December 5, 2025 • 9 mins
The voice of God is tied to understanding the child's voice, God's voice and belief of the heart. God's word gives us an explanation as to how children can hear the voice of God.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Ethan (00:02):
Raising joyful children in an angry world, a podcast
dedicated to faithful parentsnavigating their families
through a stormy culture
This is raising joyful childrenin an angry world.
I'm your host, Paul Osborne.
Today I want to get into how tohelp our kids hear the voice of
God.
If you're a typical parent, youhave probably experienced when
(00:26):
your son or daughter comes homefrom school or somewhere and
they've got a backpack, let'ssay, and you say, Hey, can you
put that backpack up or awaybefore you go out to play?
And.
Your words are spoken.
The sound waves carry across theroom.
They enter into the child'sears, but for whatever reason,
they're listening to their ownvoice.
They're distracted by theirfriends.
(00:46):
It doesn't enter the heart orthe mind, and they don't do what
you've asked.
And so I want to talk todayabout how we can help them get
out of that kind of dilemma whenit comes to God's voice.
Because the voice, we heed thevoices that we hear.
Is really what we do is howwe're going to live, and that's
(01:06):
why this is so important to helpour kids get in position, to
hear God's voice.
And the Bible speaks about threethings.
One is how God speaks his voice.
And then the second is, what doour kids do with their voice?
And then what must they believein their heart?
(01:28):
I wanna start with the easypart.
How does God speak?
How do we hear God's voice?
And the Bible teaches that faithcometh by hearing and hearing
the word of God.
In other words, in Romans 10,verse 17, it is an audible
reading of God's word.
So God has told Paul thesewords.
Paul has recorded them for ourhearing more than our reading.
(01:53):
Not that we don't read the Bibleand study the Bible, but our
children need to have thisspoken to them audibly.
Coaches don't hand out scriptsat halftime to motivate.
So the Bible understands.
The Bible teaches that there'ssomething about the spoken word
that affects the soul and themind and the heart differently.
(02:13):
Than just the written word.
Not that it isn't important, butthere is something more
powerful.
Socrates, Plato also taught thisas does most psychology,
something powerful aboutAudible.
So we have to audibly read thescripture to our children, and
then we have to talk about whatdo they do with their voice?
(02:33):
How did they use their voice toposition themselves to hear
God's voice?
And so in Psalm eight.
King David gives us these wordsin verse two, that God has
ordained in the mouth of babesstrength to silence his enemies
and restrain the Avengers.
(02:54):
In other words, our childrenlearn to praise God, their
praising of God, their singingto God, their praying to God has
something to do with theirhearing of God because it
silences the distractions.
King David ought to knowsomething about a child
understanding silencing enemiesbecause as a child, he silences
(03:17):
Goliath.
And in this Psalm he talks aboutusing our mouths to praise God
and what God has ordained thatto do in his kingdom.
It silences the distractions.
So it, it's not just enough to,to read to our kids, but as we
engage them, to teach them tosing songs like Jesus Loves Me
(03:40):
and, and more complex songs,perhaps it helps position them
to then hear God's word becauseit silences the distractions and
the key to this, in my viewabout, well, how do kids gonna
trust this?
How do kids understand this?
It really comes down to thewords that surround this in
(04:01):
Psalm eight.
In other words, what was Davidthinking about, or what does
David encourage the children tothen think about in this psalm
regarding this power that Godhas ordained and it gets back to
God's creation?
Go back to the Genesis story.
He, he talks about God's nameand what God has created.
(04:23):
And when you read the Genesisstory, well, what do you see?
You see in the beginning?
God created the heaven and theEarth and you see things like,
and then God said, let there belight.
And, and each time God isspeaking.
And so there's the voice of Godwho has created the world and
who has created them.
(04:43):
And when you understand thatstory, you then entrust that
story to be true and believethat story, that God is the
creator, the king of thisuniverse, that he built it all
for us.
Yeah.
Now, you know, that's theauthority that then gives God my
respect because I understand heis the creator.
(05:05):
It's one of the reasons I wouldsuggest that this, this concept
of God's creation is one of themost attacked and, criticized
pieces of scripture that we willfind other than perhaps the
resurrection becauseunderstanding.
God has been the builder of thisworld and the builder of me now
(05:28):
gives me a respect and, and asI'm praising God and singing out
to God, that is going to allowmy heart to now trust that he is
who he says he is.
It.
It's not enough to just go tochurch and say, the Apostles
Creed.
I believe in God, the FatherAlmighty, creator of Heaven and
(05:48):
Earth, which is a great summaryof Genesis one.
But we've gotta teach it andwe've gotta help our kids
believe it.
There's a couple of greatstories.
