How to Hear – God's Voice

Humility

We have all been humiliated at one time or another. It is never pleasant, but it can be a good thing in the long run if the experience causes us to think and act differently. If we do not change, however, humiliation just feels bad and may leave us bitter and angry.

This is how it is with God. If we respond well to humiliation (God calls it discipline), it can produce a harvest of righteousness. If our hearts are changed because of God’s discipline, we will become a new creation. However, if our hearts are not changed, we continue in a life of sin and spiritual sickness.

Other Biblical words related to humiliation are tribulation and death. God brings this kind of humiliation on us when choose to practice defiled religion instead of listening to his voice. Tribulation and death are the troubles we endure while we are religious before we choose to suffer humiliation that results in God giving us a new heart. If our hearts are not changed, we will keep on making the same mistakes that will only prolong our humiliation and tribulation.

See this link for more about humility.

Few readers who dare to click on this link will be unaffected by what they read there. They will either be angry or they will be humiliated. It is their choice.

Grace, Love and Mercy ***

Most Christians, when asked to define grace, love or mercy, would have a ready answer. Because they have heard these concepts mentioned often in church, they are pretty sure they know what they mean. And they are pretty sure that they possess them.

But, if you ask a Christian what the Bible says about grace, love or mercy, most cannot give a ready answer or even quote scriptures that explain what they are from God’s point of view. They may know that grace, for example, is a free gift, and they might cite the “God’s riches at Christs Expense,” but they could not explain with confidence what God’s riches are. They know that God loves them, and that God has gives mercy to his people, but beyond these simple answers, they don’t know what God says and they have no real sense of how these concepts are manifest in their lives today. The reason they don’t know what God means by these terms is that they put their trust for understanding in what man has taught them — not in what God says. This is not good. Actually, trusting what man says is sin.

A good way to begin trusting God is to discover his definition of grace. It is not what man teaches. See this link for God’s idea of grace.

Another good way to learn how to trust God is understand his concept of love. Again, it is not what man teaches. See this link for God’s idea of love.

Mercy is another topic that Christians think they understand but don’t. See this link for God’s idea of mercy.

These links reveal the fact that grace, love and mercy all point to God’s voice. That God should use these three concepts to describe one thing should not be surprising because God actually uses many words to describe his voice.

What God Said About Listening to His Spoken Voice

Hearing God’s spoken voice is not an ability reserved for special, spiritual people like pastors and prophets. God wants everyone to listen to his voice. In fact, listening to his voice is a command to everyone.

Click this link for a long list of scriptures that contain God’s many commands to listen to his voice/word.

Hearing God’s spoken word is not optional. It is a matter of obedience to God.

The first step toward obedience is to stop listening to other voices. God does not give the ability to hear his voice to people who insist on listening to the voices of False Prophets.

Instead of listening to false prophets, obedient people listen to true prophets whom God sends to speak for him. Jesus is an example of a true prophet sent by God to speak God’s words to anyone who will listen. The Apostle Paul is an example of someone who follows Jesus and speaks for God. But the ability to speak for God is not limited to Jesus and Paul. Everyone who has God’s laws written on their hearts also speak God’s words because they have the anointing from God to speak for God.

It is critical, therefore to know how to identify a false prophet and how to identify a true prophet. In fact, it is a matter of spiritual life and death.

Creation

Creation is an important topic in the Bible. Unfortunately, however, when most people think about creation, they think only in terms of the so-called creation story. This thinking is a big mistake that denies the opportunity to apply the creation theme to training in personal righteousness.

When we understand topic of creation correctly, we see that it bookends the entire Bible beginning with the creation of heaven and earth, and ending with the creation of a new heaven, a new earth. And, in between, whether we realize it or not, every story is about creation which more correctly should be interpreted as “re-creation”. It is all about the creation/re-creation of a new heart.

Coming to a right understanding of creation depends on how scriptures are interpreted. To understand the symbolic meanings of stories of creation, we must learn how to hear God’s spoken voice.

Listening to God’s spoken voice first means that we interpret scriptures symbolically — not literally.

STUDY TIP: See these links for insights on symbolic interpretation: Understanding of the principles in these pages are absolutely necessary to understanding of the topic of creation.

God’s Written Word and God’s Spoken Voice Part 1

Readers who read and understand the above pages are ready to understand the following pages that explain the topic of creation:

Readers for whom none of this makes any sense are Old/First Covenant religionists who are enslaved by strongholds of wrong thinking. They do not have spiritual eyes and ears that are necessary to hear God’s spoken voice. Until God opens their spiritual eyes and ears, they are cursed with the belief that the creation story is only about the creation of the natural heaven and earth.

