Length: 6 minutes

On a very practical level, even though we are worthy to access the voice of God, we need time to be able to hear Him. That certainly doesn’t go without saying. Some people may try to squeeze in a few minutes here and there, to spend private time with the Lord, and then get discouraged when they feel they aren’t hearing God. As much as you have access, you need to give the Lord time to speak! 

That may sound silly to even mention, but it is very important. In addition to making the gospel your number one priority to meditate on throughout your day, you also need enough quantity of time to spend undistracted with Him so He can speak. 

On a particular day, I had finished work, worked around the house for a while, then spent some time with the Lord at night before bed. But even with spending time with the Lord, when I walked to my bed and laid my head down, the Lord immediately started speaking things to me. I thought to myself, “Wow Lord, was this the first opportunity I was quiet enough for you to speak?” Even though I spent private time, I don’t believe I had been quiet enough for Him to speak to me. Sometimes we can be so rushed, or perhaps doing “our routine,” without real undistracted time to sit back, chill out, and think about what He’s done.

I know that the number one concern is going to be, “But I’m just so busy.” Granted, many of us have families, jobs, and other things to tend to, but we all make time for the things we prioritize. We find time for vacations now and then, recreational activities, and maybe some TV or social media time (even if it’s in the bathroom). There’s nothing wrong with those things, but we do a lot of things in a day, and everybody has time to spend privately with the Lord, without exception. 

Even if you’re busy schedule involves important things, you would prosper more at those things while prioritizing the gospel, than you would sacrificing it. Joshua 1:7-9 explains that prosperity comes from meditation on the truth. So, even if you had to “sacrifice” time from something else, to slow down and meditate, you’d realize it wasn’t a sacrifice at all, because the gospel prospers you! God’s not trying to take from you. He wants to give to you.

Remember, there’s no set amount of time to spend with the Lord privately, but it does take time to get to know Him. It’s so worth that time! It’s only after you continue (spend time) in His word, that you’ll know the truth.

John 8:31-32 (KJV) …If ye continue in my word… ye shall know the truth…

Will You Stop Or Keep Seeking?

Jesus has paid for everything so that you can seek Him and surely find Him. The question is whether you’re going to keep seeking Him even when you don’t understand it first.

The only people that truly hear the voice of God (long-term) are the people that continue seeking His voice ardently, even when they don’t hear anything or don’t understand what they’re hearing.

No person has ever understood the Lord immediately. Never. Furthermore, no person who begins to understand the Lord, understands it all at once. Everyone grows from faith to faith, a step at a time (Romans 1:17) You need to acknowledge the truth inside of you. Read your Bible. Thank God for what He’s done. Come to church. Devour the gospel at every opportunity, but you must not stop when you don’t understand.

There are two kinds of people who seek the Lord: There are people who stop when they don’t understand and people who keep going when they don’t understand (because they know Jesus paid for them to understand). Everyone will experience times when they don’t know what the Lord is saying to them. That happens to everyone. But will you stop when that happens or keep going, knowing that Jesus qualifies you to hear the voice of God?

As a perfect example of this, in closing, let’s look at what happened right after Jesus fed the 5,000. The people whom Jesus had just fed, came looking for Him. They begin talking with Jesus and He said a lot of things they didn’t understand. He started talking to them about eating His flesh and drinking His blood. Of course, Jesus wasn’t speaking about cannibalism. He was talking about receiving from what His body and blood provided. They heard the words, but they could not discern the voice of God. They didn’t understand. The people didn’t get it, so they left and stopped seeking the Lord. 

John 6:60 (NKJV) Therefore many of His disciples, when they heard this, said, “This is a hard saying; who can understand it?”

Verse 66) From that time many of His disciples went back and walked with Him no more. 67 Then Jesus said to the twelve, “Do you also want to go away?” 68 But Simon Peter answered Him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.

Jesus said something that no one at the time understood. Because of that, most of His disciples (apart from the 12) gave up. Now, here’s the difference between the 5,000 and Jesus’ 12 disciples: When the 5,000 didn’t understand, they stopped seeking. They went away. On the other hand, I don’t believe His 12 disciples understood either (they didn’t even understand Jesus’ death/resurrection at the time), but they continued seeking. They didn’t stop. They knew that Jesus had the words of life and they needed those words. 

What happened to the 5,000 after that? I’m not sure. If they didn’t start seeking the Lord again, they would’ve never found Him, even though He was available. The disciples on the other hand (except for Judas), all found the Lord in amazing ways. All of them continued seeking the truth. The New Testament that we read today was written by many of these men who probably didn’t understand what Jesus was saying.

The point is, everyone has times where they aren’t discerning the voice of God. Every single person. For right now, maybe those times have been more frequent or longer than you’re comfortable with. Everyone has experienced this, especially at the beginning. The people that find the truth aren’t people that have always understood. The people that find the truth are people that shrug off the times when they don’t understand because they know that God is not a liar. He said that everyone who seeks, finds. He said that we have access to this grace through Jesus, and if Jesus is our access to the truth, no one can take that away! 

Along the way, take full advantage of the company of other believers and Jesus centered teaching. That is important, but never forget that other people are not your source of truth. They are not your mediator between you and God, as if you cannot hear for yourself. They are a help and an encouragement but you yourself have access through the blood of Jesus. Jesus paid for you to be able to hear from your Father. And you will hear if you set His word as your number one priority, seek Him with all your heart, and continue in it. Never stop seeking with all your heart because those who do that always find. Always.

Jeremiah 29:13 (NKJV) And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart.

Galatians 6:9 (NKJV) And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart.

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