Hearing God's Voice

In the name of truth, let it be declared that the gospel of Jesus Christ is the revelation to mankind that we all are offsprings of God; we all are sons of God. We however, are sons who have forgotten our heritage, our ancestry, so much so that the reality of our inner father is considered by many to be a fantasy.

Distance and separation from God is something most of us were raised to embrace. We were taught of a far far away God who can never be seen, heard, or experienced, except when our physical body goes to dust; Jesus was painted as an utopian character; a fantasy which no one can attain. We find it good in this moment to say that nothing could be further from the truth.

Many surprises await those who delve deeper into their study of the Bible, discovering the original meanings of words and events before they were translated into the english language. Interestingly, in the original greek text of the new testament, there is no mention of Jesus of Galilee being 'the' son on God. That is, him being the only individual that was an offspring of God. Jesus himself never declared himself to be that.

The greek phrase 'huios theou', commonly translated as 'the son of God', literally means 'a son of God'. It is no wonder Jesus boldly quoted this psalm of David, responding to the pharisees who considered it blasphemy for him to call God his Father:

'I said, “You are gods, And all of you are children of the Most High. But you shall die like men, And fall like one of the princes.”' Psalms 82:6-7

'Jesus answered them, “Is it not written in your law, ‘I said, “You are gods” ’ ?

If He called them gods, to whom the word of God came (and the Scripture cannot be broken), do you say of Him whom the Father sanctified and sent into the world, ‘You are blaspheming,’ because I said, ‘I am the Son of God’? ' John 10:34-36

When one looks at the original text, one sees that this phrase translated as 'I am the Son of God' is actually 'I am a son of God'. Of course that's what he was saying. If he wasn't saying that, why then would he validate his sonship by reminding the pharisees that they also were sons of God?

Why would Paul have told the Romans, who at that time were not 'christians', that:

'for in Him we live and move and have our being, as also some of your own poets have said, ‘For we are also His offspring.’ Therefore, since we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Divine Nature is like gold or silver or stone, something shaped by art and man’s devising. ' Acts 17:28-29

Indeed, inside of the heart of every man exists the seed of light; the seed of Christ. There is no one on the face of this earth who is not connected to God, seeing as all of us have our root inside of him; seeing as all of us exist by life and by his light.

Within every man is contained a Christ potential that unfolds naturally when exposed to the right environment. It is not the farmer who causes the bean stalk to break through the soil, neither is it the vine dresser who causes the grape to unfold from the vine. He simply creates conditions for that which is natural to happen naturally.

When the right environment is set, that which is natural blooms naturally. When the right atmosphere is created, cultivated, when all barriers are removed, communication with God happens without any effort on our part.

God is ever speaking, ever communicating; like a river he is always flowing. Hearing God's voice is not something we can try to do, it is a natural occurrence. If one's environment is not cultivated in a way that supports this flow however, that which should occur naturally will cease to happen.

Before we can talk about what can help us hear God, it is necessary that we talk about things that make us unable to hear his voice; things that disrupt us from the frequency of the Holy Spirit.

There are many things that muffle the sound of God's voice in our hearts, and before he highlights them in a dream, vision or through a direct messenger, he highlights them through our very circumstances. He highlights them through the way we react to our daily circumstances, letting us know the areas of our hearts that are muffling his voice within us.

Like the constant flow of blood in our veins, like the constant flow of waters in the stream, like the constant movement of neurones within our nervous system, God is always communicating, speaking, flowing.

If there however be a blood clot in the vein, a barricade in the stream, the life which ought to flow naturally becomes impeded and pain soon follows. Like the blood clot in the vein, there are many clots in our hearts and minds that restrict the free flow of the voice of the Holy Spirit.

Sometimes this clot might be an age long resentment; it might be the fear of losing one's job; it might be the fear of poverty; it might be an intense desire to be valued and recognized by others; it might be a desire to be respected amongst ones peers.

Yes, the clot might be a voracious sexual appetite; it might be anger uncontrolled; it might be the fear of being looked down upon by others or being an object of mockery; it might be the fear of losing one's possessions; it might be an intense addiction to this or that thing, this or that person, this or that substance.

Like we said, communication with God is not something we can make happen. Our role is to work with God to cultivate habits that support the free flow of his communication or remove things that inhibit the free flow of his communication.

It is good to say that though there are general guidelines to cultivating an environment for the voice of God to flow naturally, such as the practice of generosity, patience, forgiveness, temperance, etc., ultimately, seeing as people are different, there would be guidelines which are peculiar to each individual.

I once upon a time had a very damaged esteem and sense of self worth. I evaluated myself based on how many women wished to have sex with me; I evaluated myself based on people envying me and I did whatever I could to ensure this continued to happen.

Louis Vuitton, Dolce & Gabbana, Hermes etc. became my god because I was enslaved to the envy of people who were equally enslaved to these things. Every night before going to bed I would turn and look at all my designer shoes stacked to my ceiling and I would mentally pat myself on the back, I would tell myself "you're the man".

Because I was a slave to the adoration of a certain kind of people, I became enslaved to the things they themselves adored. It is no wonder why when God began to clean me up and realign my vision, the very first area he addressed was my esteem and my fear of being looked down upon by people. That fear could never allow me to listen to my inner Father, that fear had to be faced.

On a random morning, he made me pack as many clothes as could fit into my suitcase and begin disbursing them to anyone I met on the street. Words cannot express the pain I felt giving away my precious Versace silk shirts to brick layers in the mosque opposite my building. My day began with a flurry of clothing but ended with me possessing 5 shirts, one pair of slippers and my ugliest pair of shoes.

