May 22, 2025 • 26 mins
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Prayer was meant to be a two-way conversation. But in today's noisy world, hearing God voice can feel impossible. How do we recognize when our Heavenly Father is speaking?
In this episode I share five keys to hearing God's voice. First, we must believe that God actually wants to speak to us. Jesus himself said, "My sheep know my voice."
Whether you're struggling to hear God through life's noise or seeking deeper intimacy with Him, these five keys will help you grow in confidence that you can hear your Father's voice. Subscribe now to continue this journey of growing in relationship with the God who loves to communicate with His children.
Purchase a copy of my latest book! Covered in Prayer: 31 Prayers to Cover You and Your Children in God's Grace
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Audrey (00:00):
Hi friend, welcome back to Grace From my Home.
I'm Audrey McCracken and I'm soglad to be back with you again
this week.
I hope that you're doing well.
I hope that you're gearing upfor a fun summer.
We are making plans today forwhat we're going to do with our
summer.
My kids always amaze me.
The things I think they'regoing to want to do for summer
(00:22):
they don't.
They want to do things that,honestly, are to me, just aren't
as exciting.
They want to visit cousins thatlive far away.
They want to visit, they wantto go to amusement parks, which
doesn't surprise me, but they'rereally not into big, exciting
things like I think they'd wantto do.
You know, I mentioned let's goon a cruise, let's see if we can
(00:44):
get a good deal on a familycruise, and they weren't
interested in that at all.
So I'm trying to find somethings, some fun things, for us
to do this summer, because ouroldest will be in college next
year and I want to enjoy someone-on-one time with him and
family time with him.
And then my next one is righton his heels.
(01:05):
He'll be a.
He'll be a senior next year inhigh school, and so I know my
time is short with them.
Not that they're going awayforever, but it changes, you
know.
It's just a different.
It's a different dynamic.
So, but, looking forward to thesummer and I hope you are too
I've found sometimes that justmaking plans makes me excited
(01:25):
more excited than the actualplans like just sitting down
thinking about what we're goingto do.
Sometimes that's more fun forme than actually doing it, and
I'm one of those people who loveto plan.
I love to plan.
It's just putting the plan intoaction sometimes is where I
stumble.
So I've got great plans.
But here at Grace For my Home,we're in the middle of a
(01:45):
five-week replay series whereI'm revisiting some of my most
downloaded and listened toepisodes from the podcast, and
these are the messages that havereached the most women.
And today is one of my personalfavorites.
While these episodes are airing, I'm working on things.
I'm working on things for you.
I'm taking some focused behindthe scenes time to finish
(02:10):
writing my new book, to getprepared for launching my second
podcast.
I'm going to start a dailydevotional podcast that's going
to air Monday through Friday.
Just a short five, 10 minutepodcast to help you start your
day.
But this week I'm returning toa podcast episode that aired in
May of 2023, and it's calledHearing the Voice of God and,
(02:33):
like I said, it's been one ofthe most popular podcast
episodes that I've done, and Iwent back through and listened
to it and I think you'll enjoyit too.
It was a good reminder for meand I think that you'll be
blessed by it too.
If you've ever wondered how doI hear the voice of the Lord, or
if you've ever struggled withhearing God clearly in the
middle of a busy life, then Ipray that this episode speaks to
(02:56):
you and that it reminds youthat he still speaks and that he
loves to speak to you becauseyou're his child, and that if we
listen, then we'll hear him.
So enjoy Hope.
You have a great week.
See you back here again nextweek.
Hello friends, welcome back toGrace From A Home.
(03:17):
I am so thankful to be back herewith you guys this week and I
am looking forward to summer.
We have about one more monthand our summer will officially
begin.
My boys will be out of school Iwon't be homeschooling and we
are already planning've already.
(03:38):
We're already planning our, oursummer vacation together, and
sometimes I think that's morefun than the actual vacation.
You know I enjoy finding therooms and we know where we're
going to stay and buying thetickets, and you know, just
thinking through how are wegoing to do this.
That's fun for me, andsometimes I enjoy that more than
(03:59):
actually going on vacation, butwe're excited about that.
Looking forward to that, we'replanning on going to
Williamsburg, virginia, thisyear and we haven't been there
in several years, so we'reexcited about that.
I also wanted to share with yousome not so good news.
Share with you some not so goodnews because I've mentioned her
on my podcast before.
I wanted to tell you guys thatthis week we had to say goodbye
(04:28):
to Bella.
Bella was a lab retriever mixand we've had her for 12 years,
but she was not doing well atall.
