It is undoubtedly true that we are the passion of God’s heart. When he looks at us, his heart is overwhelmed by love. This is as much true of us in our fallen state as it is through our place in Christ. Romans 5:8 states, God demonstrates his own love towards us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks. This is as much true of the father as it is of people. Out of the abundance of his heart towards us, he speaks. His voice is connected to his heart for us. Fullness dominates his voice. His words pour into our heart in order to create in us the picture of how he sees us.
He loves us to hear his voice. To hear him is to be healed – literally to be re-created in mind, heart, body, and soul. We should practice listening in tune with his speaking. His voice resonates with love. We must listen with love. His voice created the universe and shaped the world of mankind. His voice still brings everything into being on a continuous basis. He has not stopped creating. The universe is still expanding.
Jesus was crucified before God said let there be light in Genesis. When Jesus was crucified, we were crucified with him. When he was raised from the dead, we were raised with him. When he was seated upon the throne, we were seated with him. Therefore, Jesus spoke the new creation into existence before he made Adam and put him in the garden. The new creation is an eternal reality, we are an eternal spiritual being in Christ, buy one sacrifice he has perfected forever those who are being sanctified.
It is as we begin to hear the voice of God that we are exposed to his Spirit and changed into the same image. We are spiritual beings experiencing a temporary earthly existence, but as we hear his voice we are changed from grace to grace, faith to faith, strength to strength, glory to glory. This is the impartation of the love of God to us, we are accepted in the beloved. God will not share his glory with flesh, but we are dead to the old creation. In Christ, the new creation partakes of his glory. We are lifted up into a new realm of existence, where we are partaking of the glorious divine nature of God.
His ability to create new life in us is limitless. He delights to see us respond to Him. He speaks to us so that his own joy might enter our hearts and so that our experience of joy may reach its fullest potential – John 15:11. He loves the rising joy in our hearts, the first few faltering steps we make towards delight. Every time he speaks, we smile. When we hear his voice, laughter should erupt in our spirit. Even when he gently rebukes us, our hearts cry with joy at his love for us in the midst of our stumbling. When he has to chastise us, it is to prove conclusively that we belong to him; we are his family – Hebrews 12.
There will never be a time when he will not speak to us. We must love the listening as much as he loves the speaking. He speaks to our heart to regenerate us, so that we may have total confidence and believe in the simple truth that we were made to hear his voice.
There is a divine capacity to hear his voice that is built into each one of us. The creator has designed a space within each of us whereby we may know his voice and respond-john 10:27. The truth that will set us free declares to us that we are free to hear him in our heart. We must therefore develop a larger expectation of hearing his voice.
His willingness to speak is greater than our ability to hear. His sheer pleasure in talking to us is bigger than our fear of hearing him wrong. We must not doubt him, or we will doubt ourselves also. Never be in doubt; believing is always the better choice.
The father will teach us to listen so that we can become confident. The beginning of confidence is that we believe in his delight over us, that he pursues us joyfully for our continual benefit. In his presence there is fullness of joy – Psalms 16:11, and that joy is our source of strength, delight and happiness.
He speaks to us though the scriptures. He speaks to us through others. He speaks to us through imparting the fruit of the Spirit into our emotions. He speaks to us through spontaneous thought. He speaks to us through pictures in our mind, dreams and visions.
Then we must believe that we are destined with an inbuilt ability for our heart to respond and resonate to the sound of his voice. His goal is that we become confident in his desire to speak to us.
Delight is a wonderful part of our relationship with him. He does everything from love and delight and teaches us how to delight in him. His kingdom functions on joy and delight. He takes pleasure in his people – Psalm 149:4. We are learning to be still, to be his beloved, and to listen to his heartbeat. We must lose fear and regain delight as a way of relationship.
Are we not his people, his favorite, his pleasure? All that he asks is that we trust his heart towards us. The nearness of our God is our delight. He puts us into Christ, and we abide there as an act of celebration. The father is delighted with Jesus; therefore, he is delighted with us having our inheritance in him. We are the beloved abiding in the beloved. We should allow ourselves to feel his joy and delight.
Listening to his voice takes our heart to new levels of glory in his presence. We are created to have conversations with heaven. It is what we know as prayer – a love language that is made complete because it is mutual. Heaven always talks back! The Lord loves to initiate conversations and loves to respond to all that we say.
To speak, and not to listen in return, makes for an unfruitful relationship. We are called to bear fruit in all good things. I AM is speaking, and we are learning to listen from the heart, not our head. Listening is about utmost sensitivity and absolute intentionality. Connecting within our spirit to the inbuilt receiver that is Christ within. It is surely nonsense to confess that Christ is living within, and then to confess that we cannot hear his voice.
Prayer is Christ in us, praying to the father, through the Holy Spirit. When we are simply still and at rest, prayer easily rises up within us, we become naturally spiritual and totally Christlike. When we are born again our receptor is switched on. If we want to hear God, we will. Love the listening. Love the anticipation of learning. Will we make mistakes? Sure! By far the biggest mistake is to believe that we cannot hear. We can start today. Begin rejoicing in the truth. We can hear; God will speak; the Holy Spirit will teach us; we have Christ within; we are living in Christ and in God’s delight. Have fun!
Don’t try to think it; feel God’s voice within. Listen in expectation. Practice, practice, practice. The more we give ourselves to something, the better we become at the practice of it and the more our experience matures. God will breathe on us. Enjoy the experience of listening. Smile a lot. Take pleasure in learning.
The Holy Spirit will teach us to be still, to rest and be at peace. He will impart to us the ability to still the noise on the inside. The head noise will disappear as we learn to listen from the place of intuition in the hidden man of the heart. He speaks so that we will learn joy. We listen so that love may build up in our heart. He talks so that we may be edified, encouraged, and comforted by his voice. As a mother speaks to her infant, so God speaks to us so that we may know the soothing sound of his voice. As a child is made happy and comforted by the voice of a parent, so are we when God speaks.
As a mature person interacts with the voice of your father, so we learn the conversations of heaven, just as Isaiah did – Isaiah 6. Hearing God is our right and are privilege.
Assignment – what is the place of joy and delight that the father wants to introduce to you in this season? What do you believe about joy and delight in the context of your walk with him? How will you allow the Lord to develop your confidence?
Commission – practice joy. Practice celebration in Christ, rejoice! Practice feeling his voice in your heart. Be still and wait. If God does not speak initially, he will speak eventually. Love the learning. Feel the joy of his words. Experience the comfort and the encouragement. Allow yourself to be built up and nourished. Write down what you hear.