Readers for whom the above pages do make sense are New Covenant disciples who have been set free from religious beliefs so that they can practice pure religion which depends on their ability to hear God’s voice.

God is a Puzzle

A PUZZLE IN A CLOUD
We don’t think God is offended when we say that he is a puzzle. If that were not true, why did he conceal himself in a pillar of cloud and pillars of fire? And he would not have shrouded knowledge of himself and his ways in dark sayings , proverbs and riddles, figures of speech, words of the wise and riddles, dreams and visions , enigmas and difficult problems , shadows, types and patterns, and symbols, signs and allegories if he wasn’t purposely trying to be mysterious.

Our challenge to understand the puzzle, therefore, begins with understanding the symbolism of pillars and clouds.***

Considering these truths, it seems reasonable to say that God and the Bible that tells us about him are like a giant puzzle. Both are like a zillion pieces scattered across a large table in a room filled with a dense fog. Our challenge, if we choose to accept it, is to assemble the puzzle. But in order for us to see, God needs to shed light on pieces of the puzzle and open our spiritual eyes and ears so that we can begin to hear God’s voice which teaches us how to connect the pieces together so that we can learn to know him. Therefore, if we truly believe that all scripture is God breathed and useful for training in righteousness, and if we are sincere about our claims to love God with all of our heart, mind, soul and strength, and if we sincerely desire to achieve some degree of righteousness, we will be willing to study hard to understand these obscure, confusing concepts.

HUNGER AND THIRST TO HEAR
When we think about it, it seems like an impossible mission. Generations of theologians and religious leaders have written and preached their own ideas of the nature of God and there is still no agreement about the meanings of Biblical dark sayings , proverbs and riddles, figures of speech, words of the wise and riddles, dreams and visions , enigmas and difficult problems , shadows, types and patterns, and symbols, signs and allegories. Who are we that are uneducated that we might dare to think that God might reveal these mysteries to us?

Many religious people are curious about God but are not hungry enough or thirsty enough for righteousness to make a serious, sustained effort to study to know God. They take the easy route of paying someone else to figure God out and report their findings at church, in a synagogue, in music, in a book or at a conference. These people have only a dim picture of God that will soon pass away and they will need to go to some kind of religious gathering again soon to get their “god fix.” The knowledge they have of God is just a shadow and they do not know him in a deep, intimate sense. They will get their ears tickled every weekend by preachers and rabbis with smooth speech who tell them what they want to hear, and they will read the Bible, but they will never come to a good understanding of the truth about God.

Such people are ever learning without coming to knowledge of the truth. In their spiritual poverty, they miss out on all the wonderful things that God has prepared for those who love him and seek him with all their heart. They are those who think they are rich in their knowledge of God but are neither hot nor cold in terms of their love for God. People such as these who do not hunger and thirst for righteousness will not solve the puzzle.

Those who do hunger and thirst for God, on the other hand, have a big, but not impossible task before them. They have all the pieces of truth about God distributed in thousands of verses in hundreds of chapters in hundreds of pages of the Bible. And, like we suggested above, they begin in a spiritually dark place — meaning they have little or no truth or light to guide them.

What they do have is a fuzzy, obscure drawing created by religious leaders (i.e. pastor, rabbi, prophet, priest, writers, etc.) who have tried to teach them what little knowledge they have. If they have done a little Bible study on their own or been in a small study group, that is a beginning, but if they are honest, they will admit that all that teaching and learning does not satisfy their deep spiritual need to know God. Sadly, they do not understand that spiritual life only comes to those who listen to God’s spoken word.

ASSEMBLING THE PIECES
When we begin to assemble the puzzle, all we have to work with is a tiny flashlight that allows us to look carefully at a few words of a few verses at a time. We scan the chapters and verses inspecting each word looking for concepts that relate to similar sounding words and concepts identified earlier. We set those that are similar aside and keep looking for more pieces that seem to relate to the ones we have already found.

Some pieces are upside down and some right side up. Sometimes it is hard to tell which is the right side and which is the back side. These are the mysteries (i.e. parables, dark sayings, proverbs and riddles, figures, words of the wise and riddles, dreams, enigmas and difficult problems, figurative language, dreams and visions, shadows, types and patterns, and symbols, signs and allegories) that conceal the spiritual meaning that God teaches his people when he writes his laws on their hearts.

If we are honest, we admit that it seems like there are more of these kinds of obscure pieces than those that can be clearly understood. But to avoid discouragement, we need to remember that God designed it that way to test our hearts.