She had arthritis and we weregiving her medicine and then
more medicine, and she'd gottento the point where she could.
She was not mobile, and so itwas just cruel to to let her go
on that way, and I had actuallycanceled two, two vet
(04:52):
appointments before.
Finally, you know, talking witheverybody and saying you know
we've got to do this, and so wehad a rough few days and it's
still.
We still miss her very much.
We're still having a hard timeadjusting, especially when we
come home and she's not therewagging her tail and begging for
treats.
But my boys have never knownlife without Bella.
(05:16):
She's just always been thereand I'm thankful to the Lord for
her.
She was a gift from God for ourfamily.
But last week I had mentioned toyou I wanted to talk with you
about hearing the voice of theLord and just encourage you in
that, and I think it's soimportant that we, as God's
(05:40):
daughters, as mothers that areraising children in the world we
live in today, that we haveears to hear the voice of the
Lord, that we know how to hearwhat our Father is saying,
because we live in a time whenthere is so much being thrown at
us all the time and you knowwhat I mean.
(06:03):
I mean from the news to socialmedia, to you know, just going
to Walmart.
There is so much, so muchinformation all the time.
You know so much that isbombarding us, so much that is
bombarding us, and it's soimportant that we have a line of
communication with our Father,that we can hear what he is
(06:24):
saying to us and that he knowswhat we need.
So I just want to share withyou today my thoughts on hearing
the Lord's voice.
So today I'm going to sharewith you five keys for learning
how to hear the Lord's voice andrecognizing when he is speaking
to you.
(06:44):
And my hope, my prayer, is thatthis will build your confidence
and faith that not only does hewant to speak to you, but that
you can hear him when he does.
And the first key is believingthat God wants to speak to you.
Now that may seem verysimplistic, that may just be
(07:05):
like really did you have to evenmention that?
But I do, because, see, I foundthat a lot of people, they have
a belief that it is wrong toask to hear from the Lord or to
ask the Lord to speak to them.
There are whole books that arewritten about how God does not
(07:28):
speak today.
And if you believe that, thennot only would it be hard for
you to hear from the Lord, butyou would even feel guilty for
wanting to.
And you were redeemed by theprecious blood of Jesus so that
you could be in relationshipwith God, so that your
(07:52):
relationship with God could berestored.
Your relationship with Godcould be restored.
God sent Jesus because we nolonger could have a relationship
with him and he greatly desiresus to be in fellowship with him
, to be his family.
We are adopted into his familyand so I believe, since now we
(08:14):
are part of the family of God,that he wants to speak to us.
He wants to communicate with us.
You know that's part of havinga relationship is that you
communicate with each other.
Jesus said my sheep know myvoice, and I believe that God
(08:34):
wants to communicate with us.
Now, when I say hear the voiceof the Lord, I'm not talking
about an audible voice.
I have never heard that, notsure I want to.
Don't know if I could handlethat.
I'm talking about communicatingwith heaven.
I'm talking about when I prayand I need an answer on a
(08:55):
decision, that I can get thatanswer from my father.
I'm talking about when I'mgoing through a particular
situation and I need wisdom thatI know how to receive that
wisdom from above.
And to me, that is talking toGod is when I know my father has
(09:20):
given me what I need, when Iknow that he has communicated to
me his heart, and I think weall need that.
So I believe the first key tohearing God speak is believing
(09:41):
that he wants to, becauseotherwise we won't ask or we'll
feel guilty for asking.
And we need to know that it'sright, that it's good, that it's
natural that we hear from ourfather.
And so that's the first key.
The second key is spending timein prayer, because prayer is a
(10:04):
two-way communication.
It is not just us going to Godand giving Him our wish list, or
us telling Him what we want Himto do in our lives or telling
Him what we need.
It's not even just us going toHim and thanking Him for all
he's done, or us going to Himand quoting Scripture.
All those things can be a partof prayer.
(10:26):
We can bring Him our requests,we can give Him praise, we can
thank Him, but that's just apart of the communication, and
communication is two way.
So the more we go to the Lord inprayer, you know, the more we
communicate with heaven, Ibelieve, the more sensitive we
(10:47):
become to his voice, to whathe's saying to us.
You know there are times inprayer when we just need to be
quiet.
That's hard for me.
I'm a talker and sometimes I'llgo to God and I'm trying to
plead my case.
I'm trying to get it all out,and sometimes we have to plead
our case we have to do that, butthen we have to stop and listen
(11:11):
, and that gives the Lord anopportunity to speak.
We've all had conversations withpeople where we know that
person doesn't really care whatI have to say.
