It's Not that Hard to Hear God's Voice Part 2

 Today I’m going to share with you 2 of 8 ways God speaks and how you can be sure to hear Him.

 God speaks to your heart, not to your ears.

 God gave you ears to process sound waves and to interact with others while living on earth. Your ears are for listening, but your mind and heart are for hearing. How often do your ears trick you? Have you ever misunderstood something you thought you heard?

 We don’t hear what’s actually being said because we hear through filters—histories, personalities, experiences, ethnicities, nationalities, theologies and a lot of other kinds of “ies.”

 But God, who knows best how to by-pass all those “ies” and speak in a way you can hear Him. He skips your ears speaks directly to your heart. Seldom (maybe never) will you hear Him with your actual human ears. But that’s okay because your real center of understanding isn't found in your ear canal, it's found deep inside of your mind and your heart.

 And that is where God dwells.

 So because God speaks directly to your heart, these next 7 ways to hear God's voice will tell you how to open your heart wide to Him. In this article we are only going to share the 2nd way God speaks to us.

 God speaks through the Bible. (This is why we call it God’s Word.)

 God speaks to you through His Word. The Bible is God’s written word. Listen to what a secular writer says about “the written word” in general (not the Bible)…

"The written word is arguably the most powerful and most influential tool humanity has ever created. Writing allows for the sharing of ideas, memories, events, stories, and other facets of the human experience in a manner completely unparalleled by anything else. By aiding in the recording of people, places, and events, writing allows us to recognize and understand our history and our past. It allows for the communication of complex ideas and concepts, a communication vitally necessary for the development and growth of our now complex, diverse, and sophisticated cultures, governments, philosophies, sciences, and technologies. Yet perhaps more importantly, the written word connects humans to each other in ways nothing else can. By putting down directly our thoughts, stories, and memories, we are creating an immortal record of ourselves and our experiences. The written word traverses time and space; by reading the words recorded by someone in the far distant past or in a far distant land, we are instantly transported into their mind and thoughts, intimately connected to their life, their ideas, and their experiences."

http://www.reallycoolblog.com/the-written-word-humanitys-most-powerful-tool/

Hebrews 4:12 says this about the Word of God: 

“For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.” (NASB)

 Listen to what Mark Batterson said, in his book Whisper, about how this happens when we read the Bible:

 “We don’t just read the Bible; the Bible reads us. The Spirit who inspired the ancient writers as they wrote is the same Spirit who inspires modern-day readers as they read. The Holy Spirit is on both sides of the equation. The apostle Paul described Scripture as “God-breathed.” When we read Scripture, we’re inhaling what the Holy Spirit exhaled thousands of years ago. We’re hearing the whisper of God in breath tones.”

 The Bible is more than just a collection of ancient writings. It’s the living, and active, soul and spirit impacting, life changing word of God. The Bible fascinates me! I agree with Batterson when he said this too,  “It’s written by over 40 writers, over 15 centuries in 3 languages on 3 continents. Those authors range from farmers and fishermen to kings to poets, prophets, and prisoners of war. It covers nearly every subject matter under the sun: the law and history, poetry and prophecy, cosmology and theology. Yet despite the fact that it touches on hundreds of controversial topics, it doesn’t contradict itself. In fact, it reads like one book from start to finish. And that’s because there is one Author, the Spirit of God.”

 And because God speaks to you through His Word, YOU NEED TO READ IT!

 Many Christians read the Bible cover to cover every year—maybe even a couple times a year. Once we challenged the women to read the Bible cover to cover in 90 days! What a powerful experience that was!

But just remember the goal is learning to recognize and respond to the voice of God so you can grow in intimacy with Him—not becoming a scholar of the Bible. Batterson warns us of Bibliolatry:--making an idol of the Bible

 He presented this equation: Holy Scripture – Holy Spirit = bibliolatry

When we leave the Spirit out of the equation we are left with the letter of the law—and when you end up with only the law you become a lawyer, and that leads to legalism.

 In his book, Secrets of the Secret Place, Bob Sorge creates an amazing illustration out of Zechariah 4. Now I have to confess that I’m not a scholar of Zechariah—but I loved how Sorge interpreted this strange vision the prophet recorded.

There's a lampstand with blazing lamps that are kept burning by the oil that is dripping into them from a bowl of oil that is collected from the olives in the olive tree that stand on either side of the lampstand. The fire never goes out because the oil never runs dry.

 Sorge interpreted the vision like this, the lampstand represents you burning with zeal for God and with compassion and love for people; you never burn out, because your light is fed from the oil that never runs dry.

 The two trees in the illustration represent the Word and the Spirit rooted in God Himself. So, the Word and the Spirit –rooted in God provide the continual “fire” of the Christian life. 

If that doesn't get you excited I don't know what will! God speaks to your heart, not your ears and He speaks most often through His Word.

READ IT! :)