Along the way, however, occasional doubt rises up to confuse the process. You may remember a teaching you heard from a respected religious leader that seems to contradict what you are finding. If you want to know God as he really is, you need to forget what you think you already know about God. You need to forget what others have told you. You need to listen for God’s voice and trust that he is now teaching you and will show you the truth.

As you search, you will be reminded of those bothersome contradictions within the Bible itself that seem irreconcilable. But you must push these conflicts aside and continue to trust that there are no contradictions in God. The only problem is in your inability to hear God’s voice. Those who have never heard God’s voice may doubt that it is possible. If this happens, remember that God is testing your heart and that those who doubt will not receive anything from God.

IGNORE THE PICTURE THAT OTHERS HAVE TAUGHT
Doubt may creep in when you remember religious leaders who claim that they have assembled the puzzle and strongly imply that you should trust them for understanding. Their claims are strongly reinforced by titles, degrees, and large followings of people who praise them for their wisdom. Don’t trust them if they have a good reputation. They are religious man-pleasers who have reduced obedience to God down to a few rules. They are false prophets.

False prophets will say that the key to knowing God is prayer, regular attendance at church or synagogue, listening to good preaching, fellowship with like-minded believers, paying your tithes, regular morning devotions and regular participation in approved religious ceremonies and traditions. They are very convincing and what they say seems right because many others appear to be prospering by following these rules. They seem to be doing OK in their spiritual lives, and they seem knowledgeable about God, so you think they might know what they are talking about.

What is wrong with this scenario is that the picture your religious leaders and friends have of God is an incomplete shadows of what God himself will teach to those who listen to his voice. They teach out of their own imaginations based on the literal words of scripture without listening to the spiritual, spoken word of God. And why should we expect then to do differently. They have never been taught the “first the natural and then the spiritual” principle.

Furthermore, as you observe your own life and the lives of religious people carefully, you notice that neither you nor they are as spiritually competent as you have represented yourselves to be. You gossip, grumble and argue about all kinds of issues — in church and out of church. You have addictions, marital and family conflict, financial problems and all the other problems that exist within the general population. When we stop to really look, no one appears to be at peace in themselves or in their relationships. Religious people have an appearance of godliness, but something is missing that provides a clue that they do not understand as much as they like to have others think.

The problem is that religions have incomplete pictures of God. They know him intellectually, but they do not have the deep, spiritual kind of knowing that only comes to people who have his laws written on their hearts. Lacking that intimate, spiritual knowledge, they must force-fit pieces that do not go together to make them fit. But even then, the pieces of the puzzle really don’t fit. Some pieces fit but they are upside down. And there are whole sections of the puzzle that are missing altogether. Despite the picture of Godliness people want to represent to the world, their picture of God is a mess. It looks good on the surface, and from a distance because they have filled in the gaps and whitewashed pieces that are upside down to make the puzzle look presentable. But upon closer inspection, it becomes clear that something is very wrong with the picture.

You begin to notice these problems and wonder what the truth is. Once you begin learning how to hear God’s spoken voice, you notice that the puzzle your friends have assembled and the one you previously trusted is smaller than the puzzle you are now assembling. The new puzzle you are trying to assemble includes a zillion small pieces while the old version was more like a child’s puzzle with only a few large pieces. Your unassembled puzzle pieces are scattered all over the table with hardly any space between them, while your old assembled puzzle fits neatly on a small table with nice neat borders. This simple puzzle is a child’s image of a very complex God. You can settle for this image or you can do the work that will reveal God in all of his fullness. You need to make a decision about which God you want to serve.

A CLOUD OF WITNESSES
Hebrews 12 , like the rest of the Bible, it is full of mystery and symbolism. It begins with a cloud of witnesses and ends with a description of God as a consuming fire. And in between, there are many verses that are impossible to interpret at the literal level. So we are very challenged to understand them so that we can apply them to our personal lives in a way that corrects us and trains us for righteousness and good works. ***

LISTEN FOR A COMPLEX SPIRITUAL IMAGE
As you study the Bible seriously on your own with no one to guide you except God, you discover that beneath the physical image of each piece is a spiritual image that appears dimly at first but which you eventually learn to discern. And you soon learn that trying to create a picture of God using the literal words of the Bible does not work. You learn that the literal pieces do not fit but the spiritual pieces do fit. And you also find that it is not a two dimensional puzzle that you are trying to assemble but a puzzle with many dimensions to it. This fact is not mentioned on the cover of the box, but you eventually learn that the picture of God you are trying to assemble has depth to it that you were never told about and that you never imagined could exist for as long as you listened to religious people.

