John 10:1-16 NKJV

“Most assuredly, I say to you, he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door, but climbs up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber. But He who enters by the door is the Shepherd of the sheep. To Him the doorkeeper opens, and THE SHEEP HEAR HIS VOICE; AND HE CALLS HIS OWN SHEEP BY NAME AND LEADS THEM OUT. And when He brings out His own sheep, He goes before them; and THE SHEEP FOLLOW HIM, FOR THEY KNOW HIS VOICE. Yet they will by no means follow a stranger, but will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers.” Jesus used this illustration, but they did not understand the things which He spoke to them. Then Jesus said to them again, “Most assuredly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. All who ever came before Me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not hear them. I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture. The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly. I am the Good Shepherd. The Good Shepherd gives His life for the sheep. But a hireling, he who is not the shepherd, one who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees; and the wolf catches the sheep and scatters them. The hireling flees because he is a hireling and does not care about the sheep. I am the Good Shepherd; and I know My sheep, and am known by My own. As the Father knows Me, even so I know the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep. And other sheep I have which are not of this fold; them also I must bring, and they will hear My voice; and there will be one flock and one Shepherd.”

Romans 8:13-17 NKJV

For if you live according to the flesh you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, BUT YOU RECEIVED THE SPIRIT OF ADOPTION BY WHOM WE CRY OUT, “ABBA, FATHER.” THE SPIRIT HIMSELF BEARS WITNESS WITH OUR SPIRIT THAT WE ARE CHILDREN OF GOD, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together.

Matthew 7:24-29 NKJV

“Therefore WHOEVER HEARS THESE SAYINGS OF MINE, AND DOES THEM, I WILL LIKEN HIM TO A WISE MAN WHO BUILT HIS HOUSE ON THE ROCK: and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; AND IT DID NOT FALL, FOR IT WAS FOUNDED ON THE ROCK. But EVERYONE WHO HEARS THESE SAYINGS OF MINE, AND DOES NOT DO THEM, WILL BE LIKE A FOOLISH MAN WHO BUILT HIS HOUSE ON THE SAND; and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and IT FELL. AND GREAT WAS ITS FALL.” And so it was, when Jesus had ended these sayings, that the people were astonished at His teaching, for He taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes.

Isaiah 30:21 NIV

Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, “This is the way; walk in it.”

1 Kings 19:12 NIV

After the earthquake came a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper.

Hebrews 4:7-13 NLT

TODAY WHEN YOU HEAR HIS VOICE, DON’T HARDEN YOUR HEARTS…FOR THE WORD OF GOD IS ALIVE AND POWERFUL. It is sharper than the sharpest two-edged sword, cutting between soul and spirit, between joint and marrow. It exposes our innermost thoughts and desires. Nothing in all creation is hidden from God. Everything is naked and exposed before His eyes, and He is the One to whom we are accountable.

1 John 2:15-17 NLT

Do not love this world nor the things it offers you, for WHEN YOU LOVE THE WORLD, YOU DO NOT HAVE THE LOVE OF THE FATHER IN YOU. For the world offers only a craving for physical pleasure, a craving for everything we see, and pride in our achievements and possessions. These are not from the Father, but are from this world. And this world is fading away, along with everything that people crave. But anyone who does what pleases God will live forever.

2 Peter 1:16-21 NKJV

For we did not follow cunningly devised fables when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of His majesty. For He received from God the Father honor and glory when such a voice came to Him from the Excellent Glory: “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” And we heard this voice which came from heaven when we were with Him on the holy mountain. And so we have the prophetic word confirmed, which you do well to heed as a light that shines in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts; knowing this first, that NO PROPHECY OF SCRIPTURE IS OF ANY PRIVATE INTERPRETATION, FOR PROPHECY NEVER CAME BY THE WILL OF MAN, BUT HOLY MEN OF GOD SPOKE AS THEY WERE MOVED BY THE HOLY SPIRIT.

Exhortation: Seeking to Hear His Voice — Tuning in to Hear

God is always speaking, but are we positioned to hear? His voice brings direction, correction, comfort, and wisdom. Today, focus on developing your spiritual hearing. God may speak through Scripture, others, circumstances, or directly to your spirit. We need to practice discernment and learn to distinguish His voice from other influences. God speaks to each of us in unique ways, calling us to specific purposes and assignments. Learning to recognize and respond to these divine promptings is essential for fulfilling our God-given potential.