Have you ever been in I knowyou have Like you're talking to
somebody and they're talking,and they're talking and talking,
(11:32):
and the only time they stop isjust to ask you if you're in
agreement with them.
You know they don't really carewhat you have to say, and so
sometimes we go to the Lord andit can be like that we're
telling God everything we needand what we want, what we think,
but we don't pause to say whatdo you think, lord?
Lord, I'm listening.
And so the first key is talkingto him.
(11:57):
When we talk to him, we learnhow to listen to him, we open up
the line of communication.
So the second key is to spendtime with God in prayer.
We must draw near to hear.
We must keep the lines ofcommunication open.
(12:18):
The third is asking God specificquestions.
Now, this is kind of ties intoprayer, I know, but I've found
in my prayer time or anytimewhen I'm talking to God driving
down the road in my car thatwhen something is bothering me,
(12:38):
if I can ask him Lord, can youexplain this to me?
I remember hearing people saythat it's wrong to question God.
But I don't believe that,because I believe God is big
enough to handle our bigquestions and that when we can
(13:00):
ask him a question to me, it'slike healing, because I know,
even if I don't get the answerright then, that I've put it in
his hands.
I've said, lord, I don'tunderstand this, but I ask you
to show me.
And when I do that, it's likethere's a piece that, okay, it's
in his hands now.
And I do this about a lot ofthings, even in reading the
(13:24):
Bible.
Sometimes I'll read through theBible and I'll come to a
scripture or passage and I'll belike I have no idea what God is
saying in this.
I don't understand.
And I'll say, lord, I don'tunderstand this.
Can you give me anunderstanding of what you're
saying here?
And sometimes it may be a longtime before I get it, so we can
(13:51):
ask him about that.
Lord, what do you mean in thisscripture?
What are you saying in thisscripture?
That's asking him a question,that's putting the ball in his
court, so to speak.
Other things.
There are really toughquestions that I think we need
to ask God.
There are things that happenedto me that I just really
struggled with as a newChristian, wondering, okay, if
(14:11):
God allowed this to happen, howcan I believe he loves me?
That I just really struggledwith as a new Christian,
wondering, okay, if God allowedthis to happen, how can I
believe he loves me?
And so I have had to take thosethings to the Lord in prayer
and say, lord, I need you toshow me why.
And you know, the thing aboutasking the Lord question is
(14:34):
usually you're not going to getan immediate answer, but, like I
said, you're putting the ballin his court.
And number two is it's neverthe answer you think you're
going to get.
You know, sometimes we go to theLord and we ask him questions,
but we think we already know theanswer.
But see, the beautiful thingabout having a relationship with
God is that he doesn't fit inour box and he can bring an
(14:57):
answer that brings peace andhealing to our hearts like
nobody else.
And so when we ask Himquestions, we're allowing Him to
be God, we're admitting wedon't know everything and we're
opening ourself up to hear howhe sees it, he sees it from
(15:18):
above, he sees the whole thingat one time and we're just
seeing a little piece.
And so I've found that to hearfrom God one of the best ways
for me is in prayer and inasking Him specific questions.
And, guys, there are a lot ofquestions I've asked that I
(15:39):
haven't got the answer to, andthere are a lot of those
questions I may not get theanswer to till I see him face to
face.
You know, when I get to heavenI have a lot of questions.
Now, when I get there, they maynot matter, you know, they may
melt away, I may just know themor they may not matter anymore.
But I believe that he does notmind and actually wants to
answer the questions that areburning in our hearts and we can
(16:03):
trust them with him.
And it opens up the door ofcommunication with heaven when
we do that.
Number four spending time in hisword.
God will never speak, contraryto what the word of God says.
God's word is infallible andit's inspired.
(16:26):
It's his holy word, and so whenwe get in that word, I think of
it almost as the language ofheaven.
When we get into his word, welearn what he's done for us.
We learn who we are, we learnwho he is, and it's almost like
(16:51):
the language that he uses tospeak to us.
You know, when Jesus waspreparing his disciples for his
soon coming departure.
In John, chapter 14, he tellshis disciples in verse 26,.
But the helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in
my name, he will teach you allthings and bring to your
(17:12):
remembrance all that I have saidto you.
So when we're born again, theHoly Spirit comes, he lives
inside of us, he resides insideof us and he brings to our
remembrance God's word when weneed it, the words of Jesus when
we need them, and so we have toput that word in there to give
(17:33):
him something to bring to ourremembrance.
Right, if we've not heard it,how is he going to remind us of
it?
