My Sheep hear my voice

“My sheep hear my voice” John 10:27

I find it amazing that many people today doubt that a child of God can hear the voice of their heavenly Father. Along with revealing a misunderstanding of the basic teachings of the New Testament, this also reveals there is a common misunderstanding of the very nature of God. God the Father, according to His nature revealed throughout the scriptures, is a communicator. While He does speak to man through the agencies of nature, His written Word, through the wisdom of preaching and teaching, and through the encouragements and admonitions of others, His interaction with those who are born again is not limited to these literal and naturally rational agencies.

If we come to understand the nature of God as revealed in the scriptures, the other agencies in which He communes with man become obvious. We need go no further than the first chapter of Genesis to see that nature unfold. The third verse of that chapter declares that on the first day “God said”. He began his relationship with His creation by speaking it into existence continuing that pattern through the six days of creation. Once man was created, we read that God walked with him in the cool of the Garden where He clearly communicated His Garden rules and instructions for man.   

From Enoch to the many prophets, hearing from God continued to be an accepted norm throughout the Old Testament. It was not in the storm, earthquake, fire or wind that the Lord spoke to Elijah, but with “a still small voice” (1 Kings19). That list of prophets who heard the voice of God includes Abraham, Noah, Moses, Jacob, Samuel, Isaiah, Jeremiah, and more.  Even the children of Isreal testified to hearing the voice of God speak from the Holy Mountain (Deut.4:33).    

When John the Baptist baptized Jesus on the banks of the Jordan, John heard the voice of God declaring “this is my beloved Son”.  Jesus promoted this expectation among His followers saying “my sheep hear my voice”.  To each of the seven churches in the book of Revelation who together represent the entire church of Christ, Jesus admonished, “let him who has an ear hear what the Spriit is saying to the churches”.  Is not the first chapter and verse of the Gospel of John that describes Jesus Christ saying “in the beginning was the Word” enough to convey to our hearts and minds that God desires to communicate with us?  

It is obvious from an abundance of scriptures that God desires this communication with His children.  Although He may do this through the more natural agencies mentioned at the start of this devotion, He is by no means limited to them. He speaks to us by His Spirit in the inner man. He even speaks to us at times by His voice that we hear with our natural senses. He speaks to us at times through the agency of His signs and wonders. To say God does not do this is to deny the testimony of scripture and limit the very nature of God.  Paul warns of this limiting of God and His powers saying that in the last days people will “not endure sound doctrine” and “deny its power” (2 Tim.3 4).   

Scripture gives us abundant instruction in just how we can hear the clear voice of God. It begins with the Word of God. Jesus said that His words, which are “the Word of God” are spirit (Jn. 6:63). Upon this agency all other revelation of God is predicated. His instruction continues with the promise that it is those with “a pure heart” that shall see God (Mt. 5:8). To see God is to have a revelation of Him, a revelation that comes by hearing His voice as did Paul on the road to Damascus (Acts 9). It also says “be still and know that I am God” (Ps. 46:10).  Those that quiet their lives, giving the Lord time to speak, and then expecting to hear His voice, are those who will be rewarded with the revelation that “He is God”.             

We should need no more than the words of Jesus that declare “my sheep hear my voice” to cause us to expect and pursue the voice of God. Paul writes “those that are the sons of God are led by the Spirit of God” (Ro.8:14).  That verse has equal accuracy when it is reversed to say “those that are led by the Spirit of God are the sons of God”. Since Jesus said “my sheep hear my voice”, which is a very affirmative statement, it is obvious that hearing the voice of the Lord is a testimony that those who do hear are “the sons of God”. 

By what agency the Lord exercises His voice in our lives may vary from day to day or believer to believer, but that He can and does make His voice known should be an accepted biblical truth by all who call themselves children of God.  Are you familiar with the voice of God in your life? That voice that may lead you in the path of salvation, but it is also a voice that also will speak to the very personal and intimate needs in your life.