Today, focus on sharpening your spiritual discernment to recognize God’s invitations and commands in your life. Consider what might be holding you back from full obedience—fear, comfort, doubt, or misplaced priorities. REMEMBER THAT HEARING WITHOUT OBEYING IS MERELY GATHERING INFORMATION; IT’S IN OUR OBEDIENCE THAT TRANSFORMATION OCCURS.

God Speaks Through His Holy Scripture

The Holy Bible is the written Word of God in which He intends for us to hear His voice as we study and spend time with Him. The Holy Scripture is the primary way God speaks to us, and it is available to all. His Word is living, imparting life to all who will hear, even to the resurrection of the spiritually dead. It is heavenly food feeding our spirit and soul as we seek Him. It is divine strength reviving the weak and weary. It is power that makes the feeble strong, causes the blind to see, the lame to walk, and the imprisoned to be free. It transforms the soul and spirit. It is an error not to study the Bible but instead to clamor to hear God’s voice in some other ways that we consider extraordinary, like a vision, dream, personal prophecy, or even His audible voice. When we recognize God’s voice through the study of the Bible, we will learn to recognize His voice when He speaks to us in other ways. This is what God says about His Holy Scripture:

• “No prophecy of Scripture comes from someone’s own interpretation. For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.” –2 Peter 1:20-21 ESV
• “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.” –2 Timothy 3:16-17 NKJV

In desiring to hear the voice of God, we must first learn to listen to His voice through the Holy Scripture. It is incumbent upon every child of God to diligently study the Holy Bible in prayerfulness as a faithful student of His Word, hungering to hear and know Him through His written Word. It takes discipline, labor, and time to study the Bible and be soaked in prayer. Sometimes Christians seek a personal word from a well-known prophet, a visitation from angels bringing us messages, or a vision. None of these is wrong, and God does speak to us in all these ways, but have we neglected the primary way He speaks to His children—through the Bible? The Bible is God’s prophetic Word to us. When we prayerfully study the Bible and are in tune with the Holy Spirit, the Lord is prophesying over us through His Word. We are not to study the Word in a merely religious sense as the Pharisees did, who were good at the letter of the Word but failed to know the Spirit of the Word. Romans 7:6 NLT teaches us,

But now we have been released from the law, for we died to it and are no longer captive to its power. Now we can serve God, not in the old way of obeying the letter of the law, but in the new way of living in the Spirit.

When we study the Bible, we are progressively being purified and transformed by His Word. Our spirit is not only learning of Him but also recognizing His voice, understanding His ways and mind. If we learn to be sensitive to His voice as He speaks to us through the Holy Scripture and seek to obey, we will be sensitive to His voice as He speaks to us in our everyday life and situations. We will recognize His voice in those situations because we are accustomed to hearing His voice speaking to us through the Holy Bible. We are already familiar with His word, tone, nature, and spirit whenever He speaks as we study His Word. He will also speak to us in dreams and visions.

How much communion and intimacy with Jesus do we experience daily through spending time diving into the Holy Scripture, praying, meditating, waiting, and feeding on His Word in the presence of the Holy Spirit? This is one of the most significant areas of neglect among Christians today. No wonder many Christians are weak, not strong; fearful, not courageous; compromising, not consecrated, because of the lack of studying, understanding, meditating, and hiding His Word in our hearts. Jesus teaches in Matthew 7:24-29 NKJV, saying,

“Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock: and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock. But everyone who hears these sayings of Mine, and does not do them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand: and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it fell. And great was its fall.” And so it was, when Jesus had ended these sayings, that the people were astonished at His teaching, for He taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes.

Let us hear His voice through the study of the Holy Scripture, the conviction of the Holy Spirit, and the counsel of the godly. Pray to discern His still small voice that often nudges us gently on our conscience, bringing scriptures into remembrance, or speaking to us in mundane situations of everyday life. Before we cry out to hear His voice, set our hearts to believe, trust, and obey wholeheartedly without procrastination whatever He will say to us. HEARING MUST LEAD TO TRUSTING AND OBEDIENCE. IF NOT, WE ARE GUILTY OF DISDAINING WHAT HE IS SAYING TO US.

Why Do We Seek to Hear His Voice?

THE DESIRE TO HEAR HIM MUST BE BIRTHED FROM THE DESIRE TO KNOW HIM. We must want to love and obey Him more. If there is no communication, there is no relationship. A heart that longs for God and His intimacy will long to hear His voice. When we treasure God’s presence above all else in this life, we will treasure His voice and His words far more than life itself. Do we love Him? When we seek to love Him first, then we will seek to hear Him above all else. Hearing His voice and His Word will become our priority each day. We must not live one day without hearing Him.

