We’ve been talking a lot about the importance of practices like prayer, fasting, reading the Word, and so on. While these are foundational, they don’t magically bring us into the fullness of God. There is a very quiet essential ingredient that is so quiet, it is often overlooked. If we neglect this thing, we will be like the man who thought he could know the ocean just by sitting on the shore.
I want to bring this up because so many Christians have put forth strong efforts to practice prayer but never found the deep spiritual fullness they were hoping for. Disillusioned, they conclude that prayer doesn’t really work. Some have been so negatively affected by this experience of praying hard but hitting a spiritual wall, that they have kissed the Christian faith goodbye. What I’m talking about is hearing the voice of God and obeying.
Basic commands
Now, I’m not just talking about obeying the basic commands of the Bible. Most Christians realize that if they don’t obey the basics, their prayers won’t get off the ground. I say “most Christians” because there are some who think that God will pour out blessings upon them when they pray, even though they disregard basic clear commands in the Word.
Just to be super clear, what I mean by “basic commands” would be things like:
Don’t lie
Don’t cheat
Be sexually pure
Give generously
Know the Word
Forgive people
Have no other gods
Don’t get drunk
Serve one another
Show hospitality
Be constant in prayer
Be thankful
And many other things. If you aren’t sure what the basic commands are, I would recommend reading the section of the New Testament from 1 Corinthians to Jude and make a note of every command. This section of the Bible is essentially a collection of letters written to the first century churches with lots of very plain instruction. We cannot and should not expect to have a deep relationship with God, or to experience the fullness of God, unless we obey the simple commands.
King David reminded us of this principle when he said this: “If I had cherished iniquity in my heart, the Lord would not have listened” (Psalm 66:18). Isaiah said a similar thing: “But your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you so that he does not hear” (Isaiah 59:2). Proverbs 29:9 in the Message Bible says, “God has no use for the prayers of the people who won’t listen to him.” John the Baptist chased away the elite religious folks, calling them snakes and telling them they needed to bear the fruit of true repentance—obedience. Jesus said, “Why do you call me Lord but do not do what I say?” I could keep going with many more verses but you get the point. And that’s actually not the point I even want to make today.
Again, I think most Christians understand that obedience to the basic commands is essential in order to have a close relationship with God. Not sinless perfection, of course. No one is perfect. But we must be aware of what the commands are, be obedient to them, and if we fall short, confess and repent.
The specific voice
What is on my heart to share with you today is the importance of not only obeying the commands of God voiced in Scripture but also the specific promptings of God voiced within our hearts through the Spirit. I think it is a plain fact that many very good Christians have limited themselves to only obeying the clear commands in the Bible. They do everything the Bible commands carefully. And because of their obedience, they experience a measure of blessing. But if we want to know God intimately and be filled with the full measure of the Spirit—we must hear the voice of God and obey!
Part of the reason some Christians only obey the clear Bible commands, and neglect to obey the voice of the Spirit, is because they are nervous that they won’t be able to know for sure if it’s God’s voice telling them to do something. I just want to say—this is a very genuine and understandable concern. I share that concern too! But the Lord will teach us His voice, and even if we miss it occasionally, the Lord is gracious. Consider this verse (remember that we are the sheep)—
To him the gatekeeper opens. The sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought out all his own, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice. A stranger they will not follow, but they will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers. — John 10:3-5
This obedience to the inner voice of the Holy Spirit means that we yield to what He wants. Remember that the Spirit is wanting to manifest His life in and through us. Our job is to let Him, to cooperate—to not be like a mule that can only be controlled by bit and bridle. Selah. Another phrase to describe this obedience to the voice is “reckless abandon.” It simply means that we let God do what God wants to do through us. It means if He tells us to do something or say something—we do it.
Hidden secret
This abandonment to God is the hidden secret behind why certain men and women of faith are so filled with God. It’s not just about praying three hours a day, or fasting two days a week, or memorizing half of the New Testament. Or even obeying basic commands in the Bible. The secret to spiritual power is obedience, first, to the basic commands of Scripture, and second, to the inner voice and leading of the Spirit.
