“My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand.” John 10:27-28 NKJV
Many claim to know the voice of God, but few follow the voice of God.
Many claim to know the voice of God, but few follow the voice of God. Many think they know Who God is, but they are unwilling to yield to His Word.
The significant difference between those who profess to know Christ and those who actually know Christ is whether they choose to follow Christ.
The significant difference between those who profess to know Christ and those who actually know Christ is whether they choose to follow Christ. The Lord Jesus said, ““If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me”” (Luke 9:23 NKJV). Christ says, ““If you love Me, keep My commandments”” (John 14:15 NKJV).
True knowledge is always revealed through the application of that knowledge.
True knowledge is always revealed through the application of that knowledge. Anyone can know about something or someone without actually knowing that very thing or knowing that person. We can know who the current President of the United States is without having a real relationship with them. So too is it with God.
Many claim to know God, but they fail to follow His Way and develop a relationship with God.
Many claim to know God, but they fail to follow His Way and develop a relationship with God. For many create their own “god” within their minds. They create a “god” that accepts their lifestyle, excuses away sin, lets them follow in the way of their carnality, and sees them as good individuals.
This view of God is distorted because it brings God down to man's level - even below him. This mindset is both dangerous and catastrophic. It is dangerous in the deception it brings. It is catastrophic in the damnation it leads.
When the Word of God comes, It will either be accepted as truth, disregarded, seen as a fable, hated because it is truth, or followed based upon preferences but not accepted in Its entirety.
“For the Word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart” (Hebrews 4:12 ESV). When the Word of God comes, It will either be accepted as truth, disregarded, seen as a fable, hated because it is truth, or followed based upon preferences but not accepted in Its entirety.
Any disposition towards the Holy Bible that does not believe It is the Word of God in Its entirety is the path that leads to destruction. It is a self-created path - taking partial truths and declaring them whole truths.
Any disposition towards the Holy Bible that does not believe It is the Word of God in Its entirety is the path that leads to destruction. It is a self-created path - taking partial truths and declaring them whole truths. The truths are watered down to the level of one's own interests. Due to this, people believe they hear and know the voice of God, but they lack the Holy Spirit.
How can we expect to receive God’s Spirit of Truth if we are unwilling to accept His Word as Truth? To believe we know God without accepting His Word is the path of those who will believe they knew God but were not saved.
The Holy Spirit does not enter those who do not believe that God’s Word is Truth. The whole Gospel message is in God’s Word. The entirety of the Truth revealed comes from God’s Word. How can we expect to receive God’s Spirit of Truth if we are unwilling to accept His Word as Truth? To believe we know God without accepting His Word is the path of those who will believe they knew God but were not saved.
““Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’”” (Matthew 7:21-23 NKJV).
Those who truly know God, know God’s Voice. God’s Voice is not some self-created sound within our minds where our carnal desires direct us. God’s Voice is not accepting our behavior and suppressing the Truth by way of our passions and how we want to live.
To know God’s Voice is to be both confronted and comforted. To follow His Voice brings both conviction and calmness.
To know God’s Voice is to be both confronted and comforted. To follow His Voice brings both conviction and calmness. The true sheep who follow God’s real voice are those leaving behind the world and pressing on toward the mark. They are living for the life to come, not for the pleasures, acquiring, aggrandizement, and satisfaction of this life.
Only the Spirit of God can help us understand God’s Voice and obey His Word. For those who follow God’s Voice are those who follow His Word.
“The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned” (1 Corinthians 2:14 ESV). Only the Spirit of God can help us understand God’s Voice and obey His Word. For those who follow God’s Voice are those who follow His Word.
We cannot hear a voice without words being uttered. Likewise, we cannot hear God’s Voice without going to His Word.
We cannot hear a voice without words being uttered. Likewise, we cannot hear God’s Voice without going to His Word. Only by the Spirit can we gain understanding and discern God’s Voice.
Amid this selfish, deceptive generation, it is more important than ever that we understand the Voice of God. “Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world” (1 John 4:1 NKJV). We who are born-again “are of God. He who knows God hears us; he who is not of God does not hear us. By this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error” (1 John 4:6 NKJV).
The greatest validation that one is saved is the power of the Holy Spirit, Who transforms and brings change. He is the Giver of Life - true and everlasting Life. Only through Christ may we receive the Helper, the Comforter, the Advocate, and the One Who is God inside us.
May we learn the voice of God by taking dedicated time each day to read God’s Word. This is not difficult to understand or do, but it does take discipline and a willingness to not go in the way of everyone else.
It’s easy to accept the world’s ways. It’s easy to idle passively, never offending anyone. It’s easy to give false love and excuse sin. It’s easy to develop your own sense of morality. It’s easy to be of the world, but we who are born-again are not of the world.
It’s easy to accept the world’s ways. It’s easy to idle passively, never offending anyone. It’s easy to give false love and excuse sin. It’s easy to develop your own sense of morality. It’s easy to be of the world, but we who are born-again are not of the world.
““If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own. Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you”” (John 15:18-19 NKJV).
Those who know God’s Voice are those who have the Holy Spirit.
Those who know God’s Voice are those who have the Holy Spirit. Those with the Holy Spirit should make it a daily discipline to go to God’s Word.
When everything attempts to deviate us from God’s Voice, may we put on the Armor of God and remain concrete in Him Who is the Immutable Truth. May we stand firm, to the very end, casting away all that pertains to self.
PRAYER
Heavenly Father, God of Light, reveal to us Your Truth. O God, we repent of sin, and we seek after Your restorative power. Give us strength to wage war against the flesh and the Enemy. May we not fall prey to deceptive desires but remain in Your Truth and Word. Guide us, Holy Spirit, into the Father’s Will. May we live each day for the Glory of You. We submit and surrender all that we are and all that we have to You, O God. Keep us steadfast and immovable. May we follow You all the days of our life, that we may dwell with You in eternity. Thank You, Lord Jesus, for the gift of salvation. By the power of the Holy Spirit, may we walk in the victory of the Cross of Christ. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Lance VanTine
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