So when we get in God's wordand we learn what God has said
and what he has done, and and wecommit those things to memory,
then we're giving the HolySpirit something to bring back
when we need it.
How many situations, how manytimes have I been in a situation
(17:56):
where I didn't know what to doand I would just pray under my
breath Lord, help me.
I don't know what to do, and ascripture would pop up.
You know, sometimes I've beenin a situation where I've been
fearful and a scripture will popup Fear thou not, for I am with
you.
Be not dismayed, for I am yourGod.
I will help you, I willstrengthen you.
(18:18):
That's one of my favorites, incase you can't tell.
And so the Holy Spirit willquicken it.
He'll bring it back to yourremembrance and give you
something to rest on.
And to me, that is God speakingto me.
He's speaking to me through hisword when I need it.
And so when we get into theword of God, we learn the
language of heaven and he canpull it up when we need it.
(18:42):
So by reading the Bible, bymeditating on scripture and
hiding his words in our hearts,then it gives us that line of
communication with heaven wherehe can speak to us in his word.
And this also goes for whenyou're sitting down reading the
Bible.
I'm sure many of you have hadthat experience.
(19:03):
Where you're sitting there,you're reading the Bible.
Maybe it's something you'veread over many, many times, but
for some reason a particularscripture just stands off the
page and it's like you've neverread that scripture before.
But you know you have.
But today it's like illuminatedand see, that's the Lord
(19:23):
speaking through his word to you, that's the Holy Spirit and
they're saying pay attention tothis.
And so just sitting downreading the word gives God an
opportunity to speak to ourhearts.
Number five is listening for hisvoice, and what I mean by that
is tuning our ears to heaven.
(19:45):
To hear Starts with that numberone, believing he wants to
speak.
But this is more of listening,quieting our hearts, our minds,
putting our ear to heaven,saying Lord, do you have
anything today that you need meto know?
I think about Paul.
He said you know, pray withoutceasing.
(20:06):
Well, we can't pray withoutceasing.
Right, we'd be number one.
We would be really odd in thisworld if we're always talking.
But it's not that kind ofprayer.
It's having an attitude ofprayer, it's being in a state of
prayer, especially when I'veprayed, and I need an answer.
Sometimes I'll find myselfthroughout the day I've tried to
put my ear to heaven.
Lord, what are you saying?
(20:27):
I even pray that scripture inSamuel, where the Lord spoke to
Samuel and he kept thinking itwas Eli, but finally he realized
it's God speaking to me.
And so he goes and he says Lordspeak, for your servant is
listening.
And we have to get in thatposture to hear Lord speak,
(20:49):
because your daughter'slistening.
And when we can tune intoheaven, say Lord, give me ears
to hear what you're saying.
You know, help me to besensitive to what you're saying
today.
Then we open up our ears tohear what he has to say and it's
then that we can receive it,because if we're so busy with
(21:10):
everything else that we're notlistening, then we won't be able
to hear.
So listening for his voice isnumber five.
Let's do a quick recapBelieving that God wants to
speak to you, that is the first.
Number two spending time inprayer.
(21:32):
Number three asking Godspecific questions.
Right, that's like putting theball in his court.
Okay, lord, it's your turn.
Number four spending time inhis word.
His word is the language thathe uses to speak to us.
Number five listening for hisvoice, having an ear to hear.
(21:56):
You know, tuning in to what ismy father saying.
So those are the five keys thatI wanted to share with you today
, and my hope is that they willbuild your confidence that God
wants to speak to you and thatyou can hear what he has to say.
You know, in the Garden of Edenit says that the Spirit of the
(22:19):
Lord came down in the cool ofthe day and fellowshiped with
Adam and Eve in the garden, andafter the fall, after sin
entered the picture, thatfellowship was broken.
And so one of the wonderfulthings about what we have
received in Christ is that, onceagain, we can enjoy fellowship
(22:42):
with God, we can know Him and wecan share our heart with Him
and we can hear from Him.
And so I just encourage youtoday to ask God to speak to you
, to ask him to answer thequestions that you need answered
, to show you what is on hismind.
(23:03):
Because, guys, we need that.
We need a real, true, livingrelationship with Jesus, where
he is not a creed on the wallbut he is alive and well and
living in our hearts.
And before you go today, I'dlike to just pray for you and
cover you in prayer.
(23:25):
Father, I thank you for mysisters who are listening today.
They are about your business.
They are doing the work thatyou've given them to do, and I
ask you today for strength inthe work.