The simplest one is Paul andSilas, right?
When they are put in prison,what do they do?
Well, they sing hymns all night.
What happens?
Well, the chains that they're infall off and the prison doors
(06:09):
open and unlock and they don'tleave until they have saved the
jailer, but they are eventuallyset free and apologized to.
That's power.
And then there's a story in theOld Testament of King Jehosaphat
and his singing army.
It's an incredible story.
He is the king of Judah.
He is surrounded by three othertribes of of enemy people, three
(06:33):
armies that are coming todestroy him.
He gets the message that they'reon the way and they're close.
He calls all the people, womenand children, and men into
Jerusalem.
He prays aloud before God usinghis voice to praise God in
almost the Lord's prayer, aren'tyou?
The God who's in heaven, justlike our father who is in
heaven, he goes through a seriesof prayers and promises that God
(06:56):
has promised them about havinggiven them this promised land.
And as he's doing this, thespirit of the living God falls
on the prophets and the prieststhat are around them and they
then tell Jehosaphat, hey.
This battle doesn't belong toyou, it belongs to God.
And they tell him, you just goout and watch what's gonna
(07:17):
happen.
And as they're telling him this,the cites, these are the
descendants of Cora, which youmay not remember, but Cora is
the one who rebels and disobeysJoshua as they're taking the
promised land.
And now his sons that hisgrandsons or whatever generation
we're down to, they are now themusicians.
(07:37):
In the temple who are singingpraises to God, and you see this
powerful triangle in which theyare quoting back that you're the
God that created, you're the Godthat gives, you're the God that
promises and they're praisingGod and the word of God comes
and they hear God's voice andthen they go out to go exactly
(07:58):
where God has told them.
They watch out and we see thethree armies become confused and
attack one another.
And they don't have to fight thebattle because God has fought it
for them.
This is how our children aregoing to understand all of this
coming together.
You've gotta read to them theBible aloud.
You've gotta teach them how tosing simple Christian praise
(08:21):
songs.
And you've got to share withthem and help them understand
the story of Genesis one, tobelieve that God is the creator.
And when that all comestogether, your children will
hear the voice of God.
And the voice that they listento will be the one that guides
them to wisdom and joy.
Paul (08:41):
The ultimate battle for the heart and soul is a fight
for identity.
Our king invites our kids toknow who they are, what to
believe, and where they belong.
Paul (2) (08:54):
Until next time, let's remember the words for theirs is
the Kingdom of Heaven.
Raising joyful children in an angry world, a podcast
dedicated to faithful parentsnavigating their families
through a stormy culture
This is raising joyful childrenin an angry world.
I'm your host, Paul Osborne.
Today I want to get into how tohelp our kids hear the voice of
God.
If you're a typical parent, youhave probably experienced when
(00:26):
your son or daughter comes homefrom school or somewhere and
they've got a backpack, let'ssay, and you say, Hey, can you
put that backpack up or awaybefore you go out to play?
And.
Your words are spoken.
The sound waves carry across theroom.
They enter into the child'sears, but for whatever reason,
they're listening to their ownvoice.
They're distracted by theirfriends.
(00:46):
It doesn't enter the heart orthe mind, and they don't do what
you've asked.
And so I want to talk todayabout how we can help them get
out of that kind of dilemma whenit comes to God's voice.
Because the voice, we heed thevoices that we hear.
Is really what we do is howwe're going to live, and that's
(01:06):
why this is so important to helpour kids get in position, to
hear God's voice.
And the Bible speaks about threethings.
One is how God speaks his voice.
And then the second is, what doour kids do with their voice?
And then what must they believein their heart?
(01:28):
I wanna start with the easypart.
How does God speak?
How do we hear God's voice?
And the Bible teaches that faithcometh by hearing and hearing
the word of God.
In other words, in Romans 10,verse 17, it is an audible
reading of God's word.
So God has told Paul thesewords.
Paul has recorded them for ourhearing more than our reading.
(01:53):
Not that we don't read the Bibleand study the Bible, but our
children need to have thisspoken to them audibly.
Coaches don't hand out scriptsat halftime to motivate.
So the Bible understands.
The Bible teaches that there'ssomething about the spoken word
that affects the soul and themind and the heart differently.
(02:13):
Than just the written word.
Not that it isn't important, butthere is something more
powerful.
Socrates, Plato also taught thisas does most psychology,
something powerful aboutAudible.
So we have to audibly read thescripture to our children, and
then we have to talk about whatdo they do with their voice?
(02:33):
How did they use their voice toposition themselves to hear
God's voice?
And so in Psalm eight.
King David gives us these wordsin verse two, that God has
ordained in the mouth of babesstrength to silence his enemies
and restrain the Avengers.
