I tossed and turned in bed, unable to fall asleep. The thought kept
going through my mind: “What if I died tonight? I’m not ready to go to heaven.”
Since I could not shake the thought, I got up, went downstairs and waited for
my parents to come home from their meeting. When they did, I announced that I
wanted to get saved, and they took me straightway to the pastor’s home, where
he explained the plan of salvation and led me in the sinner’s prayer. I was 15
years old when I accepted Jesus Christ into my heart as my Lord and Savior.
It was God’s voice that
was speaking to me that night, calling me into His kingdom. His voice came as a
spontaneous thought inside my head. However, I didn’t define this as the
primary way God’s voice is heard until I had completed a desperate, 10-year
search to hear Him clearly.
Christianity is unique
among religions, for it alone offers a personal relationship with the Creator
beginning here and now, and lasting throughout eternity. Jesus declared, “This
is eternal life, that they may know [God]” (John 17:3). Unfortunately, many in
the church miss the great blessing of fellowship with our Lord because we have
lost the ability to recognize His voice. Though John 10:27 promises
us that Jesus said, “My sheep hear My voice,” too many believers are starved
for that intimate relationship that alone can satisfy the desire of their
hearts.
I was one of those sheep
who was unable to identify the voice of my Shepherd. I hungered for deeper
spiritual intimacy with God, but I could not find it. Then on the 11th year of
my Christian life, I had the spontaneous thought that I should take a year of
my life and focus on learning to hear God’s voice. I decided to act on that
thought and devote a year to focused effort, learning to hear His voice.
Unbeknownst to me, it was the Lord calling me to invest that time.
That year the Lord revealed
four simple keys, all found in Habakkuk 2:1-2, which unlocked the treasure
of His voice. Using the four keys together allowed me to easily hear God’s
voice on a daily basis. Don't worry about the order of the keys. Just make sure
you are using all four keys. It was the most transforming step I have taken in
the 45 years of my Christian life! I would like to share them with you so you
can try them and see if they do the same for you.
Key No. 1: God’s voice in
your heart often sounds like a flow of spontaneous thoughts.
Habakkuk knew the sound of
God speaking to him (Hab. 2:2). Elijah described it as a still, small voice (1
Kings 19:12). I had always listened for an inner, audible voice, and God does
speak that way at times. However, I have found that usually God's voice comes
as spontaneous thoughts, or flowing thoughts.
For example, haven't you
ever been driving down the road and had a thought come to you to pray for a
certain person? Didn’t you believe it was God telling you to pray? What did God's
voice sound like? Was it an audible voice, or was it a spontaneous thought that
lit upon your mind?
Experience indicates that
we perceive spirit-level communication as spontaneous thoughts, impressions and
visions, and Scripture confirms this in many ways. For example, one definition
of paga, a Hebrew word for intercession, is "a
chance encounter or an accidental intersecting." When God lays people on
our hearts, He does it through paga, a chance-encounter thought
“accidentally” intersecting our minds. We consider it chance encounter in that
we didn’t reason it up; however, it is purposeful because God sent it to us.
Therefore, when you want to
hear God’s voice, you tune in to chance-encounter, spontaneous or flowing
thoughts. Even Satan’s thoughts come to us as spontaneous thoughts, which is
why we are commanded to “take every thought captive” (2 Cor. 10:5). I am sure
all of us have experienced spontaneous evil thoughts coming to us, even
attacking us right in the middle of our prayer and worship times. So I conclude
that analytical thoughts are mine, spontaneous good thoughts come from the Holy
Spirit, and spontaneous evil thoughts come from evil spirits.
God’s thoughts line up with
Scripture and with His various names: Comforter, Counselor, Teacher, Giver of
Life, Healer and Deliverer. His thoughts edify, exhort and comfort. They are
pure, peaceable, gentle, reasonable, full of mercy and good fruits, and
unwavering (James 3:17).
Satan’s thoughts line up
with his various names: accuser, adversary, thief who comes to kill, steal and
destroy. His thoughts bring jealousy and selfish ambition (James 3:14-15). They
condemn and bring despair, rejection, fear, doubt, unbelief and, in general,
misery.
Key No. 2: Become still so
you can sense God’s flow of thoughts.
Habakkuk said, "I will
stand on my guard post" (Hab. 2:1). Habakkuk knew that to hear God's
quiet, inner, spontaneous thoughts, he had to first go to a quiet place and
still his own thoughts and emotions. Psalm 62:5 encourages us to silence our
souls before God. There is a deep inner knowing (spontaneous flow) in our
spirits that each of us can experience when we quiet our flesh and our minds.
If we are not still, we will sense only our own thoughts.
Loving God through a quiet
worship song is one very effective way to become still. (Note 2 Kings 3:15.)
After I worship and become silent within, I open myself for that spontaneous
flow. If thoughts come of things