"Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber. But he that entereth in by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. To him the porter openeth; and the sheep hear his voice: and he calleth his own sheep by name, and leadeth them out. And when he putteth forth his own sheep, he goeth before them, and the sheep follow him: for they know his voice. And a stranger will they not follow, but will flee from him: for they know not the voice of strangers. This parable spake Jesus unto them: but they understood not what things they were which he spake unto them" (John 10:1-6).
Many Christians walk around in life with no clear direction. It's as if they are blind, and their means of direction are when they bump into a wall and turn in another direction until they hit another wall. I believe this is because they don't know how to hear God's voice.
God is always speaking to us. He tells us things collectively in the body of Christ, but He also tells us things individually, specifically for our lives. Jesus said in John 10 that His sheep know His voice and will flee from a stranger's voice. Right after He says this, the scriptures tell us that the people listening to this parable did not understand what He was saying. They heard His voice, but they didn't know it.
One thing that I have discovered in life is that there is a big difference between hearing God's voice and knowing God's voice.
"And he said unto them, Unto you it is given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God: but unto them that are without, all these things are done in parables: That seeing they may see, and not perceive; and hearing they may hear, and not understand; lest at any time they should be converted, and their sins should be forgiven them" (Mark 4:11-12).
When Jesus was sharing the parable of the sower sowing the seed, He made this bold statement. We've been given the mystery of God's kingdom. We know all things (1 John 2:20)! Hearing with your natural ears is not necessarily understanding. Hearing is just receiving information, but understanding is knowing what that information is useful for. And wisdom is used to know what to do with the information that you know is useful. Take the time to read that again until you understand it.
Jesus told us that the sheep not only hear His voice (John 10:3), but they know His voice (John 10:4). In the police force, they use certain means to communicate with each other over the radio. These are called 10-codes. The code that is used to communicate that certain information was received and acknowledged is "10-4." Whenever you hear anyone say, "10-4," that means they have received and acknowledged what they heard. They didn't just hear it; they acknowledged it. I find this especially interesting because the verse that says, "...the sheep follow him: for they know his voice" is John 10:4. Now, I'm not sure if this is a great coincidence or if the people who created these 10-codes were Christians and knew this verse. Whatever it may be, this is incredible to me. Whatever Jesus tells the sheep, they listen, and they know what He is saying.
In the American Heritage Dictionary, to acknowledge means "to admit the existence or truth of." You aren't just hearing information. You are admitting that what you heard is true. Do you believe God 100% of the time, or do you just believe Him when it makes logical sense? That could be the biggest problem in your life.
Abram (before his name was changed to Abraham by God) was given a promise from the Lord that he would be a father of many nations, but Abram didn't have a single child in existence. Genesis recorded that Abram "believed in God," but Romans recorded that Abraham "believed God." That might not sound profound, but it is. There is a big difference between the two.
“And [Abram] believed in the Lord; and he counted it to him for righteousness" (Genesis 15:6, brackets added)
“For what saith the scripture? Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness" (Romans 4:3).
Abram was not fully persuaded. He was promised to have children, but because He didn't believe what God said fully, he and his wife Sarai tried to have a child by their own means. Sarai let Abram have relations with her handmaiden, Hagar, and she bore Abram’s child (which wasn't the promised child from God). Because of it, there was strife in the group between Sarai, Hagar, and her son. Abram heard God's voice and heard His promise, but because he did not fully understand it, he tried to make it come to pass through his own efforts.
When God changed his name from Abram, which meant "exalted father," to Abraham, which meant "father of a multitude," God helped Abraham believe the promise. Whenever someone introduced themselves to Abraham, he had to say that he was a "father of a multitude" when he spoke his own name. This got him to a place where he fully believed the promise and was fully persuaded, as it says in Romans. One year after his name was changed to "Abraham," he saw his promised son, who produced the generations that led to the birth of Jesus. Abraham heard and knew the promise when Abram only heard it.
God is always speaking to us but most of us are only hearing His voice and not knowing His voice. Stephanie and I have been in a relationship since 2017, but we've been involved in a friendship since 2014. This year, we will be approaching ten years of friendship. Yes, my wife is still my friend, and not only that, she's my best friend. But did you know that if we were in a crowded room together and many voices were talking, I would be able to hear her voice over all of the others? This is because I know her. Although I might be able to hear everyone else speaking, Stephanie's voice would be the only one I'd respond to because I know her.
"My son, attend to my words; incline thine ear unto my sayings. Let them not depart from thine eyes; keep them in the midst of thine heart" (Proverbs 4:20-21).
There is a reason this scripture tells us to listen to His words and His sayings. To me, this indicates that there is more than one voice speaking at the same time. Just like how I could discern Stephanie's voice out of all the other voices in that room, we, too, should be able to discern the voice of God out of all the others. There are many voices trying to influence us in this world.
Satan is referred to as the god of this world (2 Corinthians 4:4), and he will use people to try to take you off the right path. Satan can disguise himself as an angel of light (2 Corinthians 11:14). He will use people and things of this world and make them appealing to your eyes and ears to the point that he has you believing they‘re from God. Many times, he lures people away with money to get them distracted from their calling, and they end up working forty hours a week and spending no time with their families because of money. It looks good on the outside, but it is not God's best.
When you don't know what is from the enemy and what is from God, you are in big trouble. You might hear God's voice, but because you don't know it is from Him, you won't follow. Proverbs 4 tells us the key to knowing God's voice. We need to incline our ears, keep our eyes on them, and keep them in our hearts. The Word of God should be our best friend. The more you spend time in God's Word, the more you will get to know Him. John 15 tells us to abide in Him because if we don't we are like a branch that has fallen off from the tree. We cannot produce fruit in our lives if we are detached from the tree. When we keep God's Word in our hearts, we can hear and understand God's voice in every circumstance.
We’ve had many big decisions to make at Deep Rooted Church. Every time that God has revealed the next step for us to take, we've taken it. Through the process of obedience, we need to be very attentive to His voice and His plan. We know that the enemy is going to try to get us off course at some point, but as long as we hear and know God's voice, we won't be misled. God is always speaking, and if we don’t know His voice enough, we could become misled and miss every potential opportunity that comes our way.
"For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future" (Jeremiah 29:11).
A lot of people know this verse. But I want you to think in your heart and answer to yourself, "Do I truly believe this?" Do you truly believe that God has a plan specifically for your life? If you do, then stay in His Word to discover what that plan is. Let God's voice become the only voice you know and listen to. If you don't believe this 100%, I would encourage you to ask God to help you with your unbelief.
God will always help us with grace and love every time we ask. God would use physical things in Abraham's life to help his unbelief. He would tell him things like, "I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore" (Genesis 22:17). God used the sand that Abraham walked on every day and the stars that Abraham saw every night to help him visualize the promise He gave him. God will do this in your life. He will help you believe and become fully persuaded. But you need to know His voice before you can hear the promise, or the enemy will try to trick you.
God will not force you to believe and understand. You need to seek it and understand it for yourself. God will help you, but He will not force it.
"According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue" (2 Peter 1:3).
The Word of God is the knowledge of who He is. His Word will show you how to hear His voice. Get alone with the Word and start knowing God on a whole different level.
Live in the victory.
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