For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. — Romans 8:14
What I’m saying is that this blessed partnership with God’s heart cannot be attained just by spending a lot of time in the prayer closet. Yes, the prayer closet is foundational, but, in the closet we must listen to what God is saying and do it. If our ears are open in prayer, the Lord will give us assignments. He may say—
Give $500 to that person
Move to Ecuador
Foster a child
Go to Straight Street
Tell that person to stop doubting
Donate your 1972 De Tomaso Pantera
Stop the car, give that lady a flower
When we step out and obey—great things happen! We come into partnership with God; we are going where He is going. We put ourselves out there in ways that God can flow through us and when we do this we experience God. When we hear His voice and obey we see supernatural things. We see things only God could do. Our faith increases. The power of the Spirit is manifested in tangible ways! Christ becomes more real.
Discerning the voice
I do want to caution you about thinking that any random thought or dream or picture that comes to you is a message from the Lord. This is very dangerous because there are a lot of things that pop into our minds throughout a 24 hour day. We need to learn to identify the voice of God. This isn’t as hard as it seems at first. The Lord has His ways of speaking to each of us uniquely and over time we become more and more familiar with His voice.
I listened to so much music in my younger years that I could immediately identify the artist when I heard just a millisecond of a song. Why is that? Because I listened over and over to records until I was deeply familiar and intimate with them.
It’s the same with the voice of God. At first, we have no idea how to hear God’s voice. The very idea seems daunting and even crazy, right? But the Lord speaks to us and makes sure we know it’s Him, and so begins a sweet development of discerning God’s voice.
The key to hearing the voice of the Spirit is to be willing. The more fully surrendered we stay and willing to do anything God wants, the easier it will be to hear Him. If we relate to God on our terms and have a list of things we won’t do, the process is clouded. I’m willing to do pretty much anything I think. Except be a youth pastor :)
Discerning the voice of the Spirit isn’t usually a voice in our head that comes to us. Sometimes that happens but, for me at least, it’s rare. Usually, it is a particular thing that just keeps crashing upon my heart. It’s something I cannot stop writing about. As I write about the idea there is clearly a spiritual energy streaming through. Often the thing I’m feeling God wants me to do becomes so strong that I feel like I have to do it. It feels like I’m holding my breath and need to let it out. There have been times when God has rushed upon me with power and in my weeping, He will put one single thought on my mind. Again, He will speak to you differently. The point is that He does speak and He will develop us in discerning His voice.
Do what?
I also want to caution you that the voice of God is not always sensible. In other words, when God tells us to do something we don’t always say, “That seems reasonable.” Ha! Oh my goodness, think of the examples in the Bible. Here are just a few things God essentially spoke to people, along with what people might have thought when they heard it—
God—“Build a giant ark.”
Noah—“What’s an ark?”
God—“March around Jericho and blow trumpets daily until the walls fall down.”
Joshua—“I’m a mighty warrior and this does not sound like a good idea.”
God—“Marry a prostitute.”
Hosea—“Oh, man, what’s my mom going to think?”
God—“Lay on your side for 390 days.”
Ezekiel—“What about meals?”
God—“Fill the pots with water.”
The servants—“But, we need wine, not water.”
God—“Cast your nets into the water for a catch.”
Peter—“Don’t you think we’ve been doing that for like the last ten hours?”
God—“Lead the people out of Egypt and into the Promised Land.”
Moses—“Does He realize we are going to run into the Red Sea?”
God—“Time to have a baby.”
Abraham—“My wife is 90. I’m 100. Seriously?”
I’m sure you can think of many more examples of the Lord telling people to do things that seem crazy. I suppose it’s a test of faith. When God tells us to do something that doesn’t make sense, or doesn’t seem like a good idea—we have to trust Him! Sometimes I think God takes a special delight in asking me to do things that aren’t sensible because He knows my propensity to be logical about everything. Here’s some of things He’s told me to do through the years at various times—
Go to New York City
Preach on 42nd Street—yikes!