Lacking a picture on a box, all you have to go on is the knowledge that God lives in a pillar of cloud and in a pillar of fire. You wonder how you can realistically begin to put the pieces together if that is the only image you have. But then you remember that God has given promises about knowing him and understanding the mysteries of the Bible. And then, encouraged by these promises, you continue to assemble the puzzle piece by piece.

How to Hear God’s Voice

The primary indicator of New Covenant disciples is the ability the hear God’s spoken voice. Religion teaches nothing about how to do this because religion is based on religious rules taught by men. Because religious leaders do not know how to hear God’s spoken voice, they do not teach others how to listen for themselves. If they did teach others to listen for themselves, they would destroy the personal kingdoms and money making institutions they have created for themselves. New Covenant disciples, however, no longer need religious leaders to teach them about God because God teaches them about himself and his ways directly. This speaking/hearing relationship is the essence of the New Covenant.

But the ability does not come easily — especially to religionists whose habit is to listen to religious leaders. There is a certain amount of unlearning that must happen before God will open their spiritual eyes and ears to hear his spoken voice. What religionists know they have learned while they were disciples of false prophets. Things they have learned have been intoxicated with strongholds of wrong thinking that are difficult, but not impossible to destroy.

Here are a few rules of thumb to consider when trying to discern if we have heard God’s voice or not:

GENERAL CONDITIONS FOR HEARING GOD’S VOICE:

When people first hear God’s voice, it will be like a foreign language to them. They will not be able to understand what he is saying because they have hard hearts.
People will only be able to hear and understand after they turn from their idolatry and stop listening to the voices of false prophets (i.e. religious leaders).
When God says “hear the word of the Lord“, he is talking about hearing his spiritual voice — not listening to any human who claims to speak for God in verbal or written language.
Hearing can come at any time in any location.
Hearing God’s voice does not happen only in special buildings or places that are considered to be holy or sacred.
Hearing will not come to people who are busy with religious activities, but does come to people who fast and rest from religion.
God’s voice explains the meanings of Biblical mysteries, dark sayings , proverbs and riddles, figures of speech, enigmas and difficult problems , shadows, types and patterns, and symbols, signs and allegories.
Only New Covenant disciples can reliably hear God’s voice because God speaks to their hearts with his spirit.
Old/First Covenant religionists will hear one main message: Come out of religion and listen to God’s voice.
God’s voice is discernible only to people who expect to see with their spiritual eyes and ears and do not expect to gain understanding through use of their natural, physical abilities (i.e. eyes, ears, intellect/mind).
God’s speaks only to people who do not listen to false prophets (i.e. Old/First Covenant religious leaders).
God voice gives understanding to the mysteries of the literal Bible. It explains, and connects seemingly unrelated parts of the Bible that we do not understand because we cannot relate them to each other using our natural, intellectual minds.
It explains the symbolic meaning of the literal words of the Bible.
It explains the spiritual meanings of dark sayings , proverbs and riddles, figures of speech, words of the wise and riddles, dreams and visions , enigmas and difficult problems , shadows, types and patterns, and symbols, signs and allegories that we we cannot interpret and understand with our natural, human minds.
God’s voice spiritually connects the pieces of the incomprehensible Bible puzzle that we do not understand into comprehensible images that we do understand, and integrates them into the big picture of who God is and how he relates to his people.
When God opens the eyes of New Covenant disciples to see how pieces of the Bible puzzle are connected, and explains their spiritual meaning, disciples experience an “aha” moment that causes them to tremble with awe in appreciation that God has revealed a spiritual mystery to them with his spiritual voice.
God’s voice may not come all at once in a complete, fully formed, comprehensive revelation. It will more likely come in bits and pieces of smaller, incomplete revelations that make no intellectual sense until they are linked together as in the assembly of a puzzle. The linking occurs, however, only for people who diligently search for related links that will complete that portion of the puzzle.
Only people who are like little children, full of questions, who ask God — not false prophets — to explain the spiritual meanings of scripture, may expect to hear his voice.
God will reveal spiritual mysteries only to people who assume that God has planted mysteries in the Bible and expect that God will reveal the interpretations of those mysteries.
God will reveal mysteries only to people who apply what they learn in their own lives.
We will actually hear God’s voice before we recognize it as his voice. It will first be like a goad/prick to our heart that creates doubt about our religious beliefs and practices.
We will probably not understand or believe what we have heard when we first hear it because what God tells us about how to interpret scripture and religion is contrary to what we have been taught by religion. Religion teaches how to interpret scripture literally, while God teaches how to interpret it symbolically.
Our eyes are opened when we interpret scripture that we thought we understood in a totally new way. The literal words are still the same, but our spiritual understandings of those words are totally different.
God’s voice will be heard and understood by people who are humble enough to admit that the doctrines they believe and the religion they practice are not, or may not, be in perfect agreement with spiritual truth that comes from God’s voice.
God’s voice will be heard and understood by people who are like little children who are not wise in their own eyes because they are proud of their intellectual understanding of the literal meanings of the Bible.
God’s voice can be heard only by people who ask, seek and knock so they might understand the wisdom of God that is hidden in the mysteries.
God’s word is his spoken word — not just words written in the Bible.
The spirit of God’s voice will bring personal enlightenment on three basic matters of the heart:

Convict religious people that they have practiced the sin of religion.
It will convict people about their prideful self-righteousness, religious behaviors and beliefs.
It will enable them to make judgements about the differences between religion and faith in their lives and in the lives of others.

WHAT GOD’S VOICE IS NOT LIKE:

God’s voice is not heard in the human sense of hearing with natural ears.
God’s voice is not heard in mere intellectual understanding of the literal, written words of the Bible. (Note: Anyone, even unbelievers, can understand the written words.)
It will not give prophetic messages about the future of the political, social, personal, financial or political affairs of individuals or groupings, large or small, of people.
It will not anticipate or interpret physical signs and wonders.
It is not like the teachings of false prophets and pharisees.
It is not like human wisdom and knowledge.
It is not like listening to your own thoughts.

WHAT GOD’S VOICE IS LIKE:

God’s voice is like a whisper of gentle wind, but also like wind, thunder and lightning.
God’s voice is perceived like another language (i.e. tongue) that has not been heard before but is understood with the heart.
It cannot easily be interpreted into human language.
It causes a trembling in the heart that is like an earthquake.
It is like the sound of many waters and like the sound of harpists playing on their harps.
God’s voice resonates as truth in our hearts (i.e. spirits) like thunder and enlightens our spirits like lightning flashes of truth that we cannot anticipate and can’t quite believe we have seen/heard because it happens so fast.
God’s voice registers as understanding of truth in the heart.
God’s voice registers in our heart as an “aha” moment in which the spiritual meanings of scripture are made clear.
When we hear God’s voice explain scripture that we thought we knew in a new and different way, it inspires great awe and gratitude that he would disclose such truth to us. We sense that we have been blessed that God would reveal to us truth that is totally different from lies we previously believed.
God’s voice comes to us when we are in a dream-like state when our heart is exclusively open to hearing him.
God’s voice is more like a vision with images than of clearly articulated human words.
God’s voice is like a whisper of one standing behind us telling us the way to walk (i.e. choose life instead of death).
God’s voice is ephemeral. When it comes, it is more like an impression of truth than it is of actual words that can be organized into a thought or statement. It arouses a feeling of awe that words cannot describe but which is very real and tangible in the heart/spirit.
God’s voice teaches us a totally new (i.e. spiritual) way of interpreting scripture. When we understand the spiritual meaning of scripture, will are humbled for the fact that our earlier understanding was so wrong. We will be humbled and ashamed for having listened to and believed false prophets who taught us out of the imaginations of their hearts as a way to earn an income that we financed.
Since God’s word teachers us how to know the difference between good and evil, we will be very glad and very appreciative for every insight that leads us away from religion and toward God.
God’s voice refreshes us like rain that makes us grow spiritually.
God’s spoken voice has the quality of a spiritual revelation that shakes us so much that we become like a dead person unable to speak. We are at first unable to put what we have heard into human words with which we can report what we have heard to others.
Hearing God’s voice is an awesome event. The first few times it happens, you know in your heart that you have heard it but still can’t quite accept that the one, true, living God has actually spoken to you.
When hearing God’s voice becomes common, any doubt you had about whether you have heard God’s voice or not is replaced with an overwhelming sense of being blessed because Biblical references to “blessing” always refer to hearing God’s voice and following his commandments.
God’s voice is a consuming fire that, if heard, purifies the hearer from participating in the sin of religion.
Every time we hear his voice we will be inspired to disengage from Old/First Covenant religion in favor of becoming a New Covenant disciple.
The more we hear God’s voice, the more we are inspired to study so that we can hear his voice more often and more clearly.
The more we hear God’s voice the more we are inspired to share with others (i.e. teach) what we hear so that they might also learn how to hear God’s voice and receive salvation from the sin of religion.
Hearing God’s voice inspires great thankfulness and appreciation for delivering us from bondage to religion.
When we have heard God’s voice explain scripture to us, we are inspired to share and teach what we have heard with people who are still enslaved to religion.
After we have heard God’s voice explain the symbolic meaning of scripture, we are highly motivated to study more with the expectation that he will speak new truths to our hearts again and again.
Hearing God’s voice is a combination of tasting, seeing and hearing in our hearts that satisfies our need/desire to know that he exists and loves us.
The words that come from God’s lips communicate his deep, sensual love for us when he shares the meanings of deep mysteries to us.