I ask you that you'd strengthentheir hands, that, lord, you
would give them a heart thatbelieves and, lord, that you'd
give them understanding in theirminds.
(23:47):
I pray, god, that you wouldhelp us to grow and, lord, to
mature and to love you.
God, I ask you to speak to us,lord, you are our greatest
desire and need and I ask you,lord, god, to be real to us and
help us to learn how to hearyour voice so that, lord, when
(24:08):
you communicate to us, lord, weknow that that was my father,
that he has a plan and I canhear what he is saying and, lord
, I just thank you for it.
I thank you for your grace.
It's always more than enough.
In Jesus' name, amen.
Hi friend, welcome back to Grace From my Home.
I'm Audrey McCracken and I'm soglad to be back with you again
this week.
I hope that you're doing well.
I hope that you're gearing upfor a fun summer.
We are making plans today forwhat we're going to do with our
summer.
My kids always amaze me.
The things I think they'regoing to want to do for summer
(00:22):
they don't.
They want to do things that,honestly, are to me, just aren't
as exciting.
They want to visit cousins thatlive far away.
They want to visit, they wantto go to amusement parks, which
doesn't surprise me, but they'rereally not into big, exciting
things like I think they'd wantto do.
You know, I mentioned let's goon a cruise, let's see if we can
(00:44):
get a good deal on a familycruise, and they weren't
interested in that at all.
So I'm trying to find somethings, some fun things, for us
to do this summer, because ouroldest will be in college next
year and I want to enjoy someone-on-one time with him and
family time with him.
And then my next one is righton his heels.
(01:05):
He'll be a.
He'll be a senior next year inhigh school, and so I know my
time is short with them.
Not that they're going awayforever, but it changes, you
know.
It's just a different.
It's a different dynamic.
So, but, looking forward to thesummer and I hope you are too
I've found sometimes that justmaking plans makes me excited
(01:25):
more excited than the actualplans like just sitting down
thinking about what we're goingto do.
Sometimes that's more fun forme than actually doing it, and
I'm one of those people who loveto plan.
I love to plan.
It's just putting the plan intoaction sometimes is where I
stumble.
So I've got great plans.
But here at Grace For my Home,we're in the middle of a
(01:45):
five-week replay series whereI'm revisiting some of my most
downloaded and listened toepisodes from the podcast, and
these are the messages that havereached the most women.
And today is one of my personalfavorites.
While these episodes are airing, I'm working on things.
I'm working on things for you.
I'm taking some focused behindthe scenes time to finish
(02:10):
writing my new book, to getprepared for launching my second
podcast.
I'm going to start a dailydevotional podcast that's going
to air Monday through Friday.
Just a short five, 10 minutepodcast to help you start your
day.
But this week I'm returning toa podcast episode that aired in
May of 2023, and it's calledHearing the Voice of God and,
(02:33):
like I said, it's been one ofthe most popular podcast
episodes that I've done, and Iwent back through and listened
to it and I think you'll enjoyit too.
It was a good reminder for meand I think that you'll be
blessed by it too.
If you've ever wondered how doI hear the voice of the Lord, or
if you've ever struggled withhearing God clearly in the
middle of a busy life, then Ipray that this episode speaks to
(02:56):
you and that it reminds youthat he still speaks and that he
loves to speak to you becauseyou're his child, and that if we
listen, then we'll hear him.
So enjoy Hope.
You have a great week.
See you back here again nextweek.
Hello friends, welcome back toGrace From A Home.
(03:17):
I am so thankful to be back herewith you guys this week and I
am looking forward to summer.
We have about one more monthand our summer will officially
begin.
My boys will be out of school Iwon't be homeschooling and we
are already planning've already.
(03:38):
We're already planning our, oursummer vacation together, and
sometimes I think that's morefun than the actual vacation.
You know I enjoy finding therooms and we know where we're
going to stay and buying thetickets, and you know, just
thinking through how are wegoing to do this.
That's fun for me, andsometimes I enjoy that more than
(03:59):
actually going on vacation, butwe're excited about that.
Looking forward to that, we'replanning on going to
Williamsburg, virginia, thisyear and we haven't been there
in several years, so we'reexcited about that.
I also wanted to share with yousome not so good news.
Share with you some not so goodnews because I've mentioned her
on my podcast before.
I wanted to tell you guys thatthis week we had to say goodbye
(04:28):
to Bella.
Bella was a lab retriever mixand we've had her for 12 years,
but she was not doing well atall.
She had arthritis and we weregiving her medicine and then
more medicine, and she'd gottento the point where she could.
