ICS Daily Devotions
Tune into God’s Voic
John 10:27(NKJV) My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me.
God is interested in every aspect of our lives, but we need to allow and invite Him into our situation and the circumstances that we are facing. If we take time to tune into what He has in mind regarding our situation, He will speak to us.
With regards to what is openly taught in the Bible, such as whether to love our neighbours or forgive others, we don’t need to seek God’s guidance. However, we must seek the guidance and leading of God when we don’t know His will regarding how to deal with a situation, especially when we are in our “cave of Adullam” experience.
One of the major causes of relationship breakdown is that most people seek to be heard rather than take time to listen in their communication with others. Likewise, we need to take time to listen to God rather than just tell Him what we want. When somebody listens to God, God speaks, and when that person obeys, God works.
The Great Shepherd is a good shepherd who protects His sheep. He leads us to green pastures and still waters, but He can only do that if we are listening and hearing from Him. There are too many voices clamouring for our attention, so unless we listen to the voice of Jesus, we will stray, go our own ways and leave the sheepfold, opening ourselves to the evil one. There is protection in the presence of the Good Shepherd who laid down His life for us, and we must learn to trust Him because He will never harm us but always has our best interest at heart.
Instead of seeking audible voices, we should read the Bible, pray and listen to God’s still small voice. God’s voice comes as an intuition in our hearts, or as spontaneous thoughts that are dropped into our hearts or spirits. They light up our mind from the heart as He directly impresses His thoughts and ideas upon it.
When God speaks, write down the instructions, challenges or directions, and be determined to obey to the best of our abilities. When we listen to God, often creativity flows and plans are hatched. Therefore, we should create a habit of keeping ourselves tuned into God’s voice throughout the day, because if we obey the inner promptings, remarkable things can happen, and as we obey and act on the impressions or promptings, the accuracy of our hearing will also improve over time.
Finally, the experience of being silent before God is more about His presence rather than hearing His voice. We soak in His love just like a child in the presence of a loving Father. This period of silence is not a vocal, busy, sometimes manipulative or over achievement-oriented kind of prayer, but is packed with warm communication.
Sermon Series: From Isolation to Victory: Cave of Adullam to Keilah