Of course these human words are inadequate attempts to explain totally spiritual events (i.e. hearing God’s voice). These human words are, nonetheless, useful guides to understanding when the event of hearing God’s voice has occurred.

STUDY TIP: Even though the Bible is full of dark sayings , proverbs and riddles, figures of speech, words of the wise and riddles, dreams and visions , enigmas, difficult problems , shadows, types and patterns, and symbols, signs and allegories, there are parts of the Bible that may be trusted literally.

Learning how to know which parts are to be taken symbolically and which parts are to be take literally is the big challenge for Bible students/disciples/learners. But it is not a challenge that is conquered by sheer will and human effort. Understanding is a gift from God.

It is impossible to instruct anyone about how to know which parts are to be taken symbolically and which are to be taken literally. Knowing, or not knowing, depends on God alone who gives us spiritual eyes to see what we read and spiritual ears to hear his voice tell us how to interpret what we read. This is the art of hearing God’s voice.

The main condition that prepares us to hear God’s voice is that we stop listening to the voices of false prophets. When God says “listen to my voice” and “hear the word of the lord” he doesn’t mean just listen, he also means listen to his voice and hear his spoken word exclusively. People who aspire to spiritual holiness would do well to regard these statements from God as commandments on a par with the Ten Commandments that make the way for seeing and hearing with spiritual eyes and ears.

LISTEN TO TRUE PROPHETS AND MESSIAHS
Everything written above pertains to God speaking directly to people. in spiritual language. It must be said, however, that God also speaks through True Prophets, Angels, Messiahs, High Priests and Model Warriors in human language.

When these people speak, they will use human language to interpret God’s spiritual language just like Jesus did. And yet, their verbal presentation of truth will be very much like God’s presentation.

The tricky part of listening to human teachers is discerning between true prophets and false prophets. True prophets speak for God, while false prophets speak out of their own evil imaginations.

STUDY TIPS: See Checklist for Identifying True Prophets and Tips for Identifying False Prophets.

Hearing God’s Voice is Difficult but Possible

Learning about God from the words of the literal Bible is not easy because God reveals himself in mystery and secrets. He has told us this in his many references to dark sayings , proverbs and riddles, figures of speech, words of the wise and riddles, dreams and visions , enigmas, difficult problems , shadows, types and patterns, parables/taunts/proverbs, and symbols, signs and allegories that appear in the literal Bible. The spiritual meanings of these mysteries and secrets are the truths that we listen for him to reveal in his spoken word.

Religious leaders try to explain these mysteries with fine-sounding intellectual explanations embellished with clever human knowledge and no small amount of imaginative speculation. Religious people think that their leaders are anointed with special knowledge and insights into these mysteries, so they listen to them. This relationship is not what God wants. What he wants is that his people listen to his voice — not the voices of religious leaders.

Religious leaders tend to ignore most mysteries because they don’t understand them and can’t explain them. Religious people think that if they understand a few basic doctrines, and practice their religion more or less faithfully, they will be right with God. They are content with knowledge that God is love, that he loves them, and that they will spend eternity with him, but anything beyond that is optional. They consider mysteries as unimportant because their leaders strategically avoid the mysteries and do not teach them how to listen to God’s voice for understanding. Mysteries and secrets may not be important to religious leaders and their followers, but we know that understanding is important to God because he has loaded scripture with them. To help us understand how important they are, he tells us that all scripture is available for training in righteousness. This means that understanding of Biblical mysteries are not be optional for anyone who aspires to righteousness.

The truth, therefore, is that knowledge of God exists in Biblical mysteries and symbolism — not in simplified doctrines deduced from literal interpretations of the Bible. People who seek to understand mysteries show that they hunger and thirst for righteousness. People who vigorously ask, seek and knock for understanding of mysteries show that they love God with their heart, mind soul and strength. All the others just love their religions.

We may rightly conclude that Biblical mysteries are puzzles to be solved for those who aspire to righteousness. And from the fact that there are so many religions, we may also conclude that none of these religions have solved the puzzle.