She was not mobile, and so itwas just cruel to to let her go
on that way, and I had actuallycanceled two, two vet
(04:52):
appointments before.
Finally, you know, talking witheverybody and saying you know
we've got to do this, and so wehad a rough few days and it's
still.
We still miss her very much.
We're still having a hard timeadjusting, especially when we
come home and she's not therewagging her tail and begging for
treats.
But my boys have never knownlife without Bella.
(05:16):
She's just always been thereand I'm thankful to the Lord for
her.
She was a gift from God for ourfamily.
But last week I had mentioned toyou I wanted to talk with you
about hearing the voice of theLord and just encourage you in
that, and I think it's soimportant that we, as God's
(05:40):
daughters, as mothers that areraising children in the world we
live in today, that we haveears to hear the voice of the
Lord, that we know how to hearwhat our Father is saying,
because we live in a time whenthere is so much being thrown at
us all the time and you knowwhat I mean.
(06:03):
I mean from the news to socialmedia, to you know, just going
to Walmart.
There is so much, so muchinformation all the time.
You know so much that isbombarding us, so much that is
bombarding us, and it's soimportant that we have a line of
communication with our Father,that we can hear what he is
(06:24):
saying to us and that he knowswhat we need.
So I just want to share withyou today my thoughts on hearing
the Lord's voice.
So today I'm going to sharewith you five keys for learning
how to hear the Lord's voice andrecognizing when he is speaking
to you.
(06:44):
And my hope, my prayer, is thatthis will build your confidence
and faith that not only does hewant to speak to you, but that
you can hear him when he does.
And the first key is believingthat God wants to speak to you.
Now that may seem verysimplistic, that may just be
(07:05):
like really did you have to evenmention that?
But I do, because, see, I foundthat a lot of people, they have
a belief that it is wrong toask to hear from the Lord or to
ask the Lord to speak to them.
There are whole books that arewritten about how God does not
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speak today.
And if you believe that, thennot only would it be hard for
you to hear from the Lord, butyou would even feel guilty for
wanting to.
And you were redeemed by theprecious blood of Jesus so that
you could be in relationshipwith God, so that your
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relationship with God could berestored.
Your relationship with Godcould be restored.
God sent Jesus because we nolonger could have a relationship
with him and he greatly desiresus to be in fellowship with him
, to be his family.
We are adopted into his familyand so I believe, since now we
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are part of the family of God,that he wants to speak to us.
He wants to communicate with us.
You know that's part of havinga relationship is that you
communicate with each other.
Jesus said my sheep know myvoice, and I believe that God
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wants to communicate with us.
Now, when I say hear the voiceof the Lord, I'm not talking
about an audible voice.
I have never heard that, notsure I want to.
Don't know if I could handlethat.
I'm talking about communicatingwith heaven.
I'm talking about when I prayand I need an answer on a
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decision, that I can get thatanswer from my father.
I'm talking about when I'mgoing through a particular
situation and I need wisdom thatI know how to receive that
wisdom from above.
And to me, that is talking toGod is when I know my father has
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given me what I need, when Iknow that he has communicated to
me his heart, and I think weall need that.
So I believe the first key tohearing God speak is believing
(09:41):
that he wants to, becauseotherwise we won't ask or we'll
feel guilty for asking.
And we need to know that it'sright, that it's good, that it's
natural that we hear from ourfather.
And so that's the first key.
The second key is spending timein prayer, because prayer is a
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two-way communication.
It is not just us going to Godand giving Him our wish list, or
us telling Him what we want Himto do in our lives or telling
Him what we need.
It's not even just us going toHim and thanking Him for all
he's done, or us going to Himand quoting Scripture.
All those things can be a partof prayer.
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We can bring Him our requests,we can give Him praise, we can
thank Him, but that's just apart of the communication, and
communication is two way.
So the more we go to the Lord inprayer, you know, the more we
communicate with heaven, Ibelieve, the more sensitive we
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become to his voice, to whathe's saying to us.
You know there are times inprayer when we just need to be
quiet.
That's hard for me.
I'm a talker and sometimes I'llgo to God and I'm trying to
plead my case.
I'm trying to get it all out,and sometimes we have to plead
our case we have to do that, butthen we have to stop and listen
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, and that gives the Lord anopportunity to speak.
We've all had conversations withpeople where we know that
person doesn't really care whatI have to say.
Have you ever been in I knowyou have Like you're talking to
somebody and they're talking,and they're talking and talking,
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and the only time they stop isjust to ask you if you're in
agreement with them.
