Faith hears into the realm of the supernatural. A well-trained spiritual ear will hear and know the voice of the Lord. Jesus says in John 10:27, “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me.” Notice He says that His sheep, not the lambs, hear His voice and follow Him.
What is the difference between sheep and lambs? Maturity. And it is mature faith that hears and recognizes the voice of the Shepherd, Jesus Christ our Lord, and will follow Him.
Spiritually speaking, maturity doesn’t necessarily come with time or age. There are many in Christ who have been redeemed for many years, but yet they can only handle the milk and not the meat of the Word. They have to be bottle-fed, and are unable or unwilling to feed their own faith. Why? Carnality. Unless we die to our sinful nature and selfish desires we cannot develop spiritually, and our spiritual senses, such as our ability to hear His voice, are stunted.
There are several ways that we hear the Lord speak to us.
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Through His Word.
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Through the inner voice.
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Through an audible voice.
When we move out of religious duty and into actual relationship with the Lord, He will communicate with us while we fellowship with Him in His Word. It says in Psalm 119:105, “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.”
The inner voice is another way the Spirit speaks with us and is found in Isaiah 30:21: “Your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, ‘This is the way, walk in it,’ whenever you turn to the right hand and when you turn to the left.” This is one of the more common ways that He speaks to us.
I was traveling with a friend on a train in a foreign country and as we were chatting I heard the Lord say to me through the inner voice, “The man sitting across from you is following you.” My friend was unaware what the Lord has just spoken to me. As she continued to speak, I looked up and sure enough this man had been following us.
He also will speak to us at times with an audible voice as He spoke to Moses in the burning bush (see Ex. 3:4). On different occasions the Lord has awakened me from my sleep by audibly whispering my name, “Becky.” I can physically feel the breath of His voice in my ear, giving me clear instruction on what I am to do at that moment or revealing to me in the supernatural realm things that are taking place.
In 1 Samuel 3 we read about a young boy named Samuel who ca hear a voice calling out to him, but he does not recognize the voice speaking to him. It takes the maturity of Eli to teach him who is calling out to him and how to respond to the voice of the Lord.
It is of utmost importance that we train our spiritual ears to hear and recognize the voice of the Lord. To do so we must know the Word of God. The more we know the Word, the more we understand Him and His ways and we can protect ourselves from voices that would mislead us. The Lord will never compromise His Word. This is important when we learn to recognize His voice. Jesus says in Matthew 13:9, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear!”
There are three sources of voice that could possibly speak to our spiritual ears.
- The voice of God
- The voice of Satan
- The voice of human reasoning
The voice of God is always honorable and faithful to the Word of God. It releases freedom to the hearer and never compromises the Word. In Hebrews 4:12 it says, “For the word of God is alive, and active, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, of joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intents of the heart.” In John 8:32 Jesus says, “You shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free.”
The voice of Satan is deceiving; it twists the Word of God just enough to make it sound appealing and accepting to the human flesh. In John 8:44b Jesus says concerning Satan: “He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks from his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies.”
The voice of our human reasoning is based upon our five senses and our emotions and is limited to human intellect. It says in Proverbs 28:26a, “He who trusts in his own heart is a fool, but whoever walks wisely will be delivered.”
A mature spiritual ear hears and knows the voice of our Lord; it protects us from misguiding voices and is trained to follow after the will of the Spirit of God in all situations.
To learn more about the senses of our faith read my book Greater Than Magic.
Becky Dvorak is a healing minister and the Destiny Image author of DARE to Believe and Greater Than Magic. You can find her at her website, authorbeckydvorak.com.
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