If solving the God puzzle was possible just by reading and understanding the literal words of the Bible, it is reasonable to expect that many religions would have solved the puzzle by now and religion would be growing instead of declining. Religions can not and will not solve the puzzle, however, because religions depend on the teaching of men — not on hearing God’s voice. Despite their claims to the contrary, religionists who do not make the effort to hear God’s voice prove that their love for him is lukewarm. And they do not make the effort because they believe that their intellectual knowledge of the literal Bible makes them spiritually rich. In God’s view, they are actually poor because they do not listen to his voice.

Religious people who depend on religious leaders to explain mysteries will never come to understanding of God and his ways. As long as they trust false prophets to teach them about God, God denies understanding because they willfully and ignorantly insert an idol (i.e. teacher) between themselves and God instead of listening to God’s voice. In God’s eyes these religious leaders are idols and the people who listen to them are idolaters.

GOD EXPLAINS MYSTERIES TO THOSE WHO LISTEN
Neither Jews nor Christians like to acknowledge that mysteries comprise the majority of the Bible. And yet they deceptively claim that that the Bible is the source of their religious faith. Worse yet, because people focus their studies on select scriptures to the exclusion of scriptures that are hard to understand and obey, they fail to consider other scriptures that should be considered when forming doctrinal statements. Or, it can be said that they fail to discover other scriptures that should be considered when forming a picture of God. Obviously they have chosen to ignore the following scriptures:

Psalm 78:1-4: 1 A Maskil of Asaph. Give ear, O my people, to my teaching; incline your ears to the words of my mouth! 2 I will open my mouth in Proverbs; I will utter dark sayings from of old, 3 things that we have heard and known, that our fathers have told us. 4 We will not hide them from their children, but tell to the coming generation the glorious deeds of the LORD, and his might, and the wonders which he has wrought.

INTERPRETATION: This is God speaking to his people. He says that the purpose for understanding the ancient mysteries (i.e. parables and dark sayings) of God is so that we might teach our spiritual children about God and the things he does for his people. The knowledge is for teaching others about God so that they might be drawn to him.

Proverbs 25:2 It is the glory of God to conceal a matter, But the glory of kings is to search out a matter.

INTERPRETATION: Here God says that concealing himself in the mysteries and secrets of the Bible brings him glory. It also says that glory accrues to his people (i.e. kings) who search to discover God.

Deuteronomy 29:29 The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may follow all the words of this law.

INTERPRETATION: Note that the secrets are revealed so that we may follow God’s words written on the hearts of New Covenant disciples when God speaks to their hearts.

Matthew 11:25 At that time Jesus said, “I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and the intelligent and have revealed them to infants;

INTERPRETATION: God hides revelation from those who think they are wise and intelligent. He makes revelation known to infants who know that they know nothing and are eager to learn with excitement like an infant. This is the description of a disciple.

Being open minded and ready for discovery about God is especially difficult for people who have been in church for a long time because they are convinced that they understand God. They think that they are rich but they are spiritually poor.

Matthew 13:34 All these things Jesus spoke to the crowds in parables, and He did not speak to them without a parable.

INTERPRETATION: Everything Jesus said was inspired by God. Therefore, if God spoke in dark sayings , proverbs and riddles, Jesus did the same.

None of what God/Jesus said can be understood unless God gives ears to hear (i.e. understand) what they are saying.

Matthew 13:10-13 His disciples came and asked him, “Why do you speak to them in parables?” 11 He answered, “To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given. 12 For to those who have, more will be given, and they will have an abundance; but from those who have nothing, even what they have will be taken away. 13 The reason I speak to them in parables is that “seeing they do not perceive, and hearing they do not listen, nor do they understand.’

INTERPRETATION: From these scriptures we learn that secrets will be revealed to some some people but not to others. True disciples who listen for God’s voice will know the secrets.

Numbers 12:8: With him I speak mouth to mouth, clearly, and not in dark speech; and he beholds the form of the LORD.

INTERPRETATION: Moses listened to God’s voice. He understood God’s spiritual essence and was not confused by God’s dark speech.

Proverbs 1:1-9: The proverbs of Solomon, son of David, king of Israel: 2 That men may know wisdom and instruction, understand words of insight, 3 receive instruction in wise dealing, righteousness, justice, and equity; 4 that prudence may be given to the simple, knowledge and discretion to the youth– 5 the wise man also may hear and increase in learning, and the man of understanding acquire skill, 6 to understand a proverb and a figure, the words of the wise and their riddles. 7 The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction. 8 Hear, my son, your father’s instruction, and reject not your mother’s teaching; 9 for they are a fair garland for your head, and pendants for your neck.