(02:54):
In other words, our childrenlearn to praise God, their
praising of God, their singingto God, their praying to God has
something to do with theirhearing of God because it
silences the distractions.
King David ought to knowsomething about a child
understanding silencing enemiesbecause as a child, he silences
(03:17):
Goliath.
And in this Psalm he talks aboutusing our mouths to praise God
and what God has ordained thatto do in his kingdom.
It silences the distractions.
So it, it's not just enough to,to read to our kids, but as we
engage them, to teach them tosing songs like Jesus Loves Me
(03:40):
and, and more complex songs,perhaps it helps position them
to then hear God's word becauseit silences the distractions and
the key to this, in my viewabout, well, how do kids gonna
trust this?
How do kids understand this?
It really comes down to thewords that surround this in
(04:01):
Psalm eight.
In other words, what was Davidthinking about, or what does
David encourage the children tothen think about in this psalm
regarding this power that Godhas ordained and it gets back to
God's creation?
Go back to the Genesis story.
He, he talks about God's nameand what God has created.
(04:23):
And when you read the Genesisstory, well, what do you see?
You see in the beginning?
God created the heaven and theEarth and you see things like,
and then God said, let there belight.
And, and each time God isspeaking.
And so there's the voice of Godwho has created the world and
who has created them.
(04:43):
And when you understand thatstory, you then entrust that
story to be true and believethat story, that God is the
creator, the king of thisuniverse, that he built it all
for us.
Yeah.
Now, you know, that's theauthority that then gives God my
respect because I understand heis the creator.
(05:05):
It's one of the reasons I wouldsuggest that this, this concept
of God's creation is one of themost attacked and, criticized
pieces of scripture that we willfind other than perhaps the
resurrection becauseunderstanding.
God has been the builder of thisworld and the builder of me now
(05:28):
gives me a respect and, and asI'm praising God and singing out
to God, that is going to allowmy heart to now trust that he is
who he says he is.
It.
It's not enough to just go tochurch and say, the Apostles
Creed.
I believe in God, the FatherAlmighty, creator of Heaven and
(05:48):
Earth, which is a great summaryof Genesis one.
But we've gotta teach it andwe've gotta help our kids
believe it.
There's a couple of greatstories.
The simplest one is Paul andSilas, right?
When they are put in prison,what do they do?
Well, they sing hymns all night.
What happens?
Well, the chains that they're infall off and the prison doors
(06:09):
open and unlock and they don'tleave until they have saved the
jailer, but they are eventuallyset free and apologized to.
That's power.
And then there's a story in theOld Testament of King Jehosaphat
and his singing army.
It's an incredible story.
He is the king of Judah.
He is surrounded by three othertribes of of enemy people, three
(06:33):
armies that are coming todestroy him.
He gets the message that they'reon the way and they're close.
He calls all the people, womenand children, and men into
Jerusalem.
He prays aloud before God usinghis voice to praise God in
almost the Lord's prayer, aren'tyou?
The God who's in heaven, justlike our father who is in
heaven, he goes through a seriesof prayers and promises that God
(06:56):
has promised them about havinggiven them this promised land.
And as he's doing this, thespirit of the living God falls
on the prophets and the prieststhat are around them and they
then tell Jehosaphat, hey.
This battle doesn't belong toyou, it belongs to God.
And they tell him, you just goout and watch what's gonna
(07:17):
happen.
And as they're telling him this,the cites, these are the
descendants of Cora, which youmay not remember, but Cora is
the one who rebels and disobeysJoshua as they're taking the
promised land.
And now his sons that hisgrandsons or whatever generation
we're down to, they are now themusicians.
(07:37):
In the temple who are singingpraises to God, and you see this
powerful triangle in which theyare quoting back that you're the
God that created, you're the Godthat gives, you're the God that
promises and they're praisingGod and the word of God comes
and they hear God's voice andthen they go out to go exactly
(07:58):
where God has told them.
They watch out and we see thethree armies become confused and
attack one another.
And they don't have to fight thebattle because God has fought it
for them.
This is how our children aregoing to understand all of this
coming together.
You've gotta read to them theBible aloud.
You've gotta teach them how tosing simple Christian praise
(08:21):
songs.
And you've got to share withthem and help them understand
the story of Genesis one, tobelieve that God is the creator.
And when that all comestogether, your children will
hear the voice of God.
And the voice that they listento will be the one that guides
them to wisdom and joy.
Paul (08:41):
The ultimate battle for the heart and soul is a fight
for identity.
Our king invites our kids toknow who they are, what to
believe, and where they belong.
Paul (2) (08:54):
Until next time, let's remember the words for theirs is
the Kingdom of Heaven.
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