Have You Recognized Jesus' Voice? (1.15.14)

"...the sheep follow him: for they know his voice." KJ John10

"I have recognized the voice that draws me near." (Bernard Smith, "I Have Recognized The Voice" From His "It's Going To Rain" CD)

Praise the Lord- we can learn the voice of Jesus amid so many.

He always says the right thing, and clearly too, the kind and just thing, in a way that is gentle but also firm.

The one sitting on the throne ("His eyes observe, his eyes eyelids test the children of men." Psalm11,4)- he talks to us.

And we can learn to recognize his voice.

Whenever we Christians start talking like this, many folks (in church too) will roll their eyes.

But John 10,3-5 tells us we can recognize the voice of the shepherd we follow.

It's vital to recognize His voice because there are many other voices that compete for our attention and obedience.

Folks seem to recognize other voices well enough.

And all those other voices- from satan, from the flesh, from the world, from fear and condemnation, from our own doublemindedness, from a bad attitude- all these want  recognition before the voice of Jesus.

Faith is usually about hearing and obeying.

We don't obey God's word and follow where he wants to lead because often times we have not heard clearly enough from Jesus, calling our Name, and then telling us what to do.

Now most times just reading the bible is sufficient for following God. But there are also times when we need to make a specific decision that isn't going to come from just reading it, but also from hearing the "now" word of Jesus.

Like he called out repeatedly from the burning bush: "Moses! Moses!...." before he told Moses to go back into Egypt and lead Israel out. Exodus 3,4ff.

If you haven't recognized the voice of Jesus and you want to, try this little exercise.  

Find some quiet time in your day, whenever that is, perhaps an hour before bedtime, perhaps first thing in the morning.

Tell Jesus you love Him.

Say it loud and clear, use his NAME.

Then listen.

If your don't hear right off, try the same thing the next day. Stick to it for a week or ten days.

I'm thinking you'll get an answer and then be on your way to recognizing God's voice.

Now perhaps you have met folks and you say "I love you" one time, and they say nothing.

Ok you let it pass, then you try again another day: "I love you."

And again nothing.

And then a third time, and they say "let me get back to you on that."

Jesus is not like this!

He will answer you right away even if half the world is talking to Him at the same time you are telling him this very thing.

He does love you even if you can't hear or believe it: "God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten...." John 3,16

Why wouldn't he tell you that?

He will tell you he loves you.

If you have the faith courage to tell him you love him.

If you have the faith courage to wait for an answer.

And if you say it, he will answer you back, probably use your name too, if you use His NAME.

He is telling you.

Perhaps you just haven't recognized his voice yet.

Once we recognize the voice of the one who draws us near, our life changes dramatically, and for the better.

Before he can become the number one voice in our lives- a voice that always line up with his word and his Spirit- we have to learn to continually ask and receive, to contunually talk to him and then listen up.

(If this doesn't work for you, no worries, we all know that he does love you, but it's time for you to seek baptism in the Spirit, the promise to all per Acts 2,37-39, to be born again through the water, baptism in Jesus' NAME, and the Spirit, John 3,5).

At whatever stage we are in recognizing His voice or not, it's always good to test what we think we have heard or not heard with the word, with the Holy Spirit, and a pastor or other leader in our faith community. 

But Praise the Lord- both the word and the Spirit say we can recognize his voice.