INTERPRETATION: These verses verify that understanding is possible for those who hear God’s voice.

Daniel 5:11-12: There is in your kingdom a man in whom is the spirit of the holy gods. In the days of your father light and understanding and wisdom, like the wisdom of the gods, were found in him, and King Nebuchadnez’zar, your father, made him chief of the magicians, enchanters, Chalde’ans, and astrologers, 12 because an excellent spirit, knowledge, and understanding to interpret dreams, explain riddles, and solve problems were found in this Daniel, whom the king named Belteshaz’zar. Now let Daniel be called, and he will show the interpretation.”

INTERPRETATION: Daniel is a type of New Covenant disciple who listened to God’s voice. Because he listened, he could solve the puzzle.

John 16:17-31: Some of his disciples said to one another, “What is this that he says to us, ‘A little while, and you will not see me, and again a little while, and you will see me’; and, ‘because I go to the Father’?” 18 They said, “What does he mean by ‘a little while’? We do not know what he means.” 19 Jesus knew that they wanted to ask him; so he said to them, “Is this what you are asking yourselves, what I meant by saying, ‘A little while, and you will not see me, and again a little while, and you will see me’?20 Truly, truly, I say to you, you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice; you will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will turn into joy. 21 When a woman is in travail she has sorrow, because her hour has come; but when she is delivered of the child, she no longer remembers the anguish, for joy that a child is born into the world. 22 So you have sorrow now, but I will see you again and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you. 23 In that day you will ask nothing of me. Truly, truly, I say to you, if you ask anything of the Father, he will give it to you in my name. 24 Hitherto you have asked nothing in my name; ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full. 25 “I have said this to you in figures; the hour is coming when I shall no longer speak to you in figures but tell you plainly of the Father. 26 In that day you will ask in my name; and I do not say to you that I shall pray the Father for you; 27 for the Father himself loves you, because you have loved me and have believed that I came from the Father. 28 I came from the Father and have come into the world; again, I am leaving the world and going to the Father.” 29 His disciples said, “Ah, now you are speaking plainly, not in any figure! 30 Now we know that you know all things, and need none to question you; by this we believe that you came from God.” 31 Jesus answered them, “Do you now believe?

INTERPRETATION: Jesus’ disciples would not have received understanding unless they had wondered about his teaching and asked each other what he meant by it. This kind of inquisitiveness is key to acquiring understanding of the deep things of God. Those who think they know what God is trying to say because they understand the literal words will not receive spiritual understanding because they already think that they are wise.

The issue of “asking” here is not about asking for something in prayer like people normally do when praying. What God is talking about here is asking for spiritual understanding that can only come to people who hear God’s spoken voice. Answers will come to New Covenant disciples (i.e. those who ask in Jesus name/character) who constantly acknowledge their lack of understanding of difficult scriptures and express their desire to have God give them spiritual understanding beyond the literal meanings of scripture.

We see here also that belief is tied to spiritual understanding of the Bible.

Job 33:9-19: You say, ‘I am clean, without transgression; I am pure, and there is no iniquity in me. 10 Behold, he finds occasions against me, he counts me as his enemy; 11 he puts my feet in the stocks, and watches all my paths.’ 12 “Behold, in this you are not right. I will answer you. God is greater than man. 13 Why do you contend against him, saying, ‘He will answer none of my words’? 14 For God speaks in one way, and in two, though man does not perceive it. 15 In a dream, in a vision of the night, when deep sleep falls upon men, while they slumber on their beds, 16 then he opens the ears of men, and terrifies them with warnings, 17 that he may turn man aside from his deed, and cut off pride from man; 18 he keeps back his soul from the Pit, his life from perishing by the sword. 19 “Man is also chastened with pain upon his bed, and with continual strife in his bones;

INTERPRETATION: Saying that God speaks in one way, and in two is a confirmation of the “first the natural, then the spiritual” principle. This principle says that God first reveals a little bit of himself in the literal words of the Bible and then reveals himself fully in his spoken words.

Verses 15 through 19 indicate that spiritual understanding, when it comes, will have chastening effect that will turn men from their deeds (i.e. religion).

We conclude from these scriptures that Biblical mysteries and secrets are not insurmountable obstacles to knowing God. They are insurmountable for Old/First Covenant religionists who get all of their instruction from religious teaching, but understanding is possible for New Covenant disciples who listen to God’s voice.

God's Voice

How to Hear, Interpret and Obey God's Spoken Word

Category Archives: How to Hear