You know they don't really carewhat you have to say, and so
sometimes we go to the Lord andit can be like that we're
telling God everything we needand what we want, what we think,
but we don't pause to say whatdo you think, lord?
Lord, I'm listening.
And so the first key is talkingto him.
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When we talk to him, we learnhow to listen to him, we open up
the line of communication.
So the second key is to spendtime with God in prayer.
We must draw near to hear.
We must keep the lines ofcommunication open.
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The third is asking God specificquestions.
Now, this is kind of ties intoprayer, I know, but I've found
in my prayer time or anytimewhen I'm talking to God driving
down the road in my car thatwhen something is bothering me,
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if I can ask him Lord, can youexplain this to me?
I remember hearing people saythat it's wrong to question God.
But I don't believe that,because I believe God is big
enough to handle our bigquestions and that when we can
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ask him a question to me, it'slike healing, because I know,
even if I don't get the answerright then, that I've put it in
his hands.
I've said, lord, I don'tunderstand this, but I ask you
to show me.
And when I do that, it's likethere's a piece that, okay, it's
in his hands now.
And I do this about a lot ofthings, even in reading the
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Bible.
Sometimes I'll read through theBible and I'll come to a
scripture or passage and I'll belike I have no idea what God is
saying in this.
I don't understand.
And I'll say, lord, I don'tunderstand this.
Can you give me anunderstanding of what you're
saying here?
And sometimes it may be a longtime before I get it, so we can
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ask him about that.
Lord, what do you mean in thisscripture?
What are you saying in thisscripture?
That's asking him a question,that's putting the ball in his
court, so to speak.
Other things.
There are really toughquestions that I think we need
to ask God.
There are things that happenedto me that I just really
struggled with as a newChristian, wondering, okay, if
(14:11):
God allowed this to happen, howcan I believe he loves me?
That I just really struggledwith as a new Christian,
wondering, okay, if God allowedthis to happen, how can I
believe he loves me?
And so I have had to take thosethings to the Lord in prayer
and say, lord, I need you toshow me why.
And you know, the thing aboutasking the Lord question is
(14:34):
usually you're not going to getan immediate answer, but, like I
said, you're putting the ballin his court.
And number two is it's neverthe answer you think you're
going to get.
You know, sometimes we go to theLord and we ask him questions,
but we think we already know theanswer.
But see, the beautiful thingabout having a relationship with
God is that he doesn't fit inour box and he can bring an
(14:57):
answer that brings peace andhealing to our hearts like
nobody else.
And so when we ask Himquestions, we're allowing Him to
be God, we're admitting wedon't know everything and we're
opening ourself up to hear howhe sees it, he sees it from
(15:18):
above, he sees the whole thingat one time and we're just
seeing a little piece.
And so I've found that to hearfrom God one of the best ways
for me is in prayer and inasking Him specific questions.
And, guys, there are a lot ofquestions I've asked that I
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haven't got the answer to, andthere are a lot of those
questions I may not get theanswer to till I see him face to
face.
You know, when I get to heavenI have a lot of questions.
Now, when I get there, they maynot matter, you know, they may
melt away, I may just know themor they may not matter anymore.
But I believe that he does notmind and actually wants to
answer the questions that areburning in our hearts and we can
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trust them with him.
And it opens up the door ofcommunication with heaven when
we do that.
Number four spending time in hisword.
God will never speak, contraryto what the word of God says.
God's word is infallible andit's inspired.
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It's his holy word, and so whenwe get in that word, I think of
it almost as the language ofheaven.
When we get into his word, welearn what he's done for us.
We learn who we are, we learnwho he is, and it's almost like
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the language that he uses tospeak to us.
You know, when Jesus waspreparing his disciples for his
soon coming departure.
In John, chapter 14, he tellshis disciples in verse 26,.
But the helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in
my name, he will teach you allthings and bring to your
(17:12):
remembrance all that I have saidto you.
So when we're born again, theHoly Spirit comes, he lives
inside of us, he resides insideof us and he brings to our
remembrance God's word when weneed it, the words of Jesus when
we need them, and so we have toput that word in there to give
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him something to bring to ourremembrance.
Right, if we've not heard it,how is he going to remind us of
it?
So when we get in God's wordand we learn what God has said
and what he has done, and and wecommit those things to memory,
then we're giving the HolySpirit something to bring back
when we need it.
How many situations, how manytimes have I been in a situation
(17:56):
where I didn't know what to doand I would just pray under my
breath Lord, help me.
I don't know what to do, and ascripture would pop up.
You know, sometimes I've beenin a situation where I've been
fearful and a scripture will popup Fear thou not, for I am with
you.