Go to Bible school
Go to Boston
Give away your guitar
Start a church
Pray for the porn theatre
Tell that man Jesus wants him
Tell that person what will happen
Tell the 1000 people in the room this
Triple your missions giving
Give each person a prophetic word
Look for a building
Move the church to the South End
Tell the realtor this
Create a massive art installation
Kill the tv
Each of these has a story, of course. And there are many more. Let me share a little bit. We’ll call this a bonus section. It’ll be long so just read it if you have time. I’ll just make it one long unpolished paragraph. Enjoy.
It’s the recession (2008), and we are in our 7th year as a church, meeting in a school with mostly college students who don’t give. By being frugal we were able to save up about $15,000–but during the recession, we were losing thousands each month. We were about 2-3 months out from draining everything financially. At a prayer meeting, the Lord spoke through a young girl named Teegan and said, “Look for a building.” At the moment I was thinking, “Look for a building?? We can’t even meet the budget!” But the Lord showed me afterward that this was Him speaking so I started looking around the Eastside where our church was meeting. Another whole twist in the story was that I was driving down the Southside on Broad Street, an economically challenged and pretty dangerous area, and God arrested me as I was driving. By “arrested” I mean I just started weeping profusely and had to pull the car over at CVS because I couldn’t drive. The power and presence of God was upon me and the Lord said to me “let down your nets for a catch.” I knew what He meant. Move the church to the South End. From a business standpoint, during a recession, with no money, with college students who walked to church—moving into this very ethnically diverse neighborhood on the other side of the city was a very dumb thing to do. I remember my dad saying, “This doesn’t seem like a good idea.” I didn’t think so either! But I knew the Lord was speaking. Not too many days after this I stumbled upon an old abandoned shopping plaza (used to be a Stop and Shop plaza). I was coming back from a conference and decided to drive by it on the way home. It was pretty late. I ended up getting out of the car and laying my hands on the building (I normally don’t do weird things). The power of the Lord came upon me and said he was going to fill the building with people—and with His glory! Well, I was really excited and went home and told Tiffany. Remember, we are in a recession and running out of money. She said, “What’s the cost of the rent?” I didn’t know. I hadn’t called yet. My wife is so practical! She said, “We can afford 2-3k at the most, and even that’s a stretch. What if it’s like $5000 or more?” Hmm, good question. I think I told her God would provide. Well, I contacted the realtor and found out the prior tenant was paying $11,500 a month but they dropped the price to $8500 a month. I made an appointment to see the building. I was gearing up to talk him down in price but I don’t really like negotiating (I bought my last car at CarMax). The day of my meeting I woke up very early, in the Spirit, and the Lord was practically downloading everything I should say to the realtor. It was blowing my mind. It was so specific. Along with giving me specific words to say, the Lord gave me supernatural joy and anticipation. I knew God was up to something, and I was so confident that walking out the door I said to my wife, “Stand still and watch the salvation of the Lord.” Well, I got the tour of the space and then gave my pitch, basically, asking the realtor to tell the owner to give us the space for about a third of the price because the Lord has need of it and is going to bless this under-resourced neighborhood. The realtor just froze and went silent for a long time. Then looked at me and said, “I think this is going to work.” And it did! We begged for money, renovated the space and moved in about a year later, still totally living on a shoestring financially. But now our rent was much higher than before—from about $1500 to $2700. Plus we had to pay utilities. That’s when one of my leaders suggested that we should triple our missions giving. At the time I was thinking, “Are you mad? My tiny salary is on the line.” But, again, the Lord made it clear that He was speaking. We didn’t tell the church we were doing this but just did it. I think I was worried the church would think I’d gone mad. But the very first month we tripled our missions giving was the single greatest income month since the church started! Within a year the church doubled from 100 to 200 people. The Lord caused our finances to overflow so we could abundantly bless refugees, kids, single moms, high school students and others in the neighborhood. That’s the short version. So many details left out. Listen to God’s voice and obey. And watch the Lord pour out His glory!