The Church must seek to hear God’s voice because we strive to know Him, love Him, and be intimate with Him. THE EAGERNESS TO HEAR HIM MUST BE ACCOMPANIED BY A ZEAL TO OBEY HIM. God rebuked the children of Israel for clamoring to hear Him with no intention to obey. It is good for us to examine our hearts as to why we seek to hear His voice. As in a loving marriage, one seeks the presence of the beloved and desires to hear his or her voice far more than the gifts they bring. MANY MAY WANT TO HEAR GOD’S VOICE FOR VARIOUS REASONS, BUT LET LOVE BE THE KEY REASON, and not just desiring a promise for a miracle, an assurance of a blessing, or a revelation of what He is going to do for us.

Moses longed for God’s accompanying presence far more than possessing the Promised Land. The hunger to hear God’s voice must issue from the hunger for God. Paul longed for Jesus far more than anything in life, and he counted all things as dung to gain Him. God spoke to Paul most profoundly by revealing Himself to him in extraordinary and utmost intimacy. Paul was taken to the third heaven, where he heard secrets from God that he was not allowed to reveal. Enoch sought and walked in intimacy with God for years, and God suddenly took him to heaven. The Bible did not reveal all that God spoke to Enoch during those years of walking, fellowshipping, and communing together. We can only imagine the indescribable depth, width, and height of the richness of their relationship and conversation, but we do not just want to imagine; we too want to know. We can surmise that Enoch heard God’s voice in a manner that only Enoch would know. Do we want to walk with God and hear Him as Enoch did?

A Passion for God Will Be Accompanied by a Passion to Hear His Voice

The Church must return to a thirst for God and seek to hear Him with all of our heart, soul, and strength. If we want a passion for God, we must give no room for worldly appetites. Our heart cannot have both at the same time; we either have one or the other. If we love the world, the love of the Father is not in us. If we do not love the Father, we will have no desire to hear His voice. IN FACT, THOSE WHO DO NOT LOVE GOD WILL AVOID HEARING HIM. 1 John 2:15-17 NKJV instructs us, saying,

DO NOT LOVE THE WORLD OR THE THINGS IN THE WORLD. IF ANYONE LOVES THE WORLD, THE LOVE OF THE FATHER IS NOT IN HIM. For all that is in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not of the Father but is of the world. And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever.

How much we want to hear God’s voice depends on how much we long for Him. If we are lovesick for Jesus Christ, we will be lovesick to hear His voice. After Adam and Eve had sinned against God, they hid from His voice and presence. They sinned because they allowed their hearts to yearn for and reach out to something God had already told them to stay away from. They yearned for what God had forbidden far more than they loved Him. They hid from God and definitely were afraid to hear His voice after they ate the forbidden fruit.

It is high time for the Church to awaken from whatever has lulled us into sleep and apathy, and to hunger and thirst for God. We must deal with all that has caused hearts to be lukewarm, casual, and careless towards God. Now is the time for the Church to seek God as never before, giving no room for the flesh, excuses, or apathy. May the Church awaken and return to first love and an all-consuming zeal for God and His kingdom. Then we will love His voice and cry out to hear Him each day. His words will be as sweet manna to our souls and spirits, feeding us, refreshing us, and bringing life, peace, and joy. We will leap with joy at the sound of His voice, and we will treasure His words above all else, taking great care to obey. A heart that loves God with first love will rejoice in hearing and obeying Him.

Consecrate our Heart and Spirit to Hear His Voice

As much as Jesus loved us to give His life to redeem us, intimacy and communion with Him are hindered by sins in our hearts. Matthew 5:8 ESV says, “BLESSED ARE THE PURE IN HEART, FOR THEY SHALL SEE GOD.” If we want a relationship with God and to hear His voice, we must guard our hearts with all diligence, keeping them consecrated and pure before God, not allowing anything to defile them. The Bible also says,

• Who shall ascend the hill of the LORD? And who shall stand in His holy place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not lift up his soul to what is false and does not swear deceitfully. –Psalm 24:3-4 ESV
• Behold, the LORD’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save, or His ear dull, that it cannot hear; but your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden His face from you so that He does not hear.
  –Isaiah 59:1-2 ESV

