Holy Spirit to lead and guide us in everything, or do we follow our own plans and pencil God into them? Only when we are absolutely holy and fully submitted to His will can we experience true fellowship with Him. If we are holy before the Lord, the second reason we may not trust the leading of the Holy Spirit is that we’ve trained ourselves to rely on our natural senses more than our spiritual senses.

Hebrews 5:14

But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.

Just as we train our natural senses from infancy, we can also train our spiritual senses. For example, even now, you can close your eyes and begin training your natural senses—focusing more on touch, hearing, or smell. Over time, you’ll become far more perceptive.

Likewise, many of us were birthed into the Body of Christ as spiritual babes, but have never exercised our spiritual senses. We can see in the Spirit, hear in the Spirit, and more, but we are unfamiliar with these abilities because we don’t consistently act on what we see or hear.

Nevertheless, the truth is this: we already see, and we already hear. All we must do now is obey. As God said to me, so He says to you:

“When you call upon My Name, what do you see? Pay attention to the voice of My Words, for I am a God who speaks. Prayer is communion—it is a conversation, not a one-way street.” If you are His sheep, you hear His voice! He shows you things in the Spirit. You can sense spiritual activity and discern the thoughts and intents of men’s hearts. However, you must first embrace that this is your nature as a child of God. Then, train yourself to rely on these senses by acting on what you see or hear from God. If you are truly holy before the Lord, there is no reason to doubt the things you believe He is showing you. He is in you, and He will convict you or give you a sense of unease if what you hear is not from Him. But if it is His voice, you will feel peace when you obey.

Do not be a blind and deaf Saint. As you seek God, listen to Him and pay attention to what He shows you, because without this, your seeking will be ineffective. As you pray for others, be sensitive to His voice, and remember that prayer is not meant to be a one-sided conversation. Our God speaks—and He loves to do so.

Psalm 27:8

When thou saidst, Seek ye my face; my heart said unto thee, Thy face, LORD, will I seek.

Recently, as I was before the Lord in prayer, I asked Him to anoint me in a special way so that I could effectively minister to His people. I prayed earnestly, thinking that such a request would surely please Him—that He would be impressed by my desire to glorify Him in this manner.

However, I was shocked when I heard Him say:

“Has it ever crossed your mind to seek Me so that I bring forth what I have already placed in you? What about the plans I already have for your life? Are those important?”

SEEK GOD’S FACE

It felt as if a door had been slammed shut in my face. Yet, at that moment, my entire approach to seeking God was exposed. I had thought seeking God was only about asking Him to fulfill my desires—to bring about the things I wanted to see Him do in my life. It had not fully occurred to me that God already had a plan for my life; one that was established before I was born. He had already placed gifts within me to impact the Body of Christ according to His will.

This is the difference between seeking God’s hand and seeking His face.

SEEKING GOD’S HAND VS. SEEKING HIS FACE

When we seek the hand of God, we are only seeking Him for what He can do for us. Now, don’t misunderstand—seeking God’s hand is not inherently wrong. In fact, He instructs us to ask, seek, and knock. However, if this is all we do, we risk developing a transactional relationship with God.

Consider this:

What if someone in your life only came to you when they needed something? Never to check on you, never to know your heart—only to make requests. How would that make you feel? Used? Unloved? This is exactly what happens when we only seek God’s hand. On the other hand, seeking God’s face is about knowing Him. Even if He never did another thing for us, seeking His face is a relentless hunger to know Him intimately—to understand His ways and to be called His friend.