I cried real tears.

That seemingly little act however, opened the voice of heaven to me in a way that completely pulled me out of darkness. The problem was not my shoes or clothes but my fear of shame and desire to be envied by others. The fear of shame and desire to be envied was a massive clot in my heart, it was a blanket upon my eyes; a clog in my ears. In order for God to help me hear him clearer, he made confront this aspect of myself I had been running away from.

Different circumstances and experiences unveil many unpleasant characteristics in us, unfortunately, we as people have cultivated the habit of immediately escaping any circumstance that feels unpleasurable; immediately latching onto to any circumstance that feels pleasurable.

Pleasure and pain are not good or bad things. Pleasure and pain are part of life. Times of pleasure and times of pain unveil to us the real contents of our hearts, it lets us know who we really are and see what we need to cultivate or terminate.

It is in this moment good to say that pain is our body's way of letting us know something is wrong. When there is an imbalance somewhere in the body, the brain sends signals to that region to alert us of areas that are obstructing the free flow of life within the body. In our hearts, the things that cause us any kind of emotional pain are clots which need to be untangled for the waters of life to flow.

Resentment is like a blanket upon one's spiritual sight. The pain we feel while we are resentful is an indication of a region in our heart which we have not let God into; it is an indication of a region in our hearts where we are completely deaf to God; it is an indication of a region that makes us unable to hear our inner Father.

From time to time and season to season we experience different circumstances that bring out different kinds of pains, obstructions, and clots in our hearts. In such moments we are presented with an opportunity to put that pain before God, seeking his help and assistance or we can indulge in it and deafen ourselves even more to the voice of the Father. David said:

'The Lord is near to all who call upon Him, To all who call upon Him in truth.' Psalms 145:18

Emotional pain is evidence of conflicted areas in our hearts, it is evidence of an aspect where life is not penetrating. It does not matter who or what caused us to to be upset, greedy, lustful, impatient, envious or prideful. For such things to come out of us means that such things have always been there, and have served as a barrier to the free flow of God's voice: Let us remember what Jesus said:

'Not what goes into the mouth defiles a man; but what comes out of the mouth, this defiles a man.”' Matthew 15:11

Through different life experiences, God excavates buried skeletons in our hearts and brings them to light for us to present them before him to heal us. Often times however, instead of presenting our fears before him, our shame before him, our lust and anger before him, we instead put blame on the people or circumstances that brought these things out of us.

Instead of recognizing our own lack of self control and putting it before the feet of the master, we like Adam say 'It is the woman you gave to me that gave me the fruit", "it was the way that person spoke to me", "it is the fault of that sweet boy or girl who seduced me", "it is because of this, it is because of that".

So long as we refuse to confront our own frailties, God's voice will continue to appear distant from us. Those moments when we've been irritated by our spouse or partner, our friend, colleague or sibling, are the best moments to expand our ears for the spirit. In such moments when our flesh is raging, it is safe to say that the silent voice that is telling us what we don't want to hear is the voice of God. Let us remember:

'For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish. ' Galatians 5:17

If we begin to be observant of moments we are lazy to pray, impatient with this or that person, upset with our sister or brother, lustful towards this boy or that girl, there is always a silent thought in our heart that gives us a different direction. Friends, if that voice has not yet been totally buried and your are still able to hear it, grab onto it with all of your heart and all of your might.

The hearing of God's voice is something that is cultivated over time. The daily attempt at putting to practice his words not only helps us identify where we are incapable of being like him but also why we are incapable. Discovering the why lets us know what exactly we need to pray and prepare for. I must confess in the name of truth that what modern men call the conscience is indeed the voice of God.

The conscience however has to be fed, nourished, and cultivated with many many materials that relate to it. The study of the four gospels, the direct teachings and counsels of Christ, give us a template for the cultivation of his voice within us. The book of proverbs, the book of ecclesiastes, are also very powerful books which serve as nourishment for the seed of God in us.

We as people need not only to feed and meditate on the word, but we need to put them into practice. In our putting them into practice we will fail many times and that sincerely is the point. Every failure provides an opportunity for learning, it gives us a fresh vantage into something unbeknownst to us.

I must attempt forgiving someone who hurt me and fail at it to discover why I cannot forgive them. The whole point of God giving the law is to make man see his own powerlessness, his own weakness, his own frailty. The whole point of the law is to make man become sincere with himself and approach God in sincerity. This is why Paul said:

'What shall we say then? Is the law sin? Certainly not! On the contrary, I would not have known sin except through the law. For I would not have known covetousness unless the law had said, “You shall not covet.” ' Romans 7:7

"Oh dear Lord Jesus, I actually tried to be kind to that guy but I couldn't. He is so ugly, his breath smells so baaaaad. Help me please". Such prayers go such a long way and deepen our intimacy with God much more than we know. Sincerity with oneself is key to any kind of spiritual development, it is key to unfolding the life of Christ which exists on the inside of every single one of us.

As a practice, let us observe ourselves today or observe the season we have been in. Let us observe the different kinds of pain we have been feeling and the different things that made us uncomfortable. Hidden within that feeling of discomfort is a voice and directive of God that we did not know prior. Let us confront that feeling itself and take it to God, let us put it at his feet and pray for him to help us overcome the feeling; the nature; the character.

As we begin cultivating our communion to God, we must begin by identifying the things that hinder our communion with him.

To be continued....