Whatever voice that we open our hearts to hear gains access to our soul and spirit. There are many competing and alluring voices bombarding our hearing every day, like music, various forms of entertainment, social media such as Facebook, Twitter (now X), TikTok, TV, YouTube, AI, and ChatGPT. We are not only exposed to these voices and messages, but also to the spirits behind them. The list goes on, and new ones are popping up very quickly. There may be some good in all these, but there is also much that is demonic, defiling, and profane. Are we so intoxicated and addicted to these voices that our hearts and spirits have been contaminated, and the love for God and hearing Him has been suffocated? We lose all spiritual appetites for God and have become hardened. We no longer have any desire for God’s Word and His voice. King Solomon developed a love for foreign wives and concubines who consistently spoke into his ears. His heart grew cold and hardened towards God as he also grew a passion for their idols. He lost all desire to hear God’s voice. Even if he heard, he had lost all fear of God and desire to obey. From being a king who feared God and was most wise, his heart became contaminated with rebellion and idolatry. It was hardened beyond the point of being convicted by God’s voice. When God rebuked him in his old age, he still clung to his idols because he loved them.

Has our heart become defiled, hardened, and sickened from listening to all these voices, imbibing everything we hear, yet the desire to hear them more seems to intensify? We must humbly come before God, acknowledge our sins, repent from our hardened hearts, and cry out to Him to forgive and cleanse us. We need to return to Him with our whole hearts, destroy all the idols and shrines like King Josiah did, and purge our hearing and hearts from all that defiles. Pray for new ears to hear and a new heart to obey, wholly consecrated to God.

The Level of Intimacy Determines the Level of Relationship with God and Hearing Him

There is a realm of relationship with God in which He speaks to us in intimacy, as a man to His friend. God does not speak to everyone the same way. Psalm 103:7 NKJV says, “He made known His ways to Moses, His acts to the children of Israel.” In Numbers 12:2 NLT, Miriam and Aaron murmured against Moses, saying, “Has the LORD spoken only through Moses? Hasn’t He spoken through us, too?” The Lord arose in anger against them, rebuked them, and defended Moses. God clearly let them know that He related and spoke to Moses in a different realm, even when compared to prophets to whom He spoke in visions and dreams. He severely chastised them in Numbers 12:6-8 NLT, saying,

Now listen to what I say: “If there were prophets among you, I, the LORD, would reveal Myself in visions. I would speak to them in dreams. But not with my servant Moses. OF ALL MY HOUSE, HE IS THE ONE I TRUST. I SPEAK TO HIM FACE TO FACE, CLEARLY, AND NOT IN RIDDLES! HE SEES THE LORD AS HE IS. So why were you not afraid to criticize my servant Moses?”

MOSES’ REALM OF INTIMACY WITH GOD WAS SUCH THAT HE SAW THE LORD AS HE WAS, AND THE LORD SPOKE TO HIM FACE TO FACE. God trusted Moses with His secrets and personal revelations. Can God trust us with His words and secrets like He did Moses? He loves us the same, but the revelation of Himself to us is not the same. He reveals Himself to those who hunger for, thirst after, and seek Him. The type of relationship we have with Him determines the manner in which He speaks to us.

While Jesus hung on the cross, He spoke to John the disciple He loved, the same one who was leaning on His chest at the supper before His crucifixion. John 19:25-27 NLT says,

Standing near the cross were Jesus’ mother, and His mother’s sister, Mary (the wife of Clopas), and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus saw His mother standing there beside the disciple He loved, He said to her, “Dear woman, here is your son.” And He said to this disciple, “Here is your mother.” And from then on this disciple took her into his home.

How do we love Jesus, and can He trust us with what He is saying to us, as He did Moses and John? There were others that He spoke to differently because of their intimacy with Him:

• He spoke to Elijah in a still small voice after the earthquake.
• He spoke to Moses face-to-face.
• He spoke to Abraham as a man to His friend.
• He called Samuel by name.

Mary thirsted to hear the voice of Jesus, so she abandoned all to sit at His feet to hear His voice and gaze upon His face. Martha was busy serving Jesus, while Jesus longed for her presence and fellowship. When Martha complained, Jesus said that Mary had chosen the better part—to hear His voice in intimacy. If we long for Jesus, we will long to hear His voice. We will seek Him unceasingly so that we hear Him every moment and every day. HIS PRESENCE IS AS HEAVEN TO US, AND HIS VOICE IS JOY UNSPEAKABLE TO OUR SOULS

Seek to Hear His Voice with a Heart to Obey

The Church must seek to hear God’s voice with a heart set to obey. We must pray for courage to say “yes” to God’s calling, even when it seems challenging or unclear. Ask the Lord to reveal any areas of partial obedience or hesitation in your life. Seek wisdom to distinguish between your own desires and God’s direction. Commit to taking one specific step of obedience in response to what God has been speaking to you during this prayer and fasting period.