Repent, my people! Heed the voice of God! Listen to Him as he speaks and when it seems He is asking too much of you do not immediately reject it. Bring the Word you have heard to believers who have learned to repent, to change, to be transformed, to begin acting in a new and different way. Bring the Word you have heard from God to a mature believer, to a brother or sister who you have seen in the act of being transformed, giving up something that is precious to them in order to receive something better from God. Bring the Word you have heard to someone who knows Jesus and the Holy Bible. Let them help you discern if it is indeed the voice of God. And when you know it is Him who is speaking, just do what He says.
God loves you more than you will ever know. Hearing His voice will do you good when you obey it. It will set you free. "My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me, I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand." (John 10:27-28)
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Yesterday at Crossroads Pastor Lalahery (La) Andriamihaja brought what he called a "lemur" trap to show the children (lemurs are native to Madagascar where Pastor La grew up). The trap was simply a hollow coconut with a 2" diameter hole in it... in the hole was a 1" ball of aluminum foil.
Lemurs love shiny things as much as monkeys love fruit, and millions (both lemurs and monkeys) have been trapped by grabbing whatever is put inside because they would not let go even when their hand would be caught in the coconut... and the coconut was attached to a stout cable which, in turn, would be attached to a tree.
Monkeys, lemurs, and so often, people, they just
will not let go, even when they are trapped. As a human beings, of course, you are able hear words and understand them. You can get advice from people who are wise. And you can learn that "hanging on" is bad for you.Even so, you may choose to continue to hang on. You might be more stubborn than an animal. You may KNOW it is good to let go, but still choose to hang on. You can decide that the "voice" telling you the Truth is actually just one more opinion. You can become an unbeliever and no longer recognize Wisdom for what it is--the Voice of God.
One way to begin to hear God's Voice is to start obeying what He says today. Is there an area of your life, even if you think it is not important, that you know you have kept to yourself, something that you are pretty sure is something God would have you change or let go of but that you have honestly been stubbornly hanging onto? Your unwillingness to obey the Lord in that one area of your life could be deafening you to hearing God in other ways.
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Perhaps you're not sure if this "one thing" is a concern to the Lord. If you're not hearing from God, and think that there may be an area of disobedience in your life, pray about it and ask God to speak to you about that "one thing" first... that could be the key to a open, two sided mutual relationship with God.
If it continues to be the case that you don't seem to be able to hear from the Lord, I'd suggest that you seek out a Christian brother or sister, a believer, a disciple of Jesus, someone who has heard God and obeyed, even when it was hard, and talk with them about this. Ask them to pray for you, to counsel you, to search the Scriptures with you, to see if indeed this "thing" may be stopping your spiritual hearing. Jesus promises to be with us when we honestly share with a brother or sister in the Lord. There's a verse about Jesus being present and answering prayer when "two or three" are gathered together.
Who can be a "spiritual coach" for you at this time? Ask God to help you find someone. Look for someone who has already heard God and obeyed even when it was hard for them to do so. Perhaps this "someone" has repented of sin. Perhaps this person has been through major changes and you think they could have only "made it" through that change with God.When Christians have made the hard choice to obey God in spite of temptations to stop listening, they can understand as others are going through the same process. Such Christians are will be both firm and caring because they know it's good to release what had seemed precious (things, ungodly relationships, attitudes, appetites, habits, addictions) in exchange for what is truly valuable. They can honestly walk beside you as you learn to live free. And as you do, you will begin to hear the clear loving sweet voice of our Lord.
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- “The kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking fine pearls, and upon finding one pearl of great value, he went and sold all that he had and bought it." Matthew 13:44-45
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