Be not dismayed, for I am yourGod.
I will help you, I willstrengthen you.
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That's one of my favorites, incase you can't tell.
And so the Holy Spirit willquicken it.
He'll bring it back to yourremembrance and give you
something to rest on.
And to me, that is God speakingto me.
He's speaking to me through hisword when I need it.
And so when we get into theword of God, we learn the
language of heaven and he canpull it up when we need it.
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So by reading the Bible, bymeditating on scripture and
hiding his words in our hearts,then it gives us that line of
communication with heaven wherehe can speak to us in his word.
And this also goes for whenyou're sitting down reading the
Bible.
I'm sure many of you have hadthat experience.
(19:03):
Where you're sitting there,you're reading the Bible.
Maybe it's something you'veread over many, many times, but
for some reason a particularscripture just stands off the
page and it's like you've neverread that scripture before.
But you know you have.
But today it's like illuminatedand see, that's the Lord
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speaking through his word to you, that's the Holy Spirit and
they're saying pay attention tothis.
And so just sitting downreading the word gives God an
opportunity to speak to ourhearts.
Number five is listening for hisvoice, and what I mean by that
is tuning our ears to heaven.
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To hear Starts with that numberone, believing he wants to
speak.
But this is more of listening,quieting our hearts, our minds,
putting our ear to heaven,saying Lord, do you have
anything today that you need meto know?
I think about Paul.
He said you know, pray withoutceasing.
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Well, we can't pray withoutceasing.
Right, we'd be number one.
We would be really odd in thisworld if we're always talking.
But it's not that kind ofprayer.
It's having an attitude ofprayer, it's being in a state of
prayer, especially when I'veprayed, and I need an answer.
Sometimes I'll find myselfthroughout the day I've tried to
put my ear to heaven.
Lord, what are you saying?
(20:27):
I even pray that scripture inSamuel, where the Lord spoke to
Samuel and he kept thinking itwas Eli, but finally he realized
it's God speaking to me.
And so he goes and he says Lordspeak, for your servant is
listening.
And we have to get in thatposture to hear Lord speak,
(20:49):
because your daughter'slistening.
And when we can tune intoheaven, say Lord, give me ears
to hear what you're saying.
You know, help me to besensitive to what you're saying
today.
Then we open up our ears tohear what he has to say and it's
then that we can receive it,because if we're so busy with
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everything else that we're notlistening, then we won't be able
to hear.
So listening for his voice isnumber five.
Let's do a quick recapBelieving that God wants to
speak to you, that is the first.
Number two spending time inprayer.
(21:32):
Number three asking Godspecific questions.
Right, that's like putting theball in his court.
Okay, lord, it's your turn.
Number four spending time inhis word.
His word is the language thathe uses to speak to us.
Number five listening for hisvoice, having an ear to hear.
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You know, tuning in to what ismy father saying.
So those are the five keys thatI wanted to share with you today
, and my hope is that they willbuild your confidence that God
wants to speak to you and thatyou can hear what he has to say.
You know, in the Garden of Edenit says that the Spirit of the
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Lord came down in the cool ofthe day and fellowshiped with
Adam and Eve in the garden, andafter the fall, after sin
entered the picture, thatfellowship was broken.
And so one of the wonderfulthings about what we have
received in Christ is that, onceagain, we can enjoy fellowship
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with God, we can know Him and wecan share our heart with Him
and we can hear from Him.
And so I just encourage youtoday to ask God to speak to you
, to ask him to answer thequestions that you need answered
, to show you what is on hismind.
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Because, guys, we need that.
We need a real, true, livingrelationship with Jesus, where
he is not a creed on the wallbut he is alive and well and
living in our hearts.
And before you go today, I'dlike to just pray for you and
cover you in prayer.
(23:25):
Father, I thank you for mysisters who are listening today.
They are about your business.
They are doing the work thatyou've given them to do, and I
ask you today for strength inthe work.
I ask you that you'd strengthentheir hands, that, lord, you
would give them a heart thatbelieves and, lord, that you'd
give them understanding in theirminds.
(23:47):
I pray, god, that you wouldhelp us to grow and, lord, to
mature and to love you.
God, I ask you to speak to us,lord, you are our greatest
desire and need and I ask you,lord, god, to be real to us and
help us to learn how to hearyour voice so that, lord, when
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you communicate to us, lord, weknow that that was my father,
that he has a plan and I canhear what he is saying and, lord
, I just thank you for it.
I thank you for your grace.
It's always more than enough.
In Jesus' name, amen.
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