NHBC TEENS CHURCH, SHOMOLU, LAGOS
Wednesday October 9, 2019
T.R.U.E CONNECT (A Midweek Bible Study and Prayer Fellowship)
“HEARING FROM GOD (PART 1)”
INTRODUCTION
In a world where there are so many things competing for our attention and focus, the need to
position our hearts and minds to hear God speak to us cannot be overemphasized. However,
the average Christian is busy and finds it extremely difficult to pay attention to the voice of God.
This does not change the fact that God wants to speak to us continually and every day. Hearing
Gods voice is not something we will automatically know how to do. It is something we learn
how to do as we develop a love relationship with Him, spend quality time with God in the study
of the word and prayer, growing in our faith and getting closer to Him daily.
The bible tells us that Jesus is God in the flesh. Therefore, if you want to hear the voice of God
you must study and know the teachings of Jesus Christ (1 John 1:1). You must also have a
personal relationship with Jesus through salvation (be born again) in order to be truly connected
to Him (John 15:5). Hearing Gods voice is with the help of the Holy Spirit (John 14:16-17;
26). The Holy Spirit is the fulfilment of the way we hear God’s voice.
A lot of you might wonder; why do I need to learn to hear from God when I am born again,
shouldn’t that be a given, automatic and seamless when I give my life to Christ? As much as this
is true in a measure, we find that this isn’t the case with many believers (note that being a believer
isn’t necessarily a factor of age but a result of how much one has exercised themselves in growing
in the things of God by learning to respond to the teaching and life of Christ (His Son) “STATURE
in things pertaining to Christ and God is the evidence of Spiritual Growth and a true sign that
one is hearing from God” (Ephesians 4:13-15; Colossians 3:1-4; Hebrews 5:14) and we will
be seeing why as we proceed in today’s study.
THE PROBLEM (LOST SIGNAL)
God’s original plan was to bring man into His eternal intent and purpose for us (Man) even
before time began (Titus 1:2). This eternal intent being spoken of is an unending relationship
& communion with the Father. However, the narrative was changed when man began to hear
another voice other than the voice of God (Genesis 3:1-11; 4:16).
Adam was in the garden & fellowshipped with God regularly. He was used to the voice of God &
they had a constant communication which was the intention of God. God wanted to teach man
His ways until he attains (“FULLNESS/PERFECTION”) the nature of God and then seal him
up eternally with the fruit of the tree of life (Genesis 3: 22-24). This was not possible anymore
for Adam the moment he & eve began to listen to the voice of the serpent up to the point of
disobedience. Man lost access to the tree of life at this point & was driven out of the Garden of
Eden. This was the beginning of the deterioration of the soul of man which further has led to the
difficulty in hearing the voice of God (Genesis 4:6-7;16; Isaiah 6:9-10, Matthew 13:14-15;
Jeremiah 17:9; Matthew 15:8; Psalm 103:3-4; 1 Corinthians 3:1-3)
The conversation between man and God is meant to be a seamless & beautiful one but because
man has learnt to hear a voice other than the voice of God; it has to take a deliberate effort &
commitment to begin to journey back to the point where it is only the voice of the Father that we
can hear. The nature satan weaved in our souls contaminated us before we met the lord; this
is the reason we are undecided in our obedience to God. Thank God Christ came to show us
that this is possible, as His life on earth was an indication that we can live a life that is totally
dependent on God’s voice (John 11:42; John 10:30). It is important to know that the difficulty
we face today in tuning to the voice of God is as a result of the level of deterioration that has come
to the soul overtime; the devil is intentional about preventing man from getting back to the
intent of God for us and he uses every means possible to stop us from building a solid relationship
with our Father. He comes in form of legitimate speaking/things (i.e. sleep, music, need to chat,
friends, school, religion, parties, doctrines etc.). he comes with an appearance of light
(Matthew 6:23) and tries to make sure he does everything to ensure that we do not find time to
grow in our walk with God & as a result we do not know how to discern God’s voice (John 10:10;
Matthew 13:25).
THE SOLUTION (RECONNECT)
The big question now is, what the way is out and how can we begin to build up ourselves in our
relationship with God, therefore strengthening our ability to hear Him?
The good news is, this is what CHRIST came to do (John 10:10b; 14:3-6; 15:4-5, 10:27-28).
Our journey & desire to hear God has to first begin with a commitment to learn the way of His
son, because without Him we cannot have access to the Father (John 14:6-10). Yes we are born
again, the Spirit of God dwells in us but for us to be able to fully attain the purpose of God for our
lives, we have to learn Christ (Ephesians 4:20-21; John 16:12-13). The Holy Spirit within us
comes to bring us to a state where we can begin to know the will of the Father & learn the way of
the son. The word of God (by revelation of the Holy Spirit) is also another very essential instrument
we need to be equipped with, to be able to hear God properly (2 Timothy 3:15; Joshua 1:8).
The essence of the learning of Christ as the way to ultimately sharpen our senses to hear & know
the mind of God cannot be overemphasized (Ephesians 4:17-24). The learning of Christ helps us:
 Begin to walk in understanding as opposed to our former ignorance ( Vs 17-19; Col 1:9;
Ephesians 1:17-18).
 Begin to see the different aspects of our lives that contend with us hearing the voice of
God: Flesh, Our Lusts, Old Man. (Vs 22-23; Romans 8:5-8; Colossians 1:8-9: James
1:14).
 Gives us access into a new life which can only be accessed in Him- The New Man
“Christ” (Vs 24; 2 Corinthians 5:17; Colossians 3:10-11).
CONCLUSION: The moment we begin to tune in to this life, we begin to find that we die to
flesh, which cannot hear God (1 Corinthians 1: 29-30) and begin to walk in Christ by the Holy
Spirit. Hearing from God becomes a life for us & we begin to respond to God in all “